The Gourmet Customizer

"Boss Su, still up this late?" Li Mingtao had worked overtime today for one reason and one reason only: the matter Su Chen had brought up.

"I was just about to turn in. What’s on your mind?"

Li Mingtao gestured toward the break room. "Let’s go. We can talk while we sit."

Li Mingtao had been mulling this over for the entire day. Even after his shift ended, he had remained in his office, with no desire to go home.

There’s nothing more captivating than a truly interesting problem, and Li Mingtao was completely hooked on this one.

Just a moment ago, he had finally come up with a foolproof plan and had eagerly rushed over.

"Boss Su, first, I need to know one thing. The other party is a National Banquet Master of Lu Cuisine, and her disciples are all Lu Cuisine experts scattered across the country. If you were to compete against them, what would you say your odds of winning are?"

Though he didn’t know what Li Mingtao’s idea was, Su Chen answered honestly, "Ninety-nine percent."

Li Mingtao drew in a sharp breath. ’That’s incredible,’ he thought.

’Weren’t you just some rich kid living off your family’s demolition money? When did you learn these amazing skills? If I’d known you were this good, why would we bother with a pre-packaged food company? You should have just opened your own restaurant!’

But this wasn’t the time to get into that. Li Mingtao said, "In that case, my suggestion is..."

"We can start by making a very ordinary dish. Something that tastes good, but is otherwise unremarkable."

Seeing Li Mingtao struggling to find the right word, Su Chen helped him out. "You mean, we make an unremarkable Lu Cuisine dish."

"Yes, yes! That’s exactly what I mean." Li Mingtao quickly continued, "Then, we see how they react! If this Master Cui is obviously here to cause trouble, we can’t back down! We go all out and hit her with our best shot!"

"But if Master Cui is really just here to celebrate her birthday and maybe test the waters a bit, then we stick to making dishes at that level. Peace is the priority. Befriending a master of her caliber would only be a good thing for us."

Su Chen rested his chin on his hand, thinking for a good while.

’This plan could actually work.’

’Don’t decide on a counter-strategy yet. First, see what their real intentions are. If she really brought her disciples here to pick a fight, then we definitely can’t back down.’

’If Cui Yufen is coming with the intention of a friendly exchange or to build connections, then we can sit down and be amicable. It wouldn’t even be a problem to make a few stunning dishes for them.’

"Alright, let’s go with that for now. If anything changes, we’ll deal with it then."

Li Mingtao nodded in agreement and added a reminder, "We have two weeks at most. You’ll need to start preparing in advance to cook for twenty people."

Su Chen didn’t say anything, simply nodding his head.

’I’d love to!’

’But it’s just one thing after another. I finally got things sorted out for Brother Fang Chang, and now I have to start studying Lu Cuisine. It’s such a headache!’

After seeing Li Mingtao out, Su Chen quickly locked the door and went to wash up, worried someone else might barge in.

...

Back at the hotel, Jiang Wensheng lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

"Hey, Suzhen, what do you make of that Boss Xiaosu? How can he be a boss? Don’t you think it’s strange for a boss to be cooking in the kitchen?"

"What’s so strange about it? There are plenty of restaurants nowadays where the owner does the cooking."

"But is it the same?" Jiang Wensheng mulled it over, still unable to understand.

’If you have the money to open a company, why would you choose to be a chef? You could just spend your time eating, not cooking!’

’And if you don’t have money, then why not start small with a restaurant? With skills like that, it would only be a matter of time before you made it big.’

’Puzzling. It’s just too puzzling!’

"It’s a shame. Such delicious Huaiyang Cuisine, but it’s not in Huaiyang. If only I could bring these recipes back home."

How could Yuan Suzhen not know what was on her husband’s mind? "Why don’t you go and have a chat with Boss Su tomorrow? If that doesn’t work, you could have Fang Chang go. Isn’t he good friends with Boss Su? They have business dealings, too."

"Him? Hah, what can a little punk like him get done?"

Seeing Jiang Wensheng continue to toss and turn, unable to sleep, getting up from time to time to smoke in the bathroom, sighing at the window, or opening TikTok to watch cooking videos,

Yuan Suzhen knew that Old Jiang was now dead set on learning those recipes.

She silently pulled out her phone and sent a message to her daughter.

"Yuanyuan, do you think you could ask Fang Chang to talk to Boss Su for us? See if your dad can go and watch him cook sometime? The old man has been tossing and turning all night, not sleeping a wink. I’m getting worried just watching him!"

Jiang Yuan received her mom’s message while she and Fang Chang were in the middle of a tender moment.

"Your dad said if I learn how to make Lion’s Head Meatballs, he’ll waive the bride price. Is that for real? If it is, I’m going to find Boss Su first thing tomorrow!"

Jiang Yuan swatted his wandering hand away. "Stop messing around. My mom just messaged me."

Fang Chang propped himself up on his side to look, intrigued. "Whoa! Looks like your dad’s been completely won over by Boss Su’s cooking, huh?"

Jiang Yuan tossed her phone down irritably. "So, are you going to help or not?"

Fang Chang put on a deliberately troubled expression. "These are Boss Su’s secrets. I don’t think it’ll be that easy."

"Oh, you’re playing hard to get with me, are you? Believe me, I can twist it right off."

Fang Chang flinched and clutched his crotch through the blanket. "No, no, no! I’ll help, okay? I’ll help! I’ll go to Delicious first thing in the morning. I’ll get on my knees and beg Boss Su if I have to!"

"That’s more like it..."

The next day, Su Chen was up at five. The time had become his internal body clock.

Arriving on the second floor, Su Chen smelled the fragrant aroma of meat as soon as he reached the cafeteria. He quickened his pace into the kitchen and saw five steamers packed with buns. "Ah Bao, what time did you get up?"

Liu Ahbao grinned. "Four o’clock. The pork knuckle meat was all prepped yesterday, so wrapping the buns goes pretty fast."

"That’s still way too early! If this is too much, I can hire a few more people to help you out."

Liu Ahbao quickly waved his hands. "We agreed I’d be learning how to make oil-passed meat today, right? I wouldn’t have gotten up this early otherwise."

"Alright." Su Chen suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He was paying a highly skilled technician 6,500 a month to do such laborious work for him. "I’ll get some eggs boiling!"

Ah Bao gestured to the other side of the kitchen. "Everything’s already prepped. You just need to crack the eggshells and put them on to boil."

’It’s so nice working with someone who knows what they’re doing!’

Su Chen didn’t waste any time. He picked up a pair of chopsticks and approached the four hundred eggs.

Downstairs, at the company building.

Fang Chang, with Jiang Wensheng, his wife, and Jiang Yuan in the car, pulled into the underground parking garage.

"Fang Chang, did we really have to come this early?" Jiang Yuan yawned, not fully awake.

"Absolutely! I’ve already figured out Boss Su’s routine. If we waited until after seven, you’d have no idea how savage that herd of animals from the building across the street is!"

After parking the car, Fang Chang gestured to his future in-laws. "Come on, I’ll take you two to try Boss Su’s eggs!"

Jiang Wensheng: ?

’Does this kid have any manners?’ he thought.

Apparently realizing his poor choice of words, Fang Chang quickly corrected himself. "The eggs that Boss Su makes! And the big meat buns! I can eat five in one sitting!"

Jiang Wensheng knew Su Chen was a skilled chef, but as for buns and tea eggs...

’Whatever,’ he thought. ’I might as well give them a try!’