Chapter 901 - Buying Beans

Zhao Xin’s heart was reaffirmed after hearing his master’s words, but he had mixed feelings of both happiness and worry at the same time.

“Master, Saliva Chicken and Boiled Meat Slices are both signatures of the Chongqing School of Sichuan Cuisine. Can he win cooking such spicy dishes?” Zhao Xin asked with some hesitation.

“Boss Yuan is sufficiently capable. In terms of taste alone, his food is definitely good enough for him to become the exemplary restaurant. But how the judges will decide is still unknown,” Cao Zhishu said after thinking about it.

“But for the sake of promoting to the masses, excessive spiciness will be unsuitable, right?” Zhao Xin said.

“Yes, for the sake of promoting to the masses,” Cao Zhishu rubbed his bald head and muttered to himself.

Chefs focusing on Sichuan Cuisine like him was aware that if the spiciness factor was removed, the dishes would no longer be authentic Sichuan Cuisine. But in life, one had to learn to compromise. However, the taste of compromise had always been something they were unwilling to accept.

“I wonder if Yuan Zhou is capable of defeating this vicious circle,” Cao Zhishu wondered.

That’s right. Cao Zhishu was of the opinion that those that insisted to promote to the masses had entered a vicious circle. During the previous competition, there was an iron-headed chef trying to bring order out of chaos, but unfortunately, that chef ended up losing the competition. Now, yet another iron-headed chef had appeared. This new iron-headed chef was one that was very stubborn.

Because of that, Cao Zhishu looked forward to Yuan Zhou’s performance yet at the same time, he worried for him as well.

The reason for his expectation was clear, and the reason for his worry was due to Yuan Zhou being too young. If Yuan Zhou was truly able to smash this vicious circle apart, all his years of learning would have been wasted on nothing.

Cao Zhishu was very conflicted within.

“I don’t think Head Chef Yuan will succeed,” Zhao Xin said. “The unspoken rule established after three competitions will not be so easily changed.”

“It’s hard to say.”

This time, Cao Zhishu did not criticize Zhao Xin. Instead, he gave an equivocal reply. As the head chef of Shu Restaurant, he naturally had better insight than Zhao Xin. Recently, Sichuan Cuisine, Cantonese Cuisine, and Shandong Cuisine were all challenging each other, and one could not forget that both the other cuisines were non-spicy cuisines.

“Alright. Return to your work,” Cao Zhishu waved his hand when he saw that Zhao Xin still wanted to say something.

“Yes, master,” Zhao Xin nodded and left the office.

Looking at Zhao Xin leaving his office, Cao Zhishu shifted his gaze to the menu on his screen. He sighed, “I hope it works.”

As for Yuan Zhou who had provoked a sense of hope in Cao Zhishu, he was busy preparing the ingredients for lunch. Lunchtime was coming soon.

During lunch today, Yuan Zhou was very spirited and had a gentle expression on his face. The moment lunchtime ended and the customers left, Yuan Zhou immediately took off his apron.

“Zhou Jia, be careful on your way,” Yuan Zhou said as he washed his hands.

“You’re going out again, boss?” Zhou Jia asked curiously.

“Um, something to do,” Yuan Zhou nodded.

“You be careful on the way as well, boss,” Zhou Jia said.

“Okay.” Yuan Zhou nodded.

“Let me stay behind to lock the doors,” Zhou Jia volunteered.

“Sure. You may leave after that,” Yuan Zhou nodded and left without even changing his clothes.

“Boss seems busy recently,” Zhou Jia lamented as she looked at Yuan Zhou’s hastily departing back.

During the past two days, both she and Shen Min had frequently seen Yuan Zhou leaving without even changing.

“I have never expected that I would need to personally leave to buy the beans. But that idea might work,” Yuan Zhou thought to himself while on the taxi.

That’s right. During the lunch hour, he had a sudden spark of inspiration and a clear image of the Three Fragrance to the Ocean he wanted to make appeared in his mind. He was now rushing to the market to buy some beans and try out his new idea.

Yuan Zhou was preparing to buy some peas, soybeans, and red beans. All three were beans that could only be cooked after they were dried under the sun.

The taxi stopped at the largest market near Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.

“Young man, we have arrived,” said the driver.

“Ok. Thank you,” Yuan Zhou made the payment and left.

The moment Yuan Zhou got off the taxi, he attracted some gazes.

“What is that person wearing? Some ancient costume?”

“He’s dressed weirdly.”

“Is he an actor? Or an opera singer?”

As usual, Yuan Zhou was wearing his outfit with gorgeous markings and narrow sleeves. This outfit would not impede in his movements yet able to show off his figure. However, since this market was frequented by people on the older age spectrum, thus, these people could not understand Yuan Zhou’s choice of style.

Yuan Zhou was already used to such stares. He would only say that he was wearing a traditional Han outfit and not some ancient costume when someone asked.

Fortunately, although there were indeed some people staring at him, even more people were turning a blind eye to him.

And the moment Yuan Zhou stepped foot into the market, his ears were assaulted by the clamoring noise within the market.

This market resembled a food market, and the driver had stopped right in front of the entrance. Therefore, Yuan Zhou only needed to take a few steps to enter and right after entering, he saw numerous stores within.

The stores circled around the market and in the middle of the market was a space that resembled a food market with brick flooring and numerous stalls, selling numerous grains, beans included.

To be precise, the grains section occupied half the space while the other half was occupied by oil sellers. A certain smell wafted about in the air, making the oil section rather conspicuous in this market.

“I’ll check the stores first,” Yuan Zhou decided and headed towards the stores.

Yuan Zhou reached the first store at the left. He raised his head and looked at the signboard. “Wang Ji’s Grains and Oils” were written on it. This was a simple and easily remembered name. Within the store was a middle-aged woman, leaning against the wall watching a TV show on her phone.

“I’m buying beans,” Yuan Zhou said.

“Sure. Feel free to look around. The prices are all there as well. Let me know when you are done choosing,” said the middle-aged woman without even raising her head as she tossed a red basket to Yuan Zhou.

“Ok,” Yuan Zhou answered and started observing the beans in the store.

Yuan Zhou did not use the basket. Instead, he took out a shopping bag. This was a bag he had received as a gift when he attended a wedding in the past. Normally, people would receive candies or towels as wedding gifts. That was the first time Yuan Zhou saw someone giving shopping bags as a wedding gift. He wondered if the married couple was saving cost or they were simply trying to be different.

In any case, Yuan Zhou decided to make full use of what he had. Thus, he used it for the beans.

The beans of the store were stored in numerous transparent cabinets. The cabinet Yuan Zhou was looking at currently was a cabinet filled with red beans.

The cabinet wasn’t too high up. Yuan Zhou lifted the plastic lid, crouched down, and started picking at them.

The reason Yuan Zhou had came here was because there were a lot of beans here, making it easier for him to pick and choose. After all, he required beans with similar size.

And if he wasn’t using system-issued beans, it was quite hard to find sellers selling beans of similar size. The only way he could go about it was to manually pick the beans.

Yuan Zhou had good eyes and quick hands. In a short while, the bottom of his bag was already filled with beans.

The middle-aged woman suddenly raised her head after not hearing from Yuan Zhou in a while.