CH 12

At sunset, Zhang Caimai appeared in front of Zhao Ji restaurant with a hale and hearty old man in his fifties.

Looking at the crooked sign with the words “No Customers Welcome” standing at the entrance of the restaurant, Zhang Caimai was taken aback for a moment, and instinctively raised his eyes to look into the restaurant. But what he saw was a mess inside the restaurant; the leftovers of the dishes and chopsticks after lunch that no one cleaned up were still on the table and no one cared about them. Overturned tables and chairs, broken dishes, and plates could be seen everywhere.

This situation… was like there was a fight.

Zhang Caimai couldn’t help frowning and was about to enter the door when he saw Wen Mingtang lift the curtain and come out from behind.

What a coincidence! Zhang Caimai didn’t bother to enter the door anymore, so he called out to the girl, “Miss Wen!”

This… could it be the head chef of the kitchen of Guozijian mentioned in the morning?

But when the old man saw Wen Mingtang, his heart suddenly turned cold.

But everyone came over, so he was patient and asked Zhang Caimai: “The cook with good craftsmanship you mentioned is…”

Zhang Caimai pointed to Wen Mingtang who came over and introduced: “This is Xiao Wen. Sir, Zhao Sishan personally recommended her, and I’m determined to make sure those picky young masters of the Guozijizn can’t make a mistake!”

Originally, he thought that this matter should be a certainty and that it was just a show.

As soon as Zhang Caimai said this, the old man’s face immediately turned cold: “No need!” The old man shook his head and said, “She can’t!”

Zhang Caimai immediately became anxious after hearing this: “Why not? Master Jiang, are you afraid that her skills won’t hold up to the stage? That’s okay, you can take one or two exams…”

“It’s nothing to do with skills!” The old man shook his head, interrupted Zhang Caimai’s words unceremoniously, and pointed at Wen Mingtang, and said bluntly, “She looks so pretty, the parents of those students may be the first to disagree!”

As for what’s going on here? The old man didn’t wait for Zhang Caimai to ask, so he started to explain first.

“Why did the cook at the front of the dining hall leave?” The old man said this, still a little angry in his heart: “The Dali Temple in front of us allocated a cook named Zhou to us. What do you think? Some time ago, a 14-year-old student went back and argued with his family about marrying Madam Zhou! The student’s family was angry at the time and ran to the Guozijian for several days!”

As the old man reached this point, he still had an expression of lingering fear. “That cook Zhou from earlier was already like this with just a beautiful appearance. This Wen young lady, with such a stunning appearance, even if she cooks exceptionally well, still our Guozijian kitchen would not dare to take her!”

Zhang Caimai was at a loss for words when he said something, “…”

Wen Mingtang never thought that one day she would be rejected by the head chef because she was not ugly enough. The realization that her appearance had become a barrier was both unexpected and disheartening.

The three were relatively silent for a while.

At this moment, Zhao Lian lifted the curtain and ran out from behind, blushing almost to the point of bleeding: “Sister Wen, my mother is making trouble again, just now she found a white silk and said… If you don’t leave, she will hang herself… I can’t even take it away from her…”

Zhang Caimai and the old man on the side were dumbfounded.

Wen Mingtang also promised Zhao Sishan that he would tell Zhang Caimai what happened in the past two days, so she told him what happened in Zhaoji Restaurant in a few words. He immediately sneered: “She still cries, makes trouble, and hangs herself? Where did she get her face? Yuerou bought it…”

“But Zhao Sishan isn’t here! It’s difficult for an upright official to intervene in family matters, especially when she’s not present, and Zhao Dalang is her own brother. With him around, it does make it troublesome for us to meddle here,” the old man said, rubbing his chin, and glanced somewhat guiltily at Wen Mingtang standing nearby.

It would be okay if she was refused because of her craftsmanship, but the reason for her rejection was that she was not ugly enough… uh, it was really unreasonable.

Right now, seeing that this little lady was about to have no place to stay, Old Man Jiang thought for a while and said, “Actually, I have a ready-made place for her to go!”

Zhang Caimai didn’t expect Liu Shi would come out like this and immediately chase people away by crying, making trouble, and hanging herself. Right now, it was impossible to slowly help Wen Mingtang find another good place. So after hearing the words, he hurriedly asked Old Man Jiang, “Where to go?”

Old Man Jiang picked his teeth and pointed in the direction of Zhuquefang: “The Dali Temple yamen in front of Guozijan kitchen is short of chef!”

Zhang Caimai immediately changed his face when he heard this and refused without thinking: “The Dali Temple yamen chef is not good!”

Old Man Jiang glanced at him, and said: “When do you think you can have such a job as a public chef in the yamen? Except for the Yamen of Dali Temple, it is really hard to find a public kitchen that is short of people!”

Zhang Caimai glanced at Wen Mingtang who was on the side, showing hesitation.

To be honest, if he had time to find a job slowly, he would definitely not let Wen Mingtang go to the public kitchen of Dali Temple! But right now, this little lady Wen was obviously going nowhere! Although it was not impossible to stay at an inn, Miss Wen was alone, and she will also have to consider living alone in the future. It was really not worthwhile to waste money in an inn for nothing.

Glancing at little Wen Mingtang, who was standing there pretty and lively, Old Man Jiang blushed slightly, and touched his nose in embarrassment. Originally, he promised Zhang Caimai to hire her, and he didn’t want to break his promise. But he really didn’t expect this little lady Wen to be born with such a pretty face!

This morning, he was called by Yu Jijiu to give some advice. Yu Jijiu made it clear that new cooks and kitchen helpers, regardless of gender, can’t be good-looking, even if the good-looking ones were the best.

Jiang Laosou also felt that this request was outrageous, so he muttered on the spot: “What you said, it seems that the public kitchen needs to find an ugly monster!”

As soon as the words came out, Yu Jijiu slapped the food table at that time, got up, and said: “We must find an ugly one so that it can’t affect the student’s studies! Maybe if the cooks’ and helpers’ appearances are lacking, it can make the students spend less time eating, and study harder, so that they can leave Guozijian early !”

The Jiang old man was amazed at what he had said. It is worthy of the Dean of the College that he can still think so!

But Yu Jijiu said that, even if he took Miss Wen back, she would not be able to pass Yu Jijiu’s test.

“Why don’t you tell Miss Wen to stay in the public kitchen of the Yamen of Dali Temple for a while, I will help you pay attention these days,” Old Man Jiang said. “The young lady will be transferred there.”

After saying this, seeing that Zhang Caimai was still hesitating, Old Man Jiang said again: “Although the public kitchen of Dali Temple is a bit difficult, it is not without benefits. There is a shortage of people all year round. I heard that the distribution yards for the public cooks and kitchen helpers are all empty. When Wen Shi goes in, she can get a lodging room by herself, which saves the trouble of living with other people. It is a good thing that it is a coincidence. Let’s go!”

Zhang Caimai fell silent.

Taking advantage of this time, Wen Mingtang finally found a chance to interject, and she couldn’t help asking curiously: “Why do you treat the public chef of Dali Temple as the scourge of a scourge?”