Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 666 - 343: Boss Shi

"It’s just that his methods weren’t effective. Several restaurants tried to poach me and Old Zhang at the time, stuffing red envelopes into our hands, and the boss didn’t notice a thing."

"Other restaurants tried to sabotage him, blocking his supply of ingredients, and he didn’t handle it well. The most famous restaurant in Qiu County ran out of ingredients every other day. It drove me to the edge. Sometimes I had to improvise with the dishes, and it almost got to the point where Kung Pao Chicken had no chicken."

Cao Guixiang described a treacherous business battle in simple words, and Qin Huai listened intently, not even noticing when Cao Guixiang had already stir-fried the abalone and sea cucumber and taken them off the heat. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

To say stir-fried might not be entirely accurate. These ingredients were meant for the broth of the stuffed yellow fish. After stir-frying, they were drizzled with clear soup, scallop water, and freshly made shrimp oil to thicken and reduce. In the end, after cooking down a pot, you’re left with just a small bowl, aromatic and rich with a golden-brown hue. Sea cucumber, abalone, scallops, and fresh shrimp are all visible, at first glance looking like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall dish.

With the broth sorted, what’s left is the yellow fish.

Cao Guixiang heated another pot of oil to fry spring onion segments, scooped them out, and began drizzling the hot oil over the yellow fish to make the skin firmer, while continuing to speak:

"Looking back, it was pretty ridiculous to be a chef during peacetime yet feel like you’re living through a famine, always missing this or that. Sometimes using this ingredient as a placeholder, sometimes substituting with that. If the money hadn’t been good, I would’ve quit long ago."

"But it did hone my cooking skills. Before I became a chef in Qiu County, I was a college-educated youth in the countryside. My skills had gotten rusty. If the boss hadn’t been so incompetent and made it tricky for me, I wouldn’t have improved my skills so quickly. In your young people’s words, it was truly a high-intensity challenge for me."

Just as she said this, the oil drizzling was done.

Cao Guixiang poured the freshly made ’broth’ into the belly of the yellow fish, sealed it with shrimp paste, laid shark fin, ham strips, and dried shrimp on top, seasoned it simply, and steamed it.

"Alright, once the broth is poured, the stuffed yellow fish is basically done. Just need to steam it over medium-high heat for a quarter of an hour to serve." Cao Guixiang said, "Sometimes, it’s not that I don’t want to make these big dishes. They really are simple to cook in the end, but the preparation work is too complicated."

"For these 15 minutes of steaming, it takes 15 hours of preparation."

Qin Huai laughed and said, "Master, making snacks is the same; steaming bun only takes a few minutes, but the preparation time is long."

"When my parents first opened the Breakfast Shop, they had to get up by two in the morning every day."

"True, it’s good to have that understanding, not afraid of the trouble." Said Cao Guixiang, habitually laughing as she nodded and continued on with the next dish.

Qin Huai: ... If Zhang Chu practiced more fishing techniques with Cao Guixiang, he would have caught a big fish long ago.

For the rest of the dishes, Cao Guixiang had made them in front of Qin Huai before, so she didn’t explain. To be precise, even explanation wouldn’t be of much use since Qin Huai wouldn’t understand.

"Master, after you resigned, did your boss continue with the restaurant?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

From Cao Guixiang’s description earlier, Qin Huai sensed that her boss was quite lucky.

The boss might be as ineffective as a discardable old graphic card, but with premium staff loyalty maxed out, he was carried through everything.

"Of course not, Old Shi wasn’t originally in the restaurant business. He started as a fisherman, going out to sea to catch fish every day. Times were tough then; lacking cooking ingredients and even reluctant to use oil. Old Shi and those fishermen generally steamed fish and seafood, not even willing to use oil."

"This way of eating was said to preserve the original seafood taste, enjoying it once or twice is fine, but having it year-round was unbearable, smelling it was enough to make one nauseous."

"Old Shi’s family were generations of fishermen, eating like that since childhood, dreaming of the day they’d have their fill of white rice. Later, when policies eased, he didn’t want to be a fisherman anymore, started doing business, trading seafood. He wasn’t good at business but was lucky, made quite a bit. Initially, he was selling seafood."

"Boss Shi originally sold seafood, yet after opening a restaurant still managed to get stuck on supplies?" Qin Huai was stunned.

Compared to Boss Shi, Huang An Yao had his redeeming qualities; at least the Young Master wouldn’t get stuck on supply in such a way.

"That’s why I say Old Shi didn’t know how to do business. He was that kind of person, genuine and believing whatever he was told at first. After getting stuck several times, he started learning business gradually. But it was also because he was sincere that I was willing to work as a chef in his restaurant."

"Back then, Old Zhang and I didn’t even have the qualification to return to the city, wasting several years in the countryside, seeing my two kids grow up and about to start school. The village head helped Old Zhang find a temporary job at the lumber factory in Qiu County. That temporary job salary wasn’t enough to support our family of four. I was already considering borrowing money to set up a stand selling big pot dishes in Qiu County, and that’s when Boss Shi came to us."

"I was skillful, but in those circumstances, it didn’t matter if you were skilled or not. We were out in the rural areas, only famous among a few villages, and your Grandpa Zhang’s carpentry was top-notch too, but without money, connections, or routes, all the tongue work of our village chief only landed him a temporary job despite all the networking."

"At that time, Old Shi was also encouraged to open a restaurant in Qiu County, thinking that since he was in the seafood business, he had supply and wouldn’t get taken advantage of. In the end, his store was ready, but the chef he agreed on bailed last minute. Your village Old Qin Zhishu learned of this and specifically informed our village chief, who then went to see Old Shi, and that’s how I got the job."

"It turned out I worked there for so many years, and the restaurant business thrived so much that Old Shi even stopped his seafood business, spending all his time at the restaurant just waiting for meals."

Qin Huai: ...

Is this Boss Shi related to Han Guishan? How do these two have such luck?

Does he also have an assistant like a Wen Yao Fish?

Zhang Chu, who had been sitting on the sofa playing games, joined in upon hearing Cao Guixiang talk about Boss Shi, agreeing, "Old Shi truly is a good person."

"He not only helped me transition to a permanent position at the lumber factory, but also introduced a lot of side jobs. Later, when we arranged for Chi Yuan and Si Yu to transfer schools to the City, he helped settle their enrollment, allegedly spending quite a bit of money, although Old Shi would never admit he spent it, claiming it was all about his contacts."

Cao Guixiang chuckled, shaking her head, "What contacts does he have? He’s just a stubborn fellow, still that way now."

"The Luzon grouper this time clearly isn’t from his stock. He must have bought it from somewhere with higher quality, yet insists it’s his new batch and even wants to sell it to us at his price."

Qin Huai was shocked, "Huh? The Luzon grouper came from Boss Shi?"

"Yes." Cao Guixiang nodded, "After I resigned, the restaurant closed down. Old Shi wasn’t skilled in running a restaurant, so he went back to his seafood business. Business has been pretty good these years; though not obscenely rich, he earned quite a bit."

"On normal days when I want to make good dishes, I get the ingredients from him. Otherwise, not running a restaurant, my usual orders wouldn’t be big enough to get top-quality goods from regular suppliers."

"Oh right, Gui Xiang, when I went to get supplies a couple of days ago, Old Shi even asked why I suddenly bought so much. I guess he’s planning on coming over to mooch a meal." Said Zhang Chu.

Cao Guixiang replied, "Tell him to come in a couple of days, on the day Xiao Qin leaves. These days Xiao Qin is practicing knife skills and thickening, no time to make shark fin for him."

Zhang Chu scratched his head, "I really don’t get it. Braised shark fin is so delicious, why does he prefer shark fin three ways?"

"By the way, Old Zhang, when Old Shi comes for a meal, make sure you settle the bill for the Yellow Fish. We paid for regular Yellow Fish, but he gave us two 4-jin wild Yellow Fish; the price difference is too much, we need to make it up to him."

Qin Huai: ...

Who said Boss Shi doesn’t understand human relations? He seems well-versed indeed.

An advanced hunter often appears as prey.