The Game of Life-Chapter 663 - 661: Cutting Corners with Advanced Technology

Chapter 663: Chapter 661: Cutting Corners with Advanced Technology

After Peng Changping had assigned tasks to everyone, he went to brew a cup of tea in Lu Sheng’s office. He leisurely strolled around the kitchen with the tea to check on everyone’s progress.

Lu Sheng had recently bought several tins of fine Pu’er tea especially for Peng Changping. In fact, Lu Sheng’s office was already well-stocked with Pu’er. Every time Lu Sheng showed Jiang Feng his prized tea collection, the only teas Jiang could remember were Pu’er and Maojian. Jiang always felt like all the teas in his cabinet were Pu’er.

The task Jiang Feng was assigned was to watch the chicken soup, which was actually just a broth that required neither skimming nor temperature control. All he had to do was make sure that the pot of broth, about to glow and heat up, didn’t spoil at the last minute.

This job was right up his alley and it was simple. He could even chat with the people next to him.

Unfortunately, no one beside him had the time to chat, as everyone else assigned a task was bustling about, too busy to spare a moment. This lively and vibrant scene inexplicably reminded him of Yonghe House he had seen before in his memory.

Though there weren’t many people, it was lively and harmonious. There were those like Peng Changping who worked quietly, and others like Qin Guisheng who focused on slacking off. There was Cao Guixiang, preoccupied with girlish concerns, and Master Peng who seemed to understand everything yet said nothing.

...

Now, Yonghe House had a bit of that old flavor.

Xu Cheng had originally come to deliver some ingredients in his free time that afternoon. He had wanted to take the opportunity to have a good chat with Peng Changping, but the conversation turned into a professional interview as they talked.

“Master Peng, I remember you just mentioned that you’re preparing a Swallow-wing Feast tonight. Is that the same Swallow-wing Feast I wanted to taste years ago?” Xu Cheng asked.

Peng Changping nodded slightly and explained, “As you can see, to make a Swallow-wing Feast, I need all these disciples to help me at the same time. When you wanted to taste the Swallow-wing Feast back then, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to make it for you—it’s just that we truly couldn’t manage it at the time.”

Of course, Xu Cheng understood, but what he really cared about wasn’t that, “I just took a look at the ingredients. The Swallow-wing Feast you’re preparing seems to have a few more dishes than the one Yonghe House used to sell. I’m just wondering if these dishes were developed by you over the years abroad or…?”

As soon as Xu Cheng finished asking, Lu Sheng’s face changed. Although it was subtle, Jiang Feng felt that even his speech trembled, “Oh, Mr. Xu, look at my memory. I forgot to give you that tin of tea I promised you last time. I just can’t remember which one you wanted. Why don’t you go to my office and pick it out yourself?”

Xu Cheng naturally caught Lu Sheng’s underlying message and immediately shut his mouth, obediently nodding and following Lu Sheng out.

The casual conversation between the three men was cut short as two of them left, leaving only Peng Changping and Jiang Feng, who had been listening on the sidelines. Jiang Feng just heard Xu Cheng mention the Swallow-wing Feast again and wasn’t sure if the Tan Family Cuisine banquet at Yonghe House was actually the Swallow-wing Feast. According to the youngest of the bunch, the Tan Family Cuisine banquet indeed had two fewer dishes than the Swallow-wing Feast, specifically the two most difficult ones: the bird’s nest and the sea cucumber dishes.

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Without the bird’s nest, it really couldn’t be considered a Swallow-wing Feast anymore.

After Xu Cheng and Lu Sheng left, Peng Changping put down his tea and went around to give pointers to the kitchen staff. The one responsible for soaking the bird’s nests was Peng Changping’s own disciple, the main chef of Yonghe House, who was quite elderly. Jiang Feng remembered his last name seemed to be Chi. Chef Chi, due to his age, rarely came to work at Yonghe House, holding the title of main chef but hardly cooking. He had been squatting daily at Yonghe House recently, only because Peng Changping had returned and practically wished he could sleep there with his bedding.

With this in mind, Lu Sheng seemed to be at a loss. With Peng Changping’s arrival, all the oldest members, who had started to raise birds and fish for leisure, were now clocked in daily. Lu Sheng was probably going to pay out a lot in overtime wages.

Chef Chi, having been scolded by Peng Changping for using a solution with alkali to soak the bird’s nests, was now being particularly cautious. The bird’s nests in the bowl were like snowflakes that would melt at the slightest touch of warmth.

“Have you all been soaking the bird’s nest with alkali during these years?” Peng Changping asked as he strolled around before stopping next to Chef Chi.

“Right… right,” responded Chef Chi, looking like a grade-schooler who got a failing math score and dared not face his parents for fear of being punished. “It’s not all with alkali, it starts with soaking in near-boiling water for several hours before using the alkali solution.”

“That won’t do either. Since you started here, I’ve told you, the most famous dishes of Tan Family Cuisine are the bird’s nest and the shark fin. There are different styles for bird’s nest dishes, such as clear soup, chicken minced, white braised, and Buddha’s hand, but regardless of the style, you cannot use alkali for soaking. To fully preserve the original taste of the bird’s nest, it must be soaked only in warm water. The clear soup willow-leaf bird’s nest is what you did just now. That dish doesn’t require preserving the original flavor completely, but remember, when it’s Tan Family Cuisine, the original flavor is what matters most!”

“You haven’t all been making the bird’s nest dishes this way for the Swallow-wing Feast these years, have you?” Peng Changping asked.

“No, we haven’t been making bird’s nest dishes,” Chef Chi quickly replied.

Jiang Feng, who had been eavesdropping, was puzzled: ?

Peng Changping was also puzzled: ?

“Haven’t been making bird’s nest dishes?” Peng Changping looked confused.

Chef Chi was somewhat conflicted, but with his master standing right in front of him staring at him, he didn’t have the smoothness of Lu Sheng and spilled the beans in seconds, “Master, when you went abroad that year, you took the third disciple with you. Originally, when we prepared the Swallow-wing Feast, the third disciple was responsible for handling the bird’s nest dishes. We knew how to make them, but we rarely got hands-on experience. After you went abroad, we tried many times to get it right, but no matter what, it just wasn’t the same. Just soaking it in warm water and then steaming with chicken broth—the dish doesn’t come out smoothly without falling apart, even when using the best Siam tributes bird’s nest, and old customers could tell right away.”

“Later, we wrote to you too, but it’s hard to grasp just from reading the letter. You know, none of us brothers are very educated; we can’t even recognize all the characters, and every time you sent a letter, we had to have someone else read it to us. We could recite that letter by heart, but we just couldn’t make the dishes right, and there was nothing else we could do.”

Regret was written all over Chef Chi’s face.

Peng Changping didn’t know what to say for a moment, choked up with words.

“And… what about the shark’s fin?” Peng Changping suddenly had a bad feeling.

“You know about the shark’s fin. For the Swallow-wing Feast back in the day, all the shark’s fin dishes were personally prepared by you. At most, we helped with soaking and prepping. You were most skilled at braised shark’s fin, which you stewed on a low flame for six hours, and you insisted on using Lu Song’s yellow shark’s fin, never letting us interfere, fearing a single mistake. When you were still here, the highlight of the Swallow-wing Feast was the braised shark’s fin—so many customers traveled miles just for that dish. After you went to America, sure, we could make shark’s fin dishes, but we could only make the ones you seldom cooked, like shark’s fin with crab roe or minced chicken shark’s fin. We could manage the braised tri-streak shark’s fin at most. If we tried to make braised shark’s fin, the old customers would taste it and know something was off. It would ruin the reputation, so we switched from braised shark’s fin to shark’s fin with crab roe. And only in recent years did I feel I slowly figured out the trick to braised shark’s fin before we switched it back.”

Hearing his disciple’s explanation, Peng Changping could finally breathe a sigh of relief—the signature dish hadn’t been lost, which was what mattered most.

“But there’s something else…” Chef Chi revealed the crux of the matter.

Peng Changping: ?

“The shark’s fin dishes could be changed, but the sea cucumber couldn’t. The fourth dish of the original Swallow-wing Feast, the Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber, was set by the founder, and you’ve said it cannot be altered. But the thing is, we just can’t reproduce the level of quality you set for the Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber. The finished dish always seems to lack the proper fire control, and we didn’t dare to serve it under the name of the Swallow-wing Feast and bring shame upon Tan Family Cuisine,” Chef Chi said with difficulty.

Peng Changping: …

Peng Changping asked with some struggle, “With no bird’s nest dish and no sea cucumber, how did you manage the Swallow-wing Feast?”

Chef Chi swallowed hard, “We just…”

“Just didn’t say anything.”

Jiang Feng: ???

??????????

“That idea was Mr. Lu’s. We sold the Swallow-wing Feast as usual, but we never said it was the Swallow-wing Feast. We only reduced dishes instead of altering them. New customers had no idea, and old customers would think it was just a changed banquet. Over time, this cut-down version of the Swallow-wing Feast became known as the Tan Family Cuisine Banquet. Last year when Mr. Huang had his ninetieth birthday, he asked us why Yonghe House hadn’t been selling the Swallow-wing Feast for years.”

Jiang Feng felt Peng Changping wanted to hit someone.

And indeed, Peng Changping felt like hitting someone too, except he couldn’t seem to swing the hammer.

If he were to swing it, he probably needed to hit himself first.

“You guys…” Peng Changping wanted to say something but ended up stopping himself, just helplessly shaking his head.

“If only you had made things clearer in the letters, I would’ve come back,” Peng Changping sighed.

He thought everything had been well arranged and the home front stable before he had left for abroad. Little did he expect not only was it unstable, but also fraught with pitfalls, and every single one of his disciples had fallen in without climbing back out.

“Enough, at least I’m back now, and there’s still time. Are the bird’s nests soaked yet? If they’re ready, I’ll teach you… never mind you, let your disciple come over. You just watch from the side.”

Chef Chi: QAQ