Chapter 32: Learning by Stealth

Chapter 32: Secretly Learning from the Master

During dinner service, the kitchen was a flurry of activity. Chef Cao kicked a basket of potatoes on the floor and said to Zhao Yu, "Peel every last one of these."

Zhao Yu had just placed a basin of potatoes on the counter when Chef Cao snapped, "Are you blind? Can't you see there's no room on the counter? Why are you putting that there? Get the hell down on the floor and peel them!"

Zhao Yu had no choice but to squat on the floor and peel potatoes while secretly watching Chef Cao work the wok. Chef Cao indeed taught nothing and spent all day yelling, but Zhao Yu wasn't about to take it lying down. Whenever he got the chance, he'd secretly observe the ingredients and heat control Chef Cao used, then jot them down in his phone's notes during bathroom breaks. If the master wouldn't teach, he'd steal the knowledge—every bit he learned was a win.

In contrast, Che Shijie had a much better temper. He had two apprentices under him and not only taught them knife skills but also gave them hands-on opportunities, guiding them almost step by step. Moreover, he was well-liked in the kitchen and got along with everyone except Chef Cao.

"Pop quiz," Che Shijie said to his two apprentices. "What's the key to honey-glazed Spanish pork?"

Before the apprentices could answer, Zhao Yu muttered quietly, "Marinate for ten-plus hours, brush maltose three times and bake three times to get that glassy glaze."

His voice was very soft. After "answering" to himself, he pricked up his ears to listen to their responses, wanting to confirm whether he'd gotten it right.

Chef Cao, standing nearby, glanced down at him unexpectedly.

He barely made it through his shift. After washing the dishes, Zhao Yu had to scrub all of Chef Cao's utensils and the station before he could leave. Today it was potatoes, then carrots, squatting on the floor until his legs were dead. He limped out to the bus stop.

He was so beat his eyes could barely stay open. The second he got home and sank into the tub, he was out cold.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The bathroom door was suddenly knocked on. He jolted awake and realized he was still in the tub. Gu Hansheng leaned against the doorframe. "How much longer you gonna soak?"

Zhao Yu grabbed the edge of the tub and stood up, suddenly remembering he wasn't wearing clothes. He scrambled to grab a towel and wrapped it around his waist. "I'm done. I'll be right out."

After his shower, he headed to the bedroom, drying his hair, and was surprised to find Gu Hansheng sitting on the bed flipping through his notebook. He'd been writing down everything he'd swiped every day—even though he'd only been on the job a couple days, the notebook was already packed with pages.

His handwriting was, to put it nicely, wild; to put it bluntly, chicken scratch. Gu Hansheng's brows furrowed as he looked at it. He'd never seen such a messy, hot-mess notebook. "This is what you've been learning?"

"There's still some good stuff in here, right?" Hearing the doubt in his voice, Zhao Yu sat down next to him and pointed at a blob of ink in the notebook. "This symbol means heat control—high heat to reduce the sauce, medium heat to slow simmer. I suddenly remembered I forgot the cooking time, so I squeezed this line into the margin. And this—this is the plating for my master's signature dish. Decent drawing, right? The writing's a bit ugly, but there's not a single wasted word..."

He was so focused on breaking down his notes that he didn't realize he'd turned Gu Hansheng into a notebook stand. Gu Hansheng didn't seem to notice either, sitting perfectly still while Zhao Yu rambled on.

Water dripped from the tips of his hair onto the back of Gu Hansheng's hand. Zhao Yu looked up and realized they were barely a fist's width apart—one more inch and they'd be kissing.

For a split second, he almost thought they'd kiss, but the moment passed and he quickly leaned back.

Gu Hansheng was never gonna kiss him.

They hooked up, but Gu Hansheng never kissed him. No matter how close their bodies got, there was still a wall between them. Moments like this—being close without the tension—had almost never happened before.

Gu Hansheng felt the awkwardness too. He closed the notebook and set it on the table, cutting the moment short, and gestured for Zhao Yu to come to bed. He hadn't come here to hear about Zhao Yu's work day anyway.

Zhao Yu obediently slipped off his robe and climbed onto the bed. The second he put weight on his knees, his calf seized up.

"What's wrong?" Gu Hansheng noticed something was wrong.

"Nothing." Zhao Yu gritted his teeth and bore it.

He knew damn well the restaurant job was secondary—his main job was serving Gu Hansheng. If he got his priorities twisted and pissed off Gu Hansheng, he'd lose the restaurant job. So no matter how beat he was, he didn't dare say a word.

Gu Hansheng knew exactly what he was thinking but didn't call him out. Chef Cao at Yatai was famously hot-tempered in the industry, and the restaurant manager had given him a heads-up, so he knew exactly what Zhao Yu was dealing with under him. He'd figured Zhao Yu would quit within a few days, but he'd stuck it out so far.

Zhao Yu choosing to put up with all this was his own call. Gu Hansheng had no obligation to hold back his desires just to be nice to him.

Yet when Zhao Yu stubbornly insisted he was fine while clearly hurting, it got under Gu Hansheng's skin. Zhao Yu's body belonged to him—that was how it should be—but this body was always banged up, and it bugged him.

...

Zhao Yu's lower back was killing him. He started to think Gu Hansheng was doing it on purpose—why else would he go even harder on the day Zhao Yu was at his worst? The goal must've been to make him complain and beg for mercy, so he'd willingly stay home and be kept like a pet.

But in reality, it was the opposite. Gu Hansheng had actually held back a lot compared to his usual do-whatever-the-hell-he-wanted ways. It was just that Zhao Yu's body was so wiped that he felt the discomfort twice as much.

The alarm didn't go off in the morning. When Zhao Yu jolted awake from sleep, the sun was already high in the sky. His phone had been turned off by someone. He sprang out of bed, holding his lower back as he limped out of the bedroom, and saw the housekeeper making lunch.

"You're awake?" the housekeeper said. "Mr. Gu said you don't need to go to work today. Take a rest—lunch will be ready soon."

He quickly called the restaurant manager and learned that Gu Hansheng had requested the day off for him. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was just a day off, not him quitting on Zhao Yu's behalf.

Having a day off forced on him for no reason made Zhao Yu a bit unhappy. After thinking it over, he decided to ignore Gu Hansheng's request and went to work after lunch anyway.

Blondie was shocked to see him. "You didn't run away?"

"It was just a day off. Where's my master?" Zhao Yu asked.

"Taking a nap in the back."

Zhao Yu peeked in and saw Chef Cao sleeping, so he didn't disturb him. He looked around and pulled out the ingredients Chef Cao would need for the afternoon to prep them.

Two hours later, Chef Cao came out from his break and saw Zhao Yu washing conch. He said irritably, "Why are you still here? If you don't want to work, then don't come!"

Zhao Yu looked up at him. "Master, I took a leave of absence. You should know that."

Chef Cao snorted. "Is that how you wash them? Use a brush, change the water again, and use a small brush for the opening."

In the past, Zhao Yu would only get yelled at for making mistakes. This was the first time he'd received actual "guidance." He said loudly, "Yes! Thank you for the guidance, Master!"

Chef Cao glared at him. "What guidance? Nonsense! Get back to work!"

Blondie watched them talk and whispered to Fatty beside him, "Look at that. He really loves being abused. What's the point of doing all that work?"

"Why are you so obsessed with what he's doing? You're not jealous, are you?" Fatty teased. "After all, you couldn't survive Chef Cao's torment and ran off to Chef Che."

"Get lost. Don't you know the saying 'If this place won't have me, somewhere else will'? I'm not as stubborn as this kid. He's just some guy who got in through connections—who knows if he even knows how to cook."

Blondie had originally come to apprentice under Chef Cao too. He'd gone through a rigorous selection process to get into Yatai, full of passion at first, but after a few days of grinding, he couldn't take it and switched to Che Shijie. But seeing Zhao Yu work without complaint made him feel uneasy. Someone else's perseverance was like a mockery of his own retreat.

When the dinner rush started, Blondie kept sneaking glances at what Zhao Yu was doing, completely distracted. When he snapped back to attention, he realized he'd added dark soy sauce twice. Dark soy sauce has strong coloring, so the black truffle fried rice noodles had turned extremely dark, and the taste would definitely be too salty.

The front of house started calling for the dish. Blondie looked at the dwindling black truffle sauce and his expression turned grim. If he didn't get the dish out on time, he'd be punished, and he'd have to go out and apologize to the customer—he'd lose all face.

He was racking his brain for a solution when suddenly the wok let out a sizzle. Someone had poured a bowl of sauce into it, followed by a voice at his ear: "Stir-fry it a couple times, quick."

He instinctively tossed the noodles a couple of times, and the sauce washed away some of the dark soy color. He turned in surprise and saw Zhao Yu's face.

"Looks decent, right?" Zhao Yu raised an eyebrow.

"Who asked you to stick your nose—"

Before Blondie could finish, Chef Cao noticed them huddled together suspiciously and said, "What are you two doing?! The front is calling for the dish! What's going on?!"

Blondie's face fell. "I added too much dark soy sauce and ruined it. But this amateur decided to butt in and added some random stuff!"

Chef Cao frowned deeply. He picked up a bite of the fried noodles, ready to taste it and start yelling, but as soon as it hit his mouth, his expression turned to surprise. He dipped his chopsticks into the remaining sauce in the bowl and looked at Zhao Yu. "You made this?"

Zhao Yu said, "Yeah."

"What did you put in it?"

"Chicken stock, sugar, oyster sauce, and white vinegar."

"Where did you learn this recipe?"

"You used these exact ingredients last time—I saw it all."

Cao Xu gave him a surprised look, set down his chopsticks, and said to Blondie, "Plate it. It's ready to go out."

Blondie's eyes widened in disbelief, and he immediately grabbed a bite himself. Not only had the sauce washed away some of the dark color, but it had also balanced out the salty bitterness of the dark soy sauce. He never would've guessed that Zhao Yu, the guy who'd gotten in through connections, could save the day like that. His face went black as a pot bottom as he plated the dish and grudgingly set it on the pass.

After the dinner rush, Blondie stewed over it, getting angrier by the minute. He couldn't help but go to Cao Xu: "Chef Cao, why are you playing favorites? Just 'cause he's got connections, you teach him and not me? I got in through the proper tryouts—how's that fair?"

Cao Xu said, "I didn't teach him."

"If you didn't teach him, how'd he come up with that sauce by himself?"

"Zhao Yu!" Cao Xu called out.

Zhao Yu set down the pot he was scrubbing, wiped his hands on his apron, and walked over. "What's up, Chef?"

Blondie said excitedly, "Don't bother calling him over. Even if he peeked and copied, how could he nail the ratios just by looking?"

Cao Xu said, "I was just about to ask that. Zhao Yu, tell me—how'd you get the ratios right?"

Zhao Yu said, "Last time you made it, there was some left in the bowl, so I took it. I tried it a few times on my own until I got the ratios down."

Blondie still didn't believe it. "By yourself? Are your taste buds really that good?! If the ratios are even a little off, the flavor won't be right!"

Zhao Yu shrugged. "It really was trial and error. Don't believe me, that's on you."

Blondie was about to argue further, but Cao Xu cut him off: "Enough. Use that time to think about why you screwed up so bad! What were you thinking on the clock? Clueless! Someone cleans up your mess, and you're still griping? Don't wanna work, then get lost!"

Blondie was burning with humiliation, but since Cao Xu had laid down the law, he couldn't push it further. He shot them a dirty look and stormed off.

Zhao Yu was about to go back to scrubbing pots when Cao Xu stopped him. Cao Xu scooped up a spoonful of the sauce nearby. "Taste this and tell me what's in it."

Zhao Yu took a taste, savoring it as he thought, then answered, "Chicken stock base, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom... plus rock sugar, pepper, scallions, and ginger... and there should be some yellow wine in there too."

Cao Xu studied him. "Have you always had such a keen sense of taste?"

"Yeah." Zhao Yu nodded.

If it weren't for his freakishly sharp palate as a kid, he wouldn't have taken one sip of that nasty mushroom soup and nearly puked.

Cao Xu thought for a moment. "In a week, I want you to make me a smoked silver pomfret."