Chapter 33: Let’s Just Smooth Things Over

Chapter 33: Let's Just Let It Slide

At the main entrance of Yatai Restaurant, the secretary saw Wan Shaohui off into his car, then turned to Gu Hansheng and said, "Mr. Gu, want me to call you a driver?"

Gu Hansheng glanced at the time—9:30, the restaurant was about to close—and said, "Nah, you head out first."

"Alright." The secretary walked to the roadside to hail a taxi, glanced back, and saw that Gu Hansheng seemed to be waiting for someone. She thought to herself, no wonder he changed the dinner location to Yatai at the last minute—he must have other plans to meet someone else.

At ten o'clock, Zhao Yu clocked out, rolling his stiff shoulders as he headed out. He suddenly noticed a Mercedes-Maybach S680 parked by the roadside, the license plate very familiar. He craned his neck and walked over, just as his gaze met Gu Hansheng's through the car window.

"Get in," Gu Hansheng said.

For a split second, Zhao Yu thought Gu Hansheng had come specifically to pick him up, but when he got in and caught the faint smell of alcohol, he realized Gu Hansheng had been at Yatai for a business dinner, and picking him up was just a convenient stop. He felt a bit embarrassed—he'd almost read too much into it again.

The designated driver sat up front, and the two of them sat in the back. Zhao Yu automatically pressed closer to the door and rolled down the window.

"What, you don't wanna ride in my car?" Gu Hansheng asked.

"No," Zhao Yu said. "I reek of fish."

After a moment of silence, Gu Hansheng asked again, "Didn't I tell you to take the day off?"

Zhao Yu said, "I was bored out of my mind at home... I didn't do much today, just light work."

Gu Hansheng said nothing more. He'd been nice enough to cut Zhao Yu some slack, but Zhao Yu didn't appreciate it and just had to go make things harder for himself, so there was nothing to say.

The silence in the car got heavy. Zhao Yu leaned against the window, letting the breeze blow over him, rubbing his red, swollen fingers together. He knew that coming to work against Gu Hansheng's wishes would tick him off, but he'd also noticed that every time Gu Hansheng got angry, it was all bark and no bite.

Studying Gu Hansheng's erratic attitude toward Zhao Yu would be a whole research project. Zhao Yu didn't have the ability to analyze Gu Hansheng's psychology, but he had an almost animal instinct, and a boldness that grew with every risk he took.

As he'd expected, Gu Hansheng didn't lose his temper, and even let him ride in the luxury car.

...

Blondie was furious. The moment he stepped out of Yatai, he kicked a trash can over by the roadside. Watching Zhao Yu drive off in a Maybach, he was seething with jealousy.

He didn't buy a single word Cao Xu said. If Zhao Yu's palate was really that good, he'd have made a name for himself in the industry long ago—how could he still be a nobody in the kitchen? Absolutely impossible. Cao Xu had to be secretly teaching him. It was only 'cause Zhao Yu had money and pull that Cao Xu treated him different.

He couldn't get over the humiliation he'd suffered under Cao Xu. He'd practiced his knife skills late into the night, but Cao Xu never even noticed his hard work. The more he thought about it, the more it pissed him off. If he'd had connections too, he wouldn't have been treated like a grunt.

He hated that others had money, hated how unfair the world was, and hated that his own skills went unnoticed.

After mulling it over, he couldn't let it go. An idea hit him, and he called a friend: "Bro, when are you free to come grab a bite at Yatai?"

"Yatai?! I can't afford that place!"

"I got you, man. My treat."

...

Smoked silver pomfret was Cao Xu's signature dish. Traditional smoked fish used carp, but silver pomfret has a different texture, so the preparation was completely different. The marinade required at least twelve ingredients and was made once a week. Zhao Yu had never actually seen Cao Xu make the sauce, so he didn't know the proportions of the ingredients. He could only rely on his keen palate, tasting and tweaking as he went.

Of course, most of his time was still spent on menial tasks. He could only squeeze in a few minutes here and there during breaks to test the sauce. Cao Xu didn't say anything, but let him learn by watching.

Zhao Yu gradually realized that Cao Xu wasn't as bad as people said. On the contrary, he wore his heart on his sleeve. It was precisely because he couldn't be bothered with playing nice that he'd offended everyone around him. And yet, such a blunt man could still hold his own in a top-tier restaurant—that alone proved how skilled he was. This only made Zhao Yu more determined to learn from him.

During dinner service, Zhao Yu wiped down the stove while watching Cao Xu fry the fish, mentally noting the heat and oil temperature. Suddenly, the manager walked over and said, "Chef Cao, you've got a complaint. Come deal with it."

This was the first complaint Zhao Yu had seen since he started working there. Yatai's kitchen ran a tight ship. From ingredients to prep to final tasting, the head chef checked everything. Anything even slightly off got tossed and redone. Whenever there was a complaint, whoever cooked the dish had to go out and explain to the customer in person. If Cao Xu was being called out, it meant someone had a problem with his food.

The kitchen staff exchanged glances. Che Shijie clapped his hands and said, "Quit standing around, keep working!"

Zhao Yu silently wiped the grease off the stove, a knot forming in his stomach.

A few minutes later, Cao Xu still hadn't returned. Zhao Yu dropped a dish at the pass and asked the food runner, "What's going on with Chef Cao? Is he still dealing with that customer?"

The food runner lowered his voice: "Not yet. That customer is being unreasonable—he's about to blow up."

Zhao Yu's gut said this was bad. With Cao Xu's temper, if he actually threw down with a customer, it'd be a disaster. He wiped his hands clean, straightened his uniform, made sure he didn't look like a mess for the restaurant, and pushed open the door to the kitchen.

As he reached the dining area, he heard the customer yelling.

"The customer's always right, you know? I said this dish tastes bad, so it's bad! I don't wanna hear your excuses!"

They'd been arguing for several minutes, and the surrounding guests were already fed up, watching the whole thing with annoyed looks. The assistant manager hurried over to smooth things over with the other guests, moving them to private rooms.

The manager gave an apologetic smile and said, "Our head chef has already explained to you—this is how the dish is supposed to taste. If it's not to your taste, we can replace it with something else for free, or comp the dish entirely. Would that be acceptable?"

"What flavor? It's so bad, and you call it flavor? It tastes like crap!"

Cao Xu shot back, "You say it's bad, but you can't even tell me if it's too salty, too sour, or too spicy. I've never eaten crap, so I wouldn't know."

The man suddenly stood up and pointed at him: "What do you mean?! Huh?! Who the hell are you calling crap?!"

The manager quickly stepped between them: "Chef Cao, step back. I got this."

The man added, "He can't leave! Bullying customers because you're a big name? A chef insulting a customer—where's the justice in that?"

Cao Xu didn't want to argue with him and turned to leave, but the man reached out and grabbed him. Cao Xu swung his arm and shoved him away. The man stumbled back a few steps and shouted, "He hit me! The chef hit someone! His food is terrible and he won't admit it—it's garbage, absolute garbage! Should've been dumped in the toilet!"

That finally set Cao Xu off. He spun around, furious. The manager, alarmed, tried to stop him but Cao Xu shoved him aside like he weighed nothing.

The man stared at Cao Xu with a taunting look, waiting for him to throw a punch so he could blow the whole thing out of proportion.

This was the plan he and Blondie had cooked up. Blondie had said that the one thing Cao Xu couldn't take was someone criticizing his cooking, so the man deliberately hit him right where it hurt to provoke him into a fight in the restaurant. No matter how much pull Cao Xu had, getting into a fight with a customer would never end well—they wanted to make it bad enough that he'd get canned.

The plan was working perfectly. Cao Xu was about to blow his top right there in the dining room. But just then, someone suddenly stepped in, wedging himself between them and blocking Cao Xu.

"Chef, not worth it!" Zhao Yu physically shoved Cao Xu back, lowering his voice: "He's probably here specifically to cause trouble for you. Arguing with him is useless. Let the manager handle it."

Zhao Yu had seen all kinds of sketchy people at Guo Lin's restaurant, and he could tell at a glance what the man was up to. Seeing the situation about to blow up, he'd rushed over to stop it.

Hearing this, Cao Xu finally snapped out of it. Though still angry, he kept himself in check and didn't push it further.

Seeing Cao Xu calm down and about to leave, the man grew anxious: "What the hell? The head chef just walks away like that? What kind of service is this?!"

The manager had already noticed something was off with him and his tone turned cold: "The best we can do is comp everything you ordered. If you're still not satisfied, then we can't serve you anymore. You've already bothered the other customers—please leave."

The man thought to himself, if he didn't pull this off, the three thousand yuan Blondie had promised would be for nothing. So he gritted his teeth and lunged at Cao Xu again.

Zhao Yu naturally wouldn't let him get away with that. He blocked his path and said, "Buddy, that's enough. You want security to drag you out?"

"Who the hell are you? I'm talking to the head chef—what's it to you? Get out of my way."

He shoved Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu neither stepped aside nor fought back, just grabbed his clothes to hold him back. As they tussled, the man knocked over a table, sending plates and glasses crashing to the floor. He stumbled and dragged Zhao Yu down with him as they both tumbled to the ground.

Cao Xu quickly turned back to help, and by then the assistant manager had arrived with the security guards, finally managing to pull the guy off.

"Hey! You think you can push customers around?! I'm calling the police!" the man shouted.

"You've done all of this, and it's all on camera!" the manager said angrily. "You were the one who tried to assault our chef first, and none of our chefs fought back! You want to call the police? Fine! Let's go to the police station right now!"

At that, the man backed down. He knew very well he was in the wrong—he had hit Zhao Yu several times during the scuffle, and that kid had held back and not fought back at all. If they went to the police station, he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Cao Xu glanced at Zhao Yu's face and immediately said to the assistant manager, "Please go get the first aid kit. He's injured."

A shard of glass from the fall had nicked Zhao Yu's jaw. The cut was tiny, and Zhao Yu hadn't even felt it—he only noticed when he touched it and felt a little blood seeping out.

Seeing this, the manager said to Zhao Yu, "Don't worry, we've got your back. Do you want us to call the police for you?"

The man said, "Hey, hey, hey! That's not on me! He hurt himself! I'm not calling the police!"

The manager waited for Zhao Yu to respond. Zhao Yu said, "Forget it, it's just a minor injury."

He didn't want to get mixed up with the police again—that was also part of the reason he hadn't fought back during the scuffle. In his old temper, he'd have flipped the guy and thrown a couple of punches, instead of taking this kind of hit without fighting back. But every time there was a dispute, it always rubbed Gu Hansheng the wrong way, and he didn't want to leave Gu Hansheng with the impression that he was always causing trouble. Since this was just a minor injury, he decided to just let it slide and keep the peace.

"See! He said it's just a minor injury!" the man shouted.

"The restaurant's losses are no small thing. If you won't call the police, I will!" the manager shot back with a glare, then said to Cao Xu, "Chef Cao, take Xiao Zhao downstairs. I'll handle the rest."

The assistant manager arrived with the first aid kit and found an empty private room. Zhao Yu went in to disinfect and bandage the wound. Cao Xu took the iodine and cotton swabs. "Let me do it."

Zhao Yu looked up, and the iodine brushed over the wound, bringing a slight sting.

"You've got more patience than me, not fighting back even then," Cao Xu said.

Zhao Yu smiled. "Is that a compliment? How about you tell me the ratio for the smoked fish sauce?"

"In your dreams," Cao Xu said. "Even if you stepped up, the assessment criteria haven't changed. Alright, you're off early today. Get some rest."

"Author's Note"

Children's Day Mini-Skit

Xiao Yu: Bro, Happy Children's Day! [Cat ears cute.jpg]

Gu: [Stares at the image for thirty minutes] | [Savors it] | [Savors it again*2]

Wishing everyone a Happy Children's Day—may you always be a kid at heart.