Chapter 907: Revelation

Zhou Shijie had only spoken after thinking about it for a while. The moment he asked his question, he focused on Yuan Zhou’s expression while waiting for an answer.

“Carpentry? Not for now,” Yuan Zhou wanted to say not at all, but when he thought about the system’s missions, he decided to not deny it outright.

Otherwise, if the system was to one day require him to work on wood sculpting for the restaurant’s decoration or something, the OCD system would probably request him to learn carpentry or something. Yes, that was totally possible. Yuan Zhou had once read a book where there was a feast known as the Carpenter’s Feast, rumored to be a feast invented by a master carpenter during the Ming Dynasty. That was a master who had once participated in the palace’s renovation and was a carpenter who enjoyed great prestige.

When he was 64 years old, he created his final opus, called the Carpenter’s Feast. Many expert carpenters were invited, and during the feast, numerous dishes that broaden one’s horizons were featured, such as the Nut Striking Meat, Tooth Extraction Bun, Hundred and Thousand Revolutions Choy Sum, and so on. All the dishes were served on exquisite wooden objects.

When Yuan Zhou read about that, he started longing for it as well. Although in cooking, cooking skills were still the core, it was still acceptable to further enhance the cooking with some other skills.

“I should probably get myself on Carpenter Lian’s good side,” Yuan Zhou started preparing for the rainy days.

“Little Yuan, carpentry won’t improve your knife skills. Moreover, it is a domain that involves a lot of heavy lifting and won’t be good for your wrist,” Zhou Shijie started seriously listing the disadvantages of carpentry.

Yuan Zhou nodded when he heard those words. He could often see words such as less salt, less sugar, and so on menus. The actual quantity of “less” was unknown. That was not because the chefs were deliberately mystifying their menu. Rather, the “less” would vary between chefs as they quantify their condiments by the sensations of their hands.

Thus, if Yuan Zhou was truly able to obtain the Carpenter’s Feast and needed to learn carpentry, he would have to take it slow.

When Zhou Shijie saw Yuan Zhou deep in thought, he continued giving earnest advice, “You still need your hands for exquisite sculpting works. If you injure your wrist, it won’t be good.”

“What are you saying, Scamming Zhou? Are you belittling carpentry again? Why is carpentry bad for the hands? Do you even know how to speak?” howled Carpenter Lian as these were the first words he heard the moment he stepped into the room.

“Old swindler, I won’t allow you to continue to vilify me. From now on, you can just dream about getting any good custom-made furniture,” said Carpenter Lian as he glared at Zhou Shijie resentfully.

“That was not what I mean. I am talking to Little Yuan about cooking. Are you deaf? What have you been hearing?” Zhou Shijie spoke righteously, “Moreover, you do not have the qualifications to interrupt our conversations regarding cooking.”

Zhou Shijie was feeling no guilt whatsoever even after having been caught talking bad behind someone’s back. Instead, he doubled down and accused Carpenter Lian of interrupting them.

“Are you sure?” Carpenter Lian eyed the two suspiciously.

“Of course. Am I the type of person that will talk bad behind someone’s back?” Zhou Shijie said.

Yuan Zhou stood there silently. At times like this, it would not be good to side with either of them. And thus, he decided to remain silent.

Naturally, Carpenter Lian did not trust a word of Zhou Shijie. He had no idea what Zhou Shijie was plotting.

The two started bickering again, causing Yuan Zhou to feel helpless. He couldn’t just leave like this as well.

In any case, he wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping on them. His hearing was simply too good while the two were in fact yelling. Yuan Zhou overheard Carpenter Lian shouting that he would absolutely not attend Zhou Shijie’s birthday celebration next month, even if he was invited. As for Zhou Shijie, he shouted that he would never ever invite Carpenter Lian to his birthday celebration and so on.

In the following month, Zhou Shijie would be celebrating his 59th birthday. As the saying went, men would celebrate the nines while women would celebrate the tens. Thus, next month’s celebration would be a major one. Since Zhou Shijie had taken care of Yuan Zhou greatly, he wondered if he should prepare a unique present for Zhou Shijie’s birthday.

Yuan Zhou decided to keep that in his mind. After the exemplary restaurant competition was over, he would start thinking about Zhou Shijie’s birthday present.

Having made up his mind, when he saw that the two were still bickering, he spoke. After all, he still needed to return and prepare for dinner.

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“By the way… chairman, Master Lian, it’s getting late.”

“You’re done, Little Yuan?” Zhou Shijie stopped the insult he was about to throw at Carpenter Lian and asked Yuan Zhou gently.

“Yes,” Yuan Zhou nodded. In truth, he had long been ready, and this was already the second time he was asked this question.

“Ok. Kid, remember. I will be going to your restaurant tomorrow,” Carpenter Lian said with a nod.

This was also the second time Carpenter Lian was saying that, but Yuan Zhou still needed to maintain his manners, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I have already been paid for it, after all,” Carpenter Lian said as he pointed at the plate Yuan Zhou had left behind.

“You sure are paid well. It’s a lost dish, the Three Fragrance to the Ocean. Make sure to make him good furniture,” Zhou Shijie added. He did not seem so previously, but as of this moment, he did seem quite long winded.

Of course, he was doing it for the sake of Yuan Zhou.

“When I’m personally making it, it won’t be of inferior quality,” Carpenter Lian declared confidently.

Zhou Shijie agreed to that and thus he did not say anything else.

“See you tomorrow, Master Lian,” Yuan Zhou nodded and took his leave.

“Ok, you don’t need to send us off. Go see your disciples,” Zhou Shijie waved his hand and left without even turning his head.

When Zhou Shijie stepped out the door, he blanked out slightly as he recalled that the words he had just spoken seemed familiar. But he did not think much about it. Now, they needed to focus on leaving.

Zhou Shijie walked speedily, scared that Yuan Zhou would somehow notice something here that would pique his interest in carpentry.

“I’m not even going to send you off,” Carpenter Lian muttered. But he still stepped outside and only returned to his store after the two vanished from his vision.

“That young man is truly not bad. Unfortunately, he is a chef. If he focuses on carpentry, he will definitely do well,” lamented Carpenter Lian. “It is truly hard to find a young man that is both steady and willing to learn nowadays.”

Then, Carpenter Lian went to his disciples. No matter how he looked at them, he was dissatisfied. Thus, he started reprimanding them.

Zhou Shijie was aware that Yuan Zhou’s parents had already passed away. Thus, he would instinctively treat Yuan Zhou as his family whenever he met Yuan Zhou.

Yuan Zhou was aware of that. As such, he would always listen attentively whenever Zhou Shijie had something to say.

“Good, you are still young. Your topmost focus is to improve your cooking skills. Only skills you have mastered will be yours,” Zhou Shijie said.

“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“Do you have any problems recently? You can always come to me if you have any problems,” Zhou Shijie asked while they walked. “Although there is a generation gap between us, I can still give you an opinion on many things.”

“Chairman Zhou, if you have someone close to you, or to be precise, I don’t know if that can be considered close. But in any case, you see him frequently, and one day, you receive bad news about him and never see him again. Will your heart feel bad about that? Feeling like you lost a closed one, even though you aren’t really that close with him? My words are a mess. Chairman Zhou, do you get what I was trying to say?” Yuan Zhou asked after a long silence.

Yuan Zhou had been holding this in for a very long time. He did not know who he should ask or tell about it. Once upon a time, Yuan Zhou would always keep everything to himself. He had now learned to reveal his emotions to this elder that wasn’t exactly a family.