Chef Hua
Chapter 331: Episode 189 Opponent_2

Chapter 331: Episode 189 Opponent_2

It was late morning, and since the restaurant had not yet opened for customers, it appeared somewhat deserted. A few waiters were lazily cleaning the hall while the shopkeeper stood behind the counter, busily flipping through a ledger which rustled loudly.

Hua Xiaomai, leading two others, strolled into the restaurant and approached the counter. Seeing the slightly familiar-looking shopkeeper, she smiled and asked, "Excuse me, is Mister Zhao present in the restaurant now?"

"This lady is..." The shopkeeper looked up and scrutinized her face, suddenly realizing, "Are you, miss, surnamed Hua, the one married to Meng, the leader of Shun Escort Agency?"

"You’ve seen me before?" Hua Xiaomai was slightly surprised, raising her eyebrows.

"How could I not have seen? You probably don’t remember!" the shopkeeper exclaimed, clapping his hands excitedly, "A few years ago, my master was deceived by a swindler and bought a batch of fake spices. It was thanks to your reminder that we avoided a great loss! I wasn’t present that day, but I heard my master mention it repeatedly later on. I was also there at the Spring Wine Banquet you cooked for in Lianshun Escort Agency, and I met you once. I must say, for someone so young, you are remarkably capable! It’s truly impressive!"

"Oh, I see." Hua Xiaomai smiled slightly and said, "Perhaps it was too busy in the kitchen that day, and although we met, I didn’t quite notice. Please don’t mind that. So... Is Mister Zhao here now? I..."

"Yes, yes!" Before she could finish, the shopkeeper eagerly replied, gesturing towards the backyard with a smile, "Fortunately, today we just received a new batch of spices. The master is inspecting them now. If he knows you’ve come, he will certainly be very pleased."

After saying this, he instructed the waiters to keep an eye on the shop and led Hua Xiaomai to the backyard of Chunfeng Restaurant.

In the large courtyard, several large burlap sacks of spices were indeed laid out. The aroma was so intense that as soon as one entered, the scent of mint and other spices instantly invigorated the spirit.

Perhaps hearing footsteps, Mister Zhao immediately turned around. Upon seeing Hua Xiaomai, he indeed smiled broadly.

"Ah, it’s Xiaomai! Your visit today couldn’t be timelier!" He waved her over familiarly and greeted, "Long time no see, how have you been? I happened to be preoccupied during your marriage to Yuhuai, or I certainly would have attended to congratulate you. How has married life been treating you?"

Hua Xiaomai exchanged pleasantries with him, just about to explain her purpose for visiting, when he pointed to one of the sacks and said, "Since you’re here, just help me check these spices I’ve bought. You have a discerning eye, and now that you run your own restaurant, if you think they’re good, they must be!"

"With the masters at the restaurant taking care of things for you, where is there room for my opinions?" Hua Xiaomai’s mind wasn’t on this subject, and she didn’t want to delay any longer. She subconsciously tried to refuse and waved her hand, saying, "I am here today to..."

Unexpectedly, before she could finish her sentence, Master Zhao shook his head repeatedly and sighed deeply, "Don’t mention it, just talking about this makes me feel terrible. Usually, the ingredients delivered to the store were inspected by Fatty Wei. These past two days, he has been causing trouble, demanding more pay, which I refused. Now he’s thrown a tantrum and has been missing for three to five days! Thankfully, I have other chefs in this restaurant, or else I wouldn’t be able to carry on with business! I told you before about his temper that I could no longer endure. If only you would agree to take charge of the kitchen, why would I need to tolerate him? Ah—speaking of it just troubles my heart. Xiaomai girl, just help me out and check these spices, will you?"

Only then did Hua Xiaomai realize that Fatty Wei was indeed nowhere to be seen. With no other choice, she let Ma Qiang and He Fusheng wait on the side while she settled down to take star anise, tsao-ko, and other items out of the cloth bag to inspect their shape and taste carefully.

"These are all good quality." After a while, she finally stood up, dusted her hands off, and said with a smile to Master Zhao, "This batch of spices is all genuine, you can rest assured."

Master Zhao heaved a sigh of relief and repeatedly said, "This time the silver taels were not spent in vain," then waved his hands, instructing the workers to move the items into the storeroom. It was only then that he remembered he had not yet asked about Hua Xiaomai’s purpose for visiting, and so he said, "Xiaomai girl, you came to see me today for some business, right?"

Hua Xiaomai thought to herself that making a business deal was truly not an easy task, but she still kept a smile on her face and took a small sauce jar from Ma Qiang, bringing it directly to Master Zhao: "I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I have recently opened a Sauce Garden selling various homemade sauces. I have specially brought some for you to taste today; I hope you won’t find them too inferior."

Master Zhao took the sauce jar, sniffed it near his nose, and laughed heartily: "You girl, why don’t you just say it outright? You clearly want to sell the sauce to me, yet you cunningly claim it’s just for me to taste—we are old acquaintances after all, and I’ve tasted your cooking several times. What’s there to hesitate about? See, I just openly asked you to check those spices for me, didn’t I?"

Hua Xiaomai pursed her lips and was just about to speak when he changed the topic and continued, "With your excellent culinary skills, the sauces you make must be faultless. Buying them would only benefit my Chunfeng Restaurant, with no downsides. However... just two days ago, I signed a one-year order with another sauce shop in the city. Now, what about this situation..."

What? Someone had gotten ahead of her? But... where did this other sauce shop in Fuzhe County come from?

Startled, Hua Xiaomai found herself at a loss for words for a good while before finally frowning and saying, "As far as I know, before my Zhenwei Garden opened, there was no proper Sauce Garden in the entire Fuzhe County. Whether it was restaurants or ordinary citizens, everyone bought their sauces from general stores. The sauce shop you mentioned, is..."

"Indeed?" Master Zhao spread his hands, "In the past, Chunfeng Restaurant used to get its sauces from Antai Garden in the Provincial City! But now that there’s a sauce shop right here in the city producing passable sauces, why should I look further afield?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Hua Xiaomai’s face as if astonished, "That sauce shop is in West City, just opened over a month ago. How is it, you didn’t know about it at all?" (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)