BXBX NOVEL Chapter 345: Agreement
“What did you say?”
Hearing Qin Lang’s question, Su Henian blinked, and an expression of surprise appeared on his face.
He almost thought he had misheard.
“If this qualification battle allows outside assistance, I might be able to help.” Qin Lang spoke again, his serious expression reassured Su Henian that he was not joking.
“Outside assistance… Outside assistance!” Su Henian’s face lit up with joy.
The suddenness of the situation caught him off guard; he had not thought of this before.
As for Qin Lang’s cooking skills, Su Henian trusted him naturally.
Song Hui has mentioned a lot about Qin Lang, along with the honor of being the first in the Yueyu Banquet Youth Group. Even though Qin Lang is not an outstanding Spiritual Chef, Su Henian believes that he is no worse than the sick head chef.
So, the question was.
Can they ask for outside assistance?
Su Henian wore a contemplative expression as the various rules of the qualification battle flashed through his mind.
Now that he had calmed down, he displayed the agile thinking of a restaurant manager. In just a few seconds, he thought of a feasible method.
However, if they use that method, it means…
Su Henian only hesitated for a moment before resolution firming up on his face.
“There is a way!” He looked at Qin Lang seriously, “According to the rules of the qualification battle, the dishes cooked by the spirit chef sent by the restaurant must be on the restaurant’s menu, and have been sold for over a
month.”
“The theme of this qualification battle is ‘beef, which is quite common. Our restaurant’s menu has a signature dish called ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’, which is most suitable for this theme.”
“The head chef had planned to use it for the qualification battle.”
“If you are willing, I can take the initiative to give you the recipe for this dish as a part of the reward for helping.”
“But there’s one problem, I’m not sure if you can master this dish within a day.” Su Henian glanced at Qin Lang, his expression suggesting a question.
“Well…” Qin Lang pondered.
He wasn’t looking for any reward to begin with. Having the opportunity to receive the recipe for Breeze Restaurant’s signature dish was a pleasant surprise.
The problem was, given that it’s Breeze Restaurant’s signature dish, it’s certain to be difficult to cook. Could he master it in a short time?
“Honestly, I can’t guarantee that I can master it in a day without knowing the recipe.” Qin Lang responded candidly.
“Right.” Su Henian nodded in understanding. “In that case, you should come with me to see Chef Zhong. Although he’s sick and hospitalized, it should be okay for him to exchange some words with you.”
“He is the head chef of the Breeze Restaurant. I was planning to visit him in the hospital anyway, killing two birds with one stone.”
“Okay.” Qin Lang had no objections. “Let’s head out as soon as possible, we don’t have much time to spare for the restaurant.”
“Chef Zhong, how are you feeling?”
Su Henian, holding a prepared fruit basket, pushed open the door to the private inpatient ward and walked in. Qin Lang quietly followed, talcing a closer look at the ill and hospitalized head chef.
He was a middle-aged man with some speckled hair and clean-shaven. Upon seeing Su Henian, surprise then deep guilt surfaced on his face.
“Manager Su, I have let you all down and delayed the restaurant’s big event.”
“Not at all.” Su Henian waved his hand, showing no worry about the qualification battle. “Work is important, but health is more important. Rest assured, this counts as a work-related injury.”
“As for the qualification battle…” Su Henian’s words trailed off, pulling Qin Lang, who was standing behind him, forward with a smile.
“Let me introduce you, this is Qin Lang, a genius Spirit Chef from Dongxia
City.”
“Uncle Su is too kind.” Qin Lang modestly shook his head, then looked at the laid-up Chef Zhong. “Chef Zhong, hello.”
“Hello, hello.” Chef Zhong smiled politely, still not understanding why Su Henan would introduce Qin Lang at this moment.
“I plan to give the recipe of ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’ to Qin Lang so he can participate in the upcoming qualification battle.” Su Henian straightforwardly expressed his idea to Chef Zhong.
“No way! Cough, cough…”
Chef Zhong’s eyes widened as he sat up, following which he furrowed his brows and coughed hard, gasping for breath.
“Be careful!”
Afrighted, Su Henian rushed forward to lightly pat Chef Zhong’s back to help him breathe. Only when Chef Zhong’s complexion eased did he explain, “Qin Lang won first place in the youth group of the previous Yueyu Banquet.” “Moreover, when Qin Lang was in Tianhua State, he managed to obtain four Second-Level Food Recommender Badges in just one or two months.”
“Still no!”
Chef Zhong shook his head. Although he wasn’t as emotional as before, his tone was just as resolute.
He looked at Qin Lang, then slowly said, “I’ve heard about the honor Qin Lang achieved at the Yueyu Banquet.”
“And it’s not that I don’t trust Qin Lang’s cooking skills.”
“But according to the rules of the qualification battle, Qin Lang can only make a dish already on the restaurant’s menu, giving him less than twenty-four hours to familiarize himself with a new dish.”
“And the ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’ is certainly not easy to cook.”
“Rather than that, it might be better to let Xu Qingzhong go on. Although he’s barely qualified as an Excellent Chef, he’s been learning this dish from me for two months and has got a decent grasp on it.”
“While Xu Qingzhong’s grasp is quite good, there’s still a gap between him and you,” sighed Su Henian. “Putting him on the stage, the prospects aren’t promising.”
“It’s all my fault.” Chef Zhong sighed, guilt once again clouding his face. “If I hadn’t fallen ill, everything would have gone smoothly.”
Qin Lang, standing on the side, felt that it was time for him to speak.
“Chef Zhong, any dish certainly has its difficulties. I believe that as Breeze Restaurant’s signature dish, ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’ is bound to be challenging. However, the difficulty in cooking a dish is nothing but related to the basic skills in cooking.”
“May I ask, where exactly does the difficulty of ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’ lie?’ “Being able to put it that way, you indeed manage to simplify the complexity,” Chef Zhong looked at Qin Lang seriously, surprise showing on his face.
“Indeed, the difficulty in cooking any dish is directly connected to basic cooking skills.”
“And the ‘Sleeping Bull Silk’, the difficulty mainly lies in the knifework and the heat control, especially the former.”
“It requires marinated beef to be cut along the grain into filaments, ensuring that the marinated flavor and the freshness of the beef fully seeps into the soup without making the stewed beef shreds bland or tough. The taste needs to be just right.”
“I understand.” Qin Lang wore an expression of contemplation. “So, as long as I can demonstrate competent knifework, that will be enough?”
Chef Zhong looked closely at Qin Lang.
“If you can, then I’ll share everything you need to know about ‘Sleeping Bull Silk1.”