The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Intermediate Plating Assistant

Fu Yu continued serving the next employee.

Yao Shi and Jiang Qingrong were standing behind him talking.

Yao Shi: ”His situation is special. Next time he comes for a meal, just give him the two-meat, two-vegetable standard and try to give him a bit more... We’re all one of our own, so let’s help each other out when we can.”

Jiang Qingrong glanced at the employees lined up at the dining area and said, ”Well, that’s fine, but if we set this precedent, what will we do if this happens again?”

Yao Shi: ”We’ll deal with it then. For now, do as I said.”

Jiang Qingrong nodded in agreement.

...

With forty-some meals, with two people working together, it was quite manageable.

The employees come for meals whenever they have time; if possible, they’ll help bring back food.

Besides, some employees, tired of cafeteria food, order delivery to improve their meals.

Once all the employees finished getting their meals, the remaining food was moved back to the kitchen.

The kitchen staff would eat the leftover food themselves, or save it for the evening, maybe mixing it with other dishes or reheating it to serve again.

Fu Yu and Yao Shi didn’t stay to eat.

The cafeteria’s bulk meals certainly weren’t as good as their own crafted dishes.

And with Yao Shi around, Jiang Qingrong and the others probably wouldn’t eat comfortably.

The two left the cafeteria and, just as they turned into the corridor, they ran into the accountant Xin Li returning the meal tray.

Xin Li is a veteran at the store and has a good relationship with Yao Shi.

They exchanged greetings and stopped to chat, smiling.

”I heard from my cashier that you were in the cafeteria, Chef Yao. Are you here to inspect?”

Xin Li knew Fu Yu and smiled back as he nodded at her with a grin.

Yao Shi laughed happily: ”Didn’t Master Hao take leave? I figured they were short-handed here, so I got Xiaofu to come help and have a look around.”

Xin Li nodded: ”I thought so, the food’s definitely differently prepared. I wasn’t that hungry today, but the food looked quite appealing, and the plating was nice.”

[Ding! NPC Supervisor Gao Wenjing’s task: Help the sick accountant Xin Li get a satisfactory lunch, successfully completed, reward: Gao Wenjing’s favorability +5]

Fu Yu raised an eyebrow; the task was completed, which was nice.

Yao Shi casually said: ”Alright, you go on in then. We’re all done here, so we’ll head back first.”

[Ding! NPC Head Chef Yao Shi’s task: Assist in the restaurant cafeteria, successfully completed, reward: RMB +20, cooking skill experience +10, task experience +10]

In the next second, Fu Yu’s phone in his pocket buzzed.

The money had arrived.

Before he could take a step, Xin Li suddenly said: ”Wait a moment, hey, Chef Yao, have you given all your meal tickets to Wang Jiping now?”

Yao Shi chuckled: ”I have no use for them anyway. If he needs them, I’ll just give them to him.”

Xin Li looked puzzled: ”That’s nearly a thousand yuan of subsidy, and you’re just not going to take it?”

Yao Shi coughed lightly and frowned: ”Ah, I didn’t realize the subsidy was that much money then?”

Xin Li nodded: ”Yeah! You used to not come to Finance to collect it, so I just added it to your salary. It’s over nine hundred a month, so you’re basically giving Wang Jiping over nine hundred yuan for free each month.”

Yao Shi smiled gently: ”I just saw he was having a tough time, so I thought I could help a bit. Besides, I don’t need meal tickets... Forget it, I’ve already given them, it’s not like I miss that bit of money.”

Xin Li laughed: ”That’s true; your gas money for a month would probably cost more than that.”

The two chatted a bit more, said their goodbyes, and left separately.

Fu Yu followed behind Yao Shi, looking at his not-so-tall back, and smiled.

Chef Yao is such a shrewd person, how could he not know how much his salary is each month, including which components are subsidies.

He said it like that to avoid others gossiping about it, worrying that Wang Jiping would find out and feel pressured.

Didn’t get it before.

Now after a couple of encounters, he realized that Chef Yao is actually pretty nice.

...

When they got back to the kitchen, it was just past meal time.

Fu Yu happily ate lunch with everyone.

In the afternoon, when it was time to cook, Fu Yu followed Zhao Meng and eagerly wanted to do the plating.

Zhao Meng was almost amused: ”What’s up with you! Weren’t you the one who hated plating the most before?”

Fu Yu chuckled: ”That was before; now I’m Fu Nuogulu Yu. With my unique plating skills honed from arranging crabs, if I don’t show off to you, I might not be able to sleep tonight!”

Zhao Meng listened to him rambling, and while serving, he let Fu Yu take over the plating work after all.

Plating was usually Fu Yu’s weak spot, but Zhao Meng deliberately let him practice. If it really turned out badly, he could just redo the presentation himself, no big deal.

When Fu Yu ladled the first scoop of the dish onto the plate, a green line dutifully appeared.

Following the guidance of the green line, Fu Yu plated a dish of salted egg yolk pumpkin into a neat rhomboid shape.

In addition, he also imitated some plating decor he saw online and created two little begonia flowers.

[Ding! Daily task: Plate twenty times, successfully completed, task reward: RMB +100, plating experience +50, task experience +50]

The phone started buzzing in the next second.

[Ding! NPC Master Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Improve plating skills, successfully completed, reward: RMB 100, 1 skill point.]

The phone vibrated again.

Fu Yu was taken aback.

Improve plating skills?

He opened his attribute dialogue box.

[Plating: Basic: 505/500]

Sure enough, he saw that the task experience in the plating task bar had reached the upgrade standard.

There was a [”!”] next to the plating level.

Fu Yu clicked open to view it.

[Upgrade: Yes? No]

Select ”Yes”.

The next second, an electronic voice sounded in his ear.

[Ding! Your job skill in ’plating’ has been upgraded to intermediate. You’ve earned a promotion reward: RMB 100. Special skill: 20% faster hand speed, 20% improved plating accuracy]

Fu Yu grinned widely.

Now Chef Zhao really doesn’t have to worry about his plating skills anymore.

However, this 20% increase in hand speed...

That’s interesting!

Let’s try it out tonight and see how it works!

Hehehe...

Zhao Meng craned his neck to look at the plating, nodded in satisfaction, and was about to praise him when he saw Fu Yu with a mischievous grin, chuckling silently.

Really, just for plating something, and he’s over the moon!

Zhao Meng swallowed the praise on the tip of his tongue and instructed, ”Alright, stop standing around, quickly get the dish out.”

Fu Yu: ”Chef Zhao, won’t you say a few words of praise for me?”

Zhao Meng: ”Praise for what? You’ve been in the kitchen for so long, if you can’t even do simple plating, I think you might as well go home!”

The other apprentices who haven’t yet had a chance to plate: ”...”

Fu Yu: ”Got it!”

He handed the plate to the waiter.

Fu Yu contemplated that he had gained another skill point.

Now he had two points.

What could he do with them?

Forget it, if nothing comes to mind, just save them for now.

As they were about to finish work.

Zhao Meng had just finished cooking a seafood noodle dish when Yao Shi called him to help out at the music restaurant.

As soon as they left, Gu Yunwu also left earlier than usual.

With no leaders in the kitchen, the apprentices instantly became cheerful.

Sun Qingning had been feeling quite suppressed these past few days and suggested going out for drinks.

The others all chimed in to join.

Fu Yu felt like joining in.

He never used to participate in such activities.

Because he didn’t have the money.

Going out to eat, whether splitting the bill or taking turns to treat, costs at least a hundred or two. For him, that’s quite a bit of pressure.

He managed to save over six thousand yuan in less than a year, from a monthly salary of two thousand, just by being frugal.

Sun Qingning looked around and asked Fu Yu, ”Coming with us?”

Fu Yu was just about to answer when someone darted in at the kitchen entrance.

Wang Yuxuan’s voice arrived before he did: ”Chef Zhao!”

Fu Yu reflexively turned to meet him.

Because Wang Yuxuan’s voice was a bit off.

The last time he rushed over to find Zhao Meng like this, it was because a customer complained about the food tasting off.

What’s up this time?

Too salty?

Too bland?

Allergic reaction?

Wang Yuxuan came through the door, saw Zhao Meng wasn’t there, and anxiously asked, ”Where’s Chef Zhao?”

Fu Yu explained, ”Chef Zhao went with Chef Yao.”

Wang Yuxuan looked around, ”Where’s Chef Gu?”

Fu Yu: ”He left too.”

Wang Yuxuan looked as if the sky had fallen: ”That’s it, the customer in room 210 said the seafood noodles tasted off and demanded a redo!”

Fu Yu looked shocked.

The seafood noodles tasted off?

How could that be!

Just now, the seafood noodles were personally made by Zhao Meng, and he assisted by handing over the ingredients. He could ensure that none of them were passed wrongly.

And ever since the lemon chicken claw incident, Zhao Meng always tastes the dishes beforehand.

Fu Yu was confident and quickly said, ”Let me go with you and take a look.”

Wang Yuxuan looked around the kitchen and saw only Fu Yu could say something, so he nodded, ”Alright, let’s go.”

Fu Yu followed Wang Yuxuan to room 210.

Walking inside, Fu Yu froze.

A pair of sisters were sitting inside.

The elder sister looked to be in her twenties, and the younger one about eleven or twelve years old.

The elder sister had an ordinary appearance, but the younger one had bright eyes and white teeth, a perfect little beauty in the making.

Furthermore, this younger sister seemed vaguely familiar!

Fu Yu looked at her little face.

A name was on the tip of his tongue.

He subconsciously turned to Wang Yuxuan, his eyes asking: Isn’t she the child star Su Ying?

Wang Yuxuan didn’t understand: What?

Fu Yu: ”...”