The Gourmet Customizer

Chapter 227: Chapter 119: Cui Yufen Has Arrived

As they devoured the hearty meat buns and noodles, their exhaustion seemed to melt away.

Jiang Wusheng, who almost never ate dinner, broke his own record that night, devouring three massive bowls of noodles and five large meat buns!

If his younger brother hadn’t stopped him, he probably would have stuffed another bun into his mouth.

After finishing their meal, the three old men left Delicious together.

Su Chen kindly offered to call them a taxi, but all three refused, claiming they wanted to walk for a bit to aid digestion.

’Who takes a stroll for over ten kilometers...’

Su Chen paid them no mind. After sending Liu Ahbao off to rest, he returned to the nineteenth floor.

In addition to the ingredients he’d already prepped, some items still required him to periodically check the heat and color. It wasn’t until well after one in the morning that Su Chen finally finished all his work in the kitchen.

The prepped ingredients were all sorted and arranged by dish.

The night passed quietly.

As the phone’s calendar automatically flipped to August 15, the morning dawned at Delicious. Before the sun even streamed through the windows, all the employees had arrived, a full three hours early.

Arriving at the same time was Brother Fang Chang and his entire family.

Su Chen took charge of the kitchen, while Ling Shuyu managed the front of house.

While the kitchen bustled with activity, another large table was being set up in the 19th-floor dining area. The two large tables would be just enough to seat twenty people.

As for the private room that had remained untouched, Brother Fang Chang brought in a folding screen to section off a larger area. After adding a few more chairs, it was now large enough to accommodate all the guests for his engagement party.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, all in preparation to welcome the guest from the Capital City.

Cui Yufen!!!

"Ah Fu, what’s the situation?"

The elderly are often light sleepers. Thus, at the crack of dawn, Cui Yufen was already on the earliest high-speed train from the Capital City to Jingzhou.

Liu Fu looked momentarily stunned. "What do you mean, ’what’s the situation’?"

"You think I don’t know what you’ve been up to? How did the reconnaissance go?" Cui Yufen was not one to sit idle.

After arriving in Jingzhou, she grew restless. If it wouldn’t have been a huge loss of face to go too early, she would have eagerly gone to Delicious to check things out right then and there.

However, Liu Fu had arrived a day early, so Cui Yufen knew the young man must have gone to scout out the situation. She hadn’t objected, which amounted to tacit approval.

"Master, I really can’t hide anything from you..." Liu Fu gave an awkward laugh. "I did go take a look, but I couldn’t really tell much. I did run into an acquaintance, though!"

"Who?"

Liu Fu said, "I ran into Lu Yongliang! When I saw him, he was eating with that Boss Xiaosu. I’m guessing Lu Yongliang must be here to help him. That guy can’t stand to see you outdo him."

Lu Yongliang?

Cui Yufen sneered. She recalled how that old codger had been messaging her nonstop on WeChat back in the Capital City.

If he hadn’t kept goading her, the whole affair might have blown over that very day.

’Looking back on it now, wasn’t that old scoundrel doing it on purpose?’

"Lu Yongliang knows Boss Xiaosu?"

Liu Fu’s brows furrowed. "I’m not sure, but from the way they were eating together, they must know each other."

’Could it be...’

A possibility suddenly occurred to Cui Yufen.

The selection trials for the Chinese Division’s seeded contestants were about to begin. Lu Yongliang had found a way to trick her into coming to Jingzhou at this critical time, and now he had appeared in Jingzhou himself. ’There must be something more to this!’

The more she thought about it, the more something felt off. The uncertainty of the situation made her increasingly uneasy.

Seeing the worry on his master’s face, Liu Fu said, "There are twenty of us fellow disciples, plus you, Master. Even if ten more Lu Yongliangs showed up, we wouldn’t be afraid. He doesn’t even know Lu Cuisine! Besides, isn’t Lu Yongliang just one of your defeated rivals?"

Cui Yufen shook her head.

’A defeated rival’ was an exaggeration. She knew in her heart that her title and fame as the "Iron Chef of Chinese Cuisine" were partly a product of the times. Compared to Lu Yongliang’s accomplishments, hers didn’t carry the same weight.

But this wasn’t about who was more skilled. The issue was that Cui Yufen felt she had been set up!

"This won’t do." Cui Yufen slapped the armrest of her chair. "Liu Fu, gather all your fellow disciples. We’re heading over now. Oh, and give them a heads-up. Tell them we’ll arrive in half an hour."

"Master, that’s—!"

Liu Fu didn’t approve of this plan. ’Wouldn’t arriving early make us look like we lack confidence?’

"That’s final." Cui Yufen’s tone was resolute. "As long as we give notice, what’s the problem with my birthday banquet starting a few hours early?"

She couldn’t wait to get there and see just what sort of mischief that old man Lu was plotting!

Once all the disciples had gathered in the room, Cui Yufen began to explain the purpose of their visit.

"First of all, we are not here to make trouble. We have only one objective: to let everyone know that Lu Cuisine isn’t something that can be easily pushed around!"

Ever since Su Chen’s visit, business at the Cuihua Building had been declining at a visible rate.

An outsider might not notice, seeing only the daily hustle and bustle. But Cui Yufen could tell that many of their former local regulars had stopped coming almost entirely.

"We’re not eating politely today; we’re eating critically! Each of you younger disciples has your own signature dish. With twenty of us tasting one person’s cooking, we won’t miss a thing, right?"

"No problem!" the twenty disciples declared in unison.

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