"Boss Yuan, is there BBQ tonight?" A customer asked smilingly.
"Yes." Yuan Zhou nodded the head.
"Oh, yeah. I knew it. See what I said?" The customer immediately turned to say to another person beside him excitedly.
"Boss Yuan, do you always provide BBQ every time you come back from a break?" The customer asked curiously.
"Not really. It's going to rain tonight." Yuan Zhou said that with a serious look.
He ignored the winter sun shining warmly on the people outside.
"But isn't the outside filled with bright sunshine?" The customer said that while pointing at the sun rays shining into Yuan Zhou's restaurant with puzzlement.
"Um." Yuan Zhou nodded the head.
"Then why is it going to rain?" The customer looked at Yuan Zhou and asked.
"Because I said so." Yuan Zhou said that so seriously as if he were asking them what to eat.
"Er..." The customer was made speechless.
"Haha. I don't care about the rain. Anyway, I get to eat BBQ today." It was Ma Zhida with a look of excitement.
"But there's no liquor to drink." Chen Wei's coarse and muffled voice came from the side.
"Mr. Chen, you are back." Ma Zhida was shocked and looked at his neighbor.
With a small wound that had scabbed on his face, Chen Wei looked sharper than before on the whole. But when he talked about liquor, he still appeared unhappy.
"Yeah, I just arrived today." Chen Wei nodded the head.
"What's wrong with your face?" Ma Zhidao pointed at Chen Wei's face and asked.
"He should have ran into a door." Yuan Zhou said primly.
"You are right." Unexpectedly, Chen Wei didn't contradict him, but just nodded the head seriously.
"Haw?" Ma Zhida was immediately stupefied.
"Such a small wound can only be caused by running into a door." Yuan Zhou said, pretending to be serious.
"Boss Yuan, my liquor." Chen Wei stared at Yuan Zhou and said earnestly.
Then Yuan Zhou turned around and walked back to the kitchen to start cooking.
"What a joke! The system told me it would rain tonight." Yuan Zhou muttered in the heart. After all, if it rained, there would be no liquor. It was the rule set by himself.
"Are you stupid? The BBQ is originally supposed to be eaten along with the liquor. If Boss Yuan doesn't provide liquor, Boss Fang will do." Ma Zhida didn't hide from Yuan Zhou when he said that directly.
"Well, you are so smart." On hearing that, Chen Wei said very happily with his thick eyebrows raised.
"Let's come tonight." Ma Zhida said with a smile.
"Sure. Let's drink together by then. I will go to prepare two dishes to eat along with the liquor." Chen Wei said readily.
"Boss Fang's cold dishes are really good to eat with liquor." Ma Zhida had eaten that dish before.
"His dishes are nothing special. I still believe Boss Yuan's are more delicious. It is simply an amazing feeling to burn and then chill the heart by eating some Oil Fried Chili followed by drinking a mouthful of the Bamboo Liquor." Chen Wei couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
"Hearing your words, I suddenly want to taste Boss Yuan's liquor." Ma Zhida had never drunk Yuan Zhou's liquor before. He didn't like drinking liquor and naturally, he wouldn't spend 5888RMB on it.
"Excuse me, are you talking about me when you mention Boss Fang?" Suddenly, a voice emitted from the remotest corner. It was Fang Heng.
"Ahem ahem." Ma Zhida turned to look at him and then coughed loudly. It can be imagined how embarrassed he was.
"Hey, there you are, Boss Fang. I am prepared to buy some liquor from you today. Could you bring me a pot of your aged liquor and some dishes that go with it?" As for Chen Wei, he didn't feel embarrassed at all, but instead said so.
"My dishes and liquor do not seem to be so good." Fang Heng gritted his teeth but said with a smile on his face.
"You are bringing disgrace upon yourself if you want to compare your liquor and dishes with Boss Yuan's. But compared with others, yours are the top-level." Chen Wei maintained a poker face all along, therefore whatever he said was quite convincing.
Thus, Fang Heng believed in him.
"I don't want to be compared with that god-damn talented guy." Fang Heng took a glimpse at Yuan Zhou who was immersed with the food ingredients in his hands that were dancing in the air and then muttered.
"Okay. I will bring them to you this evening. You can pay me then." Only then did Fang Heng look toward Chen Wei.
"No problem." Chen Wei nodded the head readily.
There were only two hours in total for lunchtime, therefore it passed very soon.
After tidying the kitchen, Yuan Zhou sat at the door and prepared to sculpt, as usual.
No one craned their neck from the neighboring store and said hi to him anymore nowadays. But luckily, Yuan Zhou had become accustomed to that.
When he looked at the kitchen knife, however, Yuan Zhou suddenly thought of the signature dish of that royal chef.
"Now we are even." Yuan Zhou thought of the birthday banquet yesterday and felt relieved in his heart.
Yuan Zhou was inherently a stubborn person, thus he was reluctant to violate his own rules. For example, he definitely didn't like to go out and cook for others. But since Liu Jianan brought out Mr. Ma, he had no reason not to go there.
Otherwise, Yuan Zhou wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
"It seems to be the right time for me to practice cooking the chicken." Yuan Zhou was also very eager to try the cooking method of that imperial court dish.
He had been saying he would practice cooking this dish for long, but never did he carry his plan out. Nevertheless, now was a good time.
"System, will you provide the chicken if I start to practice cooking the Wu Chicken?" As other food ingredients couldn't be prepared in Yuan Zhou's kitchen, he naturally had to target the system.
The system displayed, "No."
"This answer is really simple and clear-cut. Can I take the food ingredients inside to practice?" Yuan Zhou asked curiously.
The system displayed, "Not until you work hard to level up."
"Ho Ho. Heartless. I'm going to practice the cooking method with the fish." Yuan Zhou suddenly thought of the replacement.
The cooking method of Wu Chicken essentially required excellent knife skills. Since he couldn't practice that cooking method, it was pretty good to at least practice deboning the fish.
"Speaking of which, there will be one more dish for the BBQ since I have the fish now." Yuan Zhou thought of this matter.
And another very important thing was that the price was going to rise.
"Let me make it simple. The former dishes of BBQ count as one and the fish counts as another." Yuan Zhou immediately figured out a good idea.
After he sat on the seat and sorted out everything clearly, Yuan Zhou took the knife and started to sculpt.
He kept sitting there for quite a while and stayed put for about two or three hours. Not until when the clock woke him up did Yuan Zhou react from his devoted sculpting.
At around the suppertime, the weather outside was no longer as good as that during the day. When the BBQ commenced, it had started to rain.
With the sound of "Hu Hu", the cold wind poured straight up people neck.
"Dear me! It's too cold outside. Boss Yuan's restaurant is really warm." Ma Zhida untied the scarf around his neck and said with a big smile.
"It's indeed cold today." Even Chen Wei nodded the head and echoed.
After all, this guy was basically as robust as a bull. About ten days ago, at the beginning of December, he was still wearing a long shirt and a coat.
"Gee? Boss Yuan, why is this plate empty?" Ma Zhida looked at an empty tray at the side yet with a price written on it curiously.
"That's a fish. The roast fish will be provided today." Yuan Zhou said calmly.
"Wow... It's surprisingly a meat dish. Get me a serving right now, please." Ma Zhida said impatiently.
"Okay. One moment, please." Yuan Zhou nodded the head and then went back to catch the fish in the water tank.
"What will be the taste of the roast fish prepared by Boss Yuan?" Ma Zhidao thought blissfully.
...