Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Patriarch's Blessing (Revised)

"Chen Ran! Were you the one who cleared that table this morning?"

"You’re really generous, huh? Just cleared it without a word, even had the front desk refund the money. You think you’re still Grandpa’s precious darling?"

"Chen Ran!"

The girl standing at the window didn’t seem to hear, her back straight as a rod, the knife in her hand flashing like snow.

She finished slicing, gave a gentle push, and a row of thin, even slices toppled neatly.

One slice more than a week ago.

Only after putting down the knife did she turn to look at the man—some elder or great-uncle from the clan, she wasn’t sure.

"That table had to be cleared. The main dish wasn’t fresh, and the dessert was frozen stock."

The man’s face twisted in anger.

"Mind your own business! Don’t let me catch you meddling in restaurant affairs again!"

Chen Ran carefully wiped the kitchen knife clean and placed it back on the rack before leaving the practice room.

The Chen family had a long culinary tradition. An ancestor, the famed Chef Chen, was once known throughout Jiuzhou, though the family remained largely obscure.

That was until Chen Yuncong took over. He entered competitions all over and earned the title “God of Cookery.” Business had steadily grown ever since.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they nearly monopolized half the seasoning supply market.

Watching Chen Ran head from the practice room toward the ancestral hall, the previously indignant middle-aged man spat on the ground in frustration.

"She really thinks she’s some heir to the God of Cookery."

"Keep your voice down. Didn’t the old man say she’s the most likely of this generation to inherit the title?"

The man snorted. "That was before! After she was hospitalized last time, she lost her sense of taste. Without taste, how the hell can she still be a chef?"

It was true—Chen Ran had lost her sense of taste. But she’d never told anyone.

Many people lost their sense of taste after COVID, but permanent loss was rare.

She was still waiting, hoping she wouldn’t be that unlucky.

The Chen family’s ancestral house was large. It took several minutes to walk from the practice room to the ancestral hall. As Chen Ran passed through a few small courtyards, she heard her mother Lin Dan’s voice in the distance.

"Old Master, you have to stand up for me!"

"I thought the family restaurant was losing money, but it turns out he gave everything to some bastard he’s keeping outside! Now he wants to divorce me and stick me with millions in debt!"

A man and a woman were struggling at the entrance to the ancestral hall. Chen Ran quickly walked over, pulled Lin Dan aside, and quietly shoved away the man she had once called “father.”

"Mom, just get a lawyer and sue him."

Chen Xianzhou glared viciously at her. "You don’t even call me ‘Dad’ anymore? You’ve lost your sense of taste—what good are you now?"

Chen Ran’s heart clenched.

She looked up at Chen Yuncong, kneeling inside the ancestral hall, watching the kind old figure slowly rise from the prayer mat.The old man’s hair was white as snow, but meticulously combed. His back was straight, and even the way he stood up with the support of the middle-aged man beside him looked firm and vigorous.

"Enough, stop the shouting. If you can’t live together, then divorce. A couple’s debts are split fifty-fifty—isn’t that fair?"

Chen Ran’s heart sank.

"Great-grandpa..."

She called out, then suddenly paused and changed the address: "Old Master Chen."

"Do you really have to go this far?"

Old Master Chen, Chen Yuncong, took two steps forward, calm and composed.

"What else? I haven’t seen you myself, but all the doctors you visited were assigned by me."

"Right now, your sense of taste isn’t just worse than the average person—you can’t even taste salt."

"So why should we keep feeding and pampering you? To chop vegetables? Prep ingredients? The Chen family isn’t short on head chefs—do we really need another assistant like you?"

Chen Ran felt blood rush to her head.

Impulsively, she wanted to charge into the ancestral hall and argue with the old man face to face. She had just lifted her foot when someone beside her tugged on her sleeve.

But the tug didn’t hold her back. She stumbled forward into the hall, and just as she was about to reach Old Master Chen, a middle-aged man shoved her aside. She crashed into the offering table.

Several kitchen knives and even an iron wok on the table clattered to the floor.

"Heavens! Someone check!"

Even Old Master Chen, who always stayed calm as a mountain, raised his voice.

The middle-aged man thought the old master was finally showing concern for the great-granddaughter he had raised by hand and quickly replied, "She’s not hurt, the knives all flew off—she’s fine."

"I meant the knives! Drag that girl out!"

"A woman’s blood must not defile the ancestral hall!"

People at the entrance rushed in and dragged Chen Ran out.

Chen Ran felt pain all over, but had no time to worry about it.

Just now, she had touched a piece of cold metal—it was the iron spatula placed in the farthest corner of the offering table.

The kitchen knives and iron wok in the ancestral hall were all made from top materials by master craftsmen.

That iron spatula had always sat there too, said to be left behind by the Chen family’s ancestral God of Cookery. But it looked rather unremarkable.

Not only was the material dark and dull, it was even slightly rusted. The whole family thought it was just there as a reminder of past hardships—more symbolic than useful.

But just now, when she touched the spatula, a voice rang out in her mind.

"Do you still want to regain your sense of taste?"

She answered in her mind with a single, forceful word.

"Yes!"

The moment that word echoed, a flurry of notification sounds chimed through her mind.【God of Cookery Work System has been bound.】

【Blood relation with the previous host detected. Inheritance initiated.】

【Main Mission: Work enough shifts to regain sense of taste.】

Name: Chen Ran

Age: 24

Culinary Skills: Knife Work (B); Ingredient Handling (B); Heat Control (C); Seasoning (E); Wok Handling (C); Plating (B)

Skill: Patriarch’s Blessing (Seasoning A-level Bonus)

Items: To be unlocked

Chen Ran was stunned by the string of data.

She had trained her knife work for eight full years! When assisting Chen Yuncong, she had absorbed a good amount of plating technique essence too.

And that’s only a B?

But the most important thing was the skill she inherited... A-level seasoning?

Her knife work took eight years to reach B, and this was A-level seasoning bonus—wasn’t that incredibly powerful?

While Chen Ran was focused on studying the system, she had already been shoved out to the front gate by a crowd. Instinctively, she held her mother tightly during the process.

The system interface hadn’t disappeared yet. She saw her cousin Chen Yijin spit smugly and slam the door shut.

"You can’t even taste anymore, and you’re still acting smug? Don’t even dream about cooking again in this life!"

The heavy black doors slammed shut with a loud bang, perfectly highlighting the system’s faint golden text:

"Patriarch’s Blessing (Seasoning A-level Bonus): Passive skill. During missions, all dishes made by the host receive an A-level seasoning bonus."