Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Can I Borrow a Child?

Kindergarten?

After so many years in self-media, Cook Man considered himself a very steady-minded streamer.

The lion’s head in his hand almost slipped off; he steadied his emotions before asking, “Is it… one of those elite kindergartens?”

He had never heard of such a thing. Even kindergartens in Jing City at most focused on nutritional balance, hiring more nutritionists.

Getting a top chef to make lion’s head? Wasn’t that a bit strange for this field?

“No, it’s just a normal kindergarten.”

Since she had already mentioned it, Ms. Wang didn’t hide anything: “I only happened to try the kindergarten’s lion’s head once. Both in taste and texture, it’s top-notch.”

After saying this, Ms. Wang couldn’t resist scooping a spoonful of the lion’s head in front of her.

Mediocre.

That was her latest evaluation of the lion’s head from Chen’s Restaurant.

Cook Man carefully observed Ms. Wang’s reaction after eating it, watching her frown as she took a bite, shake her head while chewing, sigh, and swallow.

This lion’s head really couldn’t compare to Zhìwèizhāi’s, but since it was also cooked by a member of the Chen family, it shouldn’t be so unpleasant to eat.

Could the kindergarten’s lion’s head really be that delicious?

Cook Man was intrigued!

In his role, being a self-media blogger ranked above being a store-visit reviewer.

Though a kindergarten wasn’t exactly a store, this kind of naturally gimmicky topic — he could already imagine how popular it would be once released.

“We came to Chen’s Restaurant, but the best lion’s head in the entire X city is at the back door of the restaurant — in this kindergarten.”

“You can never compete with a little child, because the strongest chef in the city is lurking in her kindergarten.”

Such a natural gimmick made Cook Man a bit excited, and even recording material suddenly felt dull.

He ate leisurely as Chen Yijin came out carrying some complimentary dishes.

Normally, his father should have come in person, but Chef Chen had been cooking here for decades and no longer had smiles left on his face.

“Cook Man! I’m your fan! I’ve been watching your store visits for years!”

Gently putting down the dish, Chen Yijin felt like pulling out a notebook to ask for an autograph.

He wasn’t really a fan, just trying to build rapport.

Cook Man smiled formally, quickly signed an autograph, then politely declined further conversation: “I really enjoyed this meal, but we’re still filming material. Thanks to the restaurant for providing such a great shooting environment.”

“It’s our pleasure, it’s our pleasure…”

Though sensing something was a bit off, Chen Yijin didn’t think much.

After all, Chen’s Restaurant was unbeatable in this small city.

If it weren’t for the Chen ancestral home here, a small city like this might not even have a restaurant of Chen’s Restaurant’s caliber.Moreover, this time the lion’s head was genuinely made by his dad’s own hands, without even letting anyone else mince the meat.

He waited outside for a while, and when Cook Man and his group finished filming, he personally saw them out.

What puzzled him a bit was why Ms. Wang only took one bite of her lion’s head?

But thinking about how slim she still was despite being over forty, Chen Yijin naturally assumed she was on a diet when reporting to his father.

“Yes, they ate pretty cleanly, hardly any leftovers. It’s just that Ms. Wang, who always comes, seems to be dieting and barely touched her food.”

His father nodded, thought for a moment, and decided it was time to bring up something with his son.

“All right, after this busy period, you come into the kitchen and learn to make lion’s head from me.”

“Thanks, Dad!”

Chen Yijin was a bit excited, especially recalling how Chen Ran had weighed heavily over him back then.

He had thought he’d be under that girl’s thumb forever.

He chuckled and couldn’t help asking again, “Dad, can Great-Grandpa Zeng really keep Chen Ran from working in other restaurants?”

“Of course. Our Chen family’s power is strong. Don’t forget she’s just a little girl now. Even if her cooking reaches the level of your eldest uncle on the Master Chef show, we could still easily keep her in line.”

“Your eldest uncle’s stance has loosened. Our family has invested in Michelin for so many years; soon, they’ll give our restaurant a star…”

Chen Yijin was a little excited.

He was far from the decision-making circle of the Chen family and didn’t realize their influence was so great.

“Is our Chen family really that powerful?”

Chen’s father snorted lightly and gave him a sidelong glance: “Do you think running a restaurant is just about cooking? Haven’t you heard Great-Grandpa Zeng’s motto: ordinary people have no taste of their own!”

Their Chen family controlled everything from ingredients to seasonings. Now they even extended support to foreign food critics.

Thinking about how the Master Chef show people wanted to create a local Chinese award system, he just wanted to laugh.

Chen’s father stretched out his hand and slapped Chen Yijin firmly: “Remember, it’s good to lean on a big tree for shade. If Chen Ran wasn’t so proud and had begged that day, she might still have a bowl of rice to eat now.”

“But now, your Great-Grandpa Zeng is using her as an example to warn others. You absolutely must not be like her in front of Great-Grandpa Zeng.”

“Running a restaurant isn’t about taste first, it’s about doing business.”

Chen’s father picked up his phone, then thought about today’s store-review blogger, instructing Chen Yijin:

“When that blogger’s video goes up, you put some money into promotion. Business these days relies on marketing. I’ll visit your eldest uncle soon to discuss the Michelin stuff.”

Chen Yijin was stunned: “When the promotion works, surely many people will come to try the lion’s head. Won’t you cook yourself then?”

Chen’s father scoffed: “What can they really tell? Your senior brother’s cooking is almost as good now. Later, have your mom renew his contract, increase his salary by a thousand, and raise his penalty clause.”

However, the Chen family was a little disappointed that Cook Man’s store-review video hadn’t appeared for a long time.

Cook Man himself was also a bit disappointed.

He had chosen the kindergarten as his “store review” topic, planning to release it alongside Chen’s Restaurant’s lion’s head.

But when implementing this new topic, he encountered a more fatal problem: a kindergarten isn’t a restaurant you can just pay to enter.Also worried like him was the small kindergarten principal.

At the last open house, the principal received plenty of parents’ intentions and was very satisfied.

With the size of Qimingxing Kindergarten here, so many parent intentions meant she wouldn’t lack students for the next few years.

However, perhaps because the lion’s head was too delicious, many new problems arose.

For example, a large number of visit appointments.

Teacher Li somewhat awkwardly showed the principal a long list of visit appointments: “Principal, please take a look, our kindergarten has 46 visit appointments for Wednesday…”

Forty-six appointments?

The principal was shocked, took the appointment list, glanced over it, and frowned.

Many of those 46 appointments looked like whole families coming together…

That shouldn’t be the case, right?

Teacher Li felt a little embarrassed: “I’ve always managed these appointments, and this has never happened before, so I just added a reply option in the public account backend…”

“No worries,” the principal reassured Teacher Li, “Our kindergarten originally has few people, and asking you to do this as a part-time job is already asking a lot.”

She suddenly thought: “Is the daily menu currently posted publicly?”

Teacher Li nodded: “The weekly menu we made before was just finished. Monday morning, Xiao Wang and I posted it.”

The principal immediately understood.

At last weekend’s open house, to avoid having lion’s head two days in a row, she deliberately moved lion’s head to Wednesday each week.

“When confirming appointments, explain to parents that the menu was canceled, and from now on, the daily menu will be posted every morning at the kindergarten entrance.”

Sure enough, after notifying about canceling the menu, most parents canceled their appointments.

Teacher Li: ???

They really came just for the lion’s head?

After making many calls, her responses became increasingly skillful.

“Yes, that’s right. Our kindergarten won’t announce the menu in advance anymore.”

“Yes… right… the menu will be posted every morning, and I don’t know which day will have lion’s head.”

“Really don’t know. What? The chef’s contact info? Sorry, I don’t have that either…”

After finishing the calls, Teacher Li quickly tore down the menu and carried a small blackboard to the kindergarten entrance.

A group of parents looking at the blackboard were a bit disappointed.

“No lion’s head today?”

“I didn’t come to the open house yesterday! Did you go? Was it good?”

“Good? How can ‘good’ even describe it?” A middle-aged man blushed under the curious looks of other parents but couldn’t come up with better words. “It was just too delicious! I’ve never eaten lion’s head this good before!”

Other parents were disappointed and asked Teacher Li, “When will there be lion’s head again?”Teacher Li was very strict: “I don’t know either, it was all decided at the last minute.”

However, she spoke with a hint of pride: “Don’t ask around, even if you do, you won’t get to eat it. The principal said from now on, visit appointments will have limited numbers.”

A group of parents sighed one after another, thinking about their children growing up eating such fine food—it was truly enviable.

Seeing everyone drooling, Teacher Li thought about the unlimited staff meals and couldn’t help but post a TikTok.

“Qimingxing Kindergarten’s menu today! [heart][heart] The pain of delicious food, who understands! I’ve already gained five jin! [crying][crying]”

Soon, comments began to line up below.

“Teacher Li, remember to post the menu every day! When there’s lion’s head, I’ll take a taxi over to visit!”

“The person above clearly doesn’t understand, kindergarten visits require appointments now!”

“Haha, the one above is late on the news! Now not only do you need to make an appointment, you really have to bring your child!”

“Very true [heart][heart] Hey, can I borrow your child for a bit?”

“What are you all talking about? Can someone explain to outsiders?”

On the local food channel, many outsiders frowned watching various kindergarten menu videos.

Among them was Qiu Xian, an intern reporter for Ming Chu Lu (Famous Chef Record).

After graduating, she passed many hurdles to join this company. The relaxed atmosphere and occasional delicious food tasting made her determined to get through the probation!

The safest plan was to find a chef who was good enough but had never appeared on Ming Chu Lu before.

She browsed the comments for a while, feeling she might have found something. Just as she was about to share it in the TikTok group, she saw her colleagues discussing there.

“Xianxian still hasn’t given up on finding a new chef? If you ask me, just be honest and make more store-visit videos. Finding a new chef isn’t that easy.”

“Exactly, now it’s the era of social media. Many ordinary cooks get hyped up after a few videos and then come looking for us…”

Qiu Xian clenched her fists.

Making store-visit videos isn’t that easy, and there are data requirements. It’s better for her to keep trying.

The current deputy editor discovered three of the top ten chefs on Ming Chu Lu.

But where to find such chefs?

The slightly better trending restaurants had already been completely explored by colleagues.

Qiu Xian left the TikTok group, opened local food, and watched three videos in a row—all about kindergarten blackboards.

She decided to give it a try! Maybe this was her top ten chef for Ming Chu Lu!