Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Perhaps True Kindred Spirits Aren’t So Rare

Wang Zhaoshan asked Shunzi with little hope, “Has it been decided which branch Chef Chen will go to next?”

Hearing this, Shunzi couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic.

—Back when Chen Ran fled from White Swan KTV, he had even helped her watch the heat on that huge pot of Lion’s Head meatballs used as a diversion!

It was just a pity that he never got to join in on the chaotic chase that followed.

“Not yet. But if I hear anything, I’ll definitely let you know!”

For some reason, Wang Zhaoshan picked up on a faint trace of happiness in the waiter’s tone.

He didn’t have time to figure out where that happiness came from. While grabbing a piece of fish, he quickly opened the long-pinned group chat “Lion’s Head Every Day.”

Snatching Lion’s Head meatballs at the kindergarten was already a thing of years past. As Chen Ran’s culinary skills continued to evolve, Lion’s Head was no longer the most sought-after dish, but the group chat kept its original name.

The diners in the group had long since shifted from daily discussions of food to chatting about anything and everything from across the country.

Green Pepper Bro had been working for a few years after graduation and was preparing for another job switch this year.

“In our field, salary increases all depend on hopping jobs. It’s not that I want to leave! I’m planning to check out Hangzhou… just can’t bear to part with Chef Chen’s cooking.”

“Isn’t there a branch in Hangzhou? The dishes are supposedly exact replicas, and the head chefs were all personally trained by Sister Ran. Shouldn’t be bad.”

Zhu Chenchen had also graduated. With her little sister making it and big sister rising with her, she had successfully joined Tang Yang’s Taoist temple, responsible for managing several accounts. In her free time, she’d practice martial arts with her sister. Though she’d started a bit late, it was still great for her health.

“I want to eat the food Chef Chen makes with her own hands! At worst, I’ll settle for Master Du’s. What’s the point of eating at a branch? I’m going to queue up at Shi Wei Tian this weekend and go hard!”

When Wang Zhaoshan checked the group, he happened to see Green Pepper Bro swearing up and down that he’d join the queue.

“Forget it. Don’t bother lining up—Chen Ran’s on the move again!”

The group went quiet for a moment, and then someone broke the silence.

“Honestly? I kinda missed this feeling…”

“Yeah. Lining up at the same place every day somehow doesn’t compare to the thrill of chasing Chen Ran across the country.”

“What? But I haven’t even tasted it yet! Why’d she have to leave?!”

As everyone got nostalgic, Green Pepper Bro was pounding his chest in regret.

Working non-stop as a programmer, he hadn’t visited Shi Wei Tian in two months!

“It’s fine. Even if Chen Ran’s gone, we still have Master Du.”

Tang Yang came out to comfort him: “Master Du can even make Three-Style Duck now. He also learned Chen Ran’s braised silver carp head. As long as he’s here, we’re covered.”

Consoled by Tang Yang, Green Pepper Bro broke down in tears, and couldn’t even wait for the weekend. After work on Thursday, he rushed straight to Shi Wei Tian. But to his dismay, the menu didn’t have a single Huaiyang dish!

Not only had Chen Ran left—she had taken Du Zhaohu with her. The only one left holding down the fort at Shi Wei Tian was Jiang Ting, struggling on his own.

Fortunately, over the years, Shi Wei Tian had invested heavily in training young chefs and had discovered a few promising talents. The new chef’s sautéed double crisps carried about 70% of Chen Ran’s flavor—quite impressive.

“Master Du left too? Is he coming back? Manager Wan, we go way back… you’ve gotta give me some inside info!”

“Master Du… probably isn’t coming back.”The food lovers in the capital were devastated! But Du Zhaohu, who had been brought to the Yangzhou branch by Chen Ran, couldn't quite believe it.

"Master... Are you really leaving this restaurant for me to be the head chef on my own?"

Chen Ran looked up at the newly renovated Yangzhou branch, remembering that the original site of the restaurant used to be called Tiankai Lou many years ago.

She also recalled the mumblings of Yang Jingzhou, who had gone mad in the haunted house, muttering over and over again.

"One egg white, two egg whites, three egg whites..."

That person's mental illness hadn't been cured, and they would spend their whole life locked up in that psychiatric hospital.

Chen Ran didn’t pity that person. For Du Zhaohu to have been led astray like this, being locked up in the psychiatric hospital for life was already letting him off easy!

However, Master Xu's legacy couldn't be allowed to break. If Du Zhaohu, led down the wrong path, couldn’t manage a restaurant by himself for the rest of his life, that would play right into Yang Jingzhou’s hands.

Xu Zhuoxing didn’t dare let him out because he feared Du Zhaohu would relapse into drug addiction.

Chen Ran didn’t respond to Du Zhaohu but instead changed the subject. "Master Du, I’ve decided to make you the head chef of Shi Wei Tian in Yangzhou, but there are a few conditions."

"First, no matter where you go, you must always bring Shunzi along."

"Second, the Three-Style Duck, Chicken Porridge, and Three-Head Banquet must be served at least twice a week."

When she had just learned these dishes from Xu Zhuoxing, she made them in the haunted house, but no one even recognized them!

It was because they were made too rarely!

These signature dishes were not only labor-intensive but also made from common ingredients, which seemed quite ordinary compared to dishes like bird's nest, shark fins, and abalone. They didn’t fetch high prices and had nearly been lost to time.

Even though some top chefs could still make them, ordinary diners hadn’t even heard of them, let alone tasted them—what was the difference between that and being lost?

Delicious food not only had to be created by the chef’s hands, but it also needed to be appreciated by diners to be truly fulfilling.

Especially with a cuisine like Huaiyang, which had such rich cultural depth.

She turned to Du Zhaohu. "Third, I’ll arrange for regular tests for you every week. If any test comes back problematic, you’ll be sent straight to a detox facility."

Du Zhaohu immediately nodded without a hint of dissatisfaction.

Even when he had been framed and locked away by his master for more than ten years, he hadn’t held any resentment. Now that his master had opened a restaurant and made him head chef, he had no reason to be unhappy about undergoing weekly tests.

"Thank you, Master!"

After all these years, Chen Ran had finally gotten used to being addressed as "Master" by him. She waved her hand. "Then get ready. Grandpa Xu will be coming the day after tomorrow, just in time for the reopening."

She still remembered when Grandpa Xu taught her to cook and had asked her with a hint of melancholy:

"When no one understands you, how many egg whites would you choose?"

But… there was no need for no one to understand!

Chen Ran lifted the menu she had just ordered, opened it, and saw that the clear-braised crab meat Lion’s Head alone took up a whole page.

Three different Lion’s Head meatballs with varying egg white contents were listed—58, 168, and 298 yuan as the prices.

On the other side of the menu, the description of the dish was fully written, including Xu Zhuoxing’s final insistence on the recipe. After obtaining his permission, the tangled history and emotions between the master and disciples had even been printed on it.

And behind the dense, fine print, on a faint green background, a line of poetry was printed in soft ink.Few understand me—if the strings break, who will hear?

On the grand opening day, local diners swarmed in. As they flipped through the menu, many noticed the clever touch at the back.

“This feels like a gimmick, doesn’t it?”

“What’s all this about kindred spirits… How much difference can an extra egg white make in taste…”

At a table in the main hall, a young couple was complaining about the menu when a quiet little girl next to them suddenly tapped her mother on the arm.

“Mom, look!”

Yangzhou had no shortage of Huaiyang cuisine restaurants, and many of them featured glass-enclosed kitchen stations in the main hall for chefs to perform. Knife skill demonstration dishes like Wensi Tofu were usually showcased there.

But in this newly opened branch of Shi Wei Tian, standing in the glass kitchen was a rather young female chef. Her hair was neatly tied up under her chef’s hat, her face covered by a transparent mask, meticulously working over a mixing bowl.

With a light tap, an egg cracked open, and Chen Ran’s slender fingers flicked—only the egg white dropped into the bowl.

Then began her precise, unwavering kneading.

Compared to the dazzling knife work of Wensi Tofu, the preparation of Lion’s Head meatballs didn’t seem all that impressive. No matter how refined the technique, it still looked like she was just beating a lump of meat.

Chen Ran was no longer the fledgling chef she once was. Wearing a transparent mask, she was quickly recognized.

“Isn’t that the champion from both capitals? She’s won three competitions in a row, right? But this dish she’s making looks pretty ordinary…”

“Exactly, I thought we’d see some flashy knife work or something. She’s just standing there beating meat. I could do that too.”

As the discussion spread in the hall, Xu Ruyi, seated next to Xu Zhuoxing, began to feel anxious. She tried to stand and say something, but Xu Zhuoxing gently pushed her back down.

She looked at her grandfather—his face smoother now after surgery—and slowly sat again.

“What are you so worried about? After all these years, Ranran is steadier than you.”

At first, when Chen Ran said she was going to make Du Zhaohu head chef, Xu Zhuoxing had been a bit concerned. But once he heard that she’d stationed the head waiter from the main branch next to Du Zhaohu and arranged for regular checkups, he realized—

She was indeed more thorough than he was. Maybe it really was time to hand things over to the younger generation.

Xu Zhuoxing lowered his head and reread that page of the menu. In just a few hundred characters, his life’s rise and fall had been summed up. Around him, the clamor in the hall gradually faded to silence.

The diners who were dismissive at first slowly quieted down.

True, beating meatballs by hand wasn’t some mysterious skill—but this top-tier chef who had almost single-handedly opened over a dozen Shi Wei Tian branches was now standing there without pause, pounding meat for a full half hour!

Not just her strength or endurance—just the fact that someone of Chen Ran’s fame and status would have the patience to stand there for 30 minutes just to prepare a single Lion’s Head meatball said everything.

And behind the one-egg-white version of the dish on the menu, a line was clearly written:

“Non-professionals may not detect the difference in texture. Please order with discretion.”

Chen Ran continued to knead the meat mixture meticulously.

It had been a long time since she had done this step herself. As head chef at the main branch, she had too many dishes that required her direct attention, so this part was usually assigned to the kitchen assistants.

Now, after so long, the sensation of the meat becoming gelatinous and sticky bit by bit still fascinated her.

She tilted her head slightly to glance at the assistant next to her. Over the years, the women on her team had all found their own paths and shone in their respective fields, but the one who had stayed by her side the longest was this assistant Pei Yi, who had joined when the main branch first opened.

“That should be good.”

Pei Yi lifted the lid of the clay pot. The soup inside was gently bubbling. With deft hands, Chen Ran flipped her palms, and a Lion’s Head meatball was lowered into the pot.The entire hall suddenly erupted in applause!

In Chen Ran's earpiece, the manager hurriedly reported the good news: "Chef Chen, just now, many customers chose the Lion’s Head with only one egg white!"

Indeed, it’s difficult for non-professional palates to distinguish the difference between one egg white and three.

But what if the thought behind it was shared openly in front of everyone?

Though the system had fallen silent now, during the many days Chen Ran had worked alongside it, her biggest realization was this:

As long as you cook with sincerity, the diners will definitely feel that sincerity.

She lifted her head and looked toward the corner of the hall where Xu Zhuoxing was seated.

Grandpa Xu, did you see? These people, they are all your kindred spirits, all of them are here for this one Lion’s Head.