Blissful Days After Widowhood - Chapter 81

When Gu Yin arrived at Wen’s kitchen the next day, Master Xu was looking at the door.

Seeing her coming, Master Xu said attentively, “You came just in time. I specially reserved the tofu buns for you! It won’t taste good when it’s cold!”

The day before, Chef Xu learned noodles from Gu Yin’s hands, and she didn’t hide it from him when she was making dim sum.

Gu Yin looked at him speechlessly while taking off her cotton robe.

Although the old man didn’t bother with him about what happened the previous day, if he didn’t restrain himself, it would be unreasonable after all.

Chef Xu noticed the look in her eyes, and immediately explained, “I didn’t make it for myself, but the second master’s wife ordered it. As soon as it was done, she sent someone to say that it was not needed, and replaced it with plain porridge and side dishes. The others have already ordered other breakfasts, so…hehe.”

“Chef Xu, you are indeed a smart person, I thought too much.”

After speaking, Master Xu put a stack of tofu buns in front of Gu Yin.

The buns were still steaming, and when she took a bite, they had a messy texture mixed with various ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, dried sea rice, tofu and pork vermicelli.

Judging by Gu Yin’s standards, it could only be regarded as mediocre and not delicious.

But that was specially reserved for her by Chef Xu, and Gu Yin still finished the small plate of buns.

The previous day, Old Master Wen said that after getting up, he would think about what to eat in the morning, and asked her to come to Wen’s house and wait for his words.

Since the old man’s servant didn’t come, Gu Yin was free for a while, and asked Chef Xu if he wanted help.

Chef Xu made three meals at the same time, waved his hand and said, “No, the second master is not in the mansion, his wife had already called. The first master and his wife had simple meals. Among the three young masters, only the first young master wakes up early. The other two young masters generally don’t need to eat in the morning. It will be fine after I finish these three morning meals. As for my little apprentices, they are cooking for the servants, so I don’t need to bother you.”

Chef Xu was not particularly proficient, but he was a little bit powerful, that was, he moved fast – anyway, Gu Yin claimed that she was not slow, but she couldn’t do what Chef Xu could do. There was not much difference before and after the three meals. He was done in one go.

Gu Yin couldn’t help but praise him. 

Chef Xu said a little embarrassedly, “I’m ashamed for your praise, I saw it yesterday, you were the one born to eat this bowl of rice. (profession, cook here) I… compared to you, I am faster.”

That was also practiced as apprentices everywhere. If they were slow, they would not only be scolded, but may also be beaten.

It was precisely because of it that Chef Xu, who was not particularly skilled in cooking, had firmly established himself as the chef of the Wen family – he could do the work of three people alone. Second Master Wen had become a rooster, and he was willing to keep hiring him because of that. He turned a blind eye to the fact that he ate from the kitchen.

Seeing that Chef Xu was done with his work and it was still dark outside, Gu Yin got up and gave him the chair. He let Gu Yin sit with peace of mind and took a new small bench to sit next to her.

The bench was the size of dried tofu, and Master Mrs. Xu’s chubby body sat up on it, and immediately covered the bench tight. From a distance, it looked like he was half-squatting.

But he didn’t feel it was too hard, he lowered his voice and asked Gu Yin, “Usually the old man must be up at this moment, and he has not called breakfast until now, isn’t he…”  

… Trying to make things difficult for you?

In the second half of the sentence, Master Xu didn’t say anything, but Gu Yin understood, she bent her lips and smiled, “It’s okay, anyway, as long as the old man doesn’t force me to study, and would find more obscure food recipes and let me do it. I’m not afraid.”

“That’s right!” Master Xu had already been convinced by Gu Yin, and he gave a big thumbs up when he said, “To tell the truth, if I had your skills, I wouldn’t have to be an apprentice of a few dozen people in the past.”

At that time, the days of being an apprentice were not easy. He got scolded and beaten, and had to work for free in the kitchen for his master.

Fom running errands, building walls, cleaning, and even pouring water for the master, there was nothing that Master Xu had not done.

That was why he respected Gu Yin so much for being willing to teach others.

Just as he was talking, Old Master Wen came over in person.

The two stood up immediately, the old man’s eyes lit up when he saw Gu Yin, and he said with great interest, “You can do what is in the book, and you would definitely be able to do other existing things. Otherwise, let’s do something that I’ve never heard about today!”

Gu Yin was stunned for a moment, and Chef Xu was even more shocked.

Be nice! He was still the old man who could turn around and toss people in different ways!

Gu Yin came back to her senses but was not panicked, she agreed and said, “Then I’ll make a few things for you.”

As a modern person, wasn’t it easy to come up with a few foods that the ancients didn’t know about?

When Gu Yin said that she needed tea, Chef Xu immediately went to the cabinet in the kitchen, but that thing wasn’t used much. After searching for a long time, he only found a small bag of coarse tea.

Chef Xu blushed with embarrassment and told his little apprentice to go out to buy tea, but Old Master Wen couldn’t wait any longer and said he would go find it.