Abandoned the Immortal Cultivator, returned to his hometown to farm and sing

Chapter 1226, page 1215: The Story of Two Old Men

"That's right, young people today are much happier than we were back then."

Old Sun was also intrigued and began to reminisce about the past.

"Back in the day, I worked my butt off just to get a taste of Huangtanzi. My salary and bonuses were the highest in the whole factory. Even so, it would take me half a year to save up enough money to afford it once in a while."

"Then I thought, this won't work, the money is coming in too slowly."

"I might as well take a leave of absence without pay and start my own business."

“It was tough at the beginning. I had to do everything myself. I would buy goods from Guangzhou and sell them to the north. I couldn’t afford to buy sleeper berths, or even hard seats. I would carry several big bags and stand for more than 20 hours straight.”

"Fortunately, we have ambition. Every time we close a big deal, we reward ourselves with a meal."

"From Huangtanzi to Santao Duck, to Yellow Croaker in Soup, Five-Snake Soup, and Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea to Make a Scene with Arhats, I've eaten them all."

"If you're going to eat, you have to eat the best, the best dishes from famous chefs."

"As soon as I pick up my chopsticks, oh my, all the hardships and grievances I've endured before are forgotten."

"Over time, the business grew bigger and bigger, and we were able to eat and drink freely."

"Haha, where's the justice in this...?"

As he continued, Old Sun burst into laughter, as if he had poured all the hardships of his life into this delicious dish.

Laughing, laughing, he pointed at Old Liang.

“Once, I had someone stake out the fishing port for two months before they finally caught a wild yellow croaker weighing four pounds and eight ounces, which cost me 26,000 yuan.”

"This fish was prepared by Chef Liang. Yellow croaker is served in fifteen different ways, it's so satisfying."

"Master Liang is ruthless; he charged me a six-figure sum."

When Liang Yue heard this, she exclaimed, "Wow, 26,000 for a fish?"

Then, counting on my fingers, it's a six-digit number: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundreds of thousands... tens of thousands of dollars?
Is it more expensive than the exquisite feast that Mr. Xu is having today?

A group of people all looked at Old Liang.

I knew he was a chef, but he preferred to call himself a gourmet. I never expected him to be such a skilled chef.

I prepared a yellow croaker feast and charged Old Sun over 100,000 yuan. Old Sun seemed quite happy about it.

At least the two of them were able to sit down and eat together today, and they didn't fight.

Old Liang smiled and pointed at Old Sun, "You only provided one fish, but you insisted on eating soup-filled yellow croaker. My top-grade swim bladder costs 50,000 yuan per catty, and you used half a catty of mine. And how much did the three-year-aged premium herbal medicine inside cost, as did the matsutake mushrooms and morels? Not to mention you also used a bottle of my twenty-year-old Shaoxing wine."

After saying that, he chuckled again, "Knowing that you, Old Sun, are rich, who else would I rip off if not you? I was forced into this situation, I was a little short on cash, and you just delivered yourself to my doorstep."

Old Sun laughed and scolded, "What kind of money do you need, you old rascal?"

“Eh… I don’t understand.” Old Liang looked at me with an expression that said, “Back then, I would go to Guangzhou every month. I was poor at home but rich on the road.”

"Going to Guangzhou will bankrupt you?" Old Sun didn't believe it at all.

Old Liang waved his hand, "You don't understand."

Then he began to tell his story.

“I, Liang Qiyuan, started learning to cook at the age of fourteen. I first learned Fujian cuisine, then Huaiyang cuisine, and also dabbled in Shandong cuisine. Unfortunately, due to my limited talent, I did not master any of them.”

Right at the beginning, Old Hou exposed him, saying, "You, Old Liang, haven't you mastered the essence yet? I remember you were a retired executive chef from a five-star hotel, right?"

"That's just a shoddy job." Old Liang waved his hand. "What good food have those people ever eaten? They can just throw something together and call it a day."

"Hey! Old Liang, who are you cursing!" Old Sun got angry when he heard this.

The impact area was too large, resulting in accidental injuries.

Old Sun just said that he spent over 100,000 yuan to have Old Liang cook the large yellow croaker, and he was very satisfied.

“You’re different.” Old Liang waved his hand casually. “You’ve eaten some good food, but not much.”

Old Sun thought he was going to say he'd put his heart into it, and was about to feel smug, but it turned out to be nothing like that; he'd been fooled after all. He was about to get angry again.

Old Liang pointed to the empty round table in front of him, "Have you eaten at this table today?"

"This..." Old Sun paused, lost in thought, "I've never actually eaten this before."

"I've eaten it." Old Liang said, emphasizing each word with a smug look on his face...

"It all started when I had just finished my apprenticeship," Old Liang continued, recounting his story.

“I was in my thirties then, and I had just gotten married and had a child. The state-owned restaurant where I worked went out of business. I had just become a chef, and I had a whole family to support. I was in a panic.”

"Fortunately, it was already 88, and there were already many private restaurants. At that time, everyone said that it was easy to make money in the coastal areas, so I took my whole family to Fuzhou and applied for a job at a private restaurant."

"After I cooked a few dishes, the boss paid me 150 yuan a month. When I worked at the state-run restaurant in Yangzhou, I was a level three worker and my monthly salary was 42.5 yuan."

"One month's work was equivalent to three months' worth before, and even more. Back then, we'd never seen so much money."

"I was so nervous. Is my skill worth that much money? I was afraid that after working for two months people would realize that I'm not worth that much money and would think I was a fraud."

"Later, I visited famous chefs everywhere and ate at various restaurants, just to learn some skills. Even if I was found out to be a fraud, it would be later, and at least I could earn a few more months' salary."

"One hundred and fifty is quite a lot."

At this point, the entire audience burst into laughter.

Old Liang is really honest; he even talked about how he used to just coast along for a paycheck when he was young.

Actually, he's not a swindler at all. He's a top-notch chef. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become the head chef of a five-star hotel, and he certainly wouldn't dare charge people over 100,000 yuan for a single dish of yellow croaker prepared in fifteen different ways.

The grandfathers, in particular, knew more about what happened back then.

The chefs in the state-run restaurants back then were all incredibly skilled; they would all be top-notch professionals if they were placed outside.

Old Liang had seen too many highly skilled people in his former workplace, and he felt that his own skills were not up to par.

In fact, even if his skills are not as good as those of the four national-level veteran culinary masters in the country, he is not as good as Master Xu, who is one of the 46 national-level senior culinary masters in the country.

It can't compare to the past few decades, when there were only a little over four hundred national-level culinary masters in the country.

Those are provincial-level culinary masters, second only to these individuals.

There are only about seventy people in the entire FJ province.

However, he prefers to call himself a gourmand...

"At first, I was hoping to learn a craft. But when I actually visited a master craftsman and tasted the good stuff... to hell with it, I can't learn it anyway."

"Enjoy it first and think about the consequences later."

"It's expensive to eat good food. Back in the day, in order to taste Master Lin Changxian's Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, you had to spend money to eat at the restaurant where he worked as a VIP, which cost 188,000 yuan."

"Only then can you qualify for the monthly lottery on the first of the month."

"There are only three tables available per month, and dozens or even hundreds of people are vying for them."

"Those with bad luck might not be able to snag a deal even once every six months..."

Is it that exaggerated?

The group of newbies on Liang Yue's side, along with the group of young people on the other side, all had expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Master Lin Changxian is so awesome!

VIP members get a lottery too??

Is this the legendary hidden menu?

"Do you, as a chef, also follow celebrities? Do you buy VIP albums? Sell photocards? Vote for celebrities?" Er Ya suddenly blurted out.

I'm a long-time fangirl...

(End of this chapter)