The Gourmet Customizer

After eating the fried chicken at Delicious with Zhan Yang the previous night, Zhang Yi didn’t know what had come over him.

He’d been absent-minded at work all day.

He kept imagining the faint, lingering aroma of chicken, and the mere thought of the blissful satisfaction from devouring three bowls of noodles at the end left him completely distracted today.

In the afternoon, he specifically asked Zhan Yang for Delicious’s contact info and ordered a portion of fried chicken for himself.

With an hour still to go before the end of the workday, Zhang Yi’s mind was a complete mess.

He rummaged through his desk, finding 50 yuan tucked inside a book.

Then he scrounged up another 50 yuan from a tea caddy. After exchanging the cash for WeChat money with a colleague, he also withdrew the cash from a red envelope he’d gotten from an Alipay promotion a few days ago.

Immediately, Zhang Yi scanned a QR code and paid 108 yuan to Bai Xiaobo, Delicious’s Product Manager.

This was the price for one portion of fried chicken, two portions of noodles, and two tea-leaf eggs.

’I swear, this is the absolute last time I’m going to Delicious!’

After making this resolution, Zhang Yi continued to watch Delicious’s TikTok account on his phone.

"This owner really knows how to cook..."

’Once I’ve used up this bit of pocket money, I’ll just buy a chicken myself...’

"I’ll go home and try cooking it his way!"

The truth was, it wasn’t that Zhang Yi didn’t have money.

As one of the few high-paying jobs in Jingzhou City, Zhang Yi’s position in the steel factory’s technical department earned him over 10,000 yuan a month take-home, which was definitely a high salary in Jingzhou.

It was just that he gave all his money to his wife.

They had been married for two years, and to take care of their child, Zhang Yi’s wife had quit her job to be a stay-at-home mom.

Handing over his entire monthly salary was a statement of Zhang Yi’s commitment. As he often bragged to Zhan Yang: "I may be broke, but I’m happy!"

But now, Zhang Yi didn’t feel happy at all. He had to spend ages scraping together from his secret stash just to afford a portion of fried chicken that cost over one hundred yuan.

Time passed agonizingly slowly, but after an unbearable wait, the workday was finally over!

Zhang Yi had already packed his things. Without a word, he clocked out, grabbed his bag, and left.

He only breathed a sigh of relief after getting on the bus to the Development Zone. Now all he had to do was wait, but the waiting was also torture!

To save his appetite for this meal, he hadn’t eaten a single bite at lunch!

Meanwhile, at Delicious, someone else was also in agony.

"This move is effective, but isn’t it a bit too dramatic?"

Su Chen sat dejectedly on the floor of the Gourmet Practice Room. ’This is just ridiculous.’

「Two hours earlier, in real-time.」

Su Chen emerged from his office with a dazed look. He asked Aunt Fang, who had just returned from grocery shopping, to start a pot of chicken soup and then to chop up half a chicken.

Moreover, for the first time, Su Chen asked Liu Ahbao to help him make a portion of fried chicken.

Liu Ahbao agreed to this request without the slightest hesitation.

After all, with Su Chen’s guidance, Liu Ahbao could make A Level fried chicken that was practically indistinguishable from Su Chen’s own. It wouldn’t make a difference.

After giving these instructions, Su Chen returned to his office, set a two-hour alarm, and fell into a deep sleep.

Now, Su Chen had reappeared in the Gourmet Practice Room.

"I don’t think any other chef in the world cuts vegetables like this, do they?"

Su Chen was a bit speechless.

He had practiced the horizontal slice on the tofu thousands of times, but he just couldn’t get that one cut right. The more careful he tried to be, the more his hand would tremble.

Until... in a fit of rage, Su Chen swung his cleaver with all his might, and the resulting slice on the tofu was as smooth as the surface of calm water!

No matter which angle you looked from, the block of tofu was a perfect, neat cuboid.

Refusing to believe it, Su Chen immediately summoned another block of tofu.

And then...

"Hah!"

He swung the cleaver with great force, relying purely on instinct as he sliced horizontally across the block of tofu.

That’s right... he got the same result.

"So, the so-called ’fast, fierce, and precise’ requires speed above all? Only by being fast enough can you be both fierce and precise?"

"There’s nothing wrong with that, I guess, but the posture and movement are definitely a bit over the top."

Considering his limited time, Su Chen knew he couldn’t waste any more of it. He raised the cleaver over the silken tofu on the cutting board, but paused just as he was about to slice down.

In Su Chen’s normal understanding, when cutting a block of tofu, one should hold the knife vertically with one hand, use the other to steady the blade, and then cut down at a uniform speed. This was the best way to keep one’s hand stable.

’But if it’s supposed to be ’fast, fierce, and precise’...’

Su Chen rinsed his cleaver under cold water. Returning to the cutting board, he tried bending his knees, placing his left hand behind his back, and taking a deep breath. Then, relying on feel alone, he brought the cleaver in his right hand down fiercely on half a block of silken tofu!

Fierce, not in terms of force, but in terms of speed!

THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK~~

After countless cuts, a block of silken tofu about ten centimeters long collapsed from its original square shape. At first glance, it looked like a pile of tofu dregs!

It was only when Su Chen poured clear water over it that he could see it was actually layer upon layer of thin tofu sheets stacked together!

Taking another deep breath, he began to swing the cleaver in his hand again.

THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK~

He poured a ladle of clear water over it, and the half-block of silken tofu had already turned into a shapeless pile of mush!

Carefully, he used his blade to lift this dollop of tofu-dreg-like substance into a basin of clear water.

’Whoa, it worked!’

The instant it hit the water, the tofu dregs magically began to spread out. Looking closely, one could see they were actually threads of tofu as fine as hair!

The reason Su Chen dared to spend so much time practicing his knife skills was because Huaiyang Cuisine itself uses very simple seasonings.