Chapter 1750 - 1755: Cooking Personally
"Yes, yes, yes." The soldier, surprised, quickly let Lin Fei into the city.
After entering the city, Lin Fei found Fenglin City to be bustling and peaceful, with people coming and going.
Lin Fei’s arrival didn’t attract much attention; instead, many were surprised that a beggar could enter the city. It seemed begging had been quite profitable.
Feeling the disdainful glances around him, Lin Fei wasn’t bothered and walked into the city. The streets were lined with shouting vendors selling medicines for injuries and various Demon Cores, though there were no Nascent Soul cores. Even if there were, Rick would probably have bought them.
Finally, Lin Fei arrived at the inn, where upstairs were guest rooms and downstairs was a dining area—the so-called restaurant. Just as Lin Fei was about to step in, the waiter stopped him, looked at Lin Fei with disgust, and handed him a steamed bun from his pocket.
"You can’t go in. This is for you to eat, but you absolutely can’t come inside!"
Lin Fei smiled. The waiter meant well, but Lin Fei was there mainly to stay, so he didn’t accept the waiter’s charity.
"Why are you still coming in? Didn’t you understand what I said?" the waiter asked.
Lin Fei smiled again, handed the steamed bun back to the waiter, then handed him a piece of gold, saying, "Little waiter, I’m here to stay."
"Oh, you’ve got money? Alright, anyone with money can stay here. Follow me." The waiter said, leading Lin Fei to a room and asked, "Guest, what would you like to eat?"
"Give me some of your specialties," Lin Fei replied. He hadn’t properly tasted the food here since arriving.
The waiter nodded, "Okay, coming right up."
Soon, the waiter brought three dishes: roasted demon beast, fried demon beast heart, and tendon-picking.
"Your dishes are ready, dear guest. Give them a try."
Lin Fei nodded and took a bite, immediately feeling it was tough to swallow as it even had blood threads in it.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Lin Fei spat out a piece of meat.
"Are you trying to fool me?" Lin Fei asked the waiter skeptically.
The waiter was momentarily stunned, "No, this is just how it is. These three dishes are all specialties."
"Specialties? Specialties are this awful?" Lin Fei frowned. What was this about? But the tendon-picking seemed interesting. He tried a bite and spat it out again, as if biting into fatty meat, utterly awful. Lin Fei truly wondered how this stuff was made!
"Dear guest, the dish was prepared by our chef for ten days, how could you spit it out?"
Lin Fei frowned deeply, "It’s too nasty; should I swallow instead of spitting?"
"Nasty? Dear guest, I think you’re not staying here; you’re looking for trouble!" The waiter showed an angry expression. The inn had been open for over ten years, and not many had ever said their food was nasty!
"I don’t want to talk to you about this. Take me to the kitchen. I’d better see what others eat; otherwise, if I find out you’ve given me special treatment, don’t blame me." Lin Fei said.
Although dressed like a beggar, he wasn’t a real beggar and couldn’t be treated unfairly like this!
Upon hearing Lin Fei’s words, the waiter nodded, "Alright, follow me. I’m curious too; why can’t you eat what others can!"
Lin Fei followed the waiter to the kitchen downstairs. The chef was furious seeing the waiter bring a beggar in, "Waiter! What are you doing? Want to quit?"
The waiter quickly explained, and the chef understood, looking at Lin Fei, "Is it you? How dare you question my cooking?"
Lin Fei looked around the kitchen, which was just the right size, filled with various demon beast meats. The stove was an ordinary one packed with firewood.
He approached a dish just made: the bloody roasted meat he had eaten and lightly sliced it with a knife.
"Hey! What are you doing, seeking death?"
Sure enough, the inside was exactly like what he had eaten.
Lin Fei couldn’t stand it, looked at the seasonings—salt and soy sauce were easy ones—others he was unsure of. He pushed the chef aside, glanced at the kitchen knife.
"It’s really too dull!"
Lin Fei swiped his hand, and instantly the iron knife became shiny, then cut several pieces of meat quickly, put oil in the pan, tossed in basic-looking seasonings, washed the meat, and placed it in the pan, stir-frying.
In no time, the aroma of the meat was apparent. The chef and waiter were stunned and greedily inhaled the scent.
"You may have various ingredients, but you can’t cook. It seems I should make my own meals outdoors in the future; I can’t stomach the food here." Lin Fei said.
Lin Fei finished, put the stir-fried dish on a plate, grabbed two steamed buns, and carried the dish away.
Exiting the kitchen, Lin Fei headed upstairs with the food, but upon passing the downstairs dining area, the sharp-nosed diners smelled the food’s aroma and promptly asked the waiter, "Waiter, what dish did that person eat just now? Bring us the same!"
The waiter was troubled, that beggar had made it himself, what could he do?
"Dear guests, we don’t have that dish here; it was made by that guest, so we can’t provide it." The waiter said.
Bang!
"What a lousy restaurant! Can’t even make a dish a beggar can?" a guest angrily said.
Other guests chimed in, making the waiter miserable, but there was no choice; it wasn’t his fault. Blame that beggar, but now the waiter couldn’t be sure if Lin Fei was indeed a beggar. With such skill, how could he be?
Lin Fei ate his dish upstairs; it was decent, with just salt and simple seasonings, nothing more. But Lin Fei was a master chef, able to bring out one hundred and twenty percent of the flavor from the meat, hence the delicious result.
But Lin Fei’s cooking soon spread, attracting interest, and people came to find him...