Chapter 872: Extra 1: Delay King Xu Actually Didn’t Flinch (Part 1) Chapter 872: Extra 1: Delay King Xu Actually Didn’t Flinch (Part 1) Not long after the competition, the exciting annual party and holiday arrived.

Even though Taifeng Building’s business was booming due to the Good Taste Sino-American King of Cooks competition–so much so that describing it as “making a fortune” was an understatement, more like catching money with a basin–Wang Xiulian practically wore out two calculators from dawn till dusk, tapping away nonstop. Nevertheless, Taifeng Building decided to stay true to its original mission: to start the holiday from the day before the Lunar New Year’s Eve and continue until the Lantern Festival.

All the employees at Taifeng Building cried, moved to tears.

All the patrons at Taifeng Building cried too, sobbing because they couldn’t eat there for twenty days.

And if you ask who cried the loudest, Mr. Han had something to say.

No matter the nature of the tears, the holidays must still be taken and the annual party must go on; Wang Xiulian had already customized the banner for the party.

A big red banner with enlarged, bold black font, which bore a striking similarity to the two banners from the final round when Wang Hao was dealt with.

As Taifeng Building had reached a new high in performance this year, the hard-hearted capitalist Wang Xiulian decided to be generous. Not only did she give everyone an extra month’s salary end-of-year bonus, but she also scheduled the annual party for the morning instead of the afternoon, allowing every employee to enjoy an extra half-day of paid vacation. After the annual party, everyone could pack up in the afternoon and head home for the New Year.

Early in the morning on the day of the annual party, Jiang Feng was woken up by a phone call from his mother; reluctantly crawling out of his warm bed, he dressed and went to Taifeng Building to help set up the venue.

Jiang Feng originally thought he could relax after the competition was over. The historic contest that spanned over two months was undoubtedly exhausting. Not to mention the physical toll of the prolonged competition, the psychological pressure was also significant.

What Jiang Feng hadn’t anticipated was that once the contest ended, although the psychological pressure disappeared and winning brought both fame and fortune, which was thrilling, fame and fortune also brought an immense workload.

It wasn’t that Wang Xiulian, in her greed to amass wealth, deliberately assigned overload work to make things hard for her own son; it was simply that business was too good.

On the first day after the competition ended, local Beiping patrons who watched the live broadcast or saw the news were thronging to the restaurant.

On the second day after the competition ended, both nearby out-of-town patrons and locals flocked to the restaurant.

By the third day, patrons from all over the country were swarming in.

On the fourth day, even international folks began to arrive.

Up until the day before the annual party, a glance at Taifeng Building’s lobby presented a harmonious fusion of Eastern and Western cultures and a jovial gathering of many ethnicities.

Not wanting those patrons who had traveled long distances or even crossed the Atlantic Ocean to leave disappointed, Wang Xiulian, after consulting with Fan Mei, had to temporarily advance the midday business hours to 11 a.m. and extend the evening hours until 11 p.m., making everyone, including them both, experience the feeling of working overtime to the point of vomiting blood.

Now all of this had come to an end; the delightful annual party had arrived, and the happy paid holiday was just around the corner.

Poor Jiang Feng still had to get up early.

Having to wake up early without the pressure of going to work, Jiang Feng, breathing the morning air that couldn’t exactly be called fresh, decided to take a detour to the pancake and fruit stall for a long-missed breakfast pancake; he could also arrive at the restaurant a little later to avoid labor, killing two birds with one stone.

On the way to the pancake and fruit stall, Jiang Feng passed by the newsstand where the grilled sausages sold better than magazines.

The first batch of grilled sausages was sizzling invitingly, glistening with oil, making one’s mouth water not with a feeling of greasiness but with the aroma of the meat. Hesitating for a moment, Jiang Feng decisively approached the grilled sausages, deciding to eat one before his breakfast pancake.

“Hey, boss, give me a grilled sausage,” Jiang Feng said as he skillfully scanned the code to pay, his peripheral vision catching sight of the glossy, unopened Taste magazines in the corner.

Ah, poor Taste, last year’s issue still on sale this year.

Inwardly, Jiang Feng lit a candle for Taste, but as he bit the sausage, juice sprayed everywhere, scalding his mouth. As he turned to leave, suddenly, it struck him that something was not quite right.

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Wasn’t last year’s “Taste” magazine contract taken over by Taifeng Building?

Jiang Feng took a closer look, and indeed something was amiss. The cover of this issue of “Taste” wasn’t Taifeng Building; it was unfamiliar, with not a hint of recognition striking Jiang Feng.

It was all because Xu Cheng was wealthy and capricious. The magazine cover had nothing but an image and the magazine’s name, with no other text. To distinguish which issue it was, one could only look at the spine or the back cover.

“Boss, which year is this ‘Taste’ from? I’ve never seen this one before,” Jiang Feng asked.

The newsstand owner glanced at the magazine and said, “This is the latest one, just arrived this morning.”

Jiang Feng: !!!

Delay King Xu actually didn’t delay!

The reason was last year’s famous chef rankings, for which Xu Cheng had to write countless reviews, and there had been no news from “Taste” whatsoever. Everyone thought that this issue of “Taste” would surely be delayed, especially since Xu Cheng had already exceeded his workload last year, so skipping one issue seemed normal.

Unexpectedly, “Taste” was published on schedule!

And it was quietly released the day before the eve of the Little New Year.

“I’ll take one, thank you.” Jiang Feng decisively paid for the magazine, grabbed a copy, and browsed through it as he walked away.

This issue of “Taste” was thin with not many articles. Jiang Feng first glanced over the table of contents and noted there were only nine articles, possibly the fewest in the history of “Taste”.

Although the volume was small, the content was rich.

There was only one article by Xu Cheng, but including images, it was 17 pages long, which could be considered an exceptional supplement, one article outweighing five.

Jiang Feng made his way to a pancake and fruit stall, lining up as he flipped to Xu Cheng’s article.

The title was striking: Reflections Upon Watching the “Good Taste” Sino-American Chef King Finals.

Jiang Feng: Wow.

Mr. Han’s advertising this time was hardcore.

This seventeen-page reflection was not only a strong advertisement but also solid in content. Xu Cheng’s writing style rarely reverted back to the early days of realism, no longer padding the text with flowery language and numerous parallel structures. The phrases describing the food were the plainest of words, and although there was still a lot of superfluous talk, it showed true sincerity.

“Considering the publication date of this issue, it’s been about ten days since the “Good Taste” Sino-American Chef King competition, but this review was written the day after the contest ended. It’s my most heartfelt, emotional, and painstaking piece in recent years. It has been revised six times, all based on my feelings at the time, written in one breath. Boastfully, I wrote this introduction after completing the review, hoping my readers will forgive my audacity.”

“If any readers witnessed the contest, touted as the pinnacle of chef battles in the last twenty years, you should be familiar with the four dishes and two chefs I’ll discuss today. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend watching it. It truly was a culinary feast like no other. If you have the patience, I suggest watching the complete, uncut version of the final live broadcast. If you do not have that much time, you can watch the edited variety show version (which I presume would have aired by the time this magazine is published).”

“Having said so much, let me get to the main point. I don’t wish to elaborate on the two chefs of the final, Chef Arno, ranked third in the famous chef index, and Mr. Jiang Feng, ranked sixth. Information about these two top-notch chefs can easily be found with a simple search, but the four dishes I’m going to discuss may be unheard of to many and even hard to trace online.”

“These four dishes are: Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup, Jade and Gold Cabbage, Unknown Soup, and Unknown Hodgepodge. The latter two dishes are not a misinterpretation of their names. Their official names are indeed as such (unknown soup and unknown chopsuey). I too was surprised to hear their names, but after Chef Arno explained, I understood. The reason for these peculiar names is that they are family recipes passed down from Chef Arno’s father, who was also a fairly well-known chef and once worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant. These dishes were his specialties, yet remained obscure due to their complex preparation and cheap ingredients not suitable for sale, hence their names.”

“Mr. Jiang Feng’s dishes also have their own ingeniously similar touch, passed down from his forebears, albeit his dishes have a longer history. Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup dates back to the early last century and was once a signature dish of Jiang Family Dishes, attracting countless diners. Jade and Gold Cabbage is relatively obscure, and like Chef Arno’s dishes, due to its overly intricate steps, it’s not suitable for sale and remains little known, making its appearance only on the Jiang family’s New Year’s Eve feast table, bearing special significance for contestant Jiang Feng.”

“These four dishes, while different, share many similarities, the most significant being their extraordinarily delightful taste. I consider myself someone who has savored culinary delights from around the world, once arrogantly thinking I had tried all the world’s top delicacies. Only after tasting all four dishes in one go during the finals did I realize my folly of being a frog in a well, mistaking a glimpse for the whole.”

“Having said so much, I must have piqued your curiosity, and you must be wondering what’s so divine about these four dishes that I hold in such high regard. Now, I will detail each dish and share these unparalleled delicacies, which I may only have the chance to taste again after many years.”

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