Chapter 884: Extra Story 4: Sun Family Father and Son Chapter (Complete) Chapter 884: Extra Story 4: Sun Family Father and Son Chapter (Complete) Jiang Feng, eager for a taste of the melon, was left in a state of conflicted anxiety as Sun Jikai and Sun Channing left briskly.

Whether he ate melon or not was besides the point; his main concern was for his staff. If Sun Jikai and Sun Channing were to start fighting, he would need to be there to watch over them.

With this worry for his employees in mind, Jiang Feng quietly shifted closer to Sun Jikai and Sun Channing, moving to a distance where he could clearly hear their conversation without being too close. He then took out his phone and pretended to play, but in reality, he was all ears.

Listeni
Eavesdropping on conversations is indeed a bit unethical.

But Sun Jikai and Sun Channing were not discussing anything clandestine, so there was no need for them to find a private room to talk.

Even so, what they talked about sounded pretty sensational to Jiang Feng.

“Do you hate me?” Sun Channing began with a question that landed like a thunderbolt.

Sun Jikai was so taken aback that he was left speechless, not expecting his uncle to become so blunt after assuming control. He remembered Sun Channing used to speak more gently.

“A little,” Sun Jikai replied, quite frankly.

The two families had already fallen out on some level, and despite their deep-seated connections, they found themselves in a rather delicate situation. Speaking more straightforwardly was quite fitting.

Sun Channing laughed, “It’s normal. It’s normal for you and your dad to hate me.”

Sun Jikai: ?

“Do you hate your mother?”

“I do.” This answer came out much clearer.

“Still want to see her again?”

“We’ve already cut ties with her, both nominally and legally,” Sun Jikai said.

As for morally, he didn’t care.

“I watched the live competition, you performed very well, and your culinary skills have improved a lot since you were young.” Sun Channing changed the topic abruptly, leaving Sun Jikai and the melon-eating Jiang Feng caught off guard by the swift change.

This was all over the place–saying whatever came to mind.

“Maybe,” Sun Jikai mumbled, lowering his head. After thinking it over, he still spoke up, “I also saw the news about Jubao Building.”

Although feeling somewhat begrudging and frustrated, Sun Jikai swallowed his pride and took a deep breath before saying, “Jubao Building has developed very well under your leadership.”

Sun Channing was not only adept in the battle for the inheritance but also decisive and ruthless in the business world. With absolute control, powerful influence, and the connections he’d built over the years, he quickly transformed Jubao Building from a restaurant to a hotel.

Even though Jubao Building’s head chef had switched over to Taifeng Building, the remaining chefs were enough to set up a high-end hotel’s Chinese dining department. Sun Channing hired a few well-known Western chefs from Hong Kong City to set up the Western dining section at high salaries. With Jubao Building’s original fame, the buzz from the family feud, a pleasant hotel environment, exceptional hotel services, and a dining department that could outclass all other high-end hotels in the market, Jubao Building successfully completed its transformation within a few months and business was booming.

Even though Sun Jikai was unwilling to admit it, the current situation made it clear that Jubao Building had indeed developed better under Sun Channing’s hands than if it had stayed in his own.

Though the cost of that development was the loss of Jubao Building’s original roots.

“I plan on renaming the hotel,” Sun Channing said, “Jubao Building is a suitable name for a restaurant but it’s too awkward for a hotel.”

Sun Jikai’s head shot up, staring at Sun Channing in disbelief. Anger eclipsed surprise as his first reaction upon hearing these words.

“How could you–” Sun Jikai almost couldn’t control his volume before he was interrupted by Sun Channing.

“Hear me out. I thought that after a year in Beiping, you might have tempered your disposition somewhat, but you seem just as impetuous as ever, showing your emotions too readily. With such a temper, you’re not quite suited for management, just like Grandfather.”

Sun Jikai couldn’t understand how Sun Channing dared to mention Grandfather after saying such things. Transforming a restaurant into a hotel was already hard enough for him to accept, and now to discard even the name was nothing short of betrayal to the Sun Family’s ancestors.

Sun Jikai suppressed his fury, knowing that it was not the right moment to lose his temper but he really couldn’t control it earlier, “Why, you’ve already turned Jubao Building into a hotel, why do you even have to change the name now?”

“I told you, it’s not suitable,” Sun Channing said, “We initially chose the name Jubao Building solely for the reputation it had built over the years. But now that the transformation is successful and the market recognition is high, there’s no need to cling to a name that’s completely inappropriate.”

Jiang Feng, who had been playing on his phone off to the side, was considering whether he should step in and pull Sun Jikai away. He felt that Sun Jikai’s fists were already clenched.

“Why are you telling me all this, to humiliate me?” Sun Jikai demanded.

“You’re overthinking it, Kai,” Sun Channing laughed, “I’m telling you this simply to let you know that I don’t need the name Jubao Building anymore. I’ll hold onto it for you, and when you’re ready, I’ll sell it to you at market price.”

Sun Jikai was stunned.

“But I won’t hold on to it forever for you, ten years at most. You’re already in your twenties,” Sun Channing said, glancing at his phone, evidently someone was looking for him.

“You and your dad didn’t come back for the New Year, I saw your dad when I came in, he looked pretty good. I won’t go over to speak to him to avoid making him angry. Tell him, Zhengqing always feels guilty; he tried to call you both many times during the New Year but it seems like the numbers were blacklisted.”

“You both know what kind of person Zhengqing is. It’s one thing to block my number, but take Zhengqing’s number off the blacklist, would you? It’d be good for you brothers to meet up sometime and go out together,” Sun Channing nodded towards someone in the distance, “I won’t disturb you any longer, this is your chefs’ exchange meeting and I won’t interrupt your session.”

With that, Sun Channing left.

Sun Jikai was left standing there, stunned.

Jiang Feng was also shocked at the spectacle; he rarely got the chance to witness such firsthand drama, and never expected to stumble upon such an explosive revelation.

These children of wealthy families were indeed inscrutable.

Jiang Feng had thought that Sun Jikai would share the content of his conversation with Sun Channing with Sun Changping, but based on his observations in the following days, Sun Changping seemed completely unaware of it.

He continued to be the stalwart of Taifeng Building’s service industry, diligently and earnestly working every day with a smile on his face, providing godly service to every guest, a warm welcome as if they were home.

Sun Jikai was scolded three times a day by Sir, just like always, getting an earful at every meal, becoming more spirited with each rebuke, working harder the more he was chided. Progress on mastering Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall crawled forward at a painfully visible slow pace, day by day being further outpaced by Jiang Feng.

From learning to being qualified, it only took Jiang Feng a year and a half.

During that year and a half, he not only mastered Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall but also made some progress with Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup. In the meantime, he successfully proposed and won the approval of the Wu Family members, so he could openly call Wu Minqi his wife.

Jiang Feng learned to cook Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall, but the dish had never appeared on Taifeng Building’s menu.

Jiang Feng was well aware that he needed to reserve this dish for Sun Jikai, even if Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall might never be added to Taifeng Building’s menu.

In contrast, Sun Jikai, who began learning with Jiang Feng, was only capable of producing a passable stock after a year and a half. He still needed constant learning and practice for handling and stewing various ingredients. In fact, Sun Jikai’s learning pace was already fast. To be able to concoct a stock that met the requirements for Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall within a year and a half was something few young chefs of today could achieve. It only seemed slow in comparison to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng was not only the top young chef, he was even showing a trend of becoming the top active chef.

Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall is a highly complex dish, and learning it is akin to studying the manufacturing process of a secret device. It’s a systematic process that starts with the initial theoretical knowledge, drawing, creating parts, processing, assembly, molding, operation, and testing.

During this process, Jiang Feng found a hint of the sensation he experienced watching Jiang Chengde’s culinary epiphany. He did not just learn Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall but also made substantial improvement in his cooking skills.

If Jiang Feng could have such a sensation, so too could Sun Jikai.

Only when he truly began to grasp Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall did Sun Jikai understand why Sun Maochai had insisted that he must go to Taifeng Building and learn the dish from Jiang Weiguo.

Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall is the essence of the Sun Family’s cuisine, the culmination of all their culinary techniques. What Sun Maochai wanted him to learn was not just Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall but the family’s craft.

Even Sun Jikai had not expected that he would spend nine years learning this single dish.

He learned it through marriage and fatherhood, to the point where Jiang Feng’s eldest son was already in elementary school by the time Sun Maochai and Jiang Weiguo recognized him as a chef.

Sun Jikai’s spouse, an outsider to the culinary world, studied finance, and their common ground was wealth.

Sun Jikai and his wife, who’d been married for several years with a daughter in kindergarten, were seldom seen at Taifeng Building. At the root of it was his wife’s ability to earn good money, flying everywhere from north to south, yet she was utterly confident in leaving their daughter with Sun Jikai.

Eating at Taifeng Building for every meal except breakfast, how could she not be confident?

People often joked that Mr. Sun was living off his wife.

Everyone, except Jiang Feng, thought that once Sun Jikai became skilled, Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall would be added to Taifeng Building’s menu.

But when Sun Jikai did become skilled, he, Sun Maochai, and Sun Channing together handed in their resignations.

Although a bit surprised, people didn’t react too strongly since they were not the first to resign–Zhang Guanghang had resigned a few years earlier to reopen Fen Garden.

As of now, as long as Jiang Feng remained, his position at Taifeng Building was unshakeable.

Moreover, having so many masters in one restaurant wasn’t ideal for balanced development across different restaurants. A time when all flowers bloom together is more beautiful than when only one stands out–at least, that’s what the Jiang Family members believed.

They approved the trio’s resignations very promptly.

They even managed to tease Sun Jikai into treating them to a meal. Of course, on the day they left, Jiang Feng also went to the airport to see them off.

“Old Sun, you’re going back to reopen Jubao Building. Are you ready? Being a chef and running a restaurant are two different things. Do you want me to ask Manager Fan to use some connections and dig up some capable management talents for you?” Jiang Feng asked before the farewell.

“Don’t worry, my dad has already taken care of all that,” Sun Jikai said with a smile. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while.”

“Go ahead.”

“At the culinary conference back then, did you eavesdrop on my conversation with my second uncle?”

Over the years, Jiang Feng’s skin had grown thick. Unflinchingly, he replied, “How could you call it eavesdropping? I was just taking a reasonable interest in an employee.”

“I knew it.”

“Don’t forget to invite us to Jubao Building’s reopening.”

“Rest assured, we won’t miss it for the world.”

“And don’t forget about Old Zhang.”

“Couldn’t if I tried.”

Jiang Feng waved goodbye to Sun Jikai, watching him leave to check in.

By the end of the same year, Jubao Building, which had been almost forgotten by the public as the former foremost restaurant in FJ, had its grand reopening.

On the opening day, Taifeng Building, Fen Garden, Yonghe House, Eight-treasure House, Taste House, Wu Family Restaurant, and a series of other famous restaurants sent flower baskets that filled the doorway, amidst which was one from the company now owned by Sun Channing.

On the day of the reopening, the aroma of Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall wafted for miles.

According to a gourmet magazine, although somewhat exaggerated, insiders revealed that the aroma from Jubao Building’s dish did indeed spread to the surrounding streets.

Many neighborhood residents opened their windows around noon to sniff the air, wondering who was cooking something so delicious.

To say it caused a sensation wouldn’t be an overstatement.

Years later, Jubao Building reclaimed its title as the top restaurant in FJ and even hinted at being the top in the south.

In the same year, Sun Maochai retired, and Sun Jikai became the sole head chef.

What people talked about most was that the core team of the reopened Jubao Building had mostly come from Taifeng Building–one the top in the south, the other the top in the north. People couldn’t help marveling and feeling in awe that Taifeng Building truly lived up to the legend of being the world’s number one restaurant.

The true king without a crown.

Sun Jikai never expected that the words he often boasted in his youth would actually be realized over more than a decade.

Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi, do not take the youth’s poverty lightly.