Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 829 - 415: Morning Meeting

The morning meeting at Zhiwei Restaurant is held in the employee break room.

Yes, it’s the same employee break room where the master chefs often get into fights and arguments.

Yesterday, Qin Huai didn’t really enter the employee break room; he just glanced at it a few times and thought it looked fairly well-decorated, quite spacious, and equipped with standard break room tables and chairs, along with some sofa recliners.

Today, following Master Zhou inside, he found that it matched the impression he got yesterday, except for a table piled high with boxed lunches, each labeled with a corresponding name.

Hey, boxed lunches.

Qin Huai was instantly drawn to the boxed lunches.

As soon as Master Zhou entered the employee break room, he saw Master Hua. The two of them could now be said to find each other extremely displeasing. So much so that Master Zhou managed to completely ignore Qin Huai, striding directly forward to stand in front of Master Hua, ready for a confrontation.

Master Hua was not to be outdone. Although he felt a bit guilty and scared, he stubbornly stuck his neck out and glared angrily at Master Zhou, and it seemed like a showdown was about to erupt, with a full-on fight about to play out in the break room.

Two master chefs at the door started arguing first.

"Ying Hetian, what do you mean? Yesterday I made honey-glazed layered cakes and you made honey-glazed layered cakes. Today I made pine nut cakes, you made pine nut cakes. So tomorrow, if I make fortune lock slices, will you also make fortune lock slices?"

"Is it fun to always copy my snacks? Can you make snacks as good as mine?"

"Chen En, don’t be so arrogant. Also, is it polite to call your senior brother by name? Don’t think that just because the master praised you a few times back in the day, you’re much better than me. These snacks were taught by our master, so why can’t I make them? And I haven’t even mentioned that you make the same snacks as me every day, yet you have the nerve to accuse me first."

"Pah, senior brother, do you even have the face to call yourself my senior brother? How come you didn’t remember that you were my senior brother when you came to Zhiwei Restaurant for money back then?"

"Chen En, do you have a problem with your brain? It’s not like I signed a contract of servitude. Zhiwei Restaurant offered better conditions and treatment, so I came here. Didn’t you also come to Zhiwei Restaurant?"

"I came because our master sent me here!"

"Back then, Master didn’t say I couldn’t come!"

"You @%＆*/!"

"You’re the one who’s "%＆@]#*!"

Qin Huai was dumbfounded.

Because at this moment, the employee break room not only had Master Zhou and Master Hua, Chen En and Ying Hetian arguing, but also several people giving each other dirty looks, creating a tense atmosphere of hostility.

It was less like a company morning meeting and more like a scene from a top-tier mediation show.

Wang Jiayi was long accustomed to this situation. Calmly, he pulled Qin Huai to the table with the boxed lunches, helped Qin Huai locate his own, then found a seat away from the conflict and started eating.

"Wang... Master Wang, is it okay for us to just start eating?" Qin Huai was truly bewildered now; he felt there wasn’t a single normal person in this break room, including Wang Jiayi.

It was almost time for the morning meeting, and while they were arguing over there, maybe even about to fight, here they were already eating.

Wang Jiayi calmly opened the boxed lunch, which was quite a sumptuous meal of four dishes and a soup: pan-fried ribbonfish, sweet and sour pineapple pork, stir-fried water spinach, and garlic baby cabbage, with winter melon pork rib soup.

Seeing Qin Huai still standing, Wang Jiayi gestured to the chair next to him: "Sit down and eat. Our morning meeting at Zhiwei Restaurant is actually meant for lunchtime. Since this is your first day, Boss Su will definitely introduce you to everyone later. During your introduction, everyone will be eating, so you won’t have time to eat. You should eat first."

Qin Huai didn’t understand, but he respected it. Bewildered, he sat down and opened his lunchbox. The dishes inside were the ones he had discussed with Boss Su yesterday, recommended by Tan Wei’an, still warm and looking quite appetizing.

Seeing Wang Jiayi already eating heartily, he no longer hesitated and started eating too, since he was already seated.

All while listening to the sounds of two master chefs, evidently from the same master but now at loggerheads, arguing loudly.

"Master Chen and Master Ying do this almost every day; you’ll get used to it. Although they argue fiercely, they won’t start fighting. People used to try and mediate, but now everyone is used to it. Plus, the two of them only argue during the morning meeting, squeezing in their fights so it doesn’t affect normal work, which is quite good."

Qin Huai: ?

"So... what’s the deal with these two chefs?" Qin Huai asked with some curiosity.

Wang Jiayi took a sip of soup, glanced at the two still quarreling, and said, "Master Chen and Master Ying are fellow apprentices under the same master. Around 20 years ago, Master Ying was unhappy with the treatment at his original restaurant. At that time, Boss Su was recruiting talents with high salaries, so he recruited Master Ying to Zhiwei Restaurant."

"Actually, there’s nothing about it. In the early days, many of Zhiwei Restaurant’s chefs were recruited by Boss Su with high salaries. But Master Chen has always been dissatisfied with Master Ying for this, feeling that Master Ying betrayed their master for money."

"That counts as betraying the master?" Qin Huai exclaimed softly.

Wang Jiayi shrugged, indicating he couldn’t judge: "Perhaps there’s some subtlety we don’t know about; after all, it was more than 20 years ago. But about seven or eight years ago, the restaurant where Master Chen worked shut down due to mismanagement. Master Chen’s master found some connections to introduce Master Chen to work at Zhiwei Restaurant."

"From the day Master Chen arrived at Zhiwei Restaurant, he’s been at odds with Master Ying, having big arguments every three days and small arguments every two days, so everyone has gotten used to it over the years."