I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Translated by Kollumceti Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Shen Fu’s ability to hold a grudge was obviously much bigger than Chen Fang had imagined. It would really be generous of him to remember it for a few years especially when it came to such matters.

Shen Fu expressed that Chen Fang was really brave enough to come visit his home after doing such a thing.

In actual fact, Chen Fang himself also did not want to come at all. However, what he was holding in his hand was akin a soldering iron. It was hard to ask people to deliver it and how would he get along with Father Shen or Mother Shen in the future if it was seen by them?

So he could only enter the door with Shen Fu’s blade-like gaze on him.

Mother Shen beamed, “Xiao Fang, are you here to look for Shen Fu to play? He’s upstairs.”

Chen Fang hunched down and and said hello to Mother Shen and Father Shen. Of course, he knew that Shen Fu was upstairs. This was because Shen Fu was staring at him while standing on the stairway with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Mother Shen was about to ask the Auntie to call Shen Fu down when she saw him standing on the stairway and looking at Chen Fang with a smile that was yet not a smile. She waved, “Xiao Fang is here. What are you still standing there for? Come down quickly.” Then she asked, “Where’s Xiao Yi? Has he gotten up?”

Shen Fu’s eyes never left Chen Fang a single time. When Mother Shen asked, he answered, “No, I’ll call him later.” Then he walked over to Chen Fang while sharpening his sword in preparation for an attack.

It was great that he could take advantage of the fact that Lin ShuYi hadn’t gotten up to properly get revenge for yesterday.

Chen Fang began to feel a bad premonition.

He only managed to stay standing upon remembering that he was here to atone for his crimes by meritorious acts. Shen Fu came up to him, grabbed his neck and coldly laughed, “Let’s go, I just happened to have something to tell you.”

Chen Fang wanted to turn around and shout for help.

In the end, he did not say anything as he was dragged away by Shen Fu.

Mother Shen was baffled as she turned back to look at Father Shen who was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper, “Why do I feel that there’s something wrong with those two?”

Father Shen shook the newspaper in his hands and indifferently replied, “Ai ya, they’re young people and their way of communicating feelings are different. You should just ignore them and come sit down.”

Mother Shen reluctantly agreed with this statement and put Chen Fang’s ‘life or death’ aside.

As for Chen Fang who had been pulled into the gym by Shen Fu. Shen Fu had a customized gym. It was quite a large gym and most importantly, it had excellent sound insulation. Chen Fang wailed in anguish. He had already thought of what Shen Fu was going to do to him.

Sure enough, Shen Fu went to the cabinet in the corner and took out the boxing gloves inside. Then he threw one pair of them to Chen Fang, “Go and change your clothes. Then come and spar with me for a little.”

Chen Fang’s entire body was perfectly demonstrating the meaning of the phase ‘my life is hopeless’.

Shen Fu did not know those pretentious moves that were full of flourishes like Taekwando and stuff, but he knew how to box and practiced it for entertainment for quite a long time. At that time, Chen Fang was often pulled to spar for a little while. Now, Chen Fang had developed a conditioned reflex to feel afraid once the phase ‘spar for a little’ was mentioned.

Chen Fang quickly offered up the things in his hand with a pious expression, “I genuinely and sincerely came to atone for my sins, so please don’t tell me to ‘spar for a little’.”

Shen Fu grinned did not answer, “Come on, I haven’t practiced for a long time. My muscles are almost gone. I’ll wait, you quickly go change your clothes.” After that, he took off his night robe, leaving him in a loose pair of boxers. It was not very obvious when Shen Fu was normally wearing clothes, but once his clothes were taken off, the six-pack etched on his abdomen were revealed. The muscles seemed to be laughing grimly at Chen Fang.

Chen Fang was about to cry. If he had known earlier that Shen Fu was planning to do this, he would not have come no matter what Shen Fu said. “It’s not too late for you to see what’s inside before you spar with me for a little ah.”

Shen Fu raised an eyebrow and finally reached out to take what Chen Fang offered up. It was a square package that was not big, but was rather heavy. Shen Fu opened it and nearly threw it out. He looked at Chen Fang and began to shoot piercing glares at him again, “What the fuck is this?”

Did he look like someone who would watch this kind of thing? Yesterday, Chen Fang ruined the good mood between him and Lin ShuYi. Today, he gave Shen Fu this kind of thing. Was Chen Fang trying to complain that he wasn’t dying fast enough?

Chen Fang knew that Shen Fu had misunderstood.

He quickly took two steps back and waved his hand, “It’s not for you to watch, it’s for Lin ShuYi to watch.”

Shen Fu recalled that incredible size hanging on the dish he had seen. The veins in his forehead popped up even more as his teeth ground together, letting out creaking sounds “Chen Fang, you came here looking for death today, didn’t you?”

Chen Fang only felt that he was really down on his luck today. “You two can watch it together! Didn’t I ruin the mood between you guys? Isn’t this a method for me to make it up to you?”

Why doesn’t it look like a good idea at all?!

Sure enough, a man’s heart was just like a needle at the bottom of the sea – impossible to grasp.

Shen Fu’s expression finally looked a little better with Chen Fang’s explanation and he even seemed to have thought of something as he laughed. Just as Chen Fang felt that the crisis was over, he saw Shen Fu putting the thing aside softly and quietly before taking up his boxing gloves, “I suddenly think that you’d better spar with me for a little.”

Chen Fang: “...”

God fucking damn it. He had simply underestimated this man’s level of holding a grudge!

Chen Fang accepted his misfortune and changed his clothes. He put on the gloves and waited for Shen Fu to give him a fatal blow, he would take advantage of that to lie down. Shen Fu laughed, “Why do you look like you’re looking death calmly in the face? You’re just going through the motions by sparring with me for a while. Do I look like that kind of person who’d fight with his buddies because of something like this?”

Chen Fang almost choked to death on a mouthful of old blood. He desperately rolled his eyes while roaring in his heart: Like that kind of person?! Fuck, you’re practically that kind of person!

The two men went through the motions and sparred for more than an hour. Mother Shen came in to deliver milk midway, for fear that Shen Fu would be on an empty stomach. By the time the two men took a shower, changed their clothes and came out, everyone was up and ready for breakfast.

Breakfast for the Shen Family was usually a little late to accommodate Old Master Shen, so it was usually served after eight o’clock.

The western-style cakes that Chen Fang had eaten before he came had long been digested because of this exercise that he hadn’t gone through in a long time. He was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back as he smelled the fragrance drifting from the dining hall. Was it because he was too famished? Why did he feel that the food today smelled especially fragrant?

After saying hello to Old Master Shen, Chen Fang followed Shen Fu to the kitchen and found that today’s chef was not the one who had cooked before in the Shen family. The one who was busying around the kitchen while wearing an apron was the one who had escaped being pressed down by Shen Fu last night, resulting in his bad luck today – Lin ShuYi.

Lin ShuYi had greeted Mother Shen already, so he was not surprised to see Chen Fang here. He fished up the wontons in the pot and plated them up. Then he poured the soup stock which had been prepared earlier and left at one side. Finally, he squeezed the thick sesame sauce on top and sprinkled on a few pieces of sliced scallions before calling out to Shen Fu, “Serve it.”

Shen Fu bounced with joy as he served it up. This was the first time that Lin ShuYi had cooked in the Shen family. Although it was only a few days, he still felt like he had not eaten Lin ShuYi’s cooking for a long time.

When Shen Fu carried the plated and passed by Chen Fang, Chen Fang subconsciously took a deep breath. It was so fragrant! Suddenly he felt that he would have to find a wife who could cook in the future, otherwise Shen Fu would be too cocky.

Wontons in Sesame Sauce were obviously the last dish. After Shen Fu carried it out, Lin ShuYi turned the stove off and unfastened his apron. He washed his hands and told Chen Fang, “Go and eat. There’s nothing here anymore.”

Chen Fang went to the dining hall while drooling. Then his hunger was stimulated further by the exquisite, appetizing and fragrant breakfast on the dining table.

In the middle was a white casserole dish containing congee. On both sides were various kinds of small side dishes. Though there were many types, each portion was rather small. It seemed very painstaking and time-consuming to prepare.

This was the first meal Lin ShuYi cooked at the Shen Family’s house. Although it was only breakfast, he also wanted to put all his heart and soul and do a good job.

Chen Fang and Lin ShuYi both sat down before the Auntie started to serve the congee in for everyone. While she was serving the congee, she said, “This congee was made really well, there are even several eggs in it.”

Old Master Shen was obviously very happy. He could not wait to taste it as soon as the Auntie handed him the first bowl of porridge.

The rice had been boiled until the individual grains had lost their shapes and almost melted into the soup. There were slices of shiitake mushroom and tiny grains of minced meat, and a smooth and plump free-range raw egg yolk nested underneath.

The fresh fragrance of bone stock had been absorbed by the congee. The mince meat were smooth and tender, carrying the fragrance of mushrooms. The egg split apart with a light poke, revealing the orange yellow center which just happened to have completely solidified, with only a tiny bit of soft yolk in the middle.

It could be seen that the heat of the fire was controlled perfectly. Old Master Shen began to eat with incomparable happiness.

In actual fact, the taste of everyone from Shen family was almost the same. All of them did not like to eat the sweet western-style breakfast very much. On the contrary, it was the chinese-style breakfast that more welcomed by Old Master Shen. Shen Fu had mentioned these to Lin ShuYi before. Fortunately, it just happened that Lin ShuYi was also an expert in chinese-style breakfast.

There were two different styles of dumplings which made with the same stuffing. One was golden colored potstickers that were fried with onions and sesame seeds, the other was boiled wontons formed into an ingot shape and drizzled with sesame paste. One could not even tell that both dumplings had the same stuffing inside when eating them.

Mother Shen, Father Shen and Chen Fang, who were eating Lin ShuYi’s cooking for the first time, were struck dumb with amazement.

Mother Shen herself was a very good cook, but she was actually better at western-style cakes and desserts because she studied abroad when young. Thus, she was really fond of Lin ShuYi’s pure Chinese style, especially that wontons in sesame sauce. The fragrance of the sesame sauce and the slight acidity of vinegar really whetted one’s appetite.

Mother Shen involuntarily felt an overwhelming pride in the fusion of Chinese and Western cooking. Her actions of placing the wontons in her bowl quickened.

Father Shen gazed at the empty wonton dish which he had only been able to eat one piece of. Then he looked at his own wife’s bowl which had several pieces of wonton inside and swallowed. Before he could open his mouth, he heard his wife who knew him inside out say, “Be good, eat the potstickers.”

Father Shen: “...”

Shen Fu dipped a potsticker in vinegar and put it into Lin ShuYi’s bowl. It was better if both husband and wife’s preferences in food were not too similar. Otherwise, what could be done if they could not complement each other? !

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