Chapter 376

Maitreya Buddha actually only sensed that Sun Wukong was a bit off, and he also didn't know what exactly Sun Wukong wanted to do—could it be that during the time he didn't know, the Buddhist sect offended Sun Wukong or his master, so these master and disciple are preparing to let this Buddhist disciple lose face in public?

Thinking this, Maitreya Buddha felt he still needed to persuade him a bit, although he sometimes didn't quite understand the actions of Buddhist sect people.

But in such a situation, especially since he himself was present, no matter what these Buddhist disciples had done, whether they should be forgiven or not, he should step forward to stop them.

Even if stopping them was futile, it didn't matter—at least the situation still needed to be addressed verbally; if not, then things would be left hanging.

As a patriarch-level figure, seeing his own people bullied in such a situation with his eyes wide open, the Buddhist sect's interior would inevitably have to be discussed later.

"Great Chef Sun Wukong, don't be angry—I just misspoke; everyone has moments of misspeaking, so don't blame me for this."

Sun Wukong snorted, "Hmph, if it weren't for looking at your face for praising this dish of mine, I would have already splashed this cup of wine on you."

"Don't."

Maitreya Buddha snatched the wine cup over, "Such good wine—if used to splash, isn't that wasting it? Or let me splash it; I don't know if splashing it into my belly would let Great Chef Sun Wukong calm down?"

Sun Wukong then laughed, "Alright, you laughing Buddha do know how to speak."

The two toasted back and forth a few times, and Maitreya Buddha pointed at the Buddhist disciples' side and said, "I don't know if among them someone has offended Great Chef Sun Wukong; please don't take offense—they're just juniors, speaking without thinking, so it's inevitable they'd offend someone. Great Chef Sun Wukong, you say who offended you, tell me, and I'll have them apologize to you privately."

Sun Wukong drank his wine, his eyes rolling, "Good, no wonder Maitreya Buddha has been accompanying me with a smiling face—turns out he was waiting for me here."

"No, no one offended me, Maitreya Bodhisattva, what do you mean by saying this? Do you think I, Old Grandson, have a small belly, that one offense against me means I want all of them to suffer together just to vent?"

"I don't mean that."

Maitreya Buddha sensed the situation turning bad, quickly changed the subject, "Look, Great Chef Sun Wukong, you've misjudged where I'm coming from—I was just asking casually. Since Great Chef Sun Wukong let them do this, you must have your own reasons. Although I don't usually manage affairs, speaking up still counts as being part of the Buddhist sect, so I can't help but be curious and ask more."

"Like that."

Sun Wukong laughed lightly, "You just relax—those dullards may speak unpleasantly, but no one has offended me. I've already explained this before—could it be that Maitreya Bodhisattva you didn't listen carefully?"

"Ay, where did I listen carefully? I've been wholly focused on your food, where could I notice those? If there's nothing, then forget it. Please, Great Chef Sun Wukong, raise your hand, don't torment them—look at them one by one, their faces are about to turn blue from holding back."

Sun Wukong snorted again, "Maitreya Bodhisattva, look at you—you misspoke again. What did I do? How could I make their faces turn blue from holding back?"

"It's not anything else—it's because you made them drool over this dish."

Sun Wukong was made to laugh heartily by Maitreya's words, "Oh, so that's it—I still thought that Buddhist disciples, upon smelling meat and fish, would feel nauseous, but turns out they also get hungry."

"Great Chef Sun Wukong is joking—although they're Buddhist sect people, their original selves were raised on five grains and legumes; only after attaining the Dao and ascending to immortality would smelling such fragrant food make them hungry, which is perfectly natural."

"That statement is not wrong."

Sun Wukong laughed, shifted the topic, "Maitreya Bodhisattva, you say this dish tastes good, right?"

Maitreya Buddha didn't understand, "Yes, especially good—not just me, everyone here thinks it's especially good."

Zhenyuanzi has good ears, and after finishing the dish, hearing the conversation here, he immediately echoed, "Yes, if we could eat such a dish every day, even damaging ten years of cultivation wouldn't be excessive."

"Really?"

Sun Wukong smiled and leaned in.

"That's truly great—I really feel I've made all these dishes for nothing, a bit of a loss, and I was even thinking of asking you for some compensation."

Sun Wukong's words,

made the celestial officials present, who were burying their heads in eating, startle, then some hastily put down their bowls and chopsticks, "This, Great Chef Sun Wukong, Zhenyuanzi is just joking with you, and besides, this Buddhist Dharma Feast is hosted by the Tathagata, so even if we wanted to ask for money, it wouldn't fall on us."

"Yes."

"Exactly, Great Chef Sun Wukong, Zhenyuanzi is praising you—if you want money, go ask him; we never said that."

Sun Wukong laughed heartily, "Look at your courage—I'm also joking, just relax, it's just a joke, yet you took it seriously."

This made the celestial officials present sigh in relief, then laugh along with Sun Wukong, "If you'd said so earlier, Great Chef Sun Wukong, we were so scared we didn't dare eat our food."

After speaking, the celestial officials who hadn't finished eating lowered their heads again and ate diligently.

Sun Wukong raised his voice, "This dish was researched by my master for over a month before being made—what do you all think of the taste? Isn't it good?"

As Sun Wukong's words just fell, praise rose and fell one after another.

"After eating this dish for so long, I, Old Grandson, have forgotten the most important thing—forgot to tell you the name of this dish. How about this? Since I'm just inspired, why don't you guess the name of this dish?"

The one who truly knows the dish's name, Zhenyuanzi, dare not speak, thinking this name was made up—who could guess it right? He dares to guarantee that not a single celestial official present can guess the dish's name; otherwise, he'll twist off his head and kick it like a ball.

"If someone guesses it right, I, Old Grandson, will make them a dish for free."

"Great, I'll go first."

Zhenyuanzi still likes to show off in such occasions, so he was the first to respond.

"Please speak."

Zhenyuanzi stroked his chin—he absolutely won't say the true dish name, so he made up: "This dish, the broth is golden yellow, inside it has the flavor of pork and beef bones, the soup contains mushrooms, dried scallops, abalone, quail eggs, etc. —everything that flies in the sky, runs on the ground, swims in water, grows in the soil is all included, and the taste is especially fresh and delicious—I guess it must be related to these, right?"

Sun Wukong didn't say yes or no, just nodded to let Zhenyuanzi continue.

"Such dish names are usually related to the dish itself—I think this dish should be called One Hundred Freshness, right?"

According to saying, this name is also not bad; the celestial officials also thought it quite reasonable, hastily looked toward Sun Wukong, waiting for him to nod.

Sun Wukong hehe laughed, "You're quite good at naming, but this dish name is wrong—any other guesses?"

The Cooking God unwilling to let Zhenyuanzi show off here, especially since he had just been humiliated by Zhenyuanzi over this, seeing Zhenyuanzi's guess was wrong, immediately stood up and said, "Since Zhenyuanzi guessed wrong, let me guess instead."

Before Chen Nuo and Sun Wukong appeared out of nowhere, the position of Chief Chef in the Heavenly Court's Imperial Kitchen had always been held by the Cooking God.