Chapter 371

Most of the menu at the Yukihira family's restaurant consisted of Japanese cuisine, which also suited the tastes of the locals.

And the dishes on the menu at Wen Shengzai's restaurant were almost all Chinese cuisine. In a situation where there was a difference in flavor in a foreign land, being able to keep pace with the Yukihira restaurant, and even faintly suppress it, was enough to show how good the business at their restaurant usually was.

Of course, the main reason their restaurant could have such good business was because Wen Shengzai's mother was capable enough.

But ever since Wen Shengzai's mother returned to her hometown a month ago, the business at their restaurant had been getting worse day by day.

Whether it was the level of cooking or the taste of the dishes served, Wen Shengzai naturally couldn't compare to his mother, who was a big shot in the Dark Culinary Realm.

Many people who had come here because of their reputation before returned in great disappointment after eating Wen Shengzai's dishes.

The customers who still came to Wen Shengzai's house to eat now were just some old customers who were nostalgic, as well as Wen Shengzai's friends and classmates like Kurase.

However, if a restaurant's business only relied on nostalgia and connections to keep customers, then this restaurant wouldn't be too far from bankruptcy.

Honestly speaking, although the dishes Wen Shengzai made weren't as good as what his mother made casually, they definitely couldn't be considered unpalatable, and had even surpassed many ordinary family restaurants.

But the point of the problem was that his restaurant was on the same street as the Yukihira restaurant.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. The prices of dishes at family restaurants were all about the same, and the distance between the Aunt Wenren restaurant and the Yukihira restaurant wasn't far.

People who came to eat were neither fools nor infatuated girls like Kurase. How to make a choice naturally didn't need to be said.

"Sigh, that guy is probably pushing himself again. A week ago, he suddenly told me that he wanted to do some special training, and he would continue to open the shop only after the training was over.

But for an ordinary family restaurant, if the taste of the dishes isn't quite outstanding, stopping business for so long would have caused the customers to run away long ago.

It would have been fine if Aunt Aunt Wenren was still here before, but now the customers at Wen Shengzai's house are almost all those old customers who are nostalgic. If he stops business for so long this time, I'm afraid even those old customers will run away."

(If I give Wen Shengzai's mother a single surname, it feels quite distracting, so here I'll just follow the local customs and have her share the surname Aunt Wenren (￣￣).)

Because both restaurants were on the same street, Wen Shengzai and Soma Yukihira could be considered best friends who grew up together.

It's just that compared to Soma Yukihira, who was naturally gifted in culinary arts since childhood and was also a child of the world, Wen Shengzai's culinary talent couldn't compare to his at all.

As early as the few days when Wen Shengzai's mother returned to her hometown, Yukihira, seeing Wen Shengzai constantly being complained about by customers, suggested that he temporarily close his family's restaurant and come to his house to help.

After all, opening a shop on the same street, although Wen Shengzai's mother took a cold and aloof route, for so many years, Joichiro Yukihira and Wen Shengzai's mother could be considered quite familiar with each other.

Joichiro Yukihira greatly admired Wen Shengzai's mother for being a woman but possessing such formidable culinary skills, and even once proposed a food war duel to Wen Shengzai's mother, but was rejected by her.

In the eyes of Yukihira and Joichiro, the Aunt Wenren restaurant without Wen Shengzai's mother was simply not the original Aunt Wenren restaurant.

Although it was a bit excessive to say so, the dishes Wen Shengzai was serving now were simply smashing the reputation and signboard their family had accumulated over the past ten years or more.

Letting Wen Shengzai stop business and come to work at their place was actually out of the idea of taking care of Wen Shengzai.

After all, now that only Wen Shengzai was left, it was quite difficult to maintain the operation of the Aunt Wenren restaurant.

If Wen Shengzai was allowed to continue like this, not to mention that the reputation accumulated by the Aunt Wenren restaurant over the years would be ruined by Wen Shengzai, even Wen Shengzai's own livelihood would become a problem.

Closing the shop first and working at their Yukihira restaurant could not only reduce losses but also not smash the Aunt Wenren restaurant's signboard. When Wen Shengzai's mother, Aunt Wenren Aunt Wenren Qingying, returned, with her outstanding culinary skills, reopening the shop would be an easy thing.

And Joichiro Yukihira had always believed that Wen Shengzai came from a culinary family. Although he hadn't seen Wen Shengzai's father, Wen Shengzai's mother Aunt Wenren Aunt Wenren Qingying's culinary skills were so formidable; as her child, Wen Shengzai's talent shouldn't be so mediocre.

Thinking of Aunt Wenren Aunt Wenren Qingying's usual cold and aloof posture of few words, Joichiro Yukihira extremely suspected that Aunt Wenren Aunt Wenren Qingying might be impeccable as a chef herself, but she probably wouldn't teach others.

If Wen Shengzai came to work at his house, and he tried to help train him, maybe it would completely stimulate Wen Shengzai's culinary talent?

Joichiro couldn't bear to see Wen Shengzai's "talent" buried, nor could he bear to see the Aunt Wenren restaurant's signboard smashed by Wen Shengzai like this. Out of mutual appreciation between strong people, Joichiro asked Yukihira to discuss with Wen Shengzai about temporarily coming to his house to learn and work.

As Wen Shengzai's good friend, Yukihira naturally agreed with his father's proposal.

After all, although he didn't want to see his brother drive a Land Rover... oh no, he didn't want to see his brother become a God of Cooking, but he also didn't want to see his brother live too miserably.

Soma Yukihira had always believed that people who love cooking could definitely become excellent chefs. What if it was really that Aunt Aunt Wenren wouldn't teach others, and Wen Shengzai could learn by analogy and become stronger at his house?

However, when Yukihira proposed his and his father's idea to Wen Shengzai, Wen Shengzai had already rejected him several times.

The last time Soma Yukihira proposed this suggestion was when he let Wen Shengzai taste his dark cuisine last week.

And it was also at that time that Wen Shengzai suddenly excitedly told him that he wanted to go into seclusion for special training for a period of time.

And when he started business again, he would definitely be able to successfully recover the reputation and fame that the Aunt Wenren restaurant had lost before, and step on Soma Yukihira under his feet.

Soma Yukihira, who heard what Wen Shengzai said at the time, naturally didn't believe it at all, and thought that Wen Shengzai was purely bragging.

As best friends who grew up together, whether Wen Shengzai had hidden talent, Soma Yukihira indeed didn't know. After all, because family inheritance was a secret, Soma Yukihira had never seen Aunt Aunt Wenren teaching Wen Shengzai.

But whether Wen Shengzai had culinary talent, although he, Soma Yukihira, didn't know, he was quite clear about what Wen Shengzai's culinary level was like.

Although he, Soma Yukihira, couldn't beat his father and Wen Shengzai's mother, Aunt Aunt Wenren, beating Wen Shengzai was completely something he could handle with ease.

Wanting to crush him, Soma Yukihira, after a mere week of special training—isn't that looking down on people!

The gap between the two of them now was simply the gap between him and Joichiro. Such a huge chasm, wanting to erase and even surpass it by relying on a week of closed-door special training.

Those who know will think you went for special training; those who don't will think you directly turned on a cheat!

(End of chapter)