Chapter 869 - 749: Everything Is Negotiable_2

In their line of work, they’re constrained by the nature of the job—the closer it gets to the holidays, the busier they are. So when it comes to exchanging gifts and making the rounds among friends, they usually can only squeeze it in before the festival, or rack their brains to carve out time.

To be honest, Liu Yunong hadn’t originally planned to give Fu Yu pointers on this kind of thing. With interpersonal favors and social dealings like these, once you’ve gone through them enough times, you naturally gain experience bit by bit.

But when it comes to her own apprentice—who has now become her future brother?in?law—her mindset is inevitably a little different.

Before, whenever she spoke to him, she still had some reservations, and she wasn’t as invested as she is now.

Back then she was purely thinking: see if there’s a chance to train Fu Yu into her successor.

Whereas now, she’s planning to groom Fu Yu into the heir to the family business.

So in every respect, she wants to pass on her experience to him, afraid of leaving out even the slightest bit.

She also feels that when it comes to Fu Yu, she ought to be a bit more tolerant, ideally combining kindness with authority, so that he feels both awe and affection while also sensing her care.

But... when it comes down to it, this is really hard...

The main problem is that this balance is hard to grasp.

After all, she’s only Fu Yu’s future sister?in?law. The two of them may become family in the future, but for now there’s no substantive relationship.

So she’s still his master first and foremost; as for anything else, that’s just in name.

Thinking of this, Liu Yunong let out a sigh.

Still, the reminder she’d just given him doesn’t really count as overstepping—at most it’s a kind?hearted nudge.

Besides that, her main role should still be to conduct herself as a teacher, focusing on passing on knowledge and clearing up his confusion.

Since she’d thought it through to this point, Liu Yunong instantly perked up.

She’d actually spent some time carefully thinking about it over the past two days: she ought to teach according to his aptitudes, specifically helping Fu Yu with the parts he doesn’t understand.

But before that, she definitely needs to have a proper talk with Fu Yu, to understand exactly what plans he has for his own learning.

With that in mind, Liu Yunong asked seriously, "Xiaofu, what are your plans for next year? Besides staying here with me to learn Liu Family Cuisine, is there any other cuisine you especially want to study, or any area you’d like to know more about?"

Fu Yu paused for a moment. In fact, he really had thought this through carefully before.

If you had to say he has any clear plan, then it’s definitely to follow Liu Yunong and really learn cooking properly.

If he gets more specific, it’s probably to work hard and unlock all of Liu Yunong’s personal skills!

Fu Yu was a little lost in thought and didn’t reply right away.

Liu Yunong saw that Fu Yu stayed silent for quite a while, but she didn’t rush him.

She actually has a pretty good grasp of Fu Yu’s situation: besides working his daily shift at Qianlima, he still has to squeeze out time to take care of the medicinal cuisine business at the music restaurant.

On top of that, he also insists on coming over to Shangshi Private Kitchen to learn cooking.

Thinking it over, this past year has really been exhausting for Fu Yu. But the kid has strong willpower and real stamina—not only has he stuck it out, he’s been doing well in all areas. The medicinal cuisine business has visibly started to pick up and is now charging toward a booming trend.

Fu Yu’s still so young, with just over a year of work experience, yet he’s already achieved what he has now—that’s truly not easy.

Even she herself once spent more than ten years learning cooking under her father, then studying and furthering her education, tossing around for years before finally starting her own business step by step, backed by the family’s assets and connections.

By comparison, Fu Yu’s development is clearly much more rapid than hers was.

Thinking this over, when Liu Yunong looked at Fu Yu again, she suddenly understood why her little sister had so abruptly fallen for this guy!

They say hardworking people are the most attractive—and on top of that, his conditions are pretty good to begin with.

Looking at it this way, her sister actually has quite an eye for people; in this respect, she really takes after her.

Clear?headed, and good at judging character.

From the previously idolized Yao Shi to her current boyfriend Fu Yu, both are good, both outstanding!

The women of the Liu Family just know how to pick: the men they end up with are all great.

Liu Yunong’s lips curved slightly. In her mind, one moment it was the handsome image of Fu Yu lost in serious thought, and the next it was Li Linlin’s attentive look as he carefully fastened her seat belt...

...

Fu Yu didn’t notice the increasingly kindly, almost affectionate look in Liu Yunong’s eyes as she watched him.

He was seriously thinking about the question Liu Yunong had raised.

Plans for next year?

He has actually thought about it in detail.

He’ll definitely have to keep doing a good job with the work at Qianlima. Then, the medicinal cuisine business at the music restaurant will probably keep getting better—especially with Yao Shi at the helm, there’s no worry about it failing.

As for Shangshi Private Kitchen, he absolutely needs to keep coming here to study.

Beyond just completing missions, wanting to learn how to cook Liu Family Cuisine is also a very important reason.

You have to know, Liu Yunong is a renowned chef, her culinary skills are extremely superb, and she’s also adept at cooking the Liu Family’s ancestral dishes—a rarity even within the industry.

If he studies diligently under her, even if he doesn’t inherit the full mantle, at the very least he’ll be able to unlock quite a lot of personal skills.

However... how can he phrase this in a more pleasant way?

Fu Yu organized his wording and said, "Master, as for my specific plans for next year, right now I’m mainly thinking of staying by your side to properly learn cooking. After this period of learning under you, I truly feel I’ve benefited a lot. Your ability is obvious to everyone—after all, you’re a particularly famous big?shot figure in our circle, and also the sole heir to Liu Family Cuisine."

"I feel that by staying with you I can learn an especially large amount, and aside from the techniques of cooking, even in things like how to conduct oneself, and coordinating and managing the back kitchen—those areas are all things I’m actually not very good at yet, and there’s a lot I need to learn from you..."

"But, in all things it’s the master who leads you to the door, and the cultivation depends on the individual—that part I understand. So when I’m following you to learn cooking day?to?day, I’ll definitely pay more attention and observe more closely..."

...

Fu Yu spoke sincerely, with a serious attitude.

Listening to Fu Yu’s heartfelt declaration and looking at his earnest gaze, Liu Yunong felt that as he said these words, he had actually already made up his mind and settled on his learning plan for next year.

These sentences should be the result of him having thought it over at length.

Not bad!

Looks like Fu Yu really does have good judgment!

[Ding! Favorability with NPC Master Chef Liu Yunong +5]

Suddenly hearing the electronic notification chime in his ear, Fu Yu couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

He realized that before, in order to please his girlfriend Liu Yuqing, he had watched quite a lot of related short videos. After seeing so many, he’d actually summed up quite a bit of experience.

One of the points was: if you want to get along well with a woman, you have to learn how to praise her.

Put plainly, it’s about complimenting her from all angles.

Women all like being praised, regardless of age. As long as your compliments are grounded and well?reasoned, and hit right in her sweet spot, everything becomes negotiable!

Just then, a busboy came over from the back kitchen to report: "Boss, the lotus root slices are all prepped. Chef Wang asked me to let you know that you can start the stuffing now."

Liu Yunong was a bit surprised. "Oh? It’s all ready? That fast?"

The busboy hurriedly nodded. "Yes, it’s done. Chef Liu already has the minced filling mixed too."

Liu Yunong checked the time, then turned to ask Fu Yu, "You’re not in a rush to leave right now, are you? Coincidentally, we’ve got a stuffed lotus root dish today, and the method is a bit different from what we’ve done before. Do you want to come have a look?"

At that, Fu Yu’s interest was immediately piqued.

Stuffed lotus root that’s made differently from before?

He wondered what kind of method it was.

Fu Yu quickly said, "I’m in no rush to go. Master, I’ll come along and take a look."

Liu Yunong just loves this studious, inquisitive attitude of Fu Yu’s, and she answered cheerfully, "Alright, let’s go!"

Fu Yu followed Liu Yunong into the back kitchen. As they walked, he asked curiously, "Master, aside from the stuffed lotus root we learned before, what other ways of making it are there?"

Liu Yunong said with a smile, "This dish is actually called Fresh Shrimp Lotus Tower. It’s a type of stuffed dish, but the method is quite different from normal stuffing operations. They say catching the early bus isn’t as good as catching the lucky one—today you just happened to run into it at the perfect time."