Chapter 312 - 140: The Chinese-Western Pastry Showdown Initiated by a Socialite (Part 2)

Chapter 312: Chapter 140: The Chinese-Western Pastry Showdown Initiated by a Socialite (Part 2)

’A boss who cooks in a suit...’

The moment the question left her lips, Zhang Jiali realized how silly it sounded. She let out a soft whimper, tumbling out from under the covers and kicking her flawless, pale legs in the air.

"Is five thousand not enough? If it isn’t, how much do you think would be appropriate?"

Zhang Jiayi hadn’t really given the budget for the afternoon tea much thought; the five thousand was just a number she had casually thrown out.

In her social circle, the price tag itself was a form of competition.

The owner’s reply came surprisingly fast.

[A custom gourmet experience of this caliber starts at a minimum of 15,000 yuan.]

Zhang Jiayi glanced at the message and, without a moment’s hesitation, her fingertips flew across the screen.

[Zhang Jiayi: Let’s just make it an even 20,000 yuan, shall we? But what do you mean by ’not enough time’?]

Su Chen’s reply was just as quick.

[’Not enough time’ means that if you need this for noon tomorrow, our company will be unable to fulfill your request.]

[Zhang Jiayi: Alright then~ So what’s the soonest you’d be able to do it?]

Su Chen replied: 3 days.

’It’ll really take that long?’

Zhang Jiayi pouted, finding it a bit hard to understand.

Baking was something of a popular little hobby in the socialite scene; many of her friends would make their own pastries when they had free time.

Whether they were actually delicious was another story, but the photos they posted always looked incredible.

As far as she knew, making pastries was basically just mixing flour into some gooey batter, adding all sorts of sweet flavorings, then tossing it in the oven. And that was that!

So why would it take a whole three days?

But since she’d chosen Delicious, Zhang Jiayi had at least that much patience.

[Mmm... three days it is, then! We’ll be waiting with great anticipation!]

Su Chen replied with a single[Mm]and then went silent.

Zhang Jiayi typed out a response, but after hesitating for a long time, she deleted everything. After thinking it over, she decided against initiating any further conversation.

’An afternoon tea for twenty thousand yuan... This owner sure has some nerve.’

’In any case, I only have to wait three days to see what a twenty-thousand-yuan afternoon tea looks like... This has to be one of the most expensive afternoon teas in our circle, right? Hehe...’

Having sorted out the content for her social media post the next day, Zhang Jiayi contentedly pulled up her covers and went to sleep.

...

Meanwhile, Su Chen, having received a satisfactory reply, found he was now too keyed up to sleep.

A budget of five thousand yuan really wasn’t enough for a proper spread of Chinese pastries. Besides the overly complicated preparation process, Su Chen would also need to purchase a considerable amount of serving ware and decorative pieces to achieve the desired aesthetic.

’I can count them as fixed assets. I’ll be able to use them again in the future.’

Su Chen never hesitated when it came to procurement. The priority now was to list all the dishes he needed to prepare, then make a targeted shopping list for all the necessary items.

’On the surface, this is just an order worth over ten thousand yuan. But in reality, it’s a setup for a culinary showdown between Chinese and Western pastries...’

’And one initiated by socialites, no less.’

Regardless of whether she was a genuine socialite or not, one thing was certain: once this order was completed, word of it would inevitably spread through the wealthy circles of Jingzhou City in no time.

For this reason, Su Chen did something he rarely did and entered the Gourmet Practice Room directly. He immediately began flipping through his renowned recipe books.

The Gourmet Practice Room had a peculiar feature: if he was only using it to practice cooking and prepare food, Su Chen could go on for a very long time.

But if... he used his time in the practice room for anything else, the drain on his stamina would multiply!

For instance, Su Chen had once tried to memorize vocabulary in the practice room, only to find he would become utterly exhausted after learning just a few words.

It was the same now. As he looked through the renowned recipe books in the practice room, it was taking a multiplied toll on his stamina, but he had no choice if he wanted to save time.

’When it comes to pastries, the golden age was undoubtedly the era of the Qing Court’s imperial desserts.’

Su Chen flipped through all the recipes in his renowned cookbooks but found no information related to the imperial court.

He remembered it clearly because he had once filmed an episode about the Snack Shop back when he was a livestreamer.

Back then, his team’s first destination had been the Capital City. After all, the Qing Court had been based there for several hundred years. Logically, some of the culinary skills from the Imperial Kitchen should have been passed down through the generations.

But even after scouring the entire Capital City, they couldn’t find the pastries they wanted to feature.

Later, after a winding search, the team leader managed to contact an elderly gentleman in Jin City named Wang Shixiang. He wasn’t a famous chef by any means.

He was, however, a massive foodie!

Mr. Wang’s lifelong passion was for sachima, a type of pastry. He had told them back then that the sachima in the Capital City was no longer up to par; the most authentic versions were now found in Jin City, at Gui Shun Restaurant and Xiangde Shop.

Following that lead, the team leader contacted another master, a man named Yang Ming. He was the disciple and successor of the pastry chef from the old state-run Xiangde Shop!

’Mr. Yang’s *bobo* were considered among the best in the entire country.’

’So, a *bobo* can definitely be one of the pastries I make.’

What Su Chen needed to do now was replicate those pastries he had learned about, and if possible, elevate them even further!

With this in mind, a general plan began to form in Su Chen’s head.

’First, I need to decide on the types of pastries. A court-style *bobo* can be one of them. I’ll make a Date Paste Short-crust Roll!’

Leaving the practice room, he jotted down the name of this pastry in the notebook on his desk. However, he used a different name: Imperial Consort Cake.