The Game of Life

Chapter 754: 753

Going through such a big loop only to find out that Arno still wanted to battle Peng Changping was something no one expected.

After listening to Chef Arno’s explanation in a mix of Chinese and English, Jiang Feng asked the most crucial question, “But how do we compete?”

“If the competition is between restaurants, one in China and one in the US, this kind of reality show would take at least a few months to shoot. It’s not like our restaurants can just close for several months.”

The question Jiang Feng asked was exactly what Lu Sheng was concerned about. As a restaurant owner, even though he didn’t commercialize his restaurant to the extent Ling Guangzhao did, he wouldn’t pass up an advertising opportunity that was both cheap and effective.

An old-school reality show, Chef Arno making a comeback not as a mentor but as a contestant, a Chinese-American chef king championship—Lu Sheng could even imagine if Yonghe House got an excellent ranking in this competitive reality show, or even first place, how good the advertising effect could be.

That would definitely be waking up to the financial reports with a smile every day.

“I don’t know,” Chef Arno said.

Jiang Feng: ???

“This is not…”

Chef Arno clearly didn’t like explaining these things he wasn’t interested in. He spoke very quickly, and when he spoke Chinese, it was not fluent and very slow, which made him very irritated by his own stuttering and halting pronunciation. To explain to Jiang Feng, he had to speak in Chinese, and he could already tell from Jiang Feng’s occasionally perplexed expressions that Jiang Feng was a little behind in following his speed of speech. His brain translated at a half beat slower than others’, so he could only mix Chinese with English and English with grammatical errors to explain.

“Their game format hasn’t been determined yet, they haven’t even secured the project funds, and I haven’t signed the contract. I’m going back to deal with some of my own businesses and to talk to them on the side. What I know, I’ve just told you all,” he explained.

“What does this have to do with me?” Xu Cheng asked.

He was just a plain food critic—this kind of cooking competition had nothing to do with him. The show couldn’t possibly be thinking of asking him for a sponsorship because they were out of money.

“They need judges,” Chef Arno explained.

Xu Cheng realized at once.

Peng Changping had been listening quietly on the side, while Zhou Shi quietly played the part of a backdrop.

“So to clarify, the competition format hasn’t been determined,” Peng Changping spoke up.

Chef Arno nodded.

“And the show’s format is also not set.”

Chef Arno nodded again.

“Actually, I’ve watched a few seasons of this reality show before. The general process seems to be a group of young chefs learning together, competing continuously, being eliminated, and finally deciding a few winners who go to a well-known restaurant for the final showdown,” Peng Changping was quite familiar with the show, “A few years ago the production team contacted me wanting to use my restaurant as the final competition venue for a few days, but I rejected them.”

“If this year they change the format from individual to restaurant participation, it would probably mean using their own restaurants as the venues for competition,” Peng Changping even began analyzing the possible competition format, “This makes it much more interesting than before. After all, cooking competitions should be about professional chefs, not a bunch of good-looking young people who haven’t even mastered their knifework practicing for a few months.”

Chef Arno seemed somewhat excited, looking at Peng Changping, “You agree to compete?!”

Peng Changping shook his head with a smile, “I refuse.”

Chef Arno: ???

“Why?” Chef Arno’s voice was filled with confusion and anger.

He had taken the trouble to explain for so long just to persuade Peng Changping to compete. Peng Changping seemed very interested but ended up refusing. Chef Arno felt as though Peng Changping was just toying with him.

“I’m over a hundred years old now. Watching variety shows is fine, but actually participating—not so much,” Peng Changping explained with a smile, “I’m clear about the state of my body. Walking and drinking tea is fine, but climbing stairs is out of the question. Occasionally, when I feel like it, I can cook a couple of dishes. Don’t look at the 27 dishes we had tonight; I hardly made any myself. Mostly I just sat on the side and directed.”

“Reality shows, huh? It’s good for you young people to have some fun. This old man will pass on participating.”

Rejected by Peng Changping, Chef Arno appeared disheartened, and the aggressiveness he radiated diminished significantly. He seemed like a large breed of dog that had lost its fight, exhausted and without any enthusiasm.

“Then I’ll go and decline them,” Chef Arno said, about to get up to leave.

“Why?” Peng Changping asked, puzzled, “I think the show sounds quite interesting. You all could participate.”

“No opponent,” Chef Arno said in the most indifferent tone, standing up.

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Peng Changping said with a light laugh.

“Are you talking about Sun Maochai? I know he moved to Taifeng Building not long ago, and I remember there’s another chef there who I hadn’t heard of before who’s not inferior to him. But that’s about it; neither of them is a match for me.” Chef Arno appeared very dismissive, not taking Sun Maochai and Jiang Weiming seriously at all.

“Not them.” Peng Changping eyed the mung bean cake, reached for a piece, took a small bite, and sipped some tea before continuing, “Sun Maochai is still lacking in fire control compared to you, and Jiang Weiming is about the same age as me—how could he participate in a reality show like this?”

“Then who else could it be?” Arno couldn’t think of anyone else on his level, “It couldn’t be those French guys, could it? They’re just defeated generals, not even as good as Sun Maochai.”

Peng Changping pointed at Jiang Feng, without saying a word.

Arno: ?

Jiang Feng: ?

Jiang Feng subconsciously looked down at his own chest; the clothes he wore were quite normal with no lettering, and he had been very proper during the meal without spilling any oil stains.

Eliminating these external factors, the only reason Peng Changping would point at him was clear.

He could be a match for Chef Arno.

Jiang Feng suspected Peng Changping wanted to set him up for failure.

Indeed, since his knifework and seasoning had reached grandmaster level, he had become somewhat conceited, at times forgetting his own last name and occasionally not even taking Sir seriously, but he still possessed a basic sense of self-awareness.

He was not as good as Sun Maochai.

Whether it be in culinary skills, experience, or management, he was not Sun Maochai’s equal. There’s a gap between grandmasters; even at master level, a million points in proficiency could differ by leagues, not to mention at grandmaster level of ten million proficiency points.

Who knows whether the grandmaster level he saw was at one hundred thousand proficiency points or at nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand proficiency points?

Jiang Feng was not as good as Sun Maochai, and Sun Maochai was not as good as Chef Arno. Anyone with a bit of basic judgement would know Jiang Feng was definitely not up to Chef Arno’s standards.

Even at his most conceited, Jiang Feng only ever thought he might just barely squeeze into the top ten of the famous chefs list, while Chef Arno was a surefire top five entry this year!

Not only did Jiang Feng find it unbelievable, but Chef Arno was also incredulous; he no longer thought Peng Changping was playing with him, he felt Peng Changping was insulting him.

“Him?” Chef Arno looked incredulously at Jiang Feng, “He can be my match?”

Jiang Feng: …

Although I also feel he can’t, could you not be so exaggerated in your tone?

Chef Arno intended to say something to express his strong dissatisfaction, but after a glance at Jiang Feng, he somehow swallowed his words back down, looking actually a bit sheepish and guilty.

This was indeed a rare occurrence.

“I have heard some rumors about the Midsummer Feast, and I have also heard the evaluations of the chicken bean curd he made,” Chef Arno’s tone suddenly became serene, “but I don’t think he’s qualified.”

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Peng Changping finished the mung bean cake he held.

“I taught him the technique for making stock for a few months. He is a miracle.”

“I don’t want to repeat those adjectives that often appear in reality shows, like hardworking, resolute, and persistent. Even though they all praise a person, we both know that we all possess these qualities. Lazy people cannot become famous chefs. What I want to say is about his talent. You really should experience it for yourself. If you and I can be called geniuses by the world, then compared to him, we are just ordinary mortals. I understand your feelings—pride, loneliness, no rivals. I was the same back in the day.”

“But you are luckier than me. I still had plenty of energy left and did not encounter you, but while you are still at your peak, you can meet him.”

For some reason, Jiang Feng felt Chef Arno’s expression twisted for a moment.

“My advice is that seeing is better than hearing. Why don’t you take some time tomorrow to go to Taifeng Building to try the chicken bean curd he made before you decide, hm?” Peng Changping suggested.

Chef Arno fell silent.

Jiang Feng also fell silent.

“Tomorrow noon.” Chef Arno looked at Jiang Feng, “I will come to Taifeng Building to find you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co