Chapter 190: Troubles

The vigorous cooking competition came to the end. Unsurprisingly, Lu Xiaotian won the first place in the cooking group without any surprise. Duan Qilin, on the other hand, won the sixth place. Niu Baoshun didn’t manage to reach the top ten.

Zhong Xiang’s passionate speech was the talk of the people. Heavenly Residence suddenly became the most sought after place of employment. There have been chefs and cooks coming at the restaurant every day asking for a chance.

Ye Jiayao officially added cake on the restaurant’s menu and as expected, it became the hot new commodity. She also introduced the other three dishes that Zhong Xiang made in the competition and the people loved it.

Heavenly Residence’s popularity and good business put pressure on the other restaurants in Jin Ling. After the employees found out about the salary and benefits of Heavenly Residence, they all protested to their shopkeepers.

It was also heard that Niu Baoshun’s boss was in a bad mood because he did not make it to the top ten. He beat and scolded the cooks which caused public anger and retaliation. The cooks went on strike and asked the owner to regulate the restaurant rules.

The little guys have started to revolt and demand for better rights, fueled by Zhong Xiang’s words.

This revolution didn’t just affect the food industry, it has spread to other businesses too. Almost all shopkeepers blamed Heavenly Residence, but since the owner was an Heir-son Lord, they didn’t dare do anything.

On a happier note, the business giant of Jin Ling, Zhao Qixuan, announced that he would comprehensively improve the welfare of all his employees which set off a wave of salary increases. This move significantly and positively affected Zhao Qixuan’s reputation.

Zhong Xiang and Ye Jiayao didn’t expect this kind of reaction from the people. As it was, they don’t have time to pay attention to these things because the wedding banquet in the Jing An Marquis mansion was about to kick off.

Princess Liu Li’s wedding was based on royal ritual specifications. It was more complicated than Ye Jiayao’s marriage and the everyone at the mansion was bending over backward just to make sure it goes perfectly.

“Wang Mingde, check all the cold dishes again.” Ye Jiayao handed over the task of checking the customs to Wang Mingde who was the most careful one in her crew.

“Yes, Second Young Mistress.”

“Deng Haichuan, make sure that all the dishes are handled in strict accordance with the requirements.”

“Yes, Second Young Mistress.”

Everyone got to work, their game faces on, totally focused on their tasks.

The female kitchen hands in the mansion were ordered to wash the vegetables and other ingredients. They first thought that the Second Young Mistress was underestimating them, but when they saw the cooks of Heavenly Residence in action, they understood why they were given such menial tasks.

Today, they have to make a total of 66 table dishes. It was the largest private banquet that Ye Jiayao has taken on. For this reason, she deliberately spent a lot of money to have Lu Xiaotian and Duan Qilin on board. However, even with them, Zhong Xiang, and Deng Haichuan, it still wasn’t enough that’s why Ye Jiayao has stepped in to cook.

Outside, the drums and firecrackers sounded, signaling the arrival of Princess Liu Li’s entourage. Sure enough, not long after, Manager Zhou Xing’s wife came in and told her, “You can start arranging the tables now, Second Young Mistress.”

Ye Jiayao nodded. “Let’s go, everyone!”

She has studied the proper placement and spacing for the dishes on the table since there were specific requirements even for that. 

They were serving eight cold dishes per table which have been ready since yesterday. The heaviest work was on the hot dishes. To keep the dishes fresh, most of it should be temporarily treated.

First dish: “A Harmonious Union Lasting a Hundred Years.”

Several pots worked at the same time, the sound of simmering oil and rich fragrance filled the entire kitchen.

Second Dish: “Lotus Open with One Pedicle.”

Third Dish: “Phoenix’ Singing Represents Harmony.”

Lu Xiaotian was amazed that Ye Jinxuan could arrange such a large-scale banquet with an orderly and reasonable division of labor. Her excellent management and overall planning ability were shining through.

“Second Young Mistress!” Wang Mingde came over and anxiously whispered, “The Bazhen chicken seems to be a bit wrong.”

Ye Jiayao sighed. Of course. She waved Cui Dongpeng over and told him to continue stirring before coming with Wang Mingde.

“What is wrong?”

“The Bazhen chickens. I have been checking the taste for two hours now, but something’s wrong with this pot on my last check,” Wang Minde answered.

Ye Jiayao took a spoon and tasted it. It was too salty.

“I personally put all the ingredients in each pot, same proportion, same ingredients. It makes no sense that this pot is particularly salty,” Wang Mingde told her with certainty.

Ye Jiayao has absolute trust in Wang Mingde. He was too cautious to make such a low-level mistake.

Are they being sabotaged?

It was really hard to say who because people have been coming and going in the kitchen all day!

“Second Young Mistress, what should I do? Adding water can dilute the salty taste, but we’d have to add a lot of water and it can lighten the soup,” Wang Mingde worried.

Ye Jiayao thought for a second and said, “Go and tell Haichuan to put on the rest of the dishes first.”

“Yes!”

Ye Jiayao was also worried. There were eleven chickens in this pot. How would she be able to save this?

Oh, my word. We’ll have to use the dumbest, most inconvenient way to correct this mess.

“Wang Mingde, go get a big pot and pour out all the soup. Go to each pot and get five spoonfuls of soup, evenly go in, and then give the soup ten spoonfuls of water, and then divide it evenly into the six pots.”

Wang Mingde heaved a sigh of relief.

Ye Jiayao looked at Wang Mingde doing the extra hassle of the work that he shouldn’t be doing and felt her anger rise. She was tired and stressed, whoever this saboteur is picked the wrong day to mess with her.

She knew that no one from Heavenly Residence would dare to do this. She also knew that Lu Xiaotian and Duan Qilin wouldn’t stab her in the back like this, and they have never even made it to this side of the kitchen.

Ye Jiayao turned her eyes to the women who were helping them.

Suddenly, a woman looked up, and connected eyes with Ye Jiayao. Instead of smiling, she immediately lowered her head and went back to work.

It might have been a brief moment, but Ye Jiayao caught the panic in her eyes.

If she or some of them has already tried to make trouble, who’s to say it won’t happen again. They got lucky with this because Wang Mingde was careful. If that salty chicken made it up to the guests, it would ruin hers, the Jing An Marquis’ mansion, and Heavenly Residence’s reputation.

Ye Jiayao’s eyes swayed back and forth on the women and suddenly got an idea.

She called Jiang Yue first and told her what to do. Jiang Yue nodded obediently and left.

“Mother Zhou, please come here.”

Zhou Xing came in a hurry. “Second Young Mistress? What do you need from me?”

“Go to get those women, I need to talk with them.”

Mother Zhou hesitated. They were all busy, now was hardly the time to talk. However, as she has learned the past few days, the Second Young Mistress always has a plan so she decided to follow. She gathered all the women and put them in a room.

As the women left, the cooks looked up, finding it unusual.

Deng Haichuan who has been informed of what was happening shouted, “Go back to your tasks. Don’t worry about that.” He couldn’t let the others know of what was happening. It might mess with their heads which would lead to more mistakes.

Ye Jiayao went to the room where the women were. Jiang Yue was stood at the door and handed her a piece of oil paper.

“I caught a glimpse of it. It was Zhu Wang who threw it in the corner of the flower bed,” Jiang Yue whispered.

Ye Jiayao nodded. She opened the oil paper and when she tasted the small particles on it, she found that it was salt.

If they did this confrontation, it would’ve been easy to destroy the evidence by throwing it in the fire or letting it dissolve in a pot of soup. She had Zhou Xing take them to another room so whoever the saboteur was would be forced to improvise. She had Jiang Yue hide outside so she could catch the culprit.

“Second Young Mistress, they are all here,” Zhou Xing said.

Ye Jiayao licked the oil paper in her hand and smiled coldly. “You are all carefully selected by Mother Zhou to help. I believe in Mother Zhou’s judgment so I trusted you. However, today, some of you have disappointed me.”

Everyone was confused.

“Mother Zhou, if someone’s trying to sabotage the wedding banquet, what would be their punishment?” Ye Jiayao asked.

Mother Zhou stammered in shock, “The c-crime of destroying the wedding banquet is unforgivable, and 50 slabs are heavily given.

Ye Jiayao’s eyes were hard as she said, “I’m giving you a chance to come out. Admit what you’ve done and we’ll forget about the 50 slabs. If I still have to point you out, you would experience the full punishment of your crime.”