The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Since the arrival of a new chef at Qiaoyuan Restaurant, the business of Yan's Restaurant had worsened each day. Although Yan Langqing quickly developed new dishes, she was no match for that chef's culinary skill. Whenever they introduced a new dish and had not even made its name yet, they would introduce another new dish. The new dish was usually made using similar food ingredients, but with extremely sophisticated cooking techniques that soon stole the limelight.

Lin Dan's second uncle was as anxious as ants on a hot pan these days, and there were blisters at the corner of his mouth. Since Yan Langqing had entered the palace as an imperial chef, the Yan family had become more arrogant and used various means to seize the other 30% of shares from him. Now that he only was only holding 20% of the shares in the restaurant, he still had to be the manager and purchaser of the restaurant. He worked like a dog handling all the big and small chores of the restaurant, but the amount of money he earned was not even one-tenth of what he had received.

Besides, he still had to support his family. In the past, he was spoiled by Lin Baotian and provided the best things for his family. They lived in a mansion, enjoyed all sorts of delicacies, and wore silk. The family’s living expenses were so high that it could even feed an ordinary family for an entire year. At that time, he was still the owner of the Yan's restaurant and pocketed all the income of the restaurant. Lin Baotian did not even ask about the money, and even occasionally offered him some help. Life then was really comfortable for him, but now he only earned as much as a shop manager, yet he had to support his family who were living like royalties.

In the past decade, he had already used up all his savings and he had to rely on pawning possessions to survive. If Yan's restaurant was making money, he would have extra cash on hand, but if the restaurant was not doing well, he would suffer too. This was why he was more anxious than anyone else when Qiaoyuan Restaurant had started to do well. Sometimes when he reminisced about the past, he would regret welcoming the “wolves” into the restaurant, and he reckoned there was no way he would be able to drive them out anymore.

Seeing that it was going to be another quiet day of business, the second uncle said to a waiter with a stern face, "Go and take a look at the Qiaoyuan Restaurant to see if they have introduced a new dish to fight us."

The waiter acknowledged his command and quickly hurried to the restaurant. When he returned after some time, he said with a look of surprise, "Indeed, they came up with a new dish called the Immortal Boneless Fish. There are no bones in the entire fish, and it is braised in the milky and thick pork bone soup. It tastes fresh and sweet and melts in the mouth. I saw the old lady of Marquis Yongding dining there with her eldest grandson. Her eldest grandson never eats fish because he didn’t like having bones in the fish, but today he enjoyed the dish and asked for a second serving. The business in the store was booming, diners sitting inside were reluctant to leave while diners outside waited in long queues. The old manager of that restaurant even asked his servants to place many benches at the door for the guests to sit while waiting and even hired a storyteller to entertain the guests. People were eating and laughing, and the atmosphere was lively. I managed to squeeze in but lost one of my shoes."

Speaking of this, the waiter raised his foot to show Lin’s second uncle his bare left foot, and asked hesitantly, "Would you pay me for a pair of new shoes?"

"Pay your ass, get out!" Lin’s second uncle yelled, and his face turned red. He felt as though his lungs were about to explode. He thought to himself, “We made black ginseng, and they followed suit; we made meatballs, and they followed as well; now that we made boneless fish, they made boneless fish too. And each time they introduced a new dish it tastes even better than ours, isn’t it obvious that they are trying to tarnish our reputation?! Yan Langqing is such a useless chef, she’s an imperial cook but she couldn’t even win a folk chef! She must have not been doing her job all this while!”

Lin’s second uncle was so anxious that he wanted to take a knife and kill the new chef of Qiaoyuan Restaurant right away.

At this moment, Yan Shouye walked in leisurely carrying a birdcage in one hand and a smoking pipe in the other. But seeing that there were no diners in the hall, his face turned solemn and gloomy. Lin’s second uncle quickly told him about the fight between Qiaoyuan Restaurant and Yan’s restaurant, but he sneered and said, "How dare they try to fight against the Yan family? They want to fight us head-on? Sure! Let’s see what they can do without having any signature dishes!" After saying his piece, he took out a token and ten silver notes from his waist and asked a servant to find someone at the gate of the palace.

—

On the other hand, as the Immortal Boneless Fish received high praise from the diners, Lin Dan made an exception and served ten tables of dishes. As it was getting late, she washed her hands and face before preparing to go home. But the old manager led a pale-looking young man in, looking as though he was mourning.

As soon as he saw the young man, the smile on Chef Qiu's face quickly disappeared, and anger appeared in his eyes.

The young man said with a high-pitched voice, "Congratulations Chef Qiu, your Golden Lion Fish, Grilled Black Ginseng, Fortune Balls, and Immortal Boneless Fish have all been selected by the imperial kitchen. They would be presented to the Emperor and included as part of the imperial cuisine. Come forth and receive the reward from his majesty." He presented a piece of jade scepter after finishing his speech.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ novelmultiverse.com]

That piece of jade was only the size of a palm, it was not transparent enough and the color was not at all gorgeous. If it were not for the engraving of the words "Made in the Imperial Palace", nobody would want it even if it was thrown on the street. But just for these words alone, Chef Qiu had to kneel down and kowtow. He could not refuse this “reward” no matter how humiliated he felt.

Lin Dan also knelt down, but with a sarcastic smile on her face. Since Yan Langqing became an imperial chef, she had often sought out folk delicacies for the Emperor. If she came across any delicious dishes made by a restaurant with a good reputation, she would recommend them to the Emperor to be included as part of the imperial cuisine.

Initially, the chefs whose dishes were chosen were surprised and grateful, but they later realized that once the dish was selected to be made for the Emperor, they could no longer sell it, or it would be a sign of disrespect to the Emperor. Chefs often took months or even years of painstaking research to develop new dishes. But with just a word from her, she had robbed away all their efforts and fortune, just like what bandits would do.

Lin Dan knew what the Yan family was capable of, and was neither surprised nor angry. She stood up and said slowly, "Could you relay a message for Imperial Chef Yan? Tell her that Lin Dan is back and wants to settle the old scores. She will understand what I’m saying.” After giving the instruction, she gave him a big note.

The young man seemed to be in a close relationship with Yan Langqing and actually refused to accept the note. He sneered and said, "She has personally told me the story between both of you. Back then, you were not as good as her, and looks like both of you are now a world of difference. Yet, you’re thinking of competing with her again?"

"Then tell her that these four dishes are all my creation and have nothing to do with Qiaoyuan Restaurant. If she wants the recipes, she can come and find me in the South District. We will let the matter rest if she’s afraid to face me, of course." Lin Dan took back the silver note with a calm look and spoke in a composed manner.

"You were the one who made the four dishes?" The young man served at the imperial kitchen and had decent culinary skills and a sense of taste. He had already tasted the four dishes that were served in the dining hall and naturally knew the level of Lin Dan's culinary skills. Her cutting, cooking, and seasoning techniques were all at top-notch levels, and not worse than the chefs in the imperial kitchen. He said that Yan Langqing and Lin Dan were "a world of difference", but he was now dumbfounded.

"That’s right." Lin Dan nodded, “Thank you for taking the trouble to relay the message for me."

The young man took a long look at her before flicking his sleeves and left. Chef Qiu finally snapped out of his thoughts and exclaimed, "Master, I didn’t know you were enemies with Imperial Chef Yan! Did you go all out to help Qiaoyuan Restaurant develop new dishes just to call her out?"

Lin Dan took off her headscarf that was covered with grease and smoke, and chuckled, "It is true that we are enemies, but I did not go all out. I merely responded to her moves, that’s all. There are thousands of delicacies in the world, four dishes are nothing."

Chef Qiu saw her out and into the carriage before saying sincerely, "Master, I think you are better than Imperial Chef Yan. You are willing to impart your unique skills to others, while she only robs others of their efforts. Be it culinary skills or being human, she is not as good as you."

Lin Dan tapped Chef Qiu’s forehead with her knuckles, before leaving with a smile. When she arrived at South District, she saw that the fork junction was full of people. There was a faint cry of crying from the inside, and the onlookers whispered, "I never expected that the owner of this restaurant was the one who deceived the master and brought shame to the ancestors. Hell, they even had the cheek to take away their late master’s money!"

"Never judge a book by its cover. You see how that lady boss is smiling all day, but you’ll never know it is a vicious heart that lies within! It must be karma that the mother and daughter have lost their husbands young, isn’t it?"

"Exactly! I wonder what filthy means the young widow had used to be able to set up a business like this. It’s disgusting!"

Hearing their whispers, Lin Dan knew immediately that the Yan family must have repeated their old tricks and appeared at her restaurant to pick up a fight. She quickly pushed through the crowd and saw Lady Qi sitting on the ground with disheveled hair and scratches on her cheeks and neck. Looks like she had had a fight and was injured. The earthen pot placed at the entrance was smashed, the braised marinade spilled all over the floor and the braised pork was taken away by the onlookers. All tables and chairs in the shop were also missing a leg or two. Xiao-zhu, Shaoyao, and the rest were cleaning the shop and were all injured.

It had been a decade and the Yan family were still so oppressive and enjoyed driving people into a corner. But Lin Dan was no longer the same girl who was unable to fight back ten years ago. She disregarded the accusations and contemptuous gazes of the people and helped Lady Qi up before closing the door.

"From today on, our stop will be closed." She said steadily, "You can take this time to travel around and have fun. When this matter is put to rest, we will head to Jiangnan."

"When are we leaving the capital?" Lady Qi did not want to stay in the capital for another second. She had enough of the Yan family.

"We will go soon. Let’s pack up first, mother." Lin Dan did not intend to make money by setting up a shop in the capital in the first place, as she returned to settle old scores. Even if the shop was destroyed, she had suffered no loss, and smearing her reputation could not cause any harm to her as well.

"Okay, I'll go and pack my things right away. Since the beginning, I told you not to come back, but you didn't listen. Let’s never come back again after leaving this place, okay?" Lady Qi asked, seemingly had a trauma of what had happened.

"Okay, let's find a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters to live in." Lin Dan calmed Lady Qi down gently. She did not intend to tell Lady Qi about the cooking competition, lest it affected her sleep and appetite. In the eyes of nobles, imperial chefs were merely servants, but in the eyes of ordinary people, they were people that they could not afford to offend.

Everyone helped to tidy up the shop and went to sleep, but unexpectedly, the kitchen caught fire in the middle of the night. If Lin Dan had not learned to be alert after traveling to many places and woke up in time, everyone would probably be burnt to death. After putting out the fire, Lin Dan found a pile of burnt dry wood and noticed a strong smell of kerosene at the corner of the wall. She immediately understood that this was an intentional arson, and the identity of the perpetrator was obvious.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ novelmultiverse.com]