Chapter 772 - Are You Fooling Me? (1/2)

Just when Yuan Zhou was looking for delicacies and surrounded by spices in Thailand, somebody came to him as per agreed.

It was an old man with a strange surname. His surname was Ji and his full name was Ji Yi. People gave him a nickname of “Steamed Bun Ji”. Of course, this nickname was given to him twenty years ago.

It was during the time of old Chengdu, when Sandapao 1 and Sugar Oil Fruit could be found everywhere. The steamed bun cooked by Ji Yi was one of the favorite foods in old Chengdu. The small restaurant “Ji Yi Steamed Buns” was always surrounded by locals every morning. All the steamed buns cooked by him could be sold out very soon. It was totally not an exaggeration to use the saying, “The supply is not adequate for the demand.” to describe the scene.

Strictly speaking, Ji Yi’s grandfather also lived on cooking breakfast before the PRC was founded. The craftsmanship was handed down from generation to generation. One could say they came from a great family of steamed buns or Mantou.

Ji Yi was well-known for cooking steamed buns, but his friends who were well familiar with him all knew that Ji Yi was actually better at cooking Thousand Thread Mantou. That was his masterpiece. The reason why he preferred to cook steamed buns was that they were not so complicated to prepare. On the aspect of monetization though, steamed buns were better than Mantou.

By now, the old Chengdu had changed to the new Chengdu and Ji Yi’s Steamed Bun House was already closed and replaced with the current tall buildings and malls. However, Ji Yi was still living a good life. He was now the chief secretary of the China Alliance of Cooked Wheaten Food Masters, which was also an influential gilded signboard in the cooking circle.

“You are now able to take a plane on your own. You have improved a lot,” Liu Zhang said to Ji Yi jokingly when he picked him up at the airport.

Ji Yi looked about 60 or 70 years old, but, actually, he was younger. He was no more than 60 years old. He took a look at Liu Zhang up and down unhappily and said, “You are still wearing the Tang suit. That really looks ugly.”

They argued as soon as they met each other. However, Liu Zhang seemed to be used to that and didn’t get angry at all. Then, he said, “It has been a while. Come, let me treat you to a dinner for your visit. What do you want to eat?”

“You told me on the phone that somebody could cook the Thousand Thread Mantou better than me. Where is it? I want to eat there.” Ji Yi paused for a while, yet in the next breath said, “What’s the name of that chef? Is he a folk master?”

The excellent local masters of cooked wheaten food were all known to Ji Yi. After all, with his current status and seniority, a good relationship network was quite necessary. There were many masters of cooked wheaten food, but on the aspect of Thousand Thread Mantou, Ji Yi was confident that nobody could outclass him.

So if what Liu Zhang said was real, he might be a folk master. After all, the saying of “Masters exist in the common folk,” wasn’t only a joke.

“You’ll know as soon as we get there,” said Liu Zhang.

Ji Yi snorted coldly, roughly meaning that, “You better show me something satisfactory.”

Liu Zhang knew that Ji Yi was a person with an impatient disposition, thus he didn’t say anything more and directly drove towards Taoxi Road. On the way there, he tried many times to talk to Ji Yi, but Ji Yi nevertheless didn’t want to speak. The relationships between them was a little complicated, which wouldn’t be mentioned herein.

Half an hour later, Liu Zhang and Ji Yi appeared in Taoxi Road. And Liu Zhang also found that there were fewer people today than in normal times. After all, it was almost dinnertime, when many people would start to line up during normal times.

In regards to the location of the restaurant, Ji Yi had nothing to complain. He had firmly believed in his heart that the boss of the restaurant was a folk master. Generally speaking, such kind of restaurants were always very remote. For example, he knew a small house that served extremely delicious Crossing Bridge Noodles, but it was very simple and crude. It was even worse than this place.

After they arrived, however, what appeared in front of Liu Zhang and Ji Yi was the closed restaurant. Liu Zhang became dumbfounded as he clearly saw the leave request on the door. What a coincidence!

“Closed?” Ji Yi pointed at the leave request on the door and asked.

“Yeah. No wonder there aren’t many people in the street today.” Liu Zhang said regretfully.

“Are you fooling me?” Ji Yi looked at Liu Zhang suspiciously.

No wonder Ji Yi would think so. After all, it wasn’t the first time that Liu Zhang had done similar things.

“No, of course not. I didn’t tell you whose restaurant it was just now. If I told you, you would definitely believe that I’m not so bored to do so,” said Liu Zhang affirmatively.

“Oh, really? Wasn’t it you who lied to me and got me here to eat Pumpkin Mantou?” Ji Yi sneered.

“That was an accident. I believed in the wrong person,” said Liu Zhang.