Chapter 843 - Something With Difficulty (1/2)

Nine Dragon Sculpture? Yuan Zhou frowned. He had obviously heard of the Nine Dragon Sculpture when he learned ice sculpting before. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the numbers of sculpting masters that had completed a Nine Dragon Sculpture were less than five.

Yuan Zhou answered after a short silence, “Master Yang, although I have been sculpting ice for quite a while, it will still be a bit too hard for me to complete a Nine Dragon Sculpture.”

It had indeed been “quite a while”. Yuan Zhou had dabbled in ice sculpting for about three months. Of course, Yang Shuxin was unaware of this. He replied with a measured tone.

“You are not the only one not confident in completing it. I am the same as well. That was why I have decided to invite you to work together,” Yang Shuxin said. He then continued, “I hope we can reinforce each other’s skills during sculpting.”

That was understandable. Reinforcing each other might help reach a brand new level in sculpting.

As more and more masters from the 40s and 50s eras retired, apart from ice sculpting, many crafts were starting to vanish due to the passage of time.

At times, the failure in passing through the arts couldn’t be completely blamed on the fickleness and impatience of the people nowadays. After all, the progress of human technology had brought much convenience along with shallowness.

Ultimately, Yuan Zhou agreed after thinking about it. He wanted to find out if he could complete this challenge as well.

Yuan Zhou was not a competitive person by nature, but he enjoyed doing his best in anything related to cooking.

Zhou Shijie had not interrupted their conversation. Although he was on guard against having Yuan Zhou stolen, in such a serious discussion, Zhou Shijie still knew what was the proper thing to do.

They easily agreed to work together, but a different opinion had appeared on the technical aspect of ice sculpting.

The raw material of Nine Dragon Sculpture would not be any random block of ice. Yang Shuxin had extremely high requirement on the ice he used.

Chengdu did not have any ice blocks that met his requirement. Therefore, Yang Shuxin invited Yuan Zhou to Harbin.

However, Yuan Zhou insisted that he would not go on leave for the sake of ice sculpting. Finally, Yang Shuxin failed to convince Yuan Zhou and was forced to set the work location in Chengdu. The required block of ice would be transported from Harbin.

“You can go back first. I have something I need to discuss with Little Yuan,” Zhou Shijie waved his hand as he told Yang Shuxin to leave.

The moment Yang Shuxin finished his discussion with Yuan Zhou, Zhou Shijie waved him away like he was a housefly.

As Yang Shuxin was in a good mood having completed his mission here, he decided to not take offense on this. After taking his leave from Yuan Zhou, he left.

“Little Yuan, are you interested in the Confucious Feast?” Zhou Shijie asked. “Two days later, Master Kong Li will be holding one in Beijing.”

The name Confucious Feast greatly piqued Yuan Zhou’s interest as this was a feast with a prestige that was above the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, one of the four greatest national feasts.

It was also worth noting that the most widely known Manchu Han Imperial Feast was in truth in the fourth place of the four greatest national feasts.

“Beijing is too far. I can’t leave the restaurant,” Yuan Zhou said after he thought about it. “If possible, can you record a video of the feast for me, Chairman Zhou?”

Yuan Zhou was no idiot. He knew that something like Confucious Feast would not allow a live broadcast. Therefore, he could only ask for Zhou Shijie’s help.

Since he had just taken two days off when he got sick, it wouldn’t do for him to take another leave so soon after. This was the compromise Yuan Zhou could do.

Zhou Shijie did not try persuading Yuan Zhou. He nodded and agreed that if possible, he would video it. After all, although Zhou Shijie had a higher status than Kong Li, this was a matter of etiquette.

“How are you doing, cooking skills wise?” Zhou Shijie started talking about some casual topic after he was done with business.

“I am presently doing my research on Sichuan’s cooked wheaten foods,” Yuan Zhou answered.

Zhou Shijie nodded. He was aware that recently, Sichuan cooked wheaten foods had been added on the menu of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. This was the reason why Zhou Shijie was not worried that Yang Shuxin would be able to successfully steal Yuan Zhou.