“I’m heading to the main kitchen.” Qiuyun apologized, “I was a bit drowsy just now and dozed off. I missed my stop.”
“Then I’ll remind you when we’re close. Don’t miss it again and mess up your plans.”
“Thank you.”
The main kitchen was located to the right of the fountain plaza, with the banquet hall in front and the main building behind, making it convenient for serving both hosts and guests.
Although the estate consisted of independent buildings, there was no need to worry about food delivery to various areas during rainy weather. The estate’s underground transportation system was very well-developed. Every building had a door on the basement level, and the network of tunnels allowed you to take a car from the basement to anywhere.
“Young lady, we’re here.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Qiuyun got out of the car and entered through the staff passage. She ran into a little girl with a round face who asked, “Who are you looking for?”
“I’d like to order some dishes to be delivered to the Bright Moon Pavilion tonight.”
“Is it a late-night snack!? Wait for me! I’ll go find my uncle! He’s an amazing cook!” The little girl wasn’t tall, looking about nine or ten years old, but she was quick on her feet, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Qiuyun stood in the hallway waiting. Soon, someone else came over and asked, “Which building are you from? Do you need to add some dishes?”
It seemed the ‘add-on meal’ service in the estate was quite popular. More than one chef wanted to take the order.
“No.” Since Qiuyun had promised the little girl, she wouldn’t go back on her word just because she was a child.
The person looked at her suspiciously for a moment, didn’t ask further, and left.
Qiuyun didn’t want to stand there and cause more misunderstandings, so she walked a bit further into the corridor.
“…We can’t just stop serving a dish just because one or two guests can’t eat fish, can we?”
A voice drifted faintly through the crack in the door. Qiuyun looked up—it was the Executive Chef’s office.
“But you have to consider which guests can’t eat it? Do you know how hard the old master worked to invite Mayor Pei and his family to his birthday banquet? And now you’re going to touch on Young Master Pei’s taboo?”
“This is the old master’s birthday banquet, not a feast just for Young Master Pei. It’s not like this is the only dish. He can just skip it if he can’t eat it. Are we supposed to ruin the entire menu pairing because of one person?”
Qiuyun raised an eyebrow slightly. She had encountered a similar situation before when arranging banquets for her lady.
During a menu discussion, a kitchen maid insisted on serving autumn crabs, claiming that autumn without crabs was not a proper feast. But it happened that the prince’s consort, who was attending, had recently suffered a miscarriage and was feeling down while recovering, and could not tolerate anything cold.
The maid still advocated that only the consort’s table should skip the crab, while other guests enjoyed their yellow wine and crab.
Serving guests differently at a duke’s mansion banquet—was the lady’s face worth nothing? So Qiuyun immediately looked into the kitchen maid and found out that her cousin was a crab vendor. Every time the mansion’s order supplied his crab, he gave her a twenty percent kickback.
Given that the autumn feast was such a big event, the kickback would net her at least thirty to fifty taels—no wonder she wasn’t willing to give it up.
So, Qiuyun instantly understood that this person was definitely getting a cut from a supplier.
“Besides, he’s just the son of Mayor Pei, not the mayor himself. Do we really need to be this careful?”
The person in the office was still arguing.
Someone chimed in, “Yeah, if the old master’s birthday banquet doesn’t have a single fish, what kind of look would that be? And Master Ge had two cases of white wine flown in from France last week. It pairs perfectly with grouper or other sea fish—enhances the freshness without masking the fish’s flavor, and the slight acidity neutralizes the seafood’s fishiness. If we change this, the sommelier’s whole drink pairing plan will have to be redone! All the preparation they did would be wasted!”
“I can’t decide on this,” the one opposing them said. “I have to go ask Ge Furen (Mrs. Ge).”
Qiuyun shook her head.
Going to the host with a matter like this showed a lack of judgment, an inability to manage subordinates, and an attempt to shift responsibility upward. It was a huge mistake.
If Qiuyun were handling this, she would hold off, first investigate who this person was getting kickbacks from, and then put a stop to the freeloading.
For Young Master Pei’s plate, she would substitute white meats like chicken or crab for the fish. That way, the guest’s taboo wouldn’t be offended, and no one would notice the difference.
A win-win solution.
“I’m back!”
The little girl ran over. “My uncle said it’s no problem! Today’s ingredients include chicken, duck, fish, and pork—you can order whatever you want!”
Qiuyun quickly stepped away from the office door. “What’s your uncle’s specialty?”
“Sichuan cuisine! My uncle studied under a master of Sichuan cuisine, a proper school!” the little girl said proudly.
“Any specifics?” Qiuyun wondered if there were differences between ancient and modern practices.
“Boiled beef in chili sauce, Dongpo pork elbow, kung pao chicken, steamed cabbage with crystal broth, and spicy chicken—all delicious.”
“Just these few items. How much?”
“Alright!” The girl counted on her fingers. “That comes to four hundred sixty-two yuan. I’ll take four hundred sixty.”
Qiuyun raised an eyebrow—well, the girl even knew to round down.
Then the little girl pulled out a payment code. “If you like the taste, add me on WeChat! Next time you want to order, you can just message me directly.”
“Fine.” Qiuyun paid. “What’s your name?”
It was a habit of hers—asking the name of any clever, perceptive child she met.
“My name is Yu Heng. I’m helping out at my uncle’s shop this summer to earn some pocket money. You can call me Xiao Yu.” Yu Heng said, looking at Qiuyun’s name tag.
Ah, right—students still have winter and summer breaks nowadays.
“Okay, Xiao Yu.” Qiuyun put her phone back in her pocket. “I’ll find you next time if I need anything.”
Compared to wily old schemers with more tricks than in a beehive, she genuinely preferred dealing with kids.
“Got it! Bye, Sister Qiuyun!”
Yu Heng waved goodbye. Just as Qiuyun was about to leave, a girl wearing a pastry chef’s hat at the end of the corridor called out, “Xiao Yu, your uncle just said someone from the Bright Moon Pavilion is here?”
“Yes!” Yu Heng replied.
“Then tell her to wait! The seventh young lady came back early today. There are guests at the main building. We’re short on delivery carts, so she might as well take the afternoon tea back with her, so the young lady doesn’t have to wait too long.”
Yu Heng looked at Qiuyun. Seeing her nod, she answered loudly, “Okay!”
When Qiuyun had left earlier, the young lady wasn’t home yet. But today was Friday, the end of June, and it might have been the last day of the semester. She remembered that this usually meant an early dismissal.
Soon, the girl hurried over with a lunch box in her hand. “Sorry for the trouble! The scheduled delivery person didn’t know the seventh young lady would return early today.”
“No problem.” Qiuyun took it immediately. The sweet, milky aroma wafted straight to her nose.
She glanced at the name tag on the girl’s pastry uniform and asked politely, “Chef Wang, do you take orders for small cakes for late-night snacks?”
Wang Wei smiled broadly. “Of course!”
After ordering some desserts and exchanging WeChat contacts, Qiuyun carried the young lady’s afternoon tea back to the Bright Moon Pavilion.
Previously, Yuan Jie and Fang Jie always handled deliveries to the young lady’s room. Qiuyun had no intention of overstepping her bounds on her first day in the new role.
She arranged the sweets from the lunch box onto a tiered stand one by one, poured the juice from the bottle into a cold drink glass with ice cubes, and then went to the break room to find the two of them.
Unexpectedly, Sister Yuan was not in the room. Sister Fang was on the phone with her daughter's homeroom teacher and waved for her to go deliver it herself.
Qiuyun paused, recalling that this was not the Duke's mansion, where everyone below would do anything to get close to the master.
So she placed the tower plate and cold drinks on a tray and carried it to the second floor.
"Miss, your afternoon tea..."
"Seventh Sister, you are just too cruel, wuwuwu!"
A little girl in a skirt ran crying out of the young lady's room. Qiuyun dodged just in time to protect the small desserts, but the fruit drinks spilled all over the floor.
