Gourd Farm Chapter 76
Translated by Etherna
Chapter 76: Termination of Cooperation
Originally, Yang Feng had planned to take Xia Tian to a clinic to disinfect his wound, but Xia Tian stubbornly refused to go. In the end, Yang Feng just bought a band-aid, and they called it a day.
For the past few days, Xia Tian had been staying with Yang Feng because of the bruise on his face. He was afraid that his mom would worry if he went home with visible injuries.
However, being together these few days has made them quite familiar with each other.
"Ding ding ding."
While cooking, the phone, which was charging on the side, rang.
Yang Feng squatted at the bottom of the pot, trying to start a fire, with his eyes barely open due to the smoke.
"Xia Tian, help me see who it is. My hands are all covered in ashes."
"It's Li Yi calling. Should I answer?"
Since the last fight, it's been two or three days without any deliveries, and this is the first call.
"Answer first, then put it on speaker for me."
As soon as the call connected, Li Yi's questioning voice came through.
"Yang Feng, are you still delivering or not?"
Listening to Li Yi's words, it felt like he was being blamed again. Yang Feng immediately retorted, "If I'm not doing it, I won't. Are you trying to scare me?"
"You..."
Before he could finish, Yang Feng gestured for Xia Tian to hang up the phone.
"Brother Feng, are you sure you're not going to deliver?" Xia Tian asked cautiously.
After staying with Yang Feng for a few days, he had somehow changed the way he addressed him.
"Yeah, to hell with delivering. Damn it, does he think I'm easy to bully?"
Yang Feng was not one to be pushed around. He initially wanted to downplay the situation, but hearing Li Yi's condescending tone made him lose his patience.
Anyway, his goods were good, and he wasn't worried about selling them. What's there to be afraid of?
In Li Yi’s Restaurant, a table of customers frowned and called the waiter over, "Waiter, the taste of this dish is different from the last time we had it."
The waiter walked over with lowered head. This was the third consecutive day of customer complaints. Those who were easygoing just left the dish there, while those who weren't directly returned it.
"Hello, this Immortal Frog Jump has had a change in ingredients recently, so the taste is definitely a bit different."
A young girl next to them pushed the bullfrog towards the waiter.
"Take it back and process it for us. We want the previous ingredients, add more cucumbers, and we'll pay accordingly."
"Well... alright."
In a nearby private room, a group of people was toasting and chatting.
"Lao Wang, does the taste of today's Family Feast match your expectations?"
Lao Wang put down his chopsticks, "I was just about to say that. The taste is way off, and the garlic cucumber, it's nothing compared to last time."
Everyone at the table agreed. They had ordered the signature dishes today, but the taste was disappointing.
"Clang."
The chef cooking Sichuan cuisine threw the wok to the side. "What's going on? Five orders of the bullfrog were returned today."
The front-of-house waiter also got frustrated. While trying to keep a smiling face in front of the customers, they were getting scolded by the chef in the kitchen.
"Do it if you want, it's not like I asked you to redo it."
The head chef, hearing the commotion, walked over.
"What's going on these past two days? Why is everyone on edge all the time?"
The chef pushed the bullfrog in front of Li Yi, saying, "Chef Li, taste this. It's the fifth one today."
Li Yi, who had been tasting dishes these past few days until his mouth felt fiery, picked up the chopsticks and tried it. The taste was indeed off, not a basic flavor issue, but a problem with the cucumbers.
At this moment, another waiter, with red eyes, rushed in.
"Chef Li, you go handle the private room yourself. If this continues, I'll quit."
Li Yi hadn't resolved the issue on his side, and now another table popped up.
With no choice, he had to grit his teeth and go over. Upon entering the private room, there were a few heavily intoxicated people, and some utensils were on the floor, whether dropped or thrown was unclear.
"Hello, everyone, I'm the head chef of this restaurant. Is there any issue with the dishes?"
A middle-aged man nearby had a dark expression. Originally, he had happily treated his friends today, but after ordering the dishes and spending money, his friends on the last table all said the food wasn't good. He couldn't bear to lose face.
"You are the head chef. Perfect, come over and taste these dishes yourself."
Li Yi couldn't say much and tasted each dish one by one with his chopsticks. The problem remained – the raw materials were not up to standard.
He quickly apologized, "We just changed chefs today, and they are not very familiar with the dishes. As a gesture of apology, we'll give you a discount and offer some complimentary drinks. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience."
The boss, seeing Li Yi's reasonable attitude and with some persuasion from others, didn't press the matter further.
Li Yi came out of the private room, wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally passing this ordeal.
"Chef Li, customers at table three are calling for you."
After a day of dealing with issues, Li Yi's face was strained from smiling. He lit a cigarette and took deep drags.
He took out his phone from his pocket, scrolled through to find Yang Feng's number, hesitated for a dozen times, but in the end, he didn't make the call.
"Ding ding ding."
Excitedly picking up his phone, Li Yi initially thought it was Yang Feng. However, when he saw the screen displaying "BOSS," he knew the boss wouldn't contact him for no reason. With an uneasy heart, he answered.
"Li Yi, can you still do this job?"
As soon as the call connected, the boss's furious shouts came through.
Li Yi nodded repeatedly, expressing his agreement. It had been a hard climb to his current position. He had just bought a house, and with monthly mortgage and car payments to make, he couldn't afford to offend the boss.
"Boss, rest assured, at most one week, I'll have the turnover back to 80%," Li Yi promised with determination.
"Give you three days. If it doesn't work, I'll send Chef Zhang over."
"Beep beep beep..."
The boss hung up after delivering the ultimatum.
Li Yi was starting to feel a bit panicky. He and Lao Zhang had always been competitors, and with the new restaurant opening at the end of the year, the position of head chef was up for grabs. He couldn't afford to mess up at this critical moment.
Li Yi turned around and headed to the kitchen, where he found Zhao Youqian, the chef who was involved in the fight that day, busy with cleaning.
"Xiao Zhao, forget about the cleaning for now, come with me."
Zhao Youqian looked up, puzzled, at the head chef.
"Wait a moment, I haven't finished cleaning yet."
Li Yi happened to see a kitchen assistant nearby and pulled him over.
"Xiao Xie, go help Master Zhao with the cleaning. I appreciate it."
With Zhao Youqian in tow, Li Yi headed to Huangshi Village.
"Woof woof woof."
Yang Feng and a few others were tending to strawberries in the greenhouse, and some of the strawberries were already in bloom.
Yang Feng put down his work, "Xia Tian, go check if someone's outside. Big White has been barking for a while."
"Sure."
Xia Tian ran outside and found none other than the sleazy guy he had fought with before, raising an eyebrow, "Hey, planning another fight today?"
Zhao Youqian, standing outside, remained silent. Li Yi had explained the intricate relationship on the way here. He was trained by Li Yi and couldn't afford to bite the hand that fed him.
Li Yi stepped forward, "Little brother, why say that? Is Yang Feng around?"
Ignoring him, Xia Tian turned and went back to the greenhouse.
"Brother Feng, someone's looking for you outside."
Yang Feng went out and saw Li Yi standing there. When he came out, Li Yi greeted with a smirking expression, "Brother Yang Feng, you really have a temper. Is it necessary?"
Implying that Yang Feng was being petty, Yang Feng chuckled, "Well, then why are you here? I've said it before; our cooperation ends here."
