Chapter 2322: Chapter 2225: National Banquet Chef

Huo Sining chuckled and didn’t deny it.

Indeed, this was her intention. She suggested letting Jiang Chao join Chen Qiankun and Yan Xuesong’s project on her behalf. No special treatment was needed; even just being an assistant doing odd jobs would be fine. However, Huo Sining was well aware that research institute projects are usually off-limits to outsiders due to the patents and interests involved. A slight mishap could lead to leaks, and if the results were stolen, the massive research funding and time would be wasted.

So generally, professors in research institutes would choose trustworthy people to handle projects. Even for odd jobs, they would only select close students.

Projects like the Huaxia Koi that Huo Sining once worked on, and the Angelfish project by Qin Shaoyou and Gan Lijun, follow such a traditional model. Therefore, Huo Sining knew well that suggesting Jiang Chao as an assistant in the lab was effectively asking Chen Qiankun to green-light Jiang Chao’s grad school entry.

Chen Qiankun said they would look at Jiang Chao’s true abilities, which clearly meant looking at Jiang Chao’s grad school entrance exam results.

Huo Sining never planned to apply for grad school herself, but she was familiar with the process: the written exam is just the first step; the interview is the crucial part. If the advisor doesn’t take a liking to you, no matter how good your grades are, it won’t matter. Sometimes you need a shortcut, and Huo Sining helping Jiang Chao is reasonable. She genuinely liked the absent-minded young girl that Jiang Chao was.

Of course, the requirement Chen Qiankun proposed wasn’t excessive. If Jiang Chao couldn’t even pass the exam, she wouldn’t have the face to ask for a spot from Chen Qiankun, and there would be nothing Huo Sining could do about it. She could only help Jiang Chao up to this point. She wouldn’t pull any strings or use any personal connections to get Jiang Chao a backdoor entry; Huo Sining wouldn’t and couldn’t do that.

She’d helped to this extent, so if Jiang Chao still couldn’t become a student of Chen Qiankun, then Huo Sining would just blame herself for misjudging. She wouldn’t lose anything; at most, she would just say "what a pity," nothing more.

"Senior, as long as you pass the initial grad school exam, after the New Year, you’ll be able to enter the institute’s lab as an assistant to the two professors. What do you think of my proposal?"

Huo Sining winked playfully at Jiang Chao and asked with a smile.

At this moment, Jiang Chao finally understood what Huo Sining’s earlier words meant. She also realized that Chen Qiankun had agreed to Huo Sining’s request in a roundabout way. Now that she had introduced herself to the professors, as long as her exam scores were decent, she had practically crossed the grad school admission hurdle with both feet.

Jiang Chao was quite excited, her face turning bright red, nodding repeatedly and nearly lost for words.

Huo Sining smiled and patted Jiang Chao on the shoulder: "You’d better work hard, then. I’ll reserve this pot of flowers from you first. After dinner today, you’ll have to leave me your contact information so we can sign a work agreement later. You’ll need to monitor this project on my behalf. While I won’t be joining the project myself, you still have to report the project’s progress to me from time to time."

"Of course, you don’t need to worry about these things now. After all, the grad school exams are in just a month or two. Your priority right now is the exam; put everything else aside for now."

Hearing this, Jiang Chao nodded slightly and was about to say something to Chen Qiankun when a man’s rough voice came from outside the door: "What’s being put aside for now?"

Huo Sining turned her head and saw the private room door being pushed open with Zhao Guotian walking in with a smile on his face.

Huo Sining hadn’t seen Zhao Guotian in quite a while and jokingly said:

"I’m talking about you, the host. Clearly, you’re the one who invited us to dinner. How come we’ve all arrived, yet you’re nowhere in sight, leaving us guests hanging?"

Zhao Guotian instinctively wanted to explain, but Yan Xuesong spoke up first: "You can’t blame him for that. I was about to explain when you first arrived, but got interrupted by Xiao Jiang’s Xishu Daoguang and forgot to mention it to you."

"This gathering may have been arranged by me and Old Chen to discuss something with you, but indeed, it was Old Zhao who hosted it. The reason he wasn’t here with the guests earlier wasn’t out of negligence; he was busy in the kitchen."

Huo Sining pouted and laughed: "What was he doing in the kitchen? The chefs at Guose Tianxiang are all seasoned veterans, each diligent, needing no supervision. What’s he doing, not actually cooking himself, is he?"

Chen Qiankun burst into laughter, clapping his hands: "You guessed it right. Old Zhao is indeed personally cooking this time. Otherwise, why would I have Old Yan call you? I should tell you, Old Zhao’s cooking skills are just as good as those chefs in the back. This guy once cooked for state banquets to serve foreign guests, and his skills are excellent!"

Yan Xuesong nodded in agreement: "While his cooking is secondary, the main attraction this time is we’ve got our hands on some good stuff. Just yesterday, Xiao Hu returned from the countryside with a treasure, genuine wild game. I haven’t seen it in 20 or 30 years. Xiao Hu didn’t know how to handle it, so I suggested bringing it here. As soon as Old Zhao saw it, he was immediately interested and wanted to cook it himself, which is why we called you over."

Huo Sining, hearing Yan Xuesong speak so mysteriously, was filled with intense curiosity.

She knew that ever since Zhao Guotian retired from the system five years ago and opened this restaurant, he had only hired others to cook and never personally handled anything. This time something made him eager enough to break that pattern, suggesting it must be something remarkable, which piqued Huo Sining’s interest, prompting her to ask: "What exactly is it that’s got everyone being so secretive?"

Zhao Guotian smiled without saying a word, and Hu Yongyuan played along: "Think about it first. Once the dish is served, see if you can taste what it is."

Seeing this, Huo Sining didn’t press further and leisurely sat at the table, smiling as she asked, "In that case, Boss Zhao, since it’s dinner time, shall we start serving?"

Zhao Guotian wasn’t annoyed by Huo Sining’s casual attitude. Instead, he chuckled: "Let’s start with the appetizers. The dish is still simmering and needs another ten minutes or so."

With that said, he instructed the waiter outside to start serving the appetizers. Then, he sat down and reached into a nearby cabinet to pull out a bottle of red wine, opening it and pouring it into a decanter to let it breathe.

The group chatted while nibbling on cold dishes. The wine was soon ready, and as they poured it, a warm pot was brought to the table, its contents bubbling with a creamy white broth, looking impossibly delicious.

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