Chapter 259: Chapter 259: Kaiseki Cuisine

Beginning with the origins of kaiseki cuisine, Lai Liang spoke eloquently and at great length.

Fu Chao and Xie Yu snuck in through the door at this very moment.

They were "sneaking" in, but with cameramen trailing them and tens of thousands of pairs of eyes watching via the livestream, could it really be called sneaking?

As Fu Chao crouched down and slipped in, he happened to hear Lai Liang, who was at the front, say—

"...So, for true kaiseki cuisine, deliciousness is not the most important thing. It is a realm of experience that cannot be described with words..."

Fu Chao instantly stood up straight, almost unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

He muttered under his breath:

"Deliciousness isn’t important? Is that something a chef should be saying?"

He said it casually, completely unaware that the livestream’s comment section was exploding:

[Fu Chao’s comment was a bit out of line.]

[Exactly, what’s wrong with Teacher Lai being proud of his profession?]

[Fu Chao is so disrespectful! Such a disappointment!]

[It’s all Nan Zhi’s fault. Fu Chao was fine before, but ever since he met Nan Zhi, it’s like he’s been possessed!]

...

Fortunately, Fu Chao had a huge and combative fanbase, who immediately came to his defense:

[So the entertainment industry can’t handle a single word of truth anymore?]

[Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess we all have to praise *your* Teacher Lai!]

[My Brother Fu just can’t stand it and calls it out! What are you gonna do about it?]

[Brother Fu is genuine and knows how to back up his friends. Some of you shouldn’t pretend to be fans just to stir up trouble! We’re not falling for your tricks!]

[I think Fu Chao has a point. A chef saying deliciousness doesn’t matter is hilarious. Isn’t that just some high-level PUA tactic?]

...

The two sides went back and forth, evenly matched.

Fu Chao, completely oblivious, found Nan Zhi and Qi Pei’er in the crowd with Xie Yu.

Fu Chao was just about to raise his hand to poke Nan Zhi’s arm.

Just then, Nan Zhi happened to turn around:

"You’re here."

’She wasn’t surprised they’d shown up.’

Fu Chao looked at his finger suspiciously:

"How did you know..."

He scratched his head, but deciding this wasn’t the place for small talk, he swallowed the rest of his words.

Nan Zhi then exchanged a glance with Xie Yu, and they nodded to each other.

"Where are the kids?"

"We were afraid they’d make a fuss, so we didn’t bring them in."

Nan Zhi nodded to show she understood, then turned back to continue listening.

Fu Chao was quite impressed:

"I can’t believe you can stand listening to this."

Qi Pei’er turned around with an exaggerated expression of terror:

"The audience heard that!"

Fu Chao froze for a moment, then said slowly:

"I forgot."

’But he didn’t really care.’

Anyway, from the very beginning, he had clearly taken Nan Zhi’s side, determined to draw a clear line between himself and Lai Liang.

After a moment of silence, Fu Chao couldn’t hold back and asked:

"How come he’s the only one talking? Zhizhi, aren’t you going up?"

Before Nan Zhi could answer, Qi Pei’er cut in, rolling her eyes:

"He said, ’Kaiseki cuisine focuses on freshness and must be prepared on the spot, so the guests need to experience the entire process with a tranquil state of mind.’ So, here we are, told to just wait until they’re done with their whole performance."

Her choice of words was quite inspired.

Fu Chao looked speechlessly at Qi Pei’er:

’And she’s reminding me? Her own attitude isn’t much better!’

’But still...’

’Nice one!’

After talking for what felt like an eternity, Lai Liang finally ended his long-winded opening speech before the children started yawning.

He was quite particular about creating a sense of ceremony. He had actually written dozens of menus by hand with a calligraphy brush, using gold ink on plain black paper. His strokes were forceful and elegant.

Lai Liang gave a polite nod, gestured for his assistant to distribute them, and stated that he had personally written all these menus as a sign of his utmost sincerity as a chef towards his diners.

The assistant distributing the handwritten menus paused for a moment—

’"Utmost sincerity," indeed. He’d spent hours writing these, wasting who knows how much ink and paper just to meet Master Lai’s standards!’

’As for this habit of casually taking credit for other people’s work, the assistant was already used to it. No big deal.’

The handwritten menu stunt indeed won over a lot of goodwill.

In the main livestream channel with the most viewers, many people commented:

[A handwritten menu has such a great sense of ceremony!]

[I love these details when I eat Japanese food. In comparison, Chinese cuisine seems a bit too rough around the edges.]

[Sigh, this just goes to show the true heritage is in R Country now. Even though they learned from us originally, you have to admit they’ve preserved it better, especially compared to how restless and impatient everyone is back home...]

[Lai Liang’s calligraphy is really nice. You can tell he’s well-read and cultured. He really is a multi-talented male god!]

[What does the menu say? I’m not cultured enough to understand. Someone please explain!]

[These are probably unique dish names. Not sure about the specific meanings.]

...

It didn’t matter if the audience didn’t know; Lai Liang would absolutely not pass up this opportunity to "educate" them.

And so, the entire cafeteria was soon filled with the sound of Lai Liang speaking with great confidence—

"This is the ’sakizuke,’ which represents the appetizer before a formal banquet. It’s a porridge made with pufferfish, seasoned with only a little white salt. The pufferfish is the epitome of umami, the white salt is an ancient salt purified by artisans with exquisite techniques, and the rice has a special origin—it was specially air-freighted from R Country, a rice grown for the Emperor, a tribute to the gods..."

"Next is the ’mukōzuke,’ which means sashimi. It’s the most indispensable part of a kaiseki meal. I have selected tuna, the most famous sashimi fish, from the waters of Cape ōma at the northernmost tip of R Country. Only the tuna from here can be considered the best in the world..."

"This is the ’nimono-wan,’ representing the space of the universe. The broth is the chaotic state of the universe, and the floating ingredients represent Mercury. This is also a seasonal dish..."

"This sushi is one of my specialties. Some call it the ’sinking air sushi.’ After it’s made, it automatically sinks three millimeters. This requires the grains of vinegared rice to be wrapped with a sense of airiness..."

Lai Liang, like an excellent and professional speaker, described the origin of each dish with a rhythmic, undulating voice.

He spoke with such flowery exaggeration that even his unremarkable cooking techniques seemed brilliant and colorful, cloaked in a beautiful garment woven from the listeners’ imaginations.

In addition, he had also specially arranged the surrounding environment.

Using freshly picked wildflowers and grasses as decoration, using rustic yet exquisite pottery as vessels, his movements were practiced and fluid, performed with an air of effortless mastery...

It had to be said, from a visual standpoint, it certainly had its own rhythm and cadence.

As expected, everyone, both those present and the viewers watching, was quickly captivated.

Even the children, who were usually prone to being distracted and unfocused, were all watching with rapt attention.

At the same time, as Lai Liang explained each course on the menu, a stream of dishes spread out from him to all sides.

This time, Lai Liang was finally being generous for once. It wasn’t just a few meager slices of fish; almost everyone present would be able to taste his handiwork!

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