A Valiant Life

The ‘Cherry Pork’ dish was ideal. Although it was supposedly not too difficult, compared to the ‘Mirror Box Tofu’, it was still no easy feat. If it was a typical chef teaching his disciple, a decent standard would probably be enough. But the one teaching Bai Ke was Lin Fan. This master, who was scary when he became serious, absolutely tormented Bai Ke.

“It’s no good. It’s too soft. Redo it.”

“The color isn’t right, there’s no luster. Redo it.”

“Redo.”

“Redo.”

…

This word ‘Redo’, came out of Lin Fan’s mouth countless times. Each time, to Bai Ke, was torturous. Compared to making Mirror Box Tofu, this was much more terrifying and much more challenging.

Lin Fan said sternly, “If you want to make this dish well, coating the meat so that it holds on to the sauce is the most important part. I can’t be too thin, otherwise, the sauces won’t cling to it. It can’t be too thick either, otherwise, the texture will be ruined. The ratio of sugar to vinegar must be controlled. If it’s too sweet, it would be cloying. Too sour and it would just taste bad. You need to remember this.”

Bai Ke was under a lot of stress. He nodded. “I understand.”

“Mmm, redo it. There’s no rush. If you don’t make it today, there’s still tomorrow.”

This dish could become more popular than the Mirror Box Tofu, so Lin Fan was being absolutely strict with Bai Ke. This dish had to be prepared to its best.

Of course, this ‘best’ is referring to normal people standards. To reach Lin Fan’s standard would just be a stupid dream.

Xiao Yan was watching from the side and feeling sympathetic for Bai Ke but in her heart, she was still smiling. The previous night, Bai Ke had said arrogantly that he was a genius, that he could learn any dish in just one day. At that moment, he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to finish learning it that day so he was really trying hard. That was not bad at all.

Noon came.

Customers came again. They were the same diners as the previous they. They had brought their families to try out that Mirror Box Tofu but then they realized that the shop wasn’t accepting any customers that day. However, when they found out that a second new dish would be out soon, they were very curious.

Lin Fan looked at Bai Ke, who was sweating from head to toe and said, “Rest for a bit. We’ll carry on in a while.”

Bai Ke shook his arms. After working the whole morning, his arms were getting tired.

Ten minutes later.

“Carry on,” said Lin Fan.

Bai Ke nodded and pumped himself up. He had to succeed.

Lin Fan felt that the most meaningful thing about him coming back was teaching Bai Ke these two dishes. Bai Ke was his friend and naturally, he hoped that this friend could live a better life.

Moreover, this knowledge that he obtained from the Encyclopedia hadn’t even been put to much use before. To be able to help a friend, in Lin Fan’s eyes, was a fortunate thing.

Then, it was 7 pm.

Bai Ke sat there, drained. He looked at Lin Fan with anticipation. He had lost count of how many servings he had made. But without any exceptions, they all failed.

Lin Fan looked at Bai Ke. “There’s a huge improvement. Just by using this current taste, you could please most customers without any issues. However, that’s not what I’m aiming for. Right now, the only problem is your garnishing. But there’s no rush. If you make a few more servings, you’ll get the hang of it and the taste will improve.”

Bai Ke nodded. “Alright, I will do my best. Today, it was no good but I believe that tomorrow, I will be able to do it.”

Lin Fan smiled and said, “We’ll stop here for today and continue tomorrow.”

Lin Fan was thinking, Who knew that  teaching something to someone and being a teacher could feel so good?

It even made him ponder about the goal of his life. Ever since he had gotten the Encyclopedia, he realized that wealth wasn’t all one could wish for. He had gradually come into contact with people that he couldn’t come into contact with before. And he didn’t have any wild ambitions either. He wanted no part of those businesses where everyone was trying to cheat one another. He just wanted each day to be happy and joyful, to be carefree and free to do whatever he wanted.

When he had been teaching Bai Ke, he had thought about something and that was the children at the Children’s Welfare Institute.

Some of them were physically able but they hadn’t received any education since young. When they grow older, it would be easy for them to stray onto the wrong path. As for those physically disabled, if they didn’t develop some sort of skill, they might not be able to survive in society when they grow older.

As of then, the skills that Lin Fan possessed that could be taught to them seemed to only consist of culinary skills and Ba Gua Zhang.

Ba Gua Zhang could help to strengthen their bodies and culinary skills could allow them to become skilled chefs. These were both skills that could be useful to the children in future.

But this still needed to be thoroughly thought about. Sometimes, thinking too simply could cause complications when something is implemented.

In the Children’s Welfare Institute, there was no lack of children who had lost both arms. They wouldn’t be able to learn culinary skills. And at that moment, Lin Fan didn’t have any other skills to teach to them.

It seemed like Lin Fan would have to keep working hard.

However, this matter seemed to have a high chance of working out. Contributing to society, helping those children and making them not feel inferior. It might even help himself to earn some Encyclopedic Points. It was killing two birds with one stone.

It was a shame. They were still all too young. Once they got a little older, if he gained some other knowledge, that would be good.

Drawing or calligraphy, for example. Skills appealing to both young and old would be good.

The next day!

In the kitchen.

Under Lin Fan’s instruction, Bai Ke was making Cherry Pork.

Under Lin Fan’s guidance, Bai Ke had gained some level of adeptness towards this dish but it wasn’t enough to please Lin Fan. The flavor was still lacking.

Its appearance and fragrance were both complete. As of then, all it was lacking in was flavor.

Lin Fan said, “Don’t rush. This is how learning to cook is like. It’s not supposed to be done in a single breath. It requires you to take the flaws and inadequacies and slowly improve on them. You’re already doing pretty well.”

Bai Ke smiled. “No problem. I know you’re doing this for my sake. Don’t worry, I won’t be defeated so easily. I’ll definitely perfect this dish.”

Lin Fan nodded. “Mmm, I believe in you.”

In reality, the taste produced by Bai Ke was already pretty good. He already had a good grasp of the condiments but he was still lacking just a little bit so he needed to keep improving. He could point out what was lacking in this dish but to make up for it was another thing. Therefore, he still needed to practice.

Xiao Yan hadn’t expected Brother Lin to be so strict either. She felt that Bai Ke’s Cherry Pork was getting better and better. It almost had her salivating, but to Brother Lin, it still had a long way to go.

Of course, she knew that Brother Lin had set high standards for Bai Ke to reach and she wanted Bai Ke to be able to make the dish better too, so she kept doing her best to support him.

If she were to compare Bai Ke’s dish to Brother Lin’s, it was still very far apart. But as Brother Lin said, for Bai Ke to achieve this standard was already superb.

In the end, at nighttime, he still hadn’t met Lin Fan’s requirements. But there was no rush. He was already learning quickly.

After Lin Fan went back, he got a call from Wang Ming Yang. It turned out that Wang Ming Yang was going to take a plane back to Shanghai that night. His company might have something that they needed him for.

Lin Fan was prepared to leave after teaching Bai Ke.

At night, he lay on the bed.

He unlocked his phone and searched for information regarding children’s welfare centers.

He discovered that in the past, people weren’t allowed to establish children welfare centers, but now, they were actually allowed to privately establish a center.

However, the requirements for the founder were very high. Even a little scary.

…