Chapter 25: The Kitchen Overlord。

One of the women went over to the basin soaking shredded potatoes, grabbed a handful, and was stunned — not only were the potato shreds thin and long, but each piece was precisely the same thickness, as if they had been measured and cut with a ruler.

"Wow, that knife skill is seriously impressive!"

"Hey, looks like there's going to be some drama," another woman suddenly chuckled quietly.

"Huh? What drama?"

"Don't you think it's odd that only a few of us were called to help with this banquet? Normally, for a banquet, the host would hire a lot more help. Besides people like us who wash and prep vegetables, there'd usually be others for chopping and assisting."

"That's true. Either they'd hire skilled cutters from the village or the banquet chef would bring his own apprentices. But this little chef came alone — can he really handle it?"

"Is that the drama you're talking about? That's not funny. The better the banquet, the thicker the red envelopes we get. Besides, the Chen family is pretty generous. Not to mention the eldest Chen — he led the whole township to prosperity. And the second one opened a factory, right? Lots of folks from nearby villages went to work there."

"Exactly."

"No, that's not what I meant. Actually, the Chen family did invite others. But you know that Chef Ma from the neighboring village, right? He's quite 'famous.'"

"Oh, we know. But it's not exactly a good reputation," one of the women laughed. "Sure, his cooking is decent, but he's infamous for stealing. He can turn enough ingredients for twenty tables into just fifteen."

"Haha, there's that saying, 'A chef who doesn't steal won't get fed,' but that guy really takes it too far."

"Exactly. I heard from my relatives — don't spread this around — but apparently, Chef Ma tried to offer his services to the Chen family for this banquet and got rejected."

"Well, of course. The Chens have seen the world; they wouldn't hire someone like him."

"But somehow, rumors got out that the Chen family hired a young newcomer instead. Chef Ma wasn't having it and started making threats."

"What threats?"

"What did he say?"

"He said he'd make sure this young chef would have a hard time. And he warned everyone in the surrounding villages: if anyone helped this young guy with prep work, they could forget about finding any work in the catering scene afterward."

"Wow, how arrogant can you get?"

"Seriously, acting like he owns the place just because he's a chef?"

"And the Chen family isn't someone you mess with either. Does he think he can just bully them?"

"His nickname's 'Kitchen Overlord' for a reason. Still, I doubt he'd dare to go head-to-head with the Chens directly. His plan is to let the young chef fail first, then swoop in to 'save' the situation. If he pulls off a beautiful banquet for Old Master Chen's 70th birthday, would the Chens even be able to blame him then?"

"But in the meantime, it's the young chef who's set up to fail."

"Exactly. Poor kid — trying to take a job, and now he's got to deal with sabotage. Especially with the Chen family's reputation, if he messes this up, it could ruin his name."

Ordinary housewives could handle basic prep work, but for serious banquet knife skills and dish preparation, you needed real experience.

And even under normal circumstances, there weren't that many skilled helpers in the villages. After Chef Ma's threats, anyone who could avoid trouble simply stayed away. There were plenty of banquets around the New Year — skipping the Chen family's event wasn't a big deal.

Chef Ma had calculated it all — one chef and a few vegetable washers couldn't possibly manage a full banquet, which is why he dared to pull this trick.

"He had no idea the young chef had such incredible knife skills. Fast and precise. If he had known..."

"Are you all serious about this?"Suddenly, a voice interrupted them.

The women jumped and turned around to see Chen family's second son standing behind them, having overheard everything.

Judging by his expression, it was clear he had heard plenty — both what he should have heard and what he shouldn't.

The women exchanged nervous glances and nodded honestly, adding a few more details.

"Good, Ma Deshui, good..."Chen Er sneered coldly and then turned and headed into the kitchen.

Inside, Bai Ye was busily preparing various ingredients.

The banquet was scheduled to start at eight that evening; by six, he needed to have all the dishes ready for cooking.

Fortunately, he had unlocked the "One-Click Chopping" ability the night before, which saved him a lot of time today.

He had already prepped all the ingredients that could be prepared ahead of time.

As he was working on cleaning a chicken, someone entered the kitchen.

Bai Ye had caught a glimpse of the visitor earlier and knew he was Chen Dao's older brother, though he wasn't sure if it was the eldest or second eldest.He greeted politely, "Hello?"

The man nodded silently.He looked over the neatly cut meat and vegetables, then watched Bai Ye carving intricate vegetable garnishes, his eyes flashing with surprise.He asked Bai Ye a few questions before leaving.

Chen Zhigang returned to the villa and quickly gathered his brothers.He told them everything he had overheard without leaving anything out.

The three brothers, all filial sons, had been determined to throw a grand celebration for their father's seventieth birthday.

They never expected someone would dare to stir up trouble — and over their father's birthday banquet, no less!And all from a lowly village banquet chef? Was he crazy from eating too much lard?

Chen Zhiguo sneered, "Looks like he's tired of living. After the birthday, I'll have someone look into him. We'll see if his arms are thicker, or if my legs are."

"What should we do now? Should we find some more people to help?" Chen Zhibin frowned.He remembered Zhao Tonghu mentioning that several people who had originally agreed to help had suddenly backed out.

Now he understood — someone had been pulling strings behind the scenes.

"Don't worry, Third Brother," Chen Zhigang said with a smile."This young chef you found actually has real skills."

"Huh? How so?" asked Chen Zhibin.

"I went to take a look just now. His knife work is excellent — fast and precise. Even without additional helpers, he seems able to handle it on his own.But we should still get a few more to help — maybe call the servers who were going to help deliver dishes later, and have them assist in the kitchen first."

Chen Zhigang sighed, shaking his head,"If I had hired the big-name chef I was considering, we probably would have been screwed by Ma Deshui. That chef had already told me he couldn't manage alone because his apprentices had gone home for the holidays."

The three brothers burst out laughing.

Some big chefs only focused on final seasoning and presentation — all the prep work was done by apprentices.If their apprentices were on holiday, there was no way the chef could handle a banquet alone.

One person simply couldn't manage everything.

"Young people really do have more energy," Chen Zhiguo said with a chuckle.

"Come on, Big Bro, now you sound like an old man!" joked Chen Zhibin.

Meanwhile outside, despite Bai Ye having the "One-Click Chopping" cheat, he was still running around like crazy.

He was used to it — he had always worked alone.When his old boss was still around, Bai Ye was just the assistant. After taking over, he still only had a part-time helper now and then.

Today, aside from a few ladies helping wash vegetables, he had no real assistants.

Even Zhao Tonghu came over to apologize and lent a hand.

That's when Bai Ye finally learned about the whole mess going on behind the scenes.