The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland novel Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Wants to Be the Dad

It was obvious that Master Luo, who had spoken second, had a more arrogant attitude.

But the moment they opened their mouths, these two claimed to have at least twenty years of experience. Their years in the kitchen outnumbered Shen Lu’s years on earth, and they seemed intent on throwing their weight around with their seniority.

’I don’t get it,’ Shen Lu thought. ’Do people applying for jobs these days have such an attitude?’

’If you’re so high and mighty, why are you working for someone else? You could just open your own restaurant.’

’And don’t give me that "no money" excuse. After twenty years in the kitchen, you should’ve saved enough to open a small mom-and-pop shop, even if not a huge restaurant, right?’

Shen Lu’s lips curled. ’They probably aren’t here to apply in good faith.’

She activated the Good and Evil Judgment Device. Sure enough, the hearts above both their heads were gray, with Master Luo’s being the darkest.

Shen Lu’s eyes darted around as she exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries.

’She definitely wasn’t going to hire them. No matter how good their skills were, she couldn’t hire someone with a crooked heart.’

But she still had to go through the motions. Shen Lu gestured for them to proceed. "Please, gentlemen, change into your aprons and come to the back kitchen."

Any applicant for the kitchen staff had to go through a cooking trial. Shen Lu wanted to test not only their skills on the stove but also, more importantly, their knife work.

The two men put on aprons and washed their hands. Shen Lu asked them each to cook a dish of shredded pork with green peppers.

"The ingredients are right in front of you. Please, begin."

Master Zhu and Master Luo glanced at the ingredients laid out before them: pork belly, long green peppers, and some other aromatics like green onions, ginger, and garlic.

Master Luo’s thick brows furrowed. "I have to cut it myself?"

Ever since he became a head chef, he hadn’t cut a single vegetable. He only worked the wok, handling the stove-top duties.

Shen Lu smiled. "Our restaurant is small, so everyone in the kitchen has to do a bit of everything. I have to chop and prep vegetables every day myself."

The implication was clear: if you wanted to work here, you couldn’t get away from cutting board duties.

Master Luo immediately wanted to untie his apron and walk out.

’What a bullshit little restaurant! A distinguished head chef like him being forced to chop and prep his own ingredients? This was a downright insult!’

He clenched and unclenched his fists, but in the end, he picked up the kitchen knife.

’If he didn’t owe Boss Jin money, he would never have put up with this humiliation!’

Master Luo got to work, and Master Zhu also began to focus on preparing the ingredients.

Shen Lu stood across the prep table watching them cut everything, and she was left speechless.

’They both introduced themselves as master chefs with twenty years of experience, so how could their knife skills be this bad?’

Since they had to make shredded pork, they both started by slicing the meat. The slices were uneven in thickness, and the resulting shreds varied wildly in size and length.

After cutting the meat, they moved on to the green peppers. Incredibly, both of them chose to cut the peppers into rings.

’Seriously? I asked them to make shredded pork with green peppers. Generally speaking, you should shred the green peppers too so they match and look good.’

At this point, Shen Lu really wanted to call a halt to the whole thing. With knife skills at this level, she figured their seasoning and cooking skills probably weren’t much better.

But on second thought, she held back.

They both went to the stove and started cooking at the same time. Compared to their knife skills, their technique at the wok was much better. They were very familiar with using the stove, showing they did have some real ability.

Ten minutes later, two plates of shredded pork with green peppers were placed in front of Shen Lu.

’They say harmony brings wealth. What business owner doesn’t have to learn to swallow their pride and put up with things?’

’Shen Lu was so disrespectful, so aggressive. She was bound to offend people.’

"Well, you don’t have to worry about that," the young woman said, tilting her head. "You should worry about yourself first."

’Who the hell did he think he was? Daring to lecture her with his garbage cooking skills?’

’And even in the worst-case scenario, if her restaurant did close, she could just get a job as a chef at another one. Her cooking was way better than theirs.’

’Besides, she could always go back to running a food stall.’

After the two aspiring chefs had left, Cai Su spoke up cautiously. "Boss, was their food really that bad?"

"Try it for yourselves." Shen Lu handed chopsticks to both Cai Su and Wang Daguo.

The two of them each took a bite and fell silent. They had probably gotten so used to Shen Lu’s cooking that trying food of this quality was just unbearably bad.

Wang Daguo was reminded of his time as a corpse collector. During a New Year’s gathering at the collection point, he had eaten shredded pork with green peppers that tasted just like this. Back then, he had thought it was incredibly delicious, especially stuffed in a flatbread. Every bite had been so satisfying.

Thinking back on it now, Wang Daguo was filled with emotion.

’His luck was really good. Although he’d been fired from the corpse collection team, he had unexpectedly landed a much better job. He didn’t have to be out in the elements all day, there was no danger, he just had to do his work diligently, and he even got to eat delicious and nutritious meals. Lately, he even felt like he’d bulked up and had more strength than before.’

"Boss, what will we do if all the applicants are at this level?" Cai Su asked worriedly.

Shen Lu said, "Skill level is secondary. What’s more important is character. Those two just now clearly weren’t here to apply for a chef position."

Wang Daguo asked, "Then what were they here for?"

Shen Lu rolled her eyes in annoyance. "They were here to act like my daddies, to climb on my head and shit and piss all over me."