ARLQLCC chapter 44

Originally, there were only nineteen apprentice disciples. Chu Zhaoye’s arrival filled the gap, and now Su Ji had twenty disciples who were eagerly waiting to be fed.

In front of the stoves, the recording stone projections began playing footage of Su Ji cooking. Except for Chu Zhaoye, who was still absent-minded, the other nineteen all stared with wide eyes, each one more focused than the last.

Su Ji controlled the recording stone and played it three times. By the third round, many apprentice disciples were already eager to try.

He walked between the two long rows of stoves. There were ten stoves on each side, and standing in the middle allowed him to clearly observe their progress.

As the playback neared its end, Su Ji once again walked over behind Chu Zhaoye.

“Ma Tuan, how was it? Confident?”

Chu Zhaoye replied helplessly, “Probably.”

Su Ji patted his shoulder. “Good luck. I’m looking forward to you cooking for me.”

After saying that, he slowly walked away, leaving Chu Zhaoye alone staring at the pots and pans in front of him.

After the three rounds of demonstration finished, the apprentice disciples eagerly began cooking. In an instant, the back kitchen was filled with the sound of knives chopping tomatoes.

Although their cooking skills were not well developed before, they still understood the importance of knife work. The tomato pieces they cut were uniform in size, with clean edges, neatly arranged on plates—already visually quite presentable.

Among them, Su Ji noticed that Qu Ming had the highest comprehension ability. His control of heat and precision in ingredient usage were the best, no wonder he had been elected as the leader.

Su Ji walked with his hands behind his back. When passing by a rather thin disciple, he stopped. The disciple was frying eggs. Suddenly seeing Su Ji behind him, he became nervous, and even the motion of his spatula slowed.

Su Ji leaned in and looked at his pan, reminding him, “Little student, the eggs are going to burn.”

The thin disciple jolted and quickly flipped the spatula. Sure enough, the eggs at the bottom were already started to darken. He hurriedly scooped them out, looking like he was about to cry over the burnt pieces.

He was actually been the first one caught making a mistake by Chef Su. The others were all doing well—Chef Su must be disappointed in him.

Seeing his unease, Su Ji comforted him, “Remember not to cook them that long next time. Keep going, you’re doing great.”

He was worried that if he stayed too long, the disciple would lose his rhythm, so after offering encouragement and a smile, he moved on.

The thin disciple was deeply moved. Among all the remaining disciples, he was the weakest in understanding and practical ability. Even simple stir-frying would go wrong due to poor control of heat and timing, wasting entire batches of spirit ingredients, and he had been scolded by Chef Lin many times for it.

He had already prepared himself to be reprimanded by Su Ji. He never expected not only no ridicule, but such gentle encouragement instead.

His heart was filled with warmth and emotion, and even his seasoning movements afterward carried newfound confidence.

Su Ji circled around a few more times. Aside from reminding those disciples who had burned their food, he didn’t scrutinize every detail, such as the amount of seasoning or the heat level.

After finishing the dish, each disciple had to taste their own creation. Su Ji would then ask them to point out their own problems after tasting—this way, the lesson would be more deeply remembered.

As time passed, disciples gradually finished cooking and placed their plates of tomato stir-fried eggs beside the stove, their movements even carrying a sense of reverence.

Until the last person finished—Chu Zhaoye.

Su Ji walked to the first disciple on the left row. “Try it. How is your cooking?”

Qu Ming was very nervous. As the leader, he was also the first to taste his dish, and his hand trembled slightly when holding the chopsticks.

He picked up a bit of egg and tomato, then cautiously put it into his mouth. At first, he barely dared chew, afraid it would be as inedible as before.

But when the sweet and sour flavor spread across his tongue, Qu Ming’s eyes widened in disbelief—he could hardly believe this was something he had made.

As a teacher, Su Ji also tasted a bite after him. He praised, “Very good. The egg is cooked with excellent control of heat; the texture is very tender. However, there’s still one issue—you tell me what it is.”

Qu Ming became excited. He had been worried that he lacked talent and would fail even after watching Chef Su’s demonstration four times, but instead he succeeded and even received praise.

He said earnestly, “This dish… doesn’t have the same balanced sweet-and-sour flavor as Chef Su’s. Mine is a bit more sour. I probably didn’t add enough sugar. I’ll pay more attention next time. Thank you for your guidance, Chef Su!”

Su Ji smiled with curved eyes. “Keep it up—you set a good example.”

His smile was too gentle, and Qu Ming felt dazed from the encouragement. He nodded vigorously, eyes sparkling as he watched Su Ji move on to the next person.

The surrounding disciples waiting for evaluation looked at him with envy, feeling both anticipation and nervousness.

They hoped Chef Su would praise them like he praised Qu Ming, but also feared disappointing him if they did poorly.

One by one, Su Ji went through them. Aside from a few cases where eggs were slightly burnt, most dishes were passable. Some had too much seasoning, some too little, some overcooked or undercooked—but regardless of quality, Su Ji always pointed out issues while still offering praise.

To teach excellent students, one must not destroy their confidence. Maintaining enthusiasm, loving what they do, and improving step by step is the most important thing.

This was what his master had taught him since childhood.

And now he was applying the same method to these apprentices.

After going through all of them, there were almost no dishes that were inedible or strange in taste. Su Ji was very satisfied.

Only one dish remained untasted—the one belonging to Chu Zhaoye.

His dish looked perfectly normal: tomatoes were tomatoes, eggs were eggs, combined into tomato stir-fried eggs. The only issue was that the tomatoes looked too intact—so intact that they were barely cooked.

Su Ji walked over slowly and teased, “Student Chu Zhaoye, it’s your turn.”

Chu Zhaoye silently picked up his chopsticks. The strange mask he wore split open on both sides, revealing his sharply defined lower face.

The surrounding disciples gasped in surprise.

Although his upper face was still hidden, it was obvious he was extremely handsome.

If one ignored the slight trembling of his lips from reluctance.

Under Su Ji’s encouraging gaze, Chu Zhaoye convinced himself that everyone was trying it for the first time and passed, so he should be fine too. Then he opened his mouth and ate the egg.

The moment the chopsticks left, the mask snapped shut again, perfectly hiding his distorted expression.

Before leaving the demon race, he had eaten food prepared by top chefs of both races. Even if not astonishing, the ingredients were top-tier.

After leaving, all his meals were personally made by Su Ji—delicious food that changed daily had already spoiled his palate.

Ordinary food was already hard to accept, let alone this undercooked tomato stir-fried egg.

It was extremely bad—too salty and even bitter.

He almost wanted to throw up. The egg was barely chewed once before he quickly swallowed it, afraid it would linger in his mouth another second.

He didn’t speak for a long time. Seeing this, Su Ji also picked up his chopsticks and took a small bite. Before Chu Zhaoye could stop him, he had already eaten it.

The entire kitchen fell silent.

Chu Zhaoye immediately grabbed his wrist. “Spit it out.”

Su Ji ignored him and swallowed with great difficulty. His expression turned complicated. “Did you confuse sugar and salt?”

Chu Zhaoye froze, then slowly turned to look at the salt container that had been scooped several times and was visibly hollowed out. He stiffly nodded.

Su Ji: “……”

He sighed helplessly. “It’s okay. From now on, I’ll do the cooking at home, and you just have to eat.”

He then pulled Chu Zhaoye back to his spot. Qu Ming quickly brought over two cups of warm water. Su Ji thanked him, then patted the little cat’s head again before moving on to teach the second dish.

All of Chu Zhaoye’s frustration vanished instantly.

Although he had made a horrifyingly bad dish, it no longer affected his mood at all.

Because Su Ji had said: “From now on, I’ll be the one cooking at home.”

—At home.

That phrase alone proved he was already the closest person to Su Ji.

Chu Zhaoye suppressed the silly grin threatening to appear and stared intently at Su Ji’s focused profile while holding the warm water.

…

In the afternoon, even though only three dishes were taught, Su Ji taught everything thoroughly. For lunch, he did not help prepare the food, but instead instructed the nineteen apprentice disciples to work together to prepare the three dishes as the dining hall’s lunch offerings.

This was the first time in Yunxian Sect’s dining hall history that only three dishes were served.

After a morning of practice, the apprentices were not yet masters, but they had memorized the steps and seasoning ratios clearly.

This lunch preparation was their first assigned task from Chef Su. Everyone focused intensely, and soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of stir-fried food.

The dishes were not difficult. Before the lesson ended, trays of fragrant, visually appealing food were neatly arranged on the long tables in the main hall.

The serving disciples widened their eyes in disbelief. They could hardly imagine that such dishes came from these apprentices.

They were used to artificial aromas from fragrance-enhancing powder. Only now, facing truly delicious food, did they realize how cheap those previous aromas were.

At the kitchen entrance, the apprentices stood nervously watching the dining hall door.

This was their first time learning so seriously. In the past, every time they cooked, they were met with ridicule. They had thought they were no longer afraid of criticism—but now, after pouring in 200% of their effort, they still couldn’t calm their nerves.

Time passed. Distant voices of disciples chatting and laughing drifted over.

The bell rang.

It was time for lunch.

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