Xiao Fugui?

At a juicy moment like this, you couldn't enjoy the gossip alone. It was much more satisfying with someone to share it with.

So he took Zhu Zhuqing along, following the commotion. Before long, they reached the kitchen, where a crowd of onlookers had already gathered.

Most had rushed over after hearing the noise. A few of his students were among them.

"What's going on?"

Chen An had noticed the situation as soon as he arrived. One look was enough to tell him the spectacle had only just begun.

"Dean?"

Hearing Chen An's voice behind them, the two students jumped in fright, like kids who'd snuck out only to get caught by their homeroom teacher.

They turned around nervously and saw Chen An. Only then did they relax. He usually carried himself with authority, but he was also approachable.

"We only just got here too. We heard an apprentice messed up a dish, and the customer dragged him over to yell at him."

Oh, really?

This didn't quite look like that was what had happened.

The person being scolded was a child. He looked young, and his rather round, slick-looking face reminded Chen An of someone he'd once known.

Especially the money-rat-tail hairstyle tied at the back of his head—it really did look similar. But Chen An found that hairstyle both disgusting and distasteful.

Meanwhile, the man inside was still berating him. Not a single word was profane, yet every word was filthy.

"You let this apprentice cook? Look at what you've done to the Jade White Soup! Just look at it! It's fit for a slop bucket! You want to be a chef? You'd be better off going back to farming."

The one doing the scolding was a richly dressed young master. He didn't look like he was picking a fight on purpose, because the soup—or, more accurately, the entire table of dishes—was awful.

By that measure, he did have a point. Besides, he'd managed to rein in his urge to hit someone, which showed he was exceptionally well-mannered.

"N-no, um, I'm sorry."

The child hunched his head down. He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but didn't dare, then changed his mind and apologized.

The young master kept scolding him without laying a hand on him. He was probably holding back for the child's sake.

Strangely, the hotel's floor manager simply watched without saying a word, completely acting as though it had nothing to do with him.

"Master, something's odd. That person's probably just a scapegoat."

After watching for a while, Zhu Zhuqing quietly shared her analysis with Chen An.

"Oh, good eye. I think so too."

For the moment, master and disciple were just here for the gossip, so they weren't going to get involved.

The young master was still yelling over there without actually hitting anyone. They might as well watch the whole show, though they couldn't help admiring him a little.

He'd been at it for two and a half minutes without repeating a single insult. He was a master of the craft, with quite a literary flair.

"How did you figure that out?"

Chen An pretended he couldn't see through it and asked Zhu Zhuqing.

"He's about my age. If he's really cooking, then he must be reasonably capable. He wouldn't have made the dishes this badly. But if they turned out this bad, there must be another reason."

Zhu Zhuqing analyzed the situation with an air of certainty, even though she'd actually arrived at this conclusion through intuition.

Still, it made a lot of sense. It was hard to argue against.

If someone that young was trusted to cook, they couldn't be completely incompetent. At the very least, they had to be adequate.

In a situation like this, either he'd been pushed out to take the blame, or the staff had conspired to drive him away.

"That makes a lot of sense."

Chen An agreed with Zhu Zhuqing's assessment and declined to comment further.

Just then, a manager of higher rank came down. Chen An vaguely remembered him as the man who'd been working at the back when they'd made their reservation a few days ago.

"Don't be angry, Young Master Qin. This was that bastard's fault. I promise you, we'll fire him on the spot and compensate you five thousand Gold Soul Coins, plus the meal for your table today. How does that sound?"

The manager spoke with a beaming smile. The offer was quite generous. The young master was someone he knew, after all, and he needed to show him some respect.

After calming down a little, the young master replied.

"Fine, but I don't want to see that brat again. You understand what'll happen if I do."

The manager answered with a smile. "Absolutely. Absolutely."

Next came the child pleading with the manager not to fire him, saying he had nowhere to go.

The plot unfolded as expected. Once the matter was settled, the onlookers all dispersed. There was nothing left to watch, so why stay?

"Master, should we go too?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.

But Chen An didn't give her a definite answer. He narrowed his eyes and stared toward the kitchen, feeling that things weren't as simple as they seemed.

His sixth sense told him there was still a real player in the wings. He patted Zhu Zhuqing on the shoulder and smiled.

"Don't rush. I don't think it's over yet."

Being a good disciple who listened to her master, Zhu Zhuqing sat back down.

After the crowd dispersed, they found a spot with a perfect view of the private dining rooms. The two students could go back on their own.

They were old enough that he didn't need to worry so much about them. Besides, Snake Granny was there—yes, Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang was the one assigned to escort the group today.

And he hadn't gone far. If he couldn't keep them safe even from this distance, he might as well give up being dean.

"You son of a—!"

As soon as the apprentice left, Young Master Qin sat back down to wait. When the food came out, he couldn't help cursing.

He wasn't the only one. Everyone else there was the same, because the dishes that followed all had one problem or another.

A whole crowd of people erupted at once, reenacting Brother Crow's iconic scene: "If you can't do it, don't!"

"Oh ho, oh ho."

Chen An and Zhu Zhuqing watched with gleeful excitement. They were obviously delighted by this sort of thing.

If you were going to watch the gossip, you had to get into the spirit of it.

"What are you people trying to do?"

Young Master Qin led the charge. After being toyed with twice, he'd come to the conclusion that someone was messing with him.

Everyone piled on, forcing an even higher-ranking manager to step in.

After the situation was somewhat brought under control, the hotel paid out a huge sum of money. Then they dragged out the person responsible: a middle-aged woman whose face alone suggested she was sick of the world and everyone in it.

"I didn't know it would turn out like this. It's all that apprentice's fault for messing up the ingredients."

She only spoke again after the stares became too much to bear.

"I really didn't mean to. How was I supposed to know it would turn out like this? I always cook this way at home."

Her excuses fit the stereotype perfectly. Tsk, it was no exaggeration to say Chen An and Little Zhu had witnessed the full glory of a fake person.

"Cut the damn crap."

The senior manager had been fuming the whole time. He fired a whole bunch of people on the spot and had those primarily responsible dragged off to the Celestial Prison. What came next was only to be expected: they might bow and scrape before the powerful, but that didn't mean these people were beyond their reach.

Their fates would naturally be grim. They'd wish they were dead, yet be unable to die.

"Master, where are we going now? Should we take a walk outside?"

After the show was over, Zhu Zhuqing saw that Chen An was heading out and asked him.

Chen An nodded. They might as well take a stroll and see whether fate would bring them together.

"Master, look over there."

When he looked up, he saw the child who'd been kicked out.

No one cared about him. Even after the person behind this farce had been exposed, no one would bother about whether he lived or died.

Because... he was just an apprentice, an apprentice who hadn't even reached level ten.

He sat all alone in a dark corner, curled up with his head bowed, as if crying.

"Child, what's your name?"

The boy heard the voice and raised his head in a daze. Tear tracks still marked the corners of his eyes.

He shouldn't have answered so quickly, but Chen An seemed to have a kind of magic about him. At a moment like this, he made people feel especially safe.

So the boy's emotions settled a little.

"My name is Cheng Fugui. Cheng, as in 'future.'"