Kevin Thompson escorted him all the way to the door before turning back, letting out a gentle sigh, his face full of regret. In fact, he was quite dissatisfied with the three dishes he had just made. If it had been in the past, dishes of this standard would have been thrown straight into the trash before even leaving the kitchen.

It wasn’t that his cooking skills had declined, but rather that he was unprepared and had limited ingredients, which led to such a drop in quality. Still, he had done his very best, and to achieve this result was no easy feat.

Kevin Thompson knew very well that the reason that young man in the purple robe had praised all three dishes so highly was entirely because the dishes were novel and the flavors unique. Besides, stir-frying had only just started in the Northern Song Dynasty, and usually only imperial chefs in the palace or cooks at major restaurants would stir-fry dishes. But for him, stir-frying was second nature. It’s no exaggeration to say that, in the Northern Song, when it comes to stir-frying, if he claimed to be second, no one would dare claim to be first.

“Brother Thompson, this twice-cooked pork you made is just so delicious.”

As soon as Kevin Thompson returned to the hall, he saw Liam Foster clutching the plate of leftover twice-cooked pork, wolfing it down, his mouth greasy, speaking with his mouth full.

Even Yvonne Foster picked up his chopsticks to taste the three plates of leftovers. Although he wasn’t as exaggerated as Liam Foster, his face was still full of unconcealed delight.

For comments like “delicious,” which only praise the taste, Kevin Thompson usually just ignored them. He walked over, sat down next to Yvonne Foster, and smiled slightly, “Uncle Foster, what do you think?”

“Not bad! Really not bad, young man. I didn’t expect your cooking skills to be so impressive. I really misjudged you,” Yvonne Foster said, clicking his tongue in admiration.

“Of course! Uncle, didn’t you hear what that young master said? Our Brother Thompson’s cooking can even compare to the imperial chefs in the palace.” At this point, Liam Foster seemed to remember something, suddenly sighed, and said regretfully, “If only Madam hadn’t decided to sell the restaurant, then we could invite Brother Thompson to be the head chef at our Drunken Immortal Residence. Business would definitely be much better than it is now.”

“Sell the restaurant?”

Kevin Thompson’s expression tightened, and he asked, “Uncle Foster, why sell the restaurant?”

Yvonne Foster sighed and said, “Young man, I’m sure you’ve noticed that business in our restaurant has been rather slow lately.”

Kevin Thompson nodded slightly. It was more than just slow—it was practically deserted.

Actually, Kevin Thompson had wanted to ask about this topic for a while. The Drunken Immortal Residence was definitely in a prime location in Bianjing; even if business was bad, it shouldn’t be this bad. Ultimately, it was because there wasn’t a good chef. Master Sullivan’s cooking, which Kevin Thompson had tasted, couldn’t even be described as bad—it was simply terrible. With a chef like that, it would be hard not to go out of business! But since Master Sullivan had always treated him well, he didn’t feel right bringing it up.

Ever since Kevin Thompson came to the Drunken Immortal Residence, Yvonne Foster had never treated him as an outsider. With a heavy sigh, he told him the whole story from beginning to end.

It turned out that the Drunken Immortal Residence was founded by a wealthy family surnamed Qin. For three generations, the Qin family had made their living running this restaurant, and in Dongjing Bianliang, it was considered an old and established name.

The Drunken Immortal Residence hadn’t always been like this; it used to be a household name, packed with customers every day, business booming.

But a few years ago, the then-owner, still young, suddenly died unexpectedly. He had no children, so the restaurant was left to his wife, now known as Mrs. Harris. However, Mrs. Harris knew nothing about business and rarely even came to the restaurant, so she handed the heavy responsibility over to Yvonne Foster.

When Kevin Thompson heard that Mrs. Harris had handed the restaurant over to Yvonne Foster to manage, he realized this was probably the key reason for the Drunken Immortal Residence’s decline. He knew Yvonne Foster was kind-hearted and honest, with no scheming nature. Such a person could be a good manager, but as a decision-maker, absolutely not. In business, if you don’t use some tricks and aren’t a bit ruthless, you’re bound to fail.

Yvonne Foster could be considered a veteran of two generations. He had worked at the Drunken Immortal Residence since he was very young, and was promoted to manager only because he was literate. He was very familiar with the restaurant’s operations, and in the first two years after he took over, business was okay—not improving, but at least steady.

It wasn’t until two years ago, when the Jade Pavilion across the street suddenly rose to prominence, that the Drunken Immortal Residence began to decline. It was said that the owner of the Jade Pavilion was originally a chef in the household of Duke Cai of Lu, surnamed Qiu, but after entering the Cai household, he changed his surname to Cai and was known as Steward Walker. He was ruthless and left no room for mercy in his dealings. Within half a year of opening, Steward Walker somehow managed to poach all the top chefs from the Drunken Immortal Residence, and even the waiters weren’t spared, leaving the Drunken Immortal Residence overnight with no one to rely on.