Codename:Phoenix 199 12/15

"Chef, you may start without me." 

w.a.n.g Reiji weakly said as she pa.s.sed by the people responsible for today's lunch. The chef and his crew can only stare at each other in silence, dumbfounded. Did the madam of the villa got tired of waiting? 

Fixing his black toque and straightening his ap.r.o.n, the young sous chef said, "Let's hurry up before all the guests walked out on us." 

His crew then nodded their heads in agreement and moved quickly towards the modified indoor mobile kitchen. The crew then took out the raw ingredients and neatly arranged them on the table top. The chef then washed his hands first before he gave his announcement.

"Greetings again, everyone! I am your chef for today. Please make yourselves comfortable for the show is about to start." Sous Chef Arthur said as his eyes gazed at every seated guest on the banquette bench.

"Chef Arthur, right?" Chairman Xu asked, he then paused for a while before adding, "What's your specialty? What will you cook for us today?" 

Before the young chef answered the Chairman's query, he made sure to carefully place the raw ingredients for the main course on the table top.

"I specialize in entertainment dining, sir. Teppan style to be precise." 

Hearing the word teppan, Chairman Kiang slightly raised his head up to get a better view of the mobile kitchen.

"Teppan? Teppanyaki?." Chairman Kiang said, squinting his eyes, seemingly doubtful of the chef's capability.

"Yes, Sir. I will perform culinary tricks for everyone today." Sous Chef Arthur replied as he cautiously took his knives out and arranged them beside the ingredients.

"Please allow us to entertain you whilst you wait for the main course to be cooked. For the meantime, please enjoy the appetizer." After the sous chef finished speaking, his two a.s.sistants showed up with bowls of freshly made salad and distributed it to everyone. 

Seeing the bowls of lettuce and dry mixed seaweed, Europa began to cover her mouth with her hands and in a m.u.f.fled voice she complained,

"I won't eat the leaves! They look gross! I want meat and sweets only." 

"That's not nice, Europa. Ssaying the food looks gross is offending to the people who worked hard to prepare it." w.a.n.g Yuvin low-key scolded his niece.

"But it does not look yummy." Europa's hands were still covering her mouth.

w.a.n.g Yuvin can only ma.s.sage his temples when Europa still continued with her behavior. 

"Listen, if you will not eat what's on your bowl, Uncle will not give you sweets." 

Europa slowly removed her hands away from her mouth and started to wrap her arms around w.a.n.g Yuvin's arms. She then put her best puppy eyes on and with a pleading voice she said, 'Uncle, I really don't want to it the salad. I just want meat and sweets." 

w.a.n.g Yuvin let out a long sigh. Here they go again. His niece cast her ultimate skill on him! It almost dealt damage, luckily he donned a durable armor. 

Taking a lung of air in, w.a.n.g Yuvin patted his niece's head and said, "Little one, please forgive me. Your charm wont work on me this time.  Just be an obedient girl and eat your salad." w.a.n.g Yuvin then quickly averted his eyes from Europa. However when he looked at his right, he caught Kiang Leilei staring at them. The two of them locked eyes but w.a.n.g Yuvin looked away as fast as he could. Kiang Leilei did the same, not showing any hint of remorse. She did not look back as she started to engage herself in a conversation with Chairman Kiang. Little did she know that w.a.n.g Yuvin turned his head around and silently stared at her, silently telling himself, 'Things are better this way. You'll just get hurt if you get to know the real me.' And with that, w.a.n.g Yuvin turned away the second time and now focused his eyes on Europa who was now busy munching the crispy lettuce and some dry mixed seaweeds.

"It tastes nice, right? It will not be served to us if it doesn't." w.a.n.g Yuvin chuckled as he wiped pieces of sesame seeds off Europa's face. 

"Tastes nice but I still like my meat and sweets more." Europa replied, the contents of her bow almost gone. 

"I am glad the young miss liked the salad. But I am sure that you will like the next meal more." Sous Chef Arthur said as he took out his spatula and his two-p.r.o.nged fork and started to strike the spatula on the flat iron plate. 

"All eyes and ears on me please. I will now start the show." Sous Chef Arthus announced as he began to toss both the spatula and the fork up in the air. After catching the utensils, he spinned the spatula in his one hand and tapped the fork on the hot plate simultaneously.  He then juggled the utensils, resounding together like clas.h.i.+ng swords. Everyone seemed amazed by the chef's dexterity, except for Europa who looked slightly bored.

"Let's cook the fried rice first." Sous Chef Arthur said as he poured some vegetable oil on the plate. Lighting the oil up, flames quickly rose up, but immediately died down.  He then took an egg out and spin it on the hot plate. He placed the egg on the spatula and flipped it several times before eventually cracking its sh.e.l.l. He took out two more eggs and performed the same tricks on them as well. He began cooking the eggs and putting flavor in it. Soon when the eggs were all golden yellow in color, the chef chopped them into bits and pieces before spreading the cooked white rice on top of them. Soon when the rice was cooked, the a.s.sistants started placing the rice on the plates of the guests.

"This first dish I will be making is stir fried garlic noodles with chicken." The sous cheft brought out a sliced onion and arranged the slices in stack to resemble a mini volcano. He then poured in some oil and lit the stacks of onion up, producing a high flame. Sprinkling the flaming stack of onion with water, think layer of smoke replaced the flame. 

After seeing the smoke rising up from the mini volcano, the crew walked in and placed sliced mushrooms, finely diced red bell pepper, and shredded carrots on the plate. They placed the thick noodles on the plate as well. When all the ingredients for the dish were delivered, the chef started cooking. However his enthusiasm suddenly died down when he caught sight of the uninterested Europa.