Maverick Chef - Chapter 47：A Major Interlude

Bai Lu stood at the entrance of the restaurant in a daze, as he did not care about how Sha Sha would help the young girl. He was pondering about what he had done in the past month. Due to unusual circumstances, he possessed a level of culinary talent that others would never be able to obtain. However, would he only be using it to pass the time?

Not long after, Sha Sha returned, and she said, “She did not want it, and she did not want to go back home. She said that she wanted to look for a job to earn some money.”

“Oh yes, since she is outside already, why would she want to return home?”

“You can keep the money,” Bai Lu said, and he returned to the restaurant.

Sha Sha said, “There’s no money left, as I stuffed it into her bag. I gave her the number to our restaurant and also my own personal contact number so that she can call us if she needs anything. Also, I told her that she can come to eat at our restaurant, whenever she is hungry, and there’s no food to eat.”

Bai Lu laughed, and he said, “You did everything correctly.”

This incident was only a brief interlude. At night, there was a major interlude. The time was 5:30 pm, and there were only 30 mins left before the restaurant started dinner service. Suddenly, two vehicles arrived at the restaurant. Five people got out of the cars and strutted into the restaurant. “Boss, we want to order.”

Bai Lu was stunned for a while. He thought, “So many days have passed. Finally, some people are not following the rules again.”

He walked over and said, “Please get out. We are not opened for business yet.”

All five of them were fatties, ranging from slightly overweight to morbidly obese, who were in their 40s. There were a bunch of fat middle-aged men.

They noticed that the restaurant was full of girls, who looked youthful and dazzling. As the five middle-aged look for their seats, they also kept secretly peeking at the girls.

When they heard Bai Lu’s icy tone, there was a fatty, who was staring wide-eyed at the beautiful ladies, that said, “What did you say? Get out?”

Bai Lu was lazy to explain. He pushed the door open and said, “Get out.”

“You are asking me to get out? Do you have any idea who am I?”

Bai Lu did not even bother to respond. It gave off a feeling of condescension like he did not even care about who they were. On the other hand, the crowd of people that were queueing outside the restaurant started to comment.

“Coming to eat here without knowing the rules beforehand?” This person said in a civilized manner.

“They must be blind. How could they miss that large signage outside? How could they not notice the crowd queueing outside?” This person launched into a personal attack.

“Hurry up and get out.” This person had an irritable temper.

The five of them had a sudden change of expression. At this moment, they had no intention of gazing at the beautiful ladies. The fatty that spoke previously started pointing at Bai Lu and scolded, “I came to your restaurant for a meal because I was impressed by you. If you do not show me some respect, do you believe that I could make your restaurant closed down by tomorrow?”

Not only did Bai Lu kept quiet, but he did not even bother to look them in the eye.

“You are awesome. Kid, do not blame me for not giving you a chance.” The fatty started calling on his phone, and he said, “Hello, Chief Wang. There is something that I need to tell you. I am seeking an investment, so I invited two of my clients for a meal. However, there is a restaurant in your area that doesn’t seem to meet the health requirements… Uhm, yes… Xiao Wang’s Village Road. The Great 5-Star Restaurant—”

Before he could finish his statement, Bai Lu walked over, grabbed him on his arm, and he yanked him out.

The fatty was still on the phone when he was being dragged outside, and he staggered. After he realized what was going on, he started shouting, “How dare you to touch me. F*ck you. If I do not demolish your restaurant, I will take on your surname.” As he spoke, he raised his hand to give Bai Lu a slap.

Unfortunately, the strike missed. Bai Lu frowned and dragged him to the entrance. The fatty was not well-behaved, he lifted his leg and started kicking randomly. He put his phone back into his pocket and started flailing his two stubby arms. Sadly, his tortoise boxing could not seem to reach Bai Lu’s head.

No matter how well-tempered a person is, if he met such a guy like the fatty, he would also lose his temper. Besides, Bai Lu was not a well-tempered person, to begin with. After he yanked the fatty out of the restaurant, the fatty was still flailing around and pulling on him, he even wanted to strangle Bai Lu. However, Bai Lu pushed him away and kicked him with his feet, and the fatty was dumped on the roadside curb. With a loud sound, he fell to the ground.

The other four guys saw that the fight was brewing, so two of them rushed forward with a stool in their hands, as they wanted to use it to bash Bai Lu.

Bai Lu stepped out of the restaurant, and he waited for the two of them to charge out. He planted his feet on the ground and leaned over. With two hands, he chopped down with one and grabbed the chair with the other. Then he utilized the move Joudan Sokutogeri from the Street Fighter series, and the other two fatties were KOed to the ground. Then he taunted the last two guys in the restaurant. “Get out.”

“What the hell. Is this guy crazy? We came here for a meal. If you do not wish to serve us then forget about it. Why is there a need to fight?” The other two guys thought as they seemed to have forgotten that it was the morbidly obese fatty that started the fight. One of them started calling the cops, while the other pointed at Bai Lu and said, “Young man, do not get yourself into trouble.”

“Get me into trouble? He was the one that started the fight. Why am I the one that caused the trouble?” Bai Lu stared at the last two guys and hooked his finger. “I will count to three. Do not force me to take action.”

The two of them ran out immediately, but they stood on the streets without leaving. They lost their face with the incident today, so they wanted to reclaim their pride.

“As long as you guys are not in the restaurant, I do not care what you want to do,” Bai Lu thought. He entered the restaurant and closed the door.

After a while, the cops arrived. Coincidentally, they were the same two police officers that were dispatched when the gangster baldy called the police.

The moment the cops got out of the car, one fatty went out to greet them. “Hello, police comrades. I am from the City Merchants Association. My name is Dan Xue Feng.” Then he pointed towards the restaurant, and said, “Their boss assaulted us.”

The two cops nodded at him, and they entered the restaurant. The police officer that was slightly older said to Bai Lu, “I say, it was not easy to have two peaceful days, but why are you assaulting people again?”

The police officers that was younger also did not behave as harsh and unreasonable as before. With a sour expression, he said, “Boss Bai, could you let the two of us go? Even if you want to cause trouble, could you at least do so when someone else is on duty?

“It’s the National Holidays. Why are you two not on a break?” Bai Lu casually said.

“Nonsense. Tell me, what had happened here?” The older police officer sighed.

These two police officers, the one that was older was called Ren Qiang, while the one that was younger was called Wang Dong. They were from the same police station as Sun Min.

Yesterday, the Vice-Premier came to the restaurant to visit Bai Lu. Some other departments might have been unaware of this incident. However, in the Public Security System, the reputation of the Great 5-Star Restaurant has already achieved legendary status and spread far and wide.

In particular, Old Shao was in-charge of the Xiao Wang’s Village Road and that guy was afraid of offending Gao Yuan and the rest. He also wanted to foster a better relationship with Bai Lu, so he had already explicitly informed the officers of the police station near Xiao Wang’s Village Road. Naturally, Ren Qiang and Wang Dong were well aware of Bai Lu’s strong background.

“The restaurant is still closed, but they insisted upon having a meal here. Of course, I refused, but the morbidly obese fatty wanted to slap me, so I chased them away.” Bai Lu explained straightforwardly.

As he was speaking, the door of the restaurant was opened, and the bunch of fatties wanted to enter the room. With a chilling expression, Bai Lu said, “Get out of the restaurant.”

Wang Tong made a coughing sound, and he said, “What’s that attitude? Can’t you speak in a nicer tone? Come, let’s go back to the station and speak.”

Even though he said such words, but in his heart, he has already decided that he did not want to offend Bai Lu.

The cops escorted Bai Lu out of the restaurant, and they wanted to bring the fatties back to the station.

Dan Xue Feng came over, and he said, “There’s no need for us to go with you right? We still have to entertain the merchants.”

Wang Dong cast a look of disdain towards him, and he said, “Entertain the merchants? In such a small restaurant?”

“It was all because of the exaggeration over the internet? They said that the God of Cookery has descended to Earth, and some of my friends have also recommended this place. All I wanted was to bring my clients to experience the hype, but how would I know that this kid was a douchebag?” Dan Xue Feng said as he looked at Bai Lu.

Ren Qiang said, “That doesn’t work. According to the regulations, the person that made the police report must be present for the hearing, otherwise, how would we conduct our investigations?”

“Can you do me a favor, and lock this kid up first. Tomorrow afternoon, I will go to the police station. Which station do you guys belong to? I will go over there directly in the afternoon tomorrow.”

“Lock Bai Lu up for the night?” Ren Qiang thought, and he shuddered, “if I lock him up for the night, tomorrow someone will come and lock me up instead.” With a serious voice, Ren Qiang said, “I am afraid that it does not work like this. You should know this already, there are more spot checks during the holidays, so the regulations are tighter.”

“I also know about the tight regulations, but doesn’t this constitute as a special case? Aren’t you guys under the sub-bureau of the Eastern 3rd Ring Road? I know your boss, Old Shao. Could you speak to him about this?” Dan Xue Feng said a very familiar name.

As soon as Ren Qiang heard about this, he felt relieved and happy. He stopped smiling and tried to look serious. “If you know about Old Shao, then it is even better. Please give him a call, and if he agrees to it, we will follow your plan accordingly.”

“Is there really a need for so much hassle?” Dan Xue Feng was a little unhappy.

“You have to go through the hassle. After all, this should be a piece of cake for you. But for us, this is a problem that might affect whether or not we could still wear our uniforms. I apologize for your inconvenience, Leader Dan,” Wang Dong said, he was chuckling the whole time. In his heart, he thought, “Let’s see how you suffer from this.”

Old Shao’s full name was Shao Cheng Yi, and he was the one of the Deputy Bureau Chief of the sub-bureau of the Eastern 3rd Ring Road. The sub-bureau of the Eastern 3rd Ring was organized differently from the one in the Iron City. There were six Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Old Shao was neither here nor there in terms of ranking. He was just trying to improvise to make a living.

At this moment, Old Shao was having a meal. Not long after he settled down, he received the call from Dan Xue Feng. After he understood the entire incident, his heart thumped out of fear. It was indeed true, that whatever he was afraid of, would eventually happen.

Speaking of which, amongst the leaders of the sub-bureau, he was considered the first to have met Bai Lu. At that time, Bai Lu was already not one to be trifled with, as he had the backing of Gao Yuan and the other young masters. After he met with the Vice-Premier yesterday, this guy was even more untouchable than ever before.

“Who would have expected that a little Chef would be so influential, that he could form a connection with the Vice-Premier of a country?”

There were already a few unlucky bastards that have gotten a scolding in the Iron City sub-bureau because they have offended Bai Lu. Thus, Shao Cheng Yi did not want to end up in the same situation.

After thinking about it for a while, Shao Cheng Yi asked, “What do you want to do?”

Dan Xue Feng said, “What else would I do? Lock him up first, and we can decide later. We can discuss more tomorrow.”

“Lock him up?” Shao Cheng Yi thought, and with a serious tone, he said, “As a friend, I would advise you to just let this incident go. Hurry up and leave while you can.” Then he hung up the call.

Dan Xue Feng was a little confused, he thought, “What is going on? Could it be that this kid was the relative of Old Shao?”

As he was puzzling over this thought, a white minivan drove into the street. It was the law enforcement vehicle from the regional health office. After the vehicle stopped, two people stepped out. The one that led the way was somewhat balding with sparse strands of hair on his head. He walked towards Dan Xue Feng, and he said, “Old Dan, which is the restaurant that failed to meet the health requirements?”

Dan Xue Feng smiled and shook his hand. “Chief Wang, thank you for coming.” He pointed at the Great 5-Star Restaurant, and he said, “This one.”

Chief Wang did not say anything, and he entered the restaurant immediately. “Who is the boss here?”

Bai Lu, who was still standing outside, shouted, “Here, I am here.”

Chief Wang walked out again, and he looked at the police officers. “What is going on here?”

He was the Bureau Chief, so he did not notice the presence of the nameless low-ranking cops. From this point, it was apparent that he was not as good as Dan Xue Feng in terms of personal relations.

Wang Dong said, “Someone called the cops, for fighting and causing a scuffle.”

“Fighting? This guy is daring enough,” Chief Wang said, as he looked Bai Lu coldly in the eye, “Health Inspection.”

The young man that came with him in the same vehicle walked towards Bai Lu. He flashed his work permit at him, and then he entered the restaurant. Not long after, he walked out and reported, “The bacteria count on the chopping board has exceeded the safe limit.”

“Seal it.” Chief Wang declared these two words, and he turned around to speak with Dan Xue Feng. “Restaurants like this that do not meet the health requirements should be sealed. Thank you for your ardent efforts to make this report.”

As he spoke, he lightly winked his eye at him. Dan Xue Feng responded, “This is what I am expected to do.”

In the public space with numerous people, they did not dare to expose their relationship blatantly. After making a slight hint, Chief Wang wanted to leave in his vehicle. Dan Xue Feng chased over to give his thanks, and he said, “Let’s catch up soon.”

Chief Wang smiled and nodded his head.

Ren Qiang and Wang Dong saw the entire incident. They knew that this incident was about to get much bigger than this, so Ren Qiang made an expression towards Wang Dong. He walked away to give his superiors a call.