I Am A Chef In The Modern Era

After the game and dinner finished, everyone sat together to watch the New Year’s Gala on TV.

Shen Fu had never actually watched this before. To describe it with the current viral Internet slang: nobody watched the New Year’s Gala to watch it anymore; instead, they watched it to roast it. There were too many ways to roast it, so many that he didn’t even know where to start.

But Lin ShuYi watched it eagerly. To tell the truth, he was very interested in all the TV shows, and it was extremely easy to make him laugh. Even little skits that were full of plot holes were enough to make him laugh endlessly.

Shen Fu: …He didn’t find anything humorous about it at all.

Aunt Shen was attentively waiting for a big company to give out red packets on Alipay, WeChat, or QQ. She flipped through each one in turn, as the zipping noises never stopped. Finally, she managed to grab one, and she shoved her phone in front of Alan, overjoyed. “Look, look, I got a red packet.”

The corners of Alan’s mouth twitched as he looked at the “2.66” flashing on the screen. He still had to compliment her half-heartedly: “Dear, your luck is great.”

When Shen Fu heard that, he fished out his own phone.

There was a new function for New Year red packets in WeChat. He refreshed it quite a few times, but the most he could get was 9.99. Shen Fu turned to look at Lin ShuYi, who was staring single-mindedly at the TV. As if he didn’t need money anymore, Shen Fu sent across two dozen or so red packets all at once.

Instantly, Lin ShuYi’s phone rang.

And it kept ringing nonstop at that. When he took it out to see, it was full of the red packets that Shen Fu had sent him, covering the entire screen.

Lin ShuYi curved his eyes happily, as he exchanged a loving look with Shen Fu.

Big Brother Shen didn’t even want to lift his head anymore. Love made people lose their rationality and IQ. As the only single person in the room, Shen Bro didn’t want to stay there for a single moment longer.

He was about to get up and go upstairs when he heard his own phone ring.

It was actually from WeChat, which he very, very rarely used.

“Happy New Year.”

There was a huge red packet sitting beneath a completely unfamiliar profile picture. Unexpectedly, Brother Shen felt as if he was cured for just a moment, even though he didn’t even know who had sent it to him.

When he opened it, the sum of money was 52.0.

(t/n: 520 is Chinese slang for I love you)

…

For someone to send 52.0 with a New Year red packet – if there wasn’t a hole in their brain, then there was something wrong with them. Brother Shen rolled his eyes gracefully before he started to type with his elegant fingers.

“Thanks for the red packet, you are?”

After a long moment, the phone sounded again.

“Happy New Year, I’m back.”

Brother Shen grew impatient. Who cares whether you’re back or not? “Who in the world are you?”

“… Jiang Cheng.”

Brother Shen instantly grew unhappy. He calmly pressed back before he blacklisted the person, his movements smooth and unbroken. When he looked up, he discovered that Shen Fu was looking at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Shen Fu shook his head. “Nothing.” He just suddenly felt as if his brother was gnashing his teeth.

The New Year’s Gala would be on until midnight, but by the time it was ten, nobody could endure it any longer. As a result, everyone got up, washed, and went to sleep.

The next day, it was the first day of the new year.

Shen Fu was woken up early in the morning to go hang New Year couplets. Even though the Shen family’s little manor wasn’t suited for hanging New Year couplets at all, they couldn’t get out of it because Grandfather Shen liked them. Hanging up couplets was one thing, but there were also two big red lanterns that were completely out of place.

Xiao Yu and Tao Tao had also woken up early and changed into new clothes before they came downstairs to wish everyone a happy new year.

Tao Tao wore a Chinese-style cotton-padded jacket in imperial red that made him look exceptionally festive when matched with his little round face. When he greeted his grandpa and grandma, it made Mama Shen go up to him at once and plant a big kiss on his face.

Xiao Yu also looked very dashing in his army green down-filled jacket, paired with a pair of jeans. He gave a respectful, careful bow to Grandfather Shen. “Great-grandfather, happy new year.”

Grandfather Shen beamed with joy, and he took out the two red packets he had placed into his bag. “Good children.” He gave them each one.

The red packet was thin, but very stiff. It didn’t seem like money was inside.

Next, Papa and Mama Shen, Aunt Shen, Uncle Alan, Brother Shen, Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi all gave them one each as well. The red packets were thick, and Xiao Yu and Tao Tao immediately became little rich young masters with the most cash.

Xiao Yu clutched the red packets. He didn’t open them. He walked over to Lin ShuYi and gave the red packets to him.

Lin ShuYi didn’t take them. “I’ll open a bank account for you. You should deposit your own money.”

Xiao Yu didn’t really understand, but since Lin ShuYi said it, he still nodded.

Tao Tao didn’t understand the use of these things at all. After glancing at the packets for a while, he wanted to stuff them inside his mouth.

Shen Fu quickly stopped him. “Good son, you must not eat these.”

Tao Tao blinked at him. It wasn’t very clear whether he understood or not.

Mama Shen wiped his hands with a towel before handing him a small pastry from the table. “You can’t eat that, but grandma can give you this to eat. Give it a try.”

It was a little pastry made of bright purple yams. It was covered with sesame seeds, and it was baked until it was crispy. Tao Tao’s eyes curved instantly into crescent moon shapes.

Sweet fruit and cheese were stuffed inside. Tao Tao couldn’t eat a lot of it, but trying one was still alright.

As they all ate breakfast, Shen Fu got a call from Chen Fang, asking whether he was back.

Shen Fu said that he had been back since the 29th.

Chen Fang let out a strange yell from the other end. “You’ve forgotten about your brothers now that you have a wife, ah! You didn’t even let us know when you came back, and to think that I still wanted to come find you and hang out.”

Shen Fu sneered as he exposed him. “Your mom must’ve nagged you about marriage again.”

Chen Fang choked upon hearing that, and he had nothing to answer with.

“That’s enough, I’m eating right now. When I’m done I’ll go pay a call to your parents. Just wait, I’ll go rescue you from the fire at once.”

Chen Fang shed tears of gratitude.

Shen Fu explained it briefly to Grandfather Shen before his grandpa agreed. The Shen and Chen families were not only partners in business; their relationship had always been good. Chen Fang’s father’s friendship with Papa Shen had also always been especially good, so the two families should exchange New Year greetings at this time anyway.

Shen Fu went to the Chen family, so the duty of paying respects to Grandfather Wen fell to Shen Yan.

After breakfast, the two set off.

Shen Fu dragged along his family; Big Bro Shen was on his own solitary path. In comparison, his entrance seemed much weaker. Brother Shen’s face was gloomy, his mood not very good.

The Shen family wasn’t far from the Chen family, but this was the first time Lin ShuYi was going. What’s more, they had also brought the entire family.

Chen Fang felt freed the moment he opened the door. He felt like his head was about to explode after having to deal with his nattering Mama Chen bright and early in the morning.

Originally, it didn’t matter much that he was single, but after hearing that Shen Fu had already adopted two children, Mama Chen wasn’t that calm anymore. She kept saying things like, You’re already so old but you don’t even have a girlfriend, Shen Fu already has children now and the children are so and so years old blah blah. She didn’t say a single word about how Shen Fu had adopted both the children.

It made Chen Fang incomparably irritated.

Fortunately, Shen Fu immediately came over to free him, even though the originator of the evil was also him.

When Shen Fu’s family of four arrived, they were greeted warmly by Papa and Mama Chen. The Chen family had also known about Shen Fu’s sexual orientation quite early on, but besides finding a bit of a pity that Shen Fu didn’t like girls, they didn’t really have any other feelings on the matter. Shen Fu had grown up with Chen Fang, so the Chen parents had more or less seen him grow up. They had liked him ever since he was little, so even though he didn’t like sweet and cute girls nowadays, it didn’t really change the favorable impression that the Chen parents had of him.

Especially after they met Lin ShuYi and the little two buns. The Chen parents minded it even less. Even though the wife was a man, he was very good-looking. They heard that he could even cook, and that his writing was beautiful. Besides not being able to bear children, he was basically a perfect wife.

However, not being able to give birth to children didn’t even matter much anymore, they found after glancing at the two little buns that had been adopted. They were both so cute, their eyes both round and dark, their little faces both tender and pale. Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu were even spared from the trouble of giving birth to children themselves.

Papa and Mama Chen looked at Chen Fang with even more aggrieved eyes.

Chen Fang felt like he wanted to die. Did Shen Fu come to free him? He really didn’t come to stab him with a knife? He was very suspicious.

When they left, Xiao Yu and Tao Tao got two more red packets. Using the excuse that he had to go pay respects to Grandfather Shen, Chen Fang finally escaped his parents’ evil clutches, and he went back to the Shen family with Shen Fu and the rest.

Brother Shen wasn’t back yet.

It wasn’t much different for Chen Fang to be in the Shen family’s home compared to his own. The only difference was that he didn’t have to listen to his own parent’s prattling, and he felt so comfortable that he didn’t want to go back home at all.

He found an excuse and was basically prepared to stay at the Shen family and not go back.

At night, everyone gathered and played mahjong again. This time, no matter what they said to Aunt Shen, Lin ShuYi wasn’t allowed to play again.

Lin ShuYi held Tao Tao as he sat at the side, observing, not speaking.

Aunt Shen full-heartedly believed that she could win back all the money she lost this time. But when the game ended, she found that she had still lost everything.

Uncle Alan covered his face. This time, he finally discovered that perhaps yesterday was because Lin ShuYi was too smart, but today, it was purely because his own wife was too dumb. After all, who would have three of the six-bamboo tiles and not try to win with that, instead going just for the four-circle tile? But he couldn’t say anything. Instead, he said falsely, “Your luck just probably isn’t good… right.”

“That’s right, that’s right!” Aunt Shen resolutely refused to admit that it was her own stupidity. “It’s just my luck isn’t good!”

Alan buttered her up. What the wife said was right, what was wrong… was also right.

Lin ShuYi was laughing so hard that he was bent over.

This tradition of fearing the wives in the Shen family was simply just brilliant.

Chen Fang finally more or less understood a bit why Brother Shen still hadn’t come back. After losing money, he still had to taste the feeling of being surrounded by all sorts of lovey-dovey couples… it felt a bit too bitter.

The two most important days of the new year passed like that.

The Shen family’s situation was fairly unique. They didn’t really have any relatives that they had to pay visits to, much less Lin ShuYi. Besides Old Man Yang, he didn’t have a single relative at all.

But even though they were usually always with Old Man Yang, they still had to pay a visit to him since the new year was a special occasion. The Shen parents decided not to go this time, and Brother Shen went with Shen Fu and the rest as a representative from the Shen family. They went to S City together to wish Old Man Yang a happy new year. Chen Fang said that he wanted to go with them as well, since he would’ve been bored anyway at home.

When packing, Shen Fu fished out a red packet from Xiao Yu’s bag. It looked like the one that Grandfather Shen had given him first, and it was different from the other red packets, as it was thin and didn’t look like it had money inside. After Xiao Yu got it, he had casually dropped it into his bag, and since his bag couldn’t fit all the red packets he got later, he had forgotten about this one.

Originally, he wasn’t thinking to open Xiao Yu’s red packets, but since there wasn’t money in this packet, Shen Fu did want to take a look. If Xiao Yu looked himself, he wouldn’t understand anyway.

When he opened it, sure enough there was no money inside. Instead, it was a thin card.

Sweat dripped down Shen Fu’s face. Without even thinking he knew that there would definitely be quite a bit of money stored on that card. As expected, grandpa was a true headstrong nouveau riche.

There was also a slip of paper in the red packet. Grandfather Shen’s own bold calligraphy was written on top: entrepreneurship fund red packet, password: xxxxxx.

Even more sweat dripped down Shen Fu’s face. Giving a seven year old child an entrepreneurship fund red packet… grandpa, your imagination is really something.

As he thought about it, Shen Fu was suddenly startled. That’s right! What about Tao Tao’s red packet?!! Shen Fu couldn’t have thrown it away, thinking it was empty, right!!

Shen Fu felt faintly distressed at having inexplicably thrown away such a huge sum of money.