Publishing a cookbook is not such a simple task. Contacting a publisher and directly releasing the content from ancient texts is not feasible.

The contents written in the book are too old, and with the passage of time and historical changes, much of the knowledge that older generations took for granted is no longer applicable in today’s society.

For example, the first recipe in the book, “Drunken Immortal Chicken,” which Golden Yaotiao had seen, involves ingredients that are endangered species. If this were to be made public, it would inevitably lead to unfavorable consequences.

After all, not everyone who reads this cookbook will have self-restraint.

Nowadays, some people mock the eating habits of the Chinese, suggesting that if it’s a living creature, it should be edible. But this is not true.

What is acceptable and what is not is a line that conscientious professionals in the industry have always clearly defined.

However, there are still many unhealthy trends in society, especially among some food enthusiasts who delight in challenging the limits of rare ingredients.

Some even see this as a symbol of status, causing harm to countless endangered species, with some being driven to extinction.

Who knows if, once the cookbook is published, some people will go so far as to harm things that should not be harmed just to satisfy their appetite?

Therefore, many details in the book have to be altered, but care must be taken to avoid damaging the excellence of the recipes in the process.

This requires highly skilled individuals to oversee the process.

As a result, many chefs in the industry received invitations and rushed to Shenzhen.

The news of this secret ancient cookbook being published has been the most significant news in the culinary world in recent years.

The National Culinary Association even held a special meeting about it.

After the meeting, the controversy surrounding Old Lady Xia and her family died down.

Anyone with eyes could see that they would never get the cookbook back.

This wasn’t a battle between Mingde, the Second Senior Master, and their disciples anymore.

This was an ancient book left by an imperial chef family that had never been revealed before.

Not to mention snatching it, even obstructing the publication process would result in the entire industry coming together to crush them.

In the past, Mr. Shang’s reputation wasn’t that big, and outside Shenzhen, few people knew of his existence.

Over the years, the second master and others, under the name of their school, had participated in numerous competitions, but this hadn’t brought much benefit to their teacher.

After all, the elder had passed away—who would pay attention to a chef who had already died?

Most people knew of Mr. Shang’s family through them, or through the company that no longer had any connection to the late chef.

But this time, Mr. Shang and his ancestors’ glory were finally recognized in the industry.

It is expected that once the cookbook is published, more and more people will know his name and life story.

Some other well-known chefs in the industry were moved by the act of donating the cookbook and later expressed their willingness to make some of their own family’s secret ancient recipes public.

Among them are many distinguished chefs who, for various reasons, had never left their mark in the world.

This marks the beginning of the collision between ancient cultural heritage and modern culinary industry.

---

The news that Old Lady Xia was critically ill and hospitalized caused a small stir in the culinary community in Shenzhen.

However, after it was learned that her life was not in danger, the concern faded, and few even visited her.

Instead, the gossip about the Shang family behind her became more interesting.

Once the second master and his disciples left, over half of Shang’s restaurants had to close, and the remaining chefs struggled to maintain operations.

Due to their lack of skill, old customers were upset, and business plummeted.

Logically, everyone knew that the closure of the restaurants was directly related to the departure of the second master and the others, but no one thought they should be blamed.

It was understandable when they didn’t know before, but now that evidence had been revealed showing how Shang’s family had bought off their apprentices to spy on them, any colleague who saw this would call it insane.

Although traditional culinary culture places great importance on loyalty and respect, no one had ever heard of a family so controlling over its apprentices, treating them like mere tools.

Moreover, Shang Rong wasn’t even Mr. Shang’s biological son; the connection between the Shang family and these disciples was likely only maintained through Old Lady Xia, who was the rightful matriarch.

However, few felt sympathy for Old Lady Xia.

Most thought she was foolish and had brought this upon herself.

There was nothing wrong with marrying Mr. Shang and raising children, but her involvement in the cookbook dispute and using the apprentices as pawns made her seem ridiculous.

She wasn’t unaware that her son had no real connection to Mr. Shang, yet she continued to present herself as the rightful inheritor of the Shang legacy.

The company also seemed full of her relatives, almost as if she were trying to take everything Mr. Shang had left and move it to her family.

At this point, the company was in chaos. If it were any other company, the shareholders and executives would certainly be working hard to save the company.

Although the departure of the leading chefs had hurt the company’s morale, it wasn’t the end of the road. Traditional restaurants might be struggling, but the foundation of Zhenlong still existed.

They could pivot to other types of restaurants, rebuild from scratch, and with enough perseverance, the company could slowly improve in the future.

The Xia family, however, was busy, but not for the company’s sake.

They were busy for their own interests.

Many in Shenzhen had heard rumors that some Xia family shareholders were looking for buyers for their Zhenlong shares.

The sight of people flying off in different directions in times of crisis was certainly unseemly, but family matters were no one else’s business.

What remained to be seen was how Old Lady Xia, in the hospital, would feel when she learned of this.

---

Mingde and the second senior brother heard the news of Old Lady Xia’s hospitalization and paused for a moment.

“Is it anything serious?” Mingde asked.

The sixth junior disciple, who had inquired about it, sighed as he returned. “They say it’s fine. She regained consciousness the day after she was admitted. There are no major issues, but it’s said that she may have some difficulty with her legs in the future.”

The second senior brother didn’t speak.

Sixth junior disciple stayed quiet for a while before asking, “Second Brother, should we go visit?”

After all, she was the master’s wife.

The Second Senior Brother remained silent for a long time before shaking his head. “Visiting her would just stir up trouble. If we go, who knows how they’ll twist things around and cause more issues for the Elder Brother and Yaotiao. Since we’re already here at Ming De, let’s sever ties cleanly. As for later in afterlife…”

He paused before continuing, “Later, if we meet Master and he’s angry, I’ll kneel and apologize.”

---

Top chefs from various regions gathered in Shenzhen to study and revise the recipe book with Second Senior Brother and the others.

This was likely the first time the Shenzhen Culinary Association had hosted so many renowned chefs from outside the area, and they were in a bit of a panic.

They organized a special reception team, and every prominent member of the association showed up.

So, they organized the use of… Ming De’s branch company’s canteen.

There were simply too many people, and the amount of ingredients and cooking equipment required was more than Second Senior Brother’s home could accommodate.

So, they applied to Jin Yaotiao for the use of the company canteen.

Of course, all the ingredients used were sponsored by the National Culinary Association.

For this period, Ming De’s branch employees suddenly noticed that the standards in the company canteen were even more extravagant than before.

Ming De already had great food; not to mention in this park area, even in all of Shenzhen, few companies could offer better employee meals.

But usually, it was just standard fare like salt-baked chicken, braised beef brisket, red-cooked fish, and fish soup rice, which was fine.

But would they really serve us two giant abalones today?

At lunchtime, employees entering the cafeteria with their trays, as expected, saw a huge plate of stewed sea cucumber in the spotless glass display case.

The sea cucumbers were plump and huge, stewed to the point of being soft and tender, clearly promising a smooth texture.

On the left was a massive portion of stir-fried scallops, so plump and shiny they looked like they could fill a fist.

On the right was a pot of seafood soup, mostly composed of sea urchins, with plump lobster meat floating in it.

Employees took their portions, then pointed to a dish at the end that seemed less impressive and asked, “What’s this?”

The cafeteria lady calmly answered, “Matsutake braised crocodile.”

Employees: “…”

They walked away holding their trays, tears in their eyes.

Could this meal be sold at any normal restaurant for two thousand yuan?

We really don’t deserve such treatment from the heir.

Employees from other companies in Shenzhen and Linjiang started noticing the over-the-top meals at Ming De’s canteen: “???!??!?”

What is going on at Ming De? It’s getting crazier every day.

Are they trying to force the bosses of other companies in these two cities to their knees by flaunting these meals in the cafeteria photos posted by Ming De’s employees? Is this some kind of business strategy to dominate the market?

Jin Yaotiao had recently received even more love from the branch’s employees due to the extravagant ingredients provided in the cafeteria.

She felt a bit helpless.

While Second Senior Brother and the others, along with the renowned chefs, were working on revising the recipe, they consumed so many ingredients in the process, all of which ended up in the employees’ stomachs.

The National Culinary Association had spared no expense in sourcing the ingredients, filling the company’s cold storage with items from all over the world.

But she had been very busy lately, unable to participate in their work and just letting them carry on with their activities.

There were two main reasons for her busyness: the new store opening in Shenzhen was fast approaching, and the training program she had entrusted to Master Tu was showing results.

Meanwhile, through her own efforts and those of several Ming De disciples, the seasonal menu trial launched in the Linjiang branches last year finally had a viable formula ready for mass production.

The branch had so few employees that it was clear they would not be able to handle everything. She had already asked HR to start looking for management candidates, but none of the candidates had been suitable.

The recruitment of new staff was urgent, but it wasn’t going to be easy to complete.

It was easy to find employees, but finding the right talent was much harder.

Ming De was a food service business, but the management assistants she needed weren’t just those with food service experience.

The problem was, highly skilled individuals with broad capabilities had many options in the current job market, so why would they focus on a traditional food service company?

After another disappointing interview, Jin Yaotiao returned to her office and rubbed her forehead. She told her HR colleague, “Let the headhunter continue looking.”

Her colleague nodded.

The headhunter, who had received the message, was now feeling worried.

There were only a few candidates currently available.

If they continued looking, they might have to broaden the search to include more general candidates.

Ming De offered a generous commission, so even though their requirements were high, the headhunter didn’t want to give up on the collaboration.

As the headhunter team discussed, one person suddenly spoke up, “Oh, don’t we have that person?”

Colleague: “Who?”

The person who spoke quickly pulled up a file from the computer and pointed to the name: “This person, Jiang Bai, used to be in management before starting his own company. He came from a big firm and had a failed startup last year.”

The colleague peered at the screen and immediately recognized the name, showing a sympathetic expression. “This person was all over the financial news last year, right? His company was doing well, but when the market shifted, it collapsed overnight. I heard he’s in debt up to his ears. Ugh, I can’t imagine how tough that must be for him.”