Chapter 11 Recipe Theft Exposed
Cheng Yanqiu looked unwilling to let it go. She secretly tasted a bowl of my Mala Tang.
She could no longer hold herself back. She shot to my stall in one stride.
"He Qingwei! Tell me! Why?"
She pointed at the half-eaten Mala Tang, voice trembling. "You taught me this craft hand by hand!"
"Why does it taste different? Why is yours better than mine?"
I didn't answer. I calmly added a spoon of chili oil for a customer.
Seeing me ignore her only made her more worked up. She stamped her foot and pointed at the Braised Duck Snacks on my stall.
"And these! We followed your recipe. The spice weights were exact!"
"Why is the taste worlds apart? You have to tell me today—why!"
I stopped what I was doing and looked calmly at her face, twisted with anger.
"Cheng Yanqiu, you finally admitted it. You stole my recipe."
Cheng Yanqiu's pupils shrank hard. She scrambled to explain. "You... you left it on the table yourself... I only glanced at it by accident..."
The customers exploded at once.
"No wonder it tasted so bad. Stole the recipe and never learned the real skill. Just messing around."
"Stole the secret recipe and still have the face to interrogate her? Thick-skinned!"
"Thief! Shameless!"
Under the flood of accusations, Cheng Yanqiu's face went purple and swollen. She froze in place, unable to say another word.