How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

Seeing them staring at him intently, Gu Heng felt a bit uneasy as he said, "Why are you all looking at me? Have some drinks and rest a bit."

He then instructed Xu Ying, "Hurry up and urge the chef. Ask them when they can arrive. It’s after nine already. If they don’t come soon, dinner will turn into supper."

"Okay, I’ll go hurry them along right now."

....

....

About ten minutes later, as the doorbell rang, Xu Ying quickly got up and opened the door...

When Gu Heng stood up from the sofa, he saw Xu Ying leading six or seven people to him.

"Mr. Gu, this is Li Wensheng, a master of Chongqing cuisine, who trained under one of Hua Country’s top ten chefs, Shen Minghui, and has also won Michelin star certification. He is currently serving as the executive sous-chef at our group’s hotel.

He volunteered to cook for you the moment he heard that you wanted to try hotpot, wanting to prepare an authentic and spicy Chongqing hotpot for you."

Hearing Xu Ying’s words, Gu Heng couldn’t help but complain inwardly...

He was just an ordinary person, not some big shot in the political and business world, so how could it be that a chef was eagerly offering to cook for him?

It wasn’t because he had offered too much money...

But flattery gets you everywhere...

If someone was gilding his face, he certainly wasn’t foolish enough to reveal his own shortcomings.

Instead, he looked at the remaining six or seven people and couldn’t help asking, "Just for making hotpot, do we need seven people?"

Chef Li Wensheng hurriedly explained, "Mr. Gu, these two are my assistants, and these four are waitstaff from our hotel. The ingredients were difficult to transport, so we had them help bring over the ingredients.

If you think there are too many people, once they have prepared the ingredients, we can have them wait outside."

"Since everyone’s here, just help out. It will be faster that way—we’re all starving."

Although Li Wensheng was just a chef...

getting to the position of executive sous-chef obviously couldn’t have been accomplished with culinary skills alone; his emotional intelligence was certainly not low...

After hearing Gu Heng’s remarks, he quickly arranged for several people to move the ingredients from the doorway, then turned back to Gu Heng and said, "The preparation of hotpot is quite straightforward as the base is ready-made; we only need to handle the food for dipping."

"Mr. Gu, you and your friends can go ahead and sit at the table. We have also brought some appetizers and fruits to start with. Everything should be ready in no more than 20 minutes."

"What appetizers?"

Li Wensheng quickly motioned for the waitstaff to bring the prepared appetizers to the table...

Gu Heng glanced at them, and although they were called appetizers, they were indeed small dishes...

Fried mushroom slices...

Potato wolf teeth...

Pickled radish...

Seven or eight small dishes, all were common snacks from the Sichuan and Chongqing regions...

However, Gu Heng didn’t mind, used to eating delicacies, so trying these regional snacks was also good...

He then waved over Gu Xinran and the others and said, "Let them handle the hotpot; let’s start with these appetizers to fill up."

As he spoke, he took the chopsticks that the waitstaff had prepared earlier and grabbed a piece of potato, putting it into his mouth...

It must be said, potatoes, a common food he had grown up with, seemed completely transformed in the hands of this chef. The texture and taste were indescribably exquisite... n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

And it wasn’t just the potato wolf teeth...

The taste of the matsutake and pickled radish was also very delicious...

This was evident from the continuous motion of Gu Xinran and the others’ chopsticks...

But in the end, appetizers are just appetizers, and there was only so much of them, especially with five people sharing; they were finished after just a few bites each...

Not yet satisfied, Gu Heng said to Xu Ying, "Are there any more of these appetizers? Serve another portion."

Xu Ying hurriedly looked toward the kitchen where Li Wensheng was directing his assistants in handling the ingredients.

After hearing Gu Heng’s question, Li Wensheng quickly apologized, "I’m sorry, Mr. Gu, there’s only one set of these appetizers, and they were specifically reserved after I got the message from Butler Xu."

"Reserved? What, are the appetizers at your restaurant only available in limited quantities?"

"The regular appetizers are free, but those that we brought you really are limited... This eight-piece Chinese appetizer set is normally priced at 6888 yuan at our restaurant and is only sold in three portions a day, usually reserved for special guests."

"How much?!"

Not only did Gu Heng raise his voice noticeably, but Gu Xinran, Yu Qianqian, and the others also couldn’t help but widen their eyes in disbelief at Li Wensheng.

First came the surprise...

followed by skepticism in their eyes...

Gu Heng could accept pricey food; after all, enjoying life was part of it, and gourmet food was an essential aspect.

And enjoying life naturally meant paying high expenses, which was understandable.

But that did not mean he was foolishly wealthy.

Just eight dishes, even in a high-end restaurant, would be at most 300 yuan. To start at 6888? Did they think he was an idiot?

Seeing Gu Heng’s gaze, Li Wensheng quickly explained, "I had already sent the menu to Butler Xu for confirmation..." Read exclusive adventures at empire

Hearing Li Wensheng’s words, Xu Ying also reacted, turning to Gu Heng and saying, "Chef Li did send me the menu, and I even asked Mr. Gu for confirmation twice, but you said there was no need to look, so I didn’t insist."

Gu Heng racked his brain...

There was indeed such a matter.

"I can accept the high prices, but can you tell me what makes these worth 6888?"

"Here’s the thing."

As Li Wensheng spoke, he pointed to the scant remains in the dish on the table: "This is pan-fried matsutake. The matsutake are high-quality wild matsutake freshly picked from Nanyun Province and flown to Shanghai on the same day. Although it’s only 150 grams per serving, the cost of these raw ingredients alone exceeds 1000 yuan..."