I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Chapter 48: Peanut Butter Toast

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Sure enough, as Chen Fang said, early in the morning on the third day, Old Master Shen came knocking.

The doorbell was ringing so much that it practically shook the walls of the house. Aunt Zhou, who was cleaning the living room, jumped in fright when she heard it. She then rushed out of the courtyard to open the door.

Old Master Shen stood in front of the fence while leaning on a walking stick with an aggressive bearing. Following behind him was a chauffeur.

Aunt Zhou quickly opened the door and asked the old master to come in. Then she greeted respectfully, “Old Master Shen, why are you here? Are you looking for Young Master Shen?”

Though ‘I’m unhappy, I’m very angry’ was written on Old Master Shen’s face, he did not grimace with displeasure at Aunt Zhou. Instead, he forced a smile onto his face. Then he gave an ‘en’ in reply, “Where’s that little bast... Shen Fu?”

Aunt Zhou did not know what had happened to make old master look so angry. She could only hurry inside and show him the way, “Young Master Shen hasn’t gotten up yet. I’ll go get him.”

Old Master Shen did not speak. He walked to the door before asking Aunt Zhou, “Is there anyone else here besides Shen Fu?”

Aunt Zhou did not respond at first, but at last she remembered that he was probably talking about Lin ShuYi, “Yes, Young Master Shen also brought a friend along. He’s also sleeping inside.”

Old Master Shen’s face was all black, “They’re sleeping together?”

Aunt Zhou was shocked. When she thought of the scene she saw that night, she suddenly reacted. Was Old Master Shen here to come and catch them after he knew of this? ! ! Seeing the scowl on the elderly man’s face, she quickly waved her hand, “No, no, they slept separately, not together.”

It was only then that the elderly man felt that his reaction was a little over the top. He schooled the expression on his face and silently walked away with a straight face.

Just as he opened the door and entered, he saw Chen Fang walking down the stairs while yawning. Chen Fang asked, “Who’s here? Why is it so noisy...”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Old Master Shen who followed Aunt Zhou in and froze mid-yawn. Chen Fang subconsciously straightened out his pajamas and felt that he had really forgot his manners. Then he came down to respectfully greet Old Master Shen, “Grandpa Shen, why did you come?”

Old Master Shen and Chen Fang’s grandfather were old friends and they had a very good relationship, so this was why Shen Fu and Chen Fang had been so close since childhood.

Old Master Shen had always kept his face expressionless. Now that he saw this ringleader who had hidden Shen Fu, his expression did not become darker nor did he make this more awkward. He looked at Chen Fang and said with a straight face, “I’m here to look for that little bastard.”

Chen Fang wanted to laugh when he heard Shen Fu’s being called a little bastard by his grandfather. However, it was obviously not the time to laugh. Old Master Shen came knocking and if he delayed calling Shen Fu down, the Earth would probably be hit by a comet. It was certainly not the time to laugh. What’s more, Lin ShuYi was still here. If the elderly Master hurt Lin ShuYi in anger, Shen Fu would go crazy.

At present, the most pressing matter was to stall for time to secretly inform Shen Fu of the situation and let him think of an idea.

Chen Fang thought of it and his eyes turned, “Grandpa Shen, you probably haven’t had breakfast yet since you came here so early. Why not ask Aunt Zhou to cook something for you to eat?”

The old master eyed him and refused with an expression that implied ‘Do you think that I don’t know what you’re thinking?’, “I’ve already eaten before I came.”

From when he was young, this old man was a character that was not easy to get along with. Moreover, Chen Fang’s skills and abilities were a few decades worse than this old master. Chen Fang felt an immense pressure, yet he could not let the old master go up to find Shen Fu like this. He could only force himself to try again, “Would you like to sit down for drinks? I have some good tea leaves that were just delivered here two days ago. Isn’t Grandpa Shen the most fond of tea?”

Old Master Shen scoffed “I don’t drink tea in the morning.”

Chen Fang felt that that one after another, each of the Shen family’s people were more difficult handle. At the moment, he absolutely had to delay this old master. Who in the world did he provoke to suffer this impossible task?

Chen Fang opened his mouth and wanted to say something else, yet he was interrupted by Old Master Shen who raised his hand, “Okay, stop trying to dawdle. How could I not know what you’re thinking? And don’t even think of trying to call that little bastard. I’ll go myself.”

Without looking at Chen Fang, he went upstairs. Chen Fang still wanted to follow when the chauffeur who was standing at the side came up, “Young Master Chen, I think you’d better not go up.”

All right then, we still have one more move. Chen Fang could only stay where he was and let Shen Fu seek his own happiness.

There were many rooms on the second floor. Old Master Shen went up and examined the area for a while. Finally, he headed to one room that was near the interior. Chen Fang was anxious once he saw this, “Old Master!”

You’re going the wrong way. That’s Lin ShuYi’s room!

However, it was too late. Old Master Shen, who was preparing to open the door to go in, and Lin ShuYi, who was preparing to open the door to go out, collided together and stared at each other in consternation.

Lin ShuYi: “...”

Old Master Shen: “...”

Chen Fang silently wailed as he covered his face. What he had been afraid of really came!?

However, it was lucky that Shen Fu was not a pig. He had also woken up with such a big disturbance in the room. He opened the door and saw the strange scene outside. After staring blankly for two seconds, Shen Fu walked over, pulled Lin ShuYi into his arms and took a step back before greeted Old Master Shen with a smile, “Morning Grandpa.”

Being so near, Lin ShuYi could hear the sound of the old master gnashing his teeth.

Lin ShuYi, who was still wondering who this man was, understood everything when he heard Shen Fu’s address. This was the old man who had thrashed Shen Fu till he was injured from head to toe. Sure enough, it was better to see him once in person than to hear about him for a hundred times. With one glance, Lin ShuYi could tell that he was definitely a formidable man.

Lin ShuYi immediately greeted the old master respectfully and courteously. He extended his hand, “Hello, Grandpa Shen.”

Old Master Shen’s face was totally black. His anger mounted as he looked at Lin ShuYi, who was still completely out of the loop, yet he could not express it and restrained himself till it was unbearable. Finally, he put out his hand with a straight face as a gesture of goodwill, “Hello.”

Shen Fu’s stomach ached with the effort he put in to suppress his laughter.

Lin ShuYi, who rather bafflingly won a round without knowing it, continued to make another big move, “Is Grandpa here to find Shen Fu? You can just talk if there’s something. I’ll leave first.”

Shen Fu could not help letting out a stifled snort, which was forcibly suppressed by Old Master Shen’s knife-like glare.

“You go down first. I’ll talk with Grandpa for a while.”

Lin ShuYi nodded, with a ‘I have high expectations of you, do your best’ expression, he patted Shen Fu on the shoulder. Then he looked at Chen Fang, hinting for him to do his best – true love was invincible.

This time, Shen Fu’s face turned black.

Lin ShuYi slipped on slippers. His footsteps pitter-pattered down the stairs. He even had to mood to say to Aunt Zhou, “Aunt Zhou, I want to eat peanut butter toast.”

He had stayed here for two days and thought that the oven was really useful. It was convenient and fast whether it was for making pastries or barbecue. When he got back, he had to buy one and learn how to make pastries. Even if it was bread or cake or anything else, he liked them very much.

Aunt Zhou was still a little stunned by Lin ShuYi”s action. What time was it now? Old Master Shen had already come knocking and this Young Master Lin was still in the mood to eat toast? Old Master Shen would be eating him next. It seemed that this Young Master Lin was much more formidable than she imagined.

But no matter what happened, it was not for her to butt in and she could only restrain the gossip in her heart. She then proceeded to the kitchen to make toast after answering.

Chen Fang watched Lin ShuYi go up the stairs with a pitter-patter after he finished talking to Aunt Zhou. As Lin ShuYi passed Old Master Shen, he stabbed the final knife, “I’m going back to my room to watch television. Shen Fu, you and Grandpa Shen have a good chat.” Then he turned to Chen Fang, “Come and watch television with me too.”

Chen Fang spat blood and fell to the ground.

This must be the case in Old Master Shen’s eyes: Lin ShuYi did not take him seriously. Lin ShuYi did not want to acknowledge him, and even spared no pains or effort to ridicule him. In the end, Old Master Shen must feel that Chen Fang and Lin ShuYi were in this together.

Chen Fang looked at Old Master Shen’s face. Sure enough, it was already blacker than the bottom of a pot. As he had expected, Lin ShuYi even dragged along a scapegoat when he was at death’s door. He really pulled along a great amount of aggro ah!

But in actual fact, what Lin ShuYi meant was this: I won’t bother you. I’ll go back to my room to watch television. Before I go, I’ll help you get Chen Fang away too. You quickly go have a talk with Grandpa Shen and strive for an early success.

Shen Fu face-plamed as he wave a hand at Chen Fang, “You go in with him too.”

How could he think that Lin ShuYi was a little innocent lamb? He was practically a natural black beast!

Aunt Zhou went into the kitchen when Lin ShuYi and Chen Fang entered the room. Old Master Shen snorted with a black face, “You better explain to me what the hell is going on!”

Shen Fu returned to his original behavior of laughing happily and put his hands in his pockets, “It’s just like what you saw. What did Grandpa hope was going on?”

Master Shen was repeatedly provoked and angrily jabbed out with his cane several times, “You really think that you’re ready to spread your wings, you little bastard? Not only do you take me as a joke, even he dares to look down on me!”

Shen Fu felt that it was really necessary to explain this matter well. After all, he would be the one who was troubled if his grandpa really did not like Lin ShuYi. Thus, he explained, “Grandpa, in fact, it’s not what you think. The reason why he said that is because he doesn’t know I like him.”

Old Master Shen fell speechless. Two seconds later, he shouted, “What?! It’s not him who seduced you, it’s you who brought disaster on another family’s kid?!”

He had not reached the stage of being dim-sighted from old age. How could he not see that Lin ShuYi was still quite young?

Old Master Shen lifted up his cane angrily, yet Shen Fu still continued smiling without dodging nor yielding like the last time he was hit. Old Master Shen had two grandsons. But the truth was that he loved this one more. The eldest was too strict. He followed a prescribed pattern to the letter, just like his father had. However, Shen Fu was totally different. He was eccentric and unreasonable, which was more like what Old Master Shen was like when young.

So from Shen Fu’s childhood, Old Master Shen doted on him very much. The eldest grandson was very sensible and did not need people to worry over him. Yet, Shen Fu was different. He only knew know to stir up all kinds of troubles and accidents from childhood. Old Master Shen spared no trouble to clean up the mess for him, nor did he bear to hit him once. The only time he hit Shen Fu was that one time where he hit him so viciously.

That Shen Fu from the past behaved just like he was now. There was no regret or fear on his face though he was kneeling in front of him. He said, “Grandpa, I can’t help it. I’m born with this sexual orientation. Even if you beat me, I can’t change it.”

Master Shen was furious. He did not believe that Shen Fu was born like this. He did not even have a basic understanding of homosexuality before Shen Fu. How could he accept it when he suddenly heard that his precious grandson was a homosexual?

The same was true this time. Old Master Shen still could not accept it, yet he was unable to swing the cane in his hand down. He desperately regretted his actions the last time after beating Shen Fu. Old Master Shen slowly put down his cane and tried to have a heart-to-heart chat with Shen Fu, “Xiao Fu, Grandpa always loves you, and always let you have your way. But Grandpa will never compromise on this matter. Don’t say that your sexual orientation is innate. I have never heard of a man marrying a man instead of a women since ancient times. Listen to Grandpa and obediently come back. Grandpa will definitely find a good girl that’s your equal in social status.”

Shen Fu sighed, how could he not know that his grandfather was doing all this for his own good? But no matter how difficult the road was, he was destined to go down this road.”Grandpa, thank you, but I don’t want anyone except him.”

Old Master Shen took this soft approach after much difficulty and did not even manage to persist with it for two minutes before he was rejected. Thus, he was so angry that he turned red again. “You’re insisting on going against me?! Are you not listening to me anymore?! What’s so good about a man? Can he have children and cook food?!”

Shen Fu thought over it seriously, “He probably won’t be able to have a child, but he cooks very well.”

Old Master Shen was so enraged that all the hair on his head was about to stand up. Was he seriously discussing cooking with him?! “That kid is so young. He still doesn’t know you like him. Maybe he doesn’t like men at all! What’s the use putting of all your efforts on him? What are you going to do if he doesn’t like you then? Tie him to your side?!”

Shen Fu blinked his eyes relaxedly and gave him a ‘I’ve got this’ look, “Grandpa can rest assured regarding this. I will try my best to make him fall for me.”

Old Master Shen finally calmed down. This was probably one of the more tranquil and even-tempered talks between them since they were in someone’s house. Old Master Shen had much scruples, “At the very least, can you guarantee that this feeling of love will last for a lifetime even if he likes you later? Men and women can marry. Even if there is no emotion, they can be held together by children and the marriage law. How about you two?! You’d have wasted more than half your lifetime by then. Would it be worthwhile for you if you two go your separate ways in the future?”

“What’s the point of relying on that certificate or a child to keep a couple together if there’s already no emotion? What’s more, even if our feelings fade by that time, won’t the youth that he wasted be more precious than mine? Who would be the one suffering losses then?”

“That’s why I told you not to provoke other family’s children!”

Shen Fu thought about again, “I’ve already provoked...”

Old Master Shen glared till his eyes were round as a ball and his lips were trembling. He pointed at Shen Fu, “You-you-you, didn’t you say he doesn’t know that you like him yet? What-What did you do to him?”

Shen Fu was originally going to clear up this misunderstanding. But he was struck with inspiration by what Old Master Shen said, so he shyly replied, “Grandpa... we’ve done everything that could be done...”

Old Master Shen coughed up blood, and fainted dead away.

Chen Fang’s house has excellent soundproofing, so neither of them heard a single word although they were only behind a door. Thus, both became happy when Shen Fu opened the door and signaled an OK gesture at them.

Both of them were sincerely happy... for each other.