Chapter 21 The Man at the Top of the Contempt Chain

Gao Yi had already nearly finished his work on the first day of his arrival. He had completed his reconnaissance, formulated a revised plan, and immediately implemented the new plan.

The first step of the plan was to try the food.

Little Hei would come around the hotel every day because he wanted to pick up some work, and the people staying at the hotel didn't have many other options.

Taking a ride in Little Hei's car, they arrived at the famous Chinese Restaurant, where Gao Yi had to taste what kind of dishes were good enough to captivate Gray Horace.

Now wasn't the time to act like a penniless vagrant, but rather like someone with a little bit of disposable income.

It's the logic of desperation to infiltrate a restaurant to work for Black people when one is at the point of utmost poverty, but if one has some savings, then opening a restaurant is the logical step.

They couldn't wait until dark because there was no electricity, and it would be hard to see while eating.

The Chinese Restaurant's signature dish? He didn't know what kind of chicken it was.

There were a total of four stoves. None were in use at noon, but now they were all lit, topped with blackened iron pots.

They used firewood for fuel and didn't have a blower, thus, no stir-fry dishes were available, only stews. And the pots didn't even have lids, so ash floated freely into them.

The owner, who was also the head chef, kept checking on each stove in rotation. When he felt it was about right, he directly took down the pot, poured its contents into an aluminum basin, and then served it to the waiting diners.

There were only four tables, four stoves, four aluminum basins, and also four tables occupied by eighteen customers in total.

The portion sizes weren't small. Each pot stewed about half a chicken with a thick, gloopy sauce that didn't look particularly appetizing.

Before seeing how the restaurant operated, Gao Yi had decided to treat Little Hei to a meal. After observing that the dishes were fixed-priced and served in set portions, he felt a need to invite Little Hei to dine.

After all, there were only two of them, Gao Yi and Little Hei, while the table with the most people seated six.

Those who dined here were all local rich folks, eating the rice provided by the restaurant.

Others brought their own staple foods. Gao Yi looked several times at what they brought, a pasty white substance that at first glance seemed quite like ice cream. It was cassava, which Gao Yi had tried in Sierra Leone.

Their chicken dish had arrived.

The restaurant did not provide chopsticks but spoons; however, that was no problem, as Gao Yi brought his own chopsticks.

"Eat, don't be shy."

There was a huge stainless steel spoon in the aluminum basin. Gao Yi poured some soup over his rice and then picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

Waiting for a taste bud assault, he surprisingly encountered a flavor he had not tasted for a long time.

It was rather spicy, slightly sour, but the chicken had no off-flavors, was a bit tough, but that was due to the quality of the meat—free-range chickens were used, so the texture of the chicken was actually quite good.

It tasted reasonably good, indeed better than anything he had in Sierra Leone.

And then?

There was no 'then.'

As a Chinese person at the very pinnacle of the food chain, with a disdain for all lesser culinary offerings, this dish could only be considered passable, serviceable, alright—it would do.

There's no high or low when it comes to eating habits. A southerner might not endure eating noodles meal after meal, and to narrow it down even further, an Old Guang probably couldn't endure having Hunan cuisine every meal either.

It would distress Gao Yi to eat rice at every meal, and to make him eat sweet tofu pudding would drive him insane.

But there must be a regional hierarchy in the levels of cuisine.

Gao Yi had enjoyed the food in Thailand.

Gao Yi thought burgers were quite tasty.

Gao Yi found the barbecue he had in Dubai to be exceptionally good.

Gao Yi also had a meal of sushi once, and to be honest, he found it delicious.

Pizza was tasty, and Korean barbecue was also something Gao Yi liked.

But!

Please note this 'but'!

The combined representative cuisines of all the countries in the world pitted against a provincial team from China—Sichuan cuisine leading the charge, Shandong cuisine holding the line, other teams step back, such as Huaiyang cuisine and Hunan cuisine, just to watch, it would be shameful to compete together.

With Gao Yi's superficial knowledge and meager wealth, he couldn't even eat his way through his entire hometown, let alone the whole country. Yet, none of this stopped him from being a man atop the food snobbery peak.

It's like standing at the pinnacle and looking down upon the lesser mountains.

That was how Gao Yi felt at the moment.

Taking a moment to reflect, in Gao Yi's limited experience, this stewed chicken was no match for Big Plate Chicken, Cangzhou Hotpot Chicken, Braised Chicken, or the Iron Pot Stewed Chicken he had back home.

He didn't compare it to the ones he hadn't eaten, like White Cut Chicken, Three-Cup Chicken, and the like. Those were too high-end and beyond comparison.

Just having a taste gave Gao Yi confidence, and he soon fell into deep thought.

If he were to open a restaurant, what should he make?

Considering local conditions, the only fuel was firewood, without a blower there wasn't enough heat, chicken was the most common ingredient, but condiments were surely scarce, he might as well focus on making a stewed chicken dish.

This restaurant also specialized in stewed chicken, so how could he outperform his competitors?

He didn't know how to make Big Plate Chicken, Braised Chicken, or Hotpot Chicken. After some consideration, Gao Yi realized he only knew one method—the stewed chicken known to every family north of the Yellow River.

If forced to give it an academic name, it would be Rural Iron Pot Wood-fired Stewed Chicken.

To add some novelty, he could include the Northeastern Iron Pot Stewed Pancake, changing the cornmeal or wheat pancakes to cassava pancakes.

To enhance the novelty and adapt it to local tastes, he could make the chicken spicy and add sugar to the cassava!

He also needed to innovate with the service to open local customers' eyes.

He could make it extremely spicy, make the cassava pancake so sweet it'd be cloying.

He refused to believe this wouldn't draw the target customers!

Gao Yi was lost in his thoughts, whereas Little Hei was entirely focused on eating. When Gao Yi finally made up his mind and glanced up, he saw Little Hei scooping the soupy rice into his mouth with his hands.

Despite the hunger, his appetite suddenly waned a great deal.

Gao Yi looked down and asked nonchalantly, "Is it good?"

"It's delicious, thank you, boss."

Gao Yi didn't want to reveal his plans to open a restaurant, so he just casually asked, "Do you know what's in this dish?"

"Chicken, cassava chunks, eggplant, nothing else, boss."

Gao Yi nodded, wanting to continue the conversation but unsure what else to say.

"Eh, you guys like eating chicken so much; how come I never see you eating other kinds of meat?"

"Chicken is cheap, mutton and beef are too expensive. It's very hot here, and we don't have electricity or fridges. Mutton and beef spoil in one day if not sold; chickens can be kept in cages, and you just grab one when you want to eat, boss."

Gao Yi asked casually, not expecting Little Hei to provide such a professional response.

"That makes sense, the native resources nurture the locals. It's just that this chicken… well, it's just edible."

Little Hei laughed, "Every Chinese boss says that."

Gao Yi suddenly asked, "What do you think if I open a restaurant..."

Little Hei stopped eating, looked at Gao Yi with surprise, and said, "Here? Boss, if it's expensive, we can't afford it; if it's cheap, you won't make money."

Gao Yi nodded and asked, "How much is this meal?"

"Around ten dollars."

Gao Yi was taken aback, "That cheap?"

Relatively speaking, with the price of other things, this meal was indeed very cheap.

Little Hei spoke helplessly, "The things we can't produce are all expensive, and the things we do produce are cheap. Boss, you're here because our timber is the cheapest, right? This is called exploitation, the industrial scissors gap."

Gao Yi nearly tumbled off his chair. He looked at Little Hei, utterly astonished, and asked, "Who taught you that?"

"A boss. He said they used to be like this too, but they went from buying chicken feathers to making small commodities, then selling the goods all around the world."

Little Hei shrugged philosophically and added, "He ran a shop here for six years, then… he left. Now he has sixteen chain stores in Monrovia. He was a good guy, stingy, but no other faults."

Gao Yi absentmindedly responded, "You… you're quite impressive."

In a low voice, Little Hei said, "When my previous boss left, he sold me his six-year-old car, it cost me six years' worth of salary. Now, I earn a lot and am respected, so it's not that I'm impressive, but my boss is."

As Gao Yi's train of thought was interrupted, he finally said after a pause, "So what do you think about me opening a restaurant for Chinese people here, charging them at least one hundred dollars per meal, at least, they're all rich and can afford two or three hundred, so I believe the restaurant could work."

Little Hei shrugged, "It's your business, your judgement, your call."

Confidently, Gao Yi said, "Right now, I just don't know if there's a good place to open a restaurant. I can buy all the necessary kitchenware and spices from other places and have them shipped here. Do you know any place that would be suitable for a restaurant?"

Seeing that Gao Yi seriously wanted to open a restaurant, Little Hei, filled with curiosity, asked, "Have you run a restaurant before? Are you a chef?"

Gao Yi nodded, confidently replying, "Yes, I am a chef."

Little Hei smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth, and said, "Before my former boss left, he sold his shop to a Chinese man at a high price, and then... well, you know. That's what makes him the most impressive."

Gao Yi was puzzled because as they were discussing the restaurant, why did Little Hei start talking about his previous boss with such admiration again?

Little Hei extended his greasy hands and said, "There are two shops, the largest general store in Suakoko and a restaurant. After the General took over, the restaurant couldn't operate anymore, so the new boss closed it. Now, everything in his restaurant is idle, and if the rent is right, I think the new boss would be happy to rent it to you."