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Whoosh. Yuan Zhou stood up calmly and took some time tidying up his cuffs while his gaze focused straight ahead. He did not look nervous at all.

As Yuan Zhou was the award recipient, he was seated in the front row. Because of that, he could only look at the cameras in front of him. All other cameras basically only got the view of his back.

Because of that, his nervousness lessened.

Pa. Pa. Pa. Pa. Sounds of claps filled the room. Yuan Zhou turned and bowed to the people behind him to express his gratitude before turning and bowing to the cameras in front.

When bowing, he maintained a calm and collected look on his face. After bowing, he started heading up the stage.

Naturally, there were people crouched somewhere pointing the direction for him. With their guidance, Yuan Zhou leisurely walked up the stage.

“The head chef of Master Chef Restaurant sure is young, am I right?” Li Wei said with a smile.

“Hahaha, that’s right. He is young,” the crowd agreed, and another round of applause filled the room.

By this point, Yuan Zhou had already arrived on the stage.

“Mr. Li, please confer the pennant to the young and promising Head Chef Yuan,” said the host.

The assistant arrived timely with the tray with the pennant on it. That was a red velvet pennant with gold letters on it. She walked towards Li Wei and stood there waiting for Li Wei to take the pennant.

“Boss Yuan, you are young and promising. Continue working hard,” Li Wei had a kind look on his face as he spoke while picking up the pennant.

“Thank you,” Yuan Zhou thanked with a nod before accepting the pennant with both hands.

Next, Li Wei guided Yuan Zhou and took two steps forward before speaking to the microphone, “Alright. Let us welcome our award recipient’s speech.”

Then, Li Wei looked at Yuan Zhou with a smile, waiting for Yuan Zhou’s speech.

With the pennant on hand, Yuan Zhou slightly lowered his head and started speaking calmly to the microphone.

“First, I would like to thank the appraisal committee for their hard work, thank the organizers for organizing this event, and thank Mr. Li for presenting the award to me. Naturally, I also thank my customers and last but not least, I would also like to thank myself,” said Yuan Zhou.

When speaking, Yuan Zhou was looking straight ahead while his voice was confident and calm. He looked like he was making a government announcement, looking very solemn and serious.

“Haha, Head Chef Yuan’s thanks are all very reasonable. True, we have to thank the chefs, thanking them for their contribution to Sichuan Cuisine. Do you have any other thoughts on Sichuan Cuisine, Head Chef Yuan?” asked the host.

“I will continue putting great effort into studying Sichuan Cuisine, making Sichuan Cuisine great. Thank you,” Yuan Zhou gave a concise reply.

“That’s right. The reason why this event was held in the first place was to enrich the culture of Sichuan Cuisine, to help promote it to the masses,” said the host.

With the pennant, Yuan Zhou slowly got off the stage.

The moment he got off the stage, when his back was finally facing the cameras again, Yuan Zhou heaved a sigh of relief. In his mind, he thought to himself, “I was so nervous. I don’t think there is any problem with the tone of my voice.”

That’s right. Yuan Zhou was extremely nervous, so nervous he reached the point of calmness instead. Fortunately, he had been operating the restaurant for a while and had been trained well in maintaining his deadpan face under the numerous teasing from Jiang Changxi.

After stealthily taking a deep breath, Yuan Zhou sat back down. Other leading figures would be giving speeches next.

Apart from conferring the award, this ceremony also aimed to transform Sichuan Cuisine into a signature of Sichuan province. Thus, after the award conferment, there would be leader figures giving speeches.

Nevertheless, the main characters for today would still be the chefs. After Yuan Zhou got off the stage, the leader figure tactfully gave only a 10-minute speech before moving on to the after-party.

That’s right. After the ceremony was the after-party. With so many chefs, food companies, official medias, and investors here, there naturally needed to be an after-party to act as a buffer and provide everyone an opportunity to talk with each other.

“Come, here, Little Yuan,” the moment the ceremony ended, Zhou Shijie called Yuan Zhou over.

Zhou Shijie was aware that if he did not call Yuan Zhou, Yuan Zhou would definitely leave within one minute. After all, Yuan Zhou did not enjoy social events like this.

However, he still needed to do some networking. As such, Zhou Shijie called him over.

“Chairman, I still need to open the restaurant later,” said Yuan Zhou.

“Look at this kid. I called him over to meet some people but he told me he wanted to go open his restaurant instead. He truly can’t leave his restaurant,” Zhou Shijie grumbled in a teasing manner.

All the people around Zhou Shijie were of similar status. Some were veteran chefs while some were government officials.

The moment they heard those words, they smiled and their gazes when looking at Yuan Zhou became even warmer.

Yuan Zhou had just received an award yet the only thought on his mind was to open his restaurant. In their opinion, this was humility and dedication to his work, traits that were well received.

“This is precisely the kind of people you like, right? Young and dedicated. That’s why his cooking skill is so good,” said an old man with white hair.

“Head Chef Yuan is indeed someone dedicated to his craft. This is the kind of person capable of progressing the culture of our Sichuan Cuisine,” said a government official.

“He is humble and has the grace of a great chef. How old are you this year, Head Chef Yuan?” asked the old man with white hair.

“Little Yuan is only 25 years old, 26 after his birthday,” said Lee Yanyi.

“Young, young and promising,” said the old man with white hair while nodding repeatedly.

“True. He was not nervous when on stage and knew what to say. At such a young age, he’s good at everything. It’s hard to find a young man like this,” said Li Wei as he nodded while smiling.

“Little Yuan has his way with words and was completely calm when speaking,” said a different government official with a nod.

Hearing all this, Yuan Zhou felt a trace of guilt but still humbly thanked them with a deadpan face.

“True. When you were 25, you weren’t as good and brave,” said Zhou Shijie with a laugh.

“You are no different, Zhou Shijie,” said the old man with white hair as he curled his lips.

“That’s why a new generation will always surpass the previous generation,” remarked Zhou Shijie without feeling any awkwardness.

“The color blue is made out of indigo but is more vivid than indigo. This would help us better pass on our skills to the future,” said the government official with a smile.

“Ok, it’s about time us old geezers stop talking. Let me introduce everyone to Little Yuan,” said Zhou Shijie.

“No need. I shall introduce myself. I am Li Bin, ex-chairman of Sichuan Cuisine Association,” said the old man with white hair.

“Yes, we’ll make our own introductions,” said the others.

Yuan Zhou greeted them one by one.

The people surrounding Zhou Shijie were, in truth, the most influential and important figures in attendance. It was imperative that Yuan Zhou knew these people.

“That’s enough. There’s nothing more to speak with us. I won’t be occupying Little Yuan’s time anymore. Look, there are others waiting to talk with Little Yuan,” said Zhou Shijie, referring to Zhang Yan and the others.

There was also a group of chefs surrounding Zhang Yan, most of them were from the various renowned restaurants of Sichuan province and some were from the various food companies.

After exchanging some conventional greetings, Yuan Zhou was pulled over by Zhang Yan to be introduced to everyone there. With the help of the three braggers, the status of Yuan Zhou was steadily rising amid the world of Sichuan Cuisine.

The Exemplary Restaurant Award was a representative of this year’s rising star and with the status of the three braggers backing Yuan Zhou, nobody dared to show any disrespect. Anyone wanting to survive in Sichuan would not dare offend Lee Yanyi.

As for Yuan Zhou, he maintained the same attitude as when he was on stage. He stood firm and remained calm yet his heart was incredibly anxious. He gained a whole new appreciation for all the teasing Queen Jiang had made him gone through.