Chapter 225: Familiar chef.

Haru and Lan Yan walked through the hallways of the mansion before ending up in the main dining room where the party was being held. The dining room alone was similar in size to a high-end restaurant and the food looked just as good as they could offer.

They obviously weren't skimping out on the budget of the party and clearly wanted to impress their guests.

"Oh, would you look at that? It's the famous chef that cooks amazing chicken strips." Haru said to Lan Yan as he looked over and recognised the chef as the one who was working at the serpentine resort the first time he had gone there. He enjoyed the chicken that he had made and wanted to see what else the chef had to offer.

He quickly walked over to the chef who seemed to be distracted by a casual small talk from a few of the older women who were enjoying the food that was neatly laid out on the tables. He seemed to be feeling a little awkward by the conversation and began to scratch the back of his neck until he spotted Haru who was walking towards him.

"It's you. I have been wondering what had happened to you this whole time. I honestly thought you might have ended up in a ditch somewhere. The men who hired me last time didn't seem like the kind of people that I want to mess with." The chef said as soon as he recognised Haru.

The way the party ended at the serpentine resort had seemed to be weighing on the chef. This was understandable since one of the guards had tried to shoot an eighteen-year-old boy. But luckily for Haru, bullets couldn't harm him.

"You were worried about me? I didn't think that I left enough of an impression to be remembered by a great chef like yourself." Haru went straight to flattering him for his culinary skills. But the food wasn't the main reason for approaching the chef.

If he was hired by the Hong family, surely he would have some information on them and would be able to point the person who hired him out to Haru if the opportunity presented itself.

"Of course I was worried about you. You are one of the only people who had appreciated my cooking to the extent of piling your plate up like a mountain. That is really flattering for a chef you know. It shows that my hard work didn't go to waste. And yes I did cook some chicken. But it is a little different this time. I tried to perfect it. Do you want to try it?" The chef smiled as he replied to Haru.

"You perfected your recipe? I would love to try it." Haru could feel himself salivating at the thought of it.

"Great. Follow me. I will bring you into the kitchen so you can try it when it is still fresh." The chef smiled once again.

"I get to watch a famous chef in action and he will cook for me personally? I feel honoured." Haru smiled back at him and then followed him into the kitchen where he immediately got to work and started cooking right away. A few minutes went by until Haru was handed a plate with a small stack of chicken strips on it.

"Tell me if you notice anything different." The chef smiled and then took off the headband that he was using to keep his hair out of his face while he was cooking.

Haru took a bite and could instantly tell the difference. He was shocked though. He had seen him cook it and didn't even see how he had managed to give it the flavour that was currently exploding on the inside of his mouth.

"It tastes like the barbecue sauce that I had drenched the chicken in last time. When did you?…" Haru was about to ask but was quickly cut off by the chef.

"When I saw how much you enjoyed the sauce last time I wanted to add it to the chicken its self just as an experiment and I had my son try it. We both agreed that it was delicious so I decided to marinate the chicken in the sauce before cooking it to give it the taste that you enjoyed last time. So what do you think? Is it good?" The chef looked up at Haru and asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"It's divine. The issue I had with the chicken last time is that I may have put too much sauce on but this is the perfect amount. You did a great job." Haru praised him for his cooking and then looked down at his smiling face once again.

"Thank god. I didn't know how you would react. You, cultivators, tend to be too unpredictable. I wasn't sure if you would hate it and kill me on the spot." The chef sighed in relief upon hearing Haru's words.

"Kill you? That would be like killing a culinary god. Food is precious and should be savoured. Not destroyed. I wouldn't even dream about doing such a thing." Haru replied and then thought since the tension was high for the chef that It would be the perfect time to ask him about the person that hired him to cook food at this party.

"That's good." The chef sighed once again before looking back up at Haru.

"Can I ask you something?" Haru asked him bluntly, straight after causing him to retreat a little bit.

"Sure… What is it?" The chef replied nervously. The last time he had seen Haru he had watched him catch a bullet in his hand. If that wasn't the peak of human strength then he didn't know what was. He didn't feel like he had a choice to refuse even though they had seemed to be acting on good terms with each other. He still had to be careful.

"The person who hired you today… Can you tell me a bit about them? I need to meet with the head of the Hong family but I'm not sure where I can find the person in charge." Haru explained.

"The Hong family? I couldn't tell you anything about them. They wouldn't leave a task such as hiring a chef for the party to a core member of the family. That would be given to a branch family member or a servant. Like the servant that asked me to cater for the party." The chef was quick to reply.

'That was a bit of a wasted effort. I thought he would know something useful at least. But it looks like I could have just walked around and found more information about them.'

"Although I did hear a rumour that the core family members all have ashen grey hair. It is apparently from overworking themselves with martial arts training. Since even the core family have a secret martial art that they don't pass down to the branch families." The chef immediately added.

"Ashen grey hair? So they all look like pensioners? With the number of old people with greying hair I have seen since entering this place, it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack." Haru added.

"No that isn't the same. Despite the grey hair, they all look surprisingly young even in their later years. Or so I have heard. If you really want to meet with one of them then I recommend that you stick around a while longer until the ceremony starts and the birthday girl arrives with her parents." The chef replied with the same smile that he had been flashing the entire time.

That was when Haru noticed something.

Wherever he went people would smile at him for an unusually long time. Or they would stare at him with disdain. He wasn't sure what the reason behind it was but he had the thought that it might have something to do with the way that he looked.

"Okay, I think I will do just that then. Do you know when that is supposed to happen by chance? I don't want to sit around here until late at night while I wait for them to show up." Haru asked for a time estimation but the chef just shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"The Hong family doesn't answer to anyone in the whole of China. Being one of the imperial families has its perks so they can show up however late they want to and no one can do a single thing about it." He added.

"Hmm… Well, they haven't met me then. I'm pretty impatient and the topic is urgent. Maybe I will have to drag one of the cubs from the nest to get their attention." Haru said to himself out loud and then noticed the chef's mouth hanging wide open.

"Oh don't mind me. I am just kidding." Haru saw that the chef was shocked by what he had just said and then said in an attempt to calm him down but that didn't seem to work.

"It's not that. Urm… Well… Look behind you." The chef said quietly.

Haru turned around to see a man who looked to be around forty years old with ashen grey hair like the chef had described and his skin was flawless without even the slightest sign that it had started to age.

"Who exactly wants to drag my cubs from their nest to get my attention?" The man asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice. Haru could instantly feel the same presence that he did earlier when he had used his spiritual sense to survey the area. This man was strong and not someone to mess with.