Chapter 945: 945

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 .