Interstellar Chef Raising a Baby

173-174

Chapter 173.1

Author: Salted Lobster

The radish didn't seem to be getting smaller or narrower, but Liu Weiwei knife never stopped.

If people looked closely, they would see that under the reflection of the sunlight, the surface of the white radish revealed a trace of winding curves, as thin as hair. There were no radish skins, no radish pieces, not even radish crumbs fell off, but Liu Weiwei expression was very focused, as if she was carving a work of art in detail.

Sculpture?

Everyone had this thought in their minds in amazement. In Chinese cooking skills from thousands of years ago, one of the skills was carving. This was now a lost technique. There were many super chefs in the Chef Association who had tried to restore and recreate the techniques one after another in order to achieve the best glory in the world, however, to this day, there were very few people who could master such a unique skill.

Ten years ago, a 98-year-old super chef Gao Qifeng, who was a descendant of an imperial chef, successfully carved a lifelike phoenix according to ancient drawings. However, no talent had been found among his apprentices.

"In fact, it is technically achievable by robots with their precision. It's just that humans couldn't perform precise carving with a single knife and one hand. It is impossible without hard practice."

"You also need to have a certain talent. Don't even think about it if you haven't been practicing in knife skills for 30 to 40 years."

"But robots can do this kind of thing, so there is no need for humans to practice, right? So why should we waste time to train thing like this? What we need to do is seasoning and things that satisfy everyone's appetite. Robot does not have this judging by thinking ability."

"Old Xia, most chefs now have poor basic knife skills, and it is all caused by your thoughts. I cannot agree with you. If you enter a program into the robot, it can also do seasoning. In a few decades, chef occupation can go extinct among human beings. When that happens, what do we need to do?"

"Lin Kun, are you arguing with me? I have invented new dishes too!"

"Then chefs who don't innovate should retire early?"

"Hey, Old Lin, Old Xia don't make any noise. Maybe she's just doing something nonsense and doesn't know how to carve at all. She is too young! Why are we making a noise here while watching a competition?"

"That's right, the only one who can carve is now recognized as the number one chef in the world. Except for him, no one else has ever done it!"

Liu Weiwei had never investigated the situation of the Chef Association before. In the military area, she did not hear anything outside and only cared about her cutting board. If she studied the current skills of interstellar chefs carefully, she would find that radish carving technique she used was on the verge of extinction.

This kind of extinction was not because there was no ingredient or knives, but because of technological development, a large part of the handicraft that could be replaced by robots slowly withdrawn from history. Those who wanted to support their families would never learn what robots could do.

In most people's minds, carving food was labor work, not art. This made most new chefs reluctant to spend their time learning the skill.

On the contrary, because condiments and recipes were tightly controlled in the hands of the Chef Association and not available to outsiders, a group of extremely wealthy chefs skilled in seasoning couldn't be replaced by robots. If the condiments were produced in large quantities and recipes were popularized on a large scale, as the Chef Association lose control, most chefs today would face unemployment. Most of them, especially those who were not skilled enough, would be replaced by robots that could carefully imitate any cooking process.

The Chef Association had kept the profession of chefs by claiming rare things as precious. Otherwise, when Liu Weiwei transmigrated here, she would see batches of robots in the back kitchen instead of humans.

...

Liu Weiwei sculpted with all her attention, only after putting the radish in the basin that she breathed a sigh of relief. With this, she heard this discussion from the people around her. She couldn't help but feel shocked.

Before Liu Weiwei went to the future, AI intelligence had also been very popular on the earth, and research on the learning and thinking ability of robots had never stopped. From robots being able to play chess against each other, to being able to create lyrics and even songs, to being able to analyze human big data needs, etc., the era of intelligence had slowly arrived.

At that time, Liu Weiwei also laughed and talked with her friends that if there were children in the future, they had to be taught art. Only artistic aesthetics couldn't be replaced by robots. Whether it's translation, news report writing, financial auditing, or even the existence of intelligent customer service... many professions had a possibility to be replaced by robots. If people couldn't be the top person in a certain profession, then they would be eliminated by the robots.

Liu Weiwei had always hated the Chef Association, she agreed with the system. Because as a foodie, she simply couldn't accept the rules that someone bans recipes and raised food prices, making most ordinary people unable to eat real food. However, this practice actually indirectly protected the existence of human chefs? Was this the real purpose of the Association, or was it a side effect of greed for money?

The knife in Liu Weiwei's hand became hesitant. The recipes promotion and large scale seasoning productions she was doing now, would she become the cause of chef profession extinction in a few decades?

At present, even the robots in the military area had mastered several recipes. They could almost complete the cooking alone during Snack Street, and they could even operate the cafeteria and restaurants independently. So, did Liu Weiwei she still have a purpose in accepting human apprentices? After thinking carefully... she was terrified. Her ultimate goal was to become a Chinese food master, but in the process, she was also making a future where robots would be the one to control an entire army's kitchen?

Liu Weiwei's carving of the radish stopped. Was she right or wrong to continue like this?

"What's the matter?" Qin Mo noticed that something was wrong with his child's mother for the first time. He reached out and took Liu Weiwei hand. He also took away the kitchen knife. "Don't be distracted when you are holding a knife."

Only then did Liu Weiwei return to her senses and then a layer of goose bumps appeared on her back. She was not a saint, but she also didn't want to be a villain that caused many people to be unemployed. She didn't want to be written in the interstellar history book as a bad person!

"What should I do, husband?" Liu Weiwei didn't know if Qin Mo heard everyone's talk, but he has a strong mental power so his hearing should be no worse than hers. She bent over and leaned into his ear, whispering softly, "I seem to have made a bunch of cooking robots. As soon as the sauce is promoted, then most of the people here, plus their apprentices and children will be unemployed...?"

Qin Mo raised his eyebrows. His child's mother seldom took the initiative to get close to him. When she was talking in his ears, the warm and sultry fragrance rubbing his auricle made him feel a little irritated. "Unemployed?" Fortunately, his strong self-control as a soldier that had went through special training methods didn't make him embarrassed at this moment. Although it took a lot of effort, he still caught the meaning of his little wife. And suddenly he was a little bit dumbfounded.

Qin Mo stretched out his hand and touched his wife's extremely imaginative head, "The army also has combat robots, but I am not unemployed, Lieutenant Lu and Lieutenant Lin are also not unemployed. You have also seen the medical robots in the clinic, but Bu Zhongxin is not unemployed... so which one is unemployed?"

"Eh?"

"If the robots are progressing, we humans are also evolving." Qin Mo rubbed Liu Weiwei's hair, feeling her cuteness. "Competition brings pressure and this make humans continuously evolve themselves. Those who do not advance but instead retreat will be eliminated. This kind of people is not worth your pity."

Liu Weiwei was taken aback. She instantly remembered the contents of the college entrance examination. Physical skills, mental power, mathematics... only by passing one of the five categories, people could be admitted to universities. Since the early childhood, Interstellar had deliberately forced humans to evolve themselves, forcing them to acquire the ability to control robots since they were young. If they didn't meet the standard, like the original owner who had no strengths, they would become a disabled person and lived on government's support.

Obviously, survival of the fittest was real in this era.

"You don't have to think about this," Qin Mo patted Liu Weiwei's little hand, just like coaxing Little Meat Bun. He also kissed her forehead, "Do what you should do, if others don't work hard enough, you can't lower your goals for them." Obviously, he pursued the theory of hard work, and heaven would definitely reward the diligent*. (TN: a proverb used by Qin Mo as his online username.)

Liu Weiwei's eyes widened, thinking that her Major husband was so domineering. Although she didn't know if it was right, what he said made her feel at ease inexplicably. She had to do what she should do! If in order to keep herself alive and let the chef profession survive she had to let this monopolization going where ordinary people couldn't even eat real food, this was obviously wrong!

Qin Mo saw his little wife's eyes regain confidence. He kissed her little nose again with satisfaction, "Come on."

"Yeah!"

Qin Mo soon realized that Liu Weiwei's gaze was a bit too hot, as if she would do something magnificent that would decide if she would go to hell or heaven, he couldn't help but want to laugh. But in time he clenched a fist to block the raised corner of his mouth and coughed slightly. The government had subsidized projects, even for positions that could be operated by robots, there would be plans to protect humans. Every planet would work hard to solve the employment problem of their residents, but his little wife didn't seem to have thought of this at all.

Qin Mo wanted to remind her, but he found that his child's mother had exploded with strong willpower. Her eyes were unwavering, full of ambition to conquer the vast universe. When such a strong fighting spirit appeared on her weak and charming face, there was a strange beauty that made him feel thrilling, which made him feel pride and appreciation.

Qin Mo suppressed the words in his heart, put his little wife back to her position, and gave back the kitchen knife in his hand.

Sure enough, after such a thought evolution, Liu Weiwei's knife became faster, more accurate, and firmer!

"I finished." Before long, Cheng Wei's triumphant voice sounded in the center of the field.

...

Cheng Wei was really focused on cutting the vegetables. Although he heard some sounds around him, his thoughts were all on the radish in his hand, so he didn't pay attention to what everyone was talking about.

This might also be a difference between men and women. Men's brains were more focused, unlike women who were born with half of their brain cells left specifically to listen to gossip.

Cheng Wei finished his work before he looked up at Liu Weiwei confidently. Seeing that she was still working and her radish hadn't moved much, lying quietly in the water waiting to be cleaned, he almost wanted to laugh. But since they were already competing, he would not talk nonsense in the competition.

After looking at the neatly sliced radish slices on the green bone dish, Cheng Wei felt that he had high chance to win. He clasped his fists in both hands, waiting for the exclamation and praise of his colleagues.

Last year, Cheng Wei became a senior chef with the highest winning rate. He was well-known in the entire chef circle. Today, in order to keep the number one winning rate, he practiced his knife skills with heavy wrists every day, firmly believing that he could once again cut through the dishes of other chefs.

Cheng Wei looked triumphant. But soon, he discovered that something was wrong. Many of the onlookers didn't put their interest on him, instead they kept staring at the female chef's movements and talked a lot.

"Her husband looks a bit familiar."

"Hey, they come to show affection? Even when cutting vegetables they also hug and kiss, is this show for me, a single dog?"

"They already have a child, but still have to sprinkle dog food!"

"I think this female chef is not here to compete? Before, I thought she is a descendant of the carving God, but it seems that I am thinking too much."

"Indeed, I have never seen these things before. When cooking and cutting, a chef ran into the arms of a man, it was unsightly!"

"Ckck, the world is getting worse!"