“Old Peng, what did you invite me to your office today?”

There were two old men sitting inside a large white room. The room was decorated with several simple paintings and various plaques. 

The old man dressed in a black business suit sat behind a desk facing the other old man who had just spoken. Old Peng responded to the question, “I just have a few questions to ask you, Old Du.”

Du Hong snorted, “You better not be begging me to take on another disciple. I’m already teaching two of your troublesome grandchildren.”

Old Peng slammed his fists onto his desk which made many cracks form. “Don’t you insult my precious grandchildren! Those angels aren’t troublesome at all.” 

A loving smile appeared on his face as he looked at a holographic display showing a hologram of Peng Huang and Peng Hua.

Du Hong sighed, “This is why your children and grandchildren became so troublesome. You know that the other old geezers have always complained about them messing with their children. I understand that you had shit parents which made you want to be a good role model for your descendants, but you’ve just gone overboard and spoiled them.”

Old Peng’s face darkened as he remembered his negligent parents. 

Noticing Old Peng’s expression, Du Hong cleared his throat, “Alright, let’s just talk about what was so important that you couldn’t just give me a call.”

A hologram of a cloaked figure with Fu Chen’s face was displayed on the desk. 

Old Peng asked, “What do you know about this male?”

Du Hong looked as if he understood something, “All I know is that he is a being of unmatched power and a wonderful chef that makes some of the best food I have ever tasted.”

Old Peng asked another question to confirm his suspicions, “Was he the one that apprehended those Ben and Dan clan members along with those Fureur spies?”

Du Hong nodded which made Old Peng sigh and say, “Then that means that the rest of those spies were most likely delivered by this man.”

Looking a bit confused, Du Hong asked, “There were more spies?” 

Old Peng responded, “Our interrogation of the spies that you gave to us revealed that the Fureur Galactic Empire was attempting to bomb Elysium. Luckily, the chef rounded up the remaining spies and delivered us the bombs.”

Du Hong looked relieved, but was a bit confused at Old Peng’s grim expression. “Are you worried that Fu Chen is going to be a threat to us?”

Old Peng nodded, “From the information that we have on Fu Chen, he has no allegiance to the Azula Galactic Empire and he has already attacked citizens of our empire. We can’t guarantee that he won’t attack us later on.”

Sighing, Du Hong replied, “From the power he’s displayed, we’d have no way to deal with him without resulting in the destruction of our galaxy. It’s better to just not provoke him since he only seems to be interested in running a restaurant for now. Why don’t you come with me and my disciples the next time we have breakfast at that place?”

Old Peng’s face brightened when Du Hong mentioned his grandchildren, “Alright, I haven’t been able to meet my little angels ever since you started training them.”

He narrowed his eyes, “Are you trying to hide them from me?”

Du Hong scowled, “Fuck off Peng Heng, I’ve been trying to fix their terrible attitudes.”

“BAM”

And so, a fight started within the office between two old men. Shi Feng stood outside and could feel some tremors. He closed his eyes and started singing to himself.

---------------

“The brick of sorghum is ready to be retrieved.”

Fu Chen turned off the incubation machine and took out a light brown brick while speaking to Fu Lian who was standing next to him.

“Using this incubator has allowed the brick of grain to quickly collect yeast, mold, and bacteria.”

Fu Lian looked slightly confused, [How do those form on the brick?]

Fu Chen responded, “Steaming and grinding the grain allowed the conversion of the starches contained within the sorghum into sugar. These microorganisms fed on the sugar and began multiplying.

“Now, we’ll move onto the next step.”

He moved next to a machine and began grinding the brick into powder.

“After grinding it into a powder, we want to create a mash by combining it with water and steamed sorghum.”

Fu Chen brought the powder to a large machine that contained a large amount of light brown grain that had been steamed. He began sprinkling the powder evenly and poured in enough water to form a mash. After mixing several times to incorporate the ingredients, Fu Chen closed the lid of the machine.

It consisted of a large metal bucket that sat on top of a base that had a lid with a large pipe on top. The pipe was a ventilation pipe connected to a tank that would collect the alcohol.

“We will use a boiler to create steam under the bucket which will heat up the mash and cause the alcohol to evaporate. The evaporated alcohol with travel through the ventilation pipe and into the other tank where it will be trapped.”

Fu Lian looked curiously at the tank. [How does it trap the alcohol?]

“There’s a pipe of cool water surrounding the pipe that will collect the alcohol and prevent it from evaporating. Let’s let the mash ferment for now.”

Before they exited the alcohol distillery, Fu Lian realized that she forgot to ask an important question.

[Does the alcohol form from the fermented mash?]

“Yes, microorganisms on the brick will consume the sugar in the mash to produce alcohol.”

After the question was answered, they left the alcohol distillery so Fu Chen could finish his prep work and so that Fu Lian could practice her basic culinary skills some more.
A few hours later, they returned to the bottom floor to begin the production of alcohol.

“click”

Fu Chen turned on the boiler which began creating steam under the bucket. As steam collected under the bottom of the metal container, the fermented grain mash began to heat up. The alcohol within the bucket began to evaporate and could be seen passing through the see-through ventilation pipe.

Fu Lian stared in awe, but then thought about something.

As if Fu Chen read her mind, he said, “Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water which means that it will evaporate before the leftover water within the bucket will.”

Having had her question answered, Fu Lian continued to watch the steam travel through the pipe.

“drip, drip, drip”

A brownish liquid dripped from a pipe connected to the alcohol tank down into a container.

“plop”

The last bit of alcohol had been collected so Fu Chen closed the container. He walked into a large room that was barely lit and placed the container of alcohol down.
“thud”

“Now, we just let it sit in an airtight container and distribute it to customers. Alright, go clean up and get some sleep.”

Fu Lian yawned as Fu Chen mentioned sleeping and nodded. She moved her head towards Fu Chen and received her daily headpats before following him up the elevator.