SailorStar9: Well, I've uploaded Chapter 3, and here's Chapter 4. So, read and review. Come on boys and girls, is it so hard for you to leave a review other than putting this on your favorited lists and alerts?

Disclaimers: Me no own, you no sue.

Chapter 4: Merciless Rules

"I'm bushed." Mao sighed as he lumbered into bed at night. "I can't lift a hand or foot anymore." he was about to doze off when he heard a faint tune of a gum-leaf. "Ya Xue still isn't asleep?" he mumbled, walking to the courtyard to find a shadow practicing. Practicing a wok at a time like this? he wondered. Who can it be? Sanche? His eyes widened when he saw the figure illuminated by the moonlight. The wok is shining! And the rice has turned pitch black. For it to be like that, it must have taken long hours of practice time. And it's Sanche, the guy who we thought of as a sloth.

"Sanche?" Mei Li echoed when Mao informed her of what he saw the night before.

"Yes," Mao nodded. "I saw him train by himself in the middle of the night. Anyway, the wok shone like a mirror and the rice was pure black. He must have been flipping that wok night after night."

"It's hard to believe that about Sanche the sloth." Mei Li was not convinced.

"Sanche probably loves cooking with a passion." Mao concluded. "Who else would train the way he does, at a place nobody sees?"

"It was really busy." Mei Li sighed in exhaustion as she washed the plates.

"And I have to wash all these before the evening." Mao moaned.

"Ganbatte, Mao-sama." Ya Xue encouraged.

"Ya Xue's right." Mei Li agreed. "It's part of your training too."

"There's something wrong." Mao spotted the leftovers from the Green Pepper Steak dishes. "Don't you think there are lots of Green Pepper Streak leftovers? And it's all vegetables."

"Now that you mention it." Mei Li peered close.

"Let's see." Mao took a taste test. "This doesn't taste good." He winced. "This doesn't follow the basics of Green Pepper Steak."

"The basics?" Mei Li echoed. "Green Pepper Steak is stir-fry of green peppers, meat and bamboo shoots, which, by itself, is like any basic stir-fry dish."

"And the most important thing is having crisp vegetables." Mao nodded. "The first factor is crispness; in other words, good texture. And then, there's tenderness; the proper softness of the beef. The combination of these two opposing factors makes or breaks this dish. And yet, look at this bamboo shoot." He lifted a bamboo with a pair of chopsticks. "It doesn't have any of the crispness needed from a vegetable."

"No way." Mei Li gasped and took a taste. "You're right. It's too soft."

"There's no problem with the ingredients, and the spices are fine…" Ya Xue frowned. "Which means… Mao-sama."

"I knew it." Mao gasped, placing the cut vegetables side-by-side.

"The vegetables are all of different sizes!" Mei Li exclaimed.

"This is terrible." Mao winced. "Heat won't be applied evenly through each piece. If the biggest piece was cooked as needed, then of course all the other vegetables will be soft. Who could have cut them like this?"

"Well, excuse me." Sanche interjected. "I cut them myself."

"Do you know what this means, Sanche?" Chouyu voiced from the door.

"Chouyu-sama…" Ya Xue blinked.

"I know, Chouyu-sensei." Sanche muttered.

"The law of Yousen Shuka, the staffing limit." Chouyu stated.

"If one person joins the team, then one person must leave." One of the other chefs explained. "That's been a strict rule of this restaurant for a long time. Since Mao has joined the team, another fourth-level cook must go. Today's dish was the last chance Chouyu-sensei gave Sanche."

"There is no other choice." Chouyu gave the judgment. "Sanche has brought this result upon himself with his lack of passion for cooking."

"That's not true!" Mao protested.

"I'm leaving here!" Sanche snapped. "I quit! I'm not going to be a cook anymore!" he fled outside.

"What's this?" Mao was stunned to see the shortened knife in Sanche's room when he and Mei Li went to tidy it up. "Take a look at this knife. Usually, a knife's edge is about this long. But the length of this knife is reduced to half of that." He measured the width of the knife with his fingers. "That's a sign it has been use a lot. So Sanche being a sloth is a lie. He actually has a great passion for cooking. I have to stop him." Grabbing the wok, he took off.

"Sanche!" Mao called out as Sanche was about to leave on a ship. "Wait a minute, Sanche.

"What do you want?" Sanche blinked.

"Everyone says you are a sloth, but I don't think it's true." Mao insisted. "Don't these belong to you?" he brought out the wok and shortened knife. "You worked hard enough that the wok is clean and the knife length is halved. So why did you do such a terrible job at cutting the vegetables? Why don't you show everyone your real skill? I know that your passion for cooking is no less than anyone else's."

"I've already quit cooking." Sanche snorted.

"Sanche, why?" Mao pleaded, pulling the older teen back. "Tell me why?"

"Mind your own business!" Sanche snapped. "You'll never understand any of it."

"Mao-sama, look out!" Ya Xue shouted a warning, but was too late to stop either boy from pummeling into the water.

"It's almost time to open the restaurant." Mei Li sighed, as the two girls hung up the boy's clothes to dry.

"You idiot." Sanche chided. "Thanks to you, I'm all wet. And I missed my ship."

"Sorry." Mao muttered. "Why did you cut the vegetables like that?"

"Just as you grew up in the kitchen of Szuchuan's Kikkaro, I grew up in the kitchen of Shanghai's Ryuchin Shuka." Sanche related. I adored my Dad. Since I was little, it was my dream to become a chef like my father. Dad was strict in both cooking and in raising a child. He trained me hard, hoping to make me the successor of his restaurant. My father's strict training continued. I accidentally cut my own hand with a knife. But my father… I couldn't stand him, and left home to wander the land. But when I stood before Yousen Shuka, it awakened a passion deep inside me. Or so I thought. But…" he looked at the injury on the back of his hand. "Whenever I see this wound, my fear of that day comes back. A heavy knife cutting sharply into flesh and bone, crimson blood spilling out an instant later, and the pain… even a mere memory frightens me. So, I can't hold a knife well. What future is there for a cook who can't hold a knife? There's no way I can be a better chef than my father. I was so irritated by my pathetic self. Before I knew it, I was practicing wok-flipping at midnight like a possessed man."

"I didn't know." Mei Li muttered. "You went through such a hard time. Sanche, I misunderstood you." She sat down. "I apologize."

"Aichmophobia." Ya Xue concluded. "I thought as much."

"Mao, I was mean to you because I was jealous." Sanche admitted. "I envied you because you trained without any doubt. I'm sorry. Yousen Shuka is a good restaurant. Mao, be a good cook in my place."

"Sanche, let's make Green Pepper Steak together." Mao suggested. "We'll make something so much better than anything Master Chouyu has ever tasted."

"What are you talking about?" Sanche asked. "I can't even hold a knife."

"That's why we'll make it together." Mao insisted. "I'll cut, you'll fry. Show them the passion that made you practice wok-flipping."

"That's right." Mei Li agreed. "If it tastes good, I'm sure Father will see the light."

"I've already been given my leave." Sanche reminded.

"Just once more." Mao pressed. "Let's make Green Pepper Steak once more."

"It might be worth a try." Sanche relented.

"Count us in." the two girls chorused.

"But before that," Ya Xue looked at Sanche. "Let me take a look at that wound."

"Sanche, let her." Mao nodded. "Ya Xue knows what she's doing."

"Well," Ya Xue examined the wound. "It shouldn't be hard to minimize the scar. Leave it to me."

"Really, Ya Xue?" Mao beamed.

"Have you forgotten my nickname, Mao-sama?" the bond-servant smiled. "I'm called the 'Reincarnated He Xiangu'."

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.