From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 1052 Receiving Personnel from Zhengcheng New Store
The next day, Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin went together to pick up the young chefs and apprentices who had come from Jinan.

The young chef who came to lead the team this time was Yang Peng, the apprentice of the senior chef.

Feng Zhengming knew that this was a deliberate arrangement by his senior brother, to let Yang Peng go out and try his luck, and gain some experience in managing the kitchen of a restaurant.

Besides Yang Peng, there was another young chef who was the senior apprentice and came to be Yang Peng's assistant.

The remaining apprentices were selected and transferred from branches across Shandong Province.

They were all outstanding apprentices in their respective branches.

Of course, they were transferred here by their own free will.

In principle, Feng Zhengming will not force anyone to be transferred to a branch in another city.

Yang Peng led his men out of the train station and saw Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin waiting outside in the distance.

Feng Zhengming was holding his daughter in his arms.

Originally, Feng Zhengming wanted to discuss with his daughter today about having her wait at the hotel with her great-uncle, great-aunt, and uncle.

However, Feng Nuanyou was unwilling and clung to her father, refusing to let go. Feng Zhengming had no choice but to bring her along to pick up the person.

Yang Peng quickly passed through the exit and led his wife He Xiaona, who was holding the child, to Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin.

"Third Uncle, Junior Uncle, why did you come to pick us up in person?"

Feng Zhengming saw Yang Peng, He Xiaona, and the child He Xiaona was holding.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Yang Peng and He Xiaona both smiled and said it wasn't hard work.

Yang Bin: You two brought your child along?

Yang Peng glanced at his wife and child, then looked at his junior uncle who was holding his daughter.

Noticing Yang Peng's gaze, Yang Bin also turned his head to look at his junior brother who was holding his daughter.

He immediately understood what Yang Peng and his wife were thinking.

"Haha, I didn't realize, Pengzi, you're trying to emulate your junior uncle and his wife, aren't you?"

Yang Peng was a little embarrassed by what was said: "Yes, it's Xiaona who thinks we can be like our junior uncle and aunt. They can take their children around, and we can learn from them."

He Xiaona nodded in agreement: "I asked my aunt, and she encouraged me to take care of the child myself."

At this point, He Xiaona picked up her son from her arms and asked him to greet people.

"Son, quickly call him Grandmaster Uncle."

The boy in He Xiaona's arms was actually a year older than Feng Nuanyou, but he was clearly not as well-traveled and knowledgeable as Feng Nuanyou. Meeting strangers in such an unfamiliar environment made the little boy somewhat afraid.

Feng Zhengming hugged his daughter and leaned closer: "Don't be afraid, look, this is your little sister. She's not afraid at all."

Yang Peng quickly corrected him: "No, you should call her Auntie."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Why call her aunt? Children should treat each other as equals. Don't make it so hierarchical."

Hearing his junior uncle say that, Yang Peng and his wife exchanged a glance.

At this moment, Feng Nuanyou stretched out her little hand and waved to the boy.

"Hello, my name is Feng Nuanyou, what's your name?"

Because they were only one year apart in age, the little boy took the initiative to respond to Feng Nuanyou's question.

"My name is Yang Jundong."

Feng Nuanyou then asked, "I'm three years old this year, how about you?"

Yang Jundong replied, "I am four years old."

Feng Nuanyou immediately smiled and said, "You're older than me, so I'll call you brother. My great-uncle and great-aunt also have a little uncle."

Faced with the eloquent Feng Nuanyou, Yang Jundong was clearly unable to keep up with her train of thought.

At this time, the others also came out of the station one after another.

Feng Zhengming looked at everyone and said, "You've all worked hard. Let's go to your dorms first."

Everyone greeted Feng Zhengming with smiles, feeling more at ease with him around.

They were even more convinced that with Feng Zhengming around, they would definitely be able to run the branch here well.

Because there were quite a few people coming, Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin specially arranged a minibus to pick them up.

The group took a minibus and first toured around Zhengzhou.

Then we went together to the dormitory they were renting.

Upon arriving at their lodgings, Feng Zhengming discussed with Yang Bin the possibility of renting a separate apartment for Yang Peng and his wife later.

"Let's rent a two-bedroom apartment nearby so that the couple can live more comfortably."

Yang Bin: "No problem, I'll have Zhou Feng look for one. It shouldn't be too hard to find one. There are quite a few rental properties around here. I didn't expect my senior brother to have Yang Peng and his wife come over as well."

Feng Zhengming: "That's great. With Yang Peng and his wife coming over, Third Brother, you can take some time to go to Hebei Province and set up a branch there. It won't interfere with either side."

Yang Bin also agreed with his junior brother's statement: "The senior brother probably thinks the same way, wanting me to be able to extricate myself from here."

"Third Brother, you can send Sun Hai and Zhou Feng over to scout things out first. You can stay at this branch in Zhengcheng and help them out for a while. Once Xiao Peng and the others have settled in, then you can go over there."

Yang Bin thought for a moment and said, "I think I should go and take a look first, and let Sun Hai and Zhou Feng stay at the Zhengcheng store."

Feng Zhengming looked at his third senior brother with some surprise.

The latter explained, "I'll go directly to the chefs' association this time. We have a good relationship with several members of the Hebei Provincial Chefs' Association. If we send Sun Hai and the other two over, they might not even pay them any attention."

After hearing his third senior brother's explanation, Feng Zhengming realized that his third senior brother was right.

When the third senior brother goes there, the master chefs of Hebei cuisine, including Jing Guanlin, will definitely give him face.

Sun Hai didn't have that kind of influence in the past.

"Okay, then Third Brother, you must be careful if you go alone."

Yang Bin smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll go straight to Jing Guanlin and the others when I get there. Jing Guanlin is easy to get along with, just like Hao Zongcheng. We have a good relationship and have even been in contact before."

Feng Zhengming asked in surprise, "Have you been in contact with Jing Guanlin and the others?"

Yang Bin: "It's like this. Before, when you weren't in Quancheng, the Hebei Cuisine Chefs Association arranged for them to come to Quancheng to exchange ideas with us. Since you weren't there, my senior brother and I went to receive them and even had a meal with Jing Guanlin and the others separately."

Hearing his third senior brother say this, Feng Zhengming was completely relieved.

With a local master chef like Jing Guanlin, the third brother will definitely be safe going there.

After discussing it with his third senior brother, Feng Zhengming went to call Yang Peng and He Xiaona out.

“Xiaopeng, your third uncle and I didn’t expect you two to bring your child with you. We’ll have Zhou Feng from the local area rent a new place for you. Don’t stay here for the next couple of days, stay with us at the hotel.”

When the couple heard what Feng Zhengming said, they first looked at each other.

Then Yang Peng spoke first: "Junior Uncle, there's no need. We're fine living here with everyone. We're all fellow disciples."

He Xiaona nodded, "Yes, yes, Junior Uncle, we can stay here too."

Feng Zhengming: "Listen to me, it's inconvenient for you two to live with the child. When we were in Shanghai, Xia Hui always lived with us and never stayed in the dormitory." Hearing what his junior uncle said, Yang Peng and He Xiaona had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Yang Jundong and Feng Nuanyou have already become friends.

It must be said that Feng Nuanyou's cheerfulness always manages to motivate the other children as well.

The two children were running and playing in the residential compound, and some people in the compound smiled at them.

Of course, there were also some people who had ulterior motives.

For example, when the two children ran deep into the residential compound, someone came out smiling and offered them candy.

Then Feng Nuanyou directly rejected her, and the little girl even pulled the boy around and ran back.

The other party was initially chasing after them, but then they saw Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin. Immediately afterward, the two children pointed and spoke, and everyone who was packing their things inside heard the commotion and ran out.

The man who had chased after the two children was so frightened by the sight of so many people filing out of the stairwell that his legs went weak.

He turned to run, but Zhou Feng and a group of people stopped him.

Zhou Feng forcibly dragged the person in front of Feng Zhengming.

"Tell me, why are you chasing after those two children? What are you feeding them?"

When a man is surrounded by a group of tall, muscular men, he absolutely dares not lie.

“I... I gave them candy. I wanted to take the two children away while they were taking the candy. I was wrong. I really know I was wrong.”

Zhou Feng and his apprentices immediately wanted to make a move.

Feng Zhengming stopped everyone.

"Zhou Feng, take two men and take him to the police station."

Zhou Feng hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but lower his voice to remind him.

"Uncle-Master, sending it over there is probably useless. This kid is definitely a regular there."

Feng Zhengming: "We can't just hit him. We should send him over to teach him a lesson."

Zhou Feng immediately understood what Feng Zhengming meant.

Then Zhou Feng led his men and took the man to the nearby police station.

He Xiaona looked somewhat nervous as she held her son.

Why does it seem a bit chaotic here?

Yang Peng laughed: "What are you afraid of? There are so many of us, are you afraid they'll cause trouble?"

The other apprentices chimed in, "That's right, sister-in-law, don't be afraid. There are so many of us, we don't need to be afraid of them. We'll all help take care of the child from now on."

Feng Zhengming warned again: "Don't fight easily, and try to resolve any issues by calling the police."

Yang Bin: "It seems we still need to bring in Brother Hao's youngest son and have Brother Hao help us find someone in their area to avoid some unnecessary trouble."

Feng Zhengming: "We do need to find some locals. We can act without restraint in various parts of Shandong because it is our own territory. This is someone else's territory, so we should give them some respect."

Today's unexpected event has indeed served as a wake-up call for Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin.

In the past, whether in various parts of Shandong, or in Shanghai and Beijing, or even in Hongcheng, Jiangxi Province.

Feng Zhengming always sought out local people first to gain support from various aspects of the local community.

Therefore, the current troubles that Zhengcheng is facing have been directly avoided.

Feng Zhengming also reminded his third senior brother again: "When you go to Shicheng in Hebei Province, you must find Jing Guanlin first."

Yang Bin nodded: "I know. When I go there this time, I will first pay my respects to the local lords."

After everyone waited there for a while, Zhou Feng and the two apprentices returned, chatting and laughing together.

Zhou Feng stepped forward to report to his master and junior uncle: "The person has been sent in. He'll probably be in jail for a few days. We also taught that kid a lesson over there. He definitely won't dare to mess with us again."

Feng Zhengming: "We should do this from now on, and try not to start fights."

Zhou Feng and the two apprentices who went with him all agreed earnestly.

After this incident, Feng Zhengming told Sun Hai, Zhou Feng, and the other young people to stay here, while he and his third senior brother led Yang Peng and his family of three to a hotel to stay for the time being.

After they all left, what remained was a group of young people, and they were more free to communicate with each other.

After choosing their rooms and putting their things down, they gathered together to chat.

The person everyone was most curious about was Sun Hai, who had been with Feng Zhengming the longest.

Everyone was curious about Sun Hai's experiences with Feng Zhengming in Shanghai.

Sun Hai didn't hide anything from everyone and shared some interesting experiences he had in Shanghai.

After discussing the interesting parts, Sun Hai also mentioned some of the difficulties in Shanghai.

"Don't think that life in Shanghai is comfortable. It's actually very tough there because it's right under your master's nose. So if anything goes wrong, your master will scold you immediately."

Even though Zhou Feng had asked about some of Sun Hai's experiences in Shanghai before, Zhou Feng was still very engrossed in listening to him recount his various experiences.

As for the other young people from Shandong who came this time, they listened with longing and also reflected on whether they were qualified to work in the store in Shanghai.

Sun Hai also gave everyone hope: "Don't worry, as long as you perform well, gradually improve yourselves, and achieve good results in our Zhengluxing internal competition, you will all have the opportunity to go to the store in Shanghai."

At the same time, Sun Hai also warned everyone: "But if you're going to the store in Shanghai, you all need to be mentally prepared, because it will be much harder than any other store."

Sun Hai has already mentioned this to everyone.

For example, the shop near the train station has two shifts, one during the day and one at night, and some staff may even have to work through the night.

In addition, the stores that Sun Hai used to be in charge of also required a lot of preparation every day.

Just preparing the ingredients every day is much more arduous than most stores in Shandong.

Finally, everyone asked Sun Hai about the restaurant in Feng Zhengming's old villa.

When the store was mentioned, Sun Hai's expression was filled with reverence.

"That restaurant can be said to be the best restaurant in the country. The interior and exterior decorations, the various tables and chairs and table settings, including the tableware and tablecloths, were all specially ordered by my uncle."

The dishes in the restaurant's kitchen are all designed by the master chef himself, and every step and process of each dish must be absolutely flawless.

So even if I were to work at that restaurant, I could only do so as an assistant.

After hearing what Sun Hai said, the people present not only looked forward to it, but also felt that they would probably have a hard time getting into that restaurant.

But having such a goal also gave everyone a fighting spirit.

Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother led Yang Peng and his family of three back to the hotel.

They saw their uncle and aunt waiting for them in the lobby with their child.

Aunt Feng looked at Feng Zhengming with some helplessness: "Now, your Youyou is the leader of the kids. Her uncle is listless all morning when he can't see Youyou, so we brought him here to wait for you to come back."

When Lu Jinghao saw Feng Nuanyou return, his little face immediately lit up with a smile.

Then the three children quickly started playing together, and it was obvious that Feng Nuanyou was leading the two little boys.

(End of this chapter)