From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 1086 Rest on the Second Day of National Day

On October 2nd, Feng Zhengming slept in late at home in the morning.

Originally, Feng Nuanyou wanted to wake up her lazy dad in the morning so he could take her out to play.

However, her mother stopped her.

"Dad worked very hard yesterday, so let's let him sleep in this morning, okay?"

Listening to her mother, Feng Nuanyou pouted and said, "Isn't it bad for Mom to sleep in? You even call me a little lazybones."

Luo Qing was amused by her daughter's words and could only explain to her with a smile.

“You don’t have a job. You sleep in not because you want to sleep, but because you don’t want to get up. So you’re a little lazybones. Daddy sleeps in because he worked too hard yesterday, and he can rest well today.”

After listening to her mother's explanation, Feng Nuanyou nodded: "Okay, let Dad sleep."

Seeing that her daughter agreed, Luo Qing took her daughter's little hand and went to the next room to see her younger siblings.

The two little ones also got up very early.

The crib was originally placed in Feng Zhengming and his wife's bedroom.

However, the family wanted Feng Zhengming to get some rest, so the crib was moved into the room where his mother-in-law and aunt lived that night.

The two little ones woke up very early and were being coaxed by their maternal and paternal grandmothers.

Luo Qing came in, went over and picked up the two little ones, and comforted them for a while.

Feng Nuanyou stood next to her mother, watching her younger brother and sister, and occasionally reaching out to pinch them.

Grandma asked, "Is Youyou's dad still sleeping?"

Feng Nuanyou helped answer: "Mom said that Dad should sleep in because he worked too hard yesterday."

Aunt: "Mom did the right thing. Dad has been working very hard these days and he really deserves to sleep in and get some rest."

Feng Nuanyou: "After Daddy has finished sleeping, can you take Youyou out to play with Aunt, Uncle, and Little Uncle this afternoon?"

Luo Qing: "Don't worry, Dad will definitely take you out to play when he gets up this afternoon."

Grandma: "Why don't we let Zhengming rest at home and take the child out to play?"

Luo Qing looked at her mother: "No, Mom. Once he's had a good sleep, he'll definitely take the children out to play himself. The children like it when he takes them out to play. It's okay, he'll be well-rested once he's had a good sleep."

Aunt: "Zhengming, no matter how busy you are, you still take care of your family."

Luo Qing: "Yes, no matter how busy he is, he always remembers us at home."

After everyone got up, they all tacitly refrained from waking Feng Zhengming.

This allowed Feng Zhengming to sleep soundly all morning.

A morning's sleep was indeed very effective.

Feng Zhengming woke up at noon feeling very energetic.

After washing up and going downstairs, I found that only my two grandfathers and father-in-law were at home.

Where are they? Did they take the children out?

Father-in-law: "Your mother and the others went grocery shopping together. They were worried that leaving the kids at home would disturb you, so they brought them along."

Feng Zhengming: "Actually, there's no need to buy groceries. We have plenty of food in our refrigerator."

Grandpa: "They're going to buy some fresh vegetables."

Grandpa Situ: "How's Zhengming's rest?"

Feng Zhengming stretched and said, "Great, I feel much more energetic now."

Grandpa: "You're reopening the restaurant tomorrow, why don't you rest a little longer?"

Feng Zhengming: "It's alright, sir. We can make some money by reopening the restaurant during the National Day holiday."

Grandpa: "You little rascal, you're still short of that little bit of money?"

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, it's not just about money. The main thing is that I don't want to disappoint the customers who have been looking forward to it for a long time. Many customers have been calling to reserve seats these days."

So we still need to operate our business well and not let our customers down.

Father-in-law: "With Zhengming's attitude, it's no wonder so many people like Zhengming's shop."

Grandpa: "It's too hard on him. He's young now, but he won't be able to do this as he gets older."

Feng Zhengming: "I know, Grandpa. When I get older, I will try my best not to work so hard."

Grandpa Situ: "I'm afraid you won't be able to control your own destiny then."

This statement was agreed upon by his grandfather and father-in-law.

Everyone felt that given Feng Zhengming's current situation, he would only be invited to participate in or serve as the head chef at more banquets in the future.

After all, having him as the head chef can certainly elevate the level of a banquet.

Moreover, his bold design, which incorporates Chinese culinary culture, will surely amaze guests from all over the world.

In this respect, there may be no other chef who can compare to him for the time being.

Feng Zhengming: "It seems I need to hurry up and train my apprentices so that they can all grow up. Then I can relax a bit and let my apprentices do whatever needs to be done."

These words made both grandfathers and father-in-law laugh.

Everyone agreed that Feng Zhengming was absolutely right.

He trains more apprentices so that they can develop and independently support the business.

This is clearly the optimal solution that would make things easier for Feng Zhengming.

However, training apprentices is indeed not easy.

Even Xia Hui now mostly has to cook according to Feng Zhengming's plans.

Xia Hui also lacked Feng Zhengming's independent design capabilities.

This is something that cannot be learned simply by studying.

It takes more experience and a broader perspective to unleash one's imagination when needed.

However, Feng Zhengming trained many apprentices, which made his job much easier when he took them to banquets in various countries, as he didn't have to do everything himself.

The doorbell rang, and Feng Zhengming went to open the door.

It wasn't his wife and mother-in-law outside the door bringing the children back.

It was the two families of the eldest and sixth senior brothers who came together.

When Feng Zhengming attended the National Day banquet in Shanghai, he specially arranged for his two sisters-in-law to be brought over.

You can also have the eldest and sixth senior brothers participate in the banquet, and take your family to play around in Shanghai, which can be considered as celebrating the National Day holiday.

Feng Zhengming warmly welcomed everyone inside.

"Come in quickly, sister-in-law, sixth sister-in-law, you've come at just the right time. I just got up myself."

The sister-in-law smiled and said, "Your older brother just got up too."

Sixth Sister-in-law: "Yes, they were both exhausted yesterday. They went back to the hotel, took a shower, and went to sleep."

The eldest brother's son, Li Xiaogang, chimed in, "My dad slept all morning."

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, I slept in all morning too. Didn't you guys go out to play?"

The sixth brother's daughter and son said in unison, "Auntie, Mom, and my sister took us out to play."

Feng Zhengming: "Thank you for your hard work, sisters-in-law."

The eldest sister-in-law and the sixth sister-in-law smiled and looked at the eldest and sixth senior brothers. "Look at Zhengming, he's much more meticulous than you two."

"That's right, neither of you knows how to say anything nice to us."

This made the two senior brothers feel embarrassed.

However, once inside the house, the two sisters-in-law were quickly surprised by the layout.

"Zhengming, your house is really big."

"Is your place like your restaurant, one of those old-style houses?"

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, it is also an old villa, but mine is relatively small. It is not like the old villa in my restaurant, which has a separate courtyard. The whole building has three floors and an attic on the roof."

This building is only two stories high, and the location isn't great. When I bought it, it was actually quite dilapidated inside.

After looking around, the two sisters-in-law were genuinely surprised and felt that Feng Zhengming truly had good taste.

Feng Zhengming said with a smile, "Sisters-in-law, you can come and play often. I have a lot of rooms here, so you can bring your children over for a few days when they are on summer vacation."

Hu Yan, the eldest sister-in-law, said somewhat embarrassedly, "But we can't always come, it seems like we're troubling you."

Sixth Sister-in-law nodded: "Yes, it's not good to keep bothering you, Zhengming."

This time, before Feng Zhengming could even speak, his grandfather spoke up for him.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s clear that he and his fellow disciples are like brothers. You are his sisters-in-law. Since you brought your children over to play, he, as the younger brother-in-law, will definitely have to entertain them.”

Grandpa Situ: "Come over here, you can keep Luo Qing company."

Father-in-law: "Yes, yes, you sisters-in-law get along even better, especially your eldest sister-in-law who is a teacher. She can talk to Qingqing about educating children."

Hu Yan: "I don't have much experience either. My son Xiaogang is quite obedient. As long as his grades aren't bad, that's fine."

Feng Zhengming: "In that case, we should bring Xiaogang over to play during the summer vacation."

Li Xiaogang couldn't help but immediately chime in: "Uncle is right, Mom and Dad, you should take me out to play more often."

Li Huidong smiled and gently patted his son: "Doesn't this count as taking you out to play? I took you to Beijing during the summer vacation, and now I'm bringing you to Shanghai for the National Day holiday."

Li Xiaogang laughed too: "Hehehe, thank you, Mom and Dad."

As we were chatting, a group of people who had gone out to buy groceries returned.

Luo Qing was very happy to see the families of her eldest and sixth senior brothers when she entered the room.

Feng Nuanyou was overjoyed and led a group of children to play with her.

He even took out all his toys and shared them with everyone.

They even gave Uncle Liu's sister a beautiful doll.

The adults saw this but did not interfere.

It was obvious to everyone that Feng Nuanyou was the leader of the group of children.

Whether they were big kids or little kids, Feng Nuanyou easily led them around and had fun.

Of course, there are also factors involved, such as older girls like Feng Shengnan, who intentionally let their younger niece have an easier time.

Then at noon, because Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers were all there, the three of them cooked a sumptuous lunch for the whole family in the kitchen.

While I was cooking, my eldest sister-in-law and sixth sister-in-law were still teasing me outside.

"He doesn't cook at all at home."

"That's right. He often tells me that the food at home isn't good enough and he doesn't want to cook at home."

"So marrying a chef means being trained by him to cook, and having to cook for them at home."

"Haha, sister-in-law, you can still cook for your eldest brother at home? I can only cook for the kids."

"I only do it occasionally. He's the senior student, and he gets busy and doesn't get home until very late."

Luo Qing smiled and said to her sister-in-law, "Sister-in-law, you can take the children to eat at the restaurant, which will save you the trouble of cooking at home."

These words clearly made the two sisters-in-law a little embarrassed.

After all, the sisters-in-law still felt that Huiquanlou and Fengjia Ganfanpu were both owned by Feng Zhengming.

Luo Qing immediately noticed this and continued to encourage her two sisters-in-law.

“It’s okay, sister-in-law, you and the kids can go eat. How much can they eat in a day? So many people in the kitchen and the store eat staff meals, don’t they need to eat too? You can come and eat with us.”

After hearing Luo Qing's suggestion, the two sisters-in-law felt that it might indeed be feasible.

Actually, the main reason is that both of my sisters-in-law are usually very busy.

My sister-in-law is a homeroom teacher now, and she has a lot of work at school every day. It's really too much for her to come home and cook for the kids.

Sixth Sister-in-law is also a supervisor at the Yancheng Hotel, and she's probably even busier than Sixth Brother.

Luo Qing continued to persuade them: "The children are all grown up now. After school, they can just go to the store and order whatever they want to eat."

Auntie Er chimed in, "Xiao Qing is right. You really don't need to cook for yourselves all the time. You can just eat at a restaurant."

My third aunt also joined in the persuasion.

In the end, both sisters-in-law agreed, and from then on, the children could go directly to the restaurant to eat after school.

When Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers finished cooking and brought out the dishes...

The eldest sister-in-law and the sixth sister-in-law also told Feng Zhengming about this.

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhengming looked at his two senior brothers and asked, "Didn't I already tell you, eldest brother and sixth brother, that the children should eat at the restaurant? Why are you making your wives go home to cook?"

These words left the two senior brothers looking helpless.

It was obvious that the two senior brothers were still unwilling to take advantage of their junior brother.

Feng Zhengming understood and said with a serious face, "Big brother, sixth brother, letting the children eat at the shop is also to save our wives from having to work so hard. You are so busy at my shop, we can't let our wives work hard at home too."

Then Feng Zhengming looked at his sister-in-law and said, "Sister-in-law, can we do this? When you have time, could you organize some teachers to set up a class for the children of chefs and service staff in various shops in Jinan?"

This way, the children can eat at the restaurant after school every day, and there are also teachers who can help them with their homework.

That way, things will be easier for you, sisters-in-law, and the children's studies won't be affected.

After Feng Zhengming said this, everyone in the family was silent for a while before clapping and cheering.

"Great idea, Zhengming."

"Yes, yes, that way, everyone's children in your shop will have a place to go."

"Yes, we won't let our children's academic performance be affected by their parents being too busy."

"This arrangement is excellent. It allows your fellow students, as well as the kitchen staff and service personnel with children in each store, to feel more at ease about their children's studies, without having to worry about their children's learning issues all day long."

As for the eldest sister-in-law and the third aunt, they felt that Feng Zhengming's idea was very appropriate.

After all, too many parents nowadays simply don't have time to spend with their children, let alone guide their studies.

Especially after the children enter middle school, the fathers who work as chefs in the kitchen simply cannot provide guidance on their academic tasks.

Feng Zhengming's arrangement completely relieved the chefs in the kitchen of their worries.

Auntie smiled and said, "Perhaps, if it reaches a certain scale, it can provide a place for some teacher training students to try their hand at internships, so that they can start by learning how to guide children's learning."

The eldest sister-in-law looked at her with some surprise after hearing what the third aunt said.

After thinking about it, I realized that this was indeed a great idea.

Seeing that his sister-in-law and third aunt both agreed, Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you two to take good care of things."

(End of this chapter)