From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After having dinner at Zeng Zhichang's restaurant, Feng Zhengming and his group said goodbye and left.

In the afternoon, we continued to stroll around Chengdu, have some fun, and sample some local street food.

We didn't bother looking for a restaurant for dinner that night, since the street food had already filled the whole family up.

So the family went straight back to the hotel that night.

After washing up, I rested at the hotel.

Feng Zhengming sat on the hotel bed, playing with his three children while pondering the matter.

Feng Nuanyou really liked this state, so she simply snuggled into her father's lap.

Then, although the younger siblings were still young and didn't quite understand, they naturally joined in when they saw their older sister, and climbed into their father's arms on the bed as well.

Luo Qing couldn't help but laugh when she saw this.

"Oh dear, look at you all, you're all trying to squeeze into Daddy's arms!"

Feng Nuanyou: "Hehehe, Mom, you're here too!"

Luo Qing: "I'm not going. You're the older sister, why don't you give way to your younger siblings?"

Feng Nuanyou looked at her younger brother and sister who were lying on their father's lap.

"My younger brother and sister are in Dad's arms too. Dad's arms are so big, they are all lying on Dad's lap, but I am not sitting on Dad's lap."

Hearing her daughter's words, Luo Qing was both amused and exasperated: "You've already taken up all of Daddy's space, isn't that enough?"

Feng Nuanyou reached out and picked up her younger brother, letting him sit on his father's lap and lean against his father's chest.

Then he picked up his younger sister and sat her up in the same way, letting her lean against the other side of his arms.

Then she leaned against her father's chest and hugged her younger brother and sister.

"Hehehe, that's fine, we're all in Daddy's arms."

Luo Qing looked at this scene with a helpless expression.

"Aren't you going to do anything about it? Look at your three kids."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "It's alright, it's good that way. It shows that they have a good relationship as siblings."

Seeing her husband say this, Luo Qing had no choice but to ignore it and sat on the bed next to her to turn on the TV.

Feng Zhengming watched TV, leaned back against the headboard, and sighed.

"These past few days have been so comfortable; I haven't felt this relaxed and carefree in a long time."

Luo Qing turned to her husband and said, "You should take a break and rest. Although you organize a trip for everyone once a month, you are still busy coordinating various things every time you go out."

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, I always feel like there are endless things to do."

Luo Qing: "Actually, nowadays each store has a store manager and a head chef in charge, so you don't need to ask too many questions. As long as they follow your requirements and don't do things haphazardly, everything will be fine."

Feng Zhengming: "That's what I say, but I still have a little bit of unease in my heart."

Luo Qing: "You're carrying too much baggage, afraid that if something goes wrong at one of your stores, it will affect your reputation."

Feng Zhengming: "No, that's not true. I don't care about reputation anymore, otherwise I wouldn't refuse to appear at so many events."

Luo Qing: "So you're still worried that the food in the restaurant isn't good and that customers won't like it."

Feng Zhengming: "That's part of the reason. I hope that everyone in the kitchen can cook well and truly pass on their skills."

Luo Qing: "You're overthinking things. How do you know that everyone else thinks differently from you?"

Feng Zhengming was taken aback by his wife's words.

Then Feng Zhengming laughed and said, "My wife is right. I was overthinking it. Since everyone is willing to work with me, it means they all hope to pass on the skills. I should give them more trust."

Luo Qing: "Instead of focusing too much on whether they can do a good job, you should relax a bit, innovate more dishes, and let each store introduce new dishes from time to time. This is the only way to attract enough customers."

After his wife said that, Feng Zhengming smiled and agreed.

"Okay, I'll listen to my wife. From now on, I'll try to come up with more new products so that customers will always have something new to look forward to."

Feng Nuanyou suddenly raised her little head: "Dad, when you go back, will you make me that shredded pork with garlic sauce? It's delicious."

Feng Zhengming gently rubbed his daughter's head: "You like to eat it? Then Daddy will make it for you when we get back."

Feng Nuanyou smiled and said, "Okay, okay, Dad, you should put less chili in."

"Okay, when Dad makes it for you, he'll put in less chili."

Luo Qing looked at her daughter: "You little glutton, all you think about is food."

Feng Nuanyou got out of her father's arms, but made sure her younger siblings sat comfortably in his lap.

Then she climbed from this bed onto her mother's bed next to it.

"Hehehe, Mom, you like to eat too, don't you? I'm a little glutton, and Mom is a big glutton."

Luo Qing looked helpless after her daughter's words, and reached out to grab her daughter and hug her tightly.

"You little brat, I think you're getting more and more disrespectful, daring to call your mother a glutton. Let's see how this glutton will deal with you today."

On the bed over there, a mother and daughter were embracing each other, and the mother was tidying up her eldest daughter.

On the bed, Feng Zhengming was holding his two babies and leisurely watching TV.

The two little ones don't really understand TV at all, nor do they really understand what their parents and older sister are saying.

But when they lean against their father, they feel a unique sense of security.

So the two little ones nestled obediently in their father's arms.

Before they knew it, the two little ones had fallen asleep in their father's arms.

Looking down, I saw my two little ones sleeping soundly together.

A relieved smile appeared on Feng Zhengming's face.

Although I am quite busy and tired right now, I still feel very comfortable with such a lovely child by my side.

Thinking about all my hard work over the years, isn't it all for this wife, kids, and warm bed I have now?

At this moment, Feng Zhengming also relaxed completely.

I carefully laid the two babies flat on the bed.

So that the two little ones can get a good night's sleep.

On the next bed, the mother and daughter's "battle" had ended.

In the end, the mother won, but the daughter was also very happy with a big smile on her face.

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Alright, why don't you guys go take another shower? Look how sweaty you are."

Luo Qing: "Let's go, let's go take a shower. I can't sleep with all this sweat."

His wife took their daughter to take a bath, while Feng Zhengming sat at the desk in the hotel room and began to write and draw on his own.

When the mother and daughter finished showering, they came to Feng Zhengming's side almost at the same time.

Feng Nuanyou crawled into her father's arms from below.

"Dad, what are you writing?"

Feng Zhengming picked up his daughter and placed her on his lap, and also reached out to embrace his wife.

"I'm designing some new dishes. During this trip to Chengdu, I experienced a variety of Sichuan flavors and felt that we can learn from and improve the flavors of our dishes."

Watching her husband write and draw, dishes appeared one by one on the paper as he wrote.

Luo Qing was filled with anticipation. "Looks like we're in for a treat when we get back."

Feng Nuanyou smiled and said, "You're in for a treat!"

Feng Zhengming: "The taste is still uncertain. We will need to make some adjustments after we get back to see how to make the taste more in line with everyone's preferences."

Luo Qing: "I believe you can do it."

Feng Nuanyou: "Dad is the best."

With the support of his wife and daughter, Feng Zhengming naturally had even more confidence.

"Okay, when I get back, I'll make it at home for you to try first."

Feng Nuanyou was naturally the happiest: "Okay, okay, Daddy will cook for me and Mommy first."

After sketching and drawing for a while, Feng Zhengming, his wife, and their daughter went to sleep together.

Naturally, I have to get up in the middle of the night to change the diapers for the two babies and soothe them.

However, the couple did not find these things particularly difficult.

After all, it's usually the mother-in-law and second aunt who take care of them, so the couple doesn't have many opportunities to take care of their two little ones.

The next day, Feng Zhengming was still helping Wang Hanwen set up his new shop.

Chu Huijuan still went out to play with her family.

I spent several days in Chengdu, and finally, three days after arriving, I had seen most of the places I wanted to visit.

Wang Hanwen's branch store is finally about to open.

The day before the opening, Feng Zhengming asked Wang Hanwen to send invitations to his master and other well-known Sichuan cuisine chefs.

Feng Zhengming also wrote his name on the invitation, which can be considered as him inviting Wang Hanwen on his behalf.

The master chefs who received the invitations all gave Feng Zhengming face and came to support Wang Hanwen.

The renowned Sichuan chefs were all very polite to Feng Zhengming.

They have seen the achievements Feng Zhengming has made over the years.

It can be said that everyone has witnessed Feng Zhengming's skills and hard work.

Many renowned Sichuan cuisine chefs understand that without Feng Zhengming's efforts over the years, they might still not receive much attention in China.

It seems that the big restaurant has significantly improved the treatment of their chefs.

But without Feng Zhengming, many restaurant owners certainly wouldn't have given that much.

Inspired by Feng Zhengming, many chefs have opened their own restaurants.

This has enriched the catering market and enabled many chefs to earn real money through their skills.

Of course, some people will have opinions about Feng Zhengming.

After all, Feng Zhengming's existence was like a rope hanging over the heads of all the chefs.

It keeps raising people's demands and expectations for culinary skills.

Perhaps in the past, simply cooking a little better would have been enough to win over many customers.

But with Feng Zhengming around, many customers had a point of comparison.

With a more direct comparison, customers have higher expectations for the environment and food of restaurants and hotels.

This really puts a lot of pressure on chefs.

In Chengdu, for example, many restaurants and eateries that used to have good business and reputation have also encountered problems one after another, and have been criticized by many customers for cheating customers.

This has also prompted many restaurants and eateries to make their own internal reforms.

In short, Feng Zhengming's emergence has indeed changed many things in the domestic catering industry.

Today was the opening of Wang Hanwen's branch, but Feng Zhengming's appearance made him the main character.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new store, Feng Zhengming invited Zeng Zhichang out, and together they cut the ribbon for Wang Hanwen.

This is a scene that Wang Hanwen himself probably never imagined.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Feng Zhengming invited the customers who had come today into the store.

Several invited master craftsmen came to Feng Zhengming.

"It seems that Scholar Feng cares a lot about Zeng's apprentice."

"Your apprentice is Zeng's, why are you so interested in him, Scholar Feng?"

Feng Zhengming replied with a smile, "He worked for me for a while, so he's practically my student. And the shop he opened after returning still has my signboard."

Everyone looked up and saw the sign for "Zhengluxing Feng Family Rice Shop".

That's when I realized that the shop belonged to Feng Zhengming.

"Hahaha, this is incredible! Scholar Feng has opened a shop right on our doorstep."

"Master Zeng, you'd better handle this carefully."

Zeng Zhichang understood that the master chef was joking with him, but of course he also hoped that he, the most famous chef in Sichuan cuisine today, would give an attitude, and that Sichuan cuisine could not just admit defeat like this.

Zeng Zhichang: "Haha, everyone, don't worry. I've already made plans and discussed it with Junior Brother Feng. I'm going to take my apprentices to Shanghai to open a Sichuan restaurant."

Hearing this, the experienced workers were immediately very satisfied.

That's exactly the kind of attitude Zeng Zhichang wants.

Zeng Zhichang was the fourth-place winner in the same National Culinary Competition as Feng Zhengming, and has become a representative of famous Sichuan cuisine chefs in recent years.

Therefore, his statement means that Sichuan cuisine has not backed down to Shandong cuisine, which is represented by Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, welcome to Shanghai, Senior Brother Zeng. Shanghai is truly a great food capital, encompassing all kinds of cuisines from all over the country. We Chinese cuisine especially need to seize that food battlefield."

Zeng Zhichang and the Sichuan cuisine masters also agreed, feeling that they should indeed make a trip to Shanghai.

To open a proper Sichuan restaurant in Shanghai, and through Shanghai's internationalization, to let more people from overseas know and taste Sichuan cuisine.

At this moment, a Sichuan cuisine master chef of similar age to Zeng Zhichang asked.

“Feng Zhuangyuan, when Senior Brother Zeng went to Shanghai to open a shop, do you think he was going to open a high-end restaurant like your old villa?”

Feng Zhengming looked at the other person and also saw some other Sichuan cuisine chefs around him.

"I think it's possible. Our Chinese culinary world needs to have some of our own high-end restaurants. We can't just stick to our traditional big restaurants model. We need to create some more refined restaurants."

This allows us to better showcase our culinary and food culture, and to express the beauty standards of our cuisine in our own cultural way.

Feng Zhengming's words surprised all the experienced and master craftsmen present.

No one expected him to say something like that.

Upon closer reflection, everyone agreed that what was said was absolutely true.

If you don't promote your own food culture, and you don't keep up with the times, then you're not keeping up with the times.

If you let others define you arbitrarily, you'll end up having to conform to their standards.

By then, will Sichuan cuisine still be considered Sichuan cuisine?
Feng Zhengming's words were very inspiring.

This made the experienced and master craftsmen feel that it was worthwhile to come and support Feng Zhengming today.

Feng Zhengming knew that they would take the initiative to do everything, and he was filled with anticipation.

I look forward to seeing these renowned Sichuan chefs in Shanghai, and working together to truly promote and develop Chinese cuisine. (End of Chapter)