From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming didn't go straight home; instead, he went to a market in Jinan.

I bought some vegetables and seafood at the market.

The two grandfathers usually eat at the old shop most of the time.

Although Yang Bin, the third senior brother, had made some adjustments to the flavors, the food was still generally a bit greasy.

So today, Feng Zhengming is going to give his two grandfathers a change of pace and make some lighter, less oily dishes.

Fortunately, it's still summer, so the vegetables are quite fresh.

You can also buy a lot of fresh seafood, especially seafood transported from the coast.

Feng Zhengming didn't buy more of anything, but he bought a considerable number of varieties.

After purchasing a batch of goods, Feng Zhengming carried them back to his grandfather's house.

Laughter filled the house, indicating that Feng Zhengming and his wife had brought the children back, which made the two grandfathers very happy.

Feng Zhengming carried his things in, and Feng Nuanyou immediately went to greet him when she saw her father return.

"Hehehe, Daddy, you're back."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "Yes, Daddy's back. He took Grandma back. Was Youyou good?"

Feng Nuanyou: "Youyou is very obedient. Youyou is telling stories to her great-grandfathers."

Feng Zhengming: Oh? Our Youyou can tell stories?

Feng Nuanyou: "Yes, yes, I told my great-grandfather stories about kindergarten and about our trips outside to play together."

Grandpa Situ chimed in, "Zhengming, your girl is really clever. She tells stories with such skill and confidence."

Grandpa: "Yes, she spoke very well. Listening to her made your Grandpa Situ and me feel like we went there ourselves."

Feng Zhengming: "Grandpa Situ, Grandpa, you're praising me way too much."

The two grandfathers smiled and said it was no exaggeration at all.

Feng Nuanyou was also very proud: "Dad, I told a very good story."

Feng Zhengming: "Okay, then you continue telling stories to Great-Grandpa, and Dad will go cook for you, okay?"

Feng Nuanyou asked curiously, "Dad, what delicious food are you going to make for us?"

Feng Zhengming held up the bag in his hand: "Dad bought some vegetables, some aquatic products, fish, shrimp, and some small seafood for Great-Grandpa to enjoy."

Grandpa: "You're still cooking for us at home? Your Grandpa Situ and I don't lack food."

Grandpa Situ: "Young Feng is just trying his best. Besides, we always go to the old shop, and it's not good to trouble his senior apprentice to do it. Today, Zhengming is back, so let him do it at home."

Feng Zhengming: "That's right, today you should also try my cooking and see if I've improved."

Grandpa: "Hahaha, if you hadn't improved, how could your restaurant have won one of the top ten restaurants of the year?"

Feng Zhengming: "Sir, that was last year. Please try it again this year."

Grandpa really wanted to eat the dishes that Feng Zhengming cooked.

But his grandson hadn't been back for more than half a year, and the grandfather didn't want him to work too hard.

After all, my grandson is usually very busy when he's out. He has to cook for others every day and rack his brains to come up with new recipes.

When we get home, we still have to cook for those two old folks.

Feng Zonggu did feel that his grandson was working too hard.

However, Feng Zhengming didn't seem to be working very hard; on the contrary, he seemed quite happy to cook for his grandfathers at home.

My second aunt also went home first, and said she would come back for dinner with my third uncle's family that evening.

My second aunt has been staying with Feng Zhengming since the beginning of this year, helping to take care of the children.

She really does seem to be Feng Zhengming's mother, the children's biological grandmother.

Back in Jinan, she still wanted to go home first.

According to the two grandfathers and his wife, the second aunt still had her third uncle pick her up and take her home.

Feng Zhengming was in his grandfather's yard, tidying up the various ingredients he had bought while chatting with his two grandfathers.

"How is Uncle San doing these days? His vegetable company must be doing pretty well, right?"

Grandpa: "That's great. He's benefiting from your connections. The vegetable company can supply Shanghai, which has made him money."

Feng Zhengming: "Grandpa, it's because Third Uncle has the ability. Even without me, I believe Third Uncle could have done it."

Grandpa Situ: "Your third uncle is still planning to cooperate with your brother-in-law to develop a networked transportation system. He wants to set up a freight fleet within the province, not just for transporting vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhengming immediately thought of logistics and express delivery.

"Third Uncle wants to build a transportation network? That does seem like a promising business."

Grandpa was somewhat dissatisfied with this: "Your third uncle is just messing around. He's only been running the vegetable company for a short time, and now he's already planning to do other things."

In Feng Zonggu's eyes, his youngest son had always been like this, lacking perseverance.

In fact, Feng Jiandong has indeed done quite a few business ventures over the years.

He started his business in foreign trade in his early years, and later worked as a distributor for a period of time.

Later, it was Feng Zhengming who helped him get a vegetable business.

Now, he sees business opportunities in the logistics and transportation of vegetables.

So Feng Jiandong really wanted to start a logistics and freight company.

Feng Zhengming felt that his third uncle indeed had a keen business sense.

"Grandpa, I think Uncle San has a good eye. Logistics and transportation is indeed a very promising industry right now. I think Uncle San can plan ahead. If he can build a transportation line that covers the whole province, he will definitely not lack transportation orders in the future."

Both grandfathers were somewhat surprised to hear this.

"Spanning the entire province? That would require a huge number of vehicles!"

"Won't this be difficult? The whole province is a very big place."

Feng Zhengming: "It doesn't matter how big the place is, as long as my third uncle plans the route well and builds suitable warehouses in various places, it is possible to build a transportation line covering the entire province."

Thinking about this, Feng Zhengming felt that he could have a good talk with his third uncle when he came back that night.

Now Feng Zhengming also has some connections and resources, in addition to the resources his third uncle has.

With this powerful collaboration between the uncle and nephew, establishing a warehousing and transportation network covering the entire province shouldn't be too difficult.

The family chatted as they sorted through various vegetables and seafood.

At this moment, Feng Zhengming is no longer the top chef in the country.

He is the beloved eldest grandson of two grandfathers, a husband to one wife, and a father to three children.

Feng Nuanyou was also very well-behaved and helped with the work from the side.

The two little ones sat back in the stroller, occasionally stretching out their chubby little hands, babbling and trying to speak, showing some desire to get their hands on things.

However, I definitely won't let the two little ones handle it.

They don't understand anything yet, and they'll unconsciously put anything they grab into their mouths.

With the family working together, everything was quickly prepared.

Feng Zhengming then took them all into the kitchen.

Seeing their father take things to the kitchen, the two little ones immediately started babbling and protesting. Grandpa Situ chuckled, "Haha, these two little rascals aren't happy that their dad took their things away."

Feng Nuanyou stepped forward and took the hands of her younger siblings, one in each hand.

"Don't reach out and ask for it. You have to wait patiently. Dad is going to cook. You can't go. You stay here with Great-Grandpa."

The two little ones clearly didn't understand what their older sister meant, but she still held a lot of authority in their eyes.

So after the older sister spoke, the two little ones immediately became well-behaved.

The two little ones even gave their older sister ingratiating smiles.

Feng Zhengming began busily preparing dishes in the kitchen.

Most of the dishes are very common and home-style.

The flavor is mainly the home-style salty and savory taste of Shandong cuisine.

When cooking seafood, Feng Zhengming used some Cantonese cooking techniques.

I made a seafood dipping sauce.

Then I made a crab dish called "Hibiscus Crab" for the two grandfathers and the children using swimming crabs.

Because his third uncle and aunt were also coming over that evening, and thinking of his younger sister Feng Shengnan, Feng Zhengming specially made a dish of jade shrimp balls with spinach puree for his sister and daughter.

By the time Feng Zhengming had almost finished preparing the dishes, his second aunt and third uncle's family had also returned.

As soon as Feng Shengnan returned, she immediately picked up Feng Nuanyou and spun her around, then hugged the two babies.

The third aunt was somewhat worried when she saw her daughter holding the two babies.

"Hey, be careful, they're both so young, don't fall."

Feng Shengnan held on very firmly.

"Mom, don't worry, I won't fall. These are our two little darlings."

Luo Qing stood to the side, not worried at all.

Feng Shengnan is already a grown woman, and Luo Qing believes she will be fine.

In the end, it was her second aunt who took the two babies back from her arms.

"Okay, just give them a hug. Look at you, spinning them around like that, they're getting dizzy."

In fact, the two little ones really enjoy spinning around like this, and they laugh very happily.

Third Uncle greeted Uncle Situ and Father, and then went into the kitchen to check on Feng Zhengming.

Upon seeing his third uncle return, Feng Zhengming greeted him with a smile.

"Uncle Three."

Feng Jiandong walked into the kitchen and glanced at the dishes Feng Zhengming was making.

"Wow, as expected, with your return as the chef, our meals have improved several levels!"

Feng Zhengming: "Hahaha, Third Uncle, are you blaming me for not coming back enough?"

Third Uncle: "No, no, how could I blame you for not coming back often? I know you're very busy right now, but you should still try to come back more often. The grandfathers are all talking about you."

Feng Zhengming understood that his third uncle wasn't blaming him; he mainly knew that his grandfathers missed him.

Just like how the master misses him, the old man is too embarrassed to say it directly.

Feng Zhengming: "Don't worry, Third Uncle, I will try to come back more often in the future."

Feng Jiandong: "Don't let it interfere with your work. Your business is quite big now. I heard that many people have already protested because of the wage increase for all your stores this time?"

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, don't worry about them. It's my own shop, so the raise is my own decision."

Third Uncle: "That's right, those guys are just looking for trouble. They don't think about how to run their own shops well, they just want to cause trouble for others."

Feng Zhengming then asked, "I heard from Grandpa Situ and Grandpa that Third Uncle wants to start a transportation company? To do logistics?"

Upon hearing Feng Zhengming's words, Feng Jiandong was immediately taken aback.

"Oh? Zhengming, you know about this too? It seems you're quite knowledgeable; you even knew I wanted to get into logistics."

Feng Zhengming: "Logistics should be a very good industry in the future. It's not too late for you to start planning now, Uncle. I support you. I will invest some money in you and we will develop logistics and warehousing together throughout the province."

Feng Jiandong was even more surprised: "Zhengming, it turns out you're not only good at cooking, but you're also a shrewd businessman! You even know that logistics and warehousing need to be handled together."

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, Uncle, I'm in Shanghai. It's much easier to get information there."

Feng Jiandong nodded: "That's right, it must have already started in Shanghai, right?"

Feng Zhengming: "Actually, it exists all over the country, but it hasn't fully taken shape yet. If you do it now, Uncle, the future prospects will definitely be good, but the initial investment will be relatively large."

Feng Jiandong: "I've thought it all out. In the early stages, we'll mainly focus on vegetable transportation, but we can also take on some other cargo transportation. Anyway, we'll get the company up and running first, and then gradually expand and grow."

Feng Zhengming knew that e-commerce platforms would begin to emerge in a few years.

Once online shopping becomes widespread, warehousing and transportation will definitely be a very lucrative industry.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming felt that what his third uncle needed to do was to do a good job in the key area of ​​warehousing.

Even without investing in large-scale transportation, Uncle San could practically sit at home and count his money just by relying on the various warehouses within the province.

As for when the express delivery industry takes off, Uncle San won't need to do the last part anymore; he can just focus on intercity logistics and transportation.

Feng Zhengming believes that many courier companies will take the initiative to cooperate with Uncle San.

With Feng Zhengming's support, Feng Jiandong felt more confident.

"You need to talk to your grandfather and the others about this later, and make them understand this prospect."

Feng Zhengming: "After we finish eating, we'll talk to Grandpa and the others together."

Feng Jiandong: "Okay."

With most of the family members present, Feng Zhengming invited everyone inside and began serving the dishes.

Seeing Feng Zhengming serve dish after dish made the family feel very comfortable.

Grandpa Situ: "After eating so much Shandong cuisine, seeing Zhengming's cooking makes me feel so refreshed."

Grandpa: "Haha, Shandong cuisine can also be made light, but restaurants generally don't do it that way, and most young people definitely don't like light flavors."

Feng Zhengming: "Actually, it's the same in other places. For example, Shanghai cuisine is also rich in oil and sauce, and the taste is on the sweeter side."

Feng Jiandong: "Young people mainly need affordable and appetizing dishes, so the flavors should definitely be stronger."

Feng Zhengming pointed to the dishes on the plate: "Grandpa, Grandpa Situ, you should all try them. The dishes I made today are relatively light, and most of them are the most traditional salty and savory flavors of Shandong cuisine."

Feng Nuanyou, on the other hand, spotted the jade shrimp balls at a glance.

"Hehehe, Auntie, look! That green shrimp ball is what Daddy made for you."

Feng Shengnan looked at the jade shrimp balls in surprise: "These were made for me?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, it's for you and Youyou. It's a dish served at state banquets, Jade Shrimp Balls. I made a slight modification to the seasoning, and I think you and Youyou will like it."

Third Aunt: "Look, as soon as your brother comes back, he's already thinking about making you something delicious."

Feng Shengnan said happily, "Thank you, brother."

The two grandfathers raised their glasses first, and the whole family drank a glass of wine together.

Then everyone picked up their chopsticks and began to savor the simple and unpretentious family feast that Feng Zhengming had been busy preparing all afternoon. (End of Chapter)