From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The family dinner that Feng Zhengming prepared at his grandfather's house was indeed very simple and unpretentious.

It lacks the exquisite plating found in old-style villa restaurants, and it doesn't use any high-end ingredients.

I used just some ordinary vegetables, fish, shrimp, crab, a few eggs, and some beef that I bought at the market to make a very sumptuous dinner for the whole family.

Feng Shengnan really loves jade shrimp balls.

She and Feng Nuanyou divided the food among themselves.

Then the aunt and niece divided up a plate of jade shrimp balls.

As she ate the jade shrimp balls, Feng Shengnan was even a little touched.

"Brother, you're so kind. You still remember your promise to me that every time you come home, you'll cook a different shrimp dish for me. You really keep your word."

Feng Zhengming pretended not to remember: "Huh? I said that to you?"

Feng Shengnan laughed: "Brother, just keep pretending."

Luo Qing: "It doesn't look convincing at all."

Feng Nuanyou: "Dad, you're lying. You're not a good child."

Feng Zhengming: "Okay, Dad shouldn't have lied. Your aunt is right. Dad promised her that every time I come home, I will cook a shrimp dish for her. Today's jade shrimp balls are for her."

Then Feng Zhengming added, "But it seems like they were all eaten by our little glutton."

Feng Nuanyou: "Oh dear, I'm not a little glutton."

Feng Shengnan: "Yes, I shared it with Youyou."

Feng Zhengming: "Okay, if you like it, I'll make it for you again in the future. It's good to eat more shrimp."

Hearing this, Feng Shengnan asked curiously, "Brother, do you have any new ideas?"

Feng Zhengming: "There are many ways to cook shrimp, but there's no need to pursue novelty. The key is that it has to taste good."

Feng Shengnan agreed: "That's right, brother, everything you cook is delicious."

Feng Zhengming: "I'm glad you like it."

Grandpa Situ really liked Feng Zhengming's stir-fried osmanthus with vinegar.

"Zhengming, your stir-fried osmanthus with vinegar is delicious. It's a really authentic dish that goes well with rice or alcohol. You can even mix it with noodles at the end. It's really great."

Grandpa agreed: "Zhengming's stir-fried osmanthus with vinegar is indeed better than what you get in restaurants."

Feng Zhengming: "Thank you for the praise, Grandpa Situ and Grandpa. Actually, I have slightly modified the taste of this recipe. I added a little more sugar to give the dish a slightly sweet taste."

Grandpa Situ: "This is delicious, and your thickening sauce is excellent; it coats the dish almost evenly."

Feng Zhengming: "I use the method of thickening with cornstarch. After stir-frying, I hold the wok with one hand and pour the thickening sauce with the other hand. I toss the wok while pouring the sauce so that it can coat the food more evenly."

After listening to Feng Zhengming's introduction, the whole family felt once again that Feng Zhengming's skills had improved even more over the years.

Many dishes seem simple, but in reality, different chefs can produce completely different flavors.

This is related to the chef's own skills.

In the end, the chefs' competition boils down to their control of heat, skill with the spoon, and seasoning.

Especially in terms of seasoning, it is said that if it is too bland, it will be bland; if it is too salty, it will be salty.

When discussing seasoning in Chinese cuisine, people often use terms like "appropriate amount" or "a little bit."

Many people think that the cookbook author deliberately held back a secret.

But in reality, Chinese cuisine emphasizes the idea that what suits one's taste is precious.

What is palatability?

Everyone's tastes are different.

So how could there possibly be a dish that would satisfy everyone?

When it comes to seasoning, the so-called "appropriate amount" means that the person cooking should taste it and decide whether to add salt or sugar based on their own taste.

Some young chefs who have improved their skills often don't taste the food they make.

They always strive for a masterful style where they can accurately control the seasoning without tasting it themselves.

But what the young chef doesn't know is that even master chefs need to taste the food themselves before cooking.

I don't even know if my dish is too salty or too bland?

How can you make dishes that diners truly enjoy?
Feng Zhengming has been researching seasonings for years.

Therefore, he does need to be more precise in his seasoning now.

Even so, Feng Zhengming would still personally taste each dish.

Even though many times he would taste it and then not add any seasoning.

He still wanted to taste it to make sure the flavor was accurate.

So the dishes I made tonight will be very satisfying for my family.

When preparing the ingredients, Feng Zhengming takes into account the taste preferences of his family members.

These dishes would be considered bland by the two grandfathers.

However, in terms of actual seasoning, some people may find it a bit too salty.

This is the balance a true master should achieve.

After dinner, my second aunt and third aunt took the initiative to clean and wash the dishes, and Luo Qing also went to help.

After they finished washing up, they played with the children inside the house.

Feng Zhengming sat in the courtyard with his two grandfathers and his third uncle.

Feng Zhengming poured the flower tea he had brought back for the two grandfathers.

My third uncle sat beside me. After a brief silence, he couldn't help but speak up and talked about his idea of ​​starting a logistics and transportation business within the province.

“Uncle Situ, Dad, I talked with Zhengming before dinner, and Zhengming is very supportive of me.”

Upon hearing this, the two grandfathers' gazes fell on Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming didn't hide anything.

"Yes, Grandpa, Grandpa Situ, I do support Third Uncle."

Grandpa: "Even if Zhengming supports you, have you ever thought about whether this is an easy thing to do? Do you think you can run the transportation business well?"

Grandpa Situ: "Little Feng, don't be in a hurry. Let's hear what the children have to say first."

Feng Jiandong began to express his thoughts.

"Dad, I didn't just come up with this idea randomly. I actually did some concrete verification. When I was transporting vegetables, I found that land transportation is very convenient now. In fact, many things need this transportation."

Just like many things in Shandong, they may not be able to be shipped out in time due to the lack of good transportation, causing many things to lag behind others.

If we find a suitable transportation company, we can contact those people and help them ship their goods out; that will definitely help them sell very well.

Feng Zonggu remained silent, instead turning his gaze to Feng Zhengming, who was sitting there.

"Grandpa, what Third Uncle said is true. The Internet is starting to take off now. Maybe in the future, everyone will be able to choose what they want to buy through the Internet."

By then, people all over the country will be able to buy all kinds of Shandong specialties online.

People from other places who buy local specialties from all over Shandong will definitely need us to transport them out. Although that's a future prospect, I believe that day isn't too far away.

Now that my third uncle is starting to set up transportation, I think it's indeed a good time.

Both grandfathers were somewhat surprised by Feng Zhengming's words.

They were surprised that Feng Zhengming actually said that people would be able to buy things on the Internet in the future.

This really surprised the two grandfathers.

In fact, with the popularization of the Internet, especially after the rise of Internet cafes, the two grandfathers did hear a lot of news about the Internet.

Many young people nowadays like to go to internet cafes, saying that they can connect with people all over the country through the internet.

Although the two grandfathers had never been to an internet cafe, they felt it was a very strange feeling when they listened to the young people talking about it.

When it came to Feng Zhengming, he actually said that in the future, people could buy things online.

This was something the two grandfathers found hard to believe.

How do I buy things online?
Those are things you can't see or touch, right?

Feng Jiandong also looked at Feng Zhengming with some surprise.

"Zhengming, do you think it will really be possible to buy things online in the future?"

Feng Zhengming: "It should be a trend. When everyone is used to learning about the world on the Internet and is busy with work, many people do not have time to go out to buy things."

Not to mention those who come from Guangdong province in the south specifically to buy Shandong's local specialties.

So when the internet becomes popular, everyone will be able to choose things online.

After purchasing them, they asked us to deliver the goods to them via transportation.

Feng Jiandong was even more surprised: "Then how do I pay?"

Feng Zhengming: "You can pay upon delivery, or you can pay the money to a platform similar to a bank first, and then the money will be transferred to you from the platform after the buyer receives the goods."

Hearing Feng Zhengming's explanation greatly surprised his third uncle and two grandfathers.

Regardless of whether they believe it or not, the key point is that they haven't even thought about these things.

You probably can't even dream about it.

Third Uncle: "Zhengming, do you really think things can develop that way in the future?"

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, Uncle, we really can. In fact, some countries overseas have already started to try it, but we may be able to surpass others in this regard."

Grandpa Situ narrowed his eyes and stared at Feng Zhengming: "Do you think you can surpass others?"

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, because we have more people, we can concentrate our efforts to accomplish great things that others may not be able to do. So as long as we find the right path and work together toward that goal, we will definitely succeed."

Then Feng Zhengming continued to dream about the future.

"We still have many roads that haven't been repaired yet, but they will all be repaired in the future. With better and wider roads, our transportation will become more convenient and faster."

"By then, Uncle, if you really own a transportation company, you'll definitely make money."

It has to be said that Feng Zhengming's words really moved Feng Jiandong.

He seemed to suddenly understand why his nephew had been emphasizing warehousing when they talked about this before.

If things really turn out like my nephew said, then goods from all over the country can be purchased online.

So warehousing is indeed a very important thing.

After all, the things you buy can't be delivered directly to an individual.

Because it's impossible to ship a single item to you.

It definitely requires a large amount of goods to be gathered together before being transported in a unified manner.

So how do we store so many goods in one place?

At this point, warehousing becomes very important, or rather, warehouses in various places serve as transit points for goods.

Feng Jiandong had already understood what kind of picture his nephew had drawn up for him.

If he can have warehouses all over the province, coupled with his own transportation fleet that covers the entire province, then he can achieve great success.

That means they control the province's warehousing and logistics transportation.

If you have such a trump card in your hand.

When online shopping really becomes popular, Feng Jiandong feels that his company will be so busy that he can just sit at home and wait to make money.

The reason Feng Zhengming didn't let his third uncle start his own courier company was...

It's because he knows that it's not so easy to do.

Moreover, some courier companies should already be making plans for this.

With the funds he has and the capital his third uncle currently possesses, it would be difficult for them to seize other people's market share.

It would be better to first control the logistics, transportation, and warehousing within the province.

When the courier company moves in, they can use those resources to exchange for shares.

They even went so far as to contract out logistics and warehousing for the entire province directly from courier companies.

This saves us the investment of setting up a nationwide network.

Feng Jiandong had already thought about it: could he start planning for a nationwide expansion in advance?

Feng Zhengming immediately cut off his thoughts as soon as he opened his mouth.

“It’s not easy to set up a nationwide network. Uncle, let’s start by setting up a network in the whole province. Setting up enough warehouses and enough transport vehicles in the whole province will already require a lot of investment.”

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, Feng Jiandong also felt that they made sense.

"Yes, we're doing it within the province. There are other competitors outside, but since we're doing it ourselves within the province, we don't have many competitors yet."

Feng Zhengming: "Third Uncle, you'd better investigate this carefully first. If you have any funding gaps, just tell me and I can help you. Even if I don't have any on hand right now, I can pack up all my shops and mortgage them to help you get a loan."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this surprised both grandfathers.

Feng Zonggu, in particular, never expected that his eldest grandson would be willing to take such a risk to support his youngest son.

"Zhengming, aren't you taking too much of a risk? Do you really think that buying things online will become a reality in the future?"

Feng Zhengming: "Sir, even if buying things online isn't feasible, logistics are still very necessary. How can local specialties be sold without sufficient logistics?"

Grandpa Situ thought for a moment and said, "Zhengming is right, this is indeed something that can be done."

Then Grandpa Situ said that he could give Feng Jiandong any of the funds he had for returning to China.

“Those investments were originally meant for Zhengming, but he didn’t use them. He got himself into this situation step by step. So you can use my money.”

Feng Jiandong was very excited, never expecting that his idea would actually receive the support of his family.

"Uncle Situ, don't worry, I will definitely manage it well."

Feng Jiandong looked at his father and said, "Dad, I won't squander Uncle Situ and Zhengming's investments. If there's any real danger, I'll return their money in advance."

When Feng Zonggu saw his youngest son's serious expression, and then saw that Feng Zhengming and his elder brother Situ were very supportive, he realized that they were very supportive.

He nodded in agreement: "Okay, remember to be careful and don't be too aggressive."

And so, guided by Feng Zhengming, Third Uncle turned his attention to logistics warehousing, knowing full well that this investment would definitely not result in a loss. (End of Chapter)