From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming sat in the car, took out his phone, and dialed Tao Mengran's number in Beijing.

Feng Zhengming briefly explained the situation to Tao Mengran over the phone.

Tao Mengran laughed on the phone and said, "Brother-in-law, since you've come all the way to Beijing, why didn't you say you'd meet me or tell me beforehand?"

Feng Zhengming: "Because I came alone, I was worried that Sister Qing would misunderstand us."

Tao Mengran laughed at these words: "Oh my, I didn't expect our Scholar Feng to be so afraid of his wife."

Feng Zhengming: "This isn't fear, it's love for my wife."

Tao Mengran: "Alright, alright, don't talk to me about it here. Wait for my news, I'll ask around and see how much that place is ultimately worth."

Feng Zhengming: "Okay, thank you for your help."

Tao Mengran: "No need to be so polite, brother-in-law."

After listening to Feng Zhengming and Tao Mengran finish their conversation.

The fifth senior brother, who was driving, finally couldn't help but speak up: "Zhengming, I'm sorry, I didn't handle things well for you."

Feng Zhengming turned to his fifth senior brother and said, "Why do you say that? Fifth brother, you've done a great job for me. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to find such a place."

Cao Zhiguo was a little embarrassed: "But, I... I didn't help you negotiate the location."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "How could it be so easy to negotiate a deal with Fifth Brother's place?"

These words startled Cao Zhiguo.

Before the fifth senior brother could speak, Feng Zhengming continued.

"Fifth Brother, this is the capital city, and the Olympics are about to be held here. With these two advantages, how could such a place be easily taken over?"
That guy clearly wanted to make a big profit off us, and I'm pretty sure that place isn't something he can control.

So we need to be patient. We've already waited so many years, what's a few more days?

Fifth Senior Brother: "You mean to say that the man surnamed Wang isn't the real owner of that place?"

Feng Zhengming: "It shouldn't be. Such a large area is probably not something an individual can easily own. Let's wait and see. Tao Mengran should be able to reply this afternoon."

The fifth senior brother thought for a moment and asked, "Where do we go now?"

Feng Zhengming: "Let's go check out Lao Lü's shop."

Cao Zhiguo nodded in agreement and drove directly to Lü Chongshan's shop.

Upon arriving at Lü Chongshan's shop, they saw Lü Chongshan leading his men to move goods into the shop.

Feng Zhengming got out of the car, smiled, and called out.

"Hey, Lao Lü, looks like you're pretty busy."

Hearing the sound, Lü Chongshan turned his head and saw Feng Zhengming and Cao Zhiguo, who had just gotten out of the car.

"Master, what brings you here?"

Feng Zhengming: "Hahaha, what's wrong? Can't I come and see?"

Lu Chongshan greeted him with a smile: "You can come? Master, did you and Fifth Uncle go to see that place?"

Feng Zhengming: "I went to see it, but we're not in a hurry to talk to them. We'll find out where that place belongs first."

Lu Chongshan was taken aback: "That place doesn't belong to that person?"

Feng Zhengming: "I don't think so. Let's wait and see. I've already had someone check for me. Once we've found out, we'll talk to them about buying the business in that area."

Lu Chongshan was somewhat surprised: "Master, are you really going to buy it directly? That place looks quite large."

Feng Zhengming smiled smugly: "What? You still doubt your master's abilities?"

Lü Chongshan laughed along: "Hahaha, of course I have no doubts, Master definitely has the ability."

Feng Zhengming and his fifth senior brother, along with Lü Chongshan and the kitchen staff, moved all the newly arrived goods into the store's warehouse.

Taking advantage of the situation, Feng Zhengming also went into the warehouse and carefully inspected it.

After inspecting the warehouse, Feng Zhengming was very satisfied with the contents.

The goods were all delivered by suppliers that Feng Zhengming had contacted in Beijing beforehand.

It can be said that what is supposed to be fresh is absolutely fresh.

It's not a fresh product, and the production dates are all very appropriate.

Furthermore, the way the items are arranged also shows that the store starts with the ones with the longest production dates.

Everything in the store was neatly organized.

All of this suited Feng Zhengming's wishes perfectly.

"Not bad, it seems like you're managing this store very well, Chongshan."

Lü Chongshan: "It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Master."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "What you're saying is a denial of your own efforts, and also a denial of the collective efforts of everyone else in the shop who worked with you."

Lu Chongshan chuckled sheepishly, "Master, that's not what I meant."

Cao Zhiguo stepped in to speak up for them at this time.

"Alright, your apprentice is naturally clumsy with words, so don't correct him. He's right, it's all because you taught him well, and he's done a great job."

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, it seems Fifth Brother knows how to talk."

Cao Zhiguo: "What? You want to dig a few more pits for your fifth brother too?"

Feng Zhengming waved his hand: "No, no, I wouldn't dare."

In the following time, Feng Zhengming and his fifth senior brother looked around Lü Chongshan's shop together.

The shop that Lü Chongshan was in charge of, although it and the shop that Fifth Brother owned were both branches of the dry rice shop.

However, the two stores mainly sell some things that are fundamentally different.

Although Fifth Brother's shop also sells noodles, its main product is rice.

On Lü Chongshan's side, the focus is on fully utilizing Lü Chongshan's unique craftsmanship.

The shop mainly serves various kinds of noodles.

The most distinctive of these are undoubtedly the various types of noodles from Beijing.

Lu Chongshan's shop has dishes like Beijing-style zha jiang mian (noodles with minced meat sauce), da lu mian (noodles with braised meat sauce), and various other braised noodle dishes.

There was also the rotten meat noodles that Feng Zhengming chatted about with the old people at the alley entrance that morning.

This shop even has some unique braised dishes; you could say they have a really wide variety.

In addition to various types of noodles, the shop also offers a variety of other pastries such as steamed buns and dumplings.

It's truly a shop that specializes in nothing but noodles.

Of course, the main dishes such as braised pork belly, four-happiness meatballs, braised pork hock, and pig's trotters are also the restaurant's specialties.

Many people even make sure to order a piece of braised pork when they come to the store to eat noodles.

Many people believe that eating them together like this is the authentic way to eat them.

Therefore, after purchasing the goods, Lü Chongshan would lead the kitchen staff to start kneading the dough.

All the noodles at Lü Chongshan's place are handmade, and preparations begin early in the morning.

The dough for all kinds of pastries needs to be prepared in the morning.

This has created a completely different scene in Lü Chongshan's store compared to other branches.

The kitchen was filled with the sound of kneading dough all morning.

Lü Chongshan also brought several apprentices with him, and he distributed different types of dough to his apprentices to mix.

During the kneading process, Lü Chongshan would keep a close eye on it.

Whenever his disciples made a mistake, Lü Chongshan would immediately correct them.

After looking at the photos, Cao Zhiguo and Feng Zhengming couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that Xiao Lü's mornings are really more tiring than mine." Feng Zhengming chuckled, "After all, you two have different staple foods."

Before long, a number of people entered Lü Chongshan's shop.

They all looked through the food serving window in front of the kitchen at the scene of Lü Chongshan and his team kneading dough.

When Feng Zhengming saw those people peering out the window, he immediately understood that this was a deliberate arrangement by Lü Chongshan.

The goal is to show customers that their noodles are made fresh every morning, starting with kneading the dough.

I must say, this idea is really excellent.

Judging from the crowds who came into the shop specifically to watch Lü Chongshan and his team knead dough, it's easy to see that people really enjoy watching the dough-kneading process.

In particular, Lü Chongshan and his team kneaded the dough almost entirely by hand, without using any machines at all.

This is exactly what many gourmets would love to see.

It cannot be said that kneading dough by machine is necessarily worse than kneading dough by hand.

After all, with the advancement of technology, using machines to knead dough can definitely save a lot of manpower.

However, this is often the case when machines are widely used.

The fact that Lü Chongshan and his team insist on kneading dough by hand is very appealing and has garnered a large following.

Watching the large dough ball being kneaded in Lü Chongshan's and his team's hands until it was smooth, the bowl was clean, and their hands were clean.

The onlookers erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Moreover, once the onlookers see the steamed buns and mantou being steamed, they immediately place an order.

Many people simply like to buy the first drawer of the day.

It's as if they want to pursue a sense of ritual in life.

Feng Zhengming was very pleased to see the long queue forming on Lü Chongshan's side.

Cao Zhiguo leaned close to Feng Zhengming and whispered, "I didn't realize Chongshan was so capable. He actually knows how to attract these old customers from Beijing."

Feng Zhengming: "He's very smart. He knows how to attract customers, and that's what he should do well."

Cao Zhiguo: "It seems I need to learn more from him."

"Fifth Brother, your business is already doing very well. You don't need to specifically follow Chongshan's example. The two stores are in different locations, so their positioning will also be different. You still need to differentiate yourselves and not be exactly the same."

After hearing Feng Zhengming's words, Cao Zhiguo did not argue and nodded in agreement with his junior brother.

Cao Zhiguo was well aware that both stores were located in Beijing and offered very similar products.

Therefore, some differentiation is indeed necessary; otherwise, the two stores could easily end up competing for each other's business.

Not only would Feng Zhengming be unhappy about this, but Cao Zhiguo himself would also be unwilling.

If Cao Zhiguo completely copied Lü Chongshan's approach, it would be tantamount to saying that Cao Zhiguo was inferior to Lü Chongshan.

How could Cao Zhiguo, as his senior brother, easily admit defeat?
"I'll have to think about it later and see how I can better attract customers."

Hearing what his fifth senior brother said, Feng Zhengming affirmed, "That's right. Healthy competition among us is the best way to make each of our stores better and better."

At that moment, Cao Zhiguo suddenly realized his junior brother's intentions today.

Today, the building we saw at Yanxilou was only one aspect; more importantly, the junior brother noticed some problems with the fifth senior brother's shop.

So he led his fifth senior brother to Lü Chongshan's shop for a look.

Let Fifth Brother take a break and see some unique business practices in other stores.

This helped Fifth Brother understand that the way of doing business doesn't have to be the same all the time.

While ensuring the quality of the dishes, we still need to come up with some new and interesting ideas.

Only by coming up with various creative ideas can we better attract customers.

I spent some time looking around Lü Chongshan's shop.

I saw that Lü Chongshan and his team started business in the morning.

Moreover, from the moment the doors open, the store is almost constantly filled with customers.

Most of the guests are elderly people living nearby.

This also shows that Lü Chongshan has indeed accurately grasped the preferences of the locals in Beijing.

Feng Zhengming and his fifth senior brother also ate a bowl of braised meat noodles together.

It must be admitted that Lü Chongshan is indeed very skilled at making noodles.

The noodles were chewy, but not in the same way as ramen.

The noodles are cut into almost uniform thickness and are flat. Paired with the braised meat broth, they taste really delicious.

Adding a spoonful of chili oil specially prepared by Lü Chongshan would make it even more flavorful.

Feng Zhengming took a bite, then looked up at his surprised fifth senior brother.

"Can you taste the difference? The chili peppers fried in Sichuan peppercorn oil taste different, don't they?"

Cao Zhiguo: "It's really different. This tastes really unique."

Feng Zhengming: "This is a method that easily brings out the flavor."

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming handed the peeled garlic to his fifth senior brother.

The two brothers, with garlic in their mouths, slurped up a whole bowl of noodles and finished it off.

After finishing their meal, Feng Zhengming and his fifth senior brother left the shop without disturbing Lü Chongshan's business.

Just as Feng Zhengming stepped out of the store, he received a call from Tao Mengran.

“Hey, brother-in-law, I’ve figured it out. That place belongs to an old factory. It used to be the factory’s reception building. After the factory was restructured, that place was used as a senior activity center for a time.”

Later, the factory was basically moved away from the capital, so the place was abandoned.

However, the ownership of that land is now quite complicated; it no longer belongs to an individual or the factory, but to the collective.

After listening, Feng Zhengming roughly understood.

"Okay, can you arrange a meeting with some of their long-time employees for me? I'd like to talk to them."

Tao Mengran: "I need some time for this. I don't know if the other party is willing to meet."

Feng Zhengming thought for a moment and said, "How about this, you explain my identity to them and what I want to do with it? See if they're willing to meet with me."

Tao Mengran laughed on the other end of the phone after hearing this.

"Haha, brother-in-law, you should have said so earlier! If you had said that, they would definitely have been willing to meet you."

Then Tao Mengran asked, "So where should we meet them?"

Feng Zhengming asked, "Approximately how many of them are there?"

Tao Mengran: "I didn't ask specifically about that. Here's what I'll do: give me two days, and I'll find out the exact number of people and the details for you."

Feng Zhengming agreed: "Okay, thank you for your hard work. After this matter is settled, I'll treat you two to dinner together."

Tao Mengran chuckled on the other end of the phone: "Okay, but you have to bring Sister Qing over then. I really miss Sister Qing and I also want to see your Youyou. Let them come along too."

Feng Zhengming: "Alright, I'll have them ask Youyou to take a few days off and bring her over so we can get together."

Tao Mengran happily said, "It's settled then."

After hanging up the phone, Feng Zhengming briefly explained the situation to his fifth senior brother.

Cao Zhiguo said helplessly, "It seems that some of the schemes in the capital are really deep. I'm afraid the other party has been plotting against your sister-in-law from the very beginning."

Feng Zhengming: "Fifth Brother, go back and explain it to your wife. Tell her not to take it to heart. These kinds of things are unavoidable. If it were me, I might have been deceived too."

Cao Zhiguo: "Alright, I'll go back and comfort your sister-in-law." (End of Chapter)