From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Eat a bowl of hot and sour hand-rolled noodles with diced eggplant.

It made everyone who drank a lot of wine last night sober up.

Feng Zhengming waited until everyone had finished eating, then cleaned up the dormitory and gave some money to those who were going home for the New Year.

Seeing this, Zhu Xu said, "Chef, we can't take this money. You have already given us New Year's money."

Apprentice Liang Xiaocheng also quickly said, "Yes, chef, we can't take your money anymore."

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked several people to accept the money.

"Hahaha, just think of this as lucky money for you. I'm the head chef, your boss, and your uncle, so it's only right that I give you lucky money."

Feng Zhengming then said, "You have been very tired following me these days. You can't go home early during the Chinese New Year. Take this money home and buy something for your elders, or give some New Year's money to your children."

Finally, after Feng Zhengming's persuasion, everyone accepted the money he gave.

Everyone walked out together and locked all the doors of the rented dormitories.

Feng Zhengming stood at the intersection downstairs, watching the people who were going home for the New Year leave one after another.

After everyone left, Feng Zhengming looked back at the rented dormitory building.

He thought for a moment and muttered, "Looks like I'll have to buy a few houses to use as dormitories in the future."

Xia Mingye was a little surprised when he heard this: "Uncle Master, are you going to buy a house directly to use as a dormitory?"

Feng Zhengming turned his head and looked at the Xia siblings and nodded.

"There are many people like you who come to Huiquanlou from other places. If you rent a house outside, the expenses will be high. You will only think about making money and cannot concentrate on cooking in the kitchen."

Feng Zhengming's words surprised the Xia siblings.

However, after the brother and sister thought about it carefully, they felt that what Feng Zhengming said was not wrong.

Whether it is the chef or other people in the kitchen, we want them to be able to concentrate on making good dishes.

We must ensure that everyone has no worries.

Otherwise, everyone is always thinking about how to make more money, how can they seriously learn in the kitchen? Maybe they won’t be too attentive when cooking.

Feng Zhengming tries his best to ensure that everyone has no worries.

It can indeed enable everyone to concentrate on learning and working hard.

Feng Zhengming smiled and said to the Xia siblings, "Don't worry, we will definitely give you your wages. When you save enough money, you can set up your own business in Quancheng."

Xia Mingye suddenly asked: "Uncle Master, after you left this morning, I thought about what you said. Uncle Master, what do you think about me opening the Xia family's Kongfu cuisine in Quancheng in the future?"

Before Feng Zhengming could reply, Xia Hui immediately said, "No."

"why not?"

Without waiting for Xia Hui to speak, Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "I think Xiaoye's idea is very good."

The Xia siblings looked at Feng Zhengming together.

Facing the gazes of the siblings, Feng Zhengming still expressed his thoughts with a smile.

“Whether it’s Confucius cuisine or Shandong cuisine, if they want to achieve better development, they must first get out of their original environment.

Because the original environment may provide some regional and cultural benefits, but it will also limit the dishes from keeping up with the times and unable to keep up with the changes in people's tastes with the development of the times.

Once you fall behind the times, you are destined to be left behind by the times.

Relying solely on so-called traditional culture and stories from the past as selling points is doomed to fail to gain full acceptance from the public.”

Some of Feng Zhengming's ideas are still a bit ahead of their time.

So the Xia siblings couldn't fully understand it for a moment.

Xia Mingye was very happy that his ideas were supported.

But Xia Hui still insisted on her idea.

"Don't think so beautifully. It's useless for your uncle to support you. Your family won't support you."

Feng Zhengming didn't let the siblings continue arguing.

"Okay, let's go. I need to go back to my grandfather's house at this time. Do you want to go back with me? Or should we go meet up with Master Xia first?"

Xia Hui said, "Let's go to Grandpa's place first, and then we'll go to Feng's dry rice shop with Grandpa."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Okay, then let's go back and meet up at Feng's dry rice shop."

After separating from the Xia siblings, I watched them rush to the hotel where Master Xia was staying. I saw that the siblings seemed to be arguing about something as they walked.
Feng Zhengming smiled, turned around, got on his bike and rushed to Grandpa Feng's house.

When Feng Zhengming rode his bicycle back to his grandfather's house.

Before he even entered the house, he was seen by his family outside the yard.

Feng Yucheng, my uncle's younger brother, came forward excitedly.

"Brother, you're back. Grandpa said you cooked for a lot of people yesterday. Your cooking must be great, right?"

Seeing Feng Yucheng's expectant look.

Feng Zhengming nodded and said, "Of course. Who is your eldest brother? He is the champion of the national cooking competition. If he cooks, the food must be great."

Hearing the noise outside, Zhang Hongwei and Feng Shengnan in the room also ran out quickly.

"Big brother is back."

"Brother, please come in quickly."

Then, Feng Zhengming saw his uncle and third uncle also coming out of the house.

Uncle San smiled and asked, "Where did Zhengming sleep last night?"

Feng Zhengming guessed that his uncle wanted to ask whether he had gone to see Luo Qing last night?

He smiled and replied, "It was too late last night, so I didn't come back. I stayed in the dormitory over at Huiquan Building for one night."

The eldest uncle didn't wait for the third uncle to speak and let Feng Zhengming go in first.

"Zhengming, come in. Grandpa is talking about you."

Feng Zhengming pushed his bicycle into the yard, then followed his uncle and third uncle into the house, surrounded by his younger brothers and sisters.

When I entered the house, I saw my grandfather sitting inside waiting for me.

Feng Zhengming stepped forward and said, "Master, I'm back."

Grandpa Feng looked up at Feng Zhengming and asked, "Was the banquet a success?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "It was very successful, and the provincial leaders were very satisfied."

Uncle San followed up with, "That will definitely satisfy you. You are the champion of the national cooking competition."

The uncle also nodded: "Yes, it should be no problem for you, the top scholar, to lead the team yourself."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "I was still a little nervous yesterday. I made some attempts when serving the dishes. I was afraid that something might go wrong on the spot. Fortunately, everyone cooperated well and nothing went wrong."

Feng Shengnan came over and asked, "Brother, what dishes did you cook?"

Feng Zhengming sat down with everyone and told them about some of the dishes he cooked.

Listening to Feng Zhengming's detailed account, the whole family could not help drooling.

When grandpa saw the whole family gathered together to listen to Feng Zhengming talk about food, they were all in a happy mood with smiles all over their faces.

When Feng Zhengming had finished talking about the dishes, Grandpa asked, "Didn't the Xia family's siblings come with you?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "They went to Master Xia's place and said we should meet at the dry rice shop at noon."

Grandpa nodded: "Yes, Old Xia didn't go back, so our two families will celebrate the New Year together."

At this time, the uncle suddenly said, "Zhengming, go ask Xiao Luo's family. If they are willing, you can bring Xiao Luo and her family over during the Chinese New Year. Anyway, we can celebrate the Chinese New Year together in Feng's dry rice shop, and it will be more lively with more people."

Hearing uncle's suggestion, grandfather immediately agreed: "Yes, Zhengming, go to Xiao Luo's house and ask." Feng Zhengming agreed: "Okay, grandfather, uncle, I will go to Luo Qing's house to ask later."

Then the uncle got up, went to the room where they lived, took out some cigarettes and alcohol and handed them to Feng Zhengming.

"Take these cigarettes and alcohol with you. It's not good to go to someone's house empty-handed. On your way back, buy some fruits and take them with you."

When Feng Zhengming saw the cigarettes and alcohol that his uncle took out, he quickly said, "Uncle, I'll buy some on the way back. These cigarettes and alcohol are for you to bring back for Chinese New Year to visit relatives and friends. You should keep them."

The eldest aunt smiled and said, "We have kept all these for our use when we travel. Please don't hesitate to take them and give them to Xiao Luo's family. This is a little gift from our family. Just say that Grandpa asked you to send them."

The uncle nodded: "Yes, take it with you and tell them that Grandpa asked you to deliver it."

Feng Zhengming looked at his grandfather and saw that he was smiling but not saying anything.

He had no choice but to accept the cigarettes and alcohol given by his uncle.

Then Uncle San took out his car keys and handed them to Feng Zhengming.

"Here you go. You can drive over there later. You can't lose face at Xiao Luo's house. Pick up Xiao Luo and his family at noon and have a meal together at Feng's dry rice shop."

Feng Zhengming hesitated again when he saw his uncle handing him the car keys.

"Uncle San, give me the car, what are you going to do?"

Uncle San smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. I borrowed a van, and we can go to the restaurant together in the van."

Aunt San reminded her, "Zhengming, go change your clothes and put on the down jacket your uncle brought back for you."

The eldest aunt nodded: "Yes, yes, dress more handsomely."

Next, with the help of his family, Feng Zhengming washed his face carefully, tidied his hair, and changed his clothes inside and out.

Put on the down jacket that my uncle brought back from outside.

When Feng Zhengming walked out of the room, the whole family's eyes lit up.

Uncle San praised: "Not bad, very handsome."

The whole family praised Feng Zhengming for being handsome.

Then he gave him some cigarettes and alcohol, sent him out, and drove Uncle San's car to Luo Qing's house.

Feng Zhengming looked at his whole family with smiling faces and reminded himself to drive safely on the road.

He smiled and waved his hand: "I see, then we'll meet at the restaurant later."

After Feng Zhengming drove away, his uncle Feng Guofeng said, "Okay, let's get ready and go. Let's go to the dry rice shop and wait. I'll have to trouble my sister-in-law and your sister-in-law to cook for us at noon today."

Lin Yun smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother. My sister-in-law and I will make sure the meals are ready."

Li Yunqing said: "We don't have Zhengming's cooking skills, but we can make some home-cooked dishes."

Feng Zhengming drove his uncle's car all the way, and there were more and more people on the road.

Some shops are also open.

It can be seen that this is to do the last business before the New Year.

Feng Zhengming passed by a shop and went in to buy some fruit.

Then he drove to the family compound of Luo Qing's family.

When Feng Zhengming parked the car and just got out, he heard someone exclaim.

"Wow, you, you are Feng Zhengming, right? The champion of our national cooking competition. Is this your car? Awesome."

The voice sounded familiar. Feng Zhengming turned around and looked at the other person for a long time before he recognized that it was Fang Hongyan.

Fang Hongyan was sized up by Feng Zhengming for a long time, then she said with a smile, "I'm Fang Hongyan, Luo Qing's neighbor. We grew up together when we were little."

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "Hello."

Then Feng Zhengming took out the fruits, cigarettes and alcohol he had brought from the car.

When Fang Hongyan saw that Feng Zhengming ignored her, her face changed instantly.

But before Fang Hongyan could take advantage of the situation, a car honked behind her.

Fang Hongyan looked back and immediately went over to greet him with a smile on her face.

"Hey, why did you come just now?"

The person who drove here was Fang Hongyan's current husband.

He looked much older than Fang Hongyan and drove a slightly old van.

"The road to your house is a bit difficult to drive, I..."

Before he could finish his words, Fang Hongyan's husband heard the sound of a car door closing and immediately looked towards Feng Zhengming's car in front of him.

Then he saw the various things Feng Zhengming was holding in his hands.

After careful identification, Fang Hongyan's husband recognized Feng Zhengming.

But he didn't dare to step forward, and just whispered to Fang Hongyan: "Isn't this the number one chef? Why is he here in your house?"

Seeing her husband's surprised look, Fang Hongyan curled her lips and whispered, "They are here to see my future father-in-law and mother-in-law."

This made Fang Hongyan's husband even more confused: "His future father-in-law and mother-in-law live in your house?"

It is not difficult to hear from the tone of his voice that Fang Hongyan's husband has some contempt for the old residential area where her family lives.

Fang Hongyan whispered an explanation to her husband.

After listening to Fang Hongyan's explanation, the man was even more surprised: "Is there a fairy in your old family compound? How could the number one chef find you?"

Fang Hongyan was unhappy with this: "What are you talking about? I'm not a fairy?"

The man immediately smiled and hugged Fang Hongyan: "You too, you too, otherwise how could I marry you."

Fang Hongyan then asked, "Did you bring anything?"

The man immediately said, "I have them. They are all in the car."

Fang Hongyan couldn't wait to open the car door.

When Fang Hongyan saw what the man brought, her expression suddenly became a little ugly.

Compared with what Feng Zhengming brought, Fang Hongyan felt the gifts brought by her husband were very shabby.

The man didn't notice Fang Hongyan's expression and urged her: "Hurry up and take your things to your parents' house, then we will leave. I have already told my family that we will be back at noon."

Fang Hongyan heard this and said, "Then you can take it."

After saying that, Fang Hongyan turned around and left without touching anything in the car.

The man looked helpless, but he still took his things, closed the car door and said to Fang Hongyan.

Feng Zhengming and Fang Hongyan walked one after the other in the family compound.

Naturally, it was seen by men, women, young and old in the family compound.

Soon, many elderly people in the family compound gathered together to discuss the matter.

"Did you see that? Luo Qing is really amazing. Look at her boyfriend. How fancy is his outfit? And the things she brought, you can tell from the packaging that they are not cheap."

"He's the top scholar in the country, but he cooks for the province. How can ordinary people compare with him?"

"Look at Fang Hongyan. She was so strong for so long that she dumped the son of the old Luo family and married a driver in this district. In the end, she is not even as good as the daughter of the old Luo family."

With Fang Hongyan's intelligence, she certainly noticed the looks and comments of the old neighbors in the compound.

She didn't need to hear what people were saying to know that they were comparing her husband with Feng Zhengming.

Realizing this, Fang Hongyan felt uncomfortable. (End of this chapter)