From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 636: The Ma Family Works Together

Feng Zhengming's stir-fried shredded pork tenderloin looks quite light.

Maybe no one in the village would like to eat such light dishes.

Now the two Ma brothers stared at the dish and couldn't help swallowing their saliva.

The main thing is the aroma of this dish, a pure meaty aroma that makes the two brothers drool uncontrollably.

Feng Zhengming smiled at the two brothers and said, "Please try it. It may be a little light. I don't know your taste. If you want to eat something with a stronger taste, I can actually cook it."

Ma Guoqiang came back to his senses and smiled: “It doesn’t matter, your cooking smells good.”

Afterwards, the Ma brothers brought chopsticks and each picked up a piece of food and tasted it.

Eat the shredded bamboo shoots and shredded pork together.

The dish is not as bland as it looks.

The key is that the shredded pork tastes very smooth and tender.

The Ma brothers used Ma Guoli's words to say that it was indeed the result of tasting the cooking skills of a good chef.

But Feng Zhengming's shredded pork was the most tender and smoothest the brothers had ever tasted.

Tender shredded pork paired with crispy shredded bamboo shoots.

While chewing, I could smell the aroma of meat.

After swallowing the first bite, the Ma brothers couldn’t stop eating anymore.

He picked up his chopsticks and started eating in big mouthfuls.

Soon the groom Ma Qixian also came over.

"Dad, uncle, you guys are just going to eat it by yourselves? I'm looking for a chef for my wedding, why don't you let me taste it?"

Ma Guoqiang came back to his senses and said, "Yes, yes, bring it inside and let your grandpa and grandma have a taste."

Ma Qixian immediately took it and ran into the house with the dish.

The Ma family members soon tasted the plate of stir-fried shredded pork tenderloin.

It can be said that no one in the family said that this dish was bad.

Ma Guoqiang stared at Feng Zhengming carefully.

Finally he couldn't help asking, "I haven't asked you yet, Master, what's your name?"

Feng Zhengming thought for a moment and replied, "Oh, we are relatives. My name is Ma Ming."

"Ma Ming?"

Ma Guoqiang always feels that this name doesn’t sound real?
But before Ma Guoqiang could ask more questions, Ma Guoli beside him started shouting excitedly.

"Hahaha, so you're from the same family? I was wondering why I felt like we were meant to be together. Your cooking skills are amazing, did you learn from a master chef in Quancheng?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied: "I have always wanted to learn from a master chef in Quancheng, but the craftsmen are not very appreciative."

Ma Guoli was a little surprised: "Those masters don't think highly of your craftsmanship?"

"There are too many great chefs in Quancheng."

I heard Feng Zhengming called himself "Ma Ming" again.

He also told the Ma brothers that the master chefs in Quancheng looked down upon his craftsmanship.

Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong almost laughed out loud several times.

In the end, the Ma family was indeed impressed by Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship.

It was decided to invite Feng Zhengming and others to stay and help prepare the wedding banquet.

When discussing wages, Ma Guoqiang asked Feng Zhengming to name a price.

Feng Zhengming asked instead: "How much do you usually pay the chefs who cook this kind of wedding banquet in your village?"

When Ma Guoqiang was asked this question, he hesitated and didn't want to say anything.

It seemed that he thought Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship was so good and wanted to give Feng Zhengming more money. As long as Feng Zhengming's price was not too high, he was willing to agree to it.

Anyway, I only have one son, and his marriage is a big deal.

But Ma Guoli's straightforward temper was spoken out.

"Here, if there are skilled people in the village, they usually get 200 to 300 yuan for cooking, and helpers are paid only a few dozen to a hundred yuan each."

Then Ma Guoli talked about the price of the chef found in the city.

"If we go to the city to find a chef, even the cheapest one will cost three or four hundred yuan a time. If we hire a chef from a restaurant, it will cost five hundred yuan a time."

After introducing the general prices charged by chefs.

Ma Guoli looked at Feng Zhengming and couldn't help but add one more sentence.

"Ma Ming, with your skills, I think it would cost at least 500 yuan."

Then everyone fell silent.

Feng Zhengming actually didn't want to make much money from the Ma family.

However, he felt that it was too much work for Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong to follow him in preparing the banquet, so he had to ask them for more money as compensation.

Just as Feng Zhengming was thinking about how much money he should ask for.

Ma Guoqiang said directly: "How about this, Chef Ma, I will give you 500, and the three of you will get 200 each, is that okay?"

This price was somewhat beyond Feng Zhengming's expectations.

He originally planned to take a middle number, asking for two or three hundred for himself and getting two hundred per person for Ding Yuan and the others.

Unexpectedly, Ma Guoqiang directly quoted himself a price of 500.

Before Feng Zhengming agreed, Ma Guoli also spoke.

"My eldest nephew is getting married, and I found you guys. How about this, I will give you another 500 yuan as a wedding gift from me, as the younger uncle, to my eldest nephew."

Ma Guoqiang quickly said, "Guoli, how can I let you pay?"

"Hahaha, big brother, why are you being so polite to me? I have made a lot of money in the past few years. I have money in my hands."

Ma Guoli is not bragging when he says this.

In recent years, he has been planting date trees while working in a date processing factory.

The factory provides two meals a day, and he has only one daughter in his family, so he has saved up quite a bit of money.

When Feng Zhengming looked at the two brothers, he could feel the deep brotherly love between the Ma brothers.

He suddenly smiled and said, "Big brother, little brother, you gave too much. I am a young apprentice. How can I ask for so much money for a wedding banquet? Just give me 200."

When the Ma brothers heard Feng Zhengming's offer of 200 would be enough, they were stunned.

Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong looked at each other.

Then the three of them also said that they would be fine with a salary of two hundred.

This made the Ma brothers a little confused.

In the past, people would charge extra money to hire a chef.

I have never heard of a chef who would voluntarily reduce wages.

The key point is that Feng Zhengming and his team’s reduction was too severe.

Feng Zhengming only charged 200 yuan, and if there were three of us, it would only cost one or two hundred yuan.

The Ma brothers were stunned for a while, and Ma Guoqiang was the first to understand.

"Chef Ma, you don't have to be like this. Our village is not a poor place. We earn a lot of money by selling dates. I wouldn't say we can compare with you in Quancheng.

But my son's marriage is a big event for our family, and we have prepared for all the expenses in advance."

Ma Guoli also echoed: "Yes, 200 is indeed too little. We can still afford 500."

Feng Zhengming still declined: "You really don't have to give so much. We don't provide the ingredients ourselves. You need to prepare the ingredients for cooking by yourselves, and your family members may also need help at that time.

Giving me 500 is indeed too much. I feel embarrassed to take this money from you."

Although the Ma family certainly did their best to prepare for Ma Qixian's marriage.

Moreover, in this village, every household grows dates, so they should be considered quite wealthy. But Feng Zhengming still couldn't bear to take more money from them.

During this hiking trip, I witnessed the conditions in the countryside and even in the mountain villages.

Feng Zhengming finally understood that there were still many people who did not live a rich life.

It makes him unwilling to earn money from the rural farmers.

If I wasn't afraid of the Ma family, I wouldn't trust them.

Feng Zhengming doesn't even want money.

After all, it's quite interesting to encounter marriage unexpectedly.

You can also take this opportunity to see how other people’s weddings are going.
See if there are any special rules?

Everyone in the Ma family insisted on giving Feng Zhengming at least 500.

Feng Zhengming saw that he couldn't refuse, so he could only agree first.

In the evening, Feng Zhengming and his friends stayed at Ma Guoqiang's house overnight.

Ma Guoqiang's house has quite a lot of rooms.

A relatively spacious house was arranged for Feng Zhengming and his three companions to live in.

After settling down at night, Hou Dong couldn't help but ask, "Brother Feng, why do you insist on staying here to prepare a wedding banquet for them?"

Gao Yongfu obviously couldn't understand: "Yeah, actually I see they have prepared it at home. I guess if they can't find a suitable chef, they can make it at home."

Seeing that Ding Yuan didn't say anything, Feng Zhengming smiled and gave an explanation.

"Don't you think it's interesting to attend a wedding in the countryside?"

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Hou Dong and Gao Yongfu still didn't understand?

Feng Zhengming continued to explain seriously to the two people with a smile.

"Think about it, tonight, we saw grandma and a few aunts making various preparations for Ma Qixian's wedding. It's not like in our city nowadays, when you get married, you have to prepare various gifts and dowries.

Grandma and her aunts are making something for their future granddaughter-in-law."

Feng Zhengming paused and pointed to a new house outside.

"The new house over there was obviously built for Ma Qixian. The various furniture inside looks like they were handmade. Those are rare in the city nowadays."

Ding Yuan interrupted at this time: "It's not that it's rare, it's that it's almost impossible to see it."

Hou Dong and Gao Yongfu also nodded to indicate that they indeed could not see it.

Nowadays, when people get married in cities, many of them specifically buy sets of ready-made furniture.

Then the bride’s family needs to give various dowries, and those with better conditions will give various home appliances as dowries.

Those who were not well off would also give some bedding and furniture as a dowry.

Feng Zhengming looked expectant: "I stayed here just to see if the love of the young people in the countryside here is still so simple."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong also felt a little excited.

Without saying anything else, Feng Zhengming asked everyone to go to bed first and start preparing for the wedding banquet tomorrow.

The four of them went to sleep in the room.

The next morning, the Ma family prepared breakfast for Feng Zhengming and his friends.

Feng Zhengming and the others felt somewhat embarrassed.

After breakfast, Feng Zhengming led people and followed Ma Guoli to buy things for the wedding banquet.

Ma Guoli borrowed a tricycle and prepared a cart for himself.

The group first went to the village market.

At the market, Feng Zhengming saw quite a few chickens and ducks raised by his own countrymen.

There are even black pigs raised by farmers themselves in the market.

Ma Guoli spared no effort in spending money and effort to help his nephew get married.

I bought a lot of things at the market during this trip.

Even though things in the market are much cheaper than in the city.

But the things that Guoli bought on this trip filled up both the cart and the tricycle.

It did cost a lot of money.

On the way back, Ding Yuan, who was already familiar with Ma Guoli, asked curiously, "Uncle Ma, you spent so much money on your nephew's wedding, won't your aunt scold you?"

Ma Guoli immediately raised his voice: "She dares."

Seeing Ma Guoli's look, Feng Zhengming and the others were immediately happy.

Feng Zhengming reminded Ma Guoli: "Uncle, don't be so sure. If you go back at night and your aunt doesn't let you in, what will you do?"

Ma Guoli also immediately realized that Feng Zhengming and the others were deliberately making fun of him.

"You youngsters don't understand. Your aunt is a very good person. She has been taking care of everything at home and outside the home for many years since she got married. She is also very filial. To use the old saying, your aunt is really a skilled woman."

Feng Zhengming looked at Ma Guoli praising his wife, a happy smile on his face.

That feeling of pride is really beyond words.

"Uncle, since Aunt is so kind, you should at least save some money so that Aunt can live a better life in the future."

Only then did Ma Guoli explain why he spared no effort to spend money on his nephew's wedding.

It turns out that when Ma Guoli was young, his family was not as wealthy as it is now.

At that time, the villagers had not yet thought of making money by growing dates.

Ma Guoqiang is the eldest brother in the family. He took on the responsibility of helping his parents take care of the family early on.

To Ma Guoli, his elder brother Ma Guoqiang is truly like a father.

Including when Ma Guoli got married, his house and furniture were all bought by his eldest brother with the help of others.

So Ma Guoli always remembered the kindness his elder brother had shown him.

In recent years, the village has relied on planting date trees and opening some date processing factories to improve the lives of everyone in the village.

Ma Guoli relied on all his strength to not only take care of his own jujube orchard, but also help his elder brother's family. Then he went to work in a jujube processing factory.

Ma Guoli works so hard just to make more money so that he can help his eldest brother's family.

Share the expenses of taking care of our elderly parents with my eldest brother.

Listening to Ma Guoli's narration, Feng Zhengming and the other three truly felt the deep brotherhood.

Ma Guoli said this with a smile on his face.

“Every household in the village has had some money in recent years.

The relationships among many brothers and sisters gradually deteriorated.

But we, the Ma brothers and sisters, will always be a family. We have never quarreled with each other, and we have endured the hard times together.

Now that things are getting better, can't we get along well with each other anymore?"

After hearing what Ma Guoli said, Feng Zhengming had similar doubts in his mind.

In the past, when our family was poor, it seemed that the whole family could pull together and work hard for a better life.

As a result, when good days really began to come, the brothers and sisters began to turn against each other and split up.

There was even a situation where people started to shirk responsibility and were unwilling to take care of their elderly parents.

Is it really that wealth corrupts human nature?

At this time, Feng Zhengming suddenly heard Ma Guoli say something very seriously.

"This time when our family is holding a wedding banquet for Xiaoxian, we want to let the whole village see how our brothers and sisters work together."

As Feng Zhengming listened, he was actually a little bit infected by Ma Guoli.

I want to help the Ma family make this wedding banquet a good one.

(End of this chapter)