From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Cao County is in the south of Heze area, and Feng Zhengming and his team came here.

This naturally reminded Feng Zhengming of the magical video from later generations.

In fact, Cao County is located at the junction of Shandong and Henan provinces, and the scenery here is very beautiful.

In particular, there is a lotus pond of ten thousand acres in the territory.

Feng Zhengming and his friends were also quite shocked by what they saw.

In addition to the magnificent scenery of the ten thousand mu lotus pond, some of the country houses in Cao County are also quite distinctive.

Most of the houses are built with stones, and many courtyards are quadrangular or winnowing-branch-style courtyards.

It is really full of a unique sense of the times.

Feng Zhengming and his companions walked through villages one after another and were attracted by the various unique houses.

In addition to the newly built houses made of stone, some old houses have also been preserved.

Those old houses are made of very simple bricks and tiles.

There are also some beasts on the roof of the tile house.

There are dragon heads, pigeons, unicorns, roosters, and so on.

It's quite distinctive.

Feng Zhengming kept using his camera and took many very precious photos.

Because many buildings may not be preserved even after many years.

The four of them walked and looked along the way, and when they entered the town, they could feel that it was quite lively here.

The four of them also ate some local delicacies in the town together.

Especially the very famous Caoxian sesame cake.

There is also Caoxian roast beef.

For Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong, Cao County might not seem any different from other places they have visited along the way.

Every city, village and town we pass through along the way actually has its own characteristics.

However, Feng Zhengming still stayed in Cao County for another day.

He also wanted to see whether Cao County, which would produce most of the country's Hanfu in the future and even sell coffin supplies to island countries, had shown any signs of progress.

Staying for one more day did allow Feng Zhengming to see many signs of clues.

However, many things may not be clearly understood in just one or two days.

So Feng Zhengming took Ding Yuan and the other two with him and continued their journey.

Leaving Cao County and heading north, the four people arrived at the urban area of ​​Heze.

Before entering the city, the four people first looked at the peony flower garden outside the city.

Although the temperature has started to drop now, you can still see some cultivated peonies in full bloom.

Feng Zhengming looked at the graceful peonies and couldn't help but speak to the other three.

"I still remember hearing a story that said that peonies were once famous in Chang'an. Later, because Wu Zetian wanted all flowers to bloom in winter, only peonies did not bloom, so Wu Zetian was angry and banished peonies from Chang'an."

Hearing this, Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong also listened carefully immediately.

"After the peony was banished to Luoyang, it was discovered that any peony planted in the soil would immediately take root and sprout, and then bloom one by one. Wu Zetian became even more angry after hearing this, and she sent people to burn all the peonies in Luoyang.

So they burned the peony with a big fire, but the peony still bloomed proudly in the fire.

Even though the branches were burnt black, the peonies were still blooming brilliantly.

The peony was then given the name of the scorched bone peony. "

Feng Zhengming said this, and then pointed to the peony in front of him and said: "Seeing the peony fairy has such a proud character, all the flowers have worshipped the peony as the king of flowers."

After telling this story, Feng Zhengming looked at the three people who were listening to the story carefully.

Just at this time, there was a group of children in the flower garden, and they seemed to be organized by school to play.

Then a group of children also heard Feng Zhengming's story about Peony, and they all listened with great interest.

After Feng Zhengming finished telling the story, the group of children were obviously still a little unsatisfied.

Some of the bolder children asked Feng Zhengming questions.

"Uncle, what happened next?"

"Yes, yes. What happened next?"

"Uncle, what happened to the peony later?"

Feng Zhengming saw a group of children shouting and asking what happened next?

He could only write a new paragraph based on this story.

"Later, the pride of the peony moved the gods in heaven, and then the gods descended to the mortal world and made the Peony Fairy a god, and brought her to heaven to become the goddess of flowers."

These kids looked like they hadn't even attended elementary school, so they didn't think there was anything wrong with the following paragraph written by Feng Zhengming.

Instead, they all shouted, "Wow, it turns out that the peony is the flower god."

I saw a group of children cheering.

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but find these kids quite interesting.

He took out his camera and captured the children's joy and freedom.

The background is beautiful peonies in the flower garden.

Just as Feng Zhengming was filming, a young female teacher suddenly walked up to him.

"Hello sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but could you please take a group photo of these children?"

Feng Zhengming asked first: "Are you their teacher?"

The woman nodded: "Yes, I am their teacher."

Feng Zhengming agreed with a smile: "Okay, but we may not stay here for too long. I may not be able to find a place to develop the photos. I may need to wait until I get back to develop them and give them to you."

The female teacher immediately told Feng Zhengming: "Oh, I can help you find a place to develop photos."

Feng Zhengming immediately agreed: "That's fine, do you want to take a photo with the children?"

The female teacher was obviously a little embarrassed: "Just take pictures of the children."

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked the female teacher to take photos together.

"Come on, you are such a beautiful teacher, with such a large group of lovely children, and the beautiful peonies here, I think we should be able to take very beautiful photos."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, the female teacher couldn't help but blush and felt even more embarrassed.

However, when the female teacher came to her senses, she saw Feng Zhengming had already gone to ask the children to take photos together.

The children were very happy when they heard that they would take photos for everyone.

Feng Zhengming asked the children to line up and adjusted their positions.

After all the children were lined up, he asked the female teacher to join in.

The female teacher finally walked among the children.

Feng Zhengming raised his hand and shook it to attract the children's attention.

"Everyone look here, I'll count to three, and everyone will shout 'eggplant' together, okay?"

The children's attention was drawn to Feng Zhengming, and they all listened to his instructions.

However, when Feng Zhengming counted "one, two, three".

Some children suddenly shouted "eggplant" before he finished counting.

This amused the other children.

Then, although the group of children kept their formation, they all naturally showed various smiles. At this moment, Feng Zhengming pressed the shutter to capture the children's more natural smiles.

The female teacher originally wanted the children to be more serious.

But Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Okay, we have finished filming. Your performance was great. Let's cheer and applaud for ourselves."

As soon as the children heard this, they followed Feng Zhengming's instructions and started cheering and clapping.

Feng Zhengming then took a few more photos.

When the female teacher saw Feng Zhengming taking pictures like this, she thought it was quite interesting and did not try to stop him.

After taking all the photos, Feng Zhengming put down the camera with a smile.

"Okay, thank you all for your cooperation, your photos have been taken."

When the children heard that the photo shoot was completed, they immediately gathered around Feng Zhengming, clamoring to see the photos.

Feng Zhengming could only hold the camera and explain: "We can't see it now. We have to go back and develop the photos before we can see it."

Without waiting for the children to continue shouting, Feng Zhengming asked them with a smile: "Do you know why photos need to be developed? Why is it called developing photos?"

Naturally, no child could answer this question.

Feng Zhengming squatted down and used the camera in his hand to explain some things to the children.

Although it cannot be considered very professional, Feng Zhengming still managed to explain the principle roughly.

This made the group of children even more curious, and they all wanted to touch the camera.

The female teacher quickly stopped him and said, "No, you can't touch your uncle's camera casually."

Feng Zhengming agreed to let the children touch it.

"It's okay. It's okay to let the children touch it."

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming made some adjustments, closed the camera cover, and protected the camera shutter.

Only then did they let the children touch them one by one with their little hands.

One by one, the little children touched the camera with their little hands.

This was something very novel to the group of children.

Seeing the different expressions on each child’s face made Feng Zhengming find it even more interesting.

After the children had touched the cameras, they, led by their female teacher, expressed their gratitude to Feng Zhengming together.

Afterwards, the female teacher invited Feng Zhengming and his group to go back to the kindergarten with them.

After sending the child back to kindergarten, the female teacher suggested treating Feng Zhengming and others to a meal to express their gratitude.

Another thing was to take Feng Zhengming to find a place where he could develop photos.

Feng Zhengming did not refuse, and the four of them followed the female teacher to eat first.

On the way, I learned that the female teacher's name was Shen Jing.

Although Shen Jing’s name contains the word “Jing” (quiet), she is actually quite lively and cheerful.

After leaving the kindergarten, she took Feng Zhengming and the others to dinner and talked even more along the way.

He introduced the Heze area to Feng Zhengming and others, and even talked about the various planting and cultivation techniques of peonies.

Hearing Shen Jing's professionalism, Feng Zhengming asked curiously, "You are so professional, is it possible that your family grows peonies?"

Shen Jing nodded and replied: "My father grows peonies."

After hearing what Shen Jing said, Feng Zhengming and the others suddenly understood.

Led by Shen Jing, the group came to a restaurant that was neither big nor small.

When Shen Jing walked in, she introduced herself to Feng Zhengming and the others: "My boyfriend works in this restaurant."

Feng Zhengming and the others smiled at each other, and shortly after entering the door, Shen Jing asked them to sit down.

Then she ran into the restaurant by herself.

After waiting for a while, Shen Jing pulled out a man in chef's uniform.

"Come and see who I have invited for you."

The man walked up to Feng Zhengming and the others and recognized Feng Zhengming at a glance.

"Yes, he is the number one chef. He is truly the number one chef in Shandong cuisine."

Feng Zhengming understood at this time that Shen Jing had recognized him in the peony garden.

She didn't point it out, but asked me to help take photos and invited me and my group to dinner, just to let her boyfriend meet her.

Feng Zhengming was not angry. He stood up and shook hands with Shen Jing's boyfriend.

Then Shen Jing took the initiative to apologize to Feng Zhengming.

"I'm sorry, I recognized you a long time ago. My boyfriend is a chef apprentice and he really admires you. I wanted you to meet him and give him some encouragement."

Shen Jing's boyfriend Peng Lei also quickly helped to apologize to Feng Zhengming.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Chef No. 1. It's all because of me that Jingjing helped me trick you guys into coming here."

Seeing that the two people apologized very sincerely, Feng Zhengming, who was not angry at first, asked Peng Lei questions.

"Since Shen Jing specifically brought me here to see you, it seems like you are in some trouble?"

Peng Lei was stunned by the question, then he hesitated for a while and did not answer Feng Zhengming's question.

Shen Jing looked at her boyfriend without saying a word, obviously a little anxious.

"Tell me, haven't you always admired the No. 1 chef? Now that he's here, you should tell him. If you don't tell him, how can he help you?"

Peng Lei was urged by his girlfriend, but he ultimately did not speak out about his predicament.

"I'm sorry, Chef No. 1. I still hope to solve my problem by myself. I apologize to you again for being rude to my girlfriend."

Peng Lei apologized sincerely again and even bowed deeply to Feng Zhengming.

Seeing that Peng Lei was unwilling to speak, Shen Jing was too embarrassed to say anything.

Feng Zhengming took the initiative to speak at this time: "It should be a problem with your cooking skills, right? Do you feel that you haven't learned anything in the kitchen of this restaurant?"

Hearing this, Peng Lei and Shen Jing were both stunned.

Peng Lei opened his mouth, but the words did not come out.

Feng Zhengming warned him: "Remember, every chef starts out as an apprentice, and an apprentice can't learn much from his master at first, because the most important thing an apprentice should do at the beginning is to practice the basics.

If you can't even do the most basic cutting and preparing work in the kitchen, then even if you are taught various cooking techniques, will you find someone to do it for you in the future?"

Feng Zhengming's words stunned Peng Lei for a moment.

Then he heard Feng Zhengming's next words.

“Don’t think that you are very talented in cooking. In the kitchen, any talent is worthless compared to the hard work of others.

If others work harder than you, they will definitely do better than you.

In the kitchen, watch more with your eyes, think more with your brain, and work more with your hands.

The most important thing is to keep calm and not speak carelessly. "

After Feng Zhengming finished speaking, he sat down and asked with a smile: "Okay, can we order now?"

Peng Lei was stunned by what he said, and it was obvious that he had taken what he said seriously.

Suddenly, he heard Feng Zhengming asking if he could order food. He immediately came to his senses and agreed, "Yes, yes, Mr. Zhuangyuan, please order food. Our mutton soup is also quite famous."

Feng Zhengming picked up the menu and ordered a few dishes from it, but did not order mutton soup.

I did order a few dishes with mutton as the main ingredient, hoping to try the cooking skills of the chef in this restaurant. (End of this chapter)