From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After several days of preparation, it was New Year's Eve.

Early that morning, Uncle San sent a car to pick up the families of Feng Zhengming and several of his senior brothers.

Only the eldest brother Li Huidong's parents came to his home.

The eldest brother has only a sister and a brother, and the eldest sister has to go back with her husband to celebrate the New Year.

During the Spring Festival in previous years, Li Huidong would go home to cook a table of delicious food and spend time with his wife and son, the two elderly people.

This year, the two elderly people were brought to Huiquanlou, and they couldn't help but sigh that Li Huidong is now very capable.

Li Huidong confessed to his parents: "This is all because of my junior apprentice Feng Zhengming. Mom and Dad, you know him, right? He is now the national number one culinary expert. Huiquan Restaurant is also under his management. I am working for him."

The old father sighed after hearing this: "Master Yan has so many apprentices, but I didn't expect that this little apprentice is the best."

Li Huidong smiled and nodded: "Yes, Junior Brother is indeed the most powerful among our brothers."

The old mother asked: "Dongzi, you work for your junior brother, your junior brother should give you a lot of money, right?"

His wife Hu Yan answered, "Mom, Dongzi also has shares in Huiquanlou, and Zhengming is busy and has no time to be in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, so Dongzi is the chef of Huiquanlou now."

Hearing her daughter-in-law's words, the old mother was very happy: "Okay, okay, our Dongzi is also capable."

As parents, they naturally hope that Li Huidong can get better treatment.

Li Huidong's son Li Xiaogang quickly introduced them to his grandparents.

"Grandpa and grandma, let me tell you, my uncle is really awesome. All the new clothes for me, my parents, and you, grandpa and grandma, were bought by my uncle."

Hearing her grandson say this, the grandmother was a little surprised: "He bought all of them? This must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Hu Yan explained again: "Mom, Zhengming said that these are for your filial piety. Zhengming is an orphan, so he always regards Dongzi as his elder brother."

These words made Li Huidong's parents sigh.

The old father spoke again: "He is a good and honest child. No wonder he can achieve such good results. He is the top chef in the country at such a young age."

Li Huidong and his family were chatting in front of the door when they heard a horn honking and soon saw a car approaching from behind.

The ones who got off the car were fifth senior brother Cao Zhiguo and his family.

There were quite a lot of people coming to Cao Zhiguo's home, including Cao Zhiguo's mother and his two younger brothers.

One younger brother is married but has no children, and another younger brother is not married yet. He has been working in another place and only returns to Quancheng during the Chinese New Year.

Cao Zhiguo's father died early, and there were four brothers and sisters in his family, all raised by their mother.

Cao Zhiguo has an older sister who had to go back to her brother-in-law's house for the New Year, so naturally she didn't come.

Seeing Cao Zhiguo and his family coming, Li Huidong and others hurried forward to greet them.

"Is mother in good health? Do you still recognize me? I am Zhiguo's senior brother."

Cao Zhiguo's mother looked at Li Huidong and a smile appeared on her face.

"It's you, Senior Brother. I haven't seen you for many years. When I first met you, you were still a big boy."

Li Huidong smiled and pulled his son to his side. While asking his son to call for help, he said to Cao Zhiguo's mother, "I am old too, and my son is almost as tall as me."

Li Huidong's parents also came over and greeted Cao Zhiguo's mother.

Cao Zhiguo’s two younger brothers also came forward to greet everyone.

Among them, Cao Zhiguo's younger brother who had just returned from other places looked up at Huiquan Tower and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"Before I came back, I was thinking that after I came back, I would come to Huiquanlou for a meal and taste the cooking skills of the national champion. I didn't expect that you are back in Huiquanlou now, and the national champion is your junior fellow apprentice."

Cao Zhiguo was quite proud when he heard his brother's words: "Of course, we are from the same master. He learned the craft from me, your brother."

Hearing this, Cao Zhiguo's wife couldn't help laughing and said, "Can you please stop bragging?"

Cao Zhiguo said seriously: "Why are you talking nonsense? Senior Brother is here, you can ask if you don't believe me."

Li Huidong smiled and nodded when he heard it: "Zhiguo is right. When Zhengming first entered the kitchen, he did learn the basics from us brothers."

When Cao Zhiguo saw that his senior brother was speaking up for him, he immediately became more assertive.

He was just about to continue speaking when his third brother Yang Bin came over with his family.

Unlike the eldest and fifth junior brothers, Yang Bin's families are also from Quancheng.

This time, Yang Bin brought his elderly relatives and younger brothers and sisters over, and his parents arranged for them to live in the house near Furong Street that he and his wife rented.

Yang Bin arranged for his younger brother and sister to live in the dormitory that Feng Zhengming had originally rented for everyone in the kitchen.

Therefore, Yang Bin and his whole family didn't need a car to pick them up, and they walked to Huiquan Tower together.

Yang Bin came over and interrupted Cao Zhiguo with a smile as he was about to continue bragging.

"Old Fifth, stop showing off. We only taught Junior Junior some basic skills at the beginning, and then Junior Junior started to learn from Master. Before Yanxi Tower closed down, Master always took Zhengming with him when he went out."

Cao Zhiguo pretended to be regretful: "That's right, at that time, Master began to favor Zhengming, and took Zhengming with him when he went out to exchange cooking skills, so now Zhengming has become the national champion."

Li Huidong heard what his fifth junior brother said, smiled and asked: "When Master asked you, weren't you unwilling to go with him?"

After being exposed by his senior brother, Cao Zhiguo could only smile awkwardly.

Yang Bin sighed: "So, Zhengming's current achievements are the result of his own hard work."

The senior brothers were chatting at the entrance of Huiquan Building, and Feng Zhengming soon heard them from inside.

"Hahaha, brothers, you're all here, why are you still standing outside? It's so cold outside, everyone hurry inside."

The families of the three senior brothers were very excited to see Feng Zhengming.

Although we have seen him many times before, Feng Zhengming has been very busy since he won the national top prize, so we haven't seen him again.

Especially Cao Zhiguo’s younger brothers and Yang Bin’s younger brothers and sisters.

They were very excited to see Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming was also very enthusiastic towards them.

"Go in first, I'll get out the camera and we can take some pictures together."

Everyone was naturally happier when they heard that they could take a photo with Feng Zhengming.

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming let his fellow brothers in first, and he waited outside for Luo Qing's family to arrive.

It didn't take long before Luo Qing's grandparents, grandparents, and all her relatives arrived.

Seeing Feng Zhengming waiting at the door, the four old men felt a little embarrassed.

"It's so cold, why are you still waiting outside?"

"Yes, just wait inside. It's not like we don't know each other."

"Zhengming, you are so honest. You should take care of your body."

"It's cold, let's go inside."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded, "It's okay. I'm the younger generation, so it's my duty to wait for you elders at the door. Everyone, please go in. It's warm inside. You can eat some fruits and watch TV first."

When Luo Qing's family was ushered in by Feng Zhengming, the three brothers and sisters-in-law naturally came to help greet them. Feng's eldest uncle, second aunt and third uncle also came out to greet Luo Qing's family.

Feng Zhengming finally waited outside the door, waiting for He Yunqing and his family to arrive.

He Yunqing and his wife arrived with their son and daughter.

Seeing Feng Zhengming waiting at the door, He Yunqing was a little flattered.

"Hey, you're the boss, why should we let you greet us?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and held He Yunqing's hand: "Uncle He, you are the elder of Huiquanlou, I should welcome you. Without you, Huiquanlou would not be able to run so well."

Feng Zhengming also greeted He Yunqing's wife, and then got to know He Yunqing's son and daughter.

He Yunqing has a son and a daughter. His son has already married and his child is about to go to elementary school.

My daughter is still in college.

He Yunqing's daughter was quite excited to see Feng Zhengming.

"Hello, Brother Zhuangyuan. If I go back and tell my classmates that the Zhuangyuan invited me to have a New Year's Eve dinner, they will definitely be so jealous of me."

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Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "Not really? I'm actually just a little chef."

"How could that be? How could you be a little chef? You are the top chef in the country and the best cook in the country." He Yunqing's daughter became more and more excited as she spoke.

He Yunqing also hurriedly stopped his daughter: "Okay, okay, let's go in quickly, don't talk outside."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, let's go in first. It's a bit cold outside."

Everyone went into Huiquan Building together. It was very warm inside because of the heating.

Plus, there were already quite a few people inside, and with the lively atmosphere, no one would feel cold.

After arranging for everyone to sit down, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers went into the kitchen to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.

There are no other apprentices or chefs in the kitchen today.

Originally, Feng Zhengming wanted to keep everyone to celebrate the New Year together.

As a result, because Huiquanlou closed early, everyone felt that they still had time to go home.

So they all bought tickets to go home one after another.

Lian Xia Hui and Xia Mingye, brother and sister, also went home to celebrate the New Year together.

This was also the first time Xia Hui returned home for the New Year after she had a falling out with her family and ran away to learn cooking.

When Feng Zhengming learned that Xia Hui was going home with her brother to celebrate the New Year, he was also very happy for Xia Hui.

He also asked Xia Hui to say hello to Master Xia on his behalf.

So today, in the end, only Feng Zhengming and his three senior brothers were left to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner.

However, the fellow disciples had already prepared most of the things in advance.

Now that there are four of us in the kitchen, it is actually a lot easier.

Since it was relatively easy, the brothers and sisters just cooked slowly and chatted together.

Li Huidong asked first: "After the New Year, will Zhengming go to Yancheng?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, I have to go there. Sixth Brother has already helped me find a store there. I can go there and open the branch directly."

"With Old Six here, the Yancheng branch shouldn't require much worry from you, Zhengming." Yang Bin was still very confident in his Sixth Junior Brother.

The fifth brother asked again: "By the way, Zhengming wants to open five branches, which five locations are they in?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied: "Yancheng is the first, followed by Daocheng, Zaocheng, the foot of Mount Tai, and Dezhou in the north."

After hearing this, Cao Zhiguo thought for a moment and said, "Okay, it turns out that you are very good at choosing locations. The five points cover all the important places in the province."

The eldest brother was a little surprised: "Why don't you open a branch in Qufu or Jining?"

"I can't go to Qufu for the time being. If I go, I might get involved in the competition for the Confucius Mansion cuisine signature dish. I'd better wait. I don't want the Confucius Mansion cuisine signature dish either."

When talking about Confucius cuisine, the three brothers all smiled bitterly.

After a bitter smile, the fifth brother sighed helplessly.

"Sometimes, things are so strange. Those who want it can't get it, and those who can get it don't want it."

Hearing what his fifth junior brother said, Yang Bin was somewhat disdainful.

“For some people, fame and branding can be a pressure that spurs them to do things better.

But for some others, fame and brand are just tools for them to make money. They just want to make more money with their fame and brand, and they don’t care whether they can live up to their fame and brand. "

The eldest brother Li Huidong also agreed with the third brother's words.

"Old Three is right. Many times, having a reputation and a brand in your hands may not be a good thing."

Cao Zhiguo also agreed with what his two senior brothers said, but he was still a little worried.

"But if the brand of Confucius cuisine ends up in the hands of a group of uneducated people, wouldn't that be a shame?"

Feng Zhengming took over the conversation: "Fifth brother, don't worry. With the Xia family here, the reputation of Kongfu cuisine won't be easily taken away by others."

The eldest brother agreed, "Yes, in the past, if the Xia family hadn't fought for it, those who tried to take advantage of the situation might have had a chance, but now that the Xia family has fought for it, those who tried to take advantage of the situation will have no chance."

The third brother suddenly laughed: "Hahaha, it's not easy to rely on the Xia family alone. The key is you, Zhengming."

After hearing what his third senior brother said, Feng Zhengming suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"I didn't do anything. I just helped the Xia family notify the provincial government and suggested that the province keep the Kongfu cuisine brand in their hands and not easily authorize others to use it."

The fellow brothers all laughed when they heard this, and said that it was enough for Feng Zhengming to just do this.

"It's enough for you to do this. How could those guys who fish in troubled waters easily obtain the provincial signboard authorization?"

"That's right. Besides, you are now the president of the Cooking Association and the president of the new Chefs Association. If you want to get the brand authorization, you must go through you. Who can get it from you so easily?"

"So in the end, we still have to rely on you. No wonder the Xia family is so grateful to you."

Feng Zhengming sighed: "It's very stressful. It's useless to just have the brand. We still have to use it and make it profitable so that we can better develop Kongfu cuisine."

Hearing this, the three brothers were stunned at first, and then fell into deep thought.

The senior brothers knew very well that what the junior brother said was right.

Just holding the sign in your hand really does not do any good.

In order to make the signboard play its economic value, it must also be developed well.

This is indeed a difficult problem.

In fact, the fellow disciples had the same concerns about rebuilding Yanxi Tower.

It is not difficult for the brothers and sisters now to choose a new location and hang up the Yanxilou sign again.

However, the re-opening positioning of Yanxilou and the inheritance and development of cooking are the huge challenges that the brothers need to face. (End of this chapter)