From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In the kitchen of Huiquanlou, Feng Zhengming and his fellow seniors were preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner together.

In the lobby of Huiquan Building, there are several tables, and on each table are various candies.

Among them there were even some foreign candies that Feng Zhengming’s uncle’s family brought back from Beijing and Shanghai.

This is naturally loved by children from all families today.

Some children who have never seen these foreign candies before would like to put some of them in their pockets.

This action was seen by the elders in the family, and they naturally wanted to scold the child and teach him to learn how to share with others.

But today, there are more people present, especially elders like Mr. Situ and Grandpa Feng.

So the elders stepped in to stop parents from scolding their children.

And with the encouragement of the elders, the Feng family’s children also took the initiative to distribute various foreign candies to the children.

Then, under the leadership of Zhang Hongwei, the group of children were able to play together quickly.

They also went to the gate of Huiquan Tower to set off firecrackers together.

As the oldest one, Zhang Hongwei could be considered the elder of the children present. He really enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by a group of children.

Because of Feng Zhengming's reason, Zhang Hongwei, Feng Shengnan and Feng Yucheng are all a generation older than the other children.

This makes it natural that other children would call them uncle and aunt.

Although Zhang Hongwei is facing the college entrance examination, he is already an adult.

But in terms of mentality, he still has a certain childish mentality.

Being called uncle by a group of children and being a generation older than them made Zhang Hongwei feel secretly happy.

Then he naturally acted like an elder, played with the children, and even took the children to the street to buy firecrackers and fireworks to play with them together.

When they went there, mother Feng Suying specifically told Zhang Hongwei to keep an eye on the younger children.

Of course Zhang Hongwei agreed readily, but soon after leaving Huiquanlou, he forgot all about it.

Fortunately, Feng Shengnan was with us. She was a very careful girl.

She took good care of the younger children along the way.

Have all the younger children hold hands so she can see them all.

So thanks to Feng Shengnan's carefulness, a group of children bought firecrackers and fireworks and nothing happened.

But after buying firecrackers and fireworks.

Zhang Hongwei discovered that a group of children, especially girls, gathered around Feng Shengnan.

Even a few young boys gathered around Feng Shengnan.

This made Zhang Hongwei very puzzled?
"Sister, why are they following you?"

Feng Shengnan curled her lips and said, "You just focus on playing by yourself and don't care about them, so of course they won't follow you."

Zhang Hongwei was confused: "Didn't I take care of them?"

Seeing the eyes of a group of children, Zhang Hongwei also realized his problem.

"Sorry, I forgot. It's okay, let's have some fun setting off fireworks together. I'll set off this big firework for you."

As he spoke, Zhang Hongwei put away the fireworks he had bought and asked Feng Shengnan to take the children back to the entrance of Huiquan Building.

He lit the fireworks with a match and then quickly ran among the children.

Bang.

With a bang, a firework was shot into the sky, and the next moment it exploded in mid-air, turning into beautiful fireworks.

The children all laughed happily when they saw the fireworks.

Feng Shengnan also thought the fireworks were beautiful.

The adults who were in Huiquan Building heard the noise outside the door and came out to see what was happening.

Even though it was daytime, the fireworks in the sky were still beautiful.

Everyone watched the fireworks together in front of Huiquan Tower.

It was like seeing the prosperity of Huiquanlou, and also like seeing Feng Zhengming's more splendid life.

By the time the children finished setting off the fireworks, it was almost noon.

Grandpa Feng greeted everyone: "Okay, okay, Zhengming and the others should have prepared the food, let's all take our seats."

After hearing what Grandpa Feng said, everyone naturally turned around and went back to the restaurant and sat down separately.

That is, when everyone sat down, Feng Zhengming and his senior brothers brought out the dishes.

Plate after plate of very large dishes were placed on the tables.

When relatives and friends saw the dishes on the table, they were all surprised.

"Wow, today's meal is really rich."

"Isn't this New Year's Eve dinner too sumptuous?"

“Is this the craftsmanship of our top scholar?”

“It tastes delicious just by looking at it.”

"It smells good. It smells really good."

The dishes served were indeed very rich, starting with plates of cold cuts.

All of them are very hard appetizers, not only pork elbows, amber pig's trotters, but also some cold vegetables, and even sweet cold dishes like grated yam.

There was also braised beef in soy sauce, and even a plate of boiled mutton head meat that Feng Zhengming and the eldest senior brother had prepared in advance.

The most famous Baishui mutton head meat is definitely in Beijing.

Feng Zhengming also bought a whole sheep with his senior brother.

In the end, it seems that there is no good way to deal with the sheep's head.

Then the two brothers worked together to braise the whole sheep's head in white water according to the Beijing's white-water braised method of Shandong cuisine.

After the mutton is deboned, it is cut into pieces according to the Beijing Baishui mutton head style.

Slice them one by one with oblique curved slices.

Each piece is very thin, not only can it let light through, but it can almost let words through.

When Grandpa Situ saw the dish of boiled lamb head on the table, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Zhengming and his fellow apprentices have great skills. This white-water sheep head is not easy to make, but they can actually make it and slice the meat so thinly."

Grandpa Feng smiled and responded: "This can be considered a test of their basic skills."

Grandpa Situ thought about it and nodded: "It's true. To be able to cook this dish well, it really requires solid basic skills."

After the Baishui Lamb's Head was served, it indeed received praise from everyone.

Even a group of children were scrambling to eat it.

On the contrary, those who were drinking could not eat many slices.

Fortunately, the women from each family stopped it in time and exchanged the braised beef with the children for mutton head slices.

He Yunqing's family was not large, so they were arranged to sit at the same table with the Feng family. His daughter-in-law looked at the cold dishes on the table and asked, "Dad, are these made by Huiquanlou?"

He Yunqing's son and daughter-in-law also work in other places, so this is the first time they have come to Huiquanlou for dinner since Feng Zhengming took over Huiquanlou.

Seeing his daughter-in-law asking, He Yunqing smiled and nodded: "Yes, these are all made by Huiquanlou."

I was also surprised to see my daughter-in-law, son and daughter.

He Yunqing gave another explanation: "It's not difficult to do these by yourself. The main thing is that the initial cleaning process may be time-consuming. After cleaning, the subsequent braising process is done with the old soup from the kitchen. Just put it in, it's very convenient."

The daughter-in-law of the He family couldn't help but mutter while eating: "I wonder if I can get the ingredients package of Huiquanlou's stewed soup?"

When the mother-in-law heard what her daughter-in-law said, she whispered, "The recipe for the stew is someone else's secret recipe. How can you just take it out casually?"

The daughter-in-law quickly explained: "Mom, I don't want the recipe to start a business myself, I just want to bring back the ingredients if we have them after the Chinese New Year so that we can make some braised food ourselves."

This time, when He Yunqing heard what his daughter-in-law said, he spoke before his wife.

"If you really want it, I can ask the chef."

At this time, Grandpa Feng had already heard the conversation between several people in the He family.

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He smiled and said, "No need to ask, I'll make the decision. I'll ask Zhengming to pack a few bags for you. You can take them back and use them at home."

Hearing this, He Yunqing quickly said, "Old man, this is embarrassing."

Grandpa Feng smiled and raised his glass: "Today is Chinese New Year. Normally, your chef would have the final say, but today is Chinese New Year and I am his grandfather, so he has to listen to me."

Mr. Situ, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but whispered, "Xiao Feng, you are not drunk, are you?"

Grandpa Feng shook his head: "Brother Situ, don't worry, I definitely didn't drink too much."

Grandpa Situ then said to He Yunqing: "For ordinary small businesses, the sauce packets are definitely their secrets, but for Zhengming, the sauce packets are no longer a secret."

He Yunqing nodded and said, "Yes, with the chef's skills, he can make different flavors with the same recipe."

Grandpa Feng had a smug smile on his face: "So if you need any seasoning packets, just tell me and ask Zhengming to prepare some for you."

Then Grandpa Feng also reminded the He family’s son and daughter-in-law.

"If you really want to start your own business, you can tell Zhengming about it. He should be able to give you some technical support so that you can avoid taking detours."

He Yunqing immediately wanted to help his son and daughter-in-law refuse.

But before he could open his mouth, Mr. Situ took the lead.

"Xiao He, if your child wants to start a small business, you should support him as an elder. You are the shopkeeper of Huiquanlou and a capable person he trusts. If you need anything, you should ask him."

After listening to the two old people's words, He Yunqing also looked at his son and daughter-in-law.

"You two go ahead and tell the two grandfathers what you think."

Seeing their father asking them to speak, He Yunqing's son and daughter-in-law looked at each other first, and then told them about some of the difficulties they encountered while away from home.

The young couple's work in another place is actually working in someone else's factory, which can be said to be quite hard.

When they came back this time, the young couple had heard that their father was doing very well at Huiquanlou.

The young couple also wanted their father to help them get into Huiquanlou.

But when he told this to his family, He Yunqing rejected him.

He Yunqing said directly: "Huiquanlou has very high requirements. You two may not be suitable."

Then He Yunqing's son and daughter-in-law suggested that they wanted to learn some skills and do some small business at their factory.

So this time when they came to have the New Year's Eve dinner, the young couple had this plan in mind and wanted to ask Feng Zhengming to teach them something.

After listening to the young couple's story, Feng Zhengming and his two grandfathers looked at each other.

Grandpa Situ spoke first: "Your idea is good. There are many workers in your factory. Why don't you open a small shop near the factory and do some business yourself?"

Grandpa Feng then said: "But you have to be mentally prepared. Running your own business is also very hard."

Grandpa Situ nodded: "Yes, it's also very hard to run a business on your own."

He Yunqing's son He Jianjun confessed immediately.

"I dare not hide it from you two grandfathers. We have actually been doing business there, but our business is not very good. It may be because our skills are not good enough, so the business is not very good."

The daughter-in-law also nodded: "Yes, the business of the small shop is indeed not very good, so we want to learn something."

He Yunqing was surprised when he heard what his son and daughter-in-law said: "You have already started your own business? Why didn't you tell me when you came back?"

He Yunqing was about to glare at his son.

His wife quickly stopped He Yunqing: "Look at you, you get angry with the children all the time. How can the children dare to talk to you when you are like this?"

He Jianjun could only confess: "Dad, the work in the factory is really too tiring, and the boss doesn't pay much, so we want to try it ourselves and start a small business."

"Yes, Dad, it's not that we can't endure hardship, it's just that we are too tired." The daughter-in-law also hurried to help explain.

Grandpa Feng said, "Okay, Xiao He, I'll take charge of this matter. After the New Year, I'll let Zhengming teach them some skills and make sure they can run their business well."

He Yunqing was a little embarrassed: "Uncle Feng, how can I be so embarrassed?"

Grandpa Feng smiled and waved his hand: "You're welcome. If the children really can't continue working outside, then just let them come back. If they can't go directly to Huiquanlou, they can also go to the dry rice shop to exercise first."

He Yunqing immediately said to his son and daughter-in-law, "Hurry up and thank Grandpa."

The young couple quickly expressed their gratitude to Grandpa Feng.

When Feng Zhengming and the others served the dishes again, Grandpa Feng finally spoke.

"You brothers, hurry up and serve the remaining dishes. We are about to start the meal. If you don't serve, we will be embarrassed to start the meal."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "Grandpa, you guys drink and eat first."

Grandpa Situ said with a smile: "That won't do. You brothers are the protagonists. If you don't come to the table, everyone will feel uncomfortable eating."

Others also echoed and asked Feng Zhengming and his brothers to come to the table quickly.

Feng Zhengming exchanged glances with his senior brothers, then nodded in agreement.

"Okay, wait a moment, everyone. We'll serve the rest of the dishes, and then we'll start eating."

This time when they returned to the kitchen, the four brothers divided the work and started to get busy.

Among them, Feng Zhengming is responsible for stir-frying some dishes, while his senior brothers are responsible for the remaining dishes that need to be roasted, stewed, boiled, simmered and steamed.

The fellow apprentices divided the work and worked together, and quickly finished the remaining dishes.

Then the four of them pushed the remaining dishes out on a cart and placed them on the tables.

After all the dishes were served, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers took off their aprons and sat at the table.

Finally everyone was present. Grandpa Feng and Grandpa Situ, the two oldest men, stood up and raised their glasses.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's all raise our glasses and drink this first glass of wine together. I wish all of us a happy New Year, and that everyone will be healthy and happy in the new year.

Let us also wish our motherland greater prosperity.”

Everyone stood up, including the children, and raised their cups.

Everyone shouted together: "Happy New Year."

Then everyone drank the first glass of wine together.

The New Year's Eve dinner, which brought together the Luo family, the families of the brothers and sisters, and the family of He Yunqing, the owner of Huiquanlou, finally officially began. (End of this chapter)