From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming once again promoted the name of Yan Xilou, and the news came out that he and several of his senior brothers were going to Beijing under the name of Yan Xilou, a Shandong cuisine restaurant.

This surprised the Shandong cuisine chefs in Quancheng and even all over Qi and Lu.

In those days, Yan Xilou was truly able to compete with Jufengde in the culinary industry in Quancheng and even in the entire Qilu region.

Although Yan Xilou does not have a large number of top chefs like Jufengde.

But no one can deny the skills of the chefs at Yan Xilou back then.

The closure of Yanxilou is a pity for many gourmets in Quanzhou.

Originally, Feng Zhengming had made a name for himself with Yan Xilou.

But later on, he rarely used the name Yan Xilou.

So much so that in just a few years, many people in Quancheng had forgotten about Yan Xilou.

Nowadays, people still mention Huiquanlou more often.

After all, Feng Zhengming is the head chef of Huiquanlou.

And now he is the champion of the National Cooking Skills Competition.

But this time, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers were going to Beijing to attend the state banquet celebrating Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

He actually used the name of Yan Xilou disciple.

It immediately brought back memories for many gourmets.

"Yanxilou, that was a restaurant that could be compared with Jufengde as the twin pillars of our Quancheng back then."

"That's right. When Yanxilou was popular, it was even more famous than Jufengde."

"Hahaha, that's not true. When Yan Xi Lou was at its peak, it was only on par with Ju Feng De and was never able to surpass Ju Feng De."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Jufengde has a longer history and has some unique skills."

"But the cooking skills of Yanxilou's chefs are not inferior to those of Jufengde."

"Of course, otherwise how could we have trained the champion of the National Cooking Skills Competition for Shandong cuisine?"

"I never thought that Feng Zhuangyuan would be invited to attend the state banquet. That's really different."

"The key is that Feng Zhuangyuan has not forgotten his roots and still remembers that he graduated from Yanxilou. This time when he attended the state banquet, he and his fellow brothers promoted themselves as Yanxilou disciples."

"Why don't you say he's the top scholar or a master? He not only has the skills, but also the style."

On the streets and alleys of Quancheng, many people were talking about Feng Zhengming's reputation as a disciple of Yan Xilou.

Most people think that Feng Zhengming has become rich but has not forgotten his roots.

Feng Zhengming once again received high praise from many people.

In a place like Qilu where etiquette is very important.

Feng Zhengming's approach is undoubtedly very consistent with the traditional etiquette of respecting teachers.

Therefore, even the descendants of the Confucius family wanted to personally present Feng Zhengming with a commendation.

Not to mention all the praise he received from the province and the city.

Television stations also reported on the incident and newspapers interviewed him.

Before going to Beijing, Feng Zhengming did not shirk these tasks and even recorded several episodes of a cooking program on TV.

Then a strange scene appeared in Quancheng.

Almost every day, everyone buys newspapers to read some reports about Feng Zhengming.

When Feng Zhengming was building momentum for his trip to Beijing.

Several senior brothers are busy making preparations.

On the one hand, they are preparing to go to Beijing, and on the other hand, the senior brothers are also working hard to teach the young chefs in the kitchens of several stores.

Obviously, the senior brothers were still worried that after they followed Feng Zhengming away, problems might arise in several stores.

So I am making good use of these days to give some intensive training to the young chefs in the kitchen.

Maybe the young chefs are being pushed too far.

As a result, some problems arose.

Feng Zhengming stepped forward in time and gathered the young chefs and his fellow seniors to the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

“I know that in the past few days, the requirements of several senior uncles and uncles on you have been a bit too strict, which may have caused you to have a little resistance in your hearts.

I will make the decision for you today. You can express your dissatisfaction to my face.

It’s okay, just say it, I promise not to let the uncles and uncles bear a grudge against me.”

Feng Zhengming's words stunned the young chefs and senior fellows.

Everyone looked at each other, and then looked at Feng Zhengming.

For a moment, I really didn't know how to start.
Seeing that everyone was silent.

Feng Zhengming could only smile and said, "Okay, I'll go first. This time when I came to Beijing, I was a little willful and didn't consider the business of several stores in Quancheng.

I insisted on asking my senior brothers to accompany me and go to Beijing together under the name of Yan Xilou disciples.

I probably did rush things a bit, which led to all sorts of problems before I left.”

At this point, the smile on Feng Zhengming's face disappeared.

He sincerely apologized to everyone first.

It made everyone feel a little embarrassed all of a sudden.

Senior brother Li Huidong spoke on behalf of his fellow brothers.

"Zhengming, this is not your fault. We all understand your thoughts. This opportunity to go to Beijing to participate in the state banquet is very important to us brothers, or should I say, to the closed Yan Xilou.

We all understand that we were a little too impatient before we left and didn’t have the patience we had before to teach apprentices.”

Second Senior Brother Chen Zezhi also followed up and said, "Yes, we Senior Brothers didn't help you, and we brought you new problems."

Third Senior Brother Yang Bin was more direct: "Okay, I'll apologize to everyone as well. I've been in a bad mood these days and everyone has been wronged."

The fifth and sixth senior brothers also apologized to the young chefs.

Seeing Feng Zhengming and the others apologize first made the young chefs feel even more embarrassed.

Bao Feng quickly said, "Master uncle, you shouldn't apologize to us. It's because we didn't work hard enough. Many times, we really didn't understand what you taught us."

Qi Jiale then apologized: "I was upset and didn't follow the instructions carefully."

Then the young chefs also apologized one after another.

Feng Zhengming saw that both sides apologized to each other.

"Okay, okay, there's no need to keep apologizing for this matter. We still need to have more communication. In fact, many things can be discussed and talked about without any problems."

Everyone nodded.

There are indeed many problems, but once they are discussed, they are no longer problems.

Feng Zhengming came forward personally and asked everyone to talk about the matter and speak out their true feelings.

As a result, both the seniors and the young chefs calmed down.

Next, Feng Zhengming simply turned down the interview and began to make final preparations with his senior.

It took almost a week to arrange all the stores.

Feng Zhengming booked train tickets for himself and his fellow brothers.

Before leaving, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers went to Yan's Restaurant to see their master.

When Master Yan saw his apprentices coming to see him, his heart was filled with joy and pride.

These disciples of his were finally going to leave Quancheng as disciples of Yan Xilou and go to Beijing together to attend the state banquet.

This is an unparalleled pride and honor for any teacher.

Master Yan looked at his apprentices one by one. This moment was just like when the master said his final farewell to his apprentices before Yanxilou closed down.

But that time, the master and his disciples were forced to separate.

This time, the master felt proud.

In the end, the master's eyes fell on Feng Zhengming.

He really did it for his little apprentice.

He alone supported the Yan Xilou brand.

He achieved fame all by himself.

Now he was going to lead his fellow brothers to Beijing to make Yan Xilou famous again.

Master Yan walked up to Feng Zhengming.

He reached out and patted Feng Zhengming's shoulder with relief.

"Master is proud of you. This time, Master believes that you can make our Shandong cuisine well and let people all over the country and even the world see the true beauty of our Shandong cuisine."

Feng Zhengming nodded seriously: "Master, don't worry, my brothers and I will definitely do our best."

Master Yan laughed: "Hahaha, I believe it, I believe it."

In fact, Master Yan also understands that there are not many techniques in preparing state banquet dishes.

But the key to a state banquet is that it must be done with care and have sufficient design aesthetics.

Other disciples may not be able to do these things.

But in Master Yan's opinion, Feng Zhengming can definitely do it.

Many of the young apprentices are bold and have a passion for the beauty of dishes, so they will definitely shine at the state banquet.

Master Yan still reminded him earnestly: "Remember one thing, a state banquet does not need to be fancy, but you must make it solid enough and take into account the taste needs of different diners."

Feng Zhengming nodded seriously: "Master, I will remember this. My fellow brothers and I will definitely prepare carefully."

The senior brothers also agreed.

Master Yan nodded and said, "Okay, I have said everything I need to say. The rest depends on your performance. I believe you can perform very well. Master will wait for you to come back."

Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers bowed to their master.

Then the disciples said goodbye to their master.

On the day of departure, relatives and friends from home all came to see me off.

After all, Feng Zhengming and others were going to Beijing to attend the state banquet.

Friends and relatives of each family attach great importance to it.

Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers watched their relatives and friends seeing them off, with smiles on their faces. They confidently told their family and friends that they would try their best and would never bring shame to Shandong cuisine and Yan Xilou.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers boarded the train to Beijing.

Watching the train slowly leaving the station and looking at the distant Spring City.

At the train station, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers were somewhat confused.

Everyone was silent for a while, and it was fifth brother Cao Zhiguo who spoke first.

"I never thought that I would go to Beijing again to attend the state banquet, and this time I went with Zhengming, which really made me feel confident."

Everyone was silent at first, but Cao Zhiguo's words immediately made everyone laugh.

Zhang Minghao took the opportunity to ask with a smile: "Fifth brother, when you were in Beijing, which restaurant did you stay in?"

Cao Zhiguo had never told his fellow disciples about this before.

Today he didn't hide anything anymore and directly told everyone which restaurant he had stayed in in the capital.

"I went to Beijing with the intention of building a career. At that time, I thought that with my cooking skills, I could definitely become a chef in Beijing. Aren't all the restaurants in Beijing lining up to find me to be the chef?

But after I really came to Beijing, I realized that it was not as easy to get by in Beijing as I thought."

Cao Zhiguo talked about some of the surprises he encountered while in the capital.

When he first came to Beijing, Cao Zhiguo was indeed full of ambition and pride.

He even looked down upon the chefs in the restaurants in Beijing.

Especially Badalou, which is famous for Shandong cuisine in Beijing.

Cao Zhiguo even tried to challenge the chefs of the Eight Buildings directly.

The result is predictable. Cao Zhiguo encountered various rejections.

When he presented his resume, the restaurants in Beijing looked down upon him.

"It was only after I was repeatedly turned away that I realized that to enter the big restaurants in Beijing, you need a recommendation. Without a recommendation from someone who has enough influence, it is difficult to enter those restaurants in Beijing."

Cao Zhiguo was relatively lucky, as he later met a good friend of Master Yan.

The old master recommended Cao Zhiguo to one of the eight buildings.

After entering, Cao Zhiguo thought he finally got the chance to show his skills.

Unexpectedly, after he entered the kitchen, he was assigned to do some miscellaneous work.

Cao Zhiguo was not given any chance to cook at all.

This made Cao Zhiguo feel very aggrieved.

"I was frustrated there for more than a year, and finally I was a little angry, so I challenged the chef at that time. I wanted to prove that my cooking skills were not inferior to his."

After hearing what Cao Zhiguo said, the second senior brother Chen Zezhi asked, "You didn't lose, did you?"

When asked by Second Brother, although he didn't want to admit it.

But Cao Zhiguo still nodded.

It turned out that Cao Zhiguo lost the challenge to the chef.

It still surprised the fellow disciples.

However, the second senior brother Chen Zezhi was not very surprised.

"It's normal, actually. Those who can cook in restaurants in Beijing must be great chefs with excellent skills. Old Fifth, you weren't very skilled at the beginning, so it's not shameful to lose to them."

Cao Zhiguo also nodded: "Yes, I was full of enthusiasm at the time, but I ignored my own abilities."

At this point, Cao Zhiguo looked at Feng Zhengming and said, "If I had worked in the kitchen of your Huiquan Restaurant for such a long time, I would have the confidence to fight with that chef."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Five, how about we go to that restaurant and challenge it after we get to Beijing?"

Cao Zhiguo quickly waved his hands: "No, no, I've lost someone once before. If we go again this time, we'll obviously be bullying them, so let's not go."

Senior brother Li Huidong agreed and also persuaded the younger brother.

"It's better not to go. We are going to Beijing to attend the state banquet. We don't have much time to prepare when we get there. We should hurry up and prepare instead of causing trouble."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Hahaha, just kidding. After we arrive in Beijing, I'm afraid we will be gathered together for training immediately. How can we have time to help Fifth Brother challenge the opponent?"

In the carriage, several brothers and sisters started laughing.

Amidst the laughter, Third Senior Brother Yang Bin suddenly asked, "It seems like this is the first time for us to do this. Can we brothers come out together?"

Everyone thought about it and nodded to indicate that this was indeed the first time the brothers and sisters were together.

However, among the seven brothers, the fourth brother Feng Zhengming is still missing.

At this moment, there is a feeling of "there is one less person wearing dogwood branches everywhere".

Along the way, the brothers chatted and discussed the selection of dishes on the menu after arriving in Beijing.

When the train finally arrived at the station, the brothers walked out of the train station together and officially set foot in the capital.

At this moment, the brothers were really excited. (End of this chapter)