From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming was not affected at all by that somewhat funny episode.

After all, he had no intention of paying attention to the other party from the beginning.

He knew very well that any response, as long as he paid attention to the other party, would give the other party an opportunity to hype up the situation.

Anyway, he has already said everything he should have said when he was interviewed by the provincial television station and the central radio station.

He also resigned from his position as a judge in the national competition.

As for where to go after the national competition?
Feng Zhengming no longer wanted to care about it.

Those weird things will be left to the judges like Master Hou to consider.

During this period of time, Feng Zhengming returned to Quancheng and worked in the kitchens of several of his stores in Quancheng with young chefs and apprentices as if he was going to work every day.

It made him feel as if he was back in the days when he first opened his first dry rice shop in Quancheng.

So on New Year's Day in 2000, Feng Zhengming selected some young chefs whom he thought were good from the kitchens of several restaurants.

Take them with you and the things you used to do at the food stall near the train station.

They went to the vicinity of the train station and set up their own food stall.

In broad daylight, some people set up stalls at the train station to run food stalls.

Naturally, it immediately attracted the attention of many people.

Especially the city management personnel, they immediately went out to take action.

People from the train station also came to the door at the same time.

Even people from the Market Administration Bureau rushed over after receiving the report.

When the people from these families arrived at the train station.

They were all surprised to see that the person who set up the food stall was Feng Zhengming.

"No, Mr. Feng, what are you doing?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and bowed to everyone: "I'm sorry to disturb everyone's rest on New Year's Day. I've been relatively free at home recently, so I brought these new apprentices with me to practice with them."

These words confused the managers from all parties surrounding his food stall.

They had never expected that Feng Zhengming would suddenly come and set up a food stall.

The managers were speechless.

Feng Zhengming quickly said, "Well, if you need to impose a fine, you can tell me that I am willing to pay the fine. Otherwise, I can find a place where it won't get in the way and won't delay your work."

If someone else were to set up a stall so blatantly, the management would probably expel them.

It is even possible that law enforcement officers will confiscate everything from the stall.

But Feng Zhengming and his people setting up stalls in this way made it difficult for the management and law enforcement personnel.

Drive away Feng Zhuangyuan and the others?

He is the representative of Shandong cuisine, and many people may actually be looking forward to setting up street stalls like Feng Zhengming.

But if Feng Zhengming is not expelled, what if others follow suit?
Feng Zhengming also thought about the difficulties faced by management and law enforcement personnel.

He smiled and offered another solution.

“I think it’s better to do this. This place is actually quite empty. Why don’t we plan it out? In the future, let some small vendors set up stalls here, and you can charge a certain management fee.

Isn't this also a way to promote the prosperity of our Quancheng market economy? It also provides convenience for some small businesses to do business."

After Feng Zhengming said this, the management and law enforcement personnel thought about it and felt that it was indeed feasible.

Then they used the reason that today was New Year's Day and asked Feng Zhengming to continue setting up the stall here.

They were preparing to report the matter to their superiors as soon as they returned.

Of course, they also asked Feng Zhengming for help and helped them to react.

Feng Zhengming naturally agreed: "Okay, then after the New Year's Day holiday, I will go to the province to propose this matter."

With Feng Zhengming's words, the management and law enforcement personnel who arrived at the scene felt relieved.

Seeing that they had worked hard to make the trip, Feng Zhengming invited them to come into his stall and sit down to have something to eat.

"You're welcome. You've made such a fuss to come all the way here during the holidays. I didn't think it through. I should have informed you in advance. I'll treat you all to a meal as an apology."

The group of people who came to deal with Feng Zhengming looked at each other in confusion. They didn’t know whether they should eat the meal or not.

But while they hesitated, a voice suddenly sounded among the crowd.

"Hahaha, our number one scholar is setting up a street stall, of course we have to show our support."

When this voice sounded, the crowd of onlookers slowly dispersed.

Then, in full view of the public, the provincial leader in charge of street administration came out.

Everyone also greeted the provincial leaders.

Feng Zhengming even smiled and directly invited the provincial leaders to sit down and eat together.

"Okay, since Mr. Feng has invited me, I will not refuse."

Led by the provincial leaders, all management and law enforcement personnel who arrived today also sat down.

Seeing this scene, the crowd around applauded with joy.

Let’s line up together to eat at Feng Zhuangyuan’s food stall.

Feng Zhengming looked at the young chefs he had nominated.

"See? This is the best test for you. Move, don't just stand there in a daze."

At Feng Zhengming's command, the young chefs who came with him to the food stall immediately took action.

Soon, a long line formed in front of Feng Zhengming's stall next to the train station.

After receiving the news, the provincial leaders rushed over and looked at the queue outside.

He smiled and said to the people who came with him: "Did you see that? Our number one scholar is still very appealing. For a successful chef like him, he is still willing to humble himself and set up a stall on the street. It's not easy."

The colleague lowered his voice and asked, "He offended a lot of people at the national competition a while ago."

The provincial leader laughed and said, "Who did he offend? I think our top scholar offended those people who have something to hide."

What happened to Feng Zhengming in the national competition did attract considerable attention.

The provincial leaders also went to Beijing for a meeting.

After the overall situation was investigated, everyone's general opinion was to support Feng Zhengming.

This is something that is also recognized by the master craftsmen both in Beijing and other places.

The veteran masters also felt that there was nothing wrong with the rules set by Feng Zhengming for the national competition.

And when he was interviewed by CCTV.

He said that any chef should master the basic skills.

This is also unanimously recognized by domestic masters.

This is also recognized by many famous chefs in Hong Kong.

If a chef cannot prepare the dishes he/she is entering in a national competition by himself, then what qualifications does he have to participate in the national competition?
Based on this point, almost no one would speak on the side of the chef who abstained.

Even though an elderly local chef was taken as an apprentice by the chef who gave up his rights, he later refused to accept any interviews after learning what had happened.

Even two days before New Year's Day, the old chef was interviewed by their local TV station.

He publicly stated that he did not recognize the chef who gave up as his apprentice. The old chef even asked the TV station to convey his apology to Feng Zhengming.

During the entire incident, Feng Zhengming hardly showed up.

He didn't even face up to those messy and bad media and argue with the chef who abstained from voting.

The provincial leaders looked at Feng Zhengming who was busy with the young chefs outside.

"Our number one champion is a chef first and a national cooking competition champion second."

After expressing this sentiment, the leader asked, "Who will be the top scorer in this year's national competition?"

The fellow staff explained: "There is no individual ranking today. I heard it is because of Feng Zhuangyuan's incident. In addition, the individual competitions were held simultaneously in three places, so there was no individual ranking in the end.

Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded based on the dishes, and there were more than 300 gold medals in the individual competition."

Upon hearing this news, the provincial leaders couldn't help but sigh again.

"Times have really changed. Many things from the past are slowly becoming no longer applicable."

At this time, Feng Zhengming personally served the dishes to the provincial leaders.

"Thank you for your tolerance, which allows me to relive the feeling of setting up a street stall again. I don't have anything good to treat you, please try the three fried dishes of Laoquan City. Please give me more suggestions."

Seeing the three explosive items that Feng Zhengming put down, the provincial leaders immediately laughed.

"Hahaha, our top pick is still so humble? This is not like you, the top pick, to behave in the national competition."

Feng Zhengming said with a smile: "In the national competition, that is my professional field. Since I was once the national champion, I should strictly demand professional standards.

If I don't set strict standards, how can our craft be passed down better?"

The leader nodded: "That's right, the top scholar is not allowed to fish in troubled waters and tarnish the word "cooking skills"."

"Yes, in most people's eyes, cooking skills are just the skill of cooking." Feng Zhengming paused for a moment, "But for me, the word cooking skills must never be tarnished."

Then the provincial leader pointed outside and said, "It's not good to leave the open space here empty. After the New Year's Day holiday, we will make a good plan and follow what you said to set up a stall."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Thank you so much, leaders."

Feng Zhengming then suggested: "In fact, we can ask the stall owners to pay attention to maintaining the hygiene here. Each stall owner can fix their own stall, so that they can do some cleaning themselves."

The leader also thought this suggestion made sense.

"Okay, when we have a meeting to discuss this, Zhengming, you must be there to talk about your suggestions."

Feng Zhengming was embarrassed: "This, is it a bit inappropriate for me to go there and give suggestions?"

The provincial leaders laughed and said, "Hahaha, there's nothing wrong with that. You are our number one scholar, the pride of our Shandong cuisine and Qilu. You are qualified to make suggestions."

Feng Zhengming nodded in agreement, and then asked the leader to eat it while it was hot.

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming walked out of the stall and continued to lead the young chefs to cook for the people in line.

At this moment, the bustling atmosphere next to the train station dispels the winter chill, allowing travelers and returnees to and from the train station to taste the authentic Qilu flavor.

The news that Feng Zhengming had reopened a food stall next to the railway station quickly spread throughout Quancheng.

Many people came here specifically to show their support for the top scorer.

Many people in Quancheng have not eaten Feng Zhengming's dishes for a long time.

Today, I finally got to eat the dishes cooked by Feng Zhengming himself at the food stall next to the train station.

It makes many people feel as if they are in another world.

Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship still makes everyone feel at ease.

He is still so steady.

You can hardly go wrong with the plateful of dishes.

The taste is what Laoquancheng Shandong cuisine should taste like.

Even many older people can taste the flavor of their youth.

It turned out that Feng Zhengming just wanted to set up a food stall for a while at noon on New Year's Day.

Because there were too many people queuing, he and the young chefs were busy from noon to evening, and after a short break, they served dinner.

It was naturally impossible for Feng Zhengming to prepare so many materials, so he called several stores and asked them to deliver the goods to him several times.

In this food stall, you can’t taste some of Feng Zhengming’s novel dishes.

The dishes served in the food stalls are just very common classic Shandong cuisine.

But it is these old dishes that make the people of Quancheng feel particularly familiar.

People come to eat at Feng Zhengming's food stall mostly to watch him cook.

Watch Feng Zhengming stir-frying the food on the stove, preparing one classic dish after another.

It can be said that Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship is the standard.

It is completely possible to record it directly and use it as a teaching video.

His standards are something that many young chefs today cannot achieve.

So in the afternoon even TV stations and newspapers came over to film and interview.

Especially the TV stations, they really set up cameras and filmed each dish one by one.

Truly record the most standard cooking process of each dish by Feng Zhengming.

Even when facing the camera lens, Feng Zhengming is still very comfortable.

He can also give guidance to the young chefs he brought up.

If there are some mistakes, Feng Zhengming will point them out immediately and then tell the other party how to do it in the standard way.
The young chefs were inevitably nervous facing the crowd, cameras and video cameras.

When you are nervous, the more you want to perform well, the more likely you are to make mistakes.

Feng Zhengming did not blame anyone, nor did he get angry or yell at the young chefs.

He just pointed out the problem gently and explained it carefully to the young chef.

Even in front of the crowd, Feng Zhengming was generous in teaching some tips.

In the words of some onlookers.

"Our top scholar is treating the street stall business as a training class for his apprentices. This practical class is so lively."

This is indeed the case with the young chefs that Feng Zhengming named to set up stalls today.

After receiving Feng Zhengming's guidance, they all felt that they had made great progress.

The food stall was open until eight o'clock in the evening.

As one group of people left, Feng Zhengming asked the young chefs to pack up and close the stall.

"That's all for today. Go back home in the evening and think about your experiences today and summarize your problems. Come back and set up your stalls tomorrow. I hope to see your progress."

As soon as Feng Zhengming gave the order, the young chefs immediately took action.

First put away the tables and chairs of the food stall, and then put away the tents of the food stall.

In the end, the young chefs did not let Feng Zhengming say anything else and took the initiative to clean up the stall and all the garbage around it.

When Feng Zhengming and his friends left, there was almost no trace of where they had set up their stall.

Feng Zhengming asked the young chefs to take the things back to the old shop.

He separated from everyone else and walked alone on the streets of Quancheng in the night, enjoying the night view of the streets while rushing home. (End of this chapter)