My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 99: Ordinary is the ordinary

What was even more unexpected was that the two chefs’ insights came from having been abroad!
Weidong's interest was immediately diverted, and he began to enthusiastically inquire about the procedures for going abroad.

He didn't notice that the secretary who was holding on quietly adjusted his sitting position and listened more attentively than he did.

Just as Manager Zhang from the photo gallery mentioned, it is extremely rare to have overseas experience in this inland city.

Last year, there were only about ten or twenty people.

In fact, most of the people there are cooks.

The truth is that this planned city with a population of more than three million currently has no other valuable assets except for the gourmet chefs.

Most of the chefs in this restaurant have experience of rotating abroad.

Of course they are on business trips, to put it bluntly, they are going abroad to work, and they are working for the country.

They still receive a salary at the domestic level plus some overseas subsidies, but they earn the most valuable foreign exchange for the country by paying the prices of restaurants run by master chefs.

In fact, this kind of business has never stopped in the past few decades.

There was no interruption to these movements at all, because such a big country needs to communicate with the outside world in all aspects and needs to buy some scarce materials.

I can only exchange these old skills for it.

They didn't hide it at all: "After all, the Queen's Restaurant is a time-honored restaurant in the former wartime capital. So when this restaurant opened two years ago, the Queen's restaurants in Washington and Hong Kong also opened simultaneously. Otherwise, how do you think this building was built? It was foreign investment."

Another person chimed in, "When we cook abroad, we have to bring a lot of seasonings and even ingredients from China because foreign food just doesn't taste the same—it doesn't thicken or enhance the flavor. After all, many of the people who eat at Queen's Restaurant abroad are elderly people who used to live in Beijing. They value the original flavor and are willing to try it no matter how expensive it is. That's why people have long discussed these advanced foreign methods of preserving food with us."

One of them has been to Washington, and the other has stayed in HK for a whole year. They have really seen the world.

Weidong listened with great interest. He waved to Shen Cuiyue to get a few more boxes of high-end cigarettes from the counter, make some tea and start chatting.

Of course, it is impossible for someone with such status and reputation to be openly undermined. Daring to damage the country's foreign exchange earnings is worse than killing one's own parents. It must be ZZ's fault.

In order to avoid such bad luck, Weidong just asked quietly if he could be introduced to one or two apprentices to be responsible for seasoning, and the salary and price were negotiable.

In fact, you only need to develop a flavor formula, check and confirm it every month, and you can get your money steadily.

It's even a one-time thing that doesn't affect your daily work at all.

At this point, he quietly extended two fingers and placed them on the table: "It's fixed every month, one or two is fine."

The two masters were immediately tempted: "Two hundred?"

They also know that this job is easy.

One of them even pretended to smoke and looked around. It was obvious that Shen Cuiyue was a professional at doing this, and she was chatting and laughing with the service manager.

Wei Dong's heart sank. He was actually planning to say 20,000!

For a master who can adjust flavors and constantly innovate new ones, isn't it natural for him to be paid 20,000 yuan a month? Who would have thought that he was aiming for a business worth tens of millions or even more?

It's normal for a chief technician who has mastered the flavor formula to get this price.

He even knew very well that this state-owned high-end restaurant would probably go bankrupt in a few years.

These treasure-like chefs will quickly switch jobs, whether they start their own business or are poached by other private restaurants.

This is equivalent to laying the groundwork for the relationship in advance.

But now it’s time to quit: “Two thousand.”

"Okay!" The two chefs, who were almost choked by the smoke, agreed and left their address to discuss it in detail after get off work.

But the reason why a chef becomes a great chef is that he has his own concentration and madness.

The chef, who had worked in Hong Kong, was still pondering, "You're talking about cooked meat that needs to be kept at room temperature for several months to a year. You can go to the Yuezhou Swan Hotel and ask someone about this technique. I spent two months last year as the head chef at this first five-star hotel in China. There's a Cantonese chef there who's very good at this. The temperature there is higher year-round. I can give you his name and position, but you'll have to find him yourself."

In an era without mobile phones, WeChat, Penguin accounts, or even programmable telephones, you either had to write a letter to the company and it would take forever to get your response, or you had to go there yourself to find someone.

Weidong was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly, shaking hands and confirming to meet later.

He picked up the takeaway box and called Shen Cuiyue to leave.

Standing in the elevator of Jiangzhou's best foreign-related hotel, Wei Dong realized why his secretary looked so uneasy. Could it be that he had eaten too much?

Did you start thinking about work again after eating?

But as soon as the three of them walked out of the lobby, they were stopped by someone.

Manager Zhang from the photo studio across the street quickly ran over. "I thought it was you before lunch. Look, look! Today's Sunshine Daily has published the call for entries for the Triumph Cup Photography Competition. It's a huge half-page spread!"

Wei Dong quickly unfolded it in surprise. Shen Cuiyue silently took over a large stack of packing boxes and observed calmly how another problem came up.

These days she stayed in the Malatang restaurant and thought that it was Rang Weidong's business, but she felt that Rang Weidong did not care much about it. He took his brother to Shangzhou and it seemed like he could easily pull out a big food business.

Suddenly, the camera business brought by this military uniform sounded like it could make a lot of money selling thousands of units a week, and she was not in a hurry to see people's hearts. So during the meal, she thought she had seen through Weidong's plan.

I didn't expect that such a big newspaper would use a rare full-page half-page in the last edition, just like the blackboard newspapers of that time with a small lace circle, which was particularly eye-catching.

The prominent announcement announced that the Triumph Cup "Celebrating National Day with Elegance, Continuing the Development of the Vast Mountains and Rivers" Triumph Cup photography exhibition, hosted by "China's First Color Film," co-organized by "China's X Camera," and undertaken by our company, is soliciting entries from photography enthusiasts nationwide. The detailed rules are as follows...

On the left is a black and white artistic photo of an X camera and Triumph film, and on the right is a photo of an oil worker coming down from a derrick with his face covered in oil.

It must be a masterpiece of a famous artist, so that even someone like Weidong who doesn't have much artistic talent can see that the artist's level is as high as several mountains.

Manager Zhang actively invited: "We have taken some sample photos, please let us guide you!"

The penniless country boy who came here to take pictures has now become a century-old store hoping to cling to him and regain its glory.

It was such a miraculous reversal.

Zhang Lanzhi finally remembered her main task. "Oh, Comrade Jin called the office yesterday afternoon and said he's made some progress in inviting leaders in Pingjing to write inscriptions for the film festival. But he mentioned other matters. I responded that we should still follow the spirit of your instructions in Guozhou."

In front of outsiders, he still didn't tell Weidong that he wouldn't give the money.

Manager Zhang was so shocked that he didn't dare to speak.

For a national photography competition hosted by a central newspaper, it is impossible for someone in Pingjing to write a calligraphy for it and it must be someone unknown.

And the person in charge of these matters is just an errand boy who does things according to the spirit.

Zhang Lanzhi probably didn't realize that she was helping Weidong to act pretty cool by just following the factory's speaking style.

But that wasn't the end. Shen Cuiyue, who had been wearing a mask and looking inconspicuous, suddenly spoke up: "Well, the elders at home often say that people who run around doing this kind of work in the court are most likely bees. This has been a long-established business since ancient times, and they're constantly killing people. You have to be careful."

She herself is a fraudster of the Bee, Hemp, Yan, and Sparrow sects, and it is obvious that they are short of manpower. Therefore, if she majors in the Yan sect, which is more inclined towards women, she must also learn the Bee sect, which is involved in gang fraud, the Hemp sect, which is superstitious about religion, and the Sparrow sect, which is familiar with violent fraud.

It is also said implicitly but clearly.

Zhang Lanzhi might not understand, but Manager Zhang couldn't help but turn around and look at this "ordinary" girl.

He took a deep breath and immediately continued, "Yes, I wouldn't have thought of it if she hadn't mentioned it. The old senior in the museum also talked about this kind of thing. When it was the temporary capital, there were people who surrounded those major families and helped various people to establish connections. But in fact, many of them were scammers. To be more precise, most of them were scammers. They pretended that they could contact so-and-so, but in fact, you had no idea how they operated. So there are deep waters here. This woman is very insightful."

Shen Cuiyue glanced at Manager Zhang's neatly-fitted Zhongshan suit and the time-honored photo studio behind him. "Your Liu family is only able to survive because of this discerning eye. Follow me closely... Comrade, I won't let you suffer any loss."

Inadvertently, a bit of arrogance was revealed.

Zhang Lanzhi finally understood that the two of them were competing to remind Weidong not to trust that guy.

She couldn't help but feel proud. "You're also telling me that Comrade Weidong told him at the time that this was the icing on the cake. To accomplish it, he had to rely on his own abilities. We won't be fooled by him!"

After all, Weidong has been guarding the tax gate for so many years, and he has seen many things going on inside and outside the gate, such as scalpers, connections, passing notes, and giving bribes.

I can only see that there are people on the first level who make money from this, but I never thought that they could be so two-faced and fake.

There really isn't a systematic technical flow like the Cheat Gate, so I think this expert is really useful: "Well, I will definitely go to Pingjing to deal with these people, and you can come with me to take a look."

Shen Cuiyue still explained it calmly.

Express your attitude of following very clearly.

Manager Zhang felt that Wei Dong was extraordinary from the first time, and now he can point out that the women in Old Liu's family are all devoted to him.

Instead, they took it for granted and respectfully invited Weidong to comment on the sample photos they took with their cheap camera.

Weidong would have no idea what they were doing, but he had to admit that masters, especially top masters, were people whose skills seemed miraculous to outsiders.

For example, there is the chef who just came to Washington and Hong Kong to export Sichuan cuisine, and there is also this photographer who has been famous since the wartime capital and has received countless celebrities.

Now they are all hidden in these old shops that are public-private joint ventures and mainly serve leaders.

There are both color and black and white photos. Even though Weidong can't explain the secrets of light, shadow and composition, he still thinks they are very beautiful.

The magnificent auditorium in Jiangzhou and the newly opened Yangtze River Bridge are the most common prosperous narratives captured by the camera, but even with the simplest point-and-shoot camera, they are full of vigor.

It really shows what little vigorous development has been achieved in recent years.

If it weren't for the exposure characteristics of bright center and slightly dark corners, one would almost doubt whether it was a masterpiece of a high-end SLR camera.

Weidong could only praise it highly.

But since there were so many masters around, the two girls and Manager Zhang all looked at him sincerely and asked for his opinions.

He flipped open the newspaper he had just read: "Maybe this is a tribute to May Day, so we used this photo, but this is the most common propaganda photo now. Workers and farmers are working hard. Can we change the angle and shoot something more down-to-earth? When life is better and the people are happy, they will naturally express their love for the passionate life. This is the greatest praise for National Day."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then immediately applauded enthusiastically with different expressions!
In an era that emphasizes fighting against heaven and earth, this kind of humanistic care is rare.

Whether it is a surprise or a worry, it will definitely stand out!
Thirty or forty years later, isn't this the most common way to impress people?

(End of this chapter)