Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

With nothing to do, I went to the courtyard house inside Zhengyangmen to cook and feed He Yushui to increase my experience points. I didn't have time to chat with him.

"Brother, what is this dark thing?" He Yushui asked.

"It's sea cucumber. My brother is coming over this evening to soak some dried goods, including sea cucumber. You can learn how to soak it; sea cucumber can be used in many dishes."

On Monday, I made braised sea cucumber with scallions, a famous Shandong dish. It uses sea cucumber from the Bohai Bay and scallions from Zhangqiu as the main ingredients. The sea cucumber is soft, chewy, and flavorful with a rich scallion aroma.

There are other ways to do it, which I will teach you later.

I can cook four dishes, including Kung Pao Chicken, Boiled Sliced ​​Pork, and Sweet and Sour Carp, all of which are your favorites.

Next, I'll teach you how to soak sea cucumbers. There are also some taboos when eating sea cucumbers.

When eating sea cucumber, avoid acidic foods and do not consume it with tea. Additionally, patients suffering from acute enteritis, bacillary dysentery, colds, cough with phlegm, asthma, loose stools, bleeding with blood stasis, or dampness should avoid eating sea cucumber.

Acidic foods include pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and fish, but it's not a big problem. Sea cucumbers aren't eaten as a main meal, and one or two sea cucumbers are enough for each meal.

Here are the steps to soak dried sea cucumber:

Soaking sea cucumbers is a core technique in Shandong cuisine for processing dried sea cucumbers. It involves soaking them in cold water, cooking them, and soaking them a second time to allow them to absorb water and expand.

Shandong cuisine chefs select northern sea cucumbers such as Liaoning sea cucumber and black jade sea cucumber, refrigerate them for 48 hours, remove the sand mouth after the first soak, simmer them thoroughly over low heat, and then soak them in ice water for another 72 hours to fully expand them.

Once the sea cucumbers have been soaked and rehydrated, they can be refrigerated for 3-5 days or frozen for long-term storage.

Step 1: Take a clean plate, making sure there is no oil residue, and place the sea cucumber on the plate.

Use less sea cucumber, as too much will make it difficult to soak. A clean plate is very important; it must be free of oil.

Wash the sea cucumbers thoroughly, soak them in water, and place them in a cool, shady place. Take them out and change the water once a day.

"...These are the steps and methods for soaking dried sea cucumbers. Have you learned them?" He Yuzhu asked.

"I haven't learned everything."

"Learn as much as you can. You'll have plenty of time to learn later. I can't teach you the family's 'Tan Family Cuisine,' so you'll need to soak less dried goods."

I will teach you the main methods for preparing dried goods; you don't need to be a chef, just cook at home.

When you're a few years older and have learned Traditional Chinese Medicine, your diet should still mainly consist of nourishing soups and home-style stir-fries; you don't need to eat other dishes frequently.

"Okay, brother, I'll learn how to make Dongpo pork, braised pork, twice-cooked pork... sweet and sour..." He Yushui rattled off more than ten dishes in one breath. They were either braised or sweet and sour.

At noon, the brother and sister ate Cantonese cuisine. Unlike Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine is not mainly spicy, but mainly salty and savory, with sweet dishes as a side dish.

Honey-glazed char siu, steamed sea fish, sweet and sour pork, and braised pigeon—four dishes in total. Children should eat less spicy food.

Eat a little something at the restaurant, and when you get home, mainly eat non-spicy dishes from various cuisines.

"Brother, all four dishes are delicious, just as delicious as Dongpo pork."

"We'll eat more in the future. You're still young and shouldn't eat too much spicy food. If your food isn't spicy, it loses a lot of the essence of Sichuan cuisine. You can eat real Sichuan food when you're older."

"My dishes aren't spicy, they only have a tiny bit of chili at most, isn't it Sichuan cuisine?" He Yushui asked.

"Some of them are, but they use too little chili, less than what's typically used in Sichuan cuisine."

"I understand. From now on, all these dishes will taste delicious." He Yushui is quickly becoming a foodie.

After finishing all four dishes for dinner, the brother and sister pushed their bicycles back to the courtyard house to aid digestion.

"Zhu Zi, why have you been going out every Monday these past few days? Are you working at the restaurant?" The people in the courtyard had too many questions to answer.

"Overtime work is paid."

"Apprentices don't get paid, so it's better to work overtime."

Back home, He Yushui said, "Brother, are they the ones you described, wanting to ask about everything? They care about too many things."

"That's right. The people in the courtyard don't really care about us. They just want to know our whereabouts. We need to be careful of them."

"I will."

........

In early August, thanks to He Yuzhu's efforts, all Sichuan cuisine chefs reached the advanced chef level. To reach the master chef level, one million experience points are required.

I've been cooking at the restaurant and at home, and I only get a maximum of two or three hundred experience points. I cook at the restaurant less often, only about a dozen dishes a day.

At this rate, it will take another ten years to reach the level of a master chef.

We need to speed things up. We don't yet know if there are any barriers to becoming a master chef. My own mentor has been stuck at the master chef level for five years.

He Yushui was very happy at the end of the month. Not only was she going to school, but He Yuzhu also bought her new clothes, new shoes, a new schoolbag, and all the stationery she needed for school was new.

On September 1st, He Yuzhu brought He Yushui to Xicheng Elementary School. The registration process went very smoothly; in short, you could go to school as long as you paid the fees.

After registering, I took He Yushui back to the restaurant. She was assigned to Class 2 of the first year. Classes officially started on Monday the 3rd.

We can play for two more days before officially starting our student life.

.......

"Brother, I've met a few classmates at school. We play together during breaks. I don't know most of them yet. There are forty-two people in my class."

The homeroom teacher was a woman, about thirty years old... "On the second day of the official start of school, He Yushui returned home and talked about school, finding everything new and interesting."

"Do you listen attentively in class at school? Have any male classmates bullied you?"

"No one bullies me, I listen attentively in class, and school is quite fun; I can meet many people."

In the courtyard, there were very few girls the same age as He Yushui, except for Xu Damao's younger sister.

Perhaps she felt that there were too few children to play with, and only her brother was with her, but she didn't say it out loud. Now that there are more children, she feels it's more fun.

"Spend more time playing with your classmates, and just don't talk about what you ate at home. Nothing else matters, just have fun and try not to hit your classmates."

"I will."

"Zhu Zi, cover my shift tomorrow. Your sister-in-law is eight months pregnant and needs to go to the hospital for a checkup. I need to go with her," said the fourth senior brother.

"Alright, congratulations, Fourth Senior Brother, you're not far from becoming a father. The child is important." He Yuzhu readily agreed.

"Giving birth is not easy; ten months of pregnancy is very tiring. Xiao Si, do you have any elders to help you? Have you hired a nanny to take care of your wife?"

"We haven't hired one yet. My wife says she's still quite mobile and doesn't need a nanny. We'll hire one next month."

"It's only a month earlier, and there's only one person at home, so safety comes first. Even if you work as a nanny during the day, you can earn more than 50,000 yuan a month. You shouldn't skimp on this kind of money."

Your due date is approaching. If there's anything you need to do, leave it to Zhu Zi. He's a better cook than you. Just focus on taking care of your wife. If you need anything, just let him know.

"On Sundays, you still need to take on more work at the restaurant; the salary at Sanzao is still too low," the master instructed.

"Master, I understand. We need to earn more money. Raising children isn't easy." The fourth senior brother smiled like a proud father.

"Old Qi, I've taken on a job Saturday night, you can take on a job on Sunday."

"I have no work on Saturdays and Sundays. There's a job I can't take. The client is offering a lot of money, but there are too many people who need it. He's planning to have a banquet with sixteen tables at once."

It would be fine if we all went to our child's wedding banquet, but the restaurant closes at noon, and Manager Wang wouldn't agree to that. After all, we're employees of the restaurant and get paid by them.

"Sixteen tables at once, holding the wedding banquet at home, they must be rich. It's a pity I can't go, they should book the entire restaurant for their wedding banquet."

"They have their own ideas too."

"Too."