The Rise and Fall of the Last Imperial Cook

29. Chase the Cook Back

Translator: Wang Mengmei

Proofread by Peter Gong

Cai Renxin and Zhu Shengpeng do not know where Xu Zhiwei lives. But Cai surmises that Xu may live near Xiaodongmen as Xu saved steamed buns there in the morning, and a few days later he commented on the noodles in the chicken noodle shop there, too. Moreover, Cai Renxin came across him when he came ashore from Port Mudu by boat. So it can be concluded that he comes to Shanghai to make a living just like them. And there are many outsiders living near Xiaodongmen, so they may find Xu Zhiwei soon if they go there to inquire from door to door about whether there is a single middle-aged male tenant named Xu Zhiwei.

So they run to the back of Xiaodongmen, one from south to north and the other otherwise, inquiring people from house to house about the whereabouts of Xu Zhiwei. An hour later, it is already past noon, but they get nothing. When they come out of the alley and get together again in despair, Zhu feels that it’s useless to look for Xu in this way as Shanghai is such a metropolitan city. Xu doesn’t necessarily live near Xiaodongmen. And they don’t know his name, identity and origin, and the man has no striking features, either. Besides, the surroundings are so complicated and there are so many people coming from outside Shanghai. So even if he lives there, it will be extremely difficult for them to find him. And even if they can find where he lives, they may probably miss him.

“It’s no use looking for him this way. He saved steamed buns and taught the owner of the noodle shop to make noodles, right? So I think you should go to the noodle shop and I’ll go to the steamed bun shop. Maybe their staff know where he lives.” Zhu comes up with a good way that may work. Cai Renxin walks out of the shop at once because it’s also the first time that Boss Cui has met Xu that night and he hasn’t seen him since then. So he doesn’t know where Xu lives, either. Zhu Shengpeng stays in the steamed bun shop for only a little longer, then runs out quickly. He stops Cai Renxin as soon as he sees him: “Hurry up, I got it! They say Xu lives in the opposite alley.”

“Are you looking for Uncle Xu?” Huang Mingxiang, a young man in the steamed bun shop, runs out after him. “He left for a while with his luggage. Before leaving, he said to me he was not cut out for Shanghai, and that he could not find a job for himself here on merit. So he’s gone elsewhere to gain a foothold.”

“Oh my! It’s too late.” Says Zhu Shengpeng regretfully and beats his thigh.

“Run after him! Perhaps it’s not too late!” “Cai Renxin runs away at once.

“Where are you going? Do you know where he has gone?” Zhu Shengpeng asks loudly from behind.

“Port Mudu!”

Xu Zhiwei arrives at Port Mudu, from where he came ashore and if he leaves Shanghai, he has to go aboard at Port Mudu, too.

He stands by the riverbank before the boat arrives, looking pensively at the waves pounding the levee. On the waves lies a dead branch, which has grown tenaciously on a tree. But now it can do nothing but drift along with the stream and by no means can it reach the bank. Xu feels he is something like this branch—he has given up everything to pursue the expertise of cooking as well as wealth, believing that hard work will pay off in the end. However, the reality argues tragically against his imagination. God can prevent you from growing and make your dream shattered at any time. To get stuck in the torrent, or in the whirlpool or sink into the bottom of the river is all beyond his control, not to mention reaching the bank.

While he is thinking wild, the passenger ship approaches the bank slowly. Xu Zhiwei has made up his mind to head west by this ship, and then turn north after entering into the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. And then he will return to Mr. Weng’s house as a cook. It may be somewhat risky to go back to the capital if the news reaches the palace, which is likely to implicate Mr. Weng. But he has nowhere to go, so he has to regard it as an imprisonment and he will never appear on public occasions when he enters Mr. Weng’s house. As for Fan Ada, he will ask someone to deliver a message to him as an explanation, telling him he has returned to the capital. Knowing that Xu has gone back to the capital but not knowing what he is doing, according to Fan’s character, he will definitely play for safety and dare not to do anything to Xu’s ancestral grave. When the bastard grows up, he might probably not come to the capital to seek him.

When the ship draws near the shore, Xu Zhiwei mingles with the crowd and moves towards the gangway. Just when it’s his turn to go up the gangplank, the crowd behind him bursts into an uproar, among whom someone grabs his baggage and shouts, “Halt!”

Qian Hezi sits there, staring at the cook as soon as he begins to cook the dish.

When Cai Renxin just comes back, Qian Hezi keeps rolling his eyes with contempt as he has come to the conclusion that Cai Renxin will not meet his requirements. But he hasn’t expected that Cai can find such a cook. And they say this cook has not only saved steamed buns but also changed the noodles. They brag about the cook in the most fantastic terms as if he is an immortal. But how can the two green hands cheat Qian Hezi who has done business in this street for several decades?

The cook looks dull and good-natured, but enjoys talking big a lot. He says he has ever been a cook in the Imperial Kitchen of the palace. Hearing his nonsense, Qian Hezi spurts out a mouthful of tea, not because he is frightened, but because he cannot help laughing. Bragging skill varies from person to person. The big words said by those who are skilled at bragging can convince people without a shadow of doubt. On the contrary, people will laugh at those unqualified braggers.

Though the cook seems to be dull, he is not stupid at all. He reads the meaning of Qian’s action, then he doesn’t say anymore, but begins to cook the dish. Some things are best explained not by mouth but by hand. Something must be proven by actions rather than words.

Just as the cook puts a fatty pork chop on the chopping board and beats it with a porcelain bottle, Qian Hezi’s eyes stop rolling. He has seen many ways of cooking ribs, but it’s the first time for him to see the cook beat the ribs first. Seeing the cook’s skillful technique, Qian Hezi knows Xu does not intend to fool others. Instead, there must be something special with this dish.

In fact, when Xu Zhiwei is stopped by Cai Renxin, he has never dreamed that his fate suddenly turns around when he has completely lost hope for Shanghai and decided to leave.

To be honest, Xu Zhiwei wasn’t interested in his intention at all when Cai Renxin stopped him and explained why he had come here. They seem to be clever in terms of rent bidding, but it does not sound right if they intend to open a decent restaurant. Besides, they seem to be good at playing tricks, which makes Xu fear that they may be very cunning and unkind. If he works for them, he is very likely to be cheated. The way that Zhao Hudong and Fan Ada treated him has made him well understand the proverb “once bitten, twice shy”.

Cai Renxin cannot persuade Xu Zhiwei into staying behind. When the boatman shouts: “The ship is ready to leave! Please board quickly!”, Xu Zhiwei doesn’t change his mind to leave Shanghai. Fortunately, Zhu Shengpeng arrives at this time. Although it takes him much time to get here, he has already considered some problems well on his way, including how to persuade Xu into staying behind and contributing wholeheartedly to their restaurant in the future.

“We’ll provide you with 20% of free shares!” Just stepping onto the gangway, Xu Zhiwei hears someone shouting towards him. It’s Zhu Shengpeng.

Xu Zhiwei stops, looking back at Zhu in disbelief. And then he turns around and gazes at Cai.

Cai Renxin also freezes there, staring at Zhu. When he senses the sincerity of Zhu from his expression and eyes in making this decision, Cai turns to Xu Zhiwei immediately and says, “Uncle Xu, do not leave, please! We will give you 20% of free shares. Oh no, we invite you to run the restaurant together with us.”

Hearing the repeated confirmation, Xu Zhiwei steps back from the gangway.

20% of free shares! They are definitely pennies from heaven. Hearing his promise, Xu Zhiwei is convinced that his luck is on the turn. But he soon learns that if he wants to get these free shares, he must cook some extraordinary dishes to conquer Qian Hezi right now. Only in this way can Qian believe that they can open their restaurant and do a brisk business.

They hurry back to the teahouse when night fall. Although Shanghai has opened its port at that time, its night life isn’t colorful at all. People usually go to bed when night falls in order to save fuels. So most businesses begin to close at that time, not to mention those who sell vegetables. The vendors usually stop working before noon whether they sell vegetables in the market or in the street. After noon, all the vegetables will be sold as stale ones, and people can buy them at less than half of the original price. As for those who sell live fowls like Zhu Shengpeng and Cai Renxin, they can sell their goods, at most, till the evening. When they return to the teahouse, the vegetable vendors have already sold out their vegetables at a sacrifice and begun to plan their business for the next day.

After knowing what he has to do, Xu Zhiwei deliberately pays attention to whether there is any place to buy ingredients on the way back. Although it’s lucky for him to get some vegetables and mussels from a boatman by the river, and some pork chops in a butcher’s shop, these are not enough for the next three dishes. And there are no other auxiliary ingredients, so Xu Zhiwei has to go to the teahouse first and play something by ear, hoping there are some stored or dried foods he can use.

In the past, besides providing boiling water to make tea, teahouses also make some snacks for guests, so there are some ready-made materials, such as flour and glutinous rice flour. Stoves are also available, but these stoves are not authentic cooking stoves but small ones for household use. Their firepower cannot meet the need of deep-fry and stir-fry. So only boiling and steaming can achieve the same effect as a kitchen stove.

In fact, the situation Xu Zhiwei faces now is equivalent to testing dishes. He must prove his cooking skills as soon as possible, so that Qian Hezi can believe that he can open up the restaurant and make it as well. As the saying goes, “Even a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice.” Xu Zhiwei now only has three kinds of ingredients: pork chops, mussel, and green vegetables, and he has no auxiliary materials. So he is in a difficult situation. As for the taste-borrowing technique used when he tested dishes in Huiquan Hall, it is even impossible. Therefore, he should not only find the auxiliary materials that can set off the pork chops in the teahouse, but also comes up with the way of cooking mussels and vegetables. It’s best to find something else to make a third dish, which should complement the pork chops, mussels and vegetables.

The first problem Xu Zhiwei faces is the pork chops, which are not affordable in the eyes of ordinary people. It is lean meat with bones and lacks fat. It’s even more difficult to cook in a delicious manner because lean meat has crude fibers, and will be overcooked with a slow fire on a household stove. So Xu Zhiwei decides to beat the pork chops first to break the crude fibers in the meat.

Xu Zhiwei borrows the cooking method from the Fujianese imperial chef in the imperial kitchen. When making meatballs, this chef does not use a knife to chop, but smashes them with a mallet to break the fibers without losing the juice in the meat. The same is true of the pork chops. As long as the degree of beating is well controlled, the fibers can be broken and the meat can be loosened. Then souse them with seasonings, wrap them with thick liquid to fry, and simmer them with sauce in the pot. In this way not only the meat is tender, but the taste can be soaked into the pork chops from three steps. The first is the seasonings penetrating directly into the meat by sousing, the second layer of flavor is wrapped around the pork chops with thick liquid, and the third layer of flavor is achieved by simmering with sauce.

However, if the pork chops are served with noodles or rice, there is definitely no problem. But now he is testing dishes, and Qian Hezi will only taste the pork chops, but will not eat rice or noodles. In this case, if you cook the pork chops with sauce alone without adding other ingredients, the taste will be dull, and they will become greasy after one takes a few bites. And even though they taste good and smooth, they are not too different from other people’s cooking because they lack special flavor.

To solve this problem, Xu Zhiwei finds an auxiliary material in the teahouse to cope with it. This auxiliary material is tea, which can not only remove the greasiness, but also inject a natural and elegant fragrance into the pork chops. What Xu Zhiwei cooks for Qian Hezi and his daughter today is ingenious tea-favored pork chops.