The Rise and Fall of the Last Imperial Cook

8. Looking for a Job as a Local Chef

Translator: Li Ruoxuan

Proofread by Peter Gong

Xu Zhiwei’s wail of grief attracts a lot of neighbors around, and they are now all gathering at the entrance of his dilapidated courtyard. Hearing that Xu Zhiwei has come back home, these neighbors all sigh with sympathy. After a long time, the howling of Xu Zhiwei turns into silent sobbing, which, together with his hard-twitching back and shoulders, only shows more pain and grief than his previous wail.

“Dad, why are you here? I’ve earned you a drink today.” A boy squeezes his way through the crowd.

The voice startles Xu Zhiwei who is still sobbing. The voice of that boy sounds a little bit familiar to him, especially in his own yard as if someone is calling his father or himself. He slowly straightens up and looks back.

“Ah-ah, why is that idiot also here? Dad, who is he?” The boy out of the crowd is exactly the cheater who sold him peaches before.

“Watch your mouth, you cheeky boy! This is Uncle Xu. Call him Uncle Xu.” Fan Ada scolds somewhat falsely, for it can be seen that in his heart he feels quite satisfied rather than apologetic: a child only a few years old who knows how to go outside and earn money to buy drinks for his father must be well-taught.

“Ah! So I’ve tricked one of us today? Uncle Xu, forgive me. I didn’t know you at that time. Hee-hee!” The little child makes a face, sticks his tongue out and then slides into the crowd again.

Xu Zhiwei recognizes that this little boy was the one who sold him peaches and made a fool of him – the boy turns out to be Fan Ada’s son. Like father, like son. Fan Ada himself has always been slippery and greedy, and no wonder his son is raised up like that. But at the same time, he also notices that after the boy’s appearance, the expressions of the neighbors around all change somewhat subtly.

“All right, Brother Zhiwei, stop crying! Tears can heal, but too many tears will hurt. Our lives are all predestined by Heaven, and there is no one to blame. Well, you can’t live here now. Go home with me then. It’s just on the opposite side of the wall; take my home as your own. After a few days’ rest, you can take the big money you’ve earned to make a better house.” After that, Fan Ada lifts Xu Zhiwei up from the ground and persuades, “Well, everyone, we’d better go back home now. Talk with Zhiwei later; Brother Zhiwei is in need of a rest.”

The crowd disperses, but none of them go too far. Watching Fan Ada leading Xu Zhiwei back to his home, they are all whispering about something.

Xu Zhiwei has lived in Fan’s family for two days, almost silently. But from time to time, he walks to his own yard and sits around, recollecting about the past scenes with a broken heart.

Fan Ada also asks Xu Zhiwei nothing about his experiences outside these years, nor does he say anything more to this sad man; he knows that now Xu Zhiwei really needs to rest alone. People are always like this. They can’t move on with an entangled heart; they can communicate more only after relieving themselves.

In those two days, only Fan’s little son keeps following Xu Zhiwei at times. Generally speaking, children will be curious about these people who come back from afar, because they can always bring back some wonderful stories about the outside world. However, this boy behaves not like those normal children. What he is curious about is that whether Uncle Xu, who has been silent for such a long time, will become numb and stupid; he wants to see how a broken yard could produce a fool.

Two days later, with the help of Fan Ada’s comforting words and a pot of liquor, Xu Zhiwei finally opens his mouth and tells them about his experiences outside in recent years.

“Ah! So you’ve been a royal chef in the imperial palace of the capital? Then you must have earned a lot of money, right? What is it like in the palace? They told me that all the bricks on the floor are made of gold, is it true?” Sometimes Fan Ada even shows more curiosity than his children. There are altogether five children in his family, all surrounding the dining table to listen to Xu Zhiwei’s stories. It’s hard to imagine that Fan Ada, rather than those little boys and girls, is the one who often interrupts to express surprise.

“Alas, I’d better not say… The life in the palace is not like what those outsiders imagine, and the royal chef is not a job that suits everyone.” The topic of royal chef hits a nerve of Xu Zhiwei. Because of being a royal chef, he has lost his family and, what’s worse, almost his life. He gains nothing from that title.

“What does a royal chef do?” Fan Ada’s little son finally can’t help asking curiously. “Wu’er, the royal chefs are wonderful! They specially cook for the emperor, and they can make the best food in the world.” Fan Ada says to his son with exaggeration. “So Uncle Xu can cook the best food in the world?” That little boy named Wu’er suddenly stares at Xu Zhiwei with wide open eyes, “Can I learn from you? You teach me to cook, and I’ll be a imperial chef when I grow up.” Xu Zhiwei smiles bitterly and says nothing. He sighs secretly in his heart that in such a world full of evils, having mastered the skill to make the best food is far enough from being the best chef, let alone bring his family back. Wu’er courteously puts a piece of tofu in Xu Zhiwei’s bowl, and such a flattering practice does not match his age at all. “Uncle Xu, teach me please, and I’ll call you master.” Wu’er gazes at Xu Zhiwei with blinking black eyes.

Xu Zhiwei frowns. He gets an upright nature, never being used to this kind of hypocritical conduct. In particular, the dark experience as a royal chef in the palace brings him particular disgust towards those trickers. In addition, when it comes to the practice of cooking, the most important principle is to remember the word “real”. Real ingredients and really appropriate heat are essential components, while cheating and greed will only ruin one’s own reputation.

“By the way, Brother Ada, there is one thing I want to ask you. Where is the child whom Yumei gave birth to? Did you give him away?” Xu Zhiwei changes the subject.

Fan Ada’s eyes roll a few times, and then he calls other family members at the table, “Well, well! It’s almost finished. Go out for a walk then, all of you; that’s good for digestion. Brother Zhiwei and I will talk about something serious in private.”

All the others at the table go out, leaving only Fan Ada and Xu Zhiwei behind. Fan Ada refills the cup of Xu Zhiwei, saying, “Brother, I didn’t talk to you about this earlier because I know that for these days you must have been quite upset. In fact, if you don’t ask, sooner or later I’ll also tell you about it. But indeed, it’s really hard to explain.”

“Brother Ada, tell me then. My family has gone, and there will be nothing worse.”

“After Yumei gave birth to the child, she passed away without even saying a word. I’m a soft-hearted person, you know, and it’s impossible for me to stand by and watch my neighbors living next door go down to the underworld one after another. So I took the child home and raised him. Oh, I also arranged the funeral for Yumei. Brother, don’t worry about it; I’m not asking you for money.”

“Ah! So you bring the baby back and feed him? Is he one of those kids?” Though Xu Zhiwei asks so eagerly, a sense of shame still lies in his heart. If the child whom Yumei gave birth to is dead or given away, he will only think about Yumei’s miserable life and his guilt towards her, but the truth is that the child is still alive, and may be living next to him, which inevitably brings him great humiliation. After all, it is a bastard left by his raped wife.

“Brother, tell you what, you really owe Yumei a lot. Though the child she left is not yours, you should know that he is at least born by Yumei. I think the reason why she gave birth to this child is to sustain your Xu’s family. Now that she is gone, and this boy will always remind you of her.”

Xu Zhiwei answers nothing, but suddenly pours a cup of liquor in front of him into his mouth.

“Brother, honestly, I’m not asking you for money. And you don’t have to worry about the boy now, for I’ll keep him here. I know that you can’t accept him now both on the surface and in your heart.” Fan Ada tends to be not only reasonable, but also considerate.

Xu Zhiwei fills his cup, takes it to his mouth but puts it down again, “Which boy?” “It’s Wu’er, the boy clamoring to learn cooking from you.”

Xu Zhiwei closes his eyes tightly. He finally knows why the voice of Wu’er sounds so familiar to him when he was crying in the yard that day. It is like the voice in his memory, similar to Yumei’s. Now after careful thinking, Xu Zhiwei finds that the boy’s appearance and expression are actually also a bit like Yumei’s. But surely, this crafty conducts of this boy are way different from his wife, Yumei’s gentleness and virtues; that boy was born with a look like a thief.

Xu Zhiwei suddenly opens his eyes, raises his head and chugs the full cup of liquor again. Then he throws the cup onto the table and curses fiercely, “Yes, it’s bloody familiar. Bastard, a bastard of that damn thief indeed!”

With the whole set of kitchen knives on his back, Xu Zhiwei has been hanging around in the Wuxi City for two days. He walks down the “Two Channels”, “Three Streets”, “Four Gates” and “Hundred Bridges”, but fails to even find a simple job as a kitchen helper. It does not mean that restaurants in the City are too rare. Wuxi belongs to Jiangnan, a rich and populous area where the most important thing for people is to enjoy eating; one can’t live without the gourmet food, so restaurants are easily accessible.

The “Two Channels”, “Three Streets”, “Four Gates” and “Hundred Bridges” in the City deserve a detailed introduction. “Two Channels” refers to both the inner and the outer water channels in Wuxi. People who come and go on these two routes are generally boatmen, businessmen doing delivery, those who visit relatives and friends as well as learners and tourists from other cities. Visitors who come here all tend to taste some local specialties, so there are shops related to eating and drinking along the two channels. As for “Three Streets” and “Four Gates”, they are the busiest places in the whole Wuxi where shops gather, showing the hustle and bustle of city life. As we all know, each person takes three meals per day, so it can’t be achieved without enough restaurants. “Hundred Bridges” is also easy to understand, for there are always many bridges in a water town like Wuxi. With those bridges being connected with the roads and the loading docks under, the areas around those bridges are surely home to a large number of snack bars and taverns.

The need of chefs and cooks grows with the increase of restaurants. In addition, if the owners are in pursuit of a good business, they must constantly change and improve the taste and form of dishes while maintaining their own characteristics. Therefore, chefs here become quite mobile, and it is relatively easy for those skilled chefs to find a foothold and earn money in Wuxi.

The prosperity of the catering industry leads to the high demand and flow of chefs. Accordingly, a particular set of rules is gradually formed among those chefs in Wuxi; some private organizations formed by chefs spontaneously can also be found, which is called the “Chef Clique”. At that time, the social organizations such as the Chef Clique are in fact of a certain nature of Jiang-hu gangs (Jiang-hu, which literally means “rivers and lakes”, is a term referring to a kind of traditional Chinese environment where the martial artists live beyond the reach of the imperial government). They can not only unite the local chefs to fight against the bosses, but also form a solid industry circle to prevent the invasion of those job-grabbing chefs.

Years ago when Xu Zhiwei was studying cooking in Wuxi, Chef Clique had not been formed, but merely a few chefs gathered as groups. At that time, he was still not a real chef but an apprentice at the stage of learning, knowing nothing about the rules and the inside story. Later, he left Wuxi for cooking study outside, all the way north straight into the palace, leaving him no way to learn about the industry practice of cooking in his hometown. So now, as a newcomer utterly unfamiliar with his surroundings, Xu Zhiwei has not yet grasped the importance of visiting local influential seniors to show courtesy at all. Thus, without the letter of recommendation given by some leaders in the Chef Clique, he has to run from restaurant to restaurant, asking if they need a chef. As one can imagine, they directly kick him out; he even gets no chance of trying cooking, let alone working in the kitchen.

The reason why Fan Ada was willing to take Xu Zhiwei in is that he believed Xu Zhiwei must have made a big fortune or saved enough money during these years outside. Seeing the previous poor and jobless Xu Zhiwei, Fan Ada gradually changes his attitude and begins to be hard on him.

Xu Zhiwei knows everything clearly in his heart — no one will believe that a royal chef can’t even find a simple job as a cook in a small local restaurant. As for the experiences he said before, everyone will take them as story-making and bragging. Moreover, he has been living in Fan’s place and eating Fan’s food these days. That cannot go on — he can’t always rely on others for support as an unemployed vagrant.

On the third day, Fan Ada comes back after selling vegetables in the city and says to Xu Zhiwei, “I just heard from those around the Plum Garden that a new restaurant in the Clay Street at the foot of Huishan Mountain starts to recruit cooks today. You’d better go and have a try, or you can never make a living by yourself, let alone rebuild your new house.”

Undoubtedly Xu Zhiwei can get the meaning behind Fan Ada’s words. First of all, this neighbor no longer believes that he has ever been a royal chef in the palace, and asks him to drop the pretense after failing to find a job as an ordinary cook. Secondly, Fan Ada is urging him to find a job even as a handyman, instead of living off others.

Xu Zhiwei rummages through in his package and finds that the money given by Mr. Weng has almost been used up after his return to Wuxi. He gave the rest to Fan Ada a few days ago, and now all he has is merely several copper coins. Feeling too ashamed to take out those changes, Xu Zhiwei quietly leaves those coins on the corner of the table and steps quickly out of the door.

Fan Ada sweeps those coins from the corner into his palm, weighs them again and again, and curls his lips contemptuously towards Xu Zhiwei’s back.