Well, after all these years, he's come to understand.

He can't live without Fatty, just like he can't live without Silly Zhu.

Speaking of Sha Zhu, he finally submitted his resignation to Yan Jiecheng today.

"Jiecheng, brother, I may not be able to continue working for you. It's my fault, and I apologize to you."

Yan Jiecheng was quite surprised. Although he wanted to find a reason to make Sha Zhu back down, he hadn't even made a move yet.

In addition, Chunfeng Restaurant has only just begun to recover, and they haven't even found a replacement for Shazhu yet.

Yan Jiecheng panicked: "No, Sha Zhu, Brother Zhu! What will happen to my stall if you leave?"

Sha Zhu scratched the back of his head, looking rather embarrassed: "How about I have my apprentice come up here?"

"Who is it? MCA?"

MCA is no good; after all these years, Shah Chu has only cultivated this one confidant.

He even relies on MCA for advice and strategies when he opens his restaurant.

Sha Zhu explained, "It's not Ma Hua, it's another apprentice of mine. I've been teaching him for many years, and he's learned almost everything he needs to know. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

"And I guarantee you'll be satisfied?" Yan Jiecheng didn't believe a single word Sha Zhu said.

It is clear that he was determined to leave, considering that his Singaporean wife had just left and he resigned shortly after.

Needless to say, it must have been that rich woman who invested in him! Now that Sha Zhu is going to start his own business and become his own boss, will he still be able to work for him?

Despite his reluctance, Yan Jiecheng had no choice but to agree and have Sha Zhu bring over the apprentice he had mentioned to taste the dishes.

"..."

In the afternoon, Sha Zhu actually brought someone with him.

Yan Jiecheng was almost dumbfounded when he saw this person.

Round face, big earlobes, double chin, small eyes—isn't this a young, chubby guy?

Is he your apprentice?

"Silly Zhu is really... really," Yan Jiecheng couldn't think of anything else to say.

Is it because you broke up with Fatty back then and he no longer recognized you as his master that you feel the need to take on someone who looks like him as revenge?

Since we're already here, let's try the dishes.

The chubby boy made a Sichuan dish called: Shredded Pork with Double Peppers.

The so-called "double peppers" refers to green and red peppers, not the Sichuan peppercorns and rattan peppercorns that everyone is familiar with today.

These days, chefs have standards for cooking, and they're very precise. If they say 4 liang (200 grams) of meat, then it's 4 liang, not even a liang less.

Unlike later on, when selling ramen for a year, the cow at most only suffered minor injuries...

The chubby boy was very accurate with his hands, but when Yan Jiecheng saw how much meat he had grabbed, he jumped up in anger:

"Stop! Stop! Are you even going to let us through? Are you grabbing all this jerky? We're just a small business!"

The chubby boy was clearly frightened and looked at his master, Sha Zhu, with trepidation.

Sha Zhu sighed. In order to save costs, they would focus on the amount of food served. The Yan family would always be so stingy and would never amount to anything.

Sha Zhu personally grabbed a handful of shredded meat, about 3 liang (150 grams), and handed it to the chubby boy, instructing him to continue with the next steps.

Yan Jiecheng's eyebrows twitched incessantly, and he hesitated several times before speaking; in his opinion, two ounces of meat was enough for a stir-fry, that was it, take it or leave it.

Sha Zhu's apprentice was quite skilled at cooking, his movements were fluid and effortless, without any awkwardness.

Traditional chefs like them cook differently than Fatty Naqilige.

The fat guy is from the modern era, and he's mastered the tricks of the old ways.

For example, many dishes, whether meat or vegetables, need to be deep-fried, which Sha Zhu just can't understand.

He had seen the kitchen of Qili Pavilion; they even fried potato shreds in oil first.

Sha Zhu asked the fat man what he was doing, only to be kicked out on the grounds that he was spying on trade secrets.

Later, it was Xiao Dang who told Sha Zhu why he did it.

This is primarily to shorten cooking time. This is especially important for a street food stall like Yan Jiecheng's.

The essence of a street food stall is speed. Everything has to be fast: serving food quickly, turning over tables quickly. The tables should be as narrow as possible, the chairs as small as possible, making sure the customers are as uncomfortable as possible so they'll finish their food and leave quickly…

One reason for this is that deep-frying can quickly raise the temperature of the food and accelerate its cooking.

Secondly, deep-frying helps preserve the color and texture of ingredients. A protective layer forms on the surface of the food after deep-frying, maintaining its color better. It also effectively prevents excessive moisture loss, preserving the best taste.

I won't go into the other benefits, but in short, the same dish cooked by Qilige tastes better than the dishes cooked by other restaurants!

Sha Zhu and his group are quite traditional. The little fat boy performs every step meticulously and is also very quick to understand.

After learning what kind of person the boss was, he tried to save money wherever possible, which greatly pleased Yan Jiecheng, who was standing nearby.

Soon the dish was ready.

Sha Zhu handed Yan Jiecheng a pair of chopsticks. Yan Jiecheng took a bite and commented, "Stir-fry the meat a little longer so it's more chewy."

This time, the chubby boy understood without Sha Zhu translating. Who is this? Just because there's not much meat in the dish, it has to be overcooked, so people have to chew it more. Two negatives make a positive, right?

Yan Jiecheng only ate one bite and then stopped. He pushed the dish further in and said, "Don't touch this. We'll just reheat it in the pot tonight and serve it to the front."

Good grief, serving guests food you've already eaten...

See that? He's still doing this in front of Sha Zhu. If it weren't for him, who knows how badly Yan Jiecheng would have stingy he'd become.

So regardless of whether Sha Zhu is there or not, his restaurant is destined to fail.

After trying the food, Yan Jiecheng was generally satisfied with the chubby boy and asked him, "What's your name?"

The chubby boy said timidly, "My name is Wang Lu, and I'm 22 years old."

Only 22, so young, that's wonderful.

Yan Jiecheng sighed inwardly for a moment, then asked Wang Lu, "What are your thoughts on salary?"

Wang Lu spoke her mind: "The power supply can't be less than what the factory provides, right?"

Sha Zhu chimed in at the opportune moment: "This child comes from a poor family, otherwise I wouldn't have brought him out."

Yan Jiecheng thought for a moment and said, "Xu Damao's parts factory pays its workers 300 yuan a month, and they work overtime every day; our restaurant isn't that tiring, so I'll give you 400 yuan a month!"

"You're so stingy," Sha Zhu said, pulling Wang Lu away.

Seeing this, Yan Jiecheng became anxious: "Five hundred, five hundred should be enough!"

Sha Zhu didn't even turn his head when he heard that. Was he trying to fob off a beggar? Even Fatty's apprentice earns 700 a month!

Yan Jiecheng caught up from behind, his face filled with grief, as if it were his life, and he gritted his teeth: "Six hundred, six hundred should be enough, right?"

Sha Zhu finally stopped and looked at him, saying, "If you're still not sincere, I'm taking this child with me."