Chapter 118 Lou Jiafu’s Dilemma

Lou Jiafu stood in front of Guo Shijie and was scolded by Guo Shijie.

Guo Shijie was obviously there, and he also saw that the young man had extraordinary skills.

The young man's level, in the whole city of Hong Kong, can compete with either two or three older chefs, including his master Yue Baohua, and probably Yue Ning. He has met the strongest opponent of this year.

"You are an old chef who has been learning cooking for fourteen years, but you can't even beat a young man in his twenties. Could it be that he was holding a wok when he was six or seven years old?" Guo Shijie looked at him with a harsh and sarcastic expression, "The customers are already complaining that we can't even beat Baohualou. Now we can't even beat the chef of the Aocheng Restaurant?"

Lou Jiafu wondered where he would get the mortgage for next month. He dared not say anything, but stood there quietly, letting Guo Shijie scold him.

Guo Shijie felt relieved after scolding her, and said, "What are you still standing there for? Go and prepare for the dinner!"

"yes."

Lou Jiafu was filled with anger. He left Guo Shijie's office and went to the fourth floor Yulongxuan. When he entered Yulongxuan, Lu Jinyong walked up to him and said, "It's not that the boss doesn't understand. He just doesn't want to fire you and me before Lu Peide wins the title of Chef King and is invited to be the head chef."

Lou Jiafu looked at Lu Jinyong, and Lu Jinyong laughed: "Before, I was your spare tire. If you won the title of Chef King, I would leave. Now we are both spare tires. If that Lu Peide gets the title of Chef King, we will leave immediately."

Lu Jinyong took out a cigarette box from his pocket, lit up a cigarette and started smoking.

Lou Jiafu walked in and sat down helplessly. He believed what Lu Jinyong said. He might only have three or four months left in Yulongxuan. What would happen next? Where would he find a job? The mortgage of the house and the expenses of a family of four. What should he do?

When he was in Baohua Building, he had hardly thought about these things. He was getting married, and his master accompanied him to look for a house. They found a house of about 400 square feet, which was not small in Hong Kong City.

Getting married costs money, the wedding banquet is paid for by the chef, and you only have to take care of the couple's household expenses.

At that time, I wanted to pay back the money to the master, but the master said that he didn't know when the country would open, and he didn't know if he could see his son before he died. Zhirong was his biological son, and they were also half of his sons. He was old and couldn't walk anymore. Even if he lived in a nursing home, he wanted them to visit him. Wasn't it reasonable to spend some money on them?

At that time, I was so moved that I cried, and told my master that I would respect him as I respect my own father.

But after so many years, he had long forgotten how he swore to serve his master well. After being coaxed by Ding Shengqiang, he decided to run to Shenghua Tower.

When they went to Shenghualou, he cooked dishes using the standards of Baohualou, so Ding Shengqiang started to say that he was stubborn. He was very polite at first, but later he started to scold him regardless of the occasion.

If he were as stubborn as Asong, and as content as Wei and Ming, he would not have left Baohualou and his master.

Shenghualou went bankrupt and he worked for a month for nothing. When he went out to look for a job again, either those restaurants didn't need chefs at the moment, or the restaurants were too small and couldn't afford the price.

When he was at his wit's end, Guo Shijie found him and asked him to enter Yulongxuan.

Yulongxuan! One of the best restaurants in Hong Kong. He never dreamed that he would have such good luck.

However, he also understood that Boss Guo wanted him because he hoped that he could compete with his master's granddaughter Yue Ning.

When he went to Shenghualou, his wife argued with him and told him not to regret it. But this time when he went to Yulongxuan, his wife had no objection. She said, "It doesn't matter which restaurant you go to, as long as you make a living by your cooking skills."

He entered Yulongxuan with great joy, and found that all bosses are the same. He also understood the difference between a master and a boss. The master treated them as children, while the boss treated them as long-term workers.

When asking him to do work, he coaxes him, but if there is any problem, he starts scolding without asking any questions and puts all the responsibility on them.

But what else can he do?

"Master, Master's wife wants to divorce you?"

Hearing this voice, Lou Jiafu looked up at his apprentice and asked, "Who told you that?"

"Ah Zhong called me and said that my master's wife was looking for a house in Mong Kok today and that she wanted to divorce you."

The apprentice did not say that he was the one who called A Zhong and told A Zhong that his master had lost the competition. A Zhong then said that it might be because his master's wife wanted to divorce him, so his master was emotionally unstable.

Still looking for a house? Who will pay for the rent after finding a house? Did he deliberately let Ah Zhong call his apprentice?

She heard that Ah Song earned tens of thousands of yuan a month, and she was jealous and uncomfortable. But what could she do if she felt uncomfortable? He couldn't go back to Baohua Building. Couldn't she stop making trouble for the sake of the child?

Lou Jiafu laughed: "She's just having a bad temper! It's okay."

"Then I feel relieved." The apprentice thought for a moment and said, "A Zhong told me that Yue Ning took A Ming and that Ma Yaoxing to the TV station and watched the live video. Yue Ning said that there was nothing wrong with your strategy. It was right to use mediocre dishes to play the primary competition at the beginning. Your dishes were also at a normal level."

Lou Jiafu took a deep breath when he heard this. Yue Ning said this? He asked, "What else did she say after reading it?"

"She said that person is the descendant of Lu's cuisine, which originated from Cantonese cuisine that came north and became the century-old official cuisine. Several of the dishes competing with you today are state banquet dishes, including the cold dish of tripe, the hot dish of prawns, and the soup of chicken soup with clams. She said that Cantonese cuisine came north and merged with Shandong cuisine, making Lu's cuisine both light and delicate like Cantonese cuisine and luxurious and heavy with the five flavors of Shandong cuisine. And that bottle of soup is the essence of Lu's cuisine. The Lu family is best at making soup, and the Lu's soup is unrivaled in the world. Yue Ning herself said that she might not win even if she participated in the competition. She said that it was not unfair for you to lose to this person."

Lou Jiafu didn't expect that the person who could say something fair at this time was Yue Ning.

Fairness? These two words, and "conscience" are what the master always mentions.

They are really like grandparents and grandchildren, one is traditional, the other is eccentric, but their styles of doing things are similar.

No matter how much I miss the days when I cooked at Baohualou, they are now a thing of the past.

He has to face the reality now. He is now working as a long-term worker for someone and he can't do it for many more days. But at least he can still get paid for the few days he works.

Lou Jiafu resigned himself to the evening market. After he came, the business of Yulongxuan was better for a few days. With the opening of Ningyan, the two restaurants were separated by such a small distance, and the business today was much less.

He comforted himself that it was easier here than in Baohua Building or Shenghua Building.

After finishing the dinner business, Lou Jiafu rode his motorcycle home. On the way, he thought that although his wife had gone too far this time, as a man, he still had to be more tolerant and give in.

After he got home and went upstairs, he opened the door. Usually at this time, the lights in the living room were on, but today she was still angry and didn't even turn on the lights. He put down his helmet quietly and turned on the lights.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The room was also dark. I turned on the light and found two beds side by side. My child and wife were not there.

Lou Jiafu was dumbfounded. Was she serious?

Remembering what my apprentice said, my wife went to Mong Kok today.

Asong's wife called her and boasted to her about how much money Asong had earned.

Yes! He called Asong's wife's home. Lou Jiafu took out the address book from the drawer and found Asong's home phone number.

"Hello." It was Asong who answered the phone.

"A Song, please ask Xue Lian if she knows where Cai Yu went?"

On the other end of the phone, Asong called his wife, "Xuelian, Lou Jiafu called to ask if you know where Caiyu went?"

Xuelian's voice came on the phone: "I don't know! She came to me and told me that she wanted to divorce Lou Jiafu and look for a house in Mong Kok. But how could I have the time to accompany her to do this? I just said a few words to her."

"I'm sorry! Xuelian doesn't know. You can ask someone else!" Asong replied to him.

Lou Jiafu didn't need to ask anyone else. He saw a folded paper next to the phone with a message from his wife. She said, "Jiafu: We have been married for eight years. I don't want to raise children, wait for my husband to come back every day, and live a life of poverty. I also don't want to hear that you are suffering outside to support the three of us. I will take the child away. I have found a job and will start working the day after tomorrow. The child will also be left somewhere. You are back very late. I will call you at seven o'clock tomorrow morning and we will discuss the child's ownership and the alimony after the divorce."

Lou Jiafu sat down. When he was in the most difficult time, his wife of eight years was going to leave him.

He was wrong. Wasn't his starting point for the sake of this family? Wasn't it for her and the child to have a better life?

Lou Jiafu leaned back on the sofa, and couldn't figure out why all the bad things would come to him, why all the pressure would come to him at this time? Why would the person closest to him leave him so simply?

His father died early, and his mother was diagnosed with cancer when he was sixteen. His sister was already married, and his brother-in-law was annoyed by his younger brother-in-law, fearing that his sister would agree to his mother and take on the responsibility of finding him a wife.

His mother dragged her sick body to take him to Po Wah Building in Mong Kok. After his father died, his mother went to Po Wah Building to wash dishes and serve food, and raised the two siblings.

His mother had long wanted to send him to Baohualou to learn a trade, but Yue Baohua persuaded her: "The child is still young, so you should let him study for a few more years. At least he won't be blind. Maybe he will have other options in the future. Even if he becomes a cook, he will be able to do the math and read recipes."

He only had a high school diploma, but it looked like he wouldn't be able to go to a college, and given his family's financial situation, it wasn't feasible for him to go.

Yue Baohua accepted him. He was the most talented among the six apprentices of the master. The great thing about the eldest brother was that he was an orphan taken in by the master and was the most hardworking. Ding Shengqiang's craftsmanship was slightly worse than his own.

But the master asked the eldest brother to do the shopping, and asked Ding Shengqiang to do the shopping. After Ding Shengqiang got into trouble, he thought the master would hand over the shopping to him. But even when the master went back to Yuecheng, he arranged for Sister Hua and the four brothers to do the shopping together, and did not trust Baohualou to him.

He found that the master did not trust him. In fact, when Ding Shengqiang asked him to go, he hesitated. When he told the master, he hoped that the master would keep him. However, the master agreed to let him go without saying a word to keep him.

He stood up and looked at the paper on the table. The wife who married him and had two children with him was just like that. She left so easily!