Chapter 88 Chain Reaction

The principal of Donghua Town No. 1 Middle School is named Xiao Zhenhua. He is 48 years old, over 1.7 meters tall and thin. He likes to wear a polo shirt tucked into his suit pants. He has a bunch of keys hanging around his waist, which jingle when he walks.

It was lunch time for the students when he came in with his lunch box. He was not in a hurry to get the food, but walked to the dining table and leaned over to watch the students eat.

"Hello, Principal!"

"Hello, Principal Xiao!"

"Hello, students. What did you eat today?"

Even though Xiao Zhenhua has only been here for a short time, the students in the school like him very much.

There was no way. Firstly, Xiao Zhenhua looked very authoritative and handsome. Secondly, he really got things done. As soon as he arrived at the school, he got angry and removed the previous principal's relatives from the cafeteria. He also invited bids for a new cafeteria window, and the contractor was responsible for his own profits and losses. The hygiene and taste were much better than before.

Not only does it taste good, but it’s also cheaper for students to eat than before.

Xiao Zhenhua had mentioned at a meeting that the state provides a meal subsidy for compulsory education. Previous principals had never mentioned this; they likely pocketed all the money. But Xiao Zhenhua, on the other hand, explained directly to students that the state provides a meal subsidy. Part of it goes directly to the cafeteria counter, lowering vegetable prices, while the rest is used to steam rice and steamed buns for students. Staple foods are free; students can enjoy a full meal of white rice with just one vegetable dish.

As the saying goes, a young boy can starve his father to death. There are two or three thousand students in a school, all of whom are in the adolescent stage of physical development. When it comes to eating, they are like hungry pigs, with endless hunger.

In the past, the school cafeteria did not provide staple foods, and students had to pay if they wanted to eat. The rice steamed in the window was old rice that had been stored for who knows how many years. It was infested with insects, but it was still cooked and served to students. It was considered good if they could get protein, but the worst thing was that they could get small stones in their food that would directly break their teeth.

Now, the school cafeteria looks bright and clean. The windows are like concubines who please the emperor. Cleanliness is a must, the food tastes good, and the prices are reasonable.

In the past, students at No. 1 Middle School were most afraid of eating, for fear that they would eat something that would irritate their heart. Now, students at No. 1 Middle School are most looking forward to eating, just to see what delicious food they can eat.

So students like Xiao Zhenhua.

Besides delighting students with his food, Xiao Zhenhua was also very approachable and affable, never adopting official rhetoric when speaking to students. At assemblies, he spoke to students in plain language, using the catchphrase "I'm telling you the truth." He repeated it so often that students began calling him "the truth," and the dialect sounded almost like Xiao Zhenhua's.

Xiao Zhenhua knew it, but he was not angry. He even told people that he just liked to tell the truth.

When he asked the students what they were eating, the students were eager to let him taste the food in their own bowls.

"Principal! Go eat at window number one. They have hamburgers today!"

"What kind of burger?"

"That's it! The kind of burger you get at KFC!"

The student held up the bowl for him to see.

There is no KFC in a small place like Donghua Town. There is only one Western fast food restaurant. Many students have never eaten there. Even if they do, they only eat there once or twice a month, and they have to beg for food.

As a result, the school window made hamburgers for them directly. For these small town students who had never been to a big city, this was the biggest surprise.

"Let me see," Xiao Zhenhua said, carefully examining the contents of the burger. There were vegetables, tomato slices, salad dressing, and a piece of meat whose ingredients were unknown. "Is it delicious?"

he asked the students.

"It's delicious! This is the first time I've ever eaten a hamburger in my life!"

Xiao Zhenhua smiled and patted the student's head. "As long as it tastes good, it's fine. Can a hamburger fill your stomach? You can have some rice and a side dish later."

"Yeah, the burgers weren't enough to fill me up, so I went to window number three and ordered some food. Principal, don't listen to him and just eat the burgers. Listen to me, the food at window number three is the best!"

The students were praising him, which aroused Xiao Zhenhua's curiosity. "What's the dish at window number three?"

"Braised pork! Look, a big spoonful full! And there's also fried sponge gourd with eggs. I said I don't like sponge gourd, but you insisted on giving it to me so I could taste it. Who among you wants to eat sponge gourd? I don't want to eat it!"

"I'll eat it, I'll eat it!"

The students exchanged dishes. After the loofah was taken away, the students took a bite of the hamburger and a bite of the loofah, and then they were like they had discovered a new world, "This seems to be more delicious!"

"Really? Give me some loofah too!"

The children's attention was quickly distracted, and they started playing tricks under Xiao Zhenhua's nose. Xiao Zhenhua was not angry, but smiled and thought of the scene when he and his classmates shared instant noodle seasoning packets when he was a child.

He walked around the cafeteria with his bowl, and saw that the children were eating with relish and almost no one had any leftovers, which made him very satisfied.

It turned out to be the right decision to start with the cafeteria.

Meals at school are divided into two rounds, each round lasting half an hour.

Donghua Town No. 1 Middle School is responsible for the education of school-age students from three nearby towns. Although there are many students, the campus is not very big. The school dormitories and cafeteria are very old. The school was originally planned to be expanded, and the land near the school has been approved. However, due to the actions of the previous principal, the new building has not been built, and students can only eat in this small cafeteria.

It takes at least an hour to ensure that all students finish their meals every day.

The money was not in place, so Xiao Zhenhua was unable to build a bigger canteen even though he wanted to.

While thinking about work, he walked to the most crowded cafeteria No. 3. The hamburgers at window No. 1 had been sold out, and the second group of students could only look at the burgers and sigh.

The young couple has come up with a lot of new dishes, but some of them are not suitable for students. One burger is quite large, but it is not enough for students to last until dinner. It is okay to try something new.

The food at window number two tastes good and is clean and hygienic. The contractor previously opened a Shaxian restaurant in another place, but later he couldn't make it, so he returned to his hometown to take care of his children in school and contracted the canteen by the way.

Their window is good at making breakfast and dinner, steaming big and small buns by themselves, as well as various snacks and fast food, which students love very much.

The contractors of window number three are an elderly couple who hired two helpers. They have been cooking in a big pot for most of their lives and their cooking is very solid. There may not be enough food at other windows, but this will never happen at window number three.

The first batch of students had almost finished eating and left. Xiao Zhenhua went to get some food and peeked in: "Is there much food left? Half of the students haven't eaten yet."

Chef Zhang and his wife were not at home. Only the waitress was there, and she shouted, "Just because I'm worried it won't be enough, I'm going to cook more!"

The three big pots of food only had a small layer of base, but it still looked very crowded. Xiao Zhenhua handed the bowl over. The auntie who served the food knew that he was the principal, so she specially filled it with a full bowl of food.

What the students said was true, the food at window number three was indeed delicious.

While eating, Xiao Zhenhua was wondering where to get the money.

Ma's Restaurant is doing good business these days.

Although his business was good before, it was a good business that everyone was used to and could not find fault with.

It's just like eating a home-cooked meal at home, delicious and makes your stomach feel good.

But in the past two days, the taste of Ma's Restaurant has reached a new high. Even if it is still ordinary home-cooked dishes, it tastes eye-catching and tastes even better.

As soon as it was dinner time, the entrance of Ma's Restaurant was surrounded by people. Ma Xueqing was in the kitchen watching his apprentices cooking, and the iron woks were so hot that they were covered with iron stars.

We were busy from four or five in the afternoon until after nine. All the dishes were gone, and there were still more than a dozen tables of guests waiting outside.

The second apprentice, Liu Yan, was sweating profusely from the heat. He ran to Ma Xueqing and said, "Master, we're out of food!"

His master bought hundreds of kilograms of vegetables from somewhere and used up most of them in two days.

"There are more than a dozen tables of guests waiting in the back. How about we use other dishes first?"

It seems that this is the only way now.

Finally, they finished their work for the day. The apprentices cleaned up the mess. Ma Xueqing was so tired that he sat down on a recliner outside the restaurant and lit a cigarette first.

"boss!"

"Hey!" Xiaoxi heard the cry and ran out quickly, "What's wrong?"

"Boss, did you change your chef today?"

"No, it's still made by the same chefs. What's wrong? Is the food not to your liking?"

Upon asking, I found out that the man had come to the restaurant to eat with his colleagues a few days ago. The food tasted good, and he boasted about it to his family after returning home. Today, he specially brought his family from the south to the north of the city, waited for two hours, and paid dozens of yuan for parking. As a result, the food was not as good as the previous two days.

The man's wife held him back and said, "Come on, it tastes good, doesn't it?"

"Hey, it's different. The food today is okay, but it's not as good as the last two days."

Xiaoxi scratched his head, looking depressed.

"That's impossible. Please wait a moment. I'll go to the kitchen and ask."

As soon as he ran to the restaurant door, Ma Xueqing stopped him and said, "Don't ask, no one has changed."

"Master, what do you say?"

"I'll go and tell them."

Ma Xueqing was also depressed, because his restaurant was too attractive to gourmets. Normally, it was impossible for customers who went out to eat to tell that something was wrong by changing a dish. Only in his small restaurant could he meet several customers with surprisingly good tastes every day.

He went up to the customer and explained that he wanted to waive the bill for today's dishes, but the customer waved his hands and said it was a small business and the family of several people didn't spend more than 200 yuan on the meal, and the taste was not so bad that he needed a refund. The man just felt it was strange.

After the guests left, several apprentices came out from the kitchen. After hearing Xiaoxi's story, they were all amazed.

"But the food that Chef bought this time is really good!"

"Yes, Master, now the food is gone. What should we do? Can you make another trip?"

Ma Xueqing sat back in his chair and said unhappily, "Why are you running around? We'll use the same vegetables we used before. Let's not bother. There's not much food available over there. One trip isn't even enough to cover the gas. I'm not going to make money from it."

His small restaurant is for the common people, unlike his fellow apprentices who opened high-end restaurants and private restaurants. A carrot carved into a flower can be sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. He would only mess around if it was profitable, so why would he bother himself?

Most customers can't tell the difference anyway.

Having said that, Ma Xueqing rubbed his chin thoughtfully, took out his cell phone, waved away his apprentice, and started making a call.

"Hello, it's me. I have some delicious food here. Do you want to try it?"

Ma Xueqing has four senior brothers, all of whom left the sect earlier than him, or rather, betrayed the sect. One went abroad to open a Chinese restaurant, one opened a manor in Beijing, and only two stayed in the local area.

He called two senior brothers who were in the local area. The two old men were about to go to bed. When they heard the younger brother say that he had something good and wanted to treat them to a meal, the two old men crawled out of their beds and wanted to come over.

Zhao Hui's face was wrinkled like a squash. "Master, the food is all gone. How can I cook for my uncles?"

Ma Xueqing gave Xiaoxi a blank look and said, "Hurry up and get the food out."

As a young apprentice, he is just like himself back then. He has several senior brothers ahead of him and has very few opportunities to touch a spatula. He always wants to practice more after returning home.

With such a delicious dish, Xiaoxi would definitely hide some and take it home to practice secretly.

No one knows a disciple better than his teacher. Xiaoxi smiled and found the vegetables he had hidden.

Ma Xueqing let his apprentices have free rein and cook a dish each.

By the time the two senior brothers arrived, the dishes were ready.

There were still many lights on in the residential building, so Ma Xueqing set up a table in front of the restaurant. In the cool night breeze, he opened two bottles of beer and drank them with peanuts.

"Why are you still so greedy? You're eating without even waiting for us to come?"

"Oh, you guys are finally here. If you hadn't come, I would have gone home to sleep!"

The three brothers chatted for a while, and then Xiaoxi brought out the dishes made by himself and his brothers. There were four dishes and a soup, which were all delicious.

"Try my apprentice's cooking and see if it has improved."

The two old men, Gongsun Jin and Hua Guangyu, have been cooking for their entire lives. Just by looking at the appearance of the dishes on the table, they gave a thumbs up and praised them.

They, the brothers, took different paths, and if we were to say who would carry on the master's legacy, it would have to be Ma Xueqing.

His apprentices all have their own strengths and solid basic skills. Unlike them, if they want to make money, they can't take such a solid path.

As soon as the dish entered their mouths, both of them fell silent and just chewed and savored it. Several of Ma Xueqing's apprentices stood by, nervously waiting for their comments.

"Master, how is it?"

"Out of a full 100, I can give you 92 points."

Zhao Hui was a little disappointed. "What's the difference?"

"The dish was excellent, and you put your heart into it. The problem was that you were too impatient. You put the food in the wok before the oil was hot, and you overcooked it before serving it. Tell me where you went wrong! You're totally wasting such a good dish!"

Gongsun Jin said a few nice words at the beginning, but he stopped pretending and started cursing at the end.

Hua Guangyu nodded repeatedly to show his agreement.

Ma Xueqing smiled without saying anything, then turned to his disciples and said, "You guys, do you know where you are lacking?"

"Okay, go back and rest first. I still have something to say to your uncles."

After letting his apprentice leave, Ma Xueqing revealed his true face. "Big Brother, I won't go into all that nonsense with you. Zhao Hui has been studying with me for so long, it's time for him to become a master. He has children to support at home, and he won't make much money working in my small restaurant for a lifetime. Do you think you still need someone? If you do, let him try."

"Look at what you're saying. I've been asking you for someone for a long time, but you're the one who won't let go and insists that his cooking skills aren't great. You're just too much like our master, striving for perfection!"

Ma Xueqing laughed out loud, taking it as a compliment to himself.

However, he called the two senior brothers here today not just for the disciple's matter.

And this dish.

The good things that he couldn't afford were nothing to the two people in front of him.