Chapter 41 Chapter 41 Jinjiang Solo
"That's right. If I hadn't had the opportunity when I was a kid, I would have been a great chef."
The praised old customer said proudly.
"So there's no cooking for you today?"
The old customer came here originally for Zhang Mengzhi’s cooking skills, so it would be difficult for him to give up asking questions.
"Yes, but it's mixed in with these dishes. It depends on whether you can smell which dishes I cooked."
Zhang Mengzhi played with suspense and refused to say which dish he made no matter how anyone asked.
Seeing that he refused to explain, everyone had to rely on their sense of smell and experience to judge which dish was made by Zhang Mengzhi when ordering.
Some people found it out through experience and sense of smell, but most people couldn't find it out, and they can't even taste the difference.
The person who found it didn't tell anyone else, leaving them to guess on their own.
Even Zhang Mengzhi didn’t know that because of his sudden action, the game of guessing which dish was made by him became popular.
From then on, this game would appear in every store Zhang Mengzhi went to. Although most people couldn't tell the difference, it didn't stop them from playing!
With the help of his apprentices, Zhang Mengzhi no longer had to work as hard as an ox or a horse, and he felt liberated.
He only needs to prepare three dishes for each meal every day and put them in the store. It’s first come, first served. If you miss it, it’s gone.
Old customers all know this rule, so they grab a seat early every day, and then try hard to recognize which three dishes are made by Zhang Mengzhi, and then order those three dishes.
So when the guests who came later saw the empty dish bowls, they would know which three dishes were made by Zhang Mengzhi.
The late guests were not angry, they just regretted that they came late and could not eat the dishes cooked by Zhang Mengzhi.
As time went by, the fast food restaurant's business was not only not affected, but also became better and better as more and more people came out to work. The apprentices in the store never stopped cooking every day.
Not only are they responsible for preparing meals for the guests, they also have to learn how to cook from Zhang Mengzhi. The daily employee meals are their practice.
Of course, even if it is a practice dish, it tastes better than many dishes cooked by housewives, and the employees love it too.
Not everyone can eat meat every day, but when you eat employee meals in the store, you can have meat every meal!
The apprentices have talent, but no one has taught them well before. Zhang Mengzhi is different. He received formal chef education in his previous life. His master is a master of Sichuan cuisine, so the chef education he received is completely different from these apprentices who changed their careers halfway.
Not only is he good at cooking, he is also very good at knife skills and carving. It's just that after traveling through time, he didn't have the chance to show off his skills.
Since his family opened a restaurant, Zhang Mengzhi has picked up his craft from his previous life. Occasionally, you can see his cauliflower carvings in the restaurant, which are so lifelike that they seem like precious fine products displayed in the restaurant.
For example, the peacock carved by Zhang Mengzhi today is no different from the real thing except for the size. It is placed on the table in the middle of the store for customers to appreciate.
"It's beautiful. It's so pretty."
A frequent visitor couldn't help but say as he looked at the peacock on the plate.
"It seems that we haven't fully discovered Boss Zhang's abilities yet!"
A guest joked.
"Yes, the carving skills are no worse than those of the masters in big hotels."
Said a guest who had eaten at the Provincial Capital Hotel.
"real?"
Someone asked immediately.
"Really? I took a look and I think Boss Zhang is even better at carving."
said the well-dressed guest.
He came to Guocheng for work and came to this fast food restaurant for dinner after being introduced by a friend. He found that the food in this restaurant was indeed better than that in ordinary restaurants. Some of the dishes were not inferior to those made by the chefs in the provincial capital. So during his time in Guocheng, he came to report every day and specially chose those dishes made by Zhang Mengzhimeng.
When I arrived today, I saw the peacock on the table and was immediately amazed.
"Hahaha, our remote mountain area has also produced a Sichuan cuisine master chef."
A guest laughed.
Their Fruit City is well-known throughout the Shu Province. After all, in addition to oranges, they also have world-famous silk, which is exported abroad.
However, when it comes to food, perhaps because the people in Guocheng are relatively poor, the famous chefs are not as good as those in the provincial capital.
Their Guocheng has its own pride. Even if they don’t strive to be the best in everything, they can’t be much worse than the provincial capital, right?
Guocheng is vigorously developing mulberry silkworms, with silk as its main economic source. As long as more money is earned, the city can be developed.
Seeing that they were about to develop, the people of Guocheng naturally did not want to lose to the provincial capital.
People in Shu love to eat. Why are we all from Shu, but not as good at cooking as those in the provincial capital?
If we don't fight for the bread, but for the reputation, everyone will naturally support their own people.
"Okay, let's not cause trouble for Boss Zhang. Let's go and choose the dishes we want to eat. If we're late, Boss Zhang's dishes will be gone."
The experienced guest immediately calmed everyone's restless hearts. Even if you think so in your heart, you can't say it out loud!
Boss Zhang is still young, and we should give him time to develop. Even if we think he is the best, we should not say it clearly. Otherwise, how would those master chefs in the provincial capital feel good when they hear it?
Their city is not as good as the provincial capital now. What if it is suppressed by the provincial capital?
"Yes, yes, yes, let's eat."
Everyone understood what was going on, so they immediately scattered around and went to get their food after finding their desired seats.
Zhang Mengzhi stood in a hidden corner and watched the whole process. However, he did not appear in front of everyone, but quietly left from the back.
During the renovation, a small door was opened at the back to facilitate delivery of goods.
When leaving through the back door, someone brought in vegetables and meat, and they greeted Zhang Mengzhi when they saw him.
"Hello, Boss Zhang."
"Hello everyone."
Zhang Mengzhi exchanged a few words with the other party and left.
He knew that Guocheng had decided to vigorously develop silk, and he could not stop the decision because the benefits were visible now.
He still remembered that it was the same in Guocheng in his previous life. Until the 1990s, everyone raised silkworms in order to export silk.
However, the international situation is changing all the time. With the suppression of China by the United States, export products have been affected, and silk is no exception.
Because of its raw materials and craftsmanship, silk has always been a high-end commodity that ordinary people cannot afford or wear. Later, when exports were restricted and orders dropped sharply, production had to be reduced. In addition, the silk factory was taken away by the provincial capital, so the silk in Guocheng declined rapidly. The farmers who used to make money by raising silkworms had to leave their hometown and go to other cities to work and make money.
As a result, many people had never even heard of Guocheng's silk, and the title of this thousand-year-old silk capital was no longer worthy of its reputation.
You know, the silk here used to be a tribute, but it ended up like this.
As for the period of rapid economic development, Guocheng did not want to restore the silk industry, but it could not do it. The first step was where would the orders come from? After all, silk was a luxury item that ordinary people would not buy.
The market was so small, and we had to compete with the provincial capital for orders, which was not an easy task in itself. In the end, the plan to restore the silk industry had to be shelved.
Why didn't Zhang Mengzhi think of restoring this industry that Guocheng is best at? It's because it's too difficult. How can an ordinary person like him compete with the provincial capital? So he came up with a plan to make Guocheng a real fruit city.
The fruits produced in Guocheng taste great, and oranges are abundant in the city. If other fruits are added, Zhang Mengxiao is also planning to enter the food industry, and hopefully the entire production chain will be established.
Of course, this plan is quite difficult, but he is willing to do something difficult and possibly thankless for the sake of his hometown.
If you give up before you even try, how do you know it won’t work?
In his previous life, Zhang Mengzhi died under the oppression of the Gu family before he could do anything. In this life, Zhang Mengzhi wants to stand in a high position and let the Gu family look at him and smile.
Not caring about the lives of their family members may not be a good thing for them. How can people who are used to being on top be willing to stay at the bottom? However, no matter how they struggle, the result is in vain, and they can only be saved at the bottom.
He has to take care of his family and live the kind of low-level life that they despise the most, and be the low-level person that they look down upon the most.
"You are just some peasants, and you dare to come to my Gu family to beg for mercy. Zhang Mengzhi, do you think you are worthy?"
Even after several years, Zhang Mengzhi has never forgotten a single word of the words in his dream.
His parents died of illness, his sister was abducted and fell off a cliff and was never found alive, his elder sister and her family could only survive by picking up waste, and he was also beaten severely by a group of thugs and died in a corner.
This was the ending of the Zhang family in their previous life. Zhang Meng didn’t know how many times he had woken up from nightmares in the middle of the night.
What’s even more infuriating is that after the Gu family made Guocheng a mess, they just walked away, leaving a huge mess in Guocheng for the newcomers to clean up.
Although Guocheng has such a good geographical location, it has never been developed because the Gu family has been secretly suppressing it and does not want people to know about the sins they committed in Guocheng.
Even if the 'Zhang Mengzhi' in the previous life was not him, as Zhang Mengzhi who inherited everything from him, he couldn't help but hate the Gu family.
Zhang Mengzhi in the original book is just a villain in the book for readers, who forget about him after reading. Only the Zhang family, who have experienced it personally, know how cruel and desperate everything in their previous life was for them.
Therefore, no matter how cruelly the Zhang family retaliated against the Gu family in this life, Zhang Mengzhi did not think it was excessive.
The better the Zhang family lives, the more uncomfortable the Gu family will be. The mental torture is more painful than death. Cutting flesh with a blunt knife is painful!
Because they couldn't buy vegetables, they had to eat in the cafeteria again and again with people they looked down upon. Only the Gu family knew how frustrating they felt.
Perhaps it was because Zhang Mengzhi performed too well, that even without the support of his clansmen, he was the first person that was thought of when something happened.
"So Uncle Ming, are you saying that the higher-ups want to entertain guests in my store? But I'm just a fast food restaurant, not a restaurant. Isn't that inappropriate?"
Zhang Mengzhi and Zhang Deming sat face to face. Today, Zhang Deming called him from the store to his office. He thought something was wrong. He never expected that he would be entrusted with such a big task.
"Yes, we all unanimously decided that you will be the head chef. After all, I have no doubt about your cooking skills, and the higher-ups feel relieved to let you do the job. It doesn't matter that it's not a restaurant, your table is big and can easily accommodate eleven people. You don't need to prepare wine, everyone just needs to eat the dishes and the rice."
Zhang Deming looked at his nephew, who had fully matured compared to a few years ago, with more relief on his face.
"Okay! Are there any standards for the dishes? Do they need to be more luxurious? Or just a normal family dinner?"
Zhang Mengzhi would not refuse such a good thing that came to his doorstep, and it would also bring fame to his store.
"Don't make it too good, just make it the characteristic of our Sichuan cuisine, a home-style version will do."
Zhang Deming didn't make his words very clear, but Zhang Mengzhi still understood them.
Isn't it just that they can't be too extravagant? After all, if the people sent by the higher-ups do too well, wouldn't it be a clear signal to the higher-ups that they are corrupt?
"I understand."
As soon as Zhang Mengzhi heard this request, he knew what to do.
Dishes with local characteristics such as braised pork, twice-cooked pork, stir-fried pork, stir-fried bacon with garlic sprouts, and boiled sausages are definitely available, and they all look good and don’t cost much.
Steam a fish, fry some crispy pork, stir-fry some green vegetables, and cook a meat soup, and the table is ready.
There were three people up there, plus eight accompanying people, a total of eleven guests. Eight dishes and one soup were enough for them.
The main feature of local dishes is that they taste good and come in large quantities.
At about one o'clock, most of the guests had finished their meal and left, and then the government delegation arrived.
"Comrades, please take a seat and taste the cooking of our local chefs."
As one of the accompanying personnel, Zhang Deming said to the three comrades from above.
"It looks good, the color is bright, and the aroma is also fascinating. It seems that you have a Sichuan cuisine master in Guocheng!"
The special envoy from the provincial capital looked at the dishes on the table. They were all very common dishes, but just by looking at and smelling them, one could tell that they tasted very good.
"The three comrades are overpraising me, so my nephew's cooking skills are pretty good." Zhang Deming did not hide his relationship with the owner of the fast food restaurant. If he didn't tell others about it now, he would get into trouble later if they found out the truth.
"So he is Comrade Zhang's nephew. The flood washed away the Dragon King Temple, and the family members no longer recognized each other."
The three special envoys laughed and said that they did not take Zhang Deming's words to heart.
They have been to many places and encountered situations like this before. Compared with other places, Comrade Zhang's nephew is at least a real talent, not just someone who came out to fool them.
They knew about this restaurant before coming to Guocheng. The owner was a master of Sichuan cuisine with excellent skills. Even without saying anything else, they knew he was very skilled just by looking at the carvings they saw.
Placed in the center of the restaurant today are the gorgeous peony flowers that are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Everyone knows that this store is opened by Comrade Zhang's nephew. This kid is incredible, and he's a college student! He graduated early from school and opened such a big store on his own. The spicy hot pot and stewed food stores next door are also his. We often buy food from him, and this is what it tastes like."
The accompanying staff gave a thumbs up and praised Zhang Mengzhi and his friends highly.
As a local talent, none of their officials dislikes him.
“That’s really quite remarkable.”
The three special envoys conducted some simple investigations on the officials of Guocheng. As the nephew of government worker Zhang Deming, who also opened such a large restaurant, he was naturally their key investigation target.
The Zhang family's source of funds was normal. They didn't suddenly have a large sum of money and used it to open this restaurant. Instead, they earned money through their own skills and bought a few shops, which they renovated to become the current fast food restaurant.
Everything was normal with regard to financial resources, so the superiors were very satisfied with Zhang Deming.
They are not afraid of officials' relatives doing business, what they are afraid of is that officials and relatives collude with each other and harm the local people.
Obviously, Zhang Deming and his nephew are not such people. They are both upright officials and businessmen.
"Since we are here, why don't you invite your nephew out for us to meet?"
The three special envoys said to Zhang Deming after finishing their meal.
"Xia Donghai, go call your master."
Zhang Deming said to Xia Donghai who was standing by.
"Okay, Grandpa Zhang."
Xia Dongxi ran to the kitchen to look for someone. "Old Zhang, I didn't expect you to be a grandfather to such a big child!"
Someone laughed immediately.
"I can't help it. I am older than you!"
Zhang Deming said disapprovingly.
The three special envoys just smiled and said nothing, watching the accompanying personnel playing around.
"Master, Grandpa Zhang asked you to go out and meet the guests."
"good."
Zhang Mengzhi took off his chef's uniform and walked out in casual clothes.
"Oh, Comrade Zhang, is this your nephew? He doesn't look like you at all!"
Looking at the tall and handsome Zhang Mengzhi, the three special envoys' eyes lit up and they turned around to look at Zhang Deming and Zhang Mengzhi.
"Hahaha, I'm sorry to have made you three laugh. Mengzhi is the best-looking child of their generation. To be more precise, he doesn't look like anyone from my family. This child looks like his mother."
Zhang Deming smiled with a hint of complacency.
Having such a nephew in our family has brought honor to their Zhang family.
"No wonder Comrade Zhang beams with joy whenever he mentions his nephew. If I had such a nephew, I would smile too."
The oldest special envoy said, obviously very satisfied with his first meeting with Zhang Mengzhi.
"Yeah yeah."
The other two agreed.
"To be honest, we have watched Lao Zhang's nephew grow up. I remember one year he came to the government to look for Lao Zhang. He was so cute! Many people hugged him and didn't want to let go."
An old man who had served as an official in Guocheng for many years said that he was wondering how such a beautiful doll could come to the government to play!
"You guys are so shameless. You almost scared my Mengzhi so much that he didn't dare to go to the government office again. You pinched his face and wouldn't let go. When Mengzhi left, his face was red and swollen."
It would have been better if he didn't say anything. Zhang Deming got angry when this matter was mentioned.
"I'm sorry, I didn't use enough force at the time and scared the child."
The parties involved apologized to Zhang Deming.
"uncle."
Zhang Mengzhi pulled his sleeve.
"Okay, let's act as middlemen. Comrade Zhang will accept this apology on behalf of Comrade Xiao Zhang!"
The three special envoys looked at Zhang Deming's annoyed expression with amusement. It was obvious that Comrade Zhang really loved his nephew and could not bear to see him being bullied.
"For the sake of several comrades, I will forgive you. But I can't let you go just like that. You have to treat me to a good meal later. Remember, I love braised large intestines."
Zhang Deming pretended to be angry and ordered the food.
"Okay, okay, it's settled."
The group of people chatted and laughed and decided to treat each other.
"You are a good kid. Keep working hard and strive to promote Sichuan cuisine in our province."
The three special envoys said to Zhang Mengzhi before leaving.
"Yes, please rest assured, gentlemen. I will study Sichuan cuisine carefully and strive to promote it."
Zhang Mengzhi said to the three special envoys.
"Okay, we'll wait and see how you perform."
The three special envoys left after giving Zhang Mengzhi a few words of advice. They just came to see this young man with good cooking skills. The two sides had different paths and there was nothing much to talk about.
The main reason was that it was not convenient for them to have a deep conversation with Zhang Mengzhi, so they quickly left the fast food restaurant.
Zhang Deming stayed until the end.
"Mengzhi, there will be many opportunities like this in the future. Do you want to open another restaurant?"
Zhang Deming realized that the government officials would give benefits to Zhang Mengzhi for his sake, and he also hoped to have a convenient place to eat.
The food today is very good, but we have to eat in the lobby and there are no private rooms to interfere with our conversation.
"I'll see if I can buy the house next door and make some private rooms!"
Zhang Mengzhi also knew that the private room problem had to be solved as soon as possible. He had just opened the store for two months and had some funds recovered, so it was not impossible for him to buy another store.
"If you need money, I'll ask your aunt to give it to you."
Knowing that his nephew had just bought the shop not long ago, Zhang Deming was afraid that he didn't have enough money, so he planned to lend him some.
"Uncle, I have enough money, but will they sell the shop to me? Can you help me ask them?"
Zhang Mengzhi was worried that people in the government would see that his business was doing well and would not want to sell the shop to him anymore.
"Okay, I'll go ask later."
Zhang Deming will definitely help with this small favor.
After seeing off the government officials, Zhang Mengzhi sat on a stool and looked at the empty store. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and there were still a few hours before dinner, so there were no customers in the store except the staff.
On the contrary, the spicy hot pot and braised food next door are often bought by people, which makes it much busier than the fast food restaurant.
"Master, take a break!"
Xia Donghai came over with a cup of hot food. It was winter, but his master had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.
"Donghai, go to West Street and find those renovation masters from last time and ask them if they have time and if they have work to do."
Zhang Mengzhi instructed his apprentice.
This Xia Donghai was the deputy he trained for himself, so he would ask Xia Donghai to do anything.
"Okay Master, I'll be there right away."
Xia Donghai did not hesitate, he immediately changed his clothes and went to look for someone.
He knew that the more things his master asked him to do now, the more he would be valued in the future.
As for those sour words, he didn't believe them! When the master taught them cooking, he didn't hide anything. He taught them according to their progress. Those who said these words were jealous of them.
The apprentice went out to do something, so Zhang Mengzhi didn't play either.
Instead, they designed private rooms.
The store is not small, and can be made into five private rooms, three large and two small, and also a tea room and toilet, except for the door in the middle, to distinguish it from the fast food restaurant.
Those who can eat in private rooms are either rich or powerful. Ordinary people would definitely not choose to eat in there, so they attach great importance to privacy.
He also had to redraft the menu for the private room, and some dishes that would not appear in fast food restaurants would also appear on the menu for the private room.
As for opening another restaurant with a different style, Zhang Mengzhi has no plans to do so for the time being, because there are still relatively few people who can eat in the private rooms.
It would take a few more years for Zhang Mengzhi to open a mid- to high-end restaurant, when people's living standards have improved. Otherwise, if he opens it too early, this restaurant will be a big spender. He can forget about making money, and it would be good if he doesn't lose money.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
