Chapter 121 University Speech
Yang Zhijie has made rapid progress these days and has already found a suitable shop to open a noodle restaurant with a good location. This shop was previously a foreign fast food restaurant.
Yue Ning never expected that this foreign fast food restaurant, which had opened stores in major cities across China in his previous life, would have to reduce the number of stores in the rapidly developing port city.
She and Yang Zhijie went to this foreign fast food restaurant which was still open and tried some of their food.
Yue Ning found that there was nothing wrong with it. It still tasted like the chicken nuggets she had eaten in her previous life. It was delicious.
As she was about to leave, she saw an advertisement on the wall: "Hometown Chicken, so delicious you'll lick your fingers!"
Yue Ning asked Yang Zhijie: "This is a question."
"Ah? What's the problem?"
"Do we Chinese like to lick our fingers after enjoying delicious food?" Yue Ning asked him.
Yang Zhijie shook his head: "Impossible."
"So this slogan not only fails to resonate with people, but also makes people feel disgusted and think it is dirty."
"So that's how it is." Yang Zhijie suddenly realized, "So I have to suggest that Lide invite a few Japanese to carefully study the advertising lines to see if there is anything offensive in them. I'm going to class soon. I'll call Lide's people when I get back!"
"Go ahead! I just happened to be going to Lide."
"Oh, there's a speech at 2:20 pm," Yang Zhijie reminded her.
"Got it. I'll be there on time."
She also arranged to give a speech to Yang Zhijie's class this afternoon.
Yue Ning called a car to go to Lide. Lide has developed three noodles specifically for the mainland market, fried bean paste noodles, spicy beef noodles, and pickled mustard greens and shredded pork noodles. Because Yue Ning had used up the sauce she brought back from Beijing last time, and couldn't find a suitable sauce in the Gangcheng market, she could only ask the comrades of the import and export company to help her. She only got it yesterday and immediately sent it to Lide. Cui Huiyi stared at the people in the R&D department and tried it according to her recipe. Today, she asked her to taste it.
Yue Ning and Cui Huiyi went to the test kitchen together. After trying the noodles, she gave them suggestions for improvement. Yue Ning and Cui Huiyi talked while walking, talking about the well-known foreign fast food restaurant, which was not smooth in expanding its business in Hong Kong.
Of course, it would be too one-sided to attribute all the problems to that advertisement, but Yue Ning believed that there was indeed something wrong with that advertisement. Cui Huiyi asked the marketing department to come over and follow up on this matter.
"I heard that you are going to hold a birthday banquet for Old Madam Zhang."
“I’m just one of them, making Chinese food.”
"Zhang Yunxian told me that her grandmother saw the menu you renegotiated and said you put a lot of effort into it and she is looking forward to it," said Cui Huiyi.
"Is Zhang Yunxian Zhang Yunying's?" Yue Ning asked.
"Cousin." Cui Huiyi said, "Her mother is the eldest daughter of the Zhang family."
"Is she also sorted according to the Zhang family?"
"Her parents have the same surname. It was Zhang Ankang who named his daughter, and arranged the name according to the character 'Yun'."
In front of Cui Huiyi, Yue Ning said whatever she thought. She said, "I heard that Mrs. Zhang is very virtuous. After her husband and cousin died, she treated her cousin's children as her own."
"She is virtuous." Cui Huiyi looked at her, "I know you are smart, but don't think that way. Madam Zhang has no bad intentions at all, and Zhang Ankang is a hopeless case. When Cui Huishu was born, my father asked my mother to learn from Madam Zhang and learn how pregnant she was. Her husband and concubine died, but she still raised their child. Of course, my mother is not that generous, but think about it, if my mother was that generous and really raised Cui Huishu. My sister and I have the ability, but Cui Huishu is still like this. Does everyone think that my mother deliberately ruined him? My father might even hate my mother with a clear conscience!"
"That makes sense." Yue Ning nodded, "By the way, how is your father now?"
"After he was discharged from the hospital and went home, I hired a rehabilitation doctor and two caregivers for him. He lives in a big house with Cui Huishu. I heard from Aunt Fang that even though they live in the same house, Cui Huishu will only call him "Dad" when she sees my dad. Basically, she has never taken the initiative to look for my dad. I don't know what my dad thinks." Cui Huiyi smiled happily, "Anyway, I don't care, I have to let them stay together. My dad loves his son so much, how can I bear to separate them?"
Yue Ning smiled and nodded: "Of course."
"Yu Wanmei's case is about to go to trial, and the jury consists of five women and two men." Cui Huiyi's smile was particularly gloating. "She has no idea that an experienced lawyer can veto the result of the lottery and file for a re-draw. In a case like hers, having too many female jurors would definitely be disadvantageous to her."
"If the male juror were to stand in your father's shoes, it wouldn't be good for her, right?" Yue Ning asked her, "When will the trial begin? Can I go to sit in?"
"It's a public trial, you can go."
"I'll go." Yue Ning took out her wallet from her bag. In the wallet was the last photo of her and her father. She wanted to take her father to see what happened to that woman.
Yue Ning ate the staff meal in Lide's cafeteria, and then tried the recipe adjusted by the R&D department. The taste was good. Cui Huiyi sent a car to take her to Hong Kong University.
When Yue Ning walked to the building, Professor Wu was already waiting there.
"Professor Wu, I know your office. I'm embarrassed for you to wait for me like this."
"Today, you are my invited guest. When you are admitted to our school, you will be my student and I will not accept you."
"No, I think if you show up on the day I register as a freshman, I'll be very proud." Yue Ning said half-jokingly.
"Okay, I'll pick you up that day."
The two went upstairs. Yue Ning arrived more than ten minutes early. She went to Professor Wu's office to sit for a while.
Professor Wu talked about the scene where she and Qiao Junxian did aerobics, saying that she was liked by many people.
"Some people like it and some don't. Don't just pick on the good things. Didn't a magazine criticize me for being 'calm and powerful'? But whether you like it or not, it's definitely good for market sales if it continues to be popular."
Someone knocked on the door: "Professor Wu."
Yue Ning looked back and saw a foreigner at the door. He nodded and smiled at Yue Ning and said in English: "Professor Wu, can I bother you for two minutes?"
Professor Wu had already walked out and said a few words to this person.
He came in again and said, "It's almost time, let's go to the classroom."
"OK."
Yue Ning went to the classroom with Professor Wu.
At this time, the class bell had already rung. Professor Wu took her in and stood on the podium. He said in English: "Ms. Yue Ning, in just three months since you came to Hong Kong City, you have made the old restaurant Po Wah House in Mong Kok one of the most popular restaurants in Hong Kong. At the same time, she personally built a high-end restaurant, which is also very popular. Today we invite her to share how she did it. Welcome, Miss Yue Ning."
Yue Ning walked onto the stage and just opened his mouth: "Hello everyone!"
Immediately a student raised his hand.
Professor Wu: "If you have any questions, please wait until Ms. Yue finishes sharing before asking."
The student said in pure Hong Kong English: "I just want to remind Ms. Yue that this is the HKU podium and we teach in English here."
The question was from the student who had fought with Yang Zhijie that day. Yue Ning asked in English with a mainland accent: "So at HKU, even if Li Bai comes, will we have to recite poems in English? Since you emphasize that classes must be taught in English, why don't you dig out the four Chinese characters on the school emblem? Aren't these four Chinese characters from the Book of Rites, University?"
Yue Ning looked at the student and said, "A lot of what I'm going to talk about today comes from Chinese classics. I'm going to speak in English. Are you sure you can understand?"
He was a little embarrassed and changed to Cantonese: "I don't understand."
Yue Ning smiled, her hands resting on the podium: "Actually, I can't explain it clearly in English."
As soon as she said this, everyone in the audience laughed.
"For the sake of content, let's not be too concerned about language, okay?" Yue Ning looked at the audience.
"Okay." Everyone replied to her.
Yue Ning nodded: "The topic I want to talk about today is the marketing logic behind the popularity of an old-fashioned restaurant. Yue Ning's personal image is deeply bound to Baohualou."
Yue Ning picked up a piece of chalk and wrote two words on the blackboard: "cook" and "boss", and then wrote "gentleman" on top of these two words.
She went to the other side and wrote the title of the book: "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life".
She turned around and asked: "I wonder if everyone has read this book?"
Some people answered that they had read it, while others shook their heads. Yue Ning asked: "Can anyone tell me what this book is about?"
A student stood up and said, “Goffman used the theater stage as an example. Everyone is on the stage…”
The student gave a brief account of the contents of the book.
"Thank you!" Yue Ning said to the student.
"There is a sentence in the book, 'If the mask represents the self-concept we have formed and the role we constantly strive to perform, then this mask is our truer self, that is, the me we want to be.'" Yue Ning looked at everyone, "So what kind of me do I want to be?"
Yue Ning walked to the three words: "With my family heritage and my talent, I became a cook."
She wrote "art" under the word "cook" and turned around and said, "I have a skill."
"I took over Baohualou and opened Ningyan. I am a boss, and businessmen pursue profits." She wrote "profit" under boss.
"These two are my core," Yue Ning said. "A chef who doesn't want to be a boss is not a good chef. Most craftsmen hope that after learning the craft, they can have their own restaurant and make a lot of money. I asked myself, what kind of person do I want to be?"
Yue Ning wrote a "virtue" under the word "gentleman" and said: "The six virtues of a gentleman are courtesy, righteousness, benevolence, kindness, wisdom and trustworthiness."
She put down the chalk and looked at everyone: "I hope to be a boss and cook with moral constraints. With this foundation, if we combine it with what I have done since I came to Hong Kong, you will understand why Po Wah House became so popular and Ning Yan became a big hit when it opened?"
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