Chapter 232 Inviting Lu Yude to Participate in the Competition
When Lu Peide saw that his cousin's face was bruised, he asked, "Yude, what happened to your face?"
"I hit him." Fan Xiuqin rolled her eyes. "I heard Ah Sheng tell me how the master fainted, and I got so angry that I punched him."
Lu Yude made his father faint with anger. Even though he was angry at this junior sister, he couldn't say anything. He ignored Fan Xiuqin and walked to his father: "Dad."
Lu Yongding looked at him: "The hotel is busy at this time, what are you doing here?"
"It's OK tonight, not so busy. I've arranged everything." Lu Yude replied to his father and looked at his cousin again. He was a little surprised that his cousin seemed a little different from before.
Fan Xiuqin made a face and said, "A lot of guests came to Fuyunlou tonight. Yuecheng Hotel is indeed not too busy."
"What are you so proud of?" Lu Yude's face turned cold and he looked at Fan Xiuqin.
"To be honest, many customers go to Fuyunlou to eat because they see Ningning here. Why are you so suspicious when we are just stating a fact?" Fan Xiuqin curled her lips, "Ningning knows how to handle things, and the whole city knows this. The stores under Baohualou are so popular, not only because of the good taste, but also because Ningning likes to attend events, appear on TV, and appear in newspapers. Ningning said this is called marketing, and it is more effective than advertising. This time, the agricultural product import and export company asked Ningning to come to the exhibition to help promote the products. By the way, do you know what advertising is?"
"I don't need to know." Lu Yude replied to her.
"You don't understand at all, do you? It's normal to have few customers without advertising and sales." Fan Xiuqin said, "Ningning said that those state-owned enterprises in the mainland that don't change their thinking will face difficulties after gradually transforming to a market economy. So Baohualou wants to bring market awareness to Fuyunlou and let Fuyunlou take the lead in changing its mindset."
"Hey, little girl! You know all this?" Chef Dong said in surprise, "You've only been in Hong Kong for a few days?"
"Ning Ning has cooperated with a technical college to open a class to train reserve service personnel for Baohualou. At the same time, they are also asked to teach our Baohualou staff. All chefs on the list and potential chefs must take the restaurant management course, unless they are top students from National Taiwan University like Sister Jinying, then they don't have to study."
After finishing his meal, Lu Peide put down his lunch box, stood up, and reached out to pinch the purple spot on Lu Yude's face. Lu Yude gasped in pain and shouted, "What are you doing?"
Lu Peide hooked his shoulder and asked, "Why are you so mad?"
Lu Yude wanted to shake him off, but his cousin held him tightly. His father fainted because of his anger. He didn't dare to lose his temper again, but he felt uncomfortable and said in a bad tone: "Who lost his temper?"
"I heard that you, a fool, were struggling over whether you had competed with me in craftsmanship at that time?" Lu Peide asked him.
Since he took the initiative to bring it up, Lu Yude just said it directly: "Yes! It's not that I don't want to go to Hong Kong City, I just think it's unfair. According to the ancestral rules, the one with the best skills will inherit the mantle."
"Who's better or worse between us?"
"How would you know if we don't compare?" Lu Yude thought that his cousin was forcing him to admit that he was not as good as him.
Lu Peide laughed out loud: "Who makes the braised shark's fin better? How many customers can taste the subtle difference?"
Now Lu Yude didn't know what he meant.
"The fact that our ancestors have two descendants like us is a blessing from their graves. We are both worthy of the name 'Lu's Cuisine'. Smoke is coming out of our graves, but it's only a tiny wisp. Your father is worried that if we both stay in Beijing and can't gain experience, the wisp of smoke will be gone. So he wants one of us to go out and try our luck. You're not too happy about it, but I want to go out and see. Isn't it just right for me to go out? It's normal for your father to worry about me and feel sorry for me when I'm away from home! Why did you get angry when you heard your father say that?" Lu Peide asked, "Think about it, if you were in Gangcheng, wouldn't your father be worried?"
"I..." Lu Yude wanted to say something but didn't know where to start.
Lu Peide said: "Your father only had a mild cerebral infarction, that was a blessing from the ancestors. If he really had a cerebral hemorrhage, what would you do? Could you bear it, could you bear the guilt of angering your father to death?"
Although Lu Yude blamed his father for focusing on his cousin and always praising him, he was afraid and distressed when he saw his father collapse. After all, he was his father!
Lu Peide patted him on the back and said, "You can't compete with me. If you want to compete, compete with the chefs outside. Ningning went to France to participate in the chef exchange meeting in Lyon. She and a TV station in Hong Kong want to change the original "Hong Kong and Macau Chef Competition" into a global Chinese cuisine competition, and turn it into a grand event for global Chinese chefs to exchange ideas. The orthodoxy of Chinese cuisine is in the mainland. The highest level of Chinese cuisine in the mainland is the descendants of us national chefs. Just take this opportunity to discuss whether you should go to Hong Kong to participate? It would be an honor to bring back the trophy of the Global Chinese Chef. "
Lu Yude looked at Lu Peide and said, "Why don't you participate in such a good event?"
"My senior brother was the chef champion last year. He has proven his ability and it is impossible for him to participate every year. This year, Baohualou plans to send Sister Jinying and my chef Abang to participate." Fan Xiuqin looked at Chef Dong, "Sister Jinying's ability is no worse than Uncle Dong. My chef is the best in Hong Kong. One of them will become the head chef of Ningyan in the future, and the other will come back to be the head chef of the new hotel in Yuecheng."
"Whether you can win the title of Chef King is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that in order to win every competition, you will keep thinking and making changes, and your level will improve quickly." Lu Peide patted his cousin on the shoulder, "and the whole process is full of variables, which is much more interesting than winning against me."
Lu Yude looked at his cousin.
Lu Peide sat down on the edge of his uncle's bed. "Uncle, Uncle Dong, I think this competition is very good for us. You two should discuss it and report it to the leaders. I think our chefs from the mainland should go out for exchanges. First, let them see our strength, and second, it will broaden our own horizons."
Chef Dong looked at Lu Yongding: "Old Lu, what do you think?"
Lu Yongding shook his head: "Yude and Ding Sheng cannot represent the level of our mainland. Each unit must select fairly."
Lu Yude, who had just been excited, was poured a bucket of cold water again.
Lu Peide smiled at his cousin and said, "You have no confidence in yourself?"
"How is that possible?" Lu Yude immediately glared at his cousin.
"Okay! Brother will be waiting for you in Hong Kong." Lu Peide stood up and said with a smile, "It's getting late, let's go back first. I'll come over tomorrow morning to accompany Second Uncle out of the hospital, and we'll chat together. After dinner, I'll go back to Hong Kong. Ningning will stay here for about a week, and she has handed over a lot of things to me."
"Go back! All of you go back." Lu Yongding said.
"Dad, I'll accompany you." Lu Yude said as he sat down.
Lu Yongding looked at his son and said, "No, you still have to go to work tomorrow, and you still have to be busy for half a month. Go back and have a good sleep, and then you have to work hard when you come out."
Lu Yude looked at his father, and Lu Yongding smiled and said, "Go back!"
Lu Peide and Fan Xiuqin packed up their lunch boxes together and went downstairs.
The hospital is very close to Yuecheng Hotel and Fuyun Building, but one is on the east and the other is on the west.
As soon as they left the house, they had to go back to their own homes. Lu Peide looked at his cousin and said, "Don't let your imagination run wild. You don't want to go to Hong Kong City, but I do. You said what you said, and you didn't do anything wrong. This is the best situation for our Lu family. No one will blame you or resent you. This is your first time leading a team, so you must complete the mission well. Got it!"
Facing his cousin, Lu Yude nodded. He didn't know why, he dared to lose his temper with his father, but when he was in front of his cousin, he had to do whatever his cousin said, and he had a lot of rebuttals in his mind, but he didn't say them out loud.
"We're leaving."
After saying goodbye to their cousin, Fan Xiuqin and Lu Peide went to the He family.
Fan Xiuqin pouted her lips, looking unhappy, and said, "Brother, it's obvious that Brother Yude is narrow-minded, why did you still tell him about the competition and encourage him to participate? And you said you were waiting for him in Gangcheng? If he wasn't the son of the master, I wouldn't bother to pay attention to him."
"Brothers fight tigers together, and fathers and sons fight together in battle. Your master, my second uncle, is like my own father to me. How can I ignore Yude?" Lu Peide looked at her, "Besides, as for the Chinese cuisine competition, Ningning will invite restaurants in Yuecheng to participate through Director Song. Our country has eight major cuisines, which cannot reflect the level of chefs in the mainland. Second uncle is a national chef, and he knows a lot of people. Let him organize the competition, and the level of the contestants will be higher."
"That's right! You're still thinking ahead. So when you suggested that Brother Yude participate in the competition, you actually knew that the master would definitely not let his son come without a selection just to promote him. Do you want to use the master to get the mainland to send high-level players?"
Lu Peide nodded: "That's one aspect. On the other hand, I also want Yude to open up. I'll go back and discuss with Ningning later. The mainland doesn't have money. Even if we send several teams to participate in the competition, the funds may not be approved. Let's see if we can get sponsorship here in Hong Kong. As long as there are three or four teams, Yude will definitely get a turn. After he goes through the whole competition and faces so many opponents, he will find that there are always people better than you. It's so boring to keep competing with me."
Fan Xiuqin thought about it carefully. She was in Beijing, in the State Guest House, and she was learning from a national-level chef. She was already top-notch, but it couldn't be compared with the outside world. She nodded: "Yes!"
The two went back to the He family together. The lights on the ground floor were still on. Fan Xiuqin pushed the door open and went in. Ah Zhen was still sewing the edge of her cheongsam.
"Sister Azhen, why are you still working?" Fan Xiuqin asked her.
"There are so many cheongsams pressed by the ladies in Hong Kong. The uncles and aunts are old and their eyesight is not good, so I will make more." Ah Zhen pointed to the kettle in the corner and said, "The thermos bottles are all full. You can take them up first. Put the empty thermos bottles at the door later and I will take them. I will boil more."
"Sister! I've told you several times that you don't have to worry about us. The water is in the pot. We can get some hot water ourselves, add cold water into the pot, and add a piece of firewood. Isn't that enough?" Fan Xiuqin couldn't do anything about her. Ah Zhen was really used to serving others.
"It's okay. You're all very tired after a day, so it's only right that I help you with some of the work." Ah Zhen asked them to bring the thermos up, "Go quickly! Otherwise, when they come back, there won't be enough kettles."
"Okay." Fan Xiuqin took two pots of water and asked Lu Peide to go upstairs with a thermos.
Fan Xiuqin poured some water and put the thermos at the door. She was wiping herself in the room and heard footsteps. She knew that Azhen was coming to get the thermos.
Fan Xiuqin wiped herself and went downstairs, wanting to ask Ah Zhen whether the Li family had come again.
Walking into the kitchen, she saw Ah Zhen holding He Yunbang's hand. Fan Xiuqin immediately stepped out and said loudly, "I didn't see it, I didn't see it, you guys continue."
Yue Ning just came in from outside and asked, "What didn't you see?"
"Didn't you see my master holding Sister Azhen's hand?" said Fan Xiuqin.
He Yunbang strode out and knocked on Fan Xiuqin's head: "I have a splinter stuck in my hand, and your sister Zhen is picking it out for me."
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