Chapter 186 Lou Jiafu Sends New Year Gifts
Lou Jiafu opened a roast meat shop in Yau Ma Tei with six wooden tables.
The house was sold and the mortgage was paid off. 70% of the remaining money was given to Caiyu. Caiyu had two children, so she needed to have some money.
The little money he had was only enough to open a small shop like this. He had to buy materials, pay for water, electricity and coal, so he couldn't afford to hire anyone.
The advantage of making roast meat is that you can make it in the morning, and at noon you only need to cut and prepare it, and he can take care of the store.
His craftsmanship is good and his business is pretty good. After deducting the costs, he can still earn around two thousand yuan a month.
This is incomparable to when they were in Baohualou. At that time, the master gave them and his fellow apprentices at least three thousand yuan. If I had good skills, I could get a little more, more than four thousand yuan.
He was not satisfied, so Ding Shengqiang opened Shenghualou and invited him to have a drink, so he decided to go there. He wanted to make money, but he didn't expect that he didn't make any money in a few months, and his family was broken up.
At the end of last month, he went to see his children and gave Caiyu some money, but Caiyu refused to take it, saying that she now made 1,700 or 1,800 yuan a month and had some money from selling her house, so she asked him to save the money and expand the store in the future.
He played with the children for a while, and after thinking it over, he asked Caiyu, "It's the end of the year now, what should I give to the master?"
In previous years, Caiyu would prepare New Year gifts for him. Before the New Year, the master would close the restaurant for the evening and let them bring their wives and children to have New Year's Eve dinner together.
The New Year gifts they gave to the master were not worth much, but the red envelopes the master gave to the children were quite a lot.
Caiyu told him about this in private, and said to her: "Take it! Master's son is in the mainland, and we don't know what his situation is. We don't know when he can return to the mainland. He raised us as his sons, and when he gets old and lies in bed, won't we have to take care of him together?"
Caiyu was embarrassed when he asked this question this time. She said, "Xuelian mentioned a few days ago that she wanted to prepare a New Year gift for the master. She originally planned to pick out a cashmere sweater for the master, but then Wei and Ming talked to Song about it. They said that after Ningning came back, they made a lot of money, so they decided to pool their money together, each contributing three or four thousand, and then ten thousand to buy a big item."
Three or four thousand? Lou Jiafu didn't even dare to think about it.
"Or you might as well not send it. In the past, we bought a coat and two bottles of wine for our master. No matter how much they were worth, they were the apprentice's thoughts, and he wouldn't have any other thoughts. Now that you are sending things to his door, I don't know what he thinks." Caiyu said to him.
When he left Caiyu's place, he happened to pass by Baohua Building. He thought about his mother, a widow who relied on washing dishes at Baohua Building to support him and his sister, and about his sister and brother-in-law who were unwilling to support him after his mother was diagnosed with cancer. So his mother took him to Baohua Building and asked the master to take him in.
He slapped himself. His master taught him with all his heart, gave him the down payment, helped him buy a house with a mortgage, and arranged a wedding banquet for him to marry a wife. Even his own father might not be able to do these things.
I really don't know how to appreciate my blessings. I only saw the eldest brother become the head chef of a big hotel, and the master handed over the shopping to the second brother. I only know...
It's up to the master whether he wants it or not, and it's up to you whether you want to give it to him or not. It just so happens that Asong doesn't want to buy cashmere sweaters anymore, so buy it yourself!
Lou Jiafu went to the department store and after looking around he realized that a cashmere sweater cost more than two thousand yuan. He only earned more than two thousand yuan a month. If he used all of it to buy cashmere sweaters, he would not be able to make a living. He bought a cashmere vest, which cost more than one thousand yuan.
After buying it, he hesitated again, not knowing how to send it. Just like Caiyu said, if he sent it now, what would the master think?
It has been delayed until now, and if I don’t send it now, the New Year is almost here.
I might as well go for a walk! The lunch market was over, so he packed up the shop, went out to the back, walked into the corridor and climbed the stairs.
He rented a shop on the ground floor and a small room upstairs.
Lou Jiafu opened the door and found that he had forgotten to turn off the TV.
The final of the "Hong Kong and Macau Chef Competition" is being broadcast on TV.
The match between Lu Peide of Zhangji and Zhang Hongxing of Kunhelou was broadcast last night and is now being rebroadcast.
This year's competition has a Lu Peide. Whoever meets such a strong opponent will lose.
I was so unlucky that I met him in the first game.
To be honest, Zhang Hongxing's skills are not as good as mine, but he was lucky. He met Lu Peide in the last game and won the runner-up.
What surprised him most was how quickly Ah Ming's cooking skills improved. Although Ah Ming lost the competition with Lu Peide, he was the only chef whose score was very close to Lu Peide's.
Although there were many varieties of dishes in the competition, and Ma Yaoxing's amazing knife skills helped him a lot, he could see that A-Ming, who could only cook clay pot rice and everything else was mediocre, was completely different.
If there was no Lu Peide, or even if Yue Ning had not been Lu Peide's assistant, the title of chef king should have belonged to Ah Ming. Being able to bring Ah Ming to such a high level of skill in such a short period of time, the master's granddaughter is indeed the uncrowned king of Hong Kong chefs.
Lou Jiafu turned off the TV and went to get the cashmere vest.
He went downstairs and rode his motorcycle to the entrance of Baohua Building and parked the car. He wanted to go in, but he was thinking about what to say if he saw the master. He didn't know what the master would look at him with.
"Lou Jiafu?"
Lou Jiafu heard Sister Hua's voice and saw Sister Hua. He walked forward and said, "Sister Hua, is my master here?"
Sister Hua looked at the schedule and said, "Uncle Hua is at Ningyan today. What are you doing here?"
Lou Jiafu breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually quite afraid of meeting the master. He stuffed the bag into Sister Hua's hands and said, "Sister Hua, I bought a vest for the master. Please give it to him for me!"
Sister Hua looked at him hesitantly, then looked down at the label on the gift bag. This vest is really not cheap!
Sister Hua returned the bag to him: "What's your plan? Uncle Hua still needs a vest like this?"
As expected! Lou Jiafu felt like he couldn't breathe.
"When Baohualou was in its most difficult time, you left without looking back. Now Baohualou has become the most popular restaurant in Hong Kong. Do you want to come back? Are you dreaming?" Sister Hua was furious when she thought of the past, and her voice became louder.
The waiter who was taking a break looked over and Sister Hua said, "Don't be so delusional. Let's go!"
"What's going on?"
Hearing the voice, Lou Jiafu turned around and saw the eldest senior brother. He quickly called out, "Brother Rong."
Li Xinrong came out from the kitchen wearing a chef's uniform.
Firstly, Japan's TS TV station has scheduled a live banquet on February 23rd. This banquet does not have the time limit of the "Chef Contest". Each family has to bring out their own specialty dishes, and a lot of dry goods have to be prepared ten days in advance, so we have to prepare now.
Ningning asked the participating chefs to come to Baohualou to confirm the preparations of each family and ask if there was any need for help from other families or any adjustments needed.
He brought his apprentice with him and discussed the matter in the morning. In the afternoon, he asked his apprentice to discuss the matter in the kitchen of Baohua Building.
Secondly, it was the end of the year and his master asked him to bring his family over for a gathering.
Seeing Lou Jiafu, he was a little surprised. Sister Hua said quickly: "Lou Jiafu came to give Uncle Hua a gift. He must have bad intentions. I let him take it."
Li Xinrong nodded: "Yes! When Master was in the most difficult time, you stabbed him in the back. Now that Master is in glory, you come to give him a gift again. Can Master accept this gift?"
Lou Jiafu had no way to explain. He lowered his head, and his knuckles turned white from clenching the gift bag.
"I see."
After saying that, he turned and walked out.
Looking at his junior fellow's lonely back, Li Xinrong felt a little bit sorry for him.
Lou Jiafu entered Baohualou at the age of sixteen. He was also Sister Jin's son, so his master asked him to help take care of the child.
A few years later, he went to Australia City to develop. Among his master's apprentices, he spent the longest time with Ding Shengqiang and Lou Jiafu.
There is no need to talk about Ding Shengqiang.
Li Xinrong walked out and saw Lou Jiafu getting on a motorcycle.
Lou Jiafu looked at him and said, "Brother Rong, I'm leaving."
Li Xinrong nodded and watched Lou Jiafu leave, then he turned and entered Baohua Building.
Sister Hua sighed: "If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have stabbed you in the back!"
Li Xinrong also sighed and went into the kitchen.
In the kitchen, when everyone should have been resting, Yue Ning was there, and everyone perked up and listened to her teachings. Today, Li Xinrong's apprentice He Jiahui came.
Yue Ning was helping him mix the ingredients for the soup. When she saw Li Xinrong coming in, she asked casually, "Uncle Rong, why did you take so long to go out?"
"Lou Jiafu is here."
"What is he here for?" Yue Ning asked.
"Give your grandfather a New Year's gift."
Sister Hua had already followed in and said, "He bought a cashmere vest. He wanted me to give it to your grandfather on his behalf, but I stuffed it back. If I accept his cashmere vest, who knows, next month, your grandfather might soften his heart and beg to go back to Baohua Building!"
"That may not be the case. I think he is quite sad. After all, he entered Baohua Building at the age of sixteen..." said Li Xinrong.
"But it's possible. After all, when this guy divorced Pei Caiyu, he was quite conscientious and gave most of the money from selling the house to Caiyu." Sister Hua said quietly.
Yue Ning asked Ah Hui to go get some soup. She said, "Uncle Rong, let's go upstairs and call Grandpa. We can't make the decision for him."
Yue Ning knew that his grandfather cared about these disciples. Ding Shengqiang was hopeless. As for Lou Jiafu, Aunt Xuelian and Sister Hua often mentioned his ex-wife Pei Caiyu, and they also knew how their property was distributed after the divorce. So, Lou Jiafu had a conscience in this regard, right?
The two went into the office together. Yue Ning called Ning Yan and told Yue Baohua about this. She said, "Grandpa, this apprentice must not return to Baohualou. Once he is unfaithful, he will never be used again. However, if he truly repents and thinks of the relationship between master and apprentice, then you can give him a chance. Let Uncle Rong go to his store and say that Uncle Rong is giving him a gift out of consideration for the relationship between the master and the apprentice."
Yue Baohua paused for a long time on the other end of the phone. He said, "For fuck's sake, trust him once."
Yue Ning said to Li Xinrong, "Uncle Rong, tell him tomorrow that it was you who persuaded Grandpa to accept the gift. Then, tell him clearly that Baohualou will not want him anymore. You can also take this opportunity to see if he is giving gifts because it is profitable, or if he has really thought it through and remembered the relationship between master and apprentice."
"I understand." Li Xinrong stood up and said, "I'll go there."
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