Chapter 1 Restaurant Crisis (Part 1)
A Rolls-Royce stopped on the street, the passenger door was pushed open, and a young man in a dark gray shirt got out of the car. The young man walked to the back door and opened it.
An old man with a thin face and only a few strands of white hair came out of the car.
After the old man got off the bus, he walked forward, and the young man accompanied him.
On both sides of the street are tenement buildings built in the 1940s and 1950s, with stalls set up on the street. A clothing stall shouted "Clearance sale of local clothing made in Hong Kong", and a large number of customers crowded in front of the stall, leaving only a narrow passage for passers-by, so that only two people could pass through.
After passing through the crowds rushing to buy clearance goods, the crowded situation did not get better because there were two restaurants opposite each other on both sides of the street. The one on the left was "Baohualou" and the other one was "Shenghualou". Both restaurants were packed with people and there were long queues in front of the roast meat stalls.
The waiter from Baohualou came out to greet the guests: "Boss Qiao is here?"
Before the waiter had finished his words, a casual voice came over: "The No. 8 typhoon signal was hoisted a few days ago, so it's hard to buy rat patches!"
This made the waiter glare at him angrily. The person who spoke was from Shenghua Building. He said with a smile: "Why are you glaring at me? If you glare at me, will you have rat spots?"
"How do you talk?" A short and fat man in chef's uniform walked out of Shenghua Building.
The man being scolded smiled indifferently and took a step back.
At this time, a gray-haired man came out of Baohualou. He was the owner of Baohualou, Yue Baohua. He stared at the short and fat chef of Shenghualou with a pair of sharp eyes.
The short and fat chef ran over with his greasy face shaking: "Master, I thought you weren't back yet, and didn't know that Boss Qiao was coming. I saw that Boss Chen had a particularly good stripe of squid, so I took it. Did you buy it? If not, I'll have someone send it to you."
This short and fat chef is Ding Shengqiang, the owner of Shenghualou.
Baohualou has been open for more than 30 years. Relying on its reputation, it has grown from a small shop with four tables to a restaurant with more than a hundred tables.
Shenghualou had only been open for half a year when Ding Shengqiang, under the banner of Yue Baohua's direct disciple, opened a restaurant across the street from Baohualou. He used the same menu as Baohualou, and the prices were generally 10% to 20% lower than Baohualou, which attracted many people in a short period of time.
An old customer of Baohualou accused Ding Shengqiang of being dishonest. Ding Shengqiang was so thick-skinned that he said the "Sheng" in Shenghualou was taken from the "Sheng" in his name, and "Hua" was to show that he was a disciple of Yue Baohua. He also said that the price was lower than that of Baohualou because he thought that his skills were still far behind his master, so the price was naturally lower.
The words were high-sounding, but the deeds were extremely dirty. Not only did he snatch customers from Baohualou at a low price, but he also used inferior means on a regular basis.
For example, today, Mr. Qiao Qiming is one of the richest men in the city and a regular customer of Baohualou for more than 20 years. He comes to Baohualou for dinner every once in a while, and the steamed squid prepared by Yue Baohua himself must be on the table. This habit has never changed for more than 20 years. As Yue Baohua's apprentice, how could Ding Shengqiang not know about it?
The old diner felt that Ding Shengqiang was going too far. Not only did he steal Yue Baohua's business, but he also wanted to intercept Yue Baohua's fish. Wasn't this obviously trying to undermine Yue Baohua and embarrass him?
Qiao Qiming glanced at Ding Shengqiang with contempt in his eyes, but his words were very polite: "Boss Ding, no need to bother. I specifically told your master yesterday that I wanted to eat the fish rice he made today."
"Boss Ding, you wanted to steal Uncle Hua's fish and ruin his business, but you failed!" an old customer said, "You don't have to think about it. The fishmonger got rich and bought a building thanks to your master. How could he give you the fish your master wants? Do you think everyone is as ungrateful as you? He gave you the fish because Boss Qiao didn't want to eat it."
Most of the customers at Baohualou were old diners, and they all echoed: "You learned your master's skills, but you didn't learn how to be a human being from him."
"Indeed." Even Qiao Qiming spoke.
Ding Shengqiang's fat face trembled and he turned around and went back to Shenghua Building.
"Boss Qiao, please!" Yue Baohua looked at the young man again, "Master Junxian is on vacation?"
"It's not vacation, it's graduation." Qiao Qiming looked at his grandson with loving eyes.
Yue Baohua patted his head and said, "My memory is so bad! Boss Qiao just went to the United States last month to attend Master Junxian's graduation ceremony."
"He's with me now, helping me with some personal matters. I said I wanted to come over for dinner, and he said he wanted to eat the fish soup you made."
"Yes! I'm not as particular as my grandfather about what kind of grouper to eat. When I was in the United States, I wanted to eat the fish soup you made." Qiao Junxian was gentle and polite, and his tone of voice was a little naughty like a young man.
Qiao Qiming turned his head and glared, "I call that particular? Steaming only takes a few minutes, but your fish soup requires frying the silver carp, taking out the fish meat, and then boiling the soup. That's really a lot of work."
Yue Baohua said: "It is my honor that Boss Qiao and Master Junxian like my dishes."
Yue Baohua walked in with the grandparents, and Qiao Qiming said to him, "Baohua, let me tell you what I said last time. Move your store to Causeway Bay. The storefront is ready. No one here can mess around with it."
Yue Baohua smiled bitterly and said, "Forget it. I'm already this old. I'll do this for a few more years while I have the strength. If I can't do it anymore, I'll sell it."
"Is it difficult to return home?" Qiao Qiming reacted immediately.
"Zhirong took the child to the northwest, where it is bitterly cold. Zhirong has been dead for five years, leaving behind a girl, and no one knows what happened to her." Yue Baohua drooped his lips and stopped talking.
This news was unexpected, but... As soon as the country opened, Qiao Qiming returned to China, and his relatives and friends also... It's better not to say anything, he said: "My condolences."
"No more talking." Yue Baohua gestured with his hand, "You go upstairs first, I'll go cook."
"good."
Yue Baohua walked to the back kitchen and arrived at the kitchen door. Inside, the sounds of the range hood, pots and spoons colliding, and conversation could be heard: "You don't think Boss Qiao really wants to eat fish rice, do you? After Brother Qiang bought the grouper, the chef contacted several seafood owners and finally found a grouper that was said to be of the right weight and color. He went to see it but didn't want it. He came back and called Boss Qiao to apologize, saying that there was no grouper today, so Boss Qiao changed to fish rice."
Yue Baohua has a total of six apprentices. The eldest apprentice went to a large hotel in Australia City to work as the head chef of Cantonese cuisine a few years ago. The second apprentice is Ding Shengqiang, who has the best skills, has followed him the longest, and is the most trusted by him.
Two years ago, Ding Shengqiang went to Aocheng to gamble and lost money. Yue Baohua helped him pay off his gambling debts and forbade him to go to Aocheng again. Ding Shengqiang's bad habits were hard to change. He went there for the second time and came back with debts again. This time he didn't dare to tell his master, and he embezzled the money for buying fish and meat. Yue Baohua didn't know until several bosses came to his door. Giving him a chance was already a great favor between master and apprentice, so how could he help him pay it back a second time? Yue Baohua drove Ding Shengqiang out of Baohua Building.
Who would have thought that a few months later, Ding Shengqiang bought the shop across the street, opened Shenghualou, and started competing with him.
Yue Baohua then realized that Ding Shengqiang had fallen into the trap of the code-scrapper.
A few years ago, a junket operator in Macau married a concubine in Hong Kong and wanted to buy a property for her. The concubine wanted to open a restaurant and was in need of a master chef, so the junket operator turned his attention to Yue Baohua's apprentices.
Yue Baohua has always encouraged his apprentices to venture out into the world after they become masters, but he also stressed the need to run legitimate businesses and not get involved in gambling or drugs, as once you fall into this quagmire, it will be difficult to climb out.
The job of the stackers in the Macau City Casino is to introduce gamblers to the casino, introduce money lenders to the gamblers and collect the loan sharks.
After he found out, he advised his disciples not to go, thinking that the matter was over.
Unexpectedly, the stacker took a fancy to Ding Shengqiang. It was clearly the other party who set up the trap, but Ding Shengqiang hated his master and opened a restaurant across the street from Baohualou to steal Baohualou's customers.
Yue Baohua continued to listen to them and said, "This is Boss Qiao giving face to Master."
"Yes, Boss Qiao is nostalgic, but have you ever thought about how many years the fishmonger, Old Chen, has been cooperating with Baohualou? Why would he give the fish that the chef asked him to keep?"
"Why? Without our master giving him business, how could he afford to buy a building?"
"You are young and naive! Brother Qiang inherited the true teachings of the master. Now Shenghualou is opened opposite us, and the prices are lower than ours." The third apprentice sneered, "Don't think that our place is still full. After all, the master is already in his early sixties, and Brother Qiang is in his prime. It is only a matter of time before Shenghualou surpasses Baohualou. Moreover, when the master returned to the mainland this time, his son was gone. When the master's wife gave birth to this son, she became ill and died after a few years, leaving the master with only this one child. Now that the son is gone, what hope is there for the master?"
"But doesn't he still have a granddaughter? The master said she is in the northwest, and he is trying to arrange the formalities for her to go there."
"So many girls from the mainland come to Hong Kong, even those from Shanghai, and they are so unsophisticated. What do you think a girl from a remote mountain village in the northwest can do?" The third disciple sighed, "This is a widow whose son has died. There is no hope."
Yue Baohua appeared at the door. Several of his disciples who were cooking winked at the third disciple, but unfortunately he didn't see it.
The third apprentice said, "Let me tell you, even though Baohualou's business is still good now, in one or two years at the fastest, or two or three years at the slowest, Baohualou will definitely fail."
Yue Baohua coughed, and the third apprentice who was stirring the wok loosened his grip, and the pot fell onto the stove with a crisp sound.
"master……"
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