It’s the Spring Festival again, and the Royal Palace Hotel is busy preparing for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Chef Luo felt that Ye Tian was just learning from him and was not a formal employee, so he asked her to rest at home and celebrate the New Year with her master's wife and Lele.
Seeing the restaurant kitchen bustling with activity, Ye Tian felt bad for sitting idle. Even though she wasn't a regular employee, her master had given her a red envelope. Furthermore, Chef Yu had taught her several dishes, which gave her more experience and insights, and more inspiration for her cooking.
After finishing work with Master and everyone, it was already past 10 o'clock in the evening. I definitely wouldn't be able to make it to the New Year's Eve dinner at home, but I could still make it back to Master's house to eat dumplings.
This time we returned not to the master's own home, but to his family's old courtyard house, which is the home of Chef Luo's parents.
"This is my dad, you can call him whatever you want!" Master said casually to Ye Tian.
"Hello, Grandpa Luo!" Ye Tian's voice was sweet and bright.
"Good boy, come in and sit down. Grandma and your master's wife are making dumplings in the kitchen." Old Master Luo was in good spirits. Miraculously, he had few wrinkles and looked very young, no more than 60 years old.
They lived in a small courtyard with few rooms and simple decor. It wasn't a grand, retro courtyard. The living room had a simple solid wood sofa and tea maker, not rosewood.
When Ye Tian went to the kitchen to help, she found that the best decorated part of Grandpa Luo's house was the kitchen. It was a whole room, and the kitchen stove was not the kind used in ordinary families. There were many high-end kitchen utensils of all kinds, giving it the feeling of a star-rated restaurant kitchen.
When the master's wife saw Ye Tian, she happily called out to her, "Tiantian, you must be tired. You've been busy all day. Stop helping with making dumplings and take a break! Oh, this is Lele's grandma. You can call her grandma too."
"Hello, Grandma Luo!" Ye Tian called politely.
"This child looks really smart. Zhongxi is so lucky to have such a good apprentice. He is really a successor!" Grandma Luo is also a very kind person and speaks in a soft voice.
Ye Tian smoothed her hair and said, "I'm lucky. I met a master who taught me attentively, and a master's wife who took care of me like a family member. God must have seen that I did a lot of good things in my previous life, so he gave me such a blessing."
"This child is really good at talking." Grandma Luo said with a smile.
Then she heard the voices of a father and son talking in the living room, and suddenly said, "That old man is too lazy. He uses the excuse of not knowing how to make dumplings and doesn't come to help."
Both the master's wife and Ye Tian couldn't help laughing. The master's wife said to her mother-in-law, "Who told you to make the best dumplings? After I learned from you, Zhongxi also said that mine were delicious. He and my father are Sichuan chefs, and they don't know how to cook like us in the old Beijing style. They only make red oil dumplings and wontons, which is different from our style."
"You're just speaking for them. Zhongxi didn't come to make dumplings because he was tired after a busy day. And didn't Tiantian also work in the restaurant all day? Humph, what a lazy father and son!"
Ye Tian silently retracted her thoughts of Grandma Luo being gentle and kind. She looked very powerful.
"Mom, didn't Dad make the New Year's Eve dinner tonight? Let them slack off for a while. They won't eat much at night anyway. 20 more dumplings will be enough."
"Tiantian, you should go watch the Spring Festival Gala too! I'll finish wrapping it soon, so you don't need my help." The master's wife said again.
Ye Tian already had a dumpling wrapper in her hand. She put in the celery and pork filling and clasped her hands together, and a dumpling was ready.
"You wrap it so fast!" Grandma Luo said in surprise.
Ye Tian finally discovered that Grandma Luo probably couldn't cook, or she could only make dumplings, but she was very slow at it. She could make one, while her wife could make two, and Ye Tian could make four.
With Ye Tian's help, everyone finished wrapping the dumplings in just a few minutes. Grandma Luo even found two coins, disinfected them, and wrapped them in the dumplings.
Ye Tian accompanied her master's wife to cook dumplings. Grandma Luo sat at the dining table and watched them. The heat rising from the kitchen made people feel that this was the feeling of home.
“Dumplings are coming…”
Ye Tian brought the dumplings to the table. The master's wife went to see Lele who was sleeping, and prepared to wake him up to eat dumplings, otherwise he would complain tomorrow morning that he was not woken.
Fireworks are prohibited in the city, so you can't hear the crackling sound of firecrackers or see the blooming fireworks, but the sound of the Spring Festival Gala is playing indoors, and everything is red, with a strong atmosphere.
Lele walked out of the bedroom with her mother in a daze, and ran to Ye Tian first: "Sister, why did you come back just now? Didn't you have the New Year's Eve dinner? What a pity, Grandpa made a lot of delicious food today."
"I just got back from your dad too, why didn't you tell me?" Chef Luo deliberately frightened his son.
"Tsk, you're like this every year, I'm used to it."
Chef Luo thought about it and realized that it was true. Working in this industry, he was always busy cooking while others were having a reunion. He hadn't had a reunion dinner with his family for many years and he really owed his family a lot.
"Eat the dumplings quickly, or they will stick together!" Grandma Luo shouted.
"Okay!" Everyone sat down in an orderly manner.
"It's a shame your sister and her family can't come back today," Grandma Luo said, feeling a little sad as she thought of her daughter, who had immigrated abroad. But with so many people celebrating Chinese New Year with her, and her daughter's family also sending her New Year's greetings via video, she no longer felt the need for everyone to be home.
The clock struck midnight, and Luo Zhongxi bit the coin with his teeth with a "crunch".
Then Ye Tian also got hit in the teeth by the coin.
"You and your disciple will make a lot of money in the new year!" The master's wife was happier than if she had eaten a coin dumpling.
Joyfully, another year has passed.
…
After the Lunar New Year, on the 16th day of the first lunar month, school begins. It seems that before everyone has recovered from the afterglow of the Lunar New Year, they have already started their new work and studies.
The school has also undergone new changes. The milk tea shop that was renovated last year is finally opening; the owner of the faculty and staff cafeteria is making a fuss about terminating the contract because too few people eat there and he was making a loss last semester.
Ye Tian actually had one unpleasant thing: she had failed the English Level 4 exam by a small margin. She had passed all her subjects last semester, and her overall grades were about average in the class, which was about what she had expected.
"Oh, I don't have English classes anymore, but I still have to review for the Level 4 exam. How miserable!" Ye Tian felt a little self-pitying.
All four of their roommates passed, with Li Yue and Zhao Yu having passed early in their freshman year. Lu Xinyi, while her overall grades were lower, had a strong English and also passed on the first try.
How should I put it? Ye Tian has always been a strong-willed person, but when it comes to English, she loses her composure. But she can't give up. If she doesn't pass the CET-4, it will affect her diploma, so she still has to study hard.
"I have to take the IELTS exam and I still have to learn English. Let's study together in the future. I will definitely pass the exam next time!" Li Yue hugged Ye Tian.
Lu Xinyi also said: "Okay, don't be discouraged, show your Chef Ye's aura, it's just the English Level 4, it's a piece of cake!"
"Maybe it just happens that you are not good at this. You have a sensitive sense of taste and are a talented chef. But you are not so good at learning languages, and people cannot be good at everything. You see, I am good at studying, but if you let me cook, it would be an explosion, right! Cheer up, Tiantian baby! CET-4 is just a stepping stone. After mastering the test skills, you will definitely pass it." Zhao Yu thought for a long time and said comforting words to encourage Ye Tian.
"Thank you, I'm fine. At worst, I can just continue taking the exam. I'm sure I'll pass it before graduation!" Ye Tian cheered up.
"Don't think about these things anymore. I've learned a new dish and will go to the cafeteria to study it today. I'll be waiting for you to come and support me when it's ready." Speaking of cooking, Ye Tian became excited again. As expected, everyone has their own areas of expertise and can shine in their own fields.
Who knew that once they arrived at the cafeteria, Li Bing had a big surprise for everyone. "I have good news to announce: Xiaojuan and I are engaged!"
It turned out that during the winter vacation, Li Bing and Xiaojuan's parents met and both thought the other's children were good, so they arranged a marriage for them and planned to get married during this summer vacation.
Everyone applauded and started to make a fuss, which made the young couple blush.
Afterward, Ye Tian showed everyone her newly drafted menu and suggested some seasoning changes. She chose new oyster sauce and soy sauce based on price/performance, carefully comparing them, applying the insights she'd learned from Chef Yu.
"The cafeteria will officially open tomorrow. We will try out the dishes on the new menu today. Let's have a meal together and welcome the start of the new semester. Come on!" Li Bing began to boost morale.
The willow branches outside the window have sprouted, and it is another beautiful spring.
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