Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 95: A Successful Debut

Turn off the heat, put the large ladle on the stove, toss the hand ladle into the large ladle, and Xiao Wei let out a long sigh of relief. He put his hands on his hips and said to Xia Maosheng, "I was a little nervous. I didn't do it right the first time. I'll do it again." He raised his left hand to move his wrist. The most tiring part of cooking is the wrist. The weight of the large ladle and the vegetables inside is all on the left wrist. You also have to keep shaking and flipping the ladle. It requires a lot of strength in the left wrist. At the very least, you have to be able to hold a full ladle of water horizontally.

However, this also depends on the stove. At home, you rely on wrist strength to lift the food, but restaurants use large stoves that are less prone to pulling or straining, so you can lift it partially. In any case, you can't be a good chef if you don't have enough strength.

Xia Maosheng clapped his hands and said, "Great job! Your first time was really beautiful. It really surprised me. You're awesome. I was still not very good at it after half a year. Alright, let's eat. Try your cooking and see what Xiao Hong has to say." He reached for the sweet and sour pork on the stove.

The two turned around and saw Xiao Hong standing at the kitchen doorway, leaning against the door frame, blinking her big eyes at them, while Chen Xiao stood behind Xiao Hong with a pout.

Xiao Wei laughed and asked, "How did you get in?"

As a result, Xiao Hong's eyes reddened, and she walked towards Xiao Wei with her hands raised, pouting and calling out, "Brother Guizi." She wrapped her arms around Xiao Wei's neck and pressed her face tightly against his neck.

Xiao Wei held up both hands, turned his head, and tried to keep his face as far away from Xiao Hong as possible, saying, "What's wrong? I'm dirty. Let me wash up first. Let's get some rice, okay? Everyone's watching."

Xiao Hong hummed in agreement, nodded, released Xiao Wei, wiped her eyes, glanced at Xiao Wei, turned around and took the sweet and sour pork from Xia Maosheng's hand and carried it out.

Xiao Wei said, "Let's eat the rice. I'm going to wash up; my face is all messed up." Xia Maosheng took the rice cooker and went out.

Xiao Wei washed his hands, took off his chef's uniform which was covered in vegetable juice and put it aside. Then he went to wash his face under the tap, but a splash of cold water hit his face, and the right side of his face burned. He couldn't help but hiss. There was no mirror in the kitchen, so he couldn't see what was wrong with his face.

He endured the pain, washed his face, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the towel he used to dry his face hanging outside.

As soon as he came out of the kitchen, Xiao Hong immediately noticed something was wrong. She ran over to him and asked, "What happened to your face? Why is it so red?"

Xiao Wei grinned and said, "I don't know, it hurts a little when it gets wet. What's wrong? Is it red? Is it swollen?"

Yang Tiebin helped serve the rice and asked Xia Maosheng, "What's wrong? Did the oil splatter?"

Xia Maosheng sat down at the table and said, "No, I just splashed some soup when I flipped the ladle before cooking the fish, it wasn't oil."

Xiao Hong looked over and said, "Oh my god, blisters have formed! What should we do?"

Xia Maosheng was stunned for a moment, then blinked and said, "No way, it's not oil."

Li Guangzhao said, "Are you stupid? There's sugar in the sauce for dry-fried fish."

Xia Maosheng suddenly realized, nodded, looked at Xiao Wei's face and said, "It's okay, just a little on your face, your nose and eyes are fine. Don't break it, it'll be fine in a few days. You're not that good-looking to begin with, it won't affect you much."

Everyone laughed, but Xiao Hong was still a little worried and asked Yang Tiebin, "Are you really alright?"

Yang Tiebin laughed and said, "It's alright, it'll be fine in a few days. Just don't break it. Everyone gets burned before. It's normal for chefs to get burned a few times. Let's eat, I'm hungry."

Xiaowei pushed Xiaohong to sit at the table and said, "It's okay, I was just nervous the first time. I can't do it again. Let's eat quickly and see how I did."

Chen Xiao asked, "Did you cook all of this?"

Xiao Wei smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Try it, point out any flaws. This is my first time doing this. I couldn't have done it without Lao Xia's guidance. I was so nervous."

Yang Tiebin said, "You guys are really good at talking. Come on, let's eat. Aren't you hungry? Xiaowei, you sit down too. Come on, let's eat."

Several people started eating.

"This green pepper fell over; if you had been gentler, it would have been fine."

"The sauce for this sweet and sour pork is too vinegary. Did you try it? You did? Looks like you can handle vinegar."

"Hmm, this fish tastes just right. This kingfish is cooked well."

"The pork slices and ribs are delicious."

"This is overcooked, the potatoes are burnt, it could be used to make candied potatoes."

"Yeah, why didn't you make candied fruit?"

"……Won't."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The meal was lively and enjoyable. Xiao Wei didn't drink because his face was flushed, and the others didn't drink much either. The three of them shared a bottle of Lao Long Kou liquor. After the meal, the two women cleaned up, while the others brewed tea and sat down to drink it.

Li Guangzhao said, "Old Zhang is better than me; he's suited for this kind of work."

Yang Tiebin asked, "Where are you all planning to intern in a couple of days?"

Xia Maosheng said, "No, I'm going home. I'll come back after the exam." He needed to go back and arrange the class schedule.

Li Guangzhao said, "I'm going home too. I live nearby; it only takes two hours by car. What am I going to do here?"

Xiao Wei said, "We'll see then. I want to try and see if I can go to Jiuge City."

Yang Tiebin said, "That's great? I've never heard of it. I'll go to Shaoyuan. I went there a couple of days ago, and Liu Guodong agreed."

Xia Maosheng said, "It seems that not many people actually go down to do internships. Those who are capable have all gone home and are waiting to take the exam and get their certificates. Those who are not capable are not wanted anywhere. Even if they go, they will only be doing odd jobs. It's better for them to go back to their hometown and find a small restaurant to learn from."

Xiao Wei said, "I'll take any odd jobs. I need somewhere to learn and see what I'm doing. This stuff isn't tiring at all. How can chopping vegetables be tiring?"

Yang Tiebin shook his head and said, "I still need to find a mentor and read more books. What can I learn this way? How long will it take?"

Xiao Wei said, "I'd like to follow my master, but where can I go? I don't know anyone here except you guys."

Chen Hui said, "Isn't your family connected to the Jixian Police Station? And that vice president of this house, they must have connections there. Just a word from them will do. It's not a big deal."

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "That's a matter of elders. We should avoid using it if possible. It's not worth wasting our connections on this. Let's give it a try and see what happens."

Xia Maosheng said, "What's the use of worrying about these things? You're already good at home cooking. You're not going to work in big hotels or five-star restaurants, so it doesn't matter whether you learn those fancy things or not. There are only so many basic knife skills and cooking methods. Didn't you buy those books? Take a look, write them down, and if you don't understand something, just buy some ingredients and cook it at home. If Xiaohong and Xiaoxiao say it tastes good, then there's no problem. You don't need to worry about so many things when you're running a small restaurant."

Yang Tiebin nodded and said, "Old Xia is right. Actually, I only learned from my dad for a few days. I've never even seen those famous dishes or precious ingredients, but I'm doing just fine. That's enough."

After chatting for a while, Xiaohong and Xiaoxiao finished packing and came out. Xiaoxiao checked the time and was about to go home when Chen Hui stood up to see her off: "Then I'm leaving too. I'm going straight home now, I'm not coming back. You two keep chatting." The two walked away hand in hand. They'd made pretty much progress in the past month.

Xia Maosheng asked, "What are we doing?"

Yang Tiebin said, "Let's not do anything, let's go. It's only nine o'clock, let's go back. We can't sleep here, it's better to go back than to squeeze in like this." He stood up to put on his clothes, and Li Guangzhao also stood up. Xia Maosheng looked at them and said, "Alright, let's go back then."

The three of them packed up and left.