readsfreenovel Chapter 200 "He Yuzhu" 4
Chapter 200 "He Yuzhu" 4
When the day off arrived, He Yuzhu reminded He Daqing before leaving home not to forget to go to the Military Control Commission, and then went to Fengzeyuan, telling him not to mention the day off.
There are no days off when you are an apprentice. If you have something to do at home, you have to ask your master for leave first. If your master agrees, you can then inform the shopkeeper.
His health has been improving these past few days, and he spends less time on the road. He has also mastered more and more dishes. Today is his day off, and Fengzeyuan has seen a significant increase in customers compared to usual. When the kitchen was too busy at noon, He Yuzhu was assigned to cook, of course, the ten or so dishes that his chef had approved.
He's strong and can easily toss the wok, making two or three portions of food from one pot at a very fast pace. His addition made things much easier for the Sichuan cuisine team.
These past few days, He Yuzhu has kept his mental energy active while cooking. What for? To learn from others. Although He Yuzhu himself is a very good cook, there's always something to learn from others!
This kitchen has four major cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Hunan. Although He Yuzhu (Liu Yuxi) can cook them all, we need to find a reason for He Yuzhu to learn these cuisines in the future! She kept her mental energy active and would always turn her head to glance at the key points when others were explaining them to their apprentices.
The point was to make sure that those who were watching him noticed that he was eavesdropping, but he didn't do anything else. After all, stealing someone's skills was despicable. The other chefs in the kitchen knew that he had a talent for cooking, and sometimes they would give him some tips that didn't involve secret recipes.
It's in the nature of Chinese people to like teaching others and can't stand seeing talented children waste their talents. However, craftsmen in the past tended to be a bit secretive, often holding back some skills when teaching apprentices. This is a legacy of history, and there's no shortage of ungrateful people in every industry. It's just how it is.
Therefore, the master chefs only gave He Yuzhu some pointers when they happened to be there. As for how much he could learn, that depended on He Yuzhu's abilities.
When He Yuzhu brought groceries home as usual that evening, He Daqing was still sipping his wine, humming an unknown tune. "Hey! You seem to be in a good mood today?" He Yuzhu said as he placed the lunchbox on the table.
"Get lost!" He Daqing laughed and cursed. "Sit down and have a drink with me!" "Okay! I'll go get a bowl and chopsticks!" He Yuzhu replied.
Yu Shui spent the whole day outside with her father and is now asleep in bed. He Yuzhu poured He Daqing some more wine and also poured himself half a bowl.
After the father and son clinked bowls and took a sip of wine, He Daqing said while eating, "I went to the Military Control Commission today and the cadres there said that our family is considered farm laborers."
After saying that, he took another sip of wine. He seemed to have calmed down and spoke with more confidence and a lighter tone: "According to that cadre, I've lived in Beijing for so many years and there have been many people who have worked for me. As long as they weren't eager to work for me, they were all forced into it by the working class."
"That's good. Our family can live a peaceful life from now on. You can get married and have a couple of kids, hehe!" He Yuzhu teased his father.
"Get lost, you even dragged me into this!" He Daqing laughed and cursed, but he did take the matter to heart. When he took Yushui out to play today, he also sounded out Yushui's opinion.
Perhaps because He Daqing has always doted on He Yushui, He Yushui now feels very secure. At that time, He Yushui only asked one question: "Dad, after you marry a new wife, will you still treat Yushui as well as you do now?"
"Yes, Dad will always treat Yushui the best!" He Daqing said this from the bottom of his heart. Yushui looks like her mother and was raised by him with great difficulty. To be honest, Yushui is indeed different in He Daqing's heart. He wants to remarry now so that there is a woman in the family who can teach Yushui some things about women's affairs.
"Then Dad, you should marry her!" He Yushui was a bit too bold! Children who don't lack love are 99% unlikely to be sensitive or overthinking.
Since He Yushui didn't object, He Daqing prepared to find someone to introduce him to a wife. In those days, the efficiency of finding a wife was incomparable to that of modern times.
Because of what He Yuzhu said that day, the next day, He Daqing did not look for matchmakers in the Tongluoguxiang area. Instead, he went to his senior apprentice's place and asked his senior apprentice's wife to find him a wife. After telling her his requirements, he went to work in a hurry.
Since his sister-in-law didn't have to work, she started using her connections to find a suitable candidate that very day, and within three days, she found one.
The girl's name is Wang Yan. She is 26 years old and lives in Wangjia Village on the outskirts of Beijing. She has only one younger brother, Wang Dahe, who is 18 years old.
Her father was a hunter. When her mother was pregnant with her younger brother, he went hunting in the mountains to help her mother recover and was killed by a bear. Her mother was so shocked by this that she gave birth to her younger brother prematurely and her health has been poor ever since.
But for the sake of her and her siblings, and to avoid being targeted by the villagers, her mother worked tirelessly, even though the family still had some savings. When Wang Dahe was seven years old, her mother passed away.
At this time, Wang Yan was not yet engaged. Because she was loved by her parents since childhood, and learned some martial arts from her father, and was also taught by her mother, Wang Yan had a strong personality.
Although her uncles and aunts said they would find her a good match and let her get married without worry, and that they would take care of Wang Dahe as he grew up, Wang Dahe was her only remaining close relative. She couldn't bear to part with him and couldn't rest easy, so she made the request that she take Wang Dahe with her when she got married.
In the countryside, which family would agree to this? After all, she still has uncles and elders in her family. She can't just be taking advantage of someone else's childless family. She's just helping them raise their son. When he grows up, she might even have to spend money and gifts on Wang Dahe's wedding. So, Wang Yan's marriage has become a major problem.
Fortunately, Wang Dahe was very sensible, and both he and his sister were hardworking. With the help of their uncles and aunts, they managed to get by. However, as they grew older, Wang Yan's marriage became increasingly difficult.
In the rural areas of the 1940s, it was difficult for girls to find husbands after they turned eighteen. After they turned twenty, there were even fewer potential partners. Wang Yan didn't like any of the men who were willing to marry her, so she simply raised her younger brother.
The reason she brought up getting married this time was because her younger brother had reached marriageable age. When they were arranging a marriage for her brother, the woman said that she would live with her after marriage. Even though there was no mother-in-law, she had her. Isn't that the same as having a mother-in-law?
So they said either the siblings would separate, or she would get married, otherwise she wouldn't marry her brother, even though her brother Wang Dahe had already told the matchmaker that the marriage was off.
But she still kept it in mind. She had raised her brother herself, and naturally she didn't want her actions to affect his marriage.