Xu Yanxia was a person who valued efficiency. After a brief meeting with her colleagues, she immediately went to the back kitchen to begin teaching the new dishes.
By the time Mrs. Lu called her, she had already finished teaching the kitchen staff how to make the beef tendon soup.
"Xiao Xia, how are you resting? Where have you been lately?"
Mrs. Shen's elegant and affectionate voice came through the receiver. Xu Yanxia smiled and replied, "Auntie, I'm at Jiushan. I went to work this morning."
"This child,"
Mrs. Shen sighed on the other end of the line. "How are you even more of a workaholic than Jingming? You've been away for a week, don't you know to get a good rest first?"
"I'm not tired,"
Xu Yanxia explained to her future mother-in-law. "Mainly because after resting this week, we have to go to Jingbei for a competition next week. I wanted to hurry up and finish some important work on hand first."
"All right then, just follow your own schedule."
Mrs. Shen said, then added, "The clothes we ordered for you last time are ready. If you have time in the next few days, remember to go to the shop and try them on. If anything doesn't fit, have them alter the size."
With the engagement approaching, Mrs. Shen had specially taken her to order a few outfits before her business trip last week. They were all custom-made by top designers just for her, and the production time was much shorter than usual.
Normally, other clients had to wait at least one to two months. For her to get the clothes in just a week, Mrs. Shen must have paid a hefty rush fee.
Xu Yanxia was just about to agree when Mrs. Shen asked, "Which day is convenient for you? Do you want me to take you?"
"No need, Auntie,"
she immediately said. "I'll just go by myself in the next couple of days."
Their engagement was a huge event for the Lu family. Mrs. Shen had been busy these days arranging the venue, inviting guests, and sorting out the catering. She was definitely very busy, so Xu Yanxia could handle these small errands herself.
"All right then,"
Mrs. Shen told her over the phone. "I set up a black card for you there. It has no limit, and it's registered under your phone number."
This took Xu Yanxia by surprise. "Auntie, this..."
She wanted to say it was too expensive, but before she could finish, Mrs. Shen continued, "We're going to be a family soon. I wanted to buy you a new car the other day, but you refused. Just accept this little token of my affection, don't be so polite with me."
It was true. As early as last week when the engagement date was set, Mrs. Shen had offered to buy her a luxury car. However, she felt that her current little white car had only been bought recently and was quite comfortable to drive, so she firmly declined.
"Xiao Xia,"
Mrs. Shen said earnestly. "You have no idea. Seeing that we'll soon have another child calling us Mom and Dad, your Uncle Lu and I couldn't be happier! This is just what we want to do as parents."
Well, all right then.
Xu Yanxia smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie."
"You're welcome,"
Mrs. Shen mentioned before hanging up. "By the way, I chatted with Mrs. He a few days ago. She said that once you finished recording the show and had some free time, you should give her a call. She has something to discuss with you."
"Okay."
Xu Yanxia said, "I'll call her right now."
After hanging up with Mrs. Shen, she dialed Mrs. He's number.
The call connected quickly, and Mrs. He asked gently, "Xiao Xia, are you back in Rong City now?"
Xu Yanxia said yes. "Mrs. He, is there something you need me for?"
To her surprise, Mrs. He asked, "I wanted to ask you a rather personal question. Is your grandfather from Qingcheng? Did he used to work as a chef at a restaurant called Huaixiangju in your provincial capital? And did he later move to Jingbei?"
Xu Yanxia was a bit surprised. How did Mrs. He know about her grandfather's experiences from decades ago?
And even contacted her specifically to ask this?
She replied, "...Yes. But how did you know?"
"Did you know my grandfather before?"
"More than just knowing him,"
Mrs. He sighed with deep emotion. "Actually, as soon as I knew your surname was Xu, I should have thought of this. This is truly a case of searching high and low only to find it effortlessly!"
"Xiao Xia, our two families are old acquaintances. Speaking of which, I should call your grandfather 'Uncle'."
"Back then, he was our family's benefactor."
What?
Xu Yanxia was completely stunned.
...
When Xu Yanxia hurried all the way home to see her grandfather, the old man had just finished making a dish of pan-fried and braised fish in front of her aunt's phone camera, and was still explaining the key points to note.
Ever since he recorded the recipes for stir-fried pork liver and stir-fried pork kidneys for Mrs. He last time, the old man had developed an interest in shooting videos.
These past few days, he had been recording either in the teppanyaki kitchen or at home. She had only been on a business trip for a week, and the old man had already shot four or five videos.
Right now, after finally finishing her explanation of the key steps for making "Pan-Seared Fish" to the camera, her aunt wrapped up the recording. Grandpa then asked her, "Why did you come back at this hour?"
"I have something to ask you."
Xu Yanxia sat down in front of the old man and said with a serious expression, "Grandpa, you have to tell me the truth right now. How exactly did you end up going to Jingbei back in the day, and how did you come back to Qingcheng?"
"Ah, that..."
Grandpa Xu paused for a moment, then began to tell her the story.
The old man was born before liberation. Most people from that era had a bitter life. He lost his parents when he was little, and in order to survive, he followed an uncle from the village to a restaurant in the city to learn how to cook.
Because of his high talent and excellent culinary skills, he later went to a famous, time-honored restaurant called Huaixiangju in the provincial capital to work as the head chef. It was there that, relying on a few of his signature dishes, he caught the attention of a top provincial official named Li Zhenjiang, who took him along to Jingbei.
"At first, the leader arranged for me to work in the government agency's cafeteria, specifically in charge of the private kitchen for the senior officials. Later, the leader felt my talents were being wasted, so he recommended me to a large state-owned restaurant in Jingbei at the time."
Speaking of this, Grandpa Xu thought about it seriously and said, "I think it has been renamed to Decui Restaurant now."
"Decui Restaurant?"
Xu Yanxia was quite surprised. "That's one of the absolute best restaurants in Jingbei right now. You actually worked there?"
Because of her participation in "One City, One Flavor," and also because she had the idea of opening a branch restaurant, she had recently done a lot of homework on the catering industry in various places, something she hadn't cared much about before.
Jingbei was one of the key cities she was investigating, which was why she knew the current status of Decui Restaurant in Jingbei's culinary scene.
Not to mention anything else, that fake imperial chef from last time had even bragged to her about having connections inside!
"Yes,"
Her grandpa smiled lightly and said, "Our cuisine and Jingbei's belong to the same culinary system. I'm not boasting, but back in the old society, most of the cooks in the officials' mansions were hired from our area. Strictly speaking, the people working in those big restaurants in Jingbei right now could trace a master-apprentice relationship back to me."
That was true.
Xu Yanxia nodded and asked again, "What happened after that?"
She saw her grandpa sigh and say, "Later, catching up with the special period, Minister Li was dismissed from his post and sent down to the Northwest."
"Were you implicated as well?" Xu Yanxia asked.
"You could say that,"
Grandpa nodded, still speaking with a hint of indignation even today. "They said Minister Li was a capitalist roader, and they called me a running dog of the capitalist roaders. They demanded that I join them in publicly denouncing Minister Li to prove my own innocence. How could I ever do such a thing?"
"Of course not."
Xu Yanxia nodded and said, "You definitely didn't give in, and as a result, they made things difficult for you. So you left Jingbei, returned to your hometown, opened a small restaurant incognito, and lived out the better half of your life?"
"Yes and no,"
Her grandpa smiled and said, "There were a few other twists and turns in the middle of all that."
