Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Chapter 51 Qin Jingru becomes Master Wu's disciple

After finishing his meal, Wang Feng checked the time; it was almost 1 p.m.

At this point, almost no one was eating at Lailai anymore, and the people who had been eating at Fengzeyuan were gradually leaving. Wang Feng said to the waiter who was clearing the tables nearby, "Comrade, come here for a moment."

The waiter approached Wang Feng and asked, "Comrade, is there anything I can help you with?"

Without wasting any words, Wang Feng took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed it to the waiter, saying, "Comrade, it's like this, I'm a distant relative of Chef Wu, and I came here specifically to see him. Could you please tell him for me?"

The waiter discreetly slipped the Zhonghua cigarette into his pocket, looked at Wang Feng with suspicion, and asked, "Are you really a distant relative of Chef Wu?"

Wang Feng nodded solemnly: "Of course, otherwise, wouldn't I be exposed immediately when Chef Wu arrives?"

"Alright, you wait. But lately, a lot of people have been trying to get on Chef Wu's good side. If Chef Wu doesn't want to see you, don't blame me."

"Hehe, comrade, go ahead, I really am Chef Wu's relative."

After the waiter walked away, Qin Jingru joked, "Hehe, Brother Wang Feng, I've noticed that when you lie, you don't even blink."

Wang Feng glared at Qin Jingru: "What do you know? If I didn't say it like that, would they have come out to see us? If Chef Wu comes over later, don't say anything out of line. Just do what I say, understand?"

"Okay, Brother Wang Feng, I understand."

......

The kitchen of Fengzeyuan Restaurant.

After Wu Jing finished cooking the last dish, he wiped his sweat with a towel and said to his apprentices:

"Go and rest, come back at four o'clock this afternoon."

"Alright, Master, then we'll go and rest now."

Wu Jing nodded, and just as he was about to speak, a waiter came to his side and said:

"Master Wu, there is a customer in the lobby on the first floor who says he is a distant relative of yours and wants you to go and meet him."

"Oh?"

Wu Jing was somewhat surprised; he didn't seem to have any distant relatives.

"Who is he? Is he trying to become my apprentice again?"

The waiter thought for a moment, then said, "He's a handsome young man, and his wife is very beautiful. He seems quite sincere, not like a conman."

"Okay, take me to see him."

Wu Jing thought about it and decided to meet him anyway. What if he really was a distant relative? Besides, he heard that the man had brought a beautiful wife with him. He didn't believe it. How could someone be lying and bring a beautiful wife with them?

The two entered the lobby, where a waiter led Wu Jing to Wang Feng and pointed at him, saying, "Master Wu, this is him."

When Wang Feng saw Chef Wu, he quickly greeted him with a smile.

"Master Wu, this isn't the place to talk. Could we speak privately for a moment?"

Wu Jing immediately recognized that the young man in front of him and the pretty girl next to him were not his distant relatives, and his face darkened.

He wanted to meet this person and speak with him privately, as he also wanted to know what this person's purpose was.

"Okay, come with me."

As he spoke, he walked into a private room.

Seeing this, the waiter immediately realized that he had been tricked by Wang Feng; this man was not a distant relative of Master Wu at all.

Wang Feng chuckled, quickly took out another pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, handed it to the waiter, and said, "Don't worry, Chef Wu won't blame you."

After saying that, Wang Feng ignored the waiter's puzzled look and led Qin Jingru into the private room.

Wu Jing, sitting in the chair in the private room, saw Wang Feng and his companion enter and went straight to the point:

"Speak, what do you want from me?"

Wang Feng took out a Zhonghua cigarette and handed it to Wu Jing, saying with a smile, "Master Wu, have a smoke."

Wu Jing waved his hand: "Why don't you tell me your purpose first?"

Seeing this, Wang Feng had no choice but to put away his cigarette before saying, "Master Wu, I've come today to introduce you to a culinary genius."

As he spoke, he pointed at Qin Jingru.

"she?"

Wu Jing looked at Qin Jingru in surprise, then burst into laughter:

"Young man, are you kidding me? She must be your wife, right? She looks so delicate, she probably couldn't even lift a wok properly!"

"Hehe, Master Wu, I'm not bragging, but my wife is naturally strong. Let alone a small pot like yours, even the biggest pot would be a piece of cake for her. If you don't believe me, let her try. If my wife can't do it, I'll give you this carton of cigarettes and two bottles of wine for free. Let's see if you dare to let her try."

Wang Feng also knew that many people would want to become his apprentices to a master chef like Master Wu, who was a national banquet chef. It would be difficult to persuade him without using reverse psychology, unless Qin Jingru had extraordinary talent and he saw it and was inspired to take her on as an apprentice.

However, in this era, most cooks were men, and there were basically no women, because being a cook was too tiring and required a lot of strength to flip the wok perfectly.

Wang Feng winked at Qin Jingru, who immediately understood and stepped forward, saying:

"Hello Master Wu, my name is Qin Jingru. Please let me give it a try. I am really strong, and I love cooking. I'm not afraid of hardship, really."

Seeing the sincere look in Qin Jingru's eyes, Wu Jing thought for a moment and nodded:

"Alright, since that's the case, then come with me. But let me make this clear first: if she can't flip the wok, I won't take your cigarettes and alcohol, and don't bother me again."

"Thank you, Master Wu."

Soon, Wu Jing led Wang Feng and Qin Jingru to the kitchen.

The kitchen staff had already gone home for the day, so Wu Jing went to a stove, pointed to a small wok, and said, "Use this wok, put some sand in it, and let me see how you toss it."

Qin Jingru nodded and noticed a lot of sand in a corner. She guessed that this sand was what Master Wu's apprentice usually used to practice tossing the wok. She quickly put the sand into the wok, filling it about a third full, and then started tossing the wok.

She had seen the wok-flipping technique when she was a child, so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar to her.

Now she is incredibly strong, and flipping a wok isn't too difficult for her, it's just that she's not very skilled at it.

Master Wu was shocked to see how easily Qin Jingru could flip the wok with her small arms.

The technique isn't very mature, but it's not difficult to teach.

After tossing it around for a while, Qin Jingru said with a grin, "Master Wu, this pot is too light. I can toss a bigger pot."

As she spoke, Qin Jingru picked up the largest pot in the kitchen and started stirring it.

Upon seeing this, Master Wu's eyes widened in surprise.

These large pots are used to cook work meals, and each one weighs at least 20 kilograms. The pot in Qin Jingru's hand weighs more than 30 kilograms.

These large pots were so big that no one in their kitchen could even lift them, but no one expected that such a delicate little girl would be so strong.

"Hehe, Master Wu, how is it?" Wang Feng said with a smile.

Wu Jing nodded: "You are quite strong, but if you want to be my apprentice, being strong isn't enough. Here's what we'll do: I'll cut a potato right here, and if you have a talent for knife skills, I'll take you on as my apprentice."

As he spoke, Wu Jing picked up a peeled potato and began to shred it.

Wang Feng and Qin Jingru stared intently at Master Wu. Under Master Wu's knife, the potatoes were quickly transformed into shredded potatoes, just like autumn leaves being swept away by the wind, and each shred was uniform in size.

After slicing the potatoes into shreds, Wu Jing looked at Qin Jingru and said, "Did you see that clearly? Cut one yourself and let me see."

Qin Jingru nodded, picked up a potato, closed her eyes, and kept recalling Master Wu's techniques and details in her mind.

After a while, Qin Jingru opened her eyes and started chopping the potatoes with the cleaver. In no time, the potatoes were all chopped up.

Seeing that the potato shreds were all evenly sized, almost reaching Master Wu's level, Qin Jingru smiled and looked at Wang Feng, saying to Master Wu, "Master Wu, how do you think my potato shreds are?"

"Hahaha, very good, very good. I never thought that I, Wu Jing, would be able to find such a talented disciple even though I'm about to retire."

After watching Qin Jingru slice potatoes, Wu Jing burst into laughter. He said that the most important thing in learning to cook is not tossing the wok, but knife skills.

Qin Jingru has already reached 60% of his knife skills just by watching him cut potato shreds once. What else could this be but talent?

Of all his disciples, none of them had any hope of reaching his level, but Qin Jingru's talent was so strong that she had a very good chance.