The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 107 Ye Mengchang

Lao Tan received a call. This phone number has been stored in the phone book and has never been called in six years.

It's not that I don't want to fight, but that I can't fight, and I don't know what to say if I fight.

It's Yaru's phone number.

Yaru, Lao Tan's first real lover.

Those who have watched the first part should know that Lao Tan was working at the Rose Hotel on Taishan Road at that time, met Yaru, and they fell in love.It was a young man's true love, with sweetness, happiness, and anxiety.

Yaru's parents didn't want her to have sex outside, so they called her back to her hometown in Fuxin.The young old Tan was unwilling to lose his beloved girl like this, so he went to Yaru's house in person half a year later, and it turned out that Yaru was engaged, and the man was from the railway bureau.

Lao Tan returned to the provincial capital in despair, and met Lin Yan, and the two walked together.

Yaru's in-law's family opened a small hotel and a small restaurant in front of Fuxin Railway Station. Yaru took over her mother-in-law's management after marriage.

Yaru's marriage is unfortunate. Her husband is out gambling to find women, and the relationship between husband and wife has long existed in name only.

When Lao Tan was working in Fuxin, Yaru's sister-in-law was making dumplings in a restaurant. She had met Yaru's sister-in-law once in the provincial capital, but she had forgotten what she looked like.It was Yaru's sister-in-law who recognized him, and only then did she know about Yaru's situation.

At this time, I have not seen Yaru for eight years.

Lao Tan met Yaru when he left Fuxin.

Yaru has a lovely son, and she takes him there. Her husband works in Jinzhou, and he goes home every half a month.The husband doesn't stay at home, and he's just pulling sheep's skin outside. Like many women in a marriage that exists in name only, he has already forgotten the existence of his husband, as long as he is accompanied by his son.

Now the husband is going to marry another woman, so the two divorced peacefully.Yaru wants a child, but her grandparents are reluctant, and the child is sensible and does not burden her mother, so she chooses to live with her grandparents.

In addition, a square was built in front of the train station, and those small hotels and restaurants were all taken away, and Yaju lost his livelihood.Divorced and had to support myself, I thought of Lao Tan.Calling Lao Tan means asking Lao Tan to find a job in the provincial capital.

Lao Tan agreed on the spot.

Putting down the phone, Yaru's face appeared in front of Lao Tan's eyes.This face was six years ago, with big eyes, deep-set eye sockets, slightly curly hair, a tall nose bridge, and a plump figure——
Yaru looks a bit like a Xinjiang native, and everyone joked that she was of mixed race.

But she is a northern woman through and through.

Women, yes, Yaru is 36 this year, so she can no longer be called a girl, she should be a woman.

Lao Tan thinks that he is 39, and he will be 45 soon. He looks a little old.Originally, I looked a little old-fashioned, and my hair was shaved for a long time. If I didn't shave, both temples would be white, and I looked like [-] or six.

I don't know what Yaru is like, is she old too?

No, Yaru is simple, simple people rarely look old, and just 36, she should be very young.Women are at their most mature and charming at this time.

This should be the most beautiful age for women.

There is a ripple in Lao Tan's heart, which has a long-lost, distant sweetness, and a sense of melancholy.

There will be an unforgettable love in one's life, and the love between her and Yaru is undoubtedly, not only unforgettable, but also heartbreaking, and even a little poignant and tragic.

Of course, all of this has passed, and the ripples that appeared only slightly splashed, and soon calmed down.

He knew that he wanted to see Yaru very much, but he just wanted to see him, and he was very excited because he wanted to see him.I can even imagine the scene when we met: the two looked at each other, then asked about each other's situation, and then arranged her work and residence, and finally invited her to a meal and chatted.

Everything is the normal communication procedure of adults. Although Yaru is divorced, but he is a man with a family, so he can't have any ideas, and he doesn't have any ideas.

It is enough for two people to have the impulse and love that young people should have in their youth and leave good memories.

After Yaru's face flashed past, Lin Yan's face appeared involuntarily.

Lin Yan, this woman who is called his wife, is still the same as before, going to and from work every day and taking care of the children.Two people can't speak two words a day, and sometimes they don't speak a word for several days in a row.

It's not that no one ignores anyone, the main thing is that when Lao Tan returned home, Lin Yan fell asleep, and when Lin Yan got up to go to work the next day, Lao Tan was sleeping soundly, and there was no conversation.

During this period of time, Lao Tan was so busy that he didn't even take a break.If the family of three could sit and have a meal together during the break, now they don't even have time to eat together, and they don't know what to do.

Yes, people sometimes really don't know what they are busy with, but they are busy every day, busy for life.

Lao Tan is going to take a day off, or half a day, cook a meal for his wife and children at home, and get together with the family.

It's a joke to say that the three of them live in the same room every day, and even have to wait for a meal to rest.

Hey, the helplessness of catering people.

what else can we do?For a migrant worker, there is no labor insurance, no stable work unit, and no business of his own. He can only earn more money while he is young and save some for himself, so that he can have money for retirement when he is old and immobile.

If you live and do it, if you die, you have to do it.

This is what Lao Tan often said.

He used to complain about Lin Yan's indifference to him, but now he doesn't even complain.It's not necessary, since they are husband and wife, the couple who live together work hard together for their children and family, that's fine.Although as a husband, he can't get the caress of his wife and lacks tenderness in his heart, isn't the wife also not getting the caress of her husband?

He didn't know what Lin Yan was thinking, but his heart was very peaceful.

Busy with work every day, this is undoubtedly a relief, or a form of venting.But after all, it is also necessary for life. If you don’t work, no one will give you money. If you don’t have money, you can eat and spend?How to send children to school?How to bring up a child?
Think about it, isn't it for this family and for my son that I worked so hard?And for what?

I haven't risen to the height of a great man, and I'm working hard for the society and people's happy life. I don't believe it when I say it, it's too fake.Of course, it’s not all about money, it’s a kind of liking in the final analysis, a kind of love for food and beverage.

Like dining.As long as you forget everything as soon as you enter the kitchen, you will immediately throw yourself into the work. The commendable state is completely the image of a model worker and an advanced worker.

He has always had an idea in his heart - that is to make Northeast cuisine and Northeast dumplings the whole country.

Let's call this idea a dream for the time being. It has not yet become the goal that Lao Tan has been striving for in his life.The reason is very simple. Up to now, he feels that he is just a pure love of catering, and it is just an idea to make Northeast cuisine and Northeast dumplings to the whole country. If you want to talk about the goal of this life——
I'm afraid not.

Deep in his heart, he has a dream that may never come true in his life—to enter the university gate and live a university life.This dream used to be his life goal throughout his adolescence. When he embarked on the road of part-time work, he knew that it was impossible to realize it.

But this dream has always existed, and it may accompany him throughout his life.

In our life, we have different goals at different times.Maybe we don't even care about it, but it does exist.For an ordinary person, being bound by trivial matters in life every day often ignores the goals in life, but he is rushing forward for the goal every day, day after day.

Lao Tan's original goal was to enter university to change his life, but the reality is cruel. The poverty of his family forced him to drop out of school and start working.

Then, like many young people, it became one of his goals at that time to have a daughter-in-law and start a family.

His road to love is bumpy, just like his road to working.In the hardships of poverty, he sent away his first beloved girl with tears, then gave up the pursuit of love and reaped the marriage.

This is also a kind of helplessness in life.

Complete the family and start a business as if completing a task, for the peace of mind of the family members, for the succession of the family, and for life.Of course, there is an emotional basis, and this basis is very realistic-to form a family and live a lifetime.

After having a home, there is another goal.

I fell in love with catering, and told myself that I must achieve the pinnacle position of a chef—cooking director.

It took ten years to do it.

The three years in Binhai were a brilliance in his life, which attracted the attention of catering people all over the country.

Now, he wants to create another brilliance and turn the Guandong family into a well-known farmhouse in the country.

Now that the first step has been completed, in the provincial capital, and even in the entire Northeast region, the Kanto family is the best.What remains to be done is to promote the Kanto people to the whole country through the medium of oriental cuisine.

Ten years ago, this would have been unimaginable.At that time, although I was ambitious and passionate, and determined to do a good job in the catering industry, it was limited to being a good cook and a qualified head chef.The rest is to earn more money and support the family.In other words, earn more money to support the family first, and then consider career.

Through the operation of large catering enterprises such as Linjiangxuan, Laogen Villa, and Qinghua Pavilion, the accumulation of experience and the terrifying professionalism, he is now an excellent catering manager.Especially the management of Qinghua Pavilion has broadened his horizons, expanded his layout, and cleared his mind. Now he can operate the Guandong family with ease and ease.

There is a vague feeling that I am about to leave the Kanto family.It felt weird, similar to leaving for the first time, but different.

The management over the past year has put the Kanto people on the right track, everything has solidified, and even if they leave, there will be no rebound phenomenon when they left for the first time.What's more, after a year of training and training for the management, now all managers can take charge of their own affairs. It doesn't matter whether they are present or not, they can take the initiative to work and do a good job.

This is what reassures him the most.

In the past year, Wang Gang has made great progress. If he was still a head chef who could only direct the work, he is now a head chef with his own routines, and it is no problem to manage a kitchen.

Except for Wang Gang, Li Xu and Li Zhongqing in the kitchen have made significant progress, as well as Wang Shulan, the pastry boss, and Zhou Hongyou, the cold dish boss, who have all made great progress.If you take out one of them, you can go out to be the head chef, and do it in an orderly manner.

In order to improve their management ability, Lao Tan asked them to take turns to be chefs from October last year, each for a month.Now it's time for the second round, and Wang Shulan is the temporary head chef.

Don't look like a lesbian, the daily regular meeting is held decently, and the handling of problems is quite old Tan's style-vigorous and resolute.

Now that the Kanto people are at their strongest, it doesn't matter if he leaves.

(End of this chapter)