The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 131 Tears in the moment of burning love

"You just love apples," Old Tan said.

The way Yaju eats apples reminds him of the girl he loved when he was young, who always ran into his hut with an apple and chatted with him about endless topics.

Until one apple was eaten, the girl threw the core of the apple into the trash can as accurately as shooting a basketball, then stretched, stood up and said softly, "Go back to sleep."

Then he pushed the door open in his reluctance.

He would stop her, and she would laugh, walk up to him and kiss him lightly on the cheek, and then say: "Good boy, go to sleep."

She left, but the girl's warmth and the apple's sweetness remained on his face.
-
It's over, it's all over.

Old Tan struggled to look away from Yaru, and for a short moment he relived the tenderness of love when he was young, a little crazy, a little beautiful, a little sad——
"Apple is delicious—you can think of many things when you eat an apple—" Yaru said.

"---"

"Some apples are sweet and delicious. Some apples look big and round, and they are delicious when you think about them, but they are bitter when you eat them—sweet apples can also taste bitter—I love them ——" Yaru murmured, somehow, her beautiful big eyes were slowly covered with a layer of water vapor.

A crystal teardrop fell from her cheek, and Lao Tan couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart.

Then came the second, and the third——
He wanted to reach out his hand to wipe the tears off her face, but he couldn't reach out that hand, he only felt pain in his heart, the pain was worse than when the sharp corner of the exhaust hood cut the calf——
Yaru let her tears fall, her vision was blurred——
Finally, Lao Tan stretched out his hand and stopped when it was about to touch Yaru's cheek.

Yaru seemed to sense Lao Tan's outstretched hand, and turned her head——
A face full of tears appeared in front of Lao Tan.

At this time, Lao Tan's eyes were filled with tears.

An apple touched the sad past of two people.

The two people with tears in their eyes looked at each other in silence, which was touching.

The sweetness of apples makes Yaru think of the love that is far away; the bitterness of apples is her tragic marriage of 15 years.In front of her former lover, she was moved by the scene and shed tears.

She thought her tears had been shed long ago and there would be no more.But Lao Tan's words reminded her a lot, the past scenes appeared in front of her eyes, her soft heart was sore, tears flowed unnaturally.

Tears are an expression of human emotions. When sadness and joy, sadness and happiness reach the extreme, they will burst out naturally.

The two people who had been in love for a long time wiped away the tears from each other's faces, and sat quietly, letting the ups and downs of mood gradually subside.

Within two days, Yanhua and Zhang Yu rented the apartment and dormitory.The apartment doesn’t need to be decorated, it has everything inside, and you can move in with your bags.The bedrooms need to be tidied up, and there is still a clear water room.

Mr. Xiang was in charge of the decoration, and Yanhua explained some precautions, and then went to the hospital to tell Lao Tan to recover from his injuries, don't think about anything, don't get angry, and go to work when his legs are healed.

Tell Yaru to take good care of Lao Tan, and move to the apartment when the wires are removed.

After explaining everything, Yanhua returned to the provincial capital.

A few days later, the stitches were removed from Lao Tan's leg.

26 needles, permanently left a striking scar, winding through the entire calf, like a crimson centipede, shocking.

There were no stitches on the instep, but a large patch of deep red was left, which was the same color as normal skin.

The stitches have been removed, but it is not healed yet. I need crutches to walk, and I am bumping up and down. I dare not exert myself on the whole leg.

On the day he was discharged from the hospital, Lao Tan first went to the store to have a look.

The speed of renovation is very fast, and it will be completed in another month.

The equipment ordered in the provincial capital was still five days away. Lao Tan adjusted his plan and decided not to go back to the provincial capital in a hurry. Besides, the current situation could not go away, so he began to make preparations before the opening.

First, I called Zhang Li and told her to inform Yang Zhijun and Mulan. Five days later, I would bring back the employees who had studied in Hohhot, and at the same time, recruitment began here.

He will return to the provincial capital after training the staff, and return before opening.

At present, only Yanhua, Yanzi, and Yaru know about Lao Tan's injury, and no one else is told.Zhang Li asked Lao Tan on the phone why he hadn't gone back, and Lao Tan said that he was too busy here to leave.

Zhang Li asked sensitively: "What did Yaru do in the past? It hasn't opened yet. Why did she go there alone? Did you two—"

Old Tan smiled and said, "What are you thinking? Most of the decoration workers here are from our provincial capital, and they are not used to local food. She came here to cook some hometown food, and get acquainted with it by the way."

"Are you fooling around? Did something happen to you? For the first two days, my eyelids kept twitching, and I felt like something was going to happen, did I vomit blood again?" Zhang Li obviously didn't believe Lao Tan's lies, and immediately thought of his illness .

"No, can you please think about me?" Old Tan played sloppy.

"Hmph, don't tell me, I'll know sooner or later." Zhang Li's disbelief was confirmed, and she said, "Take care of yourself, hey, I'm redundant, I have someone to take care of me, or my first love."

A strong sour smell can be smelled through the phone screen.

Old Tan smiled, it feels beautiful to be cared about.

This has almost become a way of talking between him and Zhang Li, or a tacit understanding.Of course, he knew what Zhang Li was thinking, and he just kept certain things from happening while restraining each other.

If you can't give it to others, don't provoke it.

There is a kind of debt in the world that cannot be seen or touched. Once owed, it will never be repaid.

It is best not to owe.

Coming out of the hotel, Zhang Yu took Lao Tan and Yaru to the apartment.

Old Tan sits on the bed, the bed is Yanhua's newly bought bedding, which is still fragrant.He lay down comfortably and said hello.

Yaru walked into the kitchen with a smile. There was everything for cooking, but there was no rice, flour, grain and oil.After thinking about it for a while, Yaju went to the market to buy something, and then started cooking.

After being discharged from the hospital, since I can cook, I don't go out to buy food, and I still don't eat well.

Come out of the kitchen and enter the bathroom to have a look. It is very good, there is a water heater and a washing machine.

The bedroom is very spacious, with a big bed in the middle, a sofa coffee table and a computer desk near the window.On the other side is a large wardrobe, and next to it is a small hall.

The whole apartment is enough for one person, clean and bright.

"I'll go downstairs to buy some rice and some vegetables in a while," Yaru said.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Old Tan said.

"Be polite with me, my task is to take care of you, you know." Yaru said with a smile.

"I've exhausted you for the past few days." Old Tan said gratefully.

"What are you talking about?" Yaru looked at Lao Tan tenderly, and said, "Lie down for a while, I'll go downstairs and look around. I guess the market is not far from here."

"You can't buy some ready-made ones, you are not idle today." Old Tan said.

"I'm not tired, it's not much easier than going to work. Lie down, I have a lot of walking today, don't stretch your legs."

Yaru went downstairs.

Lao Tan was lying on the bed, his left leg was numb and aching.Although I was on crutches, I kept standing when I was in the restaurant. I didn't pay attention to my legs at that time, so I didn't feel anything.Now my whole body is relaxed, and I have a feeling that there may be blood oozing from the place where the stitches were removed.

It seems that I really need to rest for a while. Although the bones are not injured, the wound is deep and it will not be so easy to heal.The doctor said that it will take two months to return to a normal state. During this period, I can't walk too much, and I can't stand all the time.

That's fine, let's keep it, it's a good thing not to be disabled.

I haven't had a drink for ten days, and I'm a little hungry.The doctor said not to drink it first, hehe, it’s scaring people.Alcohol can relax the tendons and activate the blood. Drinking a little is good for red wounds, but not too much.

Let's ask Yaru to buy a bottle of wine tomorrow, but I can't do it today, I just got out of the hospital, so I won't bring it to buy even if I say so.

Legs started to throb and hurt.

Old Tan sat up and picked up a pillow and put it on his bare feet, elevating his legs to make him feel better.Then slowly rolled up the trousers, exposing the gauze-wrapped legs.

The wound in the middle of the calf was the deepest. When the stitches were removed, there was only a little blood oozing out.Now there are bleeding spots in that place, which are very conspicuous on the white gauze.

Hey, keep it up, Old Tan said to himself.I thought in my heart that it would not be swollen tomorrow. If it was swollen, I would have to take a bottle, which was troublesome.

He didn't lie down again, half leaned against the head of the bed, lit a cigarette, and started to think about the hotel again.

Hohhot's catering market is better than that of the provincial capital, and it is in a newly developed state with broad prospects.He is confident that Aqiao Dumpling Restaurant will be popular when it opens, and it will lead the way.

For now, there is no Aqiao model in Hohhot.There are a few dumpling restaurants that do quite well, but there is still a gap between them and Aqiaobi.

This is Aqiao's advantage, so she must make good use of it.

There is no problem with the dishes, [-] shaped hot dishes, [-] cold dishes, and [-] handmade products.It will be popular if it is rolled out. This is the conclusion he reached after repeated inspections and estimates, and after several demonstrations.

With the experience of more than a year before, I am more confident this time.

What he is thinking now is whether to serve some local dishes?

It should be served, most of them are local customers, and all Northeastern dishes will definitely not work.There can't be too many words on it, the six paths are enough.

This time I went back to the provincial capital to learn from Liu Zhihui, the former master of Northeast cuisine. He has worked in Hohhot for a long time, and he cooks local dishes very well. He is in charge of local dishes.

There is still a shortage of a chef, Zhongqing said that the old shop has trained one, and it can be sent to Hohhot.For further confirmation, Lao Tan picked up the phone and called Zhongqing.After getting an affirmative answer, I was relieved.

It seems that the old store has to continue to train chefs, not only the chefs, but also the dumpling chefs, cold dish chefs, and management personnel. We can't just patronize the opening of the store and not train people. How can we open it?
The human resources area needs to be established, and we will start to solve this matter when we go back. In the second half of the year, we will open another store. No one can do it.

I heard that Yanzi has already taken a fancy to a place on Taishan Road and is negotiating. If the negotiation is settled, it will have to be renovated immediately.Decoration is not a matter now, it has already been finalized, just hand it over to Mr. Xiang.

Decoration alone is not enough, someone has to do it.It has not yet reached the level of KFC McDonald's, everything is standardized.As far as Chinese food is concerned, the human factor still dominates, and it requires sufficient human resources and adequate training.

Once the speed of opening a store is too fast, the follow-up force will not be able to keep up, and the supplies will be insufficient, and it is easy to kill yourself.

There are many lessons learned from the past. The first few stores opened very well and became a brand, and then blindly expanded the chain. In the end, management and technology could not keep up, and the brand was stink and died.

Everything must be done steadily and steadily, there is no rush, and you can't eat a fat man in one bite.

(End of this chapter)