The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 136 Mother and Son
The older a person is, the more homesick he becomes.

This is also human nature.

When I was young, I was full of vigor, with my career dream and youthful passion, and I struggled hard on the road of self-righteousness.At that time, I was also homesick, but it was not strong. I felt that I didn’t look like a human being and went home.

Returning home, a symbol of glory, is the dream of many workers.

Few of them really did it, most of them were working hard in unfamiliar cities, working hard day and night to feed their families, living at the bottom of society, full of sadness sweat.

Only wait until the Chinese New Year holidays to put on new clothes and go home dressed like a homecoming.

In our society, there are great figures with great achievements, successful entrepreneurs, celebrities who people like to gossip about, and outstanding figures from all walks of life.

More are ordinary workers.

Among ordinary laborers, there is a team of tens of thousands of migrant workers from the countryside. They left their homes and businesses and left their hometowns to make great contributions to our society in obscurity.

People who are away from home, they miss home, their mother, their children, their relatives, sisters, milk and compatriots.

Unable to return home, looking in the direction of home, the faces of relatives are in front of my eyes, and tears are spinning in my eyes——
Old Tan sat quietly by the window and looked out.It was raining outside, and the sound of pattering rain was very clear in the night, floating in through the window and into the ears.

His eyes filled with tears at this moment.

When a person reaches forty, half his life is over.

When I was young, I was in poverty and suffering. I vaguely saw my mother walking in the biting cold wind, carrying a basket, begging for food from door to door, and feeding a group of children at home——
There is also the small river by the village, my mother stepped her shoes with exposed toes into the water, and said with a tired and loving voice: "Walk across the river, look, Mom is also wading through the river---"

Tears fell silently, feeling sad and painful.

He wanted to go home and see his mother.

Don't miss home when you are in trouble. The more you miss home, the more uncomfortable you will be.Although he was forty, what he wanted to see most at the moment when he was lying on the hospital bed was his mother. He wanted to snuggle into his mother's arms like a child, and act like a baby like a child.

The mother's arms are always the strong swaddle of the child, no matter how old it is.

However, I can't go home with a limp like this, and I have to wait for my legs to heal when I go home, like a healthy person.

At the age of 21, I simply packed my bags and prepared to go out to work, to find a way out for the poor family, and to find a way out for myself.My mother didn't say anything, but just reminded me when I was leaving the house: "It's not easy to go out, it doesn't matter whether you earn money or not, you have to walk steadily and be a real person."

Walk in a down-to-earth manner and be a real person.

Yes, these words of my mother have been ringing in my ears all these years, and I dare not forget them.

19 years have passed, and I became a city resident, but deep down I am still out of tune with the city. The peasant plot in my bones always reminds me that I am a farmer, and one day I will return to the countryside and go home.

It's not considered successful and famous now, and it's not like returning home when you go home.Now the countryside is better than the city, and each of the five older sisters lives better than myself. They have all built new houses and bought cars, and their annual income makes me feel ashamed.

Compared with my sisters, I have just escaped poverty, but I am happy to see my sister's family is doing well.

Especially when I see my mother, who is now taking care of her life without worrying about food and clothing, and is in good health, free from disease and disaster, this is the greatest blessing.

What more do you want?

People are contented and happy.

It's just that the relationship with his wife Lin Yan is not good. This is not a problem. It will change with the passage of time and the progress of life.As long as people think and act for the good, nothing is impossible.

Old Tan wiped away the tears from his face and lit a cigarette.

As the first puffs of smoke came out, his mind began to jump into the reality before him.

There are still ten days to go before the decoration of the hotel is completed, and then preparations for the opening begin.The kitchen staff has been fixed, and there is still a shortage of two waiters at the front desk, and they will be recruited soon.

The overall training is over, and Yang Zhijun and Mulan are responsible for the rest.The two of them have made great progress through their studies in the provincial capital during this period, and they can fully support the store.

What Lao Tan is most happy about now is to see the growth of the management staff. Only when they grow up and can support the store on their own, can the company develop well and become bigger and stronger.

He will return to the provincial capital tomorrow.I have been out for two months, and I miss my family very much.Although I can see the work reports of each store every day and know the daily business situation and what happened, I still miss it. After all, I didn’t come to the scene in person, so I can’t worry.

He knows that this kind of worry is not advisable, and he must overcome this problem.If you don't let go and let the middle managers take care of it, they will never grow up.It's one thing to know, it's another thing to do it, it takes a process.

Go back to the provincial capital and do three things first.

First, buy the tableware of the Hushi store; second, implement human resources; third, look at the Taishan Road store, so that you know what you know.

After these three things are done, I will return to Hohhot immediately to do the opening work.

It seems that the time is tight and the task is heavy.

At one o'clock in the afternoon the next day, Lao Tan and Yanzi came out of the airport and took Yanhua's car to pick them up.Yanzi came back with him mainly because he was worried about Lao Tan, after all, he was inconvenient to move.

"Is your leg okay?" Yanhua asked.

"Okay, it's all right." Old Tan said.

"Then walk less, don't get tired."

"It's okay, it's not that serious."

"Home first or store first?" Yanhua asked.

"Go home, take a rest first, and go to the store tomorrow." Old Tan said.

"Missing the child."

"Well, yes. He's not out of school yet."

Soon they chatted about the store, and Yanhua told Lao Tan about the situation of the Taishan Road store in detail.

"I remember that position used to be Du Dabeard's stretched noodles." Old Tan recalled.

"It's that location. I'll take you to have a look tomorrow," Yanhua said.

"Now in June and July, we have to renovate. I told Mr. Xiang, and he said that we should try to finish it in two and a half months." Old Tan said.

"That's what I planned too. It's auspicious to open on October [-]st." Yanhua said with a smile, and then she thought of something, and said, "Go to the hospital for a checkup tomorrow and take a picture. I'm a little worried. Hospital."

"No, the hospital is the same as ours, and if it doesn't get better, I can't be alive and kicking." Old Tan said.

Yanhua was amused.

Yanhua sent Lao Tan downstairs and went home. Lao Tan slowly climbed to the fifth floor, took out the key and opened the door. When he entered the room, he was stunned, and his son was standing at the door.

"You didn't go to school?" Old Tan asked.

"Don't take the college entrance examination, use the classroom, we have three days off. My mother called you?" the son asked.

Lao Tan remembered that today is the eighth day, the day of the college entrance examination.But the son asked what Lin Yan meant by calling him?So he said, "Your mother didn't call me, what's wrong?"

"I thought my mother called you, so why did you come back? Do you know that my mother is away on business these days?" the son asked.

"Your mother is on a business trip? When did you leave?" Old Tan was taken aback and asked.

"I left yesterday and went to Harbin for three days," said the son.

"Oh, you were home alone yesterday?" Old Tan asked.

"Yes, it's just me." The son said indifferently.

Lao Tan looked at his son, although he was taller than other children of the same age, he was just ten years old after all, so he couldn't help worrying about being alone at home, and he blamed Lin Yan for his audacity in his heart—how could he find someone to accompany his son.

"Aren't you afraid at home?" Old Tan asked, stroking his son's head.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I do my homework first, watch TV after I finish my homework, then cook a bag of dumplings, take a bath after eating the dumplings, and then go to bed after taking a bath." The son reported.

"have you eaten your breakfast?"

"I ate it. I went downstairs to eat the steamed stuffed buns and tofu nao."

"What about noon?"

"I want to cook instant noodles. I won't be hungry after thinking about it. I will eat it when I am hungry at night."

Lao Tan felt a little sad, feeling sorry for his son.At the same time, I am happy with my son's independence and understanding. It is not easy for a ten-year-old to live alone at home and take care of himself.

"Tell you dad, last time my mother went to Shanghai to study, I just stayed at home for two days. There was no holiday at that time and I went to school. My mother prepared bread, milk, and egg rolls for me. I ate one in the morning. Bread, drink a bag of milk, and then go downstairs to take the school bus. I won’t go upstairs after school, I will go up after eating at the butcher shop downstairs.

I do my homework when I get home, watch TV after finishing my homework, take a shower at nine o'clock, and go to bed after taking a shower.I think it's good to be alone, and I'm not afraid——I'm afraid of rain and thunder. "

The son said that it seems that he had the experience of being alone at home last month.

"Father is also afraid of thunder." Old Tan said.

"My mother said, I am afraid of thunder just like you," said the son.

"What else did your mother say?"

"My mother said that when thunder strikes, you look like a child, almost like me—I thought my mother called you, Dad, I'm hungry."

"It's easy to deal with it when you're hungry. Dad is also hungry. Say, what do you want to eat?" Old Tan smiled.

"Anything is fine. We have dumplings and cauliflower in our refrigerator. I don't want to eat dumplings anymore." The son said, it seems that the quick-frozen dumplings are not tasty, or he is always a little tired of eating, with a hard-to-swallow expression on his face.

Lao Tan felt a little distressed. Although he was a chef, he seemed to feel guilty that he hadn't cooked for his son a few times.

Bring your son in your arms.The son has reached his ear, and it is estimated that he will be as tall as him next year.

"Say, what do you want to eat? Dad will satisfy you."

"Father, let's eat barbecue, I want to eat barbecue." The son looked at Lao Tan expectantly after speaking.

"Okay, wait for Dad to change his clothes, and then go downstairs."

Lao Tan agreed, his heart was pounded by a kind of joyful excitement, and he even forgot the dull pain of his injured leg.

While eating barbecue, Lao Tan looked at his son lovingly while grilling meat for his son, his eyes were moist.

(End of this chapter)