The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 325 I am Huier
Time flies to August, the hottest time of the year.

At this time, no matter the south or the north, it is shrouded in heat.

Aqiao develops at her own pace, with three stores in Beijing and eight in Suzhou, one of which is a supermarket.There are six in Hohhot, three in Baotou, and two in Hangzhou.The largest number is still in the provincial capital, twelve.

Although Lao Tan is still the president, most of the work is done by Zhou Xiaomei, who directs behind the scenes.According to his age, it is not time to retire to the second line, but successors have to be trained. To be honest, he is indeed tired.

Yanhua is five months pregnant, and now she is waiting for delivery at home. Lao Deng takes good care of her and rarely comes to restaurants or the headquarters.

Yanzi and Zhang Yu are still the couple of gods and gods, living a carefree life and not caring about political affairs.

Zhang Li and Lao Huang have formally dated each other. Although they didn't live together, they will soon be.

Lao Tan and Lin Yan are still the same as before, neither hot nor cold, living their own lives.The two sat together and talked once, and it was not very harmonious. Although it did not rise to the height of divorce, it was more distant than before.

At the beginning of the year, Lao Tan agreed to accompany Xiaohui's family of three back to Hunan to visit relatives. At the end of August, Wang Shulan finished opening the new store and wanted to go out to relax, so she went with Lao Tan as a tourist.

Xiaohui and her mother were four years old when they came out of their hometown, and now they are 24. In the past 20 years, home is only a vague impression in my mind.But she knew where her home was, and her father was buried there, and her mother told her before she died that she must go back and put a grave for her father after she had a child.

Is there anyone else in the family?Yes, but the memory is fuzzy, it was too young.

When my mother was alive, she said that she had an uncle, but he was not good to them. The aunt she married was very powerful, and she often bullied their orphans and widows.My mother has two older sisters and one younger brother. The elder sister married out, and the younger brother was a marriage exchange, that is, the mother married the father, and the father's younger sister married the uncle.

After the uncle got married, the couple went out to work, but there was no news.

The home in my memory is in the mountains. There are more than [-] families. The whole village is named Zhao, and the village is called Zhaojiawan.

The way home was told by my mother, and the county where I was located was Yiyang.

Old Tan in Yiyang is familiar with it. He came with Zhang Li when he inspected the open kitchen of "Taste of Rice Soup".At that time, Rice Soup Taste had four stores, and now there are branches in Shenzhen and Guiyang, and the development is very good.

The group did not stop in Changsha and arrived in Yiyang that afternoon.It was already four o'clock in Yiyang, and it was too late to go to Zhaojiawan, so I found a hotel to stay in, and planned to catch up with the small guests in the morning the next day.

Dinner is naturally eaten in rice soup.Catering is so good, you can make friends from all over the world, and you can eat everywhere.Wang Zheng, who was the manager back then, is now the regional manager, and has been in touch with Lao Tan. Naturally, Lao Tan's visit is a warm welcome.

I heard that Lao Tan and the others went to Zhaojiawan the next day and planned to send a car to take them off, but Lao Tan politely refused, because he didn't want to owe too much favor.

At seven o'clock the next morning, four adults and a child took a small guest and headed towards Zhaojiawan.

The little passenger drove out of the urban area, drove on a flat county-level road, and half an hour later entered Panshan Road and drove into the mountain.

There is a difference between the mountains in the south and the mountains in the north. The green of the mountains in the south goes from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, layer upon layer.The mountain peaks are delicate and stand tall, not far apart, echoing each other.

Most of the mountains in the north exist in the form of mountain ranges. From a distance, there are several mountain tops. When you look closely, they are connected in one vein, but they are separated halfway up the mountain.And most of them are stone mountains, green covers most of the mountainside, and then there is a gray mountain top, with many rocks and goshawks circling.

The little passenger crawled slowly on the curved mountain road that only allowed two cars to run side by side. When he reached the middle of the mountain, he had circled the mountain halfway, and then went downhill, still curved and slow.

After passing a mountain, he walked along the river at the bottom of the mountain, and then turned over another mountain, and a town appeared in front of him.The town is not big, it's called Qianhu Town, and Zhaojiawan is managed here.

The little guest stopped, and after going down four fellow villagers, no one came up again.Then move forward, after passing through the town, the asphalt road turned into a gravel road, and the little guest began to bump up and downhill, and arrived at Zhaojiawan at noon.

After Lao Tan and the others got down, the little passenger turned around and prepared to drive back. Lao Tan asked the driver if he had a car back to Yiyang in the afternoon. a trip.

Old Tan sighed, regretting not asking Wang Zheng to send them a car.

Standing at the intersection, there is a village in front of it, with more than [-] families living sparsely by the mountain.

"Xiaohui, do you have any impression?" Old Tan asked Xiaohui who was excited and confused.

Xiaohui stood there, searching her childhood memories vigorously, and murmured, "This is it—this is it, I have an impression."

"Do you still remember where your home is?" Old Tan asked.

"My house seems to be on a hillside. Behind the village, there is a well." Xiaohui pointed to the half-hillside behind the village.

"Let's go."

After Lao Tan finished speaking, he headed forward, next to Wang Shulan, followed by Xiaolong who was holding the child and excited Xiaohui.

They came to the first family at the head of the village. This family lived a good life. The house was newly built, the gatehouse and the courtyard wall were repaired, and there were National Taiwan University four-wheelers and a motorcycle parked in the courtyard.

It was noon, the sun was hot, and there was no one in the yard.

Lao Tan wanted to go forward to inquire, but just as he walked to the gate, a dog barked, and then a black dog rushed out, standing in the gate and barking.

The door of the main room opened, and a man in his fifties walked out, wearing a hurdle vest, black trousers, and a pair of yellow rubber shoes that were pressed to the top.

The man yelled at the black dog twice, but the black dog stopped barking and backed away happily.

When the man came to the gate, he first took a look at Lao Tan, then he looked at the people not far behind him, and asked, "Where are you from?"

Old Tan took a step forward and asked with a smile, "Brother, is this Zhaojiawan?"

"Yes, who are you looking for?" the man asked.

"We—" Old Tan was speechless, and turned around to call Xiaohui.

Xiaohui stepped forward and looked at the man, and the man also looked at Xiaohui.

"Master, my name is Zhao Xiaohui, the daughter of Zhao Muben." Xiaohui said her father's name.

The man was stunned, looked Xiaohui up and down and murmured: "Zhao Muben, Muben——are you Muben's girl?"

Xiaohui nodded and said, "Yes, I am his daughter."

"Your name———"

"Xiaohui, Zhao Xiaohui."

The man was a little excited, but not serious. He looked at Xiaohui carefully, and asked, "Where did you come from?"

"From the provincial capital." Xiaohui said.

"Didn't your mother say to go to Binhai when she took you away?" the man asked.

"First went to Binhai, and then to the provincial capital." Xiaohui said.

What else did the man want to ask? A woman in her fifties walked out of the door and asked as she walked, "Who is it? What are you doing?"

The man turned around and said excitedly, "Quick, look, who's back."

While talking, the woman came up to him, looked at Xiaohui and Lao Tan suspiciously, and also looked at Wang Shulan and Xiaolong holding the child behind them, but they didn't recognize each other, and asked the man: "This is——"

"Mumoto's girl, Xiaohui." The man said.

"Wooden girl? Huier?"

The woman involuntarily took two steps forward, and looked Xiaohui up and down in surprise.

"Are you Hui'er?" the woman asked, her voice trembling.

"I'm Xiaohui, Zhao Xiaohui."

There were tears in the woman's eyes, and they fell down.

(End of this chapter)