The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 363 Conversation
Twenty-three years ago, when it was snowing, Yingzi called Lao Tan at the train station, and then boarded the train to Binhai.

After arriving in Binhai, she first worked in a factory, then the factory closed down, and she transferred to a restaurant as a waiter for a year or two.When I was in a restaurant, I met a cook, and the two fell in love and got married.

Later, my husband and I stopped working in the restaurant, and the two opened a snack bar, and the business was very good. We went back and forth from the snack bar to the restaurant, made money, and became the boss.

But the good times didn't last long. When he became rich, her husband couldn't stand the temptation and temptation of the owner of the restaurant next door, and gradually became addicted to gambling. The usury played the underground lottery, but he lost everything, including the hotel.

The couple suddenly returned to before liberation.

At that time, she had a child, and Yingzi went to work in a restaurant again in order to make a living, but her husband was too poisoned, and always wanted to make money, and began a life of a gambler who stayed away from home all day.

Yingzi filed for divorce, and her husband was inseparable, and the two always quarreled.Later, it rose to domestic violence. Yingzi had no choice but to send the child back to her natal family, and hid out by herself.

Introduced by my good sister, I went to work in a bar on Binhai Bar Street. She was good at singing. By chance, a female singer in the bar was absent. The boss asked her to sing a few songs. The guests liked it very much. singer.

According to the time, Lao Tan was in Binhai at that time, and when Yingzi was working in the bar, he even introduced the sister of Xianglong, the kitchen boy, to sing in the bar through Zhou Lan, but Lao Tan had never been to a bar, and there were so many bars on the street, I may not see you even if you go.

Yingzi did a good job in the bar, and the beautiful song beauty was also popular for a while.

The bad luck came one night when her husband somehow found her and they had an argument in her rented house.Her husband had been drinking that day and asked her for money with the help of alcohol, but she refused to give it.Her husband scolded a lot of nasty words, and the two of them turned from quarreling to fighting. In the end, her husband became mad, grabbed the fruit knife on the table and scratched her face——
Tragedy just happened.

She was admitted to the hospital, and her husband was admitted to the classroom.

Half a year later, she returned to the provincial capital from Binhai, wearing a tight mask to find a job.I have worked as a cleaner, washed dishes, set up a stall and sold fruits, nursed patients who are paralyzed in bed, and pulled woven bags to pick up rags.

It is not easy for her to survive and support her daughter's education.

"Where do you live now?" Lao Tan asked after listening to Yingzi's story.

"There are more than [-] buildings in Beisantaizi." Yingzi replied.

When she spoke, the corner of her mouth smiled, and the scar on her face twitched, giving the impression that she was not smiling, but twitching ferociously.

Lao Tan's heart ached for a while, but it was not a taste.

"Oh, I know that, behind the dumpling restaurant." Old Tan said.

"Brother, I went to your dumpling restaurant to buy dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut. They are delicious." Yingzi said.

"Really, unfortunately, we didn't see each other." Old Tan said regretfully.

"I don't recognize me even when I see you. I wear a mask all day—I don't know that the restaurant is run by you. I applied for a cleaning job. The manager said——There is someone——" Yingzi said.

Lao Tan knew that the personnel department had to look at their appearance during the interview, and it must be the scar on Yingzi's face that affected her entry into the job, so she felt bad for a while.

"How much did you spend with Wang Haijuan?" Old Tan asked.

"Two thousand and two." Yingzi said: "I earn more than dry cleaning, but it's just buried, and it smells fishy."

"Two thousand and two—how much is it to rent a house for a month?" Old Tan continued to ask.

"Six hundred, I rented it cheaply, the first floor is shady."

"Go to [-] and there is [-] left, you and your child's living expenses will be [-] a month, and the child still has to study, there is nothing left—"

"It's okay, just hold tight—"

Lao Tan asked again: "How is the child studying?"

Mentioning the child Yingzi's face glowed, and said: "It's okay to study, but in [-], I can enter the top three all year round."

"[-] is a key junior high school, your daughter is amazing." Old Tan said.

"Well, it's not bad, it's quite competitive. Let me tell you, brother, I live on my child. If I didn't have her, I would have died long ago."

As she spoke, tears came to Yingzi's eyes, she didn't let the tears flow, she wiped them away with a tissue, and said with choked joy: "My daughter is excellent, and she is either first or second in the exam, and the teacher always praises her.

The child is very sensible, and knows that it is not easy for me to earn money, and I never spend money recklessly. I only have two clothes a year, and I don’t even need to buy them for her——Actually, she is good at sports, and she may have run away. , The good ones are thousands of times——the teacher said that she didn’t want to run during the physical education class, so she went to the field during the sports meeting, or borrowed the shoes of her classmates——”

Yingzi spoke calmly, but Lao Tan's nose felt sore when he heard it.

"Brother, where is your child?" Yingzi asked.

"It's also a junior high school student, 33 years old, a sports student, playing basketball." Old Tan said.

"Your son must be tall."

"Well, taller than me, I'll meet you sometime."

"Well—let's say goodbye, I'm afraid of scaring the child."

"No."

"Hey, brother, if I'm like this, you won't be afraid. I tell you that when the child was young, I sent her to school. I wear a mask in summer. I have to cover my face with my hair, so as not to scare my classmates." Yingzi As he spoke, he hung down the hair on the right side, covering half of his face.

Then he went on to say: "I don't even come to the restaurant to eat, because I'm afraid of scaring people. This is you, otherwise I wouldn't come."

Old Tan wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say for a while, so he lit a cigarette and smoked.

"Fortunately, it's a private room, haha." This was the first time she laughed aloud in the hotel, very happy and sad.

In her laughter, Lao Tan saw the little girl back then, still so innocent.

"Do you want to change jobs?" Old Tan asked.

"Go to your place?" Yingzi asked.

"Ah."

"What can I do to you? Don't scare away all the guests."

"It's okay, there are a lot of jobs for you. For example, making dumplings, cleaning, office work, warehouse management, you can learn how to make stuffing. I will find a master to take you." Old Tan said.

Yingzi knew what Lao Tan meant and wanted to help her, so she thought for a while and said, "Brother, I'm afraid I'll cause you trouble."

"Hey, what's the trouble with this? It's all about earning money. If you don't do it, I can't hire others." Old Tan laughed.

Yingzi said: "Brother, for me now it is to earn more money for my child's education, and when she graduates from university and has a job, I can count on completing the task when she can support herself.

I was introduced by a friend to sell fish here in Xiao Wang, and I just happened to be laid off, and it’s almost Chinese New Year, so I can earn some money.After the Chinese New Year, I have to leave even if she is not busy, and I have to find work.

You see, whatever suits me is fine, I don’t choose. "

Old Tan thought about it and said, "You still have to take care of your children. Working all day is not suitable for you. In this way, if you go to the central kitchen and follow the adjustments, you will go to work early, but you will get off work at two o'clock in the afternoon. There is no delay in anything."

"Okay." Yingzi agreed, and then said: "But I have to celebrate the new year. A year ago, Xiao Wang was busy and couldn't leave."

"Okay, it's the new year."

Yingzi asked again: "Brother, how much is the stuffing for a month?"

Old Tan smiled and replied: "You just went to apprentice, three thousand a month. Once you learn to operate independently, four thousand a month. After that, follow the system and raise wages step by step. Now the salary of the master is eight thousand."

"That much?" Yingzi stared at the big eyes of more than twenty years ago, and said innocently: "Brother, I will work hard and strive to become a master."

(End of this chapter)