Siheyuan: Master of the Fire, Eating Watermelons Online

Chapter 109: Master's Banquet, Masters Gathered
Two days flew by.

In a blink of an eye, it was the day for Wang Weiguo to set out on his expedition.

This day happened to be Sun Maofeng's day off, and Wang Weiguo did not go to the kitchen of Fengzeyuan.

After getting up and having breakfast in the morning, without wasting too long, Wang Weiguo came to the door with some ingredients that he had prepared in advance.

These will be used in the upcoming departure banquet.

According to the rules of their own school, when an apprentice graduates, in addition to the necessary ceremonies, he or she must prepare a graduation banquet for his or her master and the guests who come to pay their respects, to verify that the apprentice has met the qualifications to graduate and will not bring shame to the school in the future.

In fact, it is just a formality. After all, the master allows the apprentice to become a master, usually when the apprentice has reached the level of becoming a master. As long as the apprentice performs normally, there will be basically no problem.

With Wang Weiguo's current level, he naturally doesn't have to worry about this, but Wang Weiguo, who doesn't want to embarrass himself and his master, is still not careless.

This is your farewell banquet, it only happens once in your life, you can't mess it up.

The ingredients for some Shandong dishes are not easy to get, but fortunately Wang Weiguo has a system mall, where he can buy directly, which can perfectly solve this problem. Although it cost some melon points, Wang Weiguo doesn't feel bad.

When Wang Weiguo brought the food to the door, his wife Han Xiangmei saw that Wang Weiguo's two hands were full of things, and she couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Weiguo, what's wrong with you?"

"Master's Wife, isn't today the Master's Banquet? I prepared some ingredients myself."

Wang Weiguo explained with a smile.

"You kid..."

Han Xiangmei was a little dumbfounded when she heard this, and immediately shouted to the inside of the house: "Lao Sun, Lao Sun, come here quickly."

When Sun Maofeng heard his wife's cry, he thought something had happened and hurried out of the house.

Before Sun Maofeng could figure out what was going on, Han Xiangmei scolded him directly, "Sun Maofeng, how shameless of you to let Weiguo prepare the ingredients for your apprentice's graduation banquet. Do you have the nerve to do that?"

In the Sun family, the status of Master's Wife Han Xiangmei is higher than that of Sun Maofeng.

The reason is very simple. Sun Maofeng's cooking skills are not inherited from his family. He learned it by apprenticing. His current wife, Han Xiangmei, is the only daughter of his master.

Although he did not marry into the family, master Han Changlin left almost everything to Sun Maofeng, his son-in-law and apprentice, so Sun Maofeng always loved and respected his wife Han Xiangmei.

A more important reason is that because the master had only one daughter, Han Chunmei, he broke the previous rule of passing the skills to males but not females. As a result, Han Xiangmei, who was influenced by her father, became a culinary artist no worse than Sun Maofeng. In fact, in the early years, Sun Maofeng even had to ask her for advice.

Sun Maofeng was a little embarrassed to be called over and scolded in front of his apprentice, but after understanding the situation, he also frowned and explained to his wife a little aggrievedly and clarified: "I didn't ask him to prepare it! Didn't I just ask Baoshu to arrange the ingredients? You know this."

After Sun Maofeng finished speaking, he glared at Wang Weiguo unhappily, feeling that he had miscalculated.

When his apprentice was graduating, he or his apprentices who had already graduated would usually help prepare the ingredients for the graduation banquet. He never asked the apprentice who was about to graduate to prepare the ingredients by himself.

On the one hand, it is because the apprentice’s salary is not high before he or she becomes a master.

on the other hand.

It is the care that he, the master, and his fellow brothers and sisters give to their disciples and fellow apprentices.

Sun Maofeng didn't need these things, so he naturally wouldn't take advantage of his apprentice.

only……

Because his last apprentice graduated two years ago.

At that time, Wang Weiguo had already become a disciple, and also participated in the farewell banquet and helped run errands. Sun Maofeng thought Wang Weiguo knew all this, so he did not specifically remind him.

who knows……

"Master's Wife, please don't blame Master. I acted on my own. I thought it was my own graduation banquet and wanted to make it more glamorous, so I secretly prepared some ingredients without telling Master."

As soon as he saw that something was wrong, Wang Weiguo hurried to explain.

In fact, these were indeed prepared privately by Wang Weiguo himself.

"Really?"

Han Xiangmei looked at Wang Weiguo with some suspicion, and then looked at Sun Maofeng twice.

"Dare I lie to you?"

Wang Weiguo complimented with a smile.

Not only is it easier to please Han Xiangmei, the mistress of the master, than it is to please Sun Maofeng, the master, it is also effective.

"Then I'll believe you this time."

After confirming that Wang Weiguo did not lie, Han Xiangmei did not pursue the matter further, and Sun Maofeng also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, when they saw the ingredients Wang Weiguo took out, Han Xiangmei and Sun Maofeng's faces showed some surprise.

Other things are fine, but for more precious ingredients like sea cucumbers, abalone and shark fins, although they have come into contact with them many times, it is not so easy to get them even if they want them.

They don’t have any fresh goods, but they do have their own collection of the finest and best dried goods. However, these things are not usually taken out easily unless the occasion is important.

Like today's farewell banquet, although it is important, it is not that important.

Even so, Sun Maofeng still used his connections to have someone prepare sea cucumbers. Just before Wang Weiguo came, Li Baoshu went out mainly to get the ingredients.

I didn’t expect that Wang Weiguo prepared it himself, and the quality was exceptionally good.

Even though they knew that Wang Weiguo had an aunt who was a salesperson, they were still a little shocked.

But they were not talkative people and knew their limits, so they did not ask any further questions.

soon.

When Wang Weiguo came to the cooking place with the ingredients he had prepared, he also saw some ingredients that had been prepared in advance and immediately started to get busy.

At present, his senior brother and the guests who were invited to pay a visit have not arrived yet, but Wang Weiguo obviously has to prepare in advance, otherwise it will be too late.

Not long after, Li Baoshu came back from outside and saw Wang Weiguo, who had already started to work. He couldn't help but come up to him and asked mysteriously, "Weiguo, guess what good things the master has prepared for you this time?"

"what?"

Wang Weiguo asked casually without stopping what he was doing.

Seeing that Wang Weiguo didn't seem very curious, Li Baoshu felt a little helpless and said, "You're not curious at all?"

"Not curious."

Wang Weiguo shook his head.

When Li Baoshu was keeping it a secret, Wang Weiguo had already guessed it.

Actually, there is no need to guess.

When they were apprentices, although they had many opportunities to practice in the kitchen, they could only use some leftover ingredients, and most of them were ordinary ingredients. Even Fengzeyuan was not generous enough to let the apprentices use high-end ingredients such as sea cucumbers, shark fins, and abalone as practice materials.

So even if you have become a master, there are some dishes that many people have watched and learned many times, but you still haven't had the chance to master them.

For this reason, Sun Maofeng would always take advantage of the graduation banquet to prepare one or two high-end ingredients for his apprentices and give them the last lesson before graduation.

Wang Weiguo knew this before, so it was not surprising to him.

But to be honest, it is a lifelong blessing to meet a good master like Sun Maofeng who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside.

Wang Weiguo did not cooperate, so Li Baoshu, who wanted to keep it a secret, naturally lost interest. However, when he saw some of the high-end ingredients that Wang Weiguo brought with him, he could not help but be shocked.

After understanding the situation clearly, Li Baoshu didn't know what to say.

All I can say is that comparing people to each other makes people angry.

When they started out as apprentices in the past, it was their master Sun Maofeng who helped with the preparations, as they themselves did not have the ability to do so.

After a while, his master's two daughters also came over.

Master Sun Maofeng and his wife Han Xiangmei have two daughters and a son. The son, who learned cooking since childhood, did not inherit his master's family business. Instead, he chose to join the army in his early years. Later, he was promoted in the army and married a woman from a wealthy family. He only comes back a few times a year.

Fortunately, both of his daughters were married not far away and could often come back to accompany them. With a group of apprentices, they would not be lonely.

After arriving at the kitchen and chatting with Wang Weiguo for a few words, the two of them joined in helping out like Li Baoshu.

There are so many dishes to prepare, and if Wang Weiguo has to do it all by himself, the guests will probably have to wait for a long time.

of course.

Wang Weiguo himself has to be the chef, and no one can replace him.

After a while, the eldest brother Zhang Quansheng and the second brother Wu Tianfu arrived, along with several other disciples in Beijing.

The remaining brothers who were out of town naturally couldn't make it over.

Near noon, the invited guests arrived one after another. Most of them were Sun Maofeng’s friends and colleagues, including Wang Weiguo’s aunt Wang Hongmei.

Unlike others, Wang Hongmei attended the event as the elder of President Wang Weiguo.

Originally, it should be Wang Weiguo's parents who came out today, but they are far away in the northwest now, so Wang Hongmei has to do it on their behalf, but it's all the same.

With the arrival of the guests and everything ready, today's departure ceremony officially began.

In fact, it is not complicated. It is nothing more than paying homage to the ancestors, and then paying respects to the master and his mistress to thank them for their teachings. At the same time, Sun Maofeng, as the master, after giving a few instructions, took out the farewell gift prepared in advance.

The farewell gift was nothing but a set of knives that Sun Maofeng specially asked an old blacksmith to make.

It wasn't just Wang Weiguo. People like Zhang Quansheng, Wu Tianfu and Li Baoshu also had this experience when they started their careers.

Then, Wang Weiguo and Zhang Quansheng and other senior brothers saluted each other, implying harmony among the fellow disciples and support for each other in the future.

As the protagonist of today, Wang Weiguo also received red envelopes from a group of senior brothers on the spot, and even Li Baoshu prepared some.

Finally, Wang Weiguo bowed to Wang Hongmei, who attended the event on behalf of his parents, and expressed his gratitude for raising and educating him.

It not only means starting a new apprenticeship, but also means becoming an adult.

Since ancient times, the gods, the emperor, the parents and the teachers have been the most important people in the world. A seemingly simple ceremony of departure embodies the value orientation of respecting teachers, valuing education, and being filial to parents and elders.

With the witness of everyone, the ceremony ended quickly, but the next highlight, the farewell banquet, had just begun.

With Wang Weiguo's current level and the fact that he takes it seriously, he will naturally not embarrass himself and his master. The farewell banquet received a lot of praise from the beginning to the end.

As both the host and the guests had a great time and left, today's farewell banquet came to a successful conclusion.

It also means that from today on, Wang Weiguo ended his apprenticeship and started to become a real craftsman.

However, this is only a graduation according to traditional rules. If Wang Weiguo really wants to complete the transformation from an apprentice to a formal chef, he must participate in and pass the official assessment and complete the rating and grading process before he can become a formal chef.

So Sun Maofeng said to Wang Weiguo: "I have already arranged for you the assessment. It just so happens that Baoshu has also signed up for the fifth-level cook assessment. You can follow him then.

With your current level, as long as you can perform normally, I can't say you can pass the fifth level, but you should have no problem passing the sixth level cook exam."

Sun Maofeng was extremely satisfied with Wang Weiguo.

He had just graduated, but he had already reached a level almost similar to that of his three disciples. This was something he had never dared to imagine.

Originally, they delayed Wang Weiguo from going on the expedition just to put pressure on him and force out his potential, but they didn't expect that he would actually force it out.

Even if we describe it as soaring into the sky, it would not be an exaggeration.

It was because of this that Sun Maofeng, who had been somewhat hesitant, finally made the final decision not to accept any more disciples.

Even if he accepted another disciple, he didn't think he would be able to teach a disciple as outstanding as Wang Weiguo in this lifetime.

"Master, don't worry. I will never embarrass you."

After hearing Sun Maofeng's instructions, Wang Weiguo immediately made the promise.

There are ten levels for cooks, from one to ten, with ten being the starting level and one being the highest.

In their sect, the highest rank is naturally Sun Maofeng, the first-level cook, followed by the eldest disciple Zhang Quansheng and the second disciple Wu Tianfu, who are fourth- and fifth-level cooks respectively, and then Li Baoshu, the sixth-level cook.

Even though their levels are quite different from Sun Maofeng's, they are still young after all. Even if their future achievements cannot compare to their master Sun Maofeng, they will not be too bad.

If Wang Weiguo could qualify as a sixth-level cook right after graduation, it would definitely bring honor to his school.

Because it is the first time to take the exam, there is flexible room for evaluation and grading if your own strength is sufficient.

Furthermore, when the person in charge of the assessment believes that you have higher abilities, you can continue to be assessed upwards.

However, for most people who take the assessment for the first time, they are lucky enough to pass the assessment for level 10 cooks.

Now is not like the past when there was no standardization and no unified grading standards, nor is it like the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China when there were good and bad people mixed together. Those who took the assessment for the first time were often novices who had just graduated.

People like Wang Weiguo are rare.

Sun Maofeng's affirmation of his junior fellow apprentice Wang Weiguo made fellow apprentices Zhang Quansheng, Wu Tianfu and Li Baoshu envious.

When they first started out, they didn't receive such high praise.

However, they have all experienced the strength of their junior brother, and know that he is worthy of their master's high hopes.

No wonder his master regarded Wang Weiguo as his last disciple and announced publicly that he would not accept any more disciples in the future.

(End of this chapter)