Chapter 5 I came to apply for the chef position

  The next day, Wang Juan and Erzi went begging again. Some wealthy families in the city had heard that Wang Juan had fainted for several days and was about to die but came back to life. They all said that this child's fate is strong, and they didn't dare take him in, fearing he might be a kind person from his past life reborn into this one. They also felt a little reverence, and since the people of Fujian are simple and hospitable, when Wang Juan came to their door begging, each household gave some food or money, so after going around the circle, they got much more than before, filling up the broken ceramic bowl. Erzi was overjoyed, carefully holding the bowl and following behind Wang Juan as they walked back to the sheep pen.

  Just then, De Yi was already preparing to close the stall and was busy packing things up. Seeing Wang Kuang and Erzi approaching, he hastily stopped what he was doing, smiled broadly and looked them up and down before bowing slightly and saying: "Ah, Master Wang has arrived? Is your body feeling a bit better now? Look at today's sales, everything is sold out! If it were an ordinary day, I reckon it would take another hour. But I've saved you a bowl, look, I especially left you some lamb tail."

  How did he come to pay respects to Wang Kuang? It turned out that last night, he went home and cooked a small pot of mutton soup using the method taught by Wang Kuang. As a result, in just a short while, it was snatched away by his two children who were already fed up with mutton soup, leaving him and his wife unable to drink more than a few mouthfuls. It can be seen that this flavor is vastly different from what he cooked before. Especially today, when selling at the stall, using Wang Kuang's method to cook the mutton soup was incredibly popular, and several customers who finished eating even ran back home to fetch bowls to take some back for their families to taste. This was something that couldn't be imagined in the past. Therefore, he became even more convinced that Wang Kuang was a noble person, and seeing that Wang Kuang understood the etiquette of the grasslands, he paid his respects with a bow, directly addressing him as "Dà Láng" (Big Brother) without using his surname, subtly elevating Wang Kuang's status above his own.

  Wang Kuang didn't mind these things, and when he heard that Yu Yue was saying this, he was also very happy. Firstly, it could be considered as repaying the kindness of food and drink, and secondly, through the conversations over the past two days, Yu Yue seemed quite genuine, and now the business prospects looked good, so Wang Kuang was truly happy for him.

  "It'll be like this from now on, Uncle Wang. You can sell more soup and also some flatbread every day." Wang Kuang said with a smile: "You guys aren't fond of dipping the flatbread in mutton soup? You can teach your customers to eat it that way too, I think they'll learn to like it."

  "My goodness! Does he even know this?! Yu Yue stared at Wang Kuang with wide, disbelieving eyes: "Brother Wang, have you received the guidance of the Long Life Heaven? He even knows how we eat our rice cakes!"

  "Hmm, I also heard it from the peddler in our village before." Realizing he had let his tongue slip, Wang Kuang hastily explained: "Actually, I've liked cooking since I was young and paid attention to it. My dad and mom always said I'm useless. Now even if I want to listen, I won't be able to hear it anymore." After finishing speaking, Wang Kuang felt a bit melancholic. The modern-day Wang Kuang is indeed a greedy eater who can also cook. He started helping his family with stir-frying dishes in elementary school and always thought of new ways to do things. As time went on, his parents grew to love the dishes he cooked. Ten years after graduating from university, he had changed jobs countless times, but still didn't have any accomplishments. Instead, he spent all of his family's money, thinking about it made him sad: "I'm a scumbag! Dad and mom, are you guys doing well? Do you know that your son is now over a thousand years away from you?"

  He was indeed a glutton, as Wang Kuang had said. The dog was originally fond of eating and wouldn't have gone fishing with Erzi if it wasn't for the food. It even dared to roast and eat cicadas.

  He hadn't thought deeply about it, but he was stumped by a difficult problem: "But you can't buy that many sheep."

  "No rush, let's take it slow. Uncle, you can negotiate with those farmers who have sheep at home and ask them to raise a few more. If that doesn't work out, paying some deposit in advance is also an option."

  "Great, brother understands a lot. I'll let those people raise more sheep. Relying on the method you taught me, every day another sheep will come, and I estimate it can be sold." Yu Yan's eyes lit up, this was indeed a good idea.

  Bidding farewell to the enthusiastic crowd, Wang and his two sons prepared to return to the Taoist temple to prepare their evening meal. Hurrying along (by the way, in Northern Fujian dialect, "to walk" is said as "giang", with a pronunciation similar to "g", but actually an intermediate sound between "g" and "k", while "to run" is said as "zǒu", pronounced as "walk")

  As they approached the intersection of Dao Guan Road, they saw a crowd gathered in front of Fula Inn near the South Gate. Since it was still early, Wang Kuang and his two sons didn't hurry back, so they ran over to see what the commotion was about. The two boys were small in stature, and there weren't many people surrounding them, so they easily squeezed their way in.

  The original chef of Fuli Inn had resigned and returned to his hometown to observe filial piety after his elderly father passed away, taking his apprentice nephew with him. It was now May, the peak season for traveling merchants, so Fuli Inn had to recruit a new chef and kitchen helper. Usually, recruiting chefs relied on introductions from intermediaries, but Fuli Inn, although not the largest inn in Jian'an City, had gained some reputation among traveling merchants due to its original chef's excellent cooking skills, resulting in a thriving business. However, with the departure of the chef, it was clear that business would decline over time. With no suitable replacement available in a short period, the owner had to ask intermediaries to spread the word while sending clever staff members to search for renowned chefs in nearby prefectures, counties, and cities. Meanwhile, Fuli Inn put up a recruitment sign at its entrance, hoping to attract potential candidates by chance.

  As most of the onlookers were illiterate, a young waiter stood at the entrance and repeatedly recited what his master had told him: "Five yuan per month, with additional bonus at year-end, including board and lodging. Master said that after you arrive, you will be given a separate small courtyard."

  The people around were discussing and speculating, wanting to know that although the world was just at peace, Jian'an had always been abundant in grain production. Now, even though it's only early summer and not yet harvest season, a dou of rice costs only 5 wen (about 6 liters or 25 catties), and after autumn, when the price of rice is cheapest, a dou of rice will cost only 3 wen. One guan is equal to ten dou, which means one thousand coins, so five dou would be five hundred coins. How much rice could that buy? Even in ordinary farming households, having three or five dou of spare change at the end of the year was considered a rich family. So, someone who knew the household or had a relative who cooked decent meals quickly ran back to report the news.

  The little second saw that the crowd was getting bigger and bigger, and he said with more enthusiasm: "As long as those who are applying, just need to follow the master's requirements, make three dishes, and they can be hired. At the end of the month, the best one will be selected as the head chef, and the rest, if willing to stay, can also get a monthly salary of three taels, with food and accommodation provided, and a monthly salary of ten cents." Just as he was getting excited, he heard a soft and tender voice say: "Can I try?"

  Turning his head, he saw two beggars, one about ten years old and the other only five years old. The speaker was the older one. It was Wang Kuang.

  "Shoo, shoo, you two! What are you doing here? If you want to eat, I'll bring some food later. Now just wait aside, I'm busy!" The little second wasn't being stingy or looking down on Wang Kuang. In these times, it had only been a couple of years since the world was at peace, and in the previous few years, many people in Jian'an had fallen to the point of begging for food. So the little second didn't really want to drive Wang Kuang away, he just didn't believe that a beggar who was only around ten years old could cook. Even if he did know how to cook, the little second thought to himself, I'm looking for a master chef, not some little beggar kid who can barely reach the stove!

  "What I said is true, no matter what the case is, I will do it." Wang Kuang was somewhat anxious, he didn't understand the inside story, seeing that there were five yuan for a month's salary, and many onlookers, he really feared that it wouldn't be his turn. He had forgotten that at this moment, he was only ten years old, so it couldn't be blamed on Xiao Er for not believing him.

  "What's with the red case and white case? Do you think this is a court of law? Which case?" The shopkeeper was somewhat perplexed: "You'd better explain, what's a red case and what's a white case?"

  Wang suddenly realized that there was no distinction between red and white cases at this time. So he simply explained: "Red case is for meat dishes and other food, white case is for pastry. This is the original saying in our village."

  The curiosity of Xiao Er was piqued: "Your words are quite novel, meat dishes seeing blood are naturally red, staple foods are naturally white, not bad, you have some insight."

  There was someone who shouted: Since this little beggar has vision, let him try it out, what's the harm? At worst, they'll just waste ingredients for three dishes.

  "Alright, alright, since everyone is saying that, you come and pass my test first. You only need to answer one question correctly, which is: do you know the cooking methods for eating?" The shopkeeper saw that the crowd was helping him out, and also, Wang Kuang had just divided meat dishes and pastry into red and white cases with a simple sentence, although it was the first time he heard of it, but the meaning was clear and easy to understand. Maybe this beggar really has some skills. So he took out the master's question and asked Wang Kuang again. This is also a step that the applicant should take, next there will be another step, if not, all the applicants who come would directly go cook those three dishes, I estimate that before hiring a chef, the cost of providing ingredients for those three dishes alone would be a large sum of money.

  "Steaming, pan-frying, stir-frying, braising, deep-frying, stewing, boiling, roasting, simmering, and exploding - these are the most common ones. There are also some less commonly used methods: quick-frying, scalding, and so on." Wang Kuang naturally spoke without thinking. After finishing speaking, he suddenly regretted it, as he didn't know how many cooking methods had been developed in the Tang Dynasty, or whether the names were consistent. Anyway, what's certain is that the cooking methods he mentioned wouldn't be understood even if they were used in the imperial kitchen of the palace.

  The young waiter was stunned, let alone him, even the original chef would only know a few tricks, not to mention that Wang's words contained several things he had never heard of. The young waiter hadn't heard of it, and neither had the surrounding crowd. Generally, people who live at home can occasionally stew chicken or duck, stir-fry two green vegetables, which is already very good, but they didn't know that there were so many cooking methods. Their original intention to watch the excitement suddenly turned into curiosity.

  At that time, transportation was not developed and information communication was also not smooth, so no one suspected whether Wang Kuang's words were true or false. Most people thought: "There are so many ways to eat, the world is so big, nothing is strange."