Listening to Kang Shude's eloquent talk, Ning Weimin's thoughts were taken to the very distant past.
Unconsciously, there was something heavy in these stories that locked him in, making him feel the cruelty of fate and the depression of his mood.
The noise outside the bathhouse private room, the white light skylight above his head, and even the steaming hot water could not relax and soothe his spirit.
To be honest, the two old men beside him who can be called mentors have too many similarities.
It not only refers to their age, values, and thinking patterns, but also their life experiences.
And he remembered Kang Shude's desolate scene when he just returned to Beijing.
Compared with how prosperous the old man's life is today, how miserable the old man's situation was in his memory.
So he could fully imagine what kind of sad state of mind Zhang Dashao would have after returning to Beijing in embarrassment, facing a hometown where things have changed and people have changed, and an unknown destiny.
He even understood where Zhang Dashao's abilities came from, and why there was no one who was not good at Chinese or Western food.
I also understand why Kang Shude and Zhang Dashao, who have different personalities and similar preferences, can become close friends.
We are all in the same world, we share the same illness, and we care about each other. This is probably the main reason.
"Master, is Master Zhang in jail?"
"He is in jail. How could he reason in those years? He was impoverished and was escorted back as a prisoner of war... "
"If he really goes to jail, he won't continue to be the warden's cook, right?"
Ning Weimin, who was soaking in the bathtub, was concerned about what happened to Zhang Dashao later. I couldn't help but lean out half of my body and asked anxiously.
"Hey, I let you guess half of it."
Kang Shude was very steady. As he spoke, he covered his face with a wet and hot towel.
“What is a celebrity chef? A real celebrity chef is not someone who is awarded the title. Someone has to recognize him. Master Zhang is the cook among chefs, and his skills are unparalleled. The food he cooks is delicious. The gap is obvious. You must know that his inherited skills are the hard work of several generations of the Zhang family. They have continued to learn, improve and integrate over the past twenty years. Chinese and Western food are made more and more refined, so how can others compare to him? Therefore, he cooks the same dishes better than others, let alone high-end dishes like "Zi Qi Dong Lai" and "Zi Qi Dong Lai". The "roasted cabbage" and "roasted eggplant" were extraordinary, so although he was imprisoned after his return, his skills on the stove saved him again. However, the warden was too young to have such a good reputation. Eat Master Zhang's food every day. That guy was smart and sent it to the receptionist's house as a gift..."
"The receptionist? "
Ning Weimin said: It is still impossible to fully understand what happened before liberation, so it is inevitable that there will be blind spots in knowledge. This term is quite new to him.
So the old man gave him a more detailed explanation.
"Yes, you have to know that when Master Zhang was sent back, it was the thirty-fourth year of the Republic of China...that is, 1945. At that time, Japan had just surrendered. Baldy Chiang was relying on the Americans. While anxiously dispatching troops to regain control of the recovered areas, he also dispatched senior officials from all walks of life to take over power from the Japanese and puppet government on his behalf."
"This is a fat job. Politicians, who are eager to get a vote, all try their best to obtain letters of appointment, and then rush to the occupied areas from the rear, and then start talking about the party, government, military, culture, education, industry, mining, enterprises, etc. In addition to accepting the administrative power of the Japanese invaders and puppet government agencies, they also need to accept the property of senior Japanese and puppet officials. "
"At first, the people in the capital were opposed to the people flying in from the south. The high-ranking officials had great hopes, believing that when the capital fell, the power of the city was in the hands of the Japanese invaders and traitors. They were enemies and would only oppress and exploit the people of the capital. Now that the country has been restored, these officials sent here have returned. We are all our own people, and we will definitely treat our compatriots well and make decisions for the common people.”
“But in fact, these responsible officials have greatly disappointed the people. After these responsible officials came to the capital to take over everything. , instead of solving the problems of the people in the capital, they got worse. In 1946, there were 320,000 school-age children in the capital, and as many as 156,000 were out of school. At the end of the same year, two American soldiers were bullied at the Dongdan training ground. The vicious incident of our female student.”
"What particularly disappoints the people is the skyrocketing prices. In order to expand the army and prepare for war, Bald Chiang's indiscriminate issuance of banknotes caused inflation, which made people's livelihood miserable. In 1947, hundreds of retail stores in the capital closed down. In May, every kilogram of rice was sold in French currency. One thousand yuan rose to 3,500 yuan. After the gold yuan coupons were issued, Baldy Jiang stipulated that three million French currency should be exchanged for one gold yuan coupon, and the economy collapsed even further."
"But these receptionists did not. They turned a blind eye to the sufferings of the common people and did not care about them. They only focused on collecting money for themselves, especially gold and US dollars. When they underwent childbirth, they kept all the good houses and cars for themselves, and they also looked for women, so the common people at that time ridiculed them. The receptionist is the "five sons Dengke", which refers to money, gold, houses, cars, and women."
"Then think about it, these officials only care about making money for themselves every day, how can they leave. Do you need to hold a banquet? The warden wanted to curry favor with his brother-in-law, who was the mayor of the capital at the time. He heard that this man was planning to hold a full-moon banquet for his son, so he sent Zhang Dashao to his house..."
To be honest, after hearing this, Ning Weimin completely believed that with Zhang Dashao's ability, he could conquer all those who are addicted to food and drink.
But he already knew about Zhang Dashao's ups and downs in the first half of his life. For this enthusiastic elder who had always been a famous chef that he admired and helped him a lot, he was concerned but confused.
I am really afraid of hearing about any changes again.
So he still couldn't bear his temper and asked eagerly, "This should be a good thing, right? Has Master Zhang's situation improved as a result? Is the owner impressed by Master Zhang's craftsmanship?"
< br>Sure enough, I heard Kang Shude say, "No need to ask. Master Zhang's craftsmanship is that the higher the banquet, the more skillful it is. He went to the mayor's brother-in-law's house. At that time, the mayor's mother-in-law heard that the prison The chef sent by the chief knew how to cook the food for the Queen Mother, so she had to try the dishes herself. Perhaps she wanted to test him, so the old lady prepared two fans of pork for him, which was equivalent to a whole slaughtered pig. There are no other materials.”
“After meeting with Master Zhang, the old lady told her face to face that we should not talk nonsense. Nowadays, there are people using the imperial chef brand everywhere to make excuses. I haven’t eaten the food in the palace. Who knows if it’s true or not? If you can make it, use these two fans of pork to make it for me. What do you want to do? Make thirty-six dishes for me. If they are delicious, you can keep them. Otherwise, you can go back to where you came from.” He used it as a cook. The question was too simple. It was a common meal, so he didn’t have the energy to do it. Anyway, he just did it. Master Zhang didn’t have anyone to help him that day, so he just picked a handful from the kitchen and polished it. I have a kitchen knife and a mutton-faced knife, and I have prepared all the ingredients in one afternoon. Deboning, dicing, slicing, and chopping the stuffing. Which meatballs are fatter and which ones are leaner? A little more, what should be 70% over oil, what should be 50% over oil, or even 30%, there are all rules. ”
"As a result, that night, when these ingredients were officially turned into dishes and served one after another on the table, the whole host family was dumbfounded. Not only were the dishes served beautiful and palatable, but there were too many dishes. Just meatballs There are just a few kinds, dry fried meatballs, Sixi meatballs, Nanjian meatballs, Babao meatballs, glass meatballs, Jiaoyou meatballs, crispy meatballs, stove meatballs... Master Zhang’s thirty-six dishes are unbeatable. , in fact, there are one hundred and eight items. Among them are not only royal dishes such as braised pork and boiled suckling pig, but also Western dishes such as fried pork chops and roasted pork knuckles, which are all praised by the host. The children were all satisfied. "
"The old lady of the house knew that she had really met a good cook. She was so happy that she not only kept him, but also rewarded him with five yuan. From then on, Master Zhang was released from prison. He escaped and settled in this house. A few days later, he performed a dragon banquet on the grandson's full moon wine, which not only brought good fortune to the master's family, but also entertained all the guests. After being convinced, he asked the master to borrow a cook, and he even established himself in this house. From now on, whenever the master entertains guests, Master Zhang will be the one to cook. Even the warden who recommended him will be rewarded. I wish I could be promoted..."
Such a plot is what people like to see. When Ning Weimin heard this, he not only felt very high-spirited, but also finally breathed a sigh of relief for Zhang Dashao.
He said it in his heart, there is indeed no one who knows how to appreciate Master Zhang’s cooking skills better than us Chinese people.
I also knew that Master Zhang’s craftsmanship would not be forgotten when he met such a wealthy and well-educated owner who often had banquets.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Zhang Dashao's life took another big turn.
Kang Shude then lamented, "But as the saying goes, misfortune lies behind blessings, and misfortune lies behind blessings. Master Zhang has turned disaster into luck several times with his craftsmanship, and now he feels a little more comfortable. Years ago, but because of the glory of the past few years, Ning Weimin suffered a lot, and he has been unable to recover since then. He has never been in high spirits..."
Hearing what the old man said, Ning Weimin immediately woke up. , thinking of the changes that followed.
It’s just that he doesn’t understand at the same time. Isn’t Zhang Dashao just a craftsman? How can he be implicated by his employer while working?
"Master, is this okay? Master Zhang is just a worker? After all, he is also a working people who are exploited and oppressed? How could..."
As a result, Kang Shude was shaken by these words. He looked up, showing an even more helpless and sad look.
"A worker? Yes, he is a worker. But the bad thing is that he does his job so well, so well beyond ordinary people's imagination. How can you live with a worker? Such a good courtyard can still have food and food when the whole city is starving? Who would believe this?"
This almost stopped Ning. Weimin, he hesitated a few times, not knowing what to say.
The old man continued to remember himself.
"I remember clearly that in the 37th year of the Republic of China, that is, in the second half of 1948, the capital was enveloped in an atmosphere of war. The rich fled, and the middle-class families bought food and stored it for fear of being besieged. The poor families had nothing to eat. Not afraid, just looking forward to destroying the city and changing the world. I bought the Ma family garden at that time. By the end of the year, all the city gates were closed, and the important crossroads in the city were closed. Fortifications have been built at the entrance, and there is news from the outside that all trains have stopped, and even Nanyuan Airport has changed hands."
"At this time, in order to accept the supplies shipped from Nanjing, the city moved everyone. Well-known scholars and professors from the university were sent away, and an airport must be built in the city. It was originally planned to be built in the Temple of Heaven. Later, it was considered that there were too many ancient trees in the Temple of Heaven. Not only did it need to cut down the trees, but the south side of the Temple of Heaven was close to the east wall of Yongding Gate, which was unsafe. Later, it was decided to build the temporary airport in Dongdan. It can be said that the last batch of scholars and military and political figures in the capital fled to the south from the Dongdan temporary airport. "
"Master Zhang's family also left at this time. I originally wanted to take Master Zhang with me. Even though a plane ticket was worth thousands of dollars at that time, many people couldn't get it. When he was willing to leave, he told his master that he would not leave even if he went back to jail, and that he wanted to die in the capital. Therefore, his master could not force him, and because of the love he had given him for several years, not only did he not send him away in the end. When I returned to the prison, I was given a few gold bars, two bags of flour, and a lot of household items that I couldn’t take with me.” I can't explain. If you were a prisoner and you were forced, why would your master have given you so much property instead of sending you back to prison? If it wasn't a bit tricky, who would believe it? What about your travels to five countries and serving fascist and American imperial officers? Are you connected to foreign countries? Who can explain this? Is it clear?”
“So when Master Zhang was assigned work in the new society, because these historical issues could not be explained clearly, he could only go to work in a small restaurant first, and because of the change of customs. The new society advocates frugality, and luxurious eating has become a wasteful behavior that should be criticized. From then on, there were fewer opportunities for Master Zhang's skills to be used. In the 1960s, he was assigned to a food shop to make croquettes. He worked there for more than ten years. Later, he was able to work at the Polar Bear Palm Kitchen, which was a job he took after he retired, just like I went to the jade factory to look after the door. "
"All in all, look at the rest of his life, he has been wasting away without any sparkle. Even if he is better than me, he is still very limited. What can people say? Master Zhang's life has benefited from his Skills, but he will encounter hardships because of his outstanding skills. This is really a mess."
"So from Master Zhang's point of view, he has been here for a long time. The sorrow is overwhelming. Especially at this age, his income is enough to meet his needs, and he will not value fame and fortune. I think what you can do is to be polite to others, and the rest is all. You can just let nature take its course. You can ask for it, but it’s hard for you to give it what you want. If someone doesn’t want to give it to you, don’t force it.”
The mist is steaming throughout the bathroom, and the water droplets on the glass and tiles are like melancholy tears.
At this time, Ning Weimin was speechless except for feeling confused.
He was finally able to understand Zhang Dashao's state of mind.
Why is the old man's temper always so harsh? Seems so inhumane?
That is the embarrassment of being helpless about fate, and the sigh that the orange has turned into a orange.
It contains frustration about the injustice of fate, but there is no way to vent it.
Ning Weimin suddenly felt extremely bitter.
This old man has suffered so much in his life, he is really a bit confused...
Think about it, how does it make sense that such a master-level celebrity chef wandered around for the first half of his life, but spent the second half of his life stuck in a frying pan frying meatballs?
Nothing is absolute. This means that a gentleman is not guilty, but he is guilty of having a jade.
Sometimes people are too capable. If they are not recognized and needed by society in general, it will be a kind of sadness.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt blessed, lying in the bathtub and looking at the ceiling.
"Master, I know how to persuade Master Zhang. I will talk to him later. There should be no big problem..."
Seeing him so determined, Kang Shude was puzzled. "What? Are you so sure?"
"Well, I finally figured out what Master Zhang needs."
"What does he want?"
"Yes. A sense of self-fulfillment is the recognition of his value by society. It should have been his recognition for a long time."
After being silent for a moment, the old man seemed to have a taste of it. "Maybe..."