Siheyuan: If you ruin the reputation of the whole courtyard, I will move out

"You are a chef!" Now it was Hu Dawei's turn to be shocked.

Zhang Yu said, "I don't have a license, but the Sichuan cuisine skills of my family were passed down from my grandmother. If you have a chance, you can try the dishes I cook and feel it for yourself." While running a chain of restaurants in that world, he also carefully learned He Yuzhu's skills to perfection and made authentic Sichuan cuisine.

As for Tan's dishes, they were inherited from He Yuzhu's family. As Zhang Yu's brother-in-law, it is not wrong to say that they are a family tradition.

Hu Dawei immediately became interested after hearing this. He said excitedly, "There are many Chinese restaurants around Stanford, but good chefs are very scarce. If you are really a famous chef, I can recommend you a job and help you get all the legal procedures done."

Zhang Yu never imagined that traditional Chinese cooking skills would be so popular in America.

"Foreigners now appreciate Chinese cuisine, especially Sichuan cuisine with its strong flavor. There are many Chinese people in Silicon Valley, and there are many Chinese restaurants, but the quality varies." Hu Dawei said excitedly, "I know of a restaurant where the chef left and returned to China. He lost many regular customers because of his cooking skills, and the owner is now having a headache."

"You can get to know this kind of inside information?" Zhang Yu asked with a smile.

In response, Hu Dawei said: "In fact, in China, Chinese people tend to care about each other because of the social discrimination they have experienced together. Most things are quickly known to everyone once they happen." Although China ostensibly advocates the concept of anti-discrimination, it is the country with the most serious racial discrimination problem in the world.

White people exclude black people, black people are prejudiced against brown-skinned people, and yellow-skinned people are at the bottom of the discrimination chain. This reality is not new.

"If you have nothing to do this afternoon, let's go to that restaurant to try out your cooking skills. If the results are good, I think the restaurant owner should be happy to help with your work permit issue." In order to stop discussing the topic of discrimination, Hu Dawei diverted attention.

"I'd love to. I'm confident in my cooking skills." Zhang Yu said with a smile, and then the two left the campus cafeteria and drove to Li's Sichuan Restaurant not far away.

Dawei also briefly introduced Zhang Yu to Mr. Li in the car. He was Li Ming'an, the owner of Li's Sichuan Restaurant, a representative of Chinese Americans. Three generations of the Li family worked hard to make the restaurant famous. After the old man passed away, the restaurant was taken over by Li Ming'an, but he lacked the talent of a chef and could not really inherit the family's skills, so he had to hire a professional chef.

As Chinese factories gradually grew, Li Ji was affected to a certain extent. Not long ago, Chef Qian returned to his hometown to open his own restaurant due to family problems in China. He notified Li Mingan of his resignation by phone. Upon receiving the news, Li Mingan was furious in the store, and everyone could see it.

After losing Chef Qian, the quality of Li Ji's menu declined significantly, and many loyal customers were lost. This made Li Ming'an extremely worried, and he has been looking for a suitable chef outside. However, the resources of Chinese chefs are limited, and those with superb skills are even more scarce. Despite the generous treatment, he still failed to recruit a satisfactory candidate.

Li Mingan even thought of bringing in top Chinese chefs to run the restaurant, but this step has not made any progress. When Hu Dawei drove to the entrance of Li Ji, Zhang Yu got out of the car and carefully examined the restaurant sign. This restaurant has a very Chinese style, with two large bright red lanterns hanging on the facade.

Hu Dawei led Zhang Yu into the restaurant, but found that less than 50% of the customers were in the restaurant during lunch time. Boss Li was standing in front of the cashier, and a man in his forties with a worried expression was checking the bill. This man was the boss of Li Ji, Li Mingan.

"David, it's you! Are you here for dinner?" Li Ming'an noticed Hu Dawei and looked at Zhang Yu beside him and asked.

"I've already had lunch," Dawei said with a smile, pointing at Zhang Yu, "I'm here to accompany this young man for the interview."

Hearing the word "interview", Li Mingan was confused because he thought they needed waiters instead of chefs. After all, Zhang Yu's young and immature appearance made it difficult to associate him with a professional chef. So he said, "We are not short of waiters now."

But Hu Dawei explained: "He is indeed not here to apply for the position of waiter. Doesn't your restaurant need a cook? I think he has the ability and can try to be a chef." Li Mingan was incredulous when he heard this: "Does he really know how to cook? How long has he been cooking?"

Zhang Yu is tall and thin but full of youthful energy, and seems to lack experience. For a chef, this is a technical job that requires long-term study. Without several years of training, one cannot even master the most basic skill of flipping the wok. Facing Li Mingan's question, Zhang Yu seemed very confident: "Boss, you will know the quality of the cooking skills after you try it. It is useless for me to say anything."

Seeing Zhang Yu's firm confidence, Li Ming'an couldn't help but relax his guard a little. After all, he trusted Hu Dawei very much. "Okay, let's go to the kitchen and make a specialty dish to prove yourself."

Li Mingan left the cashier counter and walked into the kitchen with the two. Hu Dawei whispered in Zhang Yu's ear, as if to confirm: "There won't be any problem with your real kung fu, right?"

"Don't worry!" Zhang Yu chuckled. He also felt a little funny in his heart. What if he failed? He wondered how he would deal with the embarrassment?

However, facing the trust and unknown of friendship, Zhang Yu chose to remain silent. The three saw that the kitchen was fully equipped, but it was in a resting state due to lack of staff and the restaurant was light. When asked, Li Mingan turned around and asked, "What's your name, and what dish do you specialize in?"

Zhang Yu replied, "My name is Su Mingzhe, you can call me Jack. I am best at Sichuan cuisine and official cuisine of the Tan family." Li Mingan was surprised to hear about Tan's cuisine. Few people know Tan's cuisine, and the skills are even more rare. "Is your skill inherited from your family?"

"That's true." Zhang Yu said calmly.

Preparing for braised pork elbow Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Braised pork elbow is what I am best at, but that requires a craft and I can't make it in a short time." Li Mingliang suggested, "Then make Kung Pao Chicken. You can use all the ingredients in the kitchen." Hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded, rolled up his sleeves and walked around the kitchen for a few rounds.

Frankly speaking, the back kitchen of Li's is clean and standard, and there is nothing to blame. He picked up a kitchen knife and weighed it, then tried the weight of the pot, and then put it down, his movements were smooth and natural. Dawei was not a professional chef, and did not understand the meaning of Zhang Yu's actions. Seeing that he had not yet picked up his chopsticks, he hurriedly urged: "Jack, you can start cooking."

However, Li Mingliang stopped Dawei and smiled meaningfully. "He is currently familiarizing himself with the kitchen utensils. Every chef has his own kitchen utensils. For example, the weight of a kitchen knife and the depth of a frying pan may affect their cooking level. Now I feel that he is more confident that he is a chef."

Dawei felt relieved after hearing this. On the other hand, after checking the tools, Zhang Yu tried all the seasonings in the kitchen one by one, even including soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and bean paste. This made Li Mingliang's eyes shine more brightly.

After testing all the seasonings, Zhang Yu began to prepare the main and side dishes. He was very careful in selecting the ingredients, and after selecting the chicken pieces one by one, he officially started cooking. He turned on the fire skillfully and could quickly scoop up the oil without even looking.

Li Mingliang stared at the precise movements with his eyes wide open in amazement. Zhang Yu's cooking technique was as smooth as flowing water, and the distribution of seasonings and cooking timing were very appropriate. Soon, a plate of Kung Pao Chicken with color, aroma and taste was presented in front of Li Mingliang.

Dawei couldn't help salivating at the sweet and fragrant Kung Pao Chicken. "It smells so good!"

Li Mingliang nodded and said approvingly, "Cooking is about color, aroma and taste. Although I haven't tasted it yet, the color and smell are enough to prove its excellent quality." He then explained, "Although you have rich seasonings, some of the flavors may not be authentic. This is the best I can do."

Hearing this, Li Mingliang's eyes lit up, but he didn't say anything and just tasted it. He praised: "The peanuts are crispy and crunchy, and the chicken is tender and smooth. The combination of the two is just right. What's even better is the seasoning and the control of the heat. It's extremely accurate. It's great!"

After taking just one bite of the food, Li Mingliang put down his chopsticks and asked Zhang Yu about his employment. "When do you plan to come to work?"

Zhang Yu felt the signal of approval from his words. Perhaps it was the smell of Kung Pao Chicken that aroused the curiosity of other chefs who were taking a break. At Li Mingliang's invitation, they shared the unique delicacy. "It's simply a wonderful taste!"

"How can you make such delicious Kung Pao Chicken?"

"This tastes better than Master Qian's previous cooking."

Soon, the food prepared by Zhang Yu won praise from all the chefs. Dawei saw that the atmosphere had reached a suitable point, so he pulled Li Mingliang aside to discuss the specific salary and work benefits.

After the three of them sat down, Li Mingliang got straight to the point: "Monthly salary of $6,000, with two meals a day. But you also understand that we in the catering industry basically don't have any days off."

Zhang Yu and Dawei exchanged glances and said they were satisfied with the salary, but they were concerned about Zhang Yu's academic qualifications. "I'm still a student and I have to work during the day," he said to Li Mingliang.

"Are you an international student?" Li Mingliang frowned. "Then your study visa, right?"

After learning about the situation, Dawei explained: "Yes, Jack was just admitted as a graduate student this morning." This made Li Mingliang a little embarrassed: "Your international student status will bring some troubles, but there are also solutions. David and I can go and coordinate with the school. But you have classes during the day, how to arrange the business hours at noon?"

Zhang Yu talked about the class schedule. "I checked my class schedule. Most of them are gone after 11 a.m. I can come here and cook for three hours, so it won't delay lunch."

Hearing this, Li Mingliang said worriedly: "That means that the only thing you can do here is cooking, and you can't use the rest of your free time." For a chef, work is far more than just cooking. They usually work twelve hours a day and night, and noon is the precious rest time.

If Zhang Yu chooses the part-time work and study model, his daily working hours will be compressed.

Li Ming'an made a suggestion: "In that case, the salary will be reduced to US$4500 per month, and you will only be responsible for the cooking work, and I will handle the work permit issue." He tentatively proposed this plan.

After thinking about it, seeing Hu Dawei nodding to him, Zhang Yu readily agreed: "Okay, David, come with me to the school this afternoon to apply for a work permit for Jack so that his vacancy can be filled as soon as possible." Li Ming'an said anxiously.

While accompanying Zhang Yu to Stanford University to process his job application, Zhang Yu found that it was actually a tedious process. He basically had nothing to do, and the whole process was handed over to Li Mingan and Hu Dawei to communicate with the school. He just completed a series of tedious forms, which took most of the afternoon to complete.

Hu Dawei then drove Li Ming'an back to "Li Ji" safely. Before he got out of the car and left, he instructed: "Start work at noon tomorrow, and your salary will be calculated from today."

Hearing this arrangement, Zhang Yu responded firmly: "No problem, I will arrive before 11 o'clock tomorrow before lunch."

Satisfied with Zhang Yu's answer, Li Ming'an got off the car and left, and ran to express his gratitude to Hu Dawei. At this time, on the way back to Zhang Yu's home, Hu Dawei reminded him with concern: "Starting tomorrow, you will take turns at two places in the school, which will be a bit hard."

"I can still make it." Zhang Yu continued, "I might consider buying a means of transportation to facilitate travel, but not a car." Because he stated, "I don't have a driver's license."

Hearing this, Hu Dawei explained: "It's best to get the certificate as soon as possible. It's really inconvenient to not have a car. Your salary will be pretty good in the future, so you can afford the cost of maintaining a car. It's not too late to make plans after you have established yourself here."