Siheyuan works as a nanny for Shazhu

Guo Mingsheng called to the inner room, "Cuifang, Daqing is here with Zhuzi, make two cups of tea." The inner room door curtain was lifted, and a woman about 40 years old came out. He Daqing and He Yuzhu stood up quickly, "Happy New Year, Master's wife." "Happy New Year, Master's wife."

"Okay, okay, everyone, please take a seat. I'll make some tea."

Guo Mingsheng said, "Since you are here today, you can eat here. There are dishes in the kitchen. Daqing, we will cook for lunch. Zhuzi, you stay by the side and watch carefully. I will test you in the evening."

At this time, He Daqing was still quite smooth-talking. He had a good relationship with his fellow apprentices. He also knew that his senior apprentice had only one daughter, who was already married. He also had some thoughts about accepting He Yuzhu as his apprentice. He thought that he would leave soon, so at least he could learn from his senior apprentice. On the one hand, he would have someone to take care of him, and on the other hand, he would have someone to back him up. He readily agreed, "Okay, I'll learn from you at noon."

However, He Daqing never expected that after he left, He Yuzhu was fooled by Yi Zhonghai and even refused to recognize him as his master. He went to work in a steel rolling mill and he was never seen visiting his master in the whole drama.

At this time, another person walked in from outside the door. He had thick eyebrows, a slightly red face, thin lips, and a short stature. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted, "Senior Brother, I wish you a happy New Year. Oh, Second Brother is here too? Happy New Year. I wish you a happy New Year to both brothers." The man bowed to Guo Mingsheng and He Daqing.

Guo Mingsheng smiled and said, "Li San'er, you are so old, but you are still so lively. You don't even blush when there are younger people here."

He Yuzhu also stood up and shouted, "Master, Happy New Year."

"I knew you would come around this time, so I brought Zhuzi to my brother's house to wait for you." He Daqing also said with a smile.

The brothers all have the same master, and are now considered big names in the chef business in Beijing. The eldest brother, Guo Mingsheng, is the head chef of Fengzeyuan, and is good at Sichuan cuisine, as well as Shandong cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine. Currently, the state banquet dishes are mainly Huaiyang cuisine. If the dishes are mainly Sichuan cuisine, Chef Guo will be a must-have chef for the state banquet.

He Daqing is the second child. He has his own family tradition of cooking Tan's cuisine and learned Shandong cuisine from his master. He works as the head chef in the Loubancheng factory in Sijiucheng and is also the canteen director. To say that his cooking skills are not good, Loubancheng had eaten all kinds of delicacies before liberation. The fact that they invited He Daqing to be the head chef shows He Daqing's cooking skills. Even if he is not as good as his eldest brother, he is at most one level lower. And it also depends on the style of cuisine they cook.

The third brother, Li Sankui, is good at Chaozhou cuisine and Cantonese cuisine. He was the last one to follow the master before liberation. At that time, Guo Mingsheng and He Daqing had already become apprentices. In order to avoid the invasion of China and not wanting to serve those beasts, the master took this youngest apprentice to Guangdong Province in 1940. Through some dignitaries he knew before, he went to the countryside of Guangdong Province to avoid the war. With his cooking skills, he met a master chef in Guangdong Province. Through exchanges with each other, the young apprentice learned the skills of Cantonese cooking.

However, Li Sankui currently has no reputation in Sijiu City. He returned to Sijiu City after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After his master passed away, he did not dare to return to Sijiu City. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, when he saw that everything was peaceful, he followed his master's wishes and returned to Sijiu City with his master's ashes.

The brothers chatted and laughed, and talked about the time when their master taught them martial arts. The old brothers couldn't stop sobbing, especially Guo Mingsheng and He Daqing, who didn't see their master for the last time. At this time, Wang Cuifang made tea and brought it over, saying: "You guys, it's New Year's Day. If you miss your master, make an appointment to go to his grave to visit." Guo Mingsheng thought it was not good to talk about these things at home during the New Year.

After checking the time, he said to He Yuzhu, "Zhuzi, go to the kitchen and prepare some food so that the two uncles can see how your basic skills are." He Yuzhu responded, "Okay." When he entered the kitchen, he saw about a pound of pork belly, a chicken, tofu, cabbage, potatoes, and a green carp hanging in front of the window, weighing almost four or five pounds.

At this time, several fellow apprentices also came to the kitchen and looked at the dishes. Guo Mingsheng said, "I will make braised pork and mapo tofu. Zhuzi, you watch and prepare the dishes." He Daqing thought for a while and said, "Then I will make squirrel mandarin fish. If there is no mandarin fish, use this black fish, and stir-fry cabbage with oil residue." Li Sankui said, "I will make one too. There are too few ingredients now, so I will make boiled chicken and a soup. Please taste it, two brothers." Guo Mingsheng thought for a while and said, "Zhuzi, cut the potatoes into shreds. I will also add some hot and sour potato shreds."

He Yuzhu agreed and started washing and selecting the vegetables, cutting the braised pork into pieces, split the herring in the middle and making cuts. When he was about to cut the chicken, Li Sankui stopped him: "Don't worry, you prepare the other dishes, I'll do this one, just wait and watch how I deal with it." He Daqing said: "Zhu Zi, thank you, uncle master, I'm teaching you the skill." "Thank you, uncle master." After saying that, He Yuzhu started to prepare the dishes.

All you can hear in the kitchen is the sound of "dong dong dong" from the chopping board. You can hear the chopping and chopping. All kinds of vegetables have been prepared and put on plates by He Yuzhu. He then picks up the ginger, onion and garlic, and hears the chopping board making a few more sounds as it prepares to put them into small plates.

When the fellow apprentices saw that the pieces were of uniform size, the shreds were distinct and of uniform thickness, He Daqing turned to his senior brother and said, "Senior brother, you have put a lot of effort into Zhuzi. This is basically the skill of learning to cut vegetables." Guo Mingsheng looked pleased, "Zhuzi is talented. Plus, you have been learning from him at home, so he has almost learned all the preparatory work in the kitchen. I plan to let him cook this year." He Daqing was also all smiles. Who wouldn't be happy to hear someone praising his son?

Guo Mingsheng saw that the time was almost up, so he went into the kitchen, put on an apron and called out, "Zhu Zi, come and see how I make this braised pork." Upon hearing this, He Daqing and Li Sankui looked at each other, then turned around and went to the living room to drink tea. For the older generation of craftsmen, even if they were master and apprentice, you were not allowed to peek without permission, and this was even more forbidden for fellow apprentices, as they all had their own unique skills.

He Yuzhu walked forward and saw the master heating up the pan and boiling oil. After lubricating the pan, he added rock sugar and fried it to bring out the color. He then added ginger and garlic to sauté the fragrance. He added star anise, cinnamon leaves and other spices, added appropriate amounts of salt and water, covered the pot, and after the water boiled, he put in the pork belly, stir-fried it for a few times, covered the pot, turned around and said, "Zhuzi, did you see it clearly?" "I saw it clearly, Master." Guo Mingsheng explained the oil temperature, water temperature, and the heat for adding the meat and taking the pan off the heat one by one. In a blink of an eye, the two dishes were ready and He Yuzhu brought them out.

He Daqing saw that the braised pork was bright yellow in color and smelled it with a hint of sweetness. He stood up and walked into the kitchen and boasted, "Senior brother, it turns out that old ginger is wiser." Guo Mingsheng smiled and said, "It's your turn. See if your skills have declined after all these years in the factory." He Daqing took the apron, washed the pot, boiled water, and began to teach He Yuzhu.

It can only be said that Sha Zhu was born to do this. When he was in school, he could not remember this or that, and barely managed to graduate from elementary school. As an apprentice to his master, he remembered some things in the kitchen clearly. As long as he was taught to cook once, he could cook 60% to 70% of the same next time. If he studied hard, it would not be a problem for him to learn the master's skills.

In the play, He Yuzhu has always been an eighth-level chef. First, he has a foul mouth and will say something to anyone he doesn't like. Second, he was fooled by the beasts in the yard and was so focused on supporting the widow's family that he basically didn't have any normal human interactions. Who would promote you?

After He Daqing finished cooking, Sha Zhu took the dishes out. When he came back, Li Sankui followed him in. He looked at the stove, washed the pot, and poured the boiling water in the kettle on the stove into the pot.

"Zhu Zi, come and watch. Boiled chicken requires that it be cooked but not mushy, with crisp skin and smooth meat, and original flavor, light and delicious." He said, taking the whole chicken in his hand and looking at it. It was cleaned very well, and nodded. "You have indeed learned the basic skills taught by your master very well. I won't say much. Just watch me do it. If you don't understand, write it down and ask me after I'm done."

Sha Zhu replied: "Okay, uncle."

Li Sankui picked up the chicken, spread a little salt and cooking wine on the chicken skin, and put it aside to marinate. He put ginger and scallion in the pot, waited for the water to boil, and put the chicken in the pot. After about two minutes, steam rose from the pot. "Zhu Zi, turn to low heat." After saying that, he covered the pot and turned to the kitchen counter. He chopped the ginger into minced ginger and chopped the scallion into small pieces, put them into a small dish, added salt, soy sauce, and sugar, and a few drops of sesame oil, then mixed them well. He picked up a large spoon, scooped a spoonful of soup from the pot, poured it into the dish, and the dipping sauce was ready.

After about twenty minutes, open the lid and take out the chicken, and throw it directly into the basin of cold water next to it to soak. After the chicken has cooled down, put it on the chopping board and cut it into pieces. He Yuzhu saw his uncle-master raise his knife and with a few sounds, the whole chicken was cut into pieces and placed on the chopping board. He Yuzhu quickly took out a large plate and watched his uncle-master put the dish on the plate. After it was put on, it looked like a chicken crawling on the plate with its head raised.

"Okay, Zhuzi, take it out."

After He Yuzhu came back with the dishes, Li Sankui said again: "This soup can't be thrown away." He put some mushrooms in the soup, added salt, MSG, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and served the soup.

Li Sankui was still waiting in the kitchen. When he saw He Yuzhu come in, he asked, "Zhuzi, you've watched me cook. If you don't understand something, just ask." He Yuzhu thought about the steps of his uncle's cooking and answered his questions one by one. Li Sankui was also happy today and explained patiently to He Yuzhu. Only then did Guo Mingsheng's voice come from outside, "Sankui, the food is getting cold. Let's eat first." Li Sankui walked out of the kitchen with He Yuzhu reluctantly.

Several people sat at the table, Guo Mingsheng picked up a bottle of Fenjiu and opened it, "Zhu Zi, pour some wine for your uncle. Your uncle is happy today, but your brothers don't have this kind of treatment."

He Yuzhu took the bottle, walked forward and filled his uncle's glass first, then his master's, and finally He Daqing's. After returning to his seat, he filled his own glass.

At this time, Guo Mingsheng picked up the wine glass and said, "Daqing, Sankui, Zhuzi, thank you for coming to wish me a happy new year today. I hope that everyone will have everything they wish for in the new year."

Several people quickly raised their glasses and took a sip with the eldest brother (master), and then they toasted each other. During the meal, Guo Mingsheng also commented on the dishes made by He Daqing and Li Sankui. He Yuzhu ate while listening to the exchanges between several culinary masters, and he really gained a lot.

After the two bottles of Fenjiu were finished, it was He Yuzhu who drank the most. Master and uncle all wanted to toast him. Fortunately, master's wife stopped them from opening the wine, otherwise He Yuzhu would have passed out in master's house. Several people left the table. Master's wife Li Cuifang saw that Zhuzi had almost finished drinking, complained to Guo Mingsheng a few words, and then cleaned up the dishes and went to the kitchen.

It is winter now and it is very cold outside, so several people sat in the house, sitting around the stove, drinking tea and chatting. He Yuzhu sat aside, with nothing to do, so he thought about the dishes that the master and uncle made for lunch today. The biggest gain today was that he learned a Cantonese dish, and he was very excited about talking about it in the kitchen. Uncle Li Sankui didn't just teach him a boiled chicken dish, he also taught him a few other dishes, although he didn't cook them, he would just make them a few more times when he got the ingredients when he got back. It was said that He Yuzhu had a natural talent for cooking.

At this time, Jiang Feng and He Yushui were at home in the courtyard. After He Daqing left in the morning, He Yushui started running around the courtyard like crazy, asking for food, playing with firecrackers, and making snowmen. He was very happy.

During this period, several people came to the steel rolling mill to wish He Daqing a happy new year, and Jiang Feng wrote them down one by one.

Seeing that other families in the yard had started to cook, Jiang Feng called out, "Yushui, don't run out of the yard anymore. Just play in the yard. I'll go in and cook. Call me if you need anything."

Jiang Feng heated up the leftovers from last night, steamed some buns, and called He Yushui back for dinner. While heating the food, he vaguely heard someone cursing next door. There was nothing else going on.