Rebirth: Don't Be the Best

In the evening, Zhang Shu transported five hundred catties of dried vermicelli to Hu Caiwang and sold it to him at the original price.

Hu Caiwang was grateful for Zhang Shu's benevolence and righteousness, so he took the initiative to match him up and introduced Zhang Shu to the big businessman he had been working with.

This big businessman's surname is Chu, and he is very powerful in Nanhai County. Hu Caiwang met him only by accident. After doing business in the past few years, both of them think that the other's character is not bad.

Most of Chu Shaoyang's business is distributed in the north, and most of the things that Hu Caiwang gave Zhang Shu years ago came from there.

Zhang Shu had a banquet with Hu Caiwang, and naturally got connected with him.

Chu Shaoyang is not as tall as a northern man, relatively speaking, he looks more like a romantic talent in the south of the Yangtze River, but hidden in that cynical smile is a unique vision for business.

"What kind of business is this brother? I wonder if I, Chu, will be lucky enough to get involved?" Chu Shaoyang asked casually, playing with the fan in his hand.

He wore a jade crown on his head and was dressed in a brocade robe, but the words he asked were not at all the same as his image.Zhang Shu threw away the distracting thoughts in his heart, cupped his hands and said, "Master Chu, I am in the business of dry vermicelli, and this thing is made of spring potatoes."

"You mean spring potatoes? Potatoes?"

"That's right, it's the same thing, it's just called differently."

"Then do you know that there are countless things in our north?"

Chu Shaoyang's meaning is obvious. I'm afraid this thing can't be sold in the north. Who would buy bad street things?

Zhang Shu smiled, "I've heard about it, but I think this thing can be sold in the north, and it may even sell better than in the south."

Chu Shaoyang raised his eyes and asked with great interest, "Brother Zhang is so sure?"

"Tomorrow, please invite Master Chu to Brother Hu's residence, how about coming back to discuss business in due course?"

"Okay, then I'll wait for tomorrow to open my eyes." Chu Shaoyang raised his glass and touched Zhang Shu, then drank the wine in one gulp.

As soon as he came out of the restaurant, Lao Hu asked, "Brother Zhang Shu, what are you going to do with that young master Chu tomorrow? Why did you ask him to come to my Lao Hu's residence? Could it be that you want to invite him to eat hot and sour vermicelli?" Depending on this, I'm afraid it won't work. Northerners don't particularly like this taste, but southerners prefer it.

Zhang Shu smiled mysteriously, "Brother Hu, just wait and see, you will know tomorrow."

Zhang Shu turned around and stopped a carriage, and went back to the pier.Lao Hu shook his head from behind, "You kid, why are you so tempting? It seems that I can't sleep well tonight."

When Zhang Shu returned to the boat, the three of them had already returned, and they were sitting around eating in Li Yan's room.A group of men went shopping, and they didn't know what to buy except for some food.

Yu Xiaoliu handed Zhang Shu a bunch of grilled shrimp, "Brother Zhang Shu, try it, I've never eaten such a big shrimp!" There are also small fish and shrimps in their river, at most no more than the length of a knuckle, all cut Stir-fried tender leeks, the prawns here can be as big as a palm, and the price is cheap!

Zhang Shu took a bite and bit his head, and his mouth was instantly attracted by the numbing and spicy taste.Li Yan handed over a glass of water, he poured it down with his head raised, and then sat down beside him.

He chewed a few mouthfuls of prawns, then looked at Zhou Nan, feeling a bit embarrassed for a moment, not knowing what to call it.It’s too unfamiliar to be called Zhou Nan, it’s too late to be called sister-in-law, and it’s too close to be called Ah Nan, and they don’t have the habit of calling you son-in-law here...

Zhang Shu felt worried, and then looked at him a few more times.Li Yan noticed his gaze, blocked Zhou Nan calmly, and stared at Zhang Shu unkindly.

"What are you looking at?"

Zhang Shu was stunned for a moment, and then saw Li Yan's eyes, "Brother, you misunderstood, I have something to ask Zhou Nan for help!"

"Why do you ask me for help? Is someone sick?" Zhou Nan also saw Li Yan's actions, and his heart felt a little warm, but he knew that Zhang Shu and Yu Xiaoliu were not bad people.

"No, I want to ask you to help me cook a few dishes!"

After Zhou Nan got on the boat, he would go to the kitchen to help those aunts and so on. He also cooked a few times, and the food tasted good.

"Cooking?" The other three asked together in surprise, why did they suddenly think of asking Zhou Nan to cook?Can't you invite someone to the tavern?

"Yeah, I have a few dishes here. It's not easy for others to cook them. It's okay for me to cook big meat and wild game, but I can't do finer ones." Zhang Shu felt a little embarrassed.

"Okay, I just don't know if I can do a good job." Zhou Nan agreed, he did almost nothing with the boat this trip, Xiaohu helped him watch the night, and now it was "invited" to go .

"It doesn't matter if he is good or not, it's better than what he can do by himself. By the way, I will go to where I will do it tomorrow."

"And me and me! Brother Zhang Shu, I'm going too!"

After Li Yan, Yu Xiaoliu rushed to speak out.

"Okay, then let's go buy materials tomorrow, and then everyone will go together."

Early the next morning, several people set off with their backpacks on their backs. Zhang Shu and Yu Xiaoliu were together, and Li Yan and Zhou Nan were together. Each group was responsible for shopping for different things.

Zhang Shu and the others bought a three-yellow chicken that had been slaughtered and its feathers faded, and they went to a dry goods store to buy two taels of high-quality hazel mushrooms. The ingredients are available in Lao Hu's house, so they didn't buy any more, such as star anise pepper and fragrant leaves Weighed a little more.

Should have bought some more sauerkraut, but it's out of stock at this time.It happened that there were still some Chinese cabbage in the cellar, so Zhang Shu bought one and put it in the basket.

Li Yan and Zhou Nan also came over. They bought a large piece of pork belly, a handful of shallots, a few carrots, and some fresh vegetables and seafood.

It cost almost four to five hundred cash to buy these things. You must know that in this kind of place near the sea, everything except seafood is expensive.

"The purchase is almost ready, let's go to Brother Hu's house." Zhang Shu led the way, and the others followed, and they arrived at Lao Hu's yard in a short while.

The others are not here today, it is said that they met to catch the sea.Zhang Shu smiled gratefully at Lao Hu, he knew that Brother Hu must have done this for his convenience.

"Come in, come in, Brother Zhang, tell me what you want to do today, I didn't sleep well last night."

"Don't worry, I will ask you to open your eyes well today." Zhang Shu let them in, and then introduced Lao Hu.

Lao Hu has met Li Yan before. When Zhang Shu’s father-in-law was doing business, Li Yan was there to help. This man with a stinky face like someone owed him money made him remember deeply. material.

Several people walked into the kitchen, Li Yan went to light the fire, Zhou Nan was cleaning the pot, Yu Xiaoliu and Zhang Shu were in charge of washing the vegetables.The man's work is not as meticulous as the woman's brother, but the action is very fast. After a while, he washed it and put it in a basket and put it in the kitchen.

Zhang Shu picked up the chicken, chopped it into walnut-sized pieces with a knife, and put it in the basin.Then I took a wooden basin and put the two taels of hazel mushrooms and dried vermicelli in warm water to soak them.

Zhang Shu roughly talked to Zhou Nan about how to do it. Anyway, he cooked these things in one pot.

Zhou Nan poured the cut chicken pieces into the pot and blanched them, then scooped them up with a strainer and set them aside.After the pot is cleaned, add oil, heat the oil, and then add sliced ​​scallion and ginger until fragrant.

After the fragrance came out, Zhou Nan poured all the chicken into the pot and stir-fried. This chicken weighed about three or four catties, and it took a big pot to stir-fry.

Li Yan increased the fire underneath, and the chicken soon exploded with a burnt aroma. When the cooking wine was released, the taste was almost craving.After frying for a while, Zhou Nan took a spoonful of soy sauce and poured it down, and the chicken turned into soy sauce color, which looked delicious.At this time, it was time to add water to cook. After the pot gurgled for a while, Zhou Nan lifted the lid and poured the soaked hazel mushrooms and star anise pepper.

The vermicelli was easy to cook, so he didn't put it in. After the chicken was almost cooked, he poured the cut dry vermicelli down, covered the pot and simmered for a while.Season with salt when almost out of the pan.

This pot is full of a large earthen pot, and the aroma is overflowing after it is filled, and everyone can't wait to taste it now.But the guests haven't come yet, so it's too rude.Zhang Shu put the lid on the earthen basin and carried it to the main room. Lao Hu and Yu Xiaoliu also followed, not wanting to be greedy in the kitchen anymore.

Zhou Nan took out the stewed chicken and mushrooms in a small bowl that couldn't hold it down, and handed it to Li Yan with a pair of chopsticks, "Eat quickly, don't let them find out."

Li Yan chuckled, "Good buddy, you're so energetic!"

Then I buried myself in eating.

Zhou Nan still smiled, but there was a bit of bitterness in his smile.He shook his head, shaking out the unrealistic thoughts, and continued to cook another dish...

It was almost time for lunch, and Chu Shaoyang's carriage finally wobbled over. He got off at the door of Lao Hu, and then he smelled a smell coming out from the crack of the door.

His eyes lit up, he sniffed hard, his throat slid up and down, he pawed at the door regardless of his image, and patted on it.

Zhang Shu quickly came out and opened the door, "Master Chu, you are here."

Chu Shaoyang restrained a little, but his eyes still couldn't stop looking into the main room, "Well, if you have nothing to do, let's go in and talk first. It's almost noon, shall we go have dinner first?"

Zhang Shu gave way, "Of course, please come inside."

Chu Shaoyang walked into the main room, and then took a deep breath, "Oh my god, this is the taste, I haven't eaten it for many years!" Ziwei's native dialect doesn't quite match his handsome image.

On the table are a clay pot of chicken stewed with mushrooms, a plate of pork stewed with cabbage, and cold dishes mixed with three shreds, ants climbing trees, spicy fried shrimp, fried small yellow croaker, a large bowl of pork ribs and seaweed soup, and several vegetables.

Chu Shaoyang only has the first three dishes in his eyes now. These are all authentic hometown dishes, but there are some strips added in them, which are probably what he called dry vermicelli.

After everyone came to the table, he took a piece of Sanhuang chicken with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth, chewed it a few times and swallowed it, "It's delicious! This is the taste of northern cuisine! Everything else in Nanhai County is good, but every one is good." The restaurants you eat are either bland or spicy, and you can’t change any other flavors.”

After finishing speaking, he put another piece of hazel mushroom into his mouth, "This mushroom is not very good, you have to use wild hazel mushrooms picked from the mountains to be delicious."

The others also ate it, and found that it had a unique flavor, it was delicious, but they were not as intoxicated as Young Master Chu had shown.

One of the four great joys of the ancients is called meeting old acquaintances in a foreign land. Master Chu has been in Nanhai County for five years, and he has not returned home once in the past four or five years.

Although the taste is getting used to it gradually, the taste of hometown in my heart always suddenly emerges in the dead of night.For Chu Shaoyang, being able to taste this taste one or two thousand miles away from his hometown is like returning to his hometown.