Chunyu led Xiangmaozi to the kitchen first.
The most important thing for a restaurant is to have a good cook. At five o'clock every day, before dawn and the rooster crows, the kitchen will be busy preparing breakfast for the guests.
Shopkeeper Chen's restaurant is called Sixian Restaurant, which is considered the most luxurious inn and restaurant in Huangshi Town. The so-called Four Fresh Restaurant is a name created by shopkeeper Chen's grandfather. It is said that the old shopkeeper had four unique skills at that time - fresh shrimps stuffed with fresh food, three kinds of fresh fish, fresh fruit stuffed with fresh stuffs, and fresh soup in an old pot. When it comes to shopkeeper Chen's generation, many of the skills have been lost, but the name of Four Seasons Fresh is still retained.
In order to preserve the Four Seasons Fresh brand, shopkeeper Chen specially invited three master chefs to take charge. The two master chefs specialize in cooking and making soup, and their skills are also exquisite. One of them specializes in making fish soup. Her surname is Song, and everyone calls her Mrs. Song. In addition to making fish soup every fifth day, she is also responsible for daily breakfast. This is a hard job, but Mrs. Song took this job for the sake of subsidies.
However, things were busy in the morning, and Sister-in-law Song kept telling shopkeeper Chen that she needed to add more people, but she was too busy. However, due to various considerations, shopkeeper Chen never let go. Until today, Chunyu led Xiangmaozi to Mrs. Song.
Sister-in-law Song was cooking porridge, and Hubala was stunned for a moment when he saw Chun Yu leading a little girl over. When she heard Chunyu say, "This is Xiangmaozi, the helper that shopkeeper Chen took in. Because you are short of people here, I brought her over to help you. She is very agile with her hands and feet."
Sister-in-law Song has a pair of slender eyebrows that fly slanting into the temples, so her eyebrows are as sharp as a knife, and it is precisely because of this that she is a bit cold and stern.
She looked Citronella up and down and said with a sneer, "Shopkeeper Chen's is fine too. I said he was short of manpower, so he sent this wizened little girl over, with no flesh on her body. What can she do? Huh? The kitchen is fun?!"
Chunyu was a waiter, so naturally she didn't dare to talk back to the chef, and kept laughing all the way, "Look at what you said, how dare Shopkeeper Chen send you someone who is useless. Don't worry, this girl is very good with her hands and feet. She can handle two people by herself." Young man, please give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll take it away tomorrow!"
Although Mrs. Song has a bit of a temper, she can't stand up to her boss after all. Her temper can only be tempered with Chun Yu. But Chunyu was a good person, and her words were thoughtful both inside and outside, leaving her with nothing to vent her anger on.
After leaving Xiangmaozi behind, he gave Xiangmaozi a few words, just to be conscientious, diligent, and obedient in everything. Chunyu hurried back to his job and left Xiangmaozi with Mrs. Song.
At the moment, there are only two people in the kitchen, Mrs. Song and Xiang Maozi.
Mrs. Song sneered and looked up and down the lemongrass with a very unkind expression. If I were a timid person, I would probably cry nervously at this moment.
However, Xiangmaozi was not afraid. She stared back at Sister-in-law Song with her eyes rounded, with expectation and curiosity in her eyes, but without the slightest hint of fear or worry. The look in her eyes as she looked at Xiangmaozi reminded Mrs. Song of the little tiger she saw in Liubo City when she was a child.
Full of curiosity, full of strength, and full of fear of the unknown world.
Sister-in-law Song suddenly laughed, she was just a little girl, what did she know. It's just bravery out of ignorance. Wait for a while and you will know how awesome it is!
Thinking of this, Mrs. Song directed Xiangmaozi, "The kitchen needs firewood. Today's firewood hasn't been chopped yet. Go and chop 100 kilograms of hard firewood."
The firewood in the kitchen is divided into hard firewood and rough firewood. The so-called raw firewood is the dry firewood that woodcutter carries and sells every day. Each stick is not very thick. It is very easy to burn in the furnace and the price is cheap. The disadvantage is that it smokes a lot and is not durable. Ordinary people use this kind of food at home, just to stew a dish. However, the restaurant's dishes are large and long-lasting, and the soup needs to be simmered for several hours every day, so hard firewood is needed. They are all aged hardwoods, split into sections, and burned slowly in the furnace, supplying the firepower of several stoves.
Hard firewood is difficult to split.
Whether at home or in a restaurant, all work is done by strong men.
Sister-in-law Song arranged this, obviously to make things difficult. With Lemongrass's small body, it's hard to say whether he can wield an ax while wandering around.
Sister-in-law Song is waiting for Xiangmaozi to say no, then she will have other jobs to continue to embarrass her.
Unexpectedly, Xiangmaozi just said "oh", turned around and went out.
Next to the kitchen is the firewood shed, in which hard and woolen firewood are neatly stacked on both sides. On a pillar in front of the door, an ax for chopping wood was pinned on it.
Soon, Mrs. Song heard the sound of "dong", "dong", "dong"!
Is this girl really going to chop wood? !
Sister-in-law Song was stunned for a moment, then she thought about it: A country girl has a lot of strength, so it's not surprising that she can chop wood. She wouldn't be able to hold on for long anyway.
The kitchen work is heavy, and Mrs. Song is busy preparing today's breakfast. In addition to making porridge, cutting and mixing pickles, making pancakes, and preparing some wontons.
With such busy work, Sister-in-law Song completely forgot about Lemongrass.
When all the guests got up in the morning and Chunyu started to come over to urge breakfast, Sister-in-law Song discovered that the sound of the lemongrass ax had not been heard for a long time!
She frowned slightly, although Mrs. Song did mean to make things difficult for Xiangmaozi, but it was true that the kitchen needed firewood. She originally thought that Xiangmaozi would prepare some dry firewood. If she didn't prepare at all, it would delay the lunch masters' business.
Sister-in-law Song planned to go and see how the firewood was prepared, but if that didn't work, she would arrange for the cook to do it. As a result, when she walked to the woodshed, she was shocked by the neatly stacked hard wood.
Neat sections of hard firewood were chopped into neat lengths of chopsticks and the thickness of a handful of incense. Evenly and neatly stacked in a pile. There was originally a basket for carrying hard firewood in the woodshed, and the basket was also filled with a full pile. Just wait to carry it to the kitchen.
Mrs. Song visually inspected the pile of hard firewood and found that it weighed almost a hundred kilograms.
Did that girl do this? !
Sister-in-law Song looked around, but found no lemongrass seeds. His hands and feet are quick and capable, but people are lazy and hide after doing this!
Sister-in-law Song silently wrote a black account for Xiangmaozi in her heart.
Turning around, he planned to go back to the kitchen first, but he saw Xiang Mao Zi holding a large wooden bucket in both hands and moving towards the kitchen.
Sister-in-law Song asked Xiangmaozi in confusion, "What are you doing?"
Xiang Maozi's face turned red from suppressing the pain. She was staring at the bucket as it moved slowly. Suddenly she heard someone talking to her, so she took the opportunity to put the bucket on the ground and took a few breaths.
"Oh, Sister-in-law Song!" Seeing that it was Sister-in-law Song, Xiang Maozi replied, "I've finished chopping the firewood. I just went to the kitchen and saw you busy, so I went to fetch water."
In the morning, because I eat rice porridge, I use a lot of water. Normally, Mrs. Song would finish the breakfast before going to fetch water to replenish it. Sometimes she is too busy, so she can ask the cook to do it.
Seeing that Xiangmaozi was not just lazy, but that he had a bright eye and was able to find every opportunity to help with things, Mrs. Song couldn't say anything. He could only frown and said, "Don't run around if you have nothing to do. Since you have finished chopping the firewood, you haven't killed the fish you want to eat for lunch, and you haven't washed the vegetables yet!"
Xiangmaozi said "Oh" quickly. After Mrs. Song gave her instructions, she returned to the kitchen. Lemongrass had more work to do next. She squatted at the door of the kitchen to pick vegetables. After picking the vegetables, she washed them and put them in a dustpan to dry. Then she started killing fish, removing scales, guts, gills, and removing fish. Fishy thread...
Until noon, Xiangmaozi was so busy that he didn't even raise his head. However, she is really nimble with her hands and feet, and she does most of the work in the kitchen by herself. Except for Mrs. Song, the two masters were deeply satisfied when they saw this little girl with nimble hands.
At noon, Xin Mao got up rubbing his eyes, got dressed, and went out to look for lemongrass seeds. He was so exhausted yesterday that he slept until noon today and woke up from hunger.
Seeing Xiangmaozi killing fish, he ran over and said, "Sister, I'm hungry!"
Lemongrass has been busy all morning and hasn't eaten anything. Hearing Xin Mao say he was hungry, he realized that he was so hungry that his heart was in front of him and his heart was in back.
She whispered to Xin Mao, "Get water from a basin to wash your face." Country children, these simple tasks are not a problem, Xin Mao did not dare to disobey Lemongrass in this strange place, and hurriedly went .
Xiang Maozi then wiped her hands on her apron and walked into the kitchen to ask. She found a moment to ask Sister-in-law Song, "Sister-in-law Song, do you have anything to eat?"
Sister-in-law Song and the others had already eaten when they got up early. At this moment, there was only the cold rice left over from last night on the stove. The chef saw that the little girl had been busy all morning, and knew that the shopkeeper agreed to take care of the food, so he smiled and served her a bowl of cold rice, poured a spoonful of thick gravy on the rice, and said, "Go find one yourself." Warm up the cage."
Xiangmaozi found an empty basket, put the rice bowl in it, and heated it on the stove. By the time Xin Mao came back after washing his face, the cold rice was much warmer.
Xiangmaozi and Xin Mao squatted in front of the stove with their rice bowls in hand, their heads touching and they started eating.
Rice is white rice.
Juice is sauce and gravy.
There is a little bit of braised shredded pork on top of the gravy.
Xin Mao couldn't help but reach out to fish it out, but Xiangmaozi slapped the back of his hand with chopsticks and then started to feed him. Eat it yourself.
So delicious!
The shiny white rice is so many times more delicious than the brown rice and wild vegetables that Lemongrass used to eat! Each piece is so sweet and soft, releasing a sweet taste in your mouth. The fresh aroma of the gravy completely stimulates all the taste buds. Lemongrass has never believed that there is such delicious food in the world!
After taking one bite, she sighed inwardly: Such a delicious meal, I will never get tired of eating it in my lifetime! If you could live such a life, you would be a god.
A bowl of rice was divided cleanly between Lemongrass and Xinmao in less than a moment. It was really cleaner than ever licked.
Neither of them was full, but they didn't dare to ask for it, so they could only add some hot water to the bowl and drank it again until they were full.
Xiangmaozi told Xin Mao to stay aside and stop running around, and continued to work inside and outside.
From day to night, Lemongrass was busy without even touching the ground.
Chopping firewood, carrying water, picking vegetables, washing vegetables, washing dishes, pouring swill... Recently, because of the ferocious beasts in the mountains, the number of people coming to Huangshi Town for refuge has increased sharply, and the business of Sixian Restaurant has also exploded.
From morning to night, there is never a moment of free time in the kitchen. Lemongrass naturally used both hands and feet without stopping for a moment.
When it was time to turn on the lights in the evening, all the master chefs had gone to rest, and Xiangmaozi was still washing dishes in the back kitchen.
Sister-in-law Song does not live in Sixian Building. She is originally from Huangshi Town. She lives in the third house in Qingxu Lane in the north of the town. It is a big house without a yard. Only Sister-in-law Song lives there, so it doesn't look like it. cramped.
Mrs. Song carried the basket home. She just put the basket on the table, sat down and poured herself a glass of water. She heard someone knocking on the door. She went to open the door and saw her sister-in-law coming in with a smile and a pot of brewed tea in her hand. He poured it for her very discerningly and kneaded her shoulders twice, "Why are you so late today, but you are too busy with Sixianlou's affairs?"
Sister-in-law Song knew the purpose of her sister-in-law coming here and nodded, "There have been a lot of refugees coming to the town recently, and there are also many people taking refuge. The business of the restaurant is actually very good!"
Her sister-in-law took the opportunity to sit down and said, "What about our big fortune?"
Sister-in-law Song shook her head, "Sister-in-law, don't think about it. Shopkeeper Chen has already found the manpower, and there is no chance of the big fortune. Think of something else!"
Her sister-in-law's face was a bit ugly, "Why are you looking for someone else?! Didn't I ask you to make peace with shopkeeper Chen? If you want to find someone, just look for a big fortune. I'm not telling you, his aunt, you only have a big fortune." With a nephew like Cai, our two families will not be able to count on him in the future!"
Her sister-in-law looked ugly, but Sister-in-law Song didn't care very much. She drank half a glass of water leisurely before saying, "It's precisely because Dacai is my nephew that I can't let him do this. You know How much did the helper cook do today?"
"How many?"
"It takes 100 kilograms to chop hard wood, fetch two tanks of water, pick 20 kilograms of vegetables and wash the vegetables, collect the dishes and pour the swill, and wash the dishes. At this moment, I'm afraid I'm still squatting in the backyard washing dishes!" Mrs. Song said lightly.
Her sister-in-law gasped, "Doing so much?! Well, that won't work. If our fortune is gone, won't we still have you!"
Sister-in-law Song shook her head, "Now there are many guests and few manpower. Everyone has to do this. Even if I can help Dacai, how can I stop the other two master chefs from calling people?! Besides, this helper doesn't need money, as long as he is in charge Just food is enough. Let's not have to suffer this if we are rich!"
After hearing this, her sister-in-law realized that it wasn't that Sister-in-law Song didn't do her best, but that her opponent was really tough. She couldn't help but sigh, "A fool who works for free, we have a lot of money and we won't hesitate to fight with him." After saying that, she told Sister-in-law Song to think about her nephew's future and see if she could help find a decent, not tired, divorced man. A job close to home.
Sister-in-law Song agreed wholeheartedly and sent her sister-in-law back, then closed the door and had a moment of peace.
After washing, Mrs. Song was lying on the bed. She would also think about what happened during the day before going to bed. She was a little strange. She was so tired that her whole body ached today. Isn't that little girl who doesn't even look like she has a few kilograms of meat tired? !
In the backyard of Sixianlou, Xiangmaozi has just finished washing the last bowl. After pouring out all the sewage and drying her hands, she ran to the front hall to take a look, helped Chunyu sweep the floor, and helped him lift the table to make a bed. The whole person was so tired that he was shaking.
Chunyu knew how busy the kitchen was today, so when he saw her like this, he quickly sent her back to sleep.
Lemongrass nodded and then walked back.
After taking two steps, you have to stop and take a breath. Step by step, I walked to the front of the house, but I almost didn't have the strength to push the door open.
In the end, it was she who supported the door with her back, pushed it open, and rolled in!
This day is truly the most tiring day in my life!
Lemongrass was not only tired, she was in pain!
My back, ribs, legs, everything hurts! !
Under the mixed attack of pain and fatigue, she threw herself on the bed and fell asleep.