Click.
A drop of water hit my face, hot.
Feng Yifan suddenly woke up and saw a dazzling flash of light in front of him. He seemed to see a microphone being held up in front of him.
"Master Feng, first of all, congratulations on winning the title of God of Cooking. Now that you are recognized as a God of Cooking worldwide, have you fulfilled your long-cherished wish? Do you have any other wishes?"
Facing various cameras, facing the microphone within reach, facing the audience behind the spotlights and countless eyes watching in the global live broadcast.
Feng Yifan, who is already gray-haired and over 60 years old, has a lovely little face in his mind.
After hesitating for a moment, Feng Yifan said into the microphone: "If possible, I am willing to exchange everything I have now for my daughter."
As he spoke, tears blurred his vision. Feng Yifan closed his eyes and sighed in his heart.
The next moment, when he opened his eyes again, he wiped away his tears and continued the interview.
The moment I opened my eyes, everything in front of me changed.
There is no longer the world-renowned Global Culinary Conference, no longer the dazzling flashes and spotlights, and no longer those pairs of eyes full of admiration.
On an old food street that has been around for quite a while, Feng Yifan stood in front of a small restaurant called "Su Ji".
He raised his head and looked at the old wooden plaque hanging above the door, then looked down at the familiar old shop, and Feng Yifan's mind went blank.
What's going on? Why am I here
After a brief moment of daze, Feng Yifan looked down at his clothes and the luggage bag he was carrying.
The skin on his hands became tighter, his arms became stronger, and in the heavy luggage bag in his hand was the knife that had accompanied Feng Yifan for half his life in his previous life.
Feng Yifan realized that he was reborn
No, I went back to the time before the tragedy happened.
Then Feng Yifan, who was standing at the door, heard a conversation coming from the restaurant.
"Brother, you are already like this now, why do you still insist on it? 'Su Ji' is a legacy from our ancestors. Father passed it on to you because he favored boys over girls. Now that you can't carry on this old brand, why are you still so stubborn
Rather than handing over the old brand 'Su Ji' to outsiders, why not give me the old plaque outside? After all, my last name is Su."
The conversation coming from the shop brought Feng Yifan back to his senses. The voice sounded familiar, like his wife's aunt
Feng Yifan became even more certain: she had really returned, back to the moment when her wife's aunt came to her father-in-law to compete for the ancestral plaque.
Thinking of this, Feng Yifan was suddenly very excited, because he knew that he was about to see his daughter whom he had missed for many years.
Memories that had been buried for many years emerged one by one.
Feng Yifan was originally a country boy. Because he didn't want to follow his parents to farm in the countryside, he ran away alone, intending to make a name for himself in the outside world, and then return to bring honor to his family.
As a result, the outside world is helpless.
Feng Yifan, who had no special skills, almost starved to death.
When Feng Yifan was in poverty, he met the owner of this small restaurant "Su Ji". Later, he became a waiter at Su Ji, and gradually gained the trust of the owner and became an apprentice at "Su Ji".
The boss was very kind to Feng Yifan. Seeing that he was humble and eager to learn, he taught him almost everything he had learned in his life, as well as the skills passed down in the Su family for many years.
He even married his only daughter to Feng Yifan, hoping that he could inherit the "Su Ji" brand.
Feng Yifan did not disappoint his father-in-law's expectations. He worked hard to make a name for himself in the culinary world and also got an opportunity to go abroad for exchange.
Although his wife had just given birth to a daughter, Feng Yifan still had a passion for cooking and his father-in-law's hope that he could restore Su Ji's former glory, so he embarked on a journey of studying abroad alone.
However, Feng Yifan's trip abroad for exchange was not so smooth. Being alone in a foreign country and not being able to speak the language brought him a lot of trouble.
Feng Yifan had originally agreed with his father-in-law that he would return home after one year, but he ended up staying abroad for five full years.
In the fifth year of his struggle abroad, he thought he had finally learned from others, could come back to give an account to his father-in-law, and make up for the debt he had owed to his wife and daughter during the five years of absence.
Unexpectedly, on the day Feng Yifan returned to China, Su Ji encountered a huge crisis.
In the past, Su Ji was a well-known time-honored brand. The most glorious moment for Su Ji’s ancestors was when his wife Su Ruoxi’s great-grandfather and grandfather, two generations of chefs, participated in the state banquet.
It was also because my great-grandfather and grandfather participated in the state banquet that the reputation of Su Ji, a time-honored brand, became very famous. There was an endless stream of diners who came to visit, and there were also many people who had come to Su Ji to learn cooking.
But Su Ji’s ancestors had a rule that the old plaque of Su Ji would be passed down to sons but not daughters.
My wife’s father’s generation had two brothers and sisters.
Both the brother and sister showed great talent in cooking.
So my younger sister was very dissatisfied with the ancestral rule of "passing on the skills to sons but not daughters", and even when my father didn't teach her, she secretly learned from him and also learned some pretty good cooking skills.
Later, he gathered his father's disciples and challenged his own brother, who was designated by his father as the successor, hoping to win the inheritance of the old Su Ji plaque with his cooking skills.
The winner of the sibling competition in Su Ji was Feng Yifan's father-in-law, and the old plaque naturally passed to him. But the aunt was not reconciled, thinking that her father was biased, so she gathered a group of Su Ji apprentices to split the family.
That separation made Su Ji unable to recover. Later, Feng Yifan's father-in-law gave up the opportunity to participate in the state banquet in order to take care of his seriously ill father. Gradually, the old brand Su Ji was no longer as famous as before, and its former glory was gone.
Unexpectedly, after my aunt left Su Ji, she worked hard outside for many years and successfully founded a multinational catering group.
This time, she returned to China and planned to enter the domestic catering industry. The first thing she thought of was to take back the old plaque from her ancestors.
In his previous life, Feng Yifan was unable to return in time, which resulted in his father-in-law suffering a stroke. He was humiliated and attacked by his sister one after another. His condition worsened due to shame and anger, and he could not be rescued again.
Feng Yifan's wife was in a hurry and forgot about her daughter who was playing in the old street after picking her up from kindergarten. The daughter of a neighbor in the old street saw her grandfather in an accident and chased him to the intersection despite the neighbors' attempts to stop her.
The death of his father and daughter was a heavy blow to his wife. When Feng Yifan returned home, he saw his wife who had suffered a mental breakdown.
Feng Yifan's parents blamed him for not coming back in time to save the situation. In anger, they broke off relations with him, took their daughter-in-law back to take care of her, and never saw Feng Yifan again until their death.
In his previous life, Feng Yifan eventually acquired his wife's aunt's catering group. Carrying the expectations of his father-in-law to revive Su Ji, he became a world-class chef and was recognized as the "God of Cooking". However, all the glory could not make up for the guilt and pain in his heart.
Unexpectedly, God gave Feng Yifan a chance to start over, and let him return to China early, just in time for the moment before his aunt came to visit and before his father-in-law and daughter got into trouble.
"Uncle, are you here for dinner? Why don't you come in?" Just as Feng Yifan was lost in surprise and memories, a timid and soft voice behind him brought him back to his senses.
Feng Yifan's body stiffened, and then he turned around abruptly with some excitement, and saw a little girl wearing a dress and carrying a small schoolbag, who was as beautiful as he remembered, standing behind him.
Instantly, Feng Yifan's eyes were blurred by tears, and he slowly squatted down. He looked at the little girl carefully, and asked in a trembling voice: "You, you must be Ruoruo, right?"
The little girl was a little surprised: "Uncle, my name is Ruoruo, how do you know Ruoruo's name?"
Feng Yifan hugged the girl in his arms and said to her excitedly, "Because, because I am not an uncle, I am, I am Ruoruo's father."
After a brief moment of daze, Feng Ruoruo suddenly struggled in the arms of the strange uncle.
"Oh, no, no, you are not Ruoruo's father." Seeing that she couldn't break free, Feng Ruoruo quickly shouted to the shop: "Mom, Grandpa, come and save Ruoruo, there is a strange uncle hugging Ruoruo and saying that he is Ruoruo's father."
When the people in Su Ji's shop heard the little girl's cry outside, they hurried out of the shop.
The one who rushed out was a woman who looked about 60% similar to the little girl. Seeing the man holding Feng Ruoruo, the woman was also a little surprised. Even when her daughter broke free from the man's arms and threw herself into her arms, the woman was unable to respond to her daughter immediately.
"Mom, mom, let's go quickly, this uncle is so weird."
Having lived two lives, Feng Yifan quickly calmed down, wiped the tears from his face and stood up.
Facing his wife whom he hadn't seen for many years, although she was still young and beautiful, she had a worried look on her face because of the things that happened in the shop during this period.
Feng Yifan said in a deep voice with a guilty look on his face: "I'm sorry, honey, I'm back late."
This sentence is a double entendre.
On the surface, he was telling his wife that he, Feng Yifan, had returned from abroad.
But in Feng Yifan's heart, he wanted to tell his wife that he came back too late in his previous life, which led to tragedy. Now that he has another chance to start over, he will do his best to protect his wife and daughter, take good care of his father-in-law and Su Ji's small restaurant.
Su Ruoxi was still in shock. She didn't expect that her husband, who had been abroad for five years, would suddenly come back. Although her father had agreed to her husband going abroad, no one expected that her husband would be gone for five years.
The sound was heard again in the old shop, bringing Su Ruoxi back to her confused thoughts.
"Who's back? Is it your son-in-law, big brother? I heard that one year after you married Ruoxi to him, you sent him abroad to study cooking? Why? Now that he's back from studying, are you planning to inherit Su's
Brother, do you really want to give the things of our ancestors to a person of a different surname to inherit?"
Hearing the harsh words inside, Feng Yifan smiled and reached out to hold his stunned wife.
Feng Yifan originally wanted to pull his daughter up, but the little girl was obviously frightened by the previous hug and shrank to her mother's side, refusing to let him be touched.
Feng Yifan just laughed it off and pulled his wife and daughter, who was huddled beside his wife, into the shop.
Seeing a group of well-dressed people in the small restaurant, Feng Yifan ignored them and walked straight to his father-in-law who was sitting in a wheelchair.
Kneeling respectfully in front of his father-in-law, Feng Yifan said seriously, "Dad, I'm back.
I'm sorry, I've failed your expectations. I haven't brought you any glory in the five years I've been away, and you and Ruoxi have been waiting for five years at home.
But don't worry, now that I'm back, I will definitely rebuild Su's for you and will never disgrace the old plaque outside."
The father-in-law who suffered hemiplegia due to a stroke looked at Feng Yifan, and a smile slowly appeared on his stiff face.