That night, Shi Jinbin slept in Su Jinrong's room, and the two old friends chatted until very late.
It can be said that they talked about the different life trajectories of the two brothers and the different lives they have experienced over the years. The two brothers even had a feeling of returning to the past.
At that time, although Su Jinrong's father was already in his fifties, he still seemed to be in the prime of his life.
At that time, Su Jinrong was just in his early twenties and was very young among his fellow apprentices.
Perhaps because they knew that Su Jinrong would inherit Su's business in the future, or perhaps because of their master's sake, the brothers were more caring towards him.
Especially Shi Jinbin, who was the second oldest among all the disciples, but because he had finished the time to become a disciple, he was eventually ranked last as a senior brother.
He really takes good care of his junior fellow apprentice Su Jinrong.
Perhaps it was because the two brothers were very similar, they might not be naturally talented, but they were very hardworking and would study seriously over and over again until they could master various skills.
So the relationship between Shi Jinbin and Su Jinrong at that time was really the best among all the brothers and sisters.
For this reason, some cunning senior brothers would often say behind his back that Shi Jinbin was trying to curry favor with the future chef of Su Ji.
Shi Jinbin didn't care at all about the criticisms from his senior brothers behind his back. He was a straightforward person. If they were on good terms, he would maintain the good relationship as always. If they looked down on him, he would not maintain a good relationship with him.
Naturally, this straightforward nature always caused Shi Jinbin to suffer a lot among his fellow apprentices.
Fortunately, the chef at that time, Mr. Su, was a very fair person and could see through some of his apprentices' cunning behavior.
Therefore, Grandpa Su never shows partiality when teaching others. He treats everyone equally in terms of skills and teaches each step carefully.
Shi Jinbin was lying on the bed, thinking back to the days when he was an apprentice, and couldn't help but sigh: "Jinrong, we were too naive back then. We just wanted to learn everything the master taught us, but we were often schemed against by the third, fourth, and fifth brothers."
Su Jinrong also recalled the past, hesitated for a moment and said: "They, and we, have different paths."
Shi Jinbin nodded: "Yes, our paths are different, and everyone's choices are also different."
Speaking of this, Shi Jinbin recalled some things that happened after those senior brothers left Su Ji.
"Jinrong, do you know? After they left Su Ji, they went to Beijing to seek help from their uncle and opened a restaurant with Chen Wei and Su Lanxin. In the end, the restaurant did not survive, and the brothers parted ways."
Su Jinrong had never heard of this, but now that Shi Jinbin mentioned it, he asked curiously, "What happened next?"
Shi Jinbin laughed: "Hahaha, what happened later? When I went to Beijing, I met the third brother once. He was working as a cook in a small restaurant. It seemed that he was having a hard time.
As for the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth brothers, they all seemed to have left the capital by then."
When Su Jinrong thought of his senior brothers, he still missed them a little, after all, they all learned cooking at Su Ji back then.
"How are they now?"
Shi Jinbin sighed and said, "The third brother should still be in Beijing, but I haven't run into him again. The others seem to have gone back to their hometowns."
At this point, Shi Jinbin suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, Lao Jiu seems to be doing well. My eldest daughter told me that she once saw Lao Jiu in Shanghai, and he was also a chef in a hotel in Shanghai."
Su Jinrong responded: "Well, I don't know if it's still possible. Goodbye."
Shi Jinbin also sighed: "Indeed, although we have different paths and choices, I still want to see him again."
The two old brothers chatted about the past for a while and fell asleep around 1 o'clock.
At 4:30 in the morning, Feng Yifan got up on time and left the room quietly. When he was about to go downstairs, he was stopped by a voice behind him.
"So early, are you going to the market?"
Hearing the voice, Feng Yifan turned around and saw a fat figure standing in the dark corridor.
"Uncle Master? You're here so early too?"
Shi Jinbin took two steps forward, came to Feng Yifan and said, "As a cook, how can you sleep in? Are you going to the market to buy things? Let's go and take a look together."
Hearing that his uncle-master was also going, Feng Yifan did not hesitate: "Okay, let's go."
After washing up downstairs, Feng Yifan opened the kitchen door and went to the alley behind, and called Lin Ruifeng from next door.
Afterwards, Feng Yifan drove and took everyone to the market.
While in the car, Shi Jinbin sighed: "You are really well off now. You can drive to buy things. We used to go there by bicycle with our master before dawn."
Lin Ruifeng immediately said, "Uncle Master, Master and I usually go there by bicycle as well."
Shi Jinbin was stunned when he heard this, then he looked down at his big belly and said, "Well, I am a burden to you and your disciples. Now that I am so pregnant, I really can't ride a bicycle anymore."
Feng Yifan glanced in the rearview mirror and said with a smile: "Uncle Master, actually it's mainly because you are old. It's too tiring to ride a bicycle for such a long distance. Besides, since we have a car, we should always use it."
Shi Jinbin asked again: "Before that, did you two, master and apprentice, ride bicycles to bring the goods back by yourselves?"
Lin Ruifeng immediately said, "No, my master and I will ask the delivery person in the market to bring it back to us."
Shi Jinbin nodded: "Yeah, that would be easier."
Feng Yifan continued, "Yes, it is indeed much easier now that there are people delivering goods. In addition, there are also people who specialize in handling various ingredients in the market nowadays. It is indeed much easier than when you, Master, were here."
Shi Jinbin laughed when he heard this: "Hahaha, speaking of this, you two probably don't know that back then, we brothers had to spend most of the morning just washing vegetables and cleaning various ingredients."
Feng Yifan knew something about it because he had done it before when he was an apprentice.
However, Lin Ruifeng did not have a very intuitive impression, as he had never experienced the era where people had to do the entire process from slaughtering to cleaning by themselves.
Shi Jinbin continued to introduce: "At that time, we brothers would play rock-paper-scissors to decide which of us would be responsible for the cleaning work. Later, when Yifan, your father, joined us, we brothers would give in to him."
Feng Yifan was curious when he heard this: "Oh? Why do all the uncles let my dad do this?"
Shi Jinbin smiled and said, "It's very simple, because your father is the successor of Su Ji, so we brothers and sisters are very tolerant of him and rarely let him do those odd jobs, so that he can have more time to learn cooking from your grandfather."
After hearing this, Feng Yifan had a picture in his mind.
My father-in-law, who is still young and in his early twenties, is taken care of by a group of senior fellow students. He doesn't have to wash vegetables or dishes. Most of the time he helps out in the kitchen, which gives him many opportunities to learn cooking up close.
Come to think of it, that kind of scene is really quite loving.
Shi Jinbin thought about it and quickly said to Feng Yifan: "Don't tell your father about this. No one has told him for so many years."
Feng Yifan immediately responded: "Okay, Master, I won't tell."
Although he agreed verbally, Feng Yifan felt that perhaps his father-in-law already knew about it, but the fellow apprentices had a tacit understanding and no one would point it out.
Because he had driven here before and had seen the place before, Feng Yifan drove directly into the parking lot of the farmers' market.
After parking the car, Feng Yifan and Lin Ruifeng led Shi Jinbin to the market.
Looking at the brightly lit and bustling market, Shi Jinbin couldn't help but sigh: "I haven't been here for many years. In the Beijing Red Maple Hotel, there is a special department responsible for purchasing. I hardly come to the market anymore."
Feng Yifan smiled and said: "Red Maple Restaurant is so famous, so naturally we have to choose better suppliers in the procurement process to make up for this market."
Shi Jinbin curled his lips when he heard this: "Humph, sometimes there will be problems. The supplier has been changed many times."
When it comes to this matter, Shi Jinbin actually feels a little dissatisfied.
Because he has encountered many times that the ingredients delivered by suppliers did not meet the standards and were not fresh enough.
It’s just that purchasing is not the responsibility of the kitchen, so the kitchen can only send it back to the purchasing department, and then the purchasing department will resolve it. This back and forth always wastes a lot of time.
In this regard, Shi Jinbin has proposed more than once that he hopes to allow the kitchen to participate in purchasing to ensure the freshness and quality of the ingredients.
It’s a pity that in a hotel under a large group like the Red Maple Hotel, the various departments have complex and intertwined relationships with each other, and it is indeed not so easy to change many things.
After so many years, most of the plans proposed by Shi Jinbin eventually came to nothing.
However, the purchasing department has paid more attention to purchasing, and nowadays there are rarely problems with ingredients.
Shi Jinbin knew that this was also the result of the intervention of the group leaders above.
Thinking of that, Shi Jinbin looked at the market in front of him, which was already bustling with people before dawn, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's better to follow the market in this way, so that we can better control the quality of ingredients."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Uncle Master, let's go in then."
Shi Jinbin nodded: "Okay, let's go."
Three generations of master and apprentice entered the market. After taking a look around, Shi Jinbin was still a little surprised to find that this market really had a very complete range of goods, and almost all goods could be bought here.
Especially some of the top-notch items, which Shi Jinbin found to be very good.
After some screening, Shi Jinbin bought some very fresh river fish and planned to go back and make porridge for Feng Ruoruo in the morning.
"These are fresh. Although they are small, they are perfect for making porridge for breakfast at home."
Feng Yifan was very happy to see the old man, and said with a smile: "That's great, today I can eat the porridge cooked by my uncle himself."
Hearing this, Shi Jinbin looked at Feng Yifan and said, "Yifan, I'll make the porridge, but you have to make a few dishes to go with it. Sanding buns and jade siu mai are a must, right? Also, pine nut siu mai, and buns with a few different fillings."
Feng Yifan agreed with a smile: "Okay, Master, rest assured, I will make it. I guarantee that it will be worthy of your porridge."
When buying vegetables, the old man showed a vision that was not inferior to that of young people, and he also selected a lot of fresher vegetables.
As for meat and poultry, they are also screened very carefully.
He also taught Lin Ruifeng some tips on how to select poultry, such as how to judge the age of an old hen, the base of the chicken feet, and the buttocks.
When talking about this, Shi Jinbin also said to Lin Ruifeng: "You are lucky that you didn't go to a big hotel to be an apprentice. I was an apprentice in a big hotel at first. At that time, I had to gut chickens every day. The smell was so bad that you couldn't even eat lunch."
Lin Ruifeng was a little curious after hearing this: "Master, what kind of job is it to scoop out chicken stomachs?"
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "It's all about taking out the internal organs of the chicken after it's been slaughtered. If you want to try this later, I can buy a batch of unprocessed internal organs and let you try it."
Lin Ruifeng quickly said, "Master, why don't we just forget it."
When Shi Jinbin heard this, he immediately found it very interesting and said to the stall owner, "Okay, let's get a few today, ten chickens, ducks and geese each, so you can go back and practice well."
Hearing this, Lin Ruifeng's face instantly turned bitter, as if he was destined to be miserable.
Feng Yifan saw his apprentice's look and smiled and said, "Ten is too many. How about this? Ten chickens, five ducks and five geese each. Go back and practice well."
The stall owner was very obedient and started preparing immediately.
As required, all chickens, ducks and geese were slaughtered and their feathers were cleaned off, while the remaining parts were not cleaned at all.
This is for Feng Yifan to take the person back, and for Lin Ruifeng to do the subsequent cleanup.
Seeing the boss packing the fruits into the bag one by one, Lin Ruifeng really felt that he was about to face a huge challenge.
Shi Jinbin patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, it's not that scary. This can be considered a kind of training for you. After all, if you want to take part in cooking exams and competitions in the future, these are all things you must go through."
Lin Ruifeng immediately became serious after hearing this and agreed: "Yes, Master, I will try my best to do it."
After the purchase was completed, although Zhang Qiang did not need to deliver the goods, he took the initiative to help deliver the goods to the front of the car and helped load them into Feng Yifan's car.
Seeing Zhang Qiang's enthusiasm, Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Actually, there's no need to bother you. We can do it ourselves with the flatbed truck. We don't need you to deliver the goods today. Zhang Qiang won't blame me for not taking care of your business, right?"
Zhang Qiang immediately said, "Brother, aren't you humiliating me? You take care of my family's business so much, so of course you have the final say on the delivery."
Feng Yifan continued to smile and nodded: "Okay, next time if you buy more, I'll ask you to deliver it to me, because my car can't drive into the alley behind."
Zhang Qiang smiled and agreed: "Sure, brother, I will definitely be there whenever you call."
After the goods were loaded, Zhang Qiang waved goodbye and returned to the market.
After getting in the car, Feng Yifan started the car. Shi Jinbin smiled and said, "Okay, you can get along well with these people in the market. I feel that you are becoming more and more like my master."
Feng Yifan said quickly: "Uncle Master, please don't flatter me. Compared to Grandpa, I am definitely still far behind."
Shi Jinbin said seriously: "There is definitely a gap now, but you are still young, and the gap will be caught up sooner or later. Come on, young people."