It was five o'clock in the morning in October, the sky was just getting light and the sun in the east had not yet risen above the horizon.
But in the farmers' market, the lights are already on and the place is bustling with people.
Feng Yifan carried his daughter on his neck and strode into the farmers' market with his three apprentices.
Wherever this group of people passed, the originally noisy voices seemed to be suppressed by a kind of aura, and would suddenly become quiet for a moment.
Afterwards, whether it was the people buying vegetables in front of the stall or the stall owners, they would nod respectfully to Feng Yifan.
This is a kind of respect shown to a strong man like Feng Yifan in the farmers' market.
No one dared to put on airs in front of Feng Yifan, and no one would casually recommend anything to Feng Yifan.
Everyone knows that Feng Yifan has a clear purpose every time he comes to the farmers' market.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the group first came to Zhang Qiang's vegetable stall.
Feng Ruoruo was holding her father's neck, waving the list in her hand and shouting, "Grandpa Zhang, today we want tomatoes, green onions and shallots. Dad said he wants those from Ludong, and he also wants red onions, and..."
Feng Ruoruo was hanging on her father's neck, really like a small boss, reporting the orders to Lao Zhang at the stall.
Old Zhang said with a smile, "Okay, Grandpa Zhang has prepared all these for you. Come and eat some cherry tomatoes first. You came here with your dad so early and worked so hard. Grandpa is rewarding you."
Lao Zhang was not polite at all and handed over a box of cherry tomatoes.
Feng Yifan saw this and quickly said, "Uncle Zhang, this is too much. A child can't eat so much."
But Lao Zhang said, "Hey, if you can't eat it, just take it back. These fruits are not worth much. Come on, Ruoruo, take it."
Feng Ruoruo naturally wouldn't take the whole box, but reached in and took a few from it.
"Hehehe, thank you Grandpa Zhang, I'll just eat these. When we get back from shopping, Dad will make breakfast for Ruoruo."
Feng Yifan did not forget to say to his daughter, "Ruoruo, give the list to grandpa and ask him to help us prepare all the dishes. We will go to the seafood market first."
Feng Ruoruo listened to her father and handed the list in her hand to Grandpa Zhang.
"Grandpa Zhang, this is for you."
Old Zhang also reached out to take it: "Okay, Grandpa Zhang will prepare these for you right away, you and dad go over there and be careful."
Feng Ruoruo nodded with a smile: "Okay, bye, Grandpa Zhang."
Although we now have the supply of vegetables from Yanghu Township by my father, some vegetables still need to be imported from Lao Zhang, because many vegetables must be from certain places.
Just like green onions must be from the eastern province of Shandong, shallots need to be purchased from the south, and tomatoes also need to be purchased from the new province.
So the advantage of going to Lao Zhang is that Lao Zhang will help to prepare all the vegetables needed on the list from the market at one time according to Feng Yifan's requirements. Even if he doesn't have them at home, he will help pick the best ones from other places.
As for the price, there is no need to worry. Sometimes, Lao Zhang would rather suffer a loss himself than let Feng Yifan suffer a loss or pay more money.
From Lao Zhang’s vegetable stall all the way to the seafood market.
Before entering the market, Feng Yifan turned to his three apprentices and said, "Okay, today I'll give you three a little task. The time limit is half an hour. Each of you will go to buy some river fish that we will use. Remember, it must be river fish that is good quality and cheap. Go."
Lin Ruifeng, Ma Xiaolong and Ning Cheng looked at each other, but soon nodded in agreement.
When the three were about to go look for it separately, Feng Yifan said again: "Just a reminder, I asked each of you three to purchase one thing, I didn't say that you three can't go shopping together, sometimes you must not be stubborn."
After hearing this, the three disciples seemed to understand something quickly, and then they did not separate to search.
Seeing the three people walking together, Feng Yifan smiled with some relief.
Feng Ruoruo, who was riding on her father's neck, lowered her head and looked at her father carefully and asked, "Dad, why are you laughing?"
Feng Yifan reached out and touched his daughter and said, "Dad is happy, so he smiled."
Feng Ruoruo asked again: "Dad, why are you happy?"
Feng Yifan replied: "Because my grandpa's restaurant is opening today, and Ruoruo is here with her dad to buy groceries today."
Hearing what her father said, Feng Ruoruo laughed happily: "Hahaha, great, then Dad, please let Ruoruo come down. Ruoruo wants to walk hand in hand with Dad."
Feng Yifan agreed and took his daughter down from his neck.
Then, the father and daughter went into the seafood market hand in hand.
Feng Yifan had already assigned tasks to his three apprentices, so he naturally would not take his daughter to other seafood shops, but went directly to the familiar shop.
When Feng Ruoruo entered the door, she was already familiar with the place, so she swaggered and shouted, "Boss, Ruoruo and dad are here."
The seafood store owner stood up immediately after hearing this, but before he could come out to greet her, the proprietress came out first: "Hey, our Ruoruo is here. What would you like to buy today, little boss Ruoruo?"
The proprietress came out and welcomed her with a smile on her face, which made Feng Ruoruo smile even more happily.
"Aunt boss lady, my dad and I are here to buy some shrimps. Also, my dad said we want to buy some really good, really fresh big crabs."
The lady boss smiled and said, "Oh, so you want to buy crabs? Now is indeed the time to eat crabs, and our family has prepared very good crabs for little boss Ruoruo."
Feng Ruoruo did not agree directly, but turned her head to look at her father beside her.
The little girl is very smart and knows not to listen to other people's sweet talk easily. She still needs to let her father make the decision to see if it is okay to buy. Otherwise, if she buys something bad, she won't be able to cook delicious dishes when she returns home.
Feng Yifan saw his daughter looking at him, smiled at her, then raised his head and said to the proprietress, "Take it out so we can have a look."
The proprietress first took out a box of crabs. As soon as she opened the lid of the foam box, Feng Yifan directly spoke up to stop her from taking out the crabs.
"Okay, don't show me this box. After all, I'm an old customer of yours. For all these years, I never bargain for good things. If these are the only crabs you can offer today, I'll have to look elsewhere."
The boss stood up at this time and pulled the boss's wife aside.
"What are you doing? Can this box be shown to Chef Feng? Go take out the other boxes and don't open this one."
The proprietress was also a little hesitant, but finally she moved the opened box of crabs away as the boss instructed.
The boss called out again, "Take out those boxes for Chef Feng."
Then the boss said to Feng Yifan, "Chef Feng, I'm sorry. As you know, I didn't get any from Yangcheng Lake this year. All I got were these. I only got a few boxes of Gaochun crabs and a box of dragon crabs."
Feng Yifan nodded and said, "Okay, Gaochun crabs are good too, but West Sea dragon crabs are definitely better."
When the boss heard this, he naturally knew that it was impossible for him to play tricks in front of Chef Feng.
In fact, the boss didn't want to show the box of so-called Yangcheng Lake crabs to Feng Yifan at first.
Although the crabs in that box seemed to completely conform to the eight-character description: green shell, white belly, golden claws, and yellow hair.
But when the goods arrived, the supplier had already informed the boss.
The crabs in the box that look very authentic are actually a box of bathing crabs.
If the other party had not revealed the truth, the boss himself would not have been able to figure it out at first, so he thought of asking the boss's wife to come forward, as a small test for Feng Yifan.
Let’s see if Chef Feng is really as good as he is portrayed on the Internet.
Although Feng Yifan had demonstrated many impressive skills in front of his boss before, there was still a little bit of gambling involved in his behavior.
As a result, he was rejected by Feng Yifan as soon as he opened the box.
The boss was still very confused and didn't understand why Feng Yifan could see through it without even looking.
Four new boxes of crabs were quickly moved out.
He opened the box and let Feng Yifan take a look.
The moment Feng Yifan opened the box, a slight smile appeared on his face.
Little girl Feng Ruoruo had been secretly observing her father. When she saw a smile on her father's lips, the little girl immediately knew that her father was satisfied with this.
"Dad, do we want this?"
Feng Yifan smiled and replied to his daughter: "Yes, these four boxes are all good stuff, especially this crab, called 'West Sea Dragon Crab', which is not much inferior to Yangcheng Lake crab."
Feng Ruoruo asked curiously: "Dad, what is a West Sea Dragon Crab?"
Feng Yifan pointed to a box of crabs and said, "This is it. They are crabs from Bosten Lake. Bosten Lake is also called the 'West Sea', so these crabs from there are also called 'West Sea Dragon Crabs'."
Feng Ruoruo moved closer to take a look, and couldn't help but stretch out her little hand to touch the crab's back.
"Hehehe, Dad, this is so interesting. Why do you have to tie them up with ropes?"
Feng Yifan explained: "Because crabs are full of claws and teeth, if they are not tied up with ropes, their big claws will hurt people, and it is not convenient to transport them. By tying them up and putting them in this box, they can be shipped from the far west sea."
After explaining to his daughter, Feng Yifan said directly to the boss: "Okay, I want all four boxes."
The boss smiled and said, "Okay, Chef Feng, since you said so, these four boxes are definitely yours. In fact, these four boxes were originally prepared for you."
Feng Yifan selected some fresh shrimps and various kinds of fish from the boss again.
After all, Su Ji is opening today, so various kinds of fish and shrimp are really indispensable.
The boss also arranged people to pack everything for Feng Yifan and send them to Lao Zhang's vegetable stall, waiting for Feng Yifan to finish purchasing and then send them to Su Ji together.
When Feng Yifan paid and was about to take his daughter away, the boss couldn't help but lean over and whisper, "Chef Feng, can you tell me the truth? How did you know that the Yangcheng Lake crabs were not right without even looking at them?"
Feng Yifan looked at the boss and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
The boss was so frightened by the look and smile that he couldn't help but take two steps back.
Feng Yifan then whispered, "I'm telling you, I rely on the taste. I know that since the boss lady dared to take out this box for me to see, it must have been packaged very well. I don't even need to look at it to know that. I can't even tell it from the appearance."
The boss couldn't help but nodded and whispered, "Indeed, I didn't see it at the time."
Feng Yifan nodded: "Yes, once something becomes too famous, there will definitely be some counterfeits. However, this box of yours cannot be said to be counterfeit. After all, they should have been raised in the lake for a period of time. It can only be said that they are not very authentic.
As for my method of distinguishing? It's by smell. Didn't you notice that the moment the box was opened, there was a fishy smell from the shop? "
The boss was still very confused: "Fishy smell? Isn't that the smell of crabs?"
Feng Yifan laughed when he heard this: "Hahaha, it seems that the boss has never tasted the real Yangcheng Lake crab."
The boss was a bit confused.
Feng Yifan did not explain further: "Well, I will not expose you. If you want to sell the box of crabs, just tell them the truth. They are not wild crabs from Yangcheng Lake. You should be more conscientious about the price. It's the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, and everyone should be happy."
After hearing this, the boss stopped asking questions and he knew what to do with the rest.
Then, the boss asked the delivery boy to add some fresh scallops to Feng Yifan's food.
Seeing this, Feng Yifan said nothing, with a satisfied smile on his face, and took his daughter to say goodbye to the boss.
After Feng Yifan took his daughter away, the proprietress came up and asked, "Boss, isn't that Yangcheng Lake crab?"
The boss nodded and said, "It's definitely not wild crab. How can you get wild crab from Yangcheng Lake at that price?"
The lady boss slapped her husband's arm and said, "Why didn't you tell me? I almost sold the crabs to Chef Feng. If I had sold them to him, how would I face him in the future? We have to go to his house and apologize."
The boss said, "How is that possible? I can't sell it to Chef Feng. Besides, even if I want to sell it, I can't ask for a price that goes against my conscience. If Chef Feng really wants that box, I will definitely give it to him at the purchase price."
The lady boss said angrily, "Don't come on, I don't know you. You are just gambling."
The boss could only reluctantly admit: "I did have the idea of gambling, but I didn't expect Chef Feng to be so good that he could tell the answer without even looking."
The proprietress asked curiously, "How did Chef Feng make that judgment?"
The boss whispered, "By smell."
Feng Yifan took his daughter and strolled around the seafood market without buying anything. Then he returned to Lao Zhang's vegetable stall and waited for his three apprentices to come back.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Lin Ruifeng, Ma Xiaolong and Ning Cheng came with the seafood they had bought.