Wang Ying grabbed a waiter and asked, "What's wrong?"
Wasn't the foreigner eating well? Why did he suddenly start making a fuss halfway through
The waiter was also at a loss for words: "They just ordered a vegetarian braised pork, which is a new dish from our chef Xu. But after it came, he thought we were fooling him with real pork belly... He said he is a vegetarian and doesn't eat meat."
The waiter was a native of Beijing. As for vegetarianism, he had only heard of monks and nuns in the old society who ate vegetarian food. Life is hard now, so who would give up meat and eat only vegetarian food
The waiter muttered, "These foreigners are really troublesome."
Wang Ying then remembered that vegetarian braised pork was indeed a new dish that Xu Shuang had learned recently, and she had tried it at home with great interest a few days ago.
She leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, she saw a new dish that looked like braised pork in front of the two foreigners.
The waiter didn't speak English and his face turned red as he kept explaining. However, the two foreigners' English was very average and they were talking at cross purposes, so communication between the two sides was quite unsmooth.
The vegetarian foreigner kept pointing at the untouched "braised pork" on the table, with some anger on his face.
"This is not a vegetarian dish!"
He spoke each word with great emphasis, obviously in a hurry.
Waiter: "This is a vegetarian dish. This dish is vegetarian braised pork. No animal oil is used in it."
The foreigner totally didn't believe it. How could this big plate full of thick oil and sauce not be meat
"No, no! Back off!"
The waiter was in a dilemma, as this vegetarian braised pork was a new dish, having just been added to the menu in the last few days. The hotel's leaders had high hopes for the new chef Xu, and were waiting for him to come up with a few new dishes to boost the reputation of their restaurant.
It’s only been a few days and we’ve already encountered food returns
And if you say the taste is bad, that's fine, but you have to return the food even if you haven't eaten a single bite...
When Wang Ying heard about the return of the food, she couldn't sit still anymore.
She walked forward, pointed at the vegetarian braised pork on the table, and first said in Chinese: "This dish is called vegetarian braised pork. The fat part is made of winter melon, and the lean meat is made of hericium and dried eggs. The winter melon skin is fried in soy sauce and then steamed..."
"This is a Chinese cooking method that emphasizes the use of vegetarian dishes to make them look real. If you don't believe me, you can try it yourself. I assure you that it is definitely not made with real pork."
After Wang Ying finished speaking, she explained it again in English to the foreigner who seemed to understand it vaguely.
Seeing that the foreigner opposite was skeptical, Wang Ying pushed the plate in front of him and said, "Chinese chefs are amazing. They won't cheat to get your praise."
The questioning foreigner finally took a bite.
With just one bite, his expression changed in an instant.
“Amazing!”
The fat part melts in your mouth, less greasy and more refreshing than real fat. The lean meat part is even more magical, with the aroma of mushrooms and dried eggs blended together, and the taste and chewiness are not much different from real meat.
The best part is that the taste of this dish is not a complete copy of the braised pork, but it is an original creation that looks greasy but tastes extremely refreshing.
The foreigner apologized: "I'm so sorry, I thought it was real braised pork... It looks so real!"
Wang Ying said with a smile: "There are many delicious and varied ways of eating Chinese food that are worth trying."
The foreigner looked at the pieces of "fake meat" on the plate, which looked so real that even the skin of the pork belly was made to be extremely real, and said in admiration: "It's amazing!"
A crisis was averted without a trace, leaving the hotel leaders who had rushed over late.
He heard from the waiter that it was Chef Xu's wife and daughter who came and helped the restaurant solve a problem. He thought about it for a moment and then decided, "I'll pay for today's meal!"
Xu Shuang had only been here for a few days, and he was extremely satisfied with her.
Few words, few things, good skills.
How much more trouble he would have to deal with if there were more people like this!
Wang Ying took Taotao to sit down, and their dishes were served.
One dish is sweet and sour pork with pineapple, and the other is shiitake mushroom, winter bamboo shoot and pork ribs soup.
As soon as the pineapple sweet and sour pork was served, Taotao couldn't wait to pick up her chopsticks. The sweet and sour taste is the favorite of children.
Chunks of meat are interspersed with golden pineapple chunks. When you bite into the fried golden meat balls, the meat fibers inside are instantly soaked in the sweet and sour sauce.
Taotao enjoyed the meal very much while eating it with rice.
Wang Ying is fond of the shiitake mushroom, winter bamboo shoots and pork ribs soup. The fresh shiitake mushrooms and winter bamboo shoots are paired with the stewed whitish pork ribs soup. The pork ribs are stewed until they are soft and boneless, which is perfect to eat during such a cold weather.
The mother and daughter were eating happily. Halfway through the meal, the foreigner next to them came over to say goodbye.
"Thank you, and I wish you a wonderful dinner, beautiful lady."
The foreigner went to the first floor and asked the waiter to pay the bill for Wang Ying and her daughter as well.
Waiter: “…No, our hotel will pay for her meal.”
But the foreigner still insisted, and finally left a few dozen more dollars and hurried away.
…
After finally waiting for Xu Shuang to get off work, Wang Ying did not mention the matter of the house, nor did she mention the little incident in the evening. Instead, she started to question Taotao about the fight that took place in the kindergarten today.
"You knew it when you went to deliver lunch at noon, right? Why didn't you tell her?"
Xu Shuang: "That's because that little fat guy pulled Taotao's braids first."
He did know, but he felt that the boy did not deserve to be beaten.
What kind of kid is pulling a girl's braids because he likes them? In his opinion, pulling braids is an offense that warrants a beating!
Wang Ying narrowed her eyes. "I told her... I told her not to cause trouble on the first day of kindergarten. How come she couldn't help herself? It must be you who said that!"
Xu Shuang had a special desire to protect her daughter's braids, and she always instigated Taotao, saying that she would be beaten if someone pulled her braids.
Taotao ate and drank well. Only then did she realize why her mother didn't take care of her in advance. It turned out that she wanted to wait for her father to come together.
After being told off by Wang Ying, Xu Shuang finally surrendered: "I won't say it anymore."
Wang Ying asked Taotao for a guarantee before letting the father and daughter, who had been banding together for warmth, go.
"I went to see Sister Shufen today. She found a few houses for us, including tube-shaped buildings and large courtyards. Shall we go and have a look this weekend?"
Xu Shuang: "Sure."
The money given by the father-in-law is still in the hands of his daughter-in-law, and his savings are also with her. Although they can't buy a big one, buying a small one can be considered a place for the family to stay.
Wang Ying: "The situation of each house is different. The situation of the tube-shaped building is easy to explain. There is a family with many workers, and their family has not split up. The children live with their parents after they get married. The house allocated to the young people is vacant. It is rare that it has two bedrooms and a living room, with a bathroom but no kitchen."
Xu Shuang didn't even think about it: "That's not appropriate."
In his line of work, it is impossible to do without a large private kitchen.
Wang Ying knew he was going to refuse, and she only brought it up to lay the groundwork: "I asked about the specific situation, and it's not easy to find a house with a bathroom and a kitchen like the one we live in now. Even if there is one, people usually live in it themselves. They may not sell it out."
"I think since neither of us lives in a remote area, it would be most appropriate to buy a small courtyard within the Second Ring Road. What do you think?"
Xu Shuang also thinks the courtyard is good. Now she lives in a tube-shaped building, and her biggest feeling is that there is no sound insulation.
It's not so bad during the day, but at night, when the couple interacts with each other, they have to worry about the children hearing it, which is really inconvenient. It's better to have a small yard, and the house is sturdy.
only…
"We don't want several families to be crowded into one yard!"
After living in the slum for several years, Xu Shuang no longer wants to get used to it.
Wang Ying: "That's the other two. One is a two-courtyard house. It's spacious, but I heard it has some problems... This courtyard belonged to an old professor who was sent down to the countryside. Now that he has passed away, his children have taken over the courtyard. There are still seven or eight families living in the courtyard who refuse to move."
Xu Shuang frowned when she heard it: "What about the other set?"
Wang Ying: "The other one is right at the entrance of the courtyard. It's in a remote location. There's nothing much inside, but it's been empty for two years. If you want to live there, you have to renovate it."
Wang Ying also found out when she wanted to buy a house this time that the reason why many people did not buy houses at this time was that one reason was that the unit was responsible for allocating housing, and the other reason was that houses were really hard to buy at this time.
Not to mention the mess of tenants, the ownership is also a mess.
If there are many families living there, the property rights can be divided among several families. Not to mention if you buy the house, even if you come to demolish it, it will take a lot of effort.
It's extremely difficult to convince them one by one.
Wang Ying: "But you don't have to think that the small courtyard is easier. It's not easier. It is said that this house belongs to a widow with her son. The price of the first courtyard is higher than that of the second courtyard."
It's obvious that they are preparing to slaughter a fat sheep.
Xu Shuang: "Nothing else?"
Wang Ying: "Also, those are all outside, houses in the countryside."
Wang Ying did plan to buy a few country houses with land while no one was paying attention to them in the next two years. In the future, all the houses in this old city, except those within the second ring road, would have to be demolished.
But don’t we have that much money now
I can only buy my own one first.
The couple discussed it and finally decided to go and look at houses first. It’s hard to find a house now, as there are few buyers and naturally not many sellers.
On the day of house viewing, Cheng Yu took some time out of his busy schedule to come along.
"I'll go and help you with some advice."
During the time she returned to Sijiucheng, the Peking Opera Theater was not recruiting and the process with Cheng Shufen took a long time, so she had been sitting around in the house doing nothing.
Cheng Yu had a lot of grievances to complain about: "I used to be able to herd sheep in the countryside, but now I have nothing."
Lan Yue almost seamlessly switched to the role of a father to Cheng Yu. Perhaps it was because he finally saw his beloved after so many years, and now he had a daughter out of nowhere. Lan Yue was simply the kind of father that everyone in the future wanted the most.
Money, give it to me!
Money, here you go!
You can apply for a guard to accompany you when you go out, and you can also climb Xiangshan Mountain and visit scenic spots from time to time.
Cheng Yu was not used to it at first, but later he got used to it.
She felt that she should go and see the half-blind fortune teller who had told her fortune when she was a child. It was not that she had no affinity with her parents. It was simply a blessing from her ancestors that they had given her such a pair of parents who loved her so much.
Wang Ying was happy for her and asked, "Have you changed your household registration and name?"
She was really worried that Cheng Yu would be harassed by his family again after he came back.
Cheng Yu said stupidly: "My name was changed a long time ago, and my household registration... I never went back to check."
After she returned to the city, she basically stayed at home except for a period of time when she ran around like crazy. Her family probably didn't know she was back in the city.
Wang Ying was a little worried: "It's better to move the household registration as soon as possible."
Cheng Yu is twenty years old now, and her family may not be able to make any fuss about her, but if her household registration is not moved, there will always be something unresolved.
Cheng Yu was awkward: "Oh."
Taotao rolled her eyes like a little adult: "Sister Chengyu, are you scared?"
Cheng Yu said angrily: "You are wrong, I am not afraid!"
Wang Ying watched coldly. Cheng Yu looked like this, it was obvious that he was afraid.
It is expected that after so many years, no matter how disappointed Cheng Yu was with his family, he would have thought about it once or twice.
It would be fine if her parents scolded her when they met, but she is not afraid if she gives up the thought.
What she fears most is that her parents still have some affection for her.
This kind of sticky feeling is most likely to make people feel at a loss.
But Wang Ying never expected that just after she told Cheng Yu to go home to transfer her household registration, they met Cheng Yu's parents at the house they were going to see.
“…Xiaoyu? You are Xiaoyu! From the Hu family! Your Hu Yu is back!”