The next day, Li Hehua ushered in apprentice applicants as soon as he set up his stall.
The people who came were a pair of siblings, and they were a rare pair of twins. The two were around thirteen or fourteen years old. They were skinny and skinny. They were wearing coarse linen clothes with countless patches. The shoes on their feet were so torn that they could see the toes.
The two brothers and sisters were very cramped, holding their hands tightly, looking at Li Hehua very nervously, obviously it was the first time they came out looking for something to do. In the end, it was my brother who stood up to talk to Li Hehua, and he asked, "Excuse me... Excuse me, are you recruiting apprentices here?"
Seeing how cramped the two brothers and sisters are, Li Hehua showed a kind smile, tried to relax them, and said, "Yes, we are recruiting apprentices here, do you want to come and try?"
The boy nodded, "Well, my sister and I want to try, we... can we?"
Li Hehua didn't directly say whether it was okay or not, but asked with a smile, "Are you good at cooking? Have you ever cooked?"
The boy nodded, "I have done it before, my sister and I will do it, my father taught us, and my father also said that we did a good job."
The girl nodded aside.
Li Hehua asked, "Your father? Is your father good at cooking?"
Speaking of this, the boy rarely let go of his restraints, showed a proud expression, and said, "My father is very good, he used to be a chef in a restaurant in the city, and the food he cooks is delicious. As long as he is free, he will teach me and my sister, but..." Having said this, he suddenly couldn't continue, and the circles of his eyes turned red.
Li Hehua guessed that the two brothers and sisters had undergone great changes in the family, otherwise the two children would not have been as poor as they are now, but after all, it was a family matter, and she didn't ask much.
However, since the father of these two children is the chef of a restaurant in the city, their cooking skills should not be too bad. If they really teach these two children, then these two will definitely know how to cook.
So, Li Hehua didn't ask their father again, and said directly: "Then you can make me a bowl of noodles, I want to taste the craftsmanship of the two of you before deciding."
The siblings looked at each other and nodded.
Li Hehua turned on the stove, put on the pot, took out the noodles and seasonings, etc., and then moved aside to give the two brothers and sisters their seats.
My brother came first, and I saw him put boiling water into the pot and boil it first. When the water was boiled, use a soup bowl to scoop out a bowl of soup stock for cooking noodles, add soy sauce, salt, sugar, garlic leaves and a small spoon of it. lard, then stir and set aside when done.
At this time, the water in the pot was just boiling, and the boy put the noodles into the boiling water and cooked them. After a while, he took out the noodles and put them into the stock. A simple bowl of noodles was ready.
It's Yangchun noodles.
Looking at the boy's movements, Li Hehua smiled and nodded secretly in his heart. It can be seen that this boy is really good at cooking, the order of making noodles is not disordered, he is quite calm at a young age, and has no panic at all, and his hygiene habits when cooking are very good, but he does not know the taste... .
Li Hehua picked up his chopsticks and tasted it. The saltiness was moderate, the taste was delicious, and the noodles were refreshing. In general, the taste and heat were very good. If you want to give a score, you can give it a seven. This is for ordinary people. Said it was already very good.
However, Li Hehua did not express his position in a hurry, but looked at the girl, "It's your turn, let's start."
The little girl was a little shy, nodded lightly, walked to the stove, and made a spring noodle with the same steps as the boy just now. Li Hehua tasted it, and it tasted good, but a little worse than his brother.
Li Hehua thought for a moment and asked the girl, "Can you make cakes?"
The girl opened her eyes wide, hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly and said, "I will, but I will only do one thing. My father taught me, and I won't know anything else."
"Then what will you do?"
"I can make red bean cakes."
Li Hehua smiled, red bean cake, it happened to be one of the types of cakes she sold, but I didn't know how the girl made it, and I didn't know if she had any understanding of making cakes.
However, I don't have the tools and ingredients to make pastries at hand. It is impossible for the girl to try it now, so I can only talk about it after closing the stall.
So, Li Hehua said, "I would like to see how your craftsmanship is at making cakes, but I can't do it right now because of the inconvenience. I can only wait until the stall is closed and come home with me. Would you like to?"
Brother and sister looked at each other and exchanged silently. After a while, the boy nodded, "Okay, we will wait for you to close the stall."
Li Hehua nodded, "Okay, it's still early to close the booth, you can go back first and come back after noon."
Hearing the words, the boy did not leave immediately, but looked at Li Hehua's booth and said to Li Hehua, "Can we not leave? My sister and I can help you, we will do everything." It is often said that an apprentice must be diligent in his hands and feet, and have things in his eyes. You can't wait for the master to tell you everything, otherwise there will be no way out. Now, if he wants to get this opportunity with his sister, he must work hard and not be lazy. Although the boss does not necessarily want them in the end, it is right to do more work.
Li Hehua didn't expect that these two children would take the initiative to ask to stay and help. They are still not sure if they can stay. If she didn't ask them in the end, the work would be in vain.
These two children are willing to work hard and endure hardships...
Li Hehua thought for a moment in his heart, and finally agreed, "Okay, yes, then you help me clear the table, and the guests will clean up the table as soon as they finish eating and give the new guests a seat."
The two children nodded, and then picked up the table like Dahe Xiaoyuan, with quick hands and feet, careful and careful.
Li Hehua looked at them and smiled.
The two followed Li Hehua to close the stall in the afternoon. During the period, they did not stop because they were not the second or apprentice of the stall. They were more serious than Dahe Xiaoyuan.
Li He felt that no matter what their cooking skills were, at present it seemed that these two children were of good character and diligent.
If the little girl is savvy about making cakes, she can accept both, so this brother and sister are already rare good candidates.
When the guests were almost gone, Li Hehua made a bowl of rice for everyone, including the two children, "Come here, eat, you are all hungry."
Da He cheered, and after he had brought his own meal, he immersed himself in eating it, and Xiao Yuan did the same. Only his sister and brother didn't dare to use chopsticks, and there was anxiety in their eyes. I didn't expect the boss to cook for them too. As for the rice, there is meat in the rice. Can helpers eat such good food
Seeing that the two of them didn't move their chopsticks, Li Hehua smiled and said, "You two, eat quickly. You've worked for me for a long time. Are you hungry? You're welcome."
The siblings looked at the food, smelled the fragrance, and swallowed, but they were still a little hesitant.
Li Hehua simply stretched out his hand and pressed the shoulders of the two to let them sit down and handed them the chopsticks, "Okay, eat quickly, this is what you deserve for helping me."
The two finally believed that this was true, squeezed the chopsticks in their hands, looked at each other, lowered their heads and started to eat.
Just after taking a bite, the boy looked at Li Hehua in surprise, his expression was a little unbelievable, as did the girl.
Li Hehua asked, "What's wrong?"
With admiration and amazement in his eyes, the boy said, "The food you cooked is delicious." It was better than his father's cooking. He originally thought that no one could cook better than his father's.
Before he came, he actually thought that the boss was looking for apprentices just to find people to work, and accepting apprentices was just a pretense. After all, the boss was so young, how could he accept apprentices? The only people who can accept apprentices are chefs who have worked for many years.
Now it seems that this is not the case, the boss's craftsmanship is fully qualified to accept apprentices.
Does the boss really want to find apprentices to teach people how to cook? Couldn't he and his sister have learned so well
At this moment, the boy's eyes lit up.
Li Hehua didn't know that the boy had thought so much in his head, but he just smiled: "If it's delicious, then eat more, but if you're full, you won't have enough to add more."
Finally, under the temptation of delicious food, a group of people didn't even have a grain of extra rice on their plates, and they ate cleanly.
After the meal, the two children helped Li Hehua close the stall, and then followed her back to the small courtyard.
Li Hehua took out flour and red beans and asked the two children to make pastries.
To make pastries, the first thing to do is to knead the dough, which is a test of a person's pastry skills. If the dough can't be kneaded well, it will definitely not work. Therefore, when you see that the dough kneaded by the two children is smooth and firm At that time, Li Hehua had already nodded his head in his heart, and it seemed that the father of the two children had indeed put a lot of thought into teaching.
These two children can be accepted.
The red bean cake made by the two children tastes good, but the sweetness and hardness are not good enough. There is a lot of room for improvement, but it is enough for her. Next, as long as she teaches well, it will not be a problem to make it taste almost the same as what she made.
Therefore, Li Hehua said directly: "It's very good, you two passed, I will accept you two as apprentices, and you will follow me in the future to learn, and when you can graduate, you will be responsible for snacks and cakes alone."
The two children were in disbelief at first, and then burst out with a strong surprise, and their eyes were red with excitement. The boy said gratefully, "Thank you, my sister and I will definitely do well."
Li Hehua patted the two of them on the shoulders to show encouragement, "Okay. I haven't asked you two's names yet."
The boy said, "My name is Zhou Qing, and my sister's name is Zhou Hong."
Li Hehua: "Okay, then I'll call you Xiaoqing and Xiaohong. Don't call me the boss, call me the master. In the future, I'll teach Xiaoqing to make snacks for you, and Xiaohong to make cakes."
Xiaoqing and Xiaohong looked at each other and called out to Li Hehua, "Master."
Li Hehua was suddenly very emotional. I didn't expect that she would accept apprentices here. If grandpa knew, he didn't know what to say about her, he would probably laugh and scold her, and then support him.
Since they are all my apprentices now, I have to say in advance what I should say. Li Hehua said: "Being my apprentice, there are some rules to abide by. I will tell you first. First of all, I will teach you things unless I agree. , otherwise you can’t teach others in private; then, you have to work hard with me, and if you don’t want to do it with me, you have to say it a month in advance, you can’t talk about it when it comes to the end; finally, you can’t do it here with me Do it, and at the same time work for others, can this be done?"
Xiaoqing and Xiaohong nodded without thinking, "Master, don't worry, we can definitely do what you said. If we can't do it, you can do whatever you want."
Li Hehua: "As long as you can do it, then I will tell you about your future arrangements. You will follow me all day in the future. I am currently in the learning stage, so I will pay you ten cents a day for each of you, and you will be able to wait until later. After leaving the apprenticeship, the salary will be more than that.”
This kind of treatment is simply unattainable for apprentices. Brothers and sisters Zhou Qing and Zhou Hong feel that they are lucky to be taught by someone with such great cooking skills. Wages, but also from time to time filial piety to the master.
The two of them felt like they were dreaming, and they were dizzy. They couldn't believe that such a good thing really happened to them.
It's not good to do it like this, isn't there a problem with the brain
Seeing that the two children had a firm attitude, Li Hehua also regarded them as his own, and asked about the situation in the two's home. He learned that the father of the two had died unexpectedly, and the family could not move back to the old house in the town. For a long time, the mother couldn't live a hard life, and remarried with the last money in the family, leaving only the two brothers and sisters to live hard and no one cared.
Li Hehua patted the heads of the two children with pity, "Then you can come to the master if you have anything in the future, or you can treat this place as your own home, and you won't have to cook at home in the future, you will eat three meals a day with the master, The master also has a lot of food for you to eat in one bite."
Zhou Qing and Zhou Hong's eyes turned red involuntarily.
Now that it has been decided, Li Hehua left his siblings in the afternoon, and followed her to prepare the ingredients for tomorrow and the cakes to be sold. Xiaohong watched and learned to make cakes by her side, while Xiaoqing learned to make cakes. Knead dough and prepare various fillings. Li Hehua will tell them how to make delicious recipes one by one, and let them try it out for themselves after speaking, and then point out what is wrong with her, so the two have officially learned.
When it was time for Shulin to go to school, Li Hehua asked the two to follow behind Sister Xie to help, and she went to the academy to pick up Shulin home.
The little guy saw her waiting outside the door at a glance, and immediately let go of the hand that was holding Master Gu, and ran towards her with his short legs, but halfway through the run, he remembered that he forgot to salute the Master and say goodbye. , Immediately braked, this brake made the small body sway, and fell down with a thud.
Li Hehua was startled, and immediately ran towards the little guy. Gu Zhijin came first and helped the little guy up.
Li Hehua hurriedly asked, "Shulin, how is it? Did you get hurt?"
Gu Zhijin checked it again and saw that there was nothing wrong, so he was relieved and gave the little guy to her, "It's okay, I didn't fall down, don't worry."
Shulin himself shook his head and stretched out his little hand to show Li Hehua, indicating that he was fine.
Seeing that he was really fine, Li Hehua breathed a sigh of relief, and reached out to hug him into his arms.
The little guy fell into Li Hehua's arms and hugged her neck affectionately.
Li Hehua tapped his nose, "Why were you so careless just now? You have to run slower in the future, can't you stop in a hurry to know? Otherwise, my mother is going to kick her ass~" No, it's easy to fall, and to avoid running and braking, no one has told him before.
Shulin blinked and touched his little butt subconsciously, afraid of being spanked, so he pouted and kissed Li Hehua's cheek. After the kiss, he looked at her with bright eyes.
Li Hehua couldn't help laughing, this little guy is still learning how to use it, he only learned the trick of his relatives yesterday, and today he knew that he wanted to kiss her to please her. If he knew that he would not teach him a lesson, right
Li Hehua held him upside down and said, "Okay, if you kiss your mother, she will stop spanking."
The little guy smiled, showing a mouthful of millet teeth, a little smug.
The little guy has never shown such an air of expression.
Li Hehua was so cute by his small appearance, he lowered his head and kissed his small forehead.
When the intimacy with his mother is enough, the little guy thinks of something, stretches his head and looks around, searching for something.
"What's wrong with Shulin? What are you looking at?" Li Hehua asked.
The little guy opened his eyes and tried hard to see, but he didn't find what he wanted to see, and his small mouth pouted slightly.
Silently pondered for a moment, lowered his head, took out his small purse from his arms, clumsily opened the purse mouth with his small hand, and pointed the purse to Li Hehua.
Li Hehua was puzzled. He glanced into the purse and saw that there were dozens of small copper plates in it. This was the pocket money she gave him, and the little guy kept it in the purse.
"What's the matter? Why are you showing your mother your purse?"
The little guy frowned and looked a little unhappy. He put his little hand into his purse, grabbed it, took it out, and opened his hand to show Li Hehua.
There is nothing in hand.
Li Hehua stared at the little guy's empty palm, and suddenly understood what the little guy meant, and the smile on the corner of his mouth gradually disappeared.
The little guy used to take out the money Zhang Tieshan gave her every time from his small purse, but now it's gone.
The little guy is asking his father.
Zhang Tieshan used to visit Shulin every two or three days before, so Shulin was used to seeing his father every two days. This time Zhang Tieshan didn't show up for so many days, and Shulin didn't see his father for many days. I couldn't help thinking about it in my heart, I don't understand why his father didn't come to see him
Li Hehua didn't understand what happened to Zhang Tieshan. Why didn't he even come to see his son? How many days has it been? Even if there is something, it should be over.
He wasn't someone who would forget children at all.
Li Hehua touched his chest, and the familiar feeling of panic came up again.
In the past few days, even though I convince myself over and over again that it would be better if he didn't come, there is nothing strange, but I have been in a constant panic in my heart, and I always feel uneasy.
She didn't understand what was going on, but she always vaguely felt that it was related to Zhang Tieshan, because when she thought of him, the feeling of panic that was hard to ignore in her heart would reappear.
Just like at this moment, when Shulin mentioned his father, her heart was flustered again, and she was very uncomfortable.
She felt faintly that something might have happened to Zhang Tieshan, although she told herself over and over again not to think wildly, but she couldn't suppress the thought, and instead thought about it over and over again.
Li Hehua had never believed in superstition before, but after inexplicably traveled through time and space to come here, she had to believe it.
Is this panic in my heart now a reminder
Although I don't know where the panic in my heart came from, but it hasn't disappeared for so many days, shouldn't she ignore it? Should she go and see what's going on? Even if nothing happens, at least he can figure out where Zhang Tieshan went, and he can answer the little guy's questions.
After thinking about it again and again, Li Hehua decided to go to Shangshui Village tomorrow to see what happened, and go after closing the stall.
However, before Li Hehua had time to go to Shangshui Village, someone took the initiative to look for her. It was Zhang Tieshan's good friend Luo Er.
"There's something wrong with Tieshan!"