Starting from a Bankrupt Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant

"Holy shit!"

"Mrs. Zhang is back in business selling braised meat?!"

"Where did you buy this!"

Huang He looked shocked, his voice a mixture of excitement and urgency.

He hadn’t tasted this flavor in over twenty years.

Many of his memories had faded, but the moment he took a bite of the braised pig’s head, it was as if everything came flooding back.

From his childhood to his youth, this flavor had always been a part of his life.

Back then, the braised meat at Feiyan Restaurant sold exceptionally well, but most customers never knew that the restaurant didn’t actually have its own braised meat chef. All of it was sourced from the Zhang Family’s shop in Suji.

Every morning, his cousin in charge of procurement would take a horse-drawn cart to Suji, load it with pounds upon pounds of braised meat, and bring it back to Feiyan Restaurant. It was always unloaded at the back door, covered securely.

Not even the head chef knew where the braised meat came from. His grandfather claimed it was an ancestral recipe, that there was a century-old pot of brine at their old family home where the meat was prepared before being brought to the restaurant. That story became the stuff of local legend.

Once the meat arrived at the restaurant, it was handed over to the slicer with the best Knife Skills to be cut to order.

The pig ear had to be sliced thin enough to be translucent, the pig’s head had to be cut to the thickness of a coin, and the beef...

He had grown up in the back of the kitchen, and as the memories were unlocked, it all came rushing back to him.

Later, the restaurant was nationalized and tasked with receiving important guests. The Huang Family was allowed to continue running it, though they were also forced to shut down for a while.

During those years, Mrs. Zhang stopped running her stall, and braised meat vanished from the menu at Feiyan Restaurant.

Two years ago, the restaurant was returned to the Huang Family. They renovated and reopened, and with the support of their old regulars, business boomed, almost returning to its former glory.

The old regulars, who still fondly remembered the braised meat of yesteryear, often asked about it.

Huang He could only offer excuses, saying the century-old brine had been destroyed and his grandfather had passed away. He’d claim that although the secret recipe remained, cultivating a new brine would take time.

The year before last, he had gone to Zhou Village to find Mrs. Zhang, hoping she would either resume supplying him with braised meat or sell him the recipe.

He offered as much as a thousand yuan, but she still refused.

After that, he scoured Jiazhou, trying every braised meat shop and well-known stall in the surrounding towns, but he could never find anything that came close.

Nothing was even in the same league!

The gap in quality was so vast that even a money-minded capitalist like him felt he couldn’t possibly pass it off on his diners.

And what kind of customers were the ones asking for the braised meat?

They were the ones who could afford to dine at Feiyan Restaurant over twenty years ago—the rich and the powerful.

Even if some of them had since fallen on hard times, they still had discerning palates and knew good food from bad.

Lately, the restaurant had been doing well. Business was booming, and their banquet service was thriving.

He had even started considering a trip to Rongcheng to recruit a cold-dish chef, someone to specialize in braised meats and other cold appetizers.

Even if the old regulars weren’t completely satisfied, he had to expand the menu.

The whole affair had been causing him no end of stress lately.

Friends in their circle had recommended several cold-dish chefs, and he and his wife had gone to sample their cooking.

The braised meats and cold dishes were decent, and the chefs had a certain reputation in the industry, but he always felt something was missing.

He even got a smack from Zhao Shulan over it.

She called him fussy and said he was just being a nitpicker.

Huang He felt so wronged that he skipped a meal in protest.

Feiyan Restaurant had once sold the absolute best braised meats. Forcing him to settle for less was torture.

It was like a man meeting a breathtakingly beautiful woman in his youth—every woman he met afterward would seem to be missing something.

When Zhao Shulan had married him over twenty years ago, Mrs. Zhang’s stall had just closed down.

She had never tasted it, so she didn’t understand.

But she was ruthless and autocratic. Just moments ago, she had been pressuring him to finalize his choice for a cold-dish chef and go hire someone the very next day.

And then...

Huang Ying had come home with these four takeout platters of braised meat.

He took one bite and nearly jumped out of his skin.

Wasn’t this a gift from the heavens?!

"What are you getting so worked up about?" Zhao Shulan said, giving him a light slap.

"Just try it! Once you taste this, you’ll understand why I didn’t want to hire any of those other chefs," Huang He said, brimming with confidence as he pressed the chopsticks into her hand.

Zhao Shulan took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of the braised pig’s head, and put it in her mouth. As she chewed slowly, her eyes lit up.

After finishing the piece of pig’s head, she picked up two slices of braised pig ear. They made a faint crunching sound as she chewed—crisp, refreshing, and perfectly seasoned.

"This is braised perfectly!" Zhao Shulan exclaimed, putting down her chopsticks and looking at Huang He with amazement. "It’s definitely better than anything those other chefs made. The flavor of this old brine is so authentic! Plus, the Fire Control is on point—the pig’s head is tender and succulent, while the pig ear is crisp. This is true craftsmanship."

"This is what I was telling you about—the best braised meat in Jiazhou, the famous Zhang Family recipe from Suji that once took the town by storm. I wasn’t exaggerating, was I?" Huang He said smugly, crossing his arms. "Huang Ying, Huang Bing, tell your mother where you bought this."

"Zhou Yan Restaurant."

The two said in unison.

"What?"

Huang He and Zhao Shulan both turned to look at Huang Ying.

One was shocked, the other surprised.

"It’s from that restaurant we ate at yesterday. The braised meat was made by Zhou Yan. I had a braised pig’s trotter for lunch, and I also ordered the braised pig ears and pig snout."

"After I ate it, I thought it was the best braised meat I’d ever had. And since I knew you two were stressing about finding a chef for the braised dishes, I specifically brought some back for you to try," Huang Ying said with a smile.

"Mom, I brought the pig’s trotter for you. It’s super delicious! It’s gotten a little cold, but I can steam it for you in a bit. Eating a whole, warm braised pig’s trotter is just heavenly."

Huang He and Zhao Shulan took a moment to process what they had just heard.

"You’re such a good daughter, always thinking of your mother." Zhao Shulan smiled and reached out to pat Huang Ying’s head. When she felt the sweat on her daughter’s hair, she pulled her hand back and sneakily wiped it on Huang He’s back.