The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland

Cai Su came into the back kitchen. Shen Lu was soaking the shredded potatoes in clean water. She looked up and said, "Sister Cai, there’s a changing room over there. Go put on an apron."

"Oh, okay." Cai Su went to the changing room as told. Inside was a row of lockers. She found the one with her name on it and opened it. Not only was there an apron inside, but also a hat, a chef’s uniform, and other items.

Cai Su only took the apron, tied it around her waist, and walked over to Shen Lu.

While shredding a sweet pepper, Shen Lu said to Cai Su, "Today it’s just us employees and our families eating, so we don’t need to be so particular. But from now on, whenever we’re open for business, you and I both need to wear a chef’s uniform and a hat. When we’re cooking, we have to constantly be mindful of hygiene. For example, wash your hands immediately after touching money to avoid any sanitation issues."

Cai Su nodded. "Got it, Boss Shen."

’She didn’t understand why Boss Shen was so strict about hygiene. From what she’d seen, many other restaurants were quite casual about it; it was common to find bugs, debris, and other things in the food.’

But since Shen Lu had given the instructions, all she had to do was follow them.

Cai Su was assigned to process the dried chilies, which were for the spicy fried chicken.

The dried chilies had to be cut into segments. After she finished, Cai Su helped chop some of the less-demanding aromatics like ginger, scallions, and garlic. Shen Lu finished mixing the meat filling for the stuffed eggplant and told Cai Su to stuff the filling into the sliced eggplants later.

"Okay, Boss Shen." This was the first time Cai Su had watched someone cook so many dishes up close. She admired Shen Lu’s methodical way of arranging everything while learning with great curiosity.

After working at the stall with Shen Lu for a few days, Cai Su discovered that she actually quite liked cooking and was very willing to learn more from her.

’I hope one day I can be like Shen Lu and master all sorts of dishes with ease, so I can be of greater help in making the restaurant a success.’

Seeing that Cai Su was handling her tasks without any issues, Shen Lu turned to the stove, heated up a wok, and started frying the minced garlic sauce.

Minced garlic sauce was easy to make. The key was to rinse the minced garlic with water before putting it in the wok to wash away the sticky residue, which would prevent it from burning.

Shen Lu slowly stir-fried the garlic sauce, feeling completely at ease.

’Cooking with a wok on a proper stove is so much more satisfying. And the range hood in this kitchen works really well—it’s not loud at all, unlike the ones I saw in restaurants in my past life. Those things could deafen you when they were running.’

She wasn’t quite used to this type of professional kitchen stove yet, but she figured she’d get the hang of it after using it for a while.

She scooped out the fried garlic sauce, washed the wok and heated it until dry, then poured in a generous amount of oil. She deep-fried the marinated chicken pieces until they were fragrant and cooked through, then removed them and set them aside.

As for the oil used to fry the chicken, she filtered it and poured it into a basin. It could be used to fry the crawfish tomorrow.

The kitchen door suddenly opened, and Wang Daguo poked his head in. "Boss Shen, my family and Grandma Jin are here."

Shen Lu called out, "Okay, don’t come in. Help me greet everyone out there. Oh, and clear off a big table for us to eat at later."

"Alright, I’m on it."

Now that everyone had arrived, she could start on the steamed dishes.

Shen Lu took out a three-tiered steamer, found a free stove burner, placed it on top, and turned on the heat to boil the water. Once it started steaming, she would put in the steamed shrimp with garlic and glass noodles, and the sea bass.

The large mixed salad didn’t require any cooking skill. She prepared the dressing and just had Cai Su toss it.

To avoid mixing flavors, Shen Lu poured a fresh pot of oil to fry the stuffed eggplant and sweet potato balls. She also boiled a pot of water on the side to blanch the lettuce, a task she also gave to Cai Su.

The lettuce didn’t need to be blanched for long—as soon as its color changed, it could be taken out and plated.

Shen Lu fired up another burner, stir-fried a sauce, and poured it over the lettuce. And with that, it was done.

Next were the spicy fried chicken and the hot and sour shredded potatoes. Shen Lu thoroughly enjoyed herself tossing the wok, leaving Cai Su staring, dumbfounded.

’Boss Shen is... incredible!’

’She’s still just a young woman, and her arms aren’t much thicker than mine. How can she toss such a big wok like that?’

After stir-frying the spicy chicken and shredded potatoes, she finished the stuffed eggplant with a sweet and sour sauce. That concluded the stir-fried dishes.

Honeycomb tripe is difficult to flavor, so Shen Lu used a pressure cooker. It both tenderized the tripe and infused it with flavor.

Now, she took it out, sliced it, arranged it on a plate, drizzled a circle of chili oil over it, and placed a couple of pretentious sprigs of cilantro on top. The cold-dressed honeycomb tripe was complete.

"This plating, this presentation... I’ve still got it." Shen Lu was very satisfied with her performance today. She had worried she might be a little rusty after not having cooked a proper meal for so long, but it turned out her skills were still on point.

A glance at the clock on the wall out of the corner of her eye made Shen Lu’s face fall. "The fish, my fish!"

Cai Su jumped in fright and quickly asked, "What’s wrong, Boss Shen? The fish is in the pot, it’s—it’s fine."

Shen Lu hurried over, turned off the steamer’s heat, and lifted the lid to check on the fish. She let out a long sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, I caught it in time. It’s not overcooked."

Steaming fish requires careful attention to heat and time. Even one extra minute can make the meat tough, and Shen Lu wouldn’t allow herself to make such a basic mistake.

She took the fish out, poured off the fishy water that had collected during steaming, arranged paper-thin scallion shreds on top, poured hot oil over it, and then drizzled on the right amount of seasoned soy sauce for seafood. The healthy and nutritious steamed sea bass was ready to be served.

The steamed shrimp with garlic and glass noodles was even simpler. Once steamed, she poured hot oil over it to release the aroma and sprinkled some chopped scallions on top for a touch of color.

With the dishes mostly ready, Shen Lu walked to the pass-through window and rang the service bell. Hearing it, Wang Daguo came over.

Shen Lu said, "The food is ready. You can start bringing it out."

"Okay, I’ll come into the kitchen now."

"No, no, this is the window for stir-fried dishes. From now on, all the stir-fries will be passed through here. Remember that."

"Mhm." Wang Daguo nodded vigorously to show he understood.

Cai Su brought the dishes one by one to the pass-through window, and Wang Daguo relayed them to the table.

The big table was covered in dishes of red and green, a feast for the eyes as well as the nose. The Wang Family, standing to the side, stared dumbfounded. Wang Xiaohui and Wang Xiaoci couldn’t stop swallowing.

Mrs. Wang nervously gripped her mother-in-law’s hand and mumbled, "This... this is too much..."

Grandma Wang’s cloudy eyes glanced at her eldest grandson. When he came home today, he had confessed that he’d changed jobs and that his new boss wanted to treat them to a meal.

At the time, Grandma Wang had found it hard to believe. She knew her grandson’s worth, so what kind of job and what kind of boss would invite an employee’s family to dinner?

She had certainly never seen anything like it.

She had been uneasy on the way over, and now her heart was in a flutter.

’With a spread like this, they aren’t asking my grandson to do some life-threatening job, are they?’

Shen Lu and Cai Su washed their hands, went to the changing room to take off their aprons, and were just about to head to the front when Shen Lu suddenly remembered something.

"Sister Cai, you go ahead with Xiao Lang. I need to go get two more people."

Cai Su nodded, a small question popping into her mind.

’Two more people? Who could they be?’

’Mr. Xue and Ma Laosan?’