1885 Old Ma's hands
“The royal family’s flying chariot is unmoved, and the Royal chefs send eight delicacies in a stream.”
This was a famous saying from Dufu of the Tang Dynasty. Since Western Zhou, there had been traces of Imperial chefs, but they were called by different names. Imperial chefs and Imperial doctors were similar. They might not be the strongest at that time, but they were definitely among the top.
This time, the location of the knife-sealing banquet was surprisingly low-key. It was in head chef Yang’s own small Manor. The kitchen was open, and the cooking methods and skills were fully displayed in front of everyone.
Although the chef industry was very precious, the people attending this banquet were all familiar people and were all famous chefs, so head chef yang was not petty.
After Yuan Zhou and Mr. MA got up early in the morning and tidied up, they planned to head to the residence of head chef yang.
“Mr. MA, do we need to prepare a gift for head chef yang?” This was the second time Yuan Zhou asked.
Yuan Zhou had asked Mr. MA this question before, but Mr. MA didn’t give an accurate answer. As a precaution, Yuan Zhou specially brought a palm-sized yellow Rosewood.
Although Yuan Zhou had collected a lot of ancient books, he didn’t even touch the knife after head chef Yang’s knife-sealing banquet. Wasn’t it a little inappropriate to give him ancient books?
It’s a little like,”when others are in wheelchairs, you still give them a football.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to use it? En, I might have forgotten to mention that old Yang is similar to me in that he doesn’t like to receive gifts. It’s fine if he goes alone. I didn’t even bring anything. ” Mr. MA answered.
The hotel was not close to head chef Yang’s residence. It would take an hour and a half without traffic.
Early in the morning, Yuan Zhou received a call from the Black Beast. It had only one purpose, which was to ask for Yuan Zhou’s address. Then, Yuan Zhou told him that he had something urgent to do.
Wu Hai remained silent for a long time and then said,”Come back early. As long as Yuan Zhou had something serious to do, the Black Beast would always be very tactful.
Head chef yang lived in a remote suburb. Therefore, the hotel where Yuan Zhou and Mr. MA were staying was quite close.
It wasn’t really that big to call it a Manor. After all, the land around e city wasn’t cheap. This Manor had been passed down from the Yang family.
It covered an area of about one and a half mu, with green trees everywhere and flowers surrounding it. The scenery in the courtyard was quite good.
Probably due to the old man Yang’s occupation, Yuan Zhou found a small vegetable field while he was walking in. With his eyesight, he naturally knew that the vegetables inside were well taken care of.
“Hmph, they still like to do these useless things. Tear down all these landscape stones and corners so that they can grow more vegetables.” Mr. MA said.
With that said, Yuan Zhou recalled the small mountain village where Mr. MA lived. It wasn’t big, but later he heard from the villagers that Mr. MA indeed had two pieces of land that he took care of himself.
Yuan Zhou supported Mr. MA and walked toward a special direction along the stone path. Judging from Mr. Ma’s practiced manner, Yuan Zhou knew it wasn’t his first time coming to this place.
At a three-way intersection, he saw a tall figure standing there from afar. He was about 1.8 meters tall, with white hair and a face full of wrinkles. However, his skin was ruddy and he was full of energy. He looked like a spirited old man.
Yuan Zhou guessed that she was probably the main character of the banquet today.
As expected, Mr. MA also saw the figure clearly when he got closer.
“Hahahaha, old Ma, you’re too slow. Old Mo and old GE are already here, they’re just waiting for you.” When the tall and big old man, head chef yang, saw Yuan Zhou and the others, he immediately went up to them with big steps. He was in good spirits.
“I’ve already given you face by coming all the way here, not to mention that I’ve also brought people with me. ” Said Ma Xiansheng while mentioning Yuan Zhou conveniently.
“Yes, yes, yes. This must be the head chef yuan you were talking about, right?” Head chef yang exchanged pleasantries with Mr. MA and then shifted his gaze to Yuan Zhou.
In order to be formal, Yuan Zhou wore a slightly casual suit today, which was neither too formal nor too impolite. Of course, Xiao Ya helped him match the clothes.
“Hello, head chef yang. It’s an honor to be able to attend your knife-sealing banquet.” Yuan Zhou slightly bent his waist to show his respect.
“People can’t keep up with the times when they are old. If old Ma didn’t tell me so much about head chef Yuan, I wouldn’t have known that such a genius had appeared in the cooking world.”
Although he was surprised by Yuan Zhou’s age, head chef yang was still very curious about the famous chef recommended by Mr. MA.
“I’m also very happy that head chef yuan can come. We can have more exchanges then. “
“It would be my honor.” Yuan Zhou was also looking forward to it.
“Are you done? I don’t know how long I’ve been gone. Let’s go get some water.” Mr. MA said.
“Your bad temper hasn’t changed after so many years. No wonder you don’t want to move out of the village. Old Ma, are you afraid of being beaten to death outside the village?” Head chef yang glared at Mr. MA who was leading the way.
Even though head chef yang was over 70 years old, he was healthy and had big strides. He was not inferior to young people.
Soon, the three of them arrived at a Hall with a signboard that read “sword sealing Hall”.
People spent their entire lives as examiners, interviewing who could attend their funerals. On the other hand, chefs who had inherited the knife-sealing banquet spent their entire lives building the knife-sealing Hall.
To put it bluntly, it was similar to the feeling of an Emperor building his own tomb while he was still alive.
“Come in quickly. Old GE and the others were still talking about you.” Head chef yang stepped into knife sealing Hall.
As soon as he walked into the hall, what first attracted Yuan Zhou was not the especially large square table in the center, but the seven white-haired old men who were arguing with red faces as if they were going to fight at any second.
That’s right. The hall was filled with old men. All of them had white hair, even the worst one was grayish-white. Therefore, Yuan Zhou stood out as soon as he came in.
“Hey, Ma, you’re just in time. We’re arguing about something. Come over and take a look.” A short and fat old man happened to turn around and saw Yuan Zhou and his group.
Not knowing why, the way old Ma addressed him made Yuan Zhou unconsciously think of the Watershirt.
The specialty of Chengdu, Lao Ma, was not something foreigners could get used to. It was not spicy, but numb because there was a lot of pepper in it. Many tourists who only ate spicy food and not numb would feel poisoned when they came to eat it. Even their lips would be numb.
“When I go back this time, I can try eating old Ma as my breakfast,” Yuan Zhou thought.
Back to the main topic, Mr. MA entered the room, causing the sounds inside the room to stop all at once. They all looked towards the door and greeted each one.
Of course, they were all looking at Yuan Zhou. It couldn’t be helped that a young man would definitely attract attention when a room full of old men suddenly showed up. Moreover, after several years of cooking cultivation, Yuan Zhou’s bearing was naturally extraordinary.
“Are these the children and nephews you brought here?” The short and fat old man who came over frowned.
The knife-sealing banquet didn’t invite the younger generation of chefs. This wasn’t a rule to maintain one’s status. Instead, the knife-sealing banquet was basically a “witness”, and the witnesses naturally had to be of the same generation or elders.
Have you ever seen a junior witness an elder? It was chaos.
Well … With head chef Yang’s age, there were no elders in the cooking world, so he had to be of the same generation. After all, head chef Yang’s personal disciples were not qualified to come.
That was why he asked.
……