Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 34 Class Begins

The next morning, Xiaohong ate breakfast and went to school. Xiaowei tidied up the house, soaked the clothes that needed washing, and slowly rode his bike to the Cultural Palace.

Today is the first day of the chef training course.

Yesterday, for some reason, Xia Maosheng and the others didn't come over to Nanhu either. Xiao Wei didn't think much of it. Anyway, the address had been given, so they could come if they wanted to, and he didn't expect them to come if they didn't want to.

When you wake up in the morning, the world belongs to bicycles.

The once empty streets were quickly filled with a surge of bicycles. Men and women, young and old, dressed in all sorts of styles and colors, huddled together, slowly making their way along the road, the sounds of bicycle bells and voices filling the air.

Watching the parking lots along the roadside quickly fill up with bicycles, the elderly men and women watching over the bikes sat contentedly on small stools by the door, counting their pennies, sipping their tea, and lighting a cigarette, enjoying a carefree and happy life.

When we arrived at the Cultural Palace, we parked the car, paid the fare, dusted ourselves off, and walked towards the Cultural Palace.

The parking lot was across the street from the Cultural Palace, in three directions. Xiao Wei specifically looked for it and actually found a wooden sign with red paint that read: "Mountain Bike Racing Parking Lot, Fee: 30 cents." Inside, there were already some brightly colored bicycles, much more attractive than ordinary bikes.

When they got to the second floor, the classroom was almost full. As soon as Xiao Wei entered, Xia Maosheng, who was sitting in the middle, raised his hand and called out, "Zhang Wei, here. I've saved you a seat."

Xiao Wei walked over and sat down next to Xia Maosheng. He greeted Li Guangzhao and Yang Tiebin, who were sitting to the side, and asked Xia Maosheng, "Why didn't you go over yesterday?"

Xia Maosheng said, "We went to the park and lost track of time. We'll go again another day. Let me tell you, the park is huge. We spent the whole day there and still didn't see it all. There are lots of fun things to do. Let's go again sometime."

Xiao Wei nodded, looked around, and saw that there were about seventy or eighty people sitting in the classroom, most of them in their teens or twenties, but there were also some older people, only five or six of them, and a few women.

The classroom is bigger and there are more people. There are no microphones for class now, so the teacher has to shout. So those sitting in the front have to hear more clearly. This is where the advantage of boarding students comes in. No matter how early you arrive, you can't compete with them.

At 8 o'clock sharp, Li Na and several girls from the restaurant carried in several cardboard boxes, placed them on the podium, and walked over to the podium. She tapped the podium with the blackboard eraser and said, "Quiet down. Everyone, sit down. Now, I'll distribute the books and notes; those in the front should pass them to the back. Class begins today. This week's teacher is Teacher Lan. Teacher Lan is a college graduate who, after graduating, dedicated himself to the culinary industry because of his love for it. He apprenticed under Master Liu Guodong and became a renowned chef. He is currently the sous chef at Lumingchun Restaurant, and he is also the author of this textbook. Everyone, listen carefully. Anyone who chats, laughs, or fools around during class will be expelled. I'm not kidding; if you don't want to learn, don't waste other people's time."

This little girl has a really cool personality. She's not shy at all and spoke fluently in front of seventy or eighty people, which really impressed everyone.

As Li Na spoke, several girls opened the cardboard box, took out books and notebooks, and placed them on the tables in the front row. Then, they passed them around one by one. Each book and notebook had a blue cover with no patterns; they were very simple.

This is a textbook compiled and printed by the chef training class itself.

After distributing the books, Li Na and several girls went downstairs, while a middle-aged man with a receding hairline walked onto the podium.

He placed the book he was holding on the podium, cleared his throat, looked down at the class, and said, "My surname is Lan, and I'm your teacher this week. I'll mainly be teaching you the basics of cooking, including recognizing, selecting, and processing ingredients, as well as basic knife skills. Don't underestimate these fundamentals. A tall building starts from the ground up; without a foundation, all your learning is in vain. I hope you all listen attentively, and raise your hands if you don't understand anything. You've all paid to come here, right?"

He chuckled, occasionally raising his hand to smooth his hair. The hair in the middle of his head was almost gone, while the sides were long, combed horizontally, and covered the middle of his head.

"To learn to be a chef, you first need to understand some basic knowledge, so let's start by talking about different cuisines."

"The profession of chef originated in the Song Dynasty, specifically the Southern Song Dynasty. You all know the painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival,' right? Well, that's a painting of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was the most commercially developed and prosperous period in ancient Chinese history. How rich was the Southern Song Dynasty? No one wanted to be a soldier anymore. The common people all had money in their hands, so who would want to do that, right? And then the country was destroyed."

The students below all laughed.

Teacher Lan pulled up his trousers with both hands and said with a smile, "If the country is rich, the people are rich, and there's no military force, it's like having a big white steamed bun on the street with no one watching it. Who wouldn't want to take a bite? Okay, let's talk about chefs. Why do we say that chefs originated in the Song Dynasty? Because before the Song Dynasty, there was no stir-frying; everything was boiled, or stewed. You'd just wash and chop all sorts of things, throw them into a pot, add some salt, and eat them once they were cooked. Could that be called being a chef? But looking at it now, being a chef before the Song Dynasty was really easy; all you had to do was add salt."

Everyone laughed again, and no one spoke. They didn't know how good Teacher Lan was at cooking, but she was certainly a master at lecturing and quickly took control of the class.

"We Chinese, the Han Chinese, originally lived along the Yellow River, in what is now Henan and Hebei. Back then, China was only so big, so that area was called the Central Plains. Later, as the population grew and productivity developed, they began to spread outwards, gradually integrating people from other places, and their territory expanded. For example, the Wu people along the Yangtze River are now Han Chinese, right? Traditional Chinese medicine is divided into three main treatment and conditioning methods: herbal medicine, acupuncture, and massage. Herbal medicine and massage are from the Yellow River region, which is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine. Acupuncture is from the Yangtze River region, which is part of Wu culture. Including the Zhu Rong ritual in traditional Chinese medicine, which is what we now call shamanistic rituals, this is also Wu culture, passed down from the Yangtze River region."

"As the territory expanded and the population increased, the ingredients became more abundant, and the processing methods also became more diverse. Due to the limitations of transportation, information transmission, and natural conditions at that time, regional differences in taste and processing methods gradually formed, which has evolved into the major cuisines we know today. What is a cuisine? It is a representative of taste, processing methods, and ingredient handling methods. China now has eight major cuisines, seven flavors, and dozens of processing methods, which is how they evolved."

"The eight major cuisines are Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui. There is also a saying that Jiangsu and Zhejiang are integrated, and that we should add imperial cuisine. This is the new eight cuisines."

Most of the students just sat there watching the teacher and listening, while some took out their newly distributed notebooks to write. Xiao Wei flipped through his book, looked at the students around him who were writing, and also took out his pen, opened his notebook, and wrote down the key points of what Teacher Lan said.