Chapter 97: A Calm Mindset

  Li Xiaoteng arranged for Kong Zhen to go find the cold dish master. He himself came alone to Dongxing Restaurant. As he walked into the kitchen, he found that there were only two people, Xiangshi brothers, who were holding two basins of mutton and wearing skewers.

  Li Xiaoteng looked around, but didn't see Zhao Baozi anywhere. He felt a bit displeased and asked: "You two masters, where did Zhao Baozi go? If he went to find his own place to sleep, that's really not right!"

  He hastily shook his head and said: "Manager Zhao said you're going to set up the projector today, and show the guests the ball game tonight. He's gone to get the equipment. Said he'll be back this afternoon, just left!"

  Li Xiaoteng nodded and said with a smile: "You two masters go ahead, I'll go to the cold dish room to prepare tonight's cold dishes."

  "Hey, Lao Er, are you still capable of making cold dishes? I really can't tell!" Li Xiaoteng nodded and chuckled, "All the cold dishes here were prepared by me. If I didn't do it, nobody else would be able to."

  He immediately said to Lao Da: "As the weather gets hotter and hotter, business will definitely get better and better! Boss Xiao Teng, why don't you hire a master to help you with it? You can't do it alone, it's not like you have two pairs of hands!"

  Li Xiaoteng crouched down, casually picked up a wooden stool from under the table and sat down. Then he took out a metal skewer and began to string together meat for the Wei brothers' barbecue.

  His hands were busy with work, and his mouth was not idle either. Li Xiaoteng said: "I just told Manager Kong that I want him to go to the talent market to help me recruit a master craftsman. I have too many things on my plate right now, and I'm really feeling overwhelmed!"

  "Hey Lao Er, I heard that Li is recruiting a cold dish chef at this time. It's probably hard to find one, how much are you planning to pay the chef?"

  Li Xiaoteng asked strangely: "Why can't we invite a master at this time? I'll pay 2,000 yuan, shouldn't it be easy to find someone?"

  "Hey, Li Zong, you might not know. At this time of night, the night market and all the big restaurants are short of cold dish chefs. It's easier to find hot pot chefs, barbecue chefs or stir-fry chefs. But cold dish chefs are in high demand." After finishing speaking, Old Dai shook his head with a smirk on his face.

  Li Xiaoteng was suddenly a little surprised, didn't expect to find a master who can make a beautiful small dish is not easy to find, feeling some pressure.

  "Hey, second brother," said only to Lao Er, "Is Sun Dabing that kid taking a break now or is he working?" With a pat on Lao Da's thigh, he excitedly said, "If you hadn't mentioned Sun Dabing, I would have forgotten about him! Now he probably isn't working!"

  The two brothers sang and harmonized, making Li Xiaoteng a bit dizzy. Li Xiaoteng nodded and said: "I'll ask you, Manager Kong, can we find the cold dish chef tonight? If we really can't find him, can the two of you help me call to see if your friends are interested in coming to work for us?"

  He hastily nodded to Big Brother and said, "If he's at home, I really have the confidence to pull him out." Li Xiaoteng nodded and thanked him. He sat on the tiger bench and gestured a few times. Then he casually put on a few strings. Only then did he go to prepare cold dishes as an excuse. He ran into his own cold dish room.

  Through the glass, Lao Da saw Li Xiaoteng busy running back and forth. It turned out that Li Xiaoteng was also a skilled worker.

  Li Xiaoteng found a large aluminum basin, similar to one used for bathing children. He casually poured some dried wood ears into it. Then he added half a basin of water and also took out a package of silver ears from the shelf, opening the packaging and pouring them in as well. Turning around, he began slicing various braised meats that were already cooked.

  He whispered to his younger brother, "I really didn't expect it, I thought Li was a second-generation rich kid!" He nodded at the second elder and said with a smirk, "Indeed, your knife skills are exquisite!"

  Li Xiaoteng did a neat job, chopping the meat dishes cleanly and sprinkling some garlic on top. He then used a cloth to wipe off some carrot shreds and threw them into the seaweed threads, making a bit of vinegar. Directly using a large basin, he mixed up a batch of seaweed threads.

  Cold mixed kelp, various sliced braised meat, cold mixed broccoli. Orange juice lotus root slices. A large plate, a large plate of cold dishes was brought out by Li Xiaoteng. Li Xiaoteng also took out the Dutch small yellow cucumbers and physalis that were washed yesterday from the refrigerator, which were placed on a large tray and also brought to the table by Li Xiaoteng.

  After a series of operations by Li Xiaoteng, time flew by quickly...

  Xiang brothers' lamb skewers. The meat is all threaded too. Xiang Lao Da, who has been staring at Li Xiao Teng cooking, suddenly asks strangely: "Li Zong, I saw you soaked a lot of black fungus and silver fungus just now. What's this for? Making soup or making desserts?"

  Li Xiaoteng laughed and said, "Brother Xiang, don't joke around! Where in the night market sells soup and desserts?" Xiang Laoer disagreed and said, "Director Li, last year when my brothers were doing business, there was a stall opposite us selling silver ear soup. They cooked it on the fire while selling it, and the sales were great! One bowl at a time. In less than an hour, they could sell out a big pot!"

  Li Xiaoteng suddenly slapped his forehead and shouted, "Damn it! I'm in trouble!" The Wei brothers looked at Li Xiaoteng strangely, only to see him rush to the stove next to the cold dish room. He quickly turned off the fire, then grabbed a large spoon and stirred it. Only then did he say, "Luckily, I reheated yesterday's unsold five-spice peanuts again. I was busy and forgot about them, almost burning them. Haha!"

  The Xiang brothers smelled the freshly cooked five-spice aroma and hurried over to take a look. They saw that half of the pot was filled with plump, fragrant peanuts, emitting a strong five-spice aroma as the heat dissipated. Amidst this, there was even a faint scent of traditional Chinese medicine wafting out.

  "Hey, Lao Erliu, what's with this peanut? It smells so good! What did you put in it?" Li Xiaoteng replied casually, "Nothing much! Just some spices and Lockyang pills to enhance virility."

  "Wow! Can five-spice peanuts really boost virility? Can I try some?" Li Xiaoteng scooped out a few with his ladle and handed them to Xiang Laore. Xiang Laore hastily grabbed one, threw it into his mouth, chewed twice, and then spat out the fragrance, saying: "It's so delicious! I didn't expect peanuts could be cooked so well? Li, tell me how you did it!"

  Li Xiaoteng chuckled and said: "You just focus on doing it well, next time I'll call you over and you can follow along once and you'll get the hang of it!"

  Li Xiaoteng fell silent for a moment before asking, "In the scorching summer, making silver ear soup and all that. Is it really selling well?" Xiang Lao Da hastily chimed in, "It's selling quite well! Using rock sugar and dried Chinese wolfberries to bring out the flavor, although it's a bit soupy when you drink it, but it's still very effective for nourishing yin and clearing fire. Originally, many ladies come to the night market to eat dinner, and after eating, having a bowl of soup is still quite enjoyable!"

  Li Xiaoteng didn't say a word either, thought for a moment and took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Qiu Zhen's number.

  Kong Zhen was anxiously searching for a cold dish chef in the talent market. However, all he saw were chefs who specialized in hot dishes, or those who grilled or braised meat looking for work. He had thought that as soon as he arrived, there would be many cold dish chefs surrounding him and competing for his job. But unexpectedly, he was met with a cold reception.

  Suddenly heard a cold dish chef looking for work. Rushed forward to chat, just saw a woman take the lead. Walked over and started chatting. Kong Zhen scratched his hair, wondering if he should go over and help. In less than half a minute, it seemed that the woman had already agreed with the chef on something. The two people turned around and left the job market immediately.

  Kong Zhen clenched his fists in frustration. Just as he was feeling depressed, the phone in his pocket rang. He quickly took out his mobile phone and saw that it was a call from Li Xiaoteng. Imagining what Li Xiaoteng would ask, Kong Zhen said: "Li Xiaoteng, how's the recruitment for the cold dish chef going?"

  Kong Zhen secretly took a deep breath and suddenly didn't dare to answer the phone anymore. Holding the ringing mobile phone in his hand.

  Kong Zhen bit his teeth and answered the phone, but didn't say a word. Then he heard Li Xiaoteng ask: "Kong Zhen, when you come back later, can you buy a few packs of turtle lotus seed powder from the supermarket?"

  Kong Zhen curiously asked, "Teng Ge, what is Gui Ling powder?" Li Xiao Teng smiled and said, "It's the stuff used to make Gui Ling jelly! You can definitely find it at the supermarket! Oh, and buy two bottles of honey, two bottles of sugar osmanthus, and a bottle of condensed milk. Don't forget!"

  Kong Zhen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Li Xiaoteng wasn't asking about the recruitment issue. He thought it was over, but then Li Xiaoteng asked: "Kong Zhen, how's the recruitment going?"

  Kong Zhen let out a silent sigh, thinking to himself: I knew it was inevitable! With some entanglement, he said: "Teng Ge, I still haven't found a satisfactory chef for the cold dishes. Today, I will definitely recruit a suitable cold dish chef, so you can rest assured."

  "Just forget it, if we can't find a suitable person. I'll think of something when I get back. First, go buy the tortoise jelly powder and the sugar osmanthus, condensed milk, honey and all that stuff I want!"

  Kong Zhenru let out a sigh of relief and said: "Alright, I'm going to the supermarket now!"

  Li Xiaoteng hung up the phone and said to the Xiang brothers, "You two were right! We really haven't found a suitable chef. You two mentioned a cold dish chef, please invite him over!"

  Told Lao Da that there was no problem. Took out the phone and dialed Sun Da Neng's number. The call was answered in a short while. Only heard Lao Da and Sun Da Neng recounting the situation. It seemed that Sun Da Neng still didn't want to do it.

  He said a couple of words to Lao Da with an unhappy tone. Only then did he turn his anger into joy and hung up the phone. He hurriedly reported to Li Xiaoteng, saying: "Sun Daben went to the talent market this afternoon and just talked to a manager in the personnel department. I made one call and it was settled!" After finishing speaking, he couldn't help but smile proudly!

  Li Xiaoteng happily praised two sentences to Lao Da, turned around and returned to the cold dish room. He scooped out the good wood ears, cleaned up the water, and put them back into the large basin that had just been dressed as broccoli. Then he found a bottle of Knorr's Mei Ji Xian soy sauce on the shelf, poured the whole bottle in, and casually added some raw soy sauce, chicken essence, and salt foam. He stirred it with his hand, grabbed some dried wolfberries and sprinkled them on the surface. Only then did he grab the large tray, carried it out.

  The Xiang brothers were carrying out the skewers they had roasted, while helping Li Xiaoteng with the cold dishes. By this time, the sky was already slightly dark. Li Xiaoteng washed his hands, lit a cigarette and stood at the entrance of Dongxing Restaurant, preparing for another night's battle. Suddenly, he looked around and found that the projector promised by Fatzi had not arrived yet. He felt a little angry.

  If it were an ordinary person, they would have made a fortune by now and be ecstatic. They might even do something irrational and extreme. But Li Xiaoteng is calmly preparing for the night market work. Truly unpredictable.

  Li Xiaoteng was about to take out his phone when he saw Cui Xiaoyan walking out with a box in her arms from the opposite side! Li Xiaoteng took a puff of smoke, gazing at Cui Xiaoyan, who was also looking over at this side. Suddenly, he heard Cui Xiaoyan loudly ask: "Boss Li is selling lamb skewers tonight too?"