Even if Lu Ming wanted to exert all his brain power, he still didn"t expect that after school ended, he would meet the person who was the most popular and simultaneously the most formidable teacher in the entire Zhenxiu Inst.i.tute, Yin Feng. It should be noted that he was the 8th ranked perfect grade chef on the star chef list. He only reluctantly agreed to teach a cla.s.s a day after the headmaster sincerely and repeatedly requested him to. This kind of treatment, even the great food connoisseur by his side who had previously only demanded money but now strangely became a lot better did not have the ability to compare. Apart from teaching a cla.s.s a day, Ren Zhu also had his duty as the head of the year, requiring the handle a few recommendations and a.s.sessment matters.
Hence, when Lu Ming saw the big iceberg Chef Yin, his entire body stiffened. He completely didn"t know what he should do next, and at this moment, Ren Zhu had already put the fresh ingredients he purchased onto the teacher"s cooking table.
Yin Feng"s expression was very cold. He deeply felt that Ren Zhu was asking for a mile when he gave him an inch: “I didn"t say that you could bring others to come and eat.”
Ren Zhu glanced at Yin Feng"s expression and faintly smiled while shaking his head: “I also did not bring others to come and eat ah. The quant.i.ty of these ingredients is also only enough for two people. I don"t have that kid"s share.”
Hearing these words, Chef Yin"s mood became a lot better. However he really couldn"t understand the purpose of Ren Zhu bringing a light bulb. His questioning look was very obvious, so Ren Zhu sighed and directly said: “There"s a little situation in his family which might require you to lend a hand.”
Yin Feng directly scoffed: “Do I look very much like a philanthropist?” Although he felt that as a teacher, he should take care of his students, but that was only within the cla.s.sroom. That person completely didn"t act as a teacher, but acted as though he had a mother"s thinking or G.o.d"s enlightenment. He only needed to properly teacher the children during cla.s.s. Why must he help them take care of everything?
This point was actually very similar to Teacher Ren"s educational philosophy, although he would always unconsciously give more concern towards his student"s family circ.u.mstances and mental issues. However, even if he was a highly experienced teacher, he also did not have a teacher"s but a parent"s way of thinking. Excellent education absolutely couldn"t be accomplished only from school. Besides needing a good teacher, they also needed good and responsible parents.
“Of course you don"t. I"m also not one. However, his family is a little special.” Ren Zhu looked at Lu Ming as he said this. The latter"s face was still tense as he stood in his original spot. “Stop daydreaming. Hurry up and tell him your family"s circ.u.mstances and request. I will not help you ask him. My is only so big. Bringing you here is already giving you a lot of preferential treatment.”
After Ren Zhu finished saying this, Lu Ming"s face was still a little tense. However, his heart"s desire quickly prevailed over his nerves. Taking a deep breath, Lu Ming looked at Yin Feng and said: “Teacher Yin, can you go to my house to let my brother see hope?”
At this moment, Yin Feng had already started to wash the vegetables. Hearing this, he didn"t hesitate to decline: “No time.”
For a split second, Lu Ming"s face became stiff and in addition, the rim of his eyes rapidly became red. He didn"t know what he should do next and subconsciously looked towards Ren Zhu who brought him here. He then saw Ren Zhu wink at him and make signals with his eyes. If he wasn"t afraid that his actions would be too obvious, Ren Zhu would perhaps can"t help but directly tell him what to do. However, this kind of signal was also enough to let Lu Ming understand what he should do next.
Lu Ming clenched his fists and lowered his head. He used a calm tone to start recounting his family"s situation.
“My father is Lu Cheng Shan. He is the person who I admire and like the most in this lifetime. He was proficient in Western cuisine and obtained a lot of big prizes. However, I prefer making dimsums from Chinese cuisine. Even though it was like this, my father still did not force me to study Western cuisine. He told me that even if I become a chef who makes food for others, before doing that, I must still first make the food I like to be able to go further in this profession. Naturally, I always believed that this was because my brother really liked making Western Cuisine. My father already had a successor, so he didn"t need to care about what I did.”
“My mother was very gentle and beautiful. Although she couldn"t cook, she was very good at sewing. Before I turned seventeen, every year my mother would make each of us four sets of clothes, a different one for each season. The clothes looked really nice, everyone would ask me where I had bought them from. They all didn"t know that these clothes were what my mother made herself.”
“My brother is someone who is very gentle on the surface but deep down is very overbearing. Even time I practised knife skills, if I didn"t practise enough times, he would stay beside me and count the times until I complete the practice. Clearly, his own knife skills were not as good as mine, but he still always watched me attentively. I was sometimes really annoyed by him.”
Lu Ming rambled on and said a lot. From what Yin Feng could make out of it, these words were simply all superfluous. If Ren Zhu hadn"t known about this family"s circ.u.mstances, he would also think that these words were not in the least bit useful. However……
“My family was very happy. At least before I turned seventeen, we were all very happy. I thought that in the future, I would become a dimsum chef and my brother would become a Western cuisine chef. We would then happily pa.s.s a lifetime. However, on my seventeenth birthday, when we drove to the mountains for an outing, we had a car accident.”
Lu Ming"s voice was trying to maintain its calm, but they could still hear a little tremble.
“When my father was driving the car, he picked up a phone call. It was Uncle Lu. I don"t know what Uncle Lu said on the phone, but my father was suddenly unable to restrain his anger. Then, he didn"t control the steering wheel well and the car directly fell down the mountain. At that time, my mother had shrieked and told me and my brother to be careful. My brother had reacted very fast and directly used his body to wrap around me, protecting me in his embrace. After the fierce impact, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I received the news that my parents had pa.s.sed away because of the car crash, and in order to protect me, both my brother"s hands were fractured, and his leg was also broken.”
Pata.
Transparent tears dripped onto the ceramic tile under Lu Ming"s feet. His voice had already trembled beyond recognition: “As for me, from head to toe I didn"t have any big injuries. I only had a few scratches.”
“My brother used his hands to protect me.” Lu Ming raised his head and looked at Yin Feng. “His hands were his life, his dream, his future.”
“He used his life, his dream and his future in exchange for my safety. Then, he lost his future and his dream. Teacher Yin, Teacher Ren said that what my brother needs now is not comfort or sympathy. He needs to see the light of hope. He told me that you can let my brother see that light. Although I don"t know how you will do it, I ask you to go and save my brother. As long as you can let him see hope, I, I am willing to do anything.”
Lu Ming finally finished saying everything he wanted to say. Afterwards, he lowered his head and waited for Yin Feng"s answer. His appearance looked just like he was waiting for the trial to decide his fate. However, for a long time, he did not hear a reply. Suffering from this torment, sweat started to drip down his forehead. Lu Ming felt that even standing had become very difficult.
Yin Feng finally spoke: “I don"t know what ‘the light of hope" is. I am only a chef, not a magician.”
Lu Ming felt a burst of dizziness.
Standing on the side, Ren Zhu clucked his tongue: “It"s just letting you go and cook for him.”
Chef Yin didn"t seem to have cut his finger. He put down the knife and frowned: “Cook? What does that have to do with hope?”
Lu Ming felt like he was brought back to life, but he also simultaneously turned his head to look puzzledly at Ren Zhu.
Ren Zhu smiled: “Naturally it is to use practical actions to tell him that even if you don"t have good hands, you can still make excellent and delicious food.”
Lu Ming"s eyes instantly widened. After a short moment, his expression became more and more bright, as though he seemed to understand something. As for Chef Yin, he felt that it was like he was forced onto a very pitted very big pirate ship.
In the end, Yin Feng still agreed to the matter of going to Lu Ming"s house on the weekend to make a meal for his brother. When Lu Ming obtained this answer, he was so moved that he almost knelt down in front of Teacher Yin, but was ultimately repelled by his very cold appearance.
After Lu Ming left, Chef Yin looked at the young man who was sitting beside the cooking table and waiting to eat with his chin propped up with his hand. He felt the veins on his forehead slightly pop.
“Don"t look at me like that ah. I only brought him over in pa.s.sing. In the end, the one who decided to help him with this matter was still you ah.” Teacher Ren smiled like a cat that got the cream.
Yin Feng scooped up a well-proportioned amount of the simmered soup with a ladle and then quickly poured it onto the slightly cooked Chinese baby cabbage, causing a burst of fragrant mist to float up. He then covered it with a lid to let it continue to simmer. “If you hadn"t brought him here, then nothing would have happened.”
Ren Zhu sighed: “Previously, I wasn"t very good to this child. I now promise you that I will repent sincerely and mend my mistaken ways. Nevertheless, I must still compensate him for it. Besides that, this child really did suffer a lot ah.”
When Yin Feng heard Ren Zhu say ‘promise you" these two words, his heart slightly jumped. However, the movement of his hand stir frying the pork ribs did not stop. The small pieces of tender pork that were wrapped in soup broth and soy sauce were evenly distributed in the pan. That slender and powerful hand gripped the handle of the frying pan and performed a beautiful toss. The tender pork moved in the air in a perfect arc and then smoothly fell back into the pan, emitting a captivating fragrance. “Cooking isn"t a big deal, but what is the light of hope? I don"t think I have that kind of thing in my hands, much less take it out for others to see.”
And at this moment, Ren Zhu was single-mindedly concentrating on his every movement. Watching… watching… He suddenly revealed a very odd nostalgic smile.
For a long time, Yin Feng didn"t receive a reply. He ladled the stir-fried pork ribs out of the pan and then raised his head. He saw that guy smiling at him, but his eyes seemed to be looking far away.
He didn"t like this look.
“What are you daydreaming about?”
Ren Zhu abruptly snapped back to reality and concealed his expression with laughter. “Nothing. Just then I saw how perfect your movements were and thought of someone who would even be clumsy when tossing a pan, nearly tossing all the pork ribs out.” Ren Zhu stopped for a moment. Obviously the cooking skills of these two people were like the difference between sky and earth. Yet, he felt that their appearance when cooking were very similar. Too similar.
Yin Feng: “Ah. That is indeed a useless person. Since I was young, I have never tossed food out of the pan.”
Ren Zhu heard these extremely prideful words and suddenly felt like laughing. Consequently, he really did start to laugh: “Right ah. That person is a cooking failure, whereas you are a cooking genius.
Yin Feng paused, opened his mouth, and then paused again. In the end, he didn"t say anything.
“You are a genius. You can accomplish a lot of things that are impossible for others. When you cook, your each and every action is very natural and beautiful, making people who see you cook feel that if they can eat the food you make, they would be very happy. The flavour of the dish would also make people feel very blessed. So, this is your light. This is the light that I feel you can give to Lu Xiao to see.”
“However, I need you to only use your thumbs and index fingers the entire time. You also need to have a plank fastened to your arms. Then, make a very delicious and satisfactory dish. Can you do this? Lord Star Chef?”
Yin Feng heard that last question and his face revealed a cold sneer: “Even if I only use two fingers and my entire body is fastened to a plank, I can still make a dish that meets my standards. This is my most basic bottom line, it has nothing to do with whether the body is good or bad.”