Tears streaming down, vote for me, details below

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  "Chinese cuisine has always had the saying 'seven points knife work, three points heat stir-fry', 'no knife no dish'! Chen Xiao was educated to pass on the way: 'That is to say, a qualified chef, knife work is the foundation. Want to become a good chef, you need to practice good knife work!"

  "I want to become the world's number one chef!" Transmitting Fatty's chubby face was full of red light.

  "Then you must have the world's number one knife work!" Chen Ke also did not discourage him, and said loudly: "Even more need to pay the world's number one sweat!"

  "I'm not afraid of hardship!" Chuan Fu exclaimed excitedly.

  "Alright, let's get started! To master knife skills, first you need to choose a good kitchen knife!" Chen Ke wasn't just trying to fool him, his first job after demobilization was as a chef and he even attended culinary school. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to show off his cooking skills with just two hands: "For now, the kitchen knives your father left behind are enough for you to use, so we can skip this step."

  "From today, you will start practicing knife skills. It takes half a year to make some progress in knife skills." Chen Ke said: "Of course, our situation is special and we can't follow the usual procedure, so I'll give you three chances for rapid progress every day... this way, neither of us will be delayed."

  Rokurō, who was listening curiously on the side, thought for a moment and whispered to Gorō: "What Third Brother means is that this fatty will take care of our family's three meals a day, right?"

  This afternoon, Cai Chuanfu began to practice empty cutting. Chen Ke ordered him to stand in front of the empty pile with his feet in a "ding" shape, holding the knife in his right hand and posing his left hand in a finger shape, then repeatedly lifting and dropping the knife. At first, he still felt very relaxed, but after a long time, his arm began to ache, and he wanted to slow down the pace.

  Who would have thought that Chen Sanlang, who was writing in the inner room, heard the sound of the knife chopping the cutting board slow down and loudly said: "Asleep? Lazy on the first day, still want to be the world's number one chef?"

  "It is..." Cai Chuanfu hurriedly quickened his pace, maintaining a steady thumping sound.

  He chopped for an entire morning, getting so tired that his waist ached and his back hurt and his legs cramped, yet he didn't dare relax for even a moment, not only because Chen Ke would scold him, but also because the moment he lost focus, he cut into his finger...

  It wasn't until noon that Chen Ke called a halt. Cai Chuanfu collapsed to the ground, his right arm unable to be lifted no matter how hard he tried.

  "Take a rest, I'll make lunch." Chen Ke handed him a cup of warm water.

  "Master..." He trembled as he held the bamboo cup and took a sip. Chuan Fu's eyes welled up with tears as he raised his head: "Why are you giving me salt water to drink?" The price of salt in the Song Dynasty was high, ordinary families wouldn't waste salt like this.

  "Replenish your energy, idiot!" Chen Ke scolded with a majestic tone, then began to skillfully wash, chop and stir-fry the ingredients. Finally witnessing the legendary technique, Fan's heart skipped a beat as he widened his eyes, fearing that he might miss a single scene.

  After lunch, Chen Ke made him practice ladle work. Ladling was using his left hand to exert force and his right hand to save energy, leaving no room for him to slack off. By evening, both of Fan Fu's arms were too weak to lift, and he was completely exhausted.

  This meal, Chen Ke had to cook again. He was very dissatisfied and said: "As the saying goes: 'Old yin and yang, less chef.' Without physical strength, you can't be a chef. How come your physical strength is so poor? From tomorrow on, follow me to exercise!"

  "Yes, Master..." Chuan Fu was about to cry.

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  So from the second day on, at every dawn, Chen Ke would take Cai Chuanfu and run three laps around the county town. After returning home, Chen Ke would cook breakfast. Chuanfu couldn't slack off either, he had to chop firewood in the yard with an axe... According to his ruthless master's words, this could not only exercise his arm strength but also supplement the family income... The chopped firewood would be sent to the early-riser food stall on Front Street, and they had to earn at least twenty coins every day before they could eat.

  After dinner, he practiced knife work in the morning and practiced palm spoon in the afternoon. During lunch and dinner time, Chen Ke would teach him a few stir-fry dishes in different ways. This continued for half a month before letting him start cutting waste paper, starting with one sheet of paper, gradually increasing to two sheets, then to a stack... Chen Ke didn't have the virtue of respecting paper like ancient people, after finishing writing on the paper, he would let Chuan Fu cut it into strips.

  It is amazing that Chen Ke's writing was uninterrupted, and he could keep up with Cai Chuanfu's cutting. In one month, he copied five volumes of "Guangyun", with a total of 217,886 words including annotations, averaging over 7,000 characters per day... and they were big characters.

  Li Jian was relieved to see that his son's studies had not been neglected, and he naturally dispelled the idea of letting Cai Chuanfu leave. What pleased him most was that after a month, Sanlang's temperament had become more calm and tranquil, no longer as restless as before. Practicing calligraphy is indeed a way to cultivate one's mind, the ancients were not deceiving me.

  The only thing that makes him scratch his head is that this month, he spent two thousand yuan just on buying paper... almost half a month's salary. But seeing his son's progress, **** Liang feels that it was all worth it.

  By the second month, Chuanfu's two hands had become much stronger and more stable. Chen Ke began to teach him various cutting techniques such as pushing, chopping, jumping, slicing, dicing, etc., as well as cooking methods like stir-frying and boiling. He also took over all the cooking tasks, devoting himself to cooking each dish with great care.

  Time flies like flowing water, and in the blink of an eye, it's already June. The time Chuanfu spent learning from Master Chen has far exceeded the expected one month, but the master hasn't said anything about stopping, so he also didn't say a word, focusing on completing his daily tasks. Until one day after finishing dinner and putting away the bowls and chopsticks, Master Chen seemed to casually say: "You've made quite some progress in these two months, the dishes you stir-fry are already presentable."

  "Hehe..." Transmitted Fu's thick and honest smile, rubbing his obviously thinning hair said: "Thank you Master for the praise."

  "This silly kid..." **** Liang smiled and said: "Third Brother's meaning is that you can go back to work now!"

  "Ah...... is that so, Master?" Chuan Fu said in disbelief.

  "Don't be too happy yet." Chen Ke said seriously, "It's just that we can't always have one person work and seven people eat. Besides, my dad is going to quit his job at the dock..."

  "How can there be seven people?" Chuan Fu counted and recounted, but there were only six.

  "You can eat so much, of course you count as two." Liu Lang chuckled and said.

  "Cough..." Chuan Fu chuckled and smiled, then heard Chen Ke say: "In the culinary world, you've only learned a bit of superficial knowledge. If you're satisfied with that, for your whole life, you'll just be a chef in a small county town. You won't even be able to leave Meishan, let alone go to Bianliang."

  "En." Chuan Fu nodded heavily and said: "I will continue to learn from Master!"

  "Later on, business will get better and better, you'll be busy from dawn till dusk, so there's no need to come over," Chen Ke said with full confidence in Lai Fu's business: "When I have time, I'll go over..."

  "Master, I've thought it through..." Although they were ten years apart in age, Chuan Fu had already regarded Chen Ke as his true senior after two months of getting along. His tone was filled with heartfelt respect and affection: "From now on, have three meals cooked for you every day and have the apprentices deliver them to you."

  "Absolutely not," Lian said, shaking his head repeatedly: "It will affect your business."

  "I let the apprentice send it a bit earlier, so as not to delay business, and saving on cooking is secondary," Chuan Fu said sincerely: "The key is that Master and Master Shu are at the stage of growing their bodies, they need to eat a little better."

  "...He said that, and ** Liang's heart moved a little: "Then let them go to your place to eat! Of course, they can't eat for free, whatever the price is, they'll pay it!"

  "Master said so, that means I'm an outsider now." Chuan Fu insisted: "Master taught me the ultimate stir-fry technique, and my sons and grandsons will benefit from it endlessly. How much is this worth? If I still ask Master to pay for meals, do I even have a conscience?"

  "You've just started, and you still need to save...". Liang Jue thought that Chen Ke was really good at judging people, taking on such an apprentice would mean he'd never have to worry about food for the rest of his life.

  "No matter how frugal you are, it's still not as good as a meal from the master's house." Chuan Fu said with a smile: "Just let a little bit of rice spill from the spoon, and that will be enough for you to eat."

  "Didn't notice it before..." Roronoa Zoro stared with wide eyes and said: "Sanji is really cunning!"

  "Go and have fun." Chen Ke patted Liu Lang's cheek and said to Chuan Fu, "When opening for business, follow what I said. The first day is free, then the first ten days are half price, after that twenty days at 70% off, and a month later, adjust to 80% off and don't change it."

  "Why don't we just set a lower price?" said Chuan Fu, scratching his head.

  "Dummy," Chen cursed, "One dish, although you sell it for eight cents and ten cents with a discount of eight cents off, the price is the same, but in the customer's perception, they are completely different... Think about it, when customers see the menu, which one do they think is better, the eight-cent dish or the ten-cent dish?"

  "Of course it's ten cents."

  "Yeah, he'll think this dish is more valuable and with a discount, it's like getting a good deal. Chen Ke smiled: "Unconsciously, he will order a few more expensive dishes."

  "Master is really cunning." Chuan Fu said with a smile: "Oh no, Master is really brilliant."

  "This isn't called cunning, it's just normal business tactics." Chen Ke said seriously: "You must remember that honest management can last long, but you also need to understand the customer's psychology and use your mind to manage, only then can you earn more money."

  "Not bad." Liang heard this and nodded in approval: "The Art of War says that one should use the normal to unite with the abnormal, and this is exactly what it means."

  "I remember." Zhuan Fu nodded seriously. Since there was still his mother at home, he said a few more words before bidding farewell and leaving.

  Father and son sent him away, returned to the house, Chen Ke asked: "Dad, why did you suddenly want to change your career?" He also just heard **** Liang say that he was not prepared to work on the dock anymore.

  "Am I only capable of pushing a small cart?" ***Liang burst out laughing: "You little brat, you really look down on your old man!" Only then did he reveal his own plans: "The summer grain harvest is about to be collected, the county has hired an accountant who can write and calculate, I went to the county government office for a test a while ago, and I've already been employed!"

  "Is that so? What wonderful news!" Er Lang and San Lang exclaimed together: "Dad can really hold his breath, only saying it now!"

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  I want to report something that I'm sorry about. Last month's monthly ticket reward didn't arrive, although the number of votes was enough, but unexpectedly there was a word count limit... 55555...... one thousand yuan, for a new book author, that's food money! Seeking comfort, seeking recommendation tickets, seeking collection, seeking patronage...