Chapter 17: Where to Find a Great Chef?

When Huo Beichuan wasn’t home, Shen Jintao’s life became quite simple. She slept until she naturally woke up, helped cook lunch, fed the chickens, and her little life was quite comfortable.

She didn’t understand why Shen Chunmiao always looked at her with such a schadenfreude expression whenever they met.

Shen Chunmiao and Lu Qingshan’s wedding day was approaching, and for reasons unknown, the second branch of the Shen family probably wanted to overshadow Shen Jintao’s wedding with Shen Chunmiao’s, so they made it quite extravagant.

It’s worth noting that Lu Qingshan’s family wasn’t local, and his parents didn’t come. The wedding arrangements were all handled by the second branch of the Shen family. Although it was done well, there was quite a bit of behind-the-scenes gossip about Shen Chunmiao’s dowry.

What left Shen Jintao speechless was that Shen Chunmiao had specifically come to invite her, insisting that she must attend her wedding.

After thinking it over, Shen Jintao decided to go and gave a gift of 50 cents.

What was unexpected was that despite inviting so many people, Shen Chunmiao and Lu Qingshan’s wedding barely had any meat dishes.

Each table only had six dishes, and the only meat dish was eggs.

Moreover, Lu Qingshan hadn’t been able to borrow a bicycle. Originally, he had planned to ask Shen Jintao to lend him hers since her bike was new and would make a good impression when ridden out.

However, Lu Qingshan didn’t dare to have much contact with Shen Jintao now, fearing she might reveal some “truth.” At least until he got the city return quota, he absolutely couldn’t let Shen Chunmiao find out.

For some reason, no one was willing to lend him a bicycle for the wedding. Lu Qingshan had no choice but to explain to the second branch of the Shen family that he was in the brigade and didn’t need anything so complicated.

Despite the displeasure of Xie Lanzhi and Shen Jianguo, the marriage had been settled. Even if Lu Qingshan couldn’t provide a bicycle, they couldn’t do anything about it.

Obviously, everyone could see that the wedding wasn’t as extravagant as it should have been. Everyone remembered when Shen Chunmiao’s family went to invite people, they didn’t hold back at all. That made them think of Shen Jintao’s wedding, where breakfast was arranged by Shen Jianmin’s family in the morning and the lunch was arranged by the Huo family, both of which had left them feeling very satisfied.

Therefore, everyone assumed Shen Chunmiao’s wedding would be at least as good as Shen Jintao’s.

In fact, Wang Lanxiu initially wanted to pitch in some money to help, but she was stopped by Old Man Shen, so the wedding feast ended up being quite lackluster.

Everyone was dissatisfied, but Shen Chunmiao was extremely proud.

Today, she wore a new shirt, military green, paired with the usual black straight-leg trousers. The outfit was decent.

Of course, Shen Chunmiao couldn’t continue living in the old Shen family house after marrying Lu Qingshan. Lu Qingshan had rented an empty house at the educated youth site, so he planned to take her there for a visit.

However, she would still have to come back later, since the banquet was held at the old Shen family’s place.

Before leaving, Shen Chunmiao walked up to Shen Jintao with a smug look on her face. “Seeing me marry Brother Qingshan, do you feel particularly uncomfortable? But you just don’t have that kind of luck.”

“Repeating these pointless things in front of me really leaves me speechless. Today is your wedding, so I don’t want to say anything unpleasant,” Shen Jintao replied, not wanting to engage.

“Just keep being stubborn. One day, you’ll regret it and see me living a good life. Don’t think that Brother Qingshan’s life is set in stone. You’ll never know, but the world is about to change in ways you can’t imagine. Although Brother Qingshan is just an educated youth now, in the future, he will be at a height you could never dream of.”

After saying this, Shen Chunmiao smugly followed Lu Qingshan out the door.

Her words were not spoken in a lowered voice, so many people heard her. The eyes of the second branch of the Shen family were now somewhat strange.

Xie Lanzhi was also angry. The girl had no patience at all. If she hadn’t repeatedly assured her that she knew Lu Qingshan’s family was special and that they could help her two sons later, she would have never agreed to this marriage.

Now, it was too late to say anything. She just hoped that the girl hadn’t lied to her.

The lunch was as it was. Shen Jintao didn’t want to argue with others, so she watched the festivities with the Huo family and then went home.

For some reason, seeing Shen Chunmiao and Lu Qingshan marry, Shen Jintao felt no emotion at all and almost wanted to applaud. Both of them were pieces of work, and when two such pieces came together, it was bound to be quite a spectacle.

Feeling in a good mood, Shen Jintao decided to make a few dishes herself. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that these simple dishes were more elaborate than the wedding banquet Shen Chunmiao had.

Moreover, today, she had even sliced a bit of venison to cook.

The venison had been marinated and stored in a large, cool cellar with ample space, so there was no problem at all.

The family ate heartily, and even Huo Nanxi couldn’t help but feel a bit smug.

“I thought Lu Qingshan was something impressive, but this? Looks like Shen Chunmiao was the one doing all the giving, tsk tsk tsk…”

“Stop talking while you’re eating!” Liu Guifen shot her a glare.

Once Shen Chunmiao’s wedding was over, she moved to the educated youth site.

Shen Jintao still hadn’t received a letter from Huo Beichuan, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned. So, she went out and bought a lot of meat and vegetables to prepare things that could be stored for a long time.

Things like dried meat, vegetable sauces, and meat sauces. Shen Jintao’s ability to open a hotel after the economic reforms was proof of her cooking skills, as she had built it up step by step.

Liu Guifen saw how attentive her daughter-in-law was toward her son and felt very gratified.

Shen Jintao prepared a large package and rode her bicycle out.

After heading straight to the post office to send the package, she started pushing her bicycle around aimlessly, since she didn’t often go out and felt like strolling for a bit.

“What are we going to do now? Master Zhuang is sick, and the other chef just quit. It’s almost mealtime, and we have an important guest coming to dinner tonight. Where are we going to find a good chef?”

As she passed by the entrance of the state-owned restaurant, Shen Jintao heard the anxious voices of the staff inside. She looked over and saw several staff members pacing around in a panic.

“If it’s really impossible, should we invite Chef Wang back?”

“It’d be great if we could invite him back, but Chef Wang is older and already at retirement age. After he stopped working, he went to live with his son in the city. Even if we go to the city now, it’s too late.”

“We’re done for. None of us can cook!”

“Isn’t Xiao Ya always learning from Master Zhuang? Why don’t you give it a try?”

The person named Luo Ya had indeed been learning, but she knew her own limitations well. Immediately, her face turned awkward. “I… I probably can’t do it. If it were any other day, it’d be fine, but with such an important guest coming… I’m afraid I’ll mess it up!”