The fat woman looked at Manager Tan with glowing eyes: "So, is she a tongguò?" This shredded tofu soup is really so delicious? He kept swallowing as he spoke.

Manager Tan glanced at her dissatisfiedly, and finally said kindly: "If you want to eat, take the bowl yourself." ”

"Yes, yes, thank you Mr. Tan." The fat woman happily filled a bowl and couldn't wait to take a sip, her eyes that were already squeezed by the fat on her face narrowed, "It's delicious, it's so delicious, girl, you have a future!" The fat hand patted Ning Xi's shoulder hard.

Ning Xi said in his heart: "If I don't let you come here, I have a better future!" ”

Han Xiangfei and You Zhenniang didn't dare to take it lightly, they both made a dish seriously, otherwise, it wouldn't be fun if they were ranked in the third class, not to mention that it was not good to eat and live, the third-class chef was also the most controlled, in Han Xiangfei's opinion, the second class is the best, there is a separate residence, and the range of free activities is relatively large, and it is more convenient to do something or find an opportunity to escape.

Han Xiangfei made a bowl of tofu ball soup, wrapped the tofu with a piece of gauze, kneaded it and squeezed out the water, took a small spoon and scooped up a small ball and put it into the bowl with flour, sprinkled some minced meat, and then swung the bowl with his wrist to make the tofu all sides covered with flour, and finally leaned the bowl against the edge of the pot, and the tofu balls rolled down into the boiling water in the pot.

He did it one by one very patiently, and Manager Tan also watched them one by one very patiently, and he didn't bother to repeat the movements.

After a while, a bowl of tofu balls is prepared and put into a bowl, cook a bowl of clear soup, sprinkle with salt and chopped green onions, drizzle sesame oil and pepper, and pour it on the meatballs.

Seeing that he was skillful, Mr. Tan already knew it, and at this time he just tasted it casually, so he nodded and said that it was a good idea, and the remaining tofu ball soup naturally entered the fat woman's mouth again, she first drank a big mouthful of soup, and nodded violently and praised: "It's very fresh!" Then he took another bite of the tofu balls and nodded again, "Tender enough." ”

You Zhenniang made a decent fried tofu with chives, and the foundation of her cooking skills is here, so she naturally passed the assessment of Manager Tan and became a second-class chef.

Next, the fat woman took the three of them to collect their things and arrange accommodation.

Each of them received two sets of clothes, a quilt and a mat, and a wooden barrel, which were all the belongings, and the fat woman said that after a month of work, there was still a salary every month, and the second-class cook could go to the market to buy some things for life.

Yes, there are still markets on the island, and if you have any other skills, such as weaving straw sandals or rattan baskets, you can go into the mountains to find raw materials when you have time, and you can sell them in the market in exchange for other necessities.

The bazaar is opened once every ten days, and no matter how much the goods are sold, the owner of the island must take one-tenth of the tax, and it is not allowed to trade privately in ordinary times, and once it is discovered, it will be fined and beaten ten times, and those in charge of the whip are all barbed, and ten lashes will go down, and it will not be good if you do not lie down for ten days and a half months.

The houses that the three of them were assigned to lean together, this is a long row of independent courtyards built together, each courtyard has two rooms, a small courtyard is separated by a bamboo fence, there are simple beds, tables and chairs and other furniture in the house, outside the courtyard, there is a well at the east end, and there is a toilet at the west end, which is shared by this row of small courtyards.

When Ning Xi came over just now, he paid attention to it, there are about twenty small courtyards in such a row, and there are about ten rows of small courtyards in this large area, if it is full, there are two or three hundred people on this island at the level of stewardship alone, and without decades of accumulation, it is estimated that it will not be able to do this.

Now Ningxi and they are on the same level as this fat woman, plus she just ate the delicious food they made, and at this time she was also a lot warmer with them, and told them a lot of things on the island, from her words, it can be heard that the owner of this island is the only one, and all the people on the island are his slaves, anyway, as long as he comes to the island, he should not expect to return to the mainland in this life.

Many people have had children here, and they have multiplied on the island from generation to generation, and over time, they don't even know what it's like on the mainland.

Ning Xi felt very strange, such a large volcanic island was not far from the mainland, she was lonely and unheard of, why didn't even Jun Qianyu know about it? If the imperial court knew, how could it tolerate such a long-term impunity for such an island owner?

But these things are not what they can know with their current identity, Ning Xi thought, in order to explore the secrets of the island, find Jun Qianyu, and get the antidote, she must do her best to become a first-class chef.

According to the fat woman, the place where they live now is the servant quarters, and the first-class cooks do not live here, they live in the central area where the island owner is, she has lived on this island for more than ten years, and has not had a chance to enter it, I heard that it is as luxurious as the palace, and even the cups made of gold are used for drinking water.

The afternoon is the day when the owner of the island personally selects the first-class chef, although it is the owner of the island who personally selects it, but in fact he will not show up, but let people send the finished dishes to him to taste, except for the people in the central area, no one has seen the true face of the owner, according to the fat woman, even the manager Tan has not seen it.

In the mouths of these servants, there are many legends about the image of the island owner, some say that he is six feet tall, three heads and six arms, and a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and some say that he is very handsome and a merry man, but one thing remains the same, that is, the island owner is very powerful, it is said that his mouth can breathe fire, and his hands can cause monstrous waves with a slap, in short, he is a god-like being.

Ning Xi naturally knew that most of these legends were exaggerated, but he was also full of curiosity about the island owner.

The fat woman took them to the kitchen to receive the meal, the second-class chef is the same as the little steward, the dishes are quantitative, one meat and one vegetable, the specific dishes depend on what dishes are in the kitchen that day, a bowl of white rice, generally women can eat enough, men are not necessarily, but they are cooks, they can access a lot of ingredients in the kitchen, and whoever is hungry will not be able to starve.

After eating, the fat woman asked them to go back to their lodgings to rest, and someone would take them to the kitchen to participate in the assessment.

Ning Xi calculated in his heart, it was about one o'clock in the afternoon at the beginning of the month, and it was not yet noon, so there was still time to rest.

Ning Xi returned to her residence and just lay down on the mat she had just laid out, when the door was pushed open, and You Zhenniang walked in: "Miss Ning, have you slept?" ”

"Not yet!" Ning Xi said, "Miss You, is there something wrong?" ”

You Zhenniang said: "I have something I want to ask you for a favor. ”

"What's the matter, just say, as long as I can help, I will definitely help you."

You Zhenniang was a little embarrassed: "I want to ask you to teach me to make a dish from an ancient recipe." "Ever since Ning Xi rose to prominence in the chef's competition, everyone thought that she must have had a long-lost recipe that allowed her to make many top-notch dishes that no one had ever heard of.

"Why?" Ning Xi was quite surprised, people in this world pay great attention to the teacher, especially the recipe, which is very precious, and generally will not be revealed to others lightly, if a person learns someone else's recipe without the consent of others, it is stealing the teacher, and Yan zhòng will be kicked out of the culinary world. You Zhenniang's request can be regarded as very excessive, that is, Ning Xi doesn't care much about this, and if she changes someone else, she will get angry early.

You Zhenniang "plopped" and knelt down for her: "Miss Ning, I beg you, I really want to be a first-class chef." ”

"Isn't second class good? At least we don't know what will happen to a first-class chef. ”

"No, I'm not reconciled." You Zhenniang said, "I am not willing to be only a second-class chef and be trapped in this place for the rest of my life. Ningxi, my family is a restaurant, my mother was originally just a maid in the family, was taken by my father and gave birth to me, but my mother and several brothers have always looked down on our mother and daughter, my mother and I have never had a good day, I have worked hard to learn cooking since I was a child, just to be able to get ahead one day, so that my father and a few brothers can see my importance to the family, but no matter how hard I try, they still don't take me seriously. This time I had a hard time getting the opportunity to participate in the chef competition, hoping to get a good ranking and let them know that I wasn't good for nothing! But no matter how hard I tried, I only got a chicken rib fourth place in the end, Ning Xi, how can a person like you who can do the best no matter what you do, how can you know the pain of people like us who can only become a foil for others no matter how hard we try? ”

"But even if you become a first-class chef here, your father and brother won't know about it!" Ning Xi was still trying to persuade her, the central area of the volcanic island was not such a good place to go after all, even if she taught her to cook and make her a first-class chef, but if there was no real material, it was difficult to say whether she could mix it up, in case it was discovered that she did not have the ability to be a first-class chef, then could she come back? According to the fat woman, as long as she entered the central area or the "orchard", she had not seen anyone back for more than ten years, so those two places were very mysterious to the people here.

You Zhenniang said resolutely: "I have made up my mind, you don't have to persuade me anymore, if you don't want me to learn a dish from you for nothing, then I promise you, after I become a first-class cook, how about giving you half of the gold and silver I get?" ”

Ning Xi smiled instead, if she really valued those gold and silver possessions, with her ability, what could she not get? Even if she doesn't rely on her cooking skills, as long as she is willing to follow him as Jun Qianyu said, what do you want?

"I can teach you, but not for your gold and silver possessions, I just help you do this for the sake of our acquaintance once and falling into this situation together, but if something happens to me again in the future, then I can't do anything."

You Zhenniang said happily: "Okay, as long as you can become a first-class chef and leave this ghost place, you can do whatever you want!" ”