May 2013.

UK, London.

Chinatown.

As night fell, it was dinner time, and people were coming and going on the street.

Whether they are London residents who love Chinese food or yellow-skinned Chinese, they are all looking around, trying to find a moment of solace for their hungry stomachs.

And a Chinese restaurant called "Huaji Chinese Food" was already bustling with people and all the seats were packed.

"Half roast duck, Mapo tofu, fried noodles, stir-fried vegetables... Is that all? Okay, I'll place an order for you right away."

The waitress who had just placed an order for one table of guests heard the call from another table of guests not far away before she handed the order to the kitchen:

"Waiter, take your order!"

"Okay, I'll come right away."

As he replied, the waitress in a cheongsam did not go over immediately. Instead, she quickly came to the kitchen outlet and handed the order to a middle-aged man in a white chef's uniform.

After taking the order, the man glanced at it quickly, then pressed the order with a heavy object, turned around, faced the equally busy kitchen, and shouted loudly in Chinese:

"Table No. 5, one portion each of mapo tofu, fried noodles, and dried vegetables. Move quickly!"

After that, he took a roast duck brought over by another waitress, came to a chopping board in the kitchen, and started to process it.

The kitchen is not too big, but it is well organized.

Six kitchen staff are working together in an orderly manner to complete Chinese dishes that are both delicious and delicious.

The middle-aged man who is handling the roast duck is the owner and chef of this "Huaji Chinese Restaurant".

He is a second-generation immigrant in the 1980s. In order to inherit his father's restaurant, he gave up his financial career and turned to study cooking.

Since taking over in the late 1990s, it has been operating ever since and has become a well-received Chinese restaurant in Chinatown...

Put the cut half of the roast duck on the plate and put two green broccoli as decoration. After it was done, the boss immediately looked up at an Asian young man wearing a white T-shirt standing by the sink and ordered

:

"Aqi, chop more cabbage and onions!"

"receive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Asian young man picked up a slender kitchen knife, took out a cabbage from the basket, and put it on the chopping board in front of him.

Immediately afterwards, with a quick "de, de" sound, the cutting knife and the chopping board quickly came into contact and separated. Under the young man's sharp knife skills, the cabbage quickly turned into a cabbage of similar thickness.

Silk!

The young man did not stop, but flipped his fingers, turned the kitchen knife in his hand, and took out an onion from the basket again.

In just a few minutes, he cut the seven cabbages and six onions in the basket into the desired shapes...

And this vegetable chopping maniac is none other than Lu Qi.

A month ago, he woke up on a cold floor in an apartment in Chinatown.

This time, the [System] was very generous and directly arranged his identity and residence for him.

However, before he could start collecting information to confirm which game the current world was in, the landlord came to his door and urged him to pay the rent.

In desperation, Lu Qi could only ask the landlord for a few days of grace to survive the first wave of survival crisis.

In order to make money to pay the rent, he left the apartment and wanted to find a job.

When I first arrived downstairs, I happened to see a notice recruiting chef help at the door of "Hua Kee Chinese Restaurant" opposite.

So, he came for an interview.

The restaurant owner liked this polite and handsome fellow countryman very much, and without saying a word, he directly decided to hire him.

This is why he is chopping vegetables here...

After cutting the vegetables in the basket, Lu Qi flicked his hand and inserted the kitchen knife on the chopping board with a bang.

"Aqi, wash the dishes!"

"receive!"

As a kitchen assistant, his job is not only to help the chef cut vegetables and prepare side dishes, but also to clean the chopping board and wash the dishes. He is basically the tiger balm in the kitchen and does everything.

It wasn't until after the busy dinner time that the kitchen suddenly felt free.

At this time, the kitchen staff, who had been busy for about three hours, had time to enjoy their dinner...

Just when Lu Qi was enjoying a plate of mushroom and chicken rice, the kitchen door was pushed open, and the waitress in a cheongsam raised her eyebrows at him and joked with a joking face:

"Aqi, your little girlfriend is here to see you again..."

Hearing this, Lu Qi was stunned for a moment, then realized what he was saying and replied angrily:

"I've said it several times, she is not my girlfriend..."

He took the last bite of rice into his mouth, picked up a tissue and wiped his mouth, then stood up and walked out of the kitchen under the ambiguous looks of everyone.

As soon as he walked out of the kitchen, he heard a familiar voice:

"Hey! Alex!"

Looking around, Lu Qi saw a young girl wearing a graffiti T-shirt and short black hair, sitting at a dining table and waving cheerfully to him.

Smiling back, Lu Qi quickly came to the dining table, pulled out a chair and sat down, and asked:

"Hi Samantha, why are you here?"

Hearing Lu Qi's words, the short-haired girl blinked and smiled sweetly, "I'm here to find you! Come and try my favorite Mapo Tofu."

The short-haired girl in front of me is of mixed Portuguese and Japanese descent, and her name is Samantha Nishimura.

She has recently graduated from University College London and is now a trainee documentary filmmaker.

She is the first friend Lu Qi has met in this world.

About half a month ago, while shopping in Chinatown, Lu Qi happened to meet Samantha who had forgotten her wallet.

Lu Qi kindly came to help and paid for the goods for the other party.

Samantha was very grateful to him and wanted to repay him, so she asked him for his phone number.

When they met for the second time, Samantha offered to treat him to dinner. In return, Lu Qi took her to "Huaji" because he wanted to keep the money from outsiders.

Unexpectedly, after eating Mapo Tofu, Samantha immediately fell in love with this famous Sichuan dish.

In the next few weeks, she came over almost every few days to eat.

After going back and forth, the two people of similar age soon became friends...

"Are you free tonight? My classmate is planning to have a party at home. Do you want to go with him?"

"Sorry, I may not be free tonight and have to go out."

"It doesn't matter, I don't really want to go alone anyway..."

After chatting with Samantha for a while, the waitress brought a plate of hot mapo tofu and placed it on the table.

After seeing the delicious food, Samantha's eyes lit up, then she put her palms together and said in Japanese:

"I'm going to start!"

After saying that, she immediately picked up the spoon and started to eat happily.

Seeing this mixed-race Sakura girl eating so unrestrainedly, Lu Qi twitched the corner of his mouth and couldn't help but exhorted:

"Eat slowly, no one will snatch it from you..."

"This is how you have to eat Mapo Tofu to make it enjoyable!"

While putting the hot tofu into her mouth, Samantha did not forget to say:
Chapter completed!