"The moon is set and the stars are rare in the morning, and the sun rises to meet the dawn." Xicheng Zhangzhuang old hutong, a fritter full of incense. The outside is tender and crispy on the inside, and the five corners are thick and long. There was a long array of snakes lined up in front of the door, and they all raised their fingers to praise. ”
Just after dawn, the old hutong "Satisfaction Fritter Shop" in the middle section of Zhangzhuang Community Union Road in Xicheng Street, Jieshou City, Anhui Province, was busy, and for a time the customers were full of doors, and a long snake array was lined up in front of the door. I saw Master Wang Lei standing in front of the oil pot, his right hand flipping the tender yellow fritters sharply, and his face overflowed with fine beads of sweat.
Wang Lei, a 56-year-old national first-class chef and a native of Zaowangzhuang Natural Village, Brick Market Town, graduated from junior high school and first apprenticed at the Huaibei Hotel in Linquan County, with chef Wang Yongxin as his teacher. In order to learn more chef skills, a year later, he came to the Dongfanghong Hotel in Linquan County to worship chef Wang Cheng as a teacher. In the meantime, every day cutting vegetables, platters, spices, palm pots, etc., a busy time is more than ten hours, but never half a word of complaint. After another two years, he mastered the skills of cooking, frying, stir-frying, frying, etc., and was able to make a variety of delicious meals, successively working as a chef in the Huaxian Town Hotel in Linquan County, contracting a canteen in the thirteenth team of the original Jieshou City, holding a spoon in a restaurant in Beijing, and opening a restaurant in Brick Market Town. Because Wang Lei is loyal and honest, he always refuses to come to eat on credit, and finally because he owes too much credit, he has to close his door and close his business, and he still holds more than 100,000 yuan of "IOUs" in his hand.
In 2000, Wang Lei bought a trolley and propped up frying fritters at the opposite intersection of the fertilizer factory in the former Jieshou City. He fried fritters for 5 dimes a piece, which is much larger than the fritters sold by other peers. More than 20 years later, the fritters he fried still sell for 5 dimes a stick, on the one hand, to take care of the students, and on the other hand, to consider the neighbors. Over the years together, he has established sincere and deep feelings with customers. Whenever he is too busy frying fritters, some customers will take the initiative to come forward to help, some turn over the fritters in the pot, some brush the dishes, a busy work is a few hours, these helpers never eat his fritters in vain, nor do they want him a penny. Wang Lei deeply remembered all this in his heart.
Some of the aborigines of Xicheng, some of whom have moved to Dongcheng a few miles away for several years, still often come to buy old hutongs to satisfy fritters. For more than six years, Grandma Zhao, who is nearly eighty years old, came from Dongcheng almost every evening to eat a tofu skin roll fritter and drink a bowl of oil tea. The old man said: I don't think about it for a few days. There are seven or eight elderly people like Grandma Zhao who live in Dongcheng and often chant Wang Lei and are satisfied with fritters. Wang Lei's fried fritters are crispy, and the oil tea tastes fresh, who doesn't like it? The elderly or schoolgirls come here for a meal for 2 yuan. Boys eat two fritters and drink bowls of oil tea for only three yuan. The oil cakes sold here are more than two pounds a pound and only 8 yuan a piece, which is more than half cheaper than the 8 yuan a pound sold in some other stores. He said that every day he can see old customers come to dinner, just like seeing old friends, his heart is particularly comfortable, as long as the money earned is similar to that of part-time work, and it is the same to earn more and earn less.
Wang Lei is very particular about the ingredients used in frying fritters, every time he is noodles, he adds alum, alkali and salt to be weighed by a scale, careful and careful, careful and careful, to ensure a scientific formula. The flour purchased must be brand flour, and the cooking oil used must be the first-class cooking oil commonly used in large hotels and large hotels, such as Luhua in Shandong and "Wanshitongbao" and so on. Some small traders and vendors have come many times to sell their own refined edible oil, the price is much cheaper than the brand cooking oil, but all of them are categorically rejected by Wang Lei. He always believed that what if these cooking oils of unknown origin were made of dead pigs and sheep or gutter oil? If it is used to fry fritters, is it not a pit to harm customers, is it not a matter of lack of morality for eight lifetimes? The fried fritters must first satisfy themselves and then satisfy the customers, which is the original intention of his name "Old Hutong Satisfaction Fritter Shop". To this end, he also made a rule that the opening of the store must be "four clean": the floor inside and outside the store is clean, the table dish is clean, the clothes are clean, and the pots and pans are clean. At the same time, do the "four diligences": cut nails frequently, change work clothes frequently, bathe frequently, and cut hair frequently.
At the request of customers, Wang Lei moved the stall to the current store, the business content is much richer, in addition to the main fried fritters, but also fried some sugar cakes, oil horns (stuffing is composed of tofu, vermicelli, leeks), oil cakes, as well as soybean milk, oil tea and so on. The old hutong satisfaction fritter shop is open from 5 to 9 am and from 5 to 8 pm, and customers delay the time when they are long, never disappointing a customer. Every time there are some major festivals or weddings, in order to meet the needs of customers to book fritters in advance, Wang Lei and his wife often start to work at two o'clock in the morning to ensure that they are fried before dawn. For some disabled people and the elderly with limited mobility, every time in line, Wang Lei consulted with other customers, gave them priority care, or blew up some in advance for them to pick up, and he was very harsh on his relatives and friends, whether he gave money or not, did not queue up resolutely, one of Wang Lei's cousins did not queue, grinned and took the fritters and left, was snatched by Wang Lei, handed to a middle school student in front of the line, made the cousin red in the face, and did not contact him for a long time. Later, Wang Lei came to the door to apologize.
A fritter five cents, more than twenty years without price increases, and solemn promises never to increase prices, it is really incredible, after all, rent, flour, cooking oil, labor are rising every year. A relative advised him: A fritter can't make a dime, you sell so cheaply, isn't it stupid? Don't fry fritters, you can earn more as a chef in a hotel! Wang Lei said with a smile: "Silly is stupid, when I was a cook in the countryside for one or two decades, who in the village was happy to be a noble son, in order to congratulate the child on the full moon, the villagers asked me to fry fritters, I fried every day and night is ten families and eight families, never asked for a penny, not only to help the people in the village, but also to help the people in several surrounding villages to fry fritters for free." Besides, some relatives and friends, whose family encounters red and white happy events, often people invite me to cook, I have confiscated a penny, busy for a few days, before leaving either to send a box of liquor, or to send a few "bowls and hats", don't we also come over? A person doing business is always drilling in the eyes of money, how boring! ”
What a simple word! What a generous Wang Lei! I hope that the old hutong is satisfied with the fragrance of fritters and his beautiful heart fragrance, forever floating in the streets and alleys of the small city, floating into the distance!
Review: Wang Shichao
Brief comment: "A fritter five dimes, more than 20 years do not increase prices", Wang Lei is really generous! I hope that the old hutong is satisfied with the fragrance of fritters and his beautiful heart fragrance, forever floating in the streets and alleys of the small city, floating into the distance!
Final Judgment: Yan Jingxin
Author: Wang Rui, born in February 1970. He is a member of the Anhui Writers Association, a member of the Anhui Literary and Art Critics Association, and the vice chairman of the Fuyang Writers Association. Published several anthologies.
Edit: Bu Yi
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