Chapter 258: Reunion of Old Comrades

Deng Chaoyang smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying: "It's no problem if you want to eat such sumptuous meals every day. As long as you train hard and strive to stay in the team, I promise to let you eat enough every day." The other comrades also looked at him expectantly. His words were both encouragement and reassurance.

Then, he, along with several other leaders, walked into the leaders' dining table area and started eating.

"Well, not bad! This fish is authentic, everyone come and try it." Deng Chaoyang especially likes fish. He took a bite of the fish first, tasted it and said.

The others also picked up their chopsticks to taste the food. After taking a few bites, Xu Shifang suddenly said, "Captain, I think our chef has changed. How come the taste of the food has improved so much?"

Others also echoed, "The chefs here are indeed extraordinary. Ordinary chefs can't reach such a level." They continued to talk about the food they had eaten, praising the chefs' skills and showing their disdain for ordinary chefs.

Liu Zhiye nodded and responded: "No, I invited another expert to guide them.

That man was my fourth uncle. He used to be the head chef at Hongbinlou in his early years, but later he got tired of life in the capital and returned to the village.

He is a real hard-working man.

I saw his amazing cooking skills, and I felt a little sorry for him returning to his hometown to farm. So I persuaded him to join us, take on apprentices, and make use of his remaining energy.”

Duomen, who was sitting at the same table, was delighted when he heard this. He was becoming more and more interested in this place. He had a wide range of interests, not only in collecting antiques, juggling and singing operas, but also in cooking.

When Duomen saw the former chef of Hongbinlou here, he immediately became interested. This gentleman is very knowledgeable. He has been to many restaurants in Beijing, including some famous fly restaurants.

Not only did he go there to eat, he also often discussed cooking with other people's chefs. Maybe he even knew the chef of Hongbinlou mentioned by Liu Zhiye!
As the scale of the training camp grows, a large number of people train here all year round, so professional canteen chefs come into being.

The skilled chefs naturally looked down upon the work here, so they could only hire a few half-talented cooks to cook for the big pot. The situation here was indeed somewhat helpless.

Later, Liu Zhiye thought of the best candidate, that is his fourth uncle Liu Hongshen who lived in the countryside.

Of course there is no problem with his cooking skills, and Fourth Uncle is not very old, about the same age as Duomen.

Liu Zhiye felt that it was a pity that his fourth uncle was buried in the countryside, so he mobilized him many times. After some efforts, he finally invited him to be the master chef and train apprentices.

This can be regarded as adding a future prospect for the children in Liujiazhuang and nearby areas. Nowadays, there is no professional training school like Lanxiang Technical School to learn cooking.

There were not many restaurants before the reform and opening up, most of which were state-owned enterprises or public-private partnerships. Chefs were regular employees, and most people who wanted to learn how to cook did not have this opportunity. You had to have work targets.

Liu Zhiye thought about it for a long time, and finally he decided to train his own team of chefs.

This idea is not only for the children's future, because studying or learning medicine requires extremely high talent. Only a small number of people are suitable for this path, and most children can only find other ways out.

Moreover, training chefs can also provide him with a reserve of catering talents. After the reform and opening up, when he runs a catering business in China, he will also have a large technical team to support him.

…………

After lunch, Liu Zhiye took a short break and then took Deng Chaoyang back to the old house to visit the old man. They walked along the winding path to the old house, and along the way there was the familiar rural scenery.

As soon as they entered the door, they saw the old man sitting on a lounge chair in the yard to enjoy the cool air. He closed his eyes and fanned himself with a cattail, looking leisurely and contented.

"Grandpa! I'm back!" Liu Zhiye shouted from a distance.

When the old man saw them come in, a kind smile appeared on his face.

"Zhiye is back! Who is this?" The old man asked in confusion as he didn't recognize Deng Chaoyang from a distance.

Zheng Chaoyang walked towards the old man excitedly, clasped his hands and said, "Sir, can you see who I am?" His words were full of nervousness and anticipation.

The old man stared at Deng Chaoyang, looking at him carefully for a long time, trying to search for something in his memory.

Suddenly, the figure of a young man emerged in his mind. He was the Eighth Route Army guerrilla fighter he had saved many years ago.

At that critical moment, he put in a lot of effort and finally snatched the dying young man back from the hands of death.

In order to save him, he even used many precious medicinal herbs, which was a huge price to pay for him.

A few months later, the young man returned to the team after recovering from his injury. He said firmly to the old man and Liu Yuanhai who came to see him off: "When the revolution is victorious, I will definitely come back to visit you!"

But many years have passed since then, and he has never returned. People speculate that he may have died or encountered other problems.

For this reason, whenever the old man talked about this person with the third uncle and others who knew about it at the time, he couldn't help but sigh and said with emotion: "What an outstanding young man, what a pity." His words were full of regret.

The old man fell into deep thought, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "Did you remember anything?" Zheng Chaoyang asked excitedly.

The old man responded excitedly: "You are, are you squad leader Zheng?"

Zheng Chaoyang shook the old man's hand vigorously, his eyes glowing red, and said: "Old man, it's me, I spoke out of turn. I haven't come back to visit you all these years, I'm really a piece of shit! Woo woo..." His voice choked and his expression was slightly ashamed.

The old man gently patted the back of Zheng Chaoyang's hand and comforted him, "Squad Leader Zheng, there is no need to be like this. You have fought for the country and have no choice. I completely understand. We have never blamed you, but we are worried that you have not been heard from for a long time and that you have had an accident."

"Sit down and tell me where you have been all these years."

Zheng Chaoyang sat next to the old man and told him everything. Except for the parts that needed to be kept secret, he shared his revolutionary experience without reservation.

"Since I returned to the army, I was soon sent to the capital by the organization. I went deep behind enemy lines and began my secret work. In order to keep my identity secret, I cut off contact with all my acquaintances. Until after liberation, I..."

…………

After visiting the old man, Zheng Chaoyang left a bunch of gifts including cigarettes, alcohol, tea and snacks, and then followed Liu Zhiye to visit the home of the third uncle Liu Yuanhai.

They came to Liu Yuanhai's door. Zheng Chaoyang knocked on the door gently. There were footsteps from inside and then the door opened.

When Liu Yuanhai saw that it was Liu Zhiye who came to visit, he was quite surprised and said, "Zhiye, you just entered the camp today and are very busy. How come you have time to come visit me?"

Liu Zhiye then introduced Deng Chaoyang to him.

The third uncle said with emotion: "I didn't expect that we have such a connection. Leader Zheng is here now. Don't leave today. Have a meal with me. I will call all those people from the past over to reminisce about the past."

Zheng Chaoyang quickly responded modestly: "Uncle, there is no leader here, only me, Xiao Zheng. You can just call me Xiao Zheng, which is more intimate." He seemed particularly sincere when he spoke, and his eyes revealed respect and humility.

Seeing that he insisted, the third uncle had no choice but to follow his advice and said, "Well, Xiao Zheng, you can stay here tonight! Our village is different. We have fish, shrimp, crabs, pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, ducks and geese."

"Besides, Fu Sheng and others would be very happy if they knew you were back."

Deng Chaoyang thought of the soldiers he had taken from the village, and he smiled. He hadn't seen them for so many years, and he missed them very much.

So he readily agreed to stay.

In the afternoon, because the training camp had just started, it was the comrades under them who were busy, while the leaders were not busy.

Deng Chaoyang looked at Liujiazhuang, which was very different from 20 years ago, and couldn't help but sigh. He couldn't help but say: "It has changed so much here that I can hardly recognize that this is the mountain village where I lived for a few months."

Deng Chaoyang wandered around, marveling at the changes here. He seemed to have returned to those difficult yet passionate years.

The changes here are not only in the architecture and environment, but also in people's attitude and pursuit of life.

Twenty years ago, this place was full of dilapidated thatched houses and muddy streets, and the people were pale and thin, suffering from hunger and cold.

In those days, people here lived a hard life and struggled to survive every day.

Now, every household lives in a spacious and bright brick house with complete running water facilities.

The streets in the village are flat and clean, with hidden ditches and underground drainage facilities built on both sides. They are clean and sanitary, and a pleasant sight to the eyes.

At the crossroads of the village, there are some public facilities on both sides, such as post offices, credit unions, supply and marketing cooperatives, libraries, hardware stores, barber shops, butcher shops, agricultural machinery stations, agricultural product purchasing stations, village committees, health stations, etc. Street lights, schools, and agricultural research stations have also been built in other parts of the village, making it like a small town.

Deng Chaoyang and his companion were strolling around the village when they suddenly heard a loud shout from behind: "Squad leader!" Hearing this familiar voice, he paused and quickly looked back.

Liu Fusheng was seen running towards him, waving and greeting him as he ran.

Deng Chaoyang also immediately went forward, and the two of them quickly hugged each other tightly.

"Squad Leader! I missed you so much!"

"Comrade Fusheng, we finally meet again!"

This scene, where old comrades meet again after a long separation, makes people feel warm and cordial.

(End of this chapter)