Sun Yongzheng's morning started like normal. Wake up an hour before sunrise, wash his face and prepare a small breakfast. After eating and cleaning up the dishes he would take a quick sponge bath. Change into his clothes for the day and groom his ridiculously large mustache. He hated the thing, but his wife asked him to grow it out one time. She said that she thought he would look good with one. More than 15 years later it's still here, slightly bigger each year.

Looking over at the empty bed, he lets out a sigh. She had been gone for over a month and probably wouldn’t be back till Spring. She went to visit her family up river, it’s almost a 3 week trip because you have to go against the current. The return trip is only about a week at most.

Getting up, he walks out of his room, down the hallway past his daughter's and niece's room and down a set of stairs. Walking to the back door of his home he unlocks it and walks out into the courtyard area behind his restaurant. Closing the door and locking it behind him, he walks over to the restaurant and unlocks the back door. Stepping inside he touches a panel on the wall with designs on it. The kitchen becomes illuminated from the crystals in the roof. They are much brighter and more white then the slight orange tinged light in the Hai’s family kitchen.

Yongzheng slowly walks through and double checks the kitchen, it is completely clean and spotless from the night before. Everything is set up and ready to start the day. He just needs to wait for his prep staff and the morning delivers now.

Going into his small office he touches another panel and the room becomes awash in a white glow from a crystal in the middle of the roof. Walking around his desk, he takes a seat and then pulls open a draw on his desk. Pulling out his accounting book, he starts to go over it. It isn’t long before he hears the bell for the back gate ring. Standing up and walking to the window, he can see his first delivery for the day. He looks at the sky, it’s a little past sunrise now. Most of his morning staff won’t arrive for at least 30 minutes.

Muttering to himself he says, “Why are they here so early? Normally they aren’t here till after my staff gets here.” Heading out to the gate, Yongzheng unlatches it and pulls it open wide. After the gate is fully open he notices that it’s only the cart driver today. The man's helper is nowhere to be found. “Where's the kid who normally helps you out?” Yongzheng says to the driver.

“He came by yesterday and said that he was quitting. Something about his calling in life was to be a blacksmith. So he went to find an apprenticeship with one of the local smiths. Now I am short-handed and all the other drivers have heavy loads today, so I couldn't borrow their helper. I was lucky enough that the boss had all the helpers load up my cart first, that is also why I am here so early.”

“Well my staff won’t be here for at least 30 minutes. We might be done unloading by the time they get here.” Waving towards the man to bring the cart through the gate. The driver leads his cart into the courtyard, making a tight turn around the whole thing. Then with the help of Yongzheng guiding him. He backs the wagon up to the restaurant's loading dock area.

Once parked, the man locks the wheels on the cart and steps down from his seat. He walks around the back and undoes the latches on the back of the gate before lowering it down. The wagon itself is full of boxes and a few barrels. All covered up and neatly stacked on top of each other, to fit the most amount of items possible without overburdening the wagon. The man grabs a small hand cart and slides the bottom of it under a barrel, before tilting it back and making his way in the kitchen door.

Yongzheng himself walks into the wagon and picks up a box before turning and following the man into the kitchen. Walking through the kitchen they both place down their items. In a cleared out area specifically for them. Afterwards they both return outside, while a voice can be heard. “Good morning Yongzheng, I know we are early, but would you like a hand?”

The driver and Youngzheng turn towards the voice. Walking into the yard towards the kitchen door are Zhi and Zhao. Both of them are in matching outfits, they have weird all black shoes. Their pants are checkered black and light grey. While they have a black long sleeve shirt on, the sleeves are actually rolled up to their elbows. 8 black buttons adorn the front of the shirt. They are in a pattern of 2 rows, 4 buttons to each row. In their hands they are carrying a couple of other items.

Youngzheng smiles at them both, “You are just in time, you can help unload the first delivery of the day and then I will give you a test. Go set your stuff down inside and then come help.”

“Alright, we will be back in a moment.” Zhi walks inside followed by Zhao. As Yongzheng and the driver collect another load, they come back out and collect some boxes themself and follow them inside. It doesn’t take long for the four men to completely unload the cart. Once empty, Yongzheng says to everyone. “Alright, follow me and we will load up all the scraps from last night.”

Walking outside there are 6 barrels with closed lids sitting to the side of the restaurant's dock. It takes them only a few minutes to load them all up. Once done the driver closes up the wagon's gate and says farewell before jumping into the front and releasing his wheel lock. Before pulling out of the courtyard and disappearing down the street. Yongzheng begins to close the gate and then latches it shut before waving towards the kitchen door saying, “Alright, lets see how skilled you are.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yongzheng walks into the kitchen followed by Zhi, Zhao trailing not far behind. He walks over to the stacks of unloaded crates and barrels. Reading a few labels on top, he stops and picks up one he is looking for. Carrying it over to one the island counters, he sets it on top. Then looks over at Zhi before saying, “So I have a simple test, I want to see how you prepare vegetables. I need this crate of carrots prepared. I need this box split evenly into four groups, then each of those cut in different ways. I want one of them thin sliced for stir fry. One of the finely diced for our fried rice. One of them is thin cut julienne style, for our pork belly steamed bun and a few other dishes. The last group needs to be thick cut for our soup stock.”

“Sounds good, just give us a moment to get ready.” Zhi walks over to the table where they had laid their stuff earlier. Picking up the items, he walks over and hands Zhao his set. Zhi, places a small black chef's hat on his head. Then put on a black apron. After securing it correctly, he helped Zhao with his own and then made sure the hat was on correctly.

Zhi looks around for a moment then says, “Now that we are properly dressed, where do you clean and wash your vegetables for food prep?” Yougzheng points to one of the sinks to the ride side of the back wall. Next to it is a cutting station with a thick wooden cutting board for a table. Picking up the crate he walks over and sets down the crate. Pulling off the lid he starts putting the carrots into the sink.

“Zhao come over here and start washing them off please.” Zhao walks over and starts the water and begins to clean the carrots. “Make sure you clean them well, we don’t want any dirt on them at all.” Looking over his shoulder at Yongzheng, Zhi says. “Do you want us to peel them before cutting them, or just clean them up?”

“No need to peel them, just as long as they are cleaned properly it will be fine.” Yongzheng walks to the other side of them by the cutting table and begins to watch them both as they work. Zhi unloads carrots into the sink as Zhao is slowly cleaning them one by one and setting them on the cutting board. After the crate is empty, zhi comes around and inspects the cleaned carrots with a critical eye. Not finding any faults with any of them he picked up, he pats zhao on the back while saying, “Good job, these all look good. Keep up the same level of detail on each one.”

Turning to look at Yongzheng he says, “What containers are they going in after they are cut?” Yongzheng walks over to a cabinet and pulls out four big metal boxes with lids on them. He carries them over with ease and sets them on the cutting table station. Before saying, “These are what you will use for them.”

Zhi nods his head in reply, removing the lid from each of them. He begins to take the cleaned carrots and sets an equal amount in each one. As he is doing this a bell can be heard being rung outside. “That should be some of the morning staff, I will be right back.”

Yongzheng leaves and comes back a few minutes later. A handful of people are with him. He points over towards where Zhi and Zhao are working, then says to them. “I am testing their skills for a job interview. Till it is finished I want you to take care of any deliveries without me.” His crew all replied with “Yes sir.” before going about their work. Grabbing boxes and moving them to different tables, some of them are taking them over to other sinks to wash. While others are putting some of them away for later and making room for the next delivery that will come shortly.

It takes about 20 minutes before Zhao is finished washing the carrots and a few minutes later Zhi is done sorting. Moving all but one bin out of the way, Zhi empty’s that bin out on the table. Looking inside he hands it to Zhao before saying, “Wash that out, then set it over there.” while he points to the other side of the cutting table. After he completes the task he turns to look at Zhi, waiting to see what is next. While Yongzheng just quietly stands to the side to observing them both.

Zhi pulls out a black piece of fabric that is wrapped up around itself. It’s held together with a piece of string that is attached to the end of it and tied up in a bow. Placing it down on the table he unties it and rolls out the fabric. Inside are a collection of knives, the handles are made of a dark colored wood. The blades themselves can’t be seen. Zhi takes the handle of one and pulls it out. After admiring the blade for a few moments, he runs a finger lightly over the blade's edge. Satisfied with the knife's edge, he stores the rest of the knife set away.

Both Zhao and Yongzheng were still staring at the knife. It was unlike anything they had ever seen. The dark wood handle flows and tapered down elegantly into the blade, but the blade itself is what drew their eyes. It was silver and black, with a pattern on the metal that looked like rain drops when striking a puddle of water. They are broken out of their contemplation by Zhi’s voice.

“Alright Zhao, so the first thing we are gonna do is the soup stock carrots. It’s the simplest and easiest to cut. Now watch what I do with the first few.”

Picking up the carrot, he grabs his knife and effortlessly cuts the carrot at an angle. Then he rotates in and cuts it again at an angle. He repeats the process till only the very top stub of the carrot is left. He picks up another carrot and repeats the process, almost every cut piece is close to the same size. After he has done five of them he stops and picks up the tops he set off to the side. Looking over to Yongzheng he asks, “Do you use these or do they go into the compost bins?”

“Compost bins” is Yongzheng’s quick reply. He looks at the perfectly diced soup stock carrots, then looks back to Zhi. Zhi himself walked over and dumped the end parts in the compost bin before walking back over.

Looking over at Zhao he says, “Okay now it is your turn. Do it the way I just showed you. Cut then turn and cut again. Keep a firm grip on both the knife and the carrot. If not your hand could slip and you can get hurt. Also note how I cut them almost all equal in size. When cutting vegetables for soup stock, it is always best to cut them the same size. So that they cook evenly.”

Moving out of the way, Zhi gestures for Zhao to start.