Source : The internet
Lee Ka Tung/ essay
I always enjoyed eating tasty bread. There were quite a few bakeries just outside my house, I had tried the bread in all of these bakeries, and I knew which bakery sells the best types of bread.
For the last few months, a stranger started delivering bread to me. He was a young man. The security guard at my apartment asked him who he was, but he refused to say, except that his employer was Mr Lee’s faithful reader, and had heard that Mr Lee loved eating bread, hence the deliveries.
The bread was of excellent quality. Taking the French bread as an example, the French bread delivered here was very soft, the crust was brown, looked good, and tasted both soft and fresh. Besides, there was large bread shaped like a cake, which was also very soft, the texture was particularly unique, this extra soft bread had a brown crust with sugar fully sprinkled on the top, it could be eaten in slices, and the raisins inside were scattered evenly. Whether it was sliced thickly or thinly, it was equally good. I had searched all the bakeries in Taiwan, still could not find this type of bread.
One day, as I was driving home, I saw that young man. He was about to drive off on his motorcycle, so I secretly followed him. Luckily, there were few cars on the road, so I managed to keep track of him and also found that bakery.
I stopped and got out of the car. I was greeted with the delicious smell of French bread. It was 5:30pm at the time, which was normally the time that French bread came out of the oven. I entered the bakery and saw the Master Baker carry a large tray of freshly baked bread over to the cooling frame. I assumed he was the Master Baker as he was wearing white clothes with a hat used by professionals. He was quite young.
The kitchen door was opened once again, and this time it was French bread. I saw someone carefully pack the freshly baked bread into paper bags printed with a logo of a large restaurant, obviously these were to be delivered to that large restaurant. Naturally, parked at the entrance of the bakery, there was a vehicle from that large restaurant waiting to collect this batch of French bread.
After the French bread was taken away, the Master Baker suddenly noticed me. He asked me if I was the teacher, Mr Lee, and I replied ‘yes’. He said his boss had reminded him that should Mr Lee pay a visit, he should make him feel extra welcome. He opened the door slightly and invited me inside. I discovered that the decoration in this room made me feel very comfortable, with different rag dolls scattered around. There was a small round table in the middle of the room covered with a table cloth printed with a pattern of small flowers, and a vase of flowers on top. Leisurely, the Master Baker took away the vase and told me to wait. I sat at the side of this small round table and saw a shadow from the tree outside that cast over the window. The window had square frames and the blind was made of white Swiss cotton, it seemed like the owner of this shop was someone who had good taste.
The Master Baker carried in a silver tray. He had actually prepared high tea to treat me. The tea was ‘Yorkshire tea’ and the snacks included not only bread but also biscuits. The teapot, teacup, and tray were all European ceramics, and I really wanted to pick them up to have a look to see what brand they were. The Master Baker enjoyed afternoon tea with me. Since these snacks were fresh out of the oven, of course they tasted absolutely mouth-watering delicious; however, the Master Baker said that something even more fascinating was to follow.
What was it so wonderful? It was a type of roasted pancake, rolled up, and with stuffing inside. As I bit into it, I discovered that the sauce from the stuffing soaked into the pancake. The stuffing was already good, but as the sauce absorbed into the pancake, the whole pancake itself was even tastier. I asked the Master Baker what the stuffing was. He surprisingly kept me in suspense and said it must be kept as a secret. However, the one thing he did reveal was that he changed the stuffing almost every day. Although I was not very clever, I knew that he used vegetables and minced meat for the filling and then mixed in some sauce. I guessed the vegetables were finely chopped, and there must be some sauce. He also told me that this type of pancake had to be roasted over charcoal. He said that if it had not been roasted over charcoal, it definitely would not have been so aromatic; nor could it not be roasted for too long, to prevent the sauce soaking up the pancake and making it too soft.
When I was eating and drinking, I heard various noises from the people outside. I realised that a group of diners were also enjoying there once a day freshly roasted pancakes. The Master Baker told them that these were only roasted once a day, must be eaten immediately, and could not be taken away as the pancakes would not taste nice if cold. Each customer could only buy two pieces, but the owner would treat the customers to free coffee or tea. I dared not ask about the price as I thought it would not be cheap if there was free coffee or tea. I had a look at the diners. They all looked like they were engineers of ‘New Bamboo’(a place in Taiwan) Science Park. One of them told others that he had to rush back to work overtime. The diners were very co-operative, for when they finished eating, they automatically returned the shop to its original tidiness.
I became very curious about the owner of this shop, and asked the Master Baker whether I could meet him. The Master Baker said the owner would most certainly agree. He asked me to take a rest on the sofa and he would ask the owner to come.
Whilst I was still waiting for the owner, a young man turned up. He was holding a large envelope and said that the owner wanted me to take a look. I opened the envelope and found it filled with Mathematics exam papers. All the questions were on mental arithmetic; for example, 15 x 19, with the answer written on the back. The student could not multiply them in a normal way, but must use mental arithmetic to work out the answers.
I remembered. Ten years ago, I had once taught a primary school pupil. Every time I finished teaching, he would practise his mental arithmetic. In the beginning, he was not that good, but gradually became brighter and brighter, with his exam results staying at 95% or above. Most regrettably, he left ‘New Bamboo’ after graduating from the primary school. I could no longer teach him again. He had a very poor family background and I would intermittently hear that he made no effort to study. Although I was extremely anxious, I was at my wits end as I could not reach out and help him. At the time when he was in the second half of his first year of secondary school, I did once visit him and invited him for a good meal at a restaurant. I urged him to pay attention to his studies, at least try not to smoke, not to fight, not to drink alcohol and not to chew betel. He nodded to all that I said. Frankly speaking, I only remembered that he was extremely disobedient at the time and the unconcerned look on his face.
This boy did not continue his studies. I wrote him a letter once I heard this. I strongly advised that firstly, under no circumstances should he work at KTV; and secondly he must learn a skill so that in future he could make a stand in society. Although I sent him quite a number of letters, he never replied.
As I was tracing my memories, the owner came in. The Master Baker was indeed the owner, and he was also the student I had taught in the past, I could not even recognise him. He said that when he was in the secondary school, his family’s financial situation was quite poor, not only did he not have money to supplement his studies; at times, he did not even have money to pay for school fees and school meals. He knew he absolutely would not pass the exams for public secondary school and he most certainly could not afford to study in private secondary school. He therefore gave up his studies. With all honesty, he told me that he would have loved to study, but due to his family’s poor background, he could not concentrate on studying. Once he ran into Tsing Hwa University to play, and saw those university students whom he admired very much. When he came home, he dreamed of becoming a university student; but as he awoke, he cried.
Because of his poor family background, he did not want to study, and at one time he actually felt self-destructive and self-renouncing. Luckily, under his teacher’s continuous support, he did not go off the rails too much. However, in his third year, when he saw other students preparing for their examinations, he did not show any signs of concern. Apparently, he pretended he did not care, but deep down he was desperate beyond despair.
Just at this time, he received my letter. He thought I would have blamed him for giving up on school; he never guessed that I did not blame him one little bit, but instead encouraged him to develop at least one skill. He remembered that I once took him to a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, I bought him a lot of bread from the shelf and even then he remembered how tasty the bread was.
Before he graduated from secondary school, he went to look for a job at that restaurant. Luckily, he managed to find a job straightaway. From then on, apart from those few years in the army, he dedicated all his time into learning how to make bread. Two years ago, he started his own business, and opened this bakery shop.
He said that he always travelled abroad with different tour groups. Other than sightseeing, he would also pay attention to the skills of bread-making by foreigners. In Russia, he discovered the good taste and look of the large round Russian bread, but did not know whom he could acknowledge as master. Later, in a flash of inspiration, he went to Harbin to look for his Master. In Harbin, there were a lot of bakery shops specialising in the large round Russian bread. One master decided to teach him the skill generously, knowing that he had come a long way from Taiwan. This was how he learned the skill of baking Russian bread. A few days ago, some engineers from Russia visited his shop, and using body language they praised his bread-making skills. Whilst in Harbin, he also learned how to cook Russian dishes. He said he would, in a while, invite me to try some genuine Russian Borscht.
As for the roasted rolled pancakes, he learned how to make this in Turkey. These were sold as snacks in small shops in the streets of Turkey. Rich people did not have any interest in this pancake as they considered that this type of food was not classy enough. Upon his return he experimented with this, and discovered that a Chinese stuffing was most suited to the national taste. He once roasted the pancakes with salted vegetables (xue li hong) and minced meat, and all those who had tried it could not stop praising it.
He told me that his dinner tonight was French bread sandwiched with salted vegetable (xue li hong) and shredded pork, which was also his own invention. He took me to his kitchen to see how he made braised lamb shank onion soup. I drank one full bowl there and then. He said he learned how to make this soup in Xinjiang. I never thought that lamb shank soup could taste so good, with no lamb odour whatsoever.
Although my student never replied to my letters, he never forgot about me. He did not reply to my letters because at that time it was the era of youth rebellion. One day he mentioned me to his wife and his wife was the one that suggested delivering bread to me on a regular basis. He always had the premonition that one day we would meet again.
As far as I was concerned, it felt as if it were a life time ago. Since he had graduated, I lost all contact with him. Of course, I missed him all the time. I was worried that, without any qualifications, he would not even manage to maintain three meals. I never imagined that his life now was this good. In the past, I encouraged him to learn a skill and to take it with him. Now, not only did he have just one skill, but also should already have a unique skill.
Just before I left, I tested him with a few mental Mathematics questions, and he answered them all correctly. When he accompanied me to my car, he asked, “Mr Lee, you have so many students with doctorate degrees, and I only graduated from secondary school, are you willing to accept me as one of your students?” I told him that he most certainly was my student, moreover, he was forever my proud and brilliant student, I only worried that he did not regard me as his teacher. After all, I was only ever his private tutor.
When he knew that I looked upon him as my student, his face beamed with a smile. This smile brought me immeasurable warmth. In fact, I had not taught him anything, apart from two things, “Don’t be led astray, and essentially, one must have a skill”. I never thought these two sentences would be so useful.
