There is a story circulating on the Internet:
In old Beijing in the 1930s, there lived an old man who made tofu in a courtyard more than four miles northeast of the Forbidden City. Neighbors and people who often bought tofu from the old man only knew his surname as Chen, and everyone called him Chen Laohan. The old man is not very old, only in his fifties, and his vicissitudes of life show that he has experienced the hardships of hard life, and on the outside, he is much older than he is. Chen Laohan is a native of Northeast China. His wife gave birth to a child and died of postpartum hemorrhage. He raised his only son, married and had children. However, something unexpected happened. The son who dug coal in the coal mine was killed in a mine accident, and his daughter-in-law could not bear the loneliness and ran away with others. She left her 4-year-old child to Chen Laohan, and her grandparents and grandchildren lived alone. In recent years, the northeast was plagued by natural and man-made disasters, and the hometown was in a state of chaos. I really couldn't stay, so I led my grandson all the way south to Beijing. After many hardships, I finally stayed in this complex and made a living by making tofu for some money and my grandson and puppy.
To say that Chen Laohan's skill in making tofu is really a must, because of limited conditions, Chen Laohan can only make a few boards of tofu and a few kilograms of tofu skin every day, sell tofu to buy beans and then make tofu, and so on and so forth, selling the remaining tofu dregs is the rations for the grandparents and grandchildren, and he can still eat enough anyway. Chen Laohan has high requirements on the quality of beans. He has to choose carefully when he buys soybeans, and then he chooses the rest to make bean paste. It is meticulous to wash, soak, grind and cook a set. Therefore, the tofu he made was welcomed by everyone, and even the shopping master of Wangfujing Roast Duck Restaurant came to buy Chen Laohan's tofu. Later, he simply asked Chen Laohan to send 4 boards of tofu and 5 kg of tofu skin to the roast duck restaurant every day.
The dog is eight years old this year, and the old man thinks about how to let his children go to school. But after several years, although he made some money by making tofu, there is not much money left to pay back for the small house, so he can only make ends meet, and he really can't afford to pay for the dog to go to school. Chen Laohan is determined in his heart that he must earn more money for his grandson to study. Fortunately, Chen Laohan's tofu is not for sale, and there are customers like roast duck restaurant. Every morning, Chen Laohan led the dog to the roast duck restaurant for delivery. After a while, he got to know the chef very well. He saw a roast duck hanging in the oven, which was only roasted and dripping with oil. The dog stared at it for a long time and didn't want to leave. Once on the way back, the dog who had been following his grandfather's ass suddenly said to Chen Laohan, "Grandpa, I want to eat roast duck." Old man Chen said to the dog with a wry smile, "Silly boy, grandpa wants to eat, but we can't afford it." But the dog still stubbornly said, "I'm going to eat roast duck." Chen Laohan even coaxed and deceived: "That grandpa sells more tofu, and when he saves enough money, he will buy you roast duck to eat during the New Year."
Soon by the end of the year, the old man had forgotten what he had promised his grandson, but the dog was obsessed with it. On New Year's Eve, Chen Laohan bought 1 kg of pork, and he was prepared to eat it in jiaozi. However, the dog brought up the roast duck, which embarrassed Chen Laohan. He promised him himself. Who would have thought that he still remembered that he could not afford it, but he could afford it, and the roast duck restaurants were closed for the New Year. After thinking about it, he said to the dog, you wait in the house and don't come out. Grandpa will cook roast duck for you, and the dog will lie on the kang and wait quietly through tears.
Chen Laohan delivers goods to the roast duck restaurant, often checks out at the counter, and also sees how diners eat roast duck. So he picked out the thin pork, cut it into thin slices, fried it in the pot and put the bean paste in it, cut it into cubes, and made a "roast duck" according to the cat's picture. The dog wrapped the green onion and "roast duck" in the bean paste, not to mention how happy he was. They had a happy Spring Festival.
In the next year, Chen Laohan sent the dog to study, and the dog worked hard. After graduation, he came to Quanjude as an apprentice. After several years of hard study, he became a good cook. He often ate roast duck, but he didn't feel the feeling of eating roast duck for the first time. When he talked to his grandfather about it, Chen Laohan told him truthfully, and the dog woke up. After the continuous improvement of the dog, today's Beijing sauce shredded pork is rich in sauce flavor and tender.