Then I’ll make a fruit and vegetable salad for lunch and try some of the vegetables I bought today.

Wash the beef and drain the blood, then use absorbent paper to absorb the water, slice it into slices, add a little cooking wine, salt, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce, mix well, then add cornstarch, beat an egg, knead it with your hands for a while, and marinate for a while.

I had beef risotto last night, but I won’t eat rice for lunch today. There is unopened pasta in the cupboard above the kitchen counter. The two nannies don’t know how to make pasta after the Chinese New Year, so they didn’t open it.

Use a kitchen scale to weigh 250 grams of pasta and set aside.

Take out the bottled tomato sauce from the refrigerator, pour 150 grams of tomato sauce into a small pan for frying eggs, sprinkle some spices, chopped parsley, basil, and rosemary, add some warm water, and cook until it becomes thinner.

of tomato sauce, pour into a small bowl and set aside.

Next, process the fruit and vegetable salad, wash and cut it and put it in a glass fruit bowl. Don’t worry about the salad dressing yet.

Make beef slices again, cut a few mushrooms, put a small piece of butter in the cooking pan, after the butter melts, pour in the marinated beef slices, only half of it is put in; after the beef emits the aroma of meat, add the mushrooms,

Add another two tablespoons of cream.

Remove from the pot and place on a plate, separate the beef slices and mushrooms, and temporarily put them in the oven to keep warm.

After Liya comes back, turn on the oven at 100 degrees and bake the beef for 3 minutes, and boil the water to cook the pasta.

The key to pasta is to cook it through but not overcook it, let it cool for a while, or toss it with olive oil so that the noodles don't stick.

Liya had a hot lunch 15 minutes after returning home and was very satisfied.

Liya is taking a nap.

Zhang Wenya was not sleepy at all. Her young body had unlimited energy. She had been busy all morning and was not tired at all. She decided to go to Xinhua Bookstore to buy an English book, "New Concept English". She had no English skills after the college entrance examination that year.

Pick it up - what was she doing at that time? She repeated her studies at home, but her grades did not improve. On the contrary, because she was always doing housework and helping cook at relatives' houses, she had no time to read and write questions, so her scores were even lower in the second year.

I couldn't go to college, so I had to do manual labor. I worked many jobs, but none of them lasted long.

well!

She got on her bicycle, rode to the bus stop, locked the bicycle on the side of the road, and took the bus to Xinhua Bookstore.

I went back as soon as I went, it was pretty quick, and I came back around two o'clock in the afternoon.

Liya just got up and asked her where she had been. She showed Liya the English book she had just bought.

Liya suddenly realized that she wanted to buy her a walkman.

Zhang Wenya thanked her generously.

After Liya dressed up, she went out again, saying that she would be home on time for dinner in the evening and asked her to prepare the meal on time.

After Liya left, Zhang Wenya tidied up her room, washed clothes, cleaned the room, and then made dinner.

Dinner is still five dishes and one soup. Based on the amount of food last night, the portions are slightly smaller.

Stir-fried vegetables, fruit and vegetable salad, pan-fried steak with lemon juice, curry potato beef, sweet and sour pork ribs, and tomato and egg drop soup.

Tomatoes are slightly sour and sweet, with a gritty flesh. Use a stainless steel spoon to roll and scrape the tomatoes, then peel them and cut them into small pieces. Boil water in a soup pot. When the water boils, add tomato cubes, an appropriate amount of salt, a little oyster sauce, and a spoonful of olives.

oil and boil for five minutes. After the tomato pieces are cooked, pour in the beaten eggs. Just use one egg. Stir the egg liquid immediately after entering the pot, and then turn off the heat.

In this way, the egg liquid will be tender and smooth without clumping, and there is no need to add corn starch to the soup.

If there are dried shrimps, pinch a pinch in and it will be more delicious. But with oyster sauce, it can be done without dried shrimps.

The Kent family came back a little after 6 p.m.

Mr. Kent first returned her ID card to her. He was a staff member of the consulate. When hiring a nanny at home, he had to register and do a simple background check. This was not only to prevent the nanny from getting away with money, but also for other security reasons.

Of course, I would not tell Zhang Wenya this.

It was normal for people to check their ID cards and other personal documents when joining the company. Zhang Wenya didn’t think much about it.

"I see you bought a lock for your bicycle. How much did it cost? It's all included in the grocery fee."

"Oh, okay, I've recorded the account, do you want to see it?"

"No, show me the total amount of food expenses every week, so I can arrange the expenses for the next week."

"Liya said you bought an English book. Chris has an unused walkman. Chris will bring it to you later. You have time to learn more spoken English and try to use English as much as possible in your conversations."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Kent, thank you Chris."

Chris glanced at her and went upstairs.

After dinner, the Kents taught her how to use the video player. There were many video tapes at home, all of which were American blockbusters. Learning a foreign language meant listening more and speaking more. She was determined to learn English well.

Mr. Kent then read the newspaper in the living room, Liya went upstairs, and Zhang Wenya returned to her room.

When she had nothing to do at night, she would read "New Concept English" and learn from the beginning.

It was almost 9 o'clock when someone knocked on the door.

It was Chris. He took the walkman down and silently stuffed it into her hand.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." He looked around her room: it was the same as before, there was no difference.

"Can you make steamed buns?" he asked.

"The buns are... troublesome. I'll make them in a few days." She answered stutteringly.

"I can understand a little Chinese, but I can't speak it."

Zhang Wenya thought for a moment, "Do you want to learn Chinese?"

He nodded, "Dad said that I should learn Chinese. In the future... China will be very..." He frowned and thought about how to say it in Chinese, but in the end he couldn't think of it and had to say: "With power."

She thought for a moment, "Powerful."

Chris learned to say: "Strong. What does it mean?"

"That's it...like this." Zhang Wenya smiled and raised her arms with fists.

The gesture language is universal, and Chris immediately understood, "Yes."

He smiled a little shyly, "Mom likes you very much, but they are planning to tell you in a few days that you are qualified."

This is good news.

She thought that her ability to cook Western food would be a big plus. As a foreigner, no matter how much he likes Chinese food, if you let him eat Chinese food every day, his stomach and intestines may not be able to handle it. The combination of Chinese and Western food is the best way, which not only takes into account the eating habits of foreign friends.

, and being able to taste Chinese food, this is the ideal state.

On the first day of formal work, she thought it was okay. The workload was heavy, but compared to being a 24-hour housewife, it was not that big. Moreover, the income from being a nanny was all her own! Just thinking about it made her extremely happy.

.

In the next few days, Zhang Wenya decided on a breakfast recipe, which was different every day, alternating Chinese and Western meals, and rich in nutrition.

I learned how to use the coffee machine. I don’t do anything in the morning. I just make coffee first and then wash up.

Mr. Kent likes two cups of espresso in the morning, one for breakfast, and one cup with him. He said that the dogs in the office don’t drink coffee, it’s terrible, and he firmly resists it, but he is used to having a cup of coffee in the morning, and he feels lack of energy if he doesn’t drink it. Liya sometimes

Make coffee, but she doesn't like doing housework and won't make it every day.

Liya is not stingy with herself. If she is at home in the afternoon, she will make herself two cups of cappuccino and enjoy herself.

Chris drinks milk for breakfast, juice, chicken, fish, meat and eggs for dinner, which is a nutritionally balanced and healthy life.

Covering food and accommodation means that almost all of the salary can be saved, and Zhang Wenya has begun to have plans for this - she can't be a nanny for the rest of her life, right?

But she hasn't thought about what she will use the money for - the money she hasn't received yet.

Also, after only a few days here, Zhang Wenya noticed that apart from sleeping in separate beds, the Kents did not have much sex life. She had never found used condoms in the trash can. After dinner, the Kents

Everyone has their own things to do, and there is very little communication. Basically, it is just for Chris's study and life.

Mr. Kent didn't ask his wife what she had done today, nor did she ask her husband how he was at work today.

Maybe this is the self-cultivation of a diplomat.

In the past few days, she calculated the ingredients she would need for a week based on her daily usage of ingredients. She asked Liya to drive her to the vegetable market. She bought a lot of ingredients and put them in the refrigerator after preprocessing. The refrigerator was almost full.

She can buy vegetables and fresh mushrooms for two days, so she doesn't have to go to the vegetable market every day. If she plans well, in addition to the weekly shopping, she only needs to go to the vegetable market once or twice a week.

I don't have much free time, so I almost spend it learning English.

On Sunday evening, Mr. Kent gave her a formal employment contract in both Chinese and English.

There are still three years left in John Kent's term, and he hopes that Zhang Wenya can continue to work. As for the salary, it is said to be a monthly salary, but it is actually a weekly salary. It is 25 US dollars a week, which is 1,300 US dollars a year, which is a full month more than the monthly salary of 100 US dollars.

In addition to salary, I will also receive four more weeks of salary for Christmas and Spring Festival, totaling US$1,500 a year.

For a diplomat with an annual salary of tens of thousands of dollars, this amount of money is nothing. But for Zhang Wenya, 1,500 US dollars is equivalent to her saving 10,000 yuan a year!

Ten thousand yuan! What is this concept? This is an era when "households worth ten thousand yuan" are envied by others!

Mr. Kent seemed to be afraid that she would run away halfway, so he even added a special rule: her salary would be increased every six months, with a minimum increase of $5. If calculated based on five salary increases in three years, after two and a half years, her weekly salary would be $50.

Double your annual income!

Good guy!

After Zhang Wenya finished her mental calculation, she added: If the general salary level in Shanghai increases during this period, her salary will also increase simultaneously.

Reasonable. Mr. Kent agreed.
To be continued...