Looking at the tall man in front of him with a police badge, Chen Shuzheng's face turned gloomy.
Indeed, Mr. Chen is very dominant in the industry. It can be said that if Chen Yun stamps his foot, the entire domestic catering industry will tremble.
But can he still get to the police station?
When Chen Ran was in kindergarten, Chen Shuzheng often hinted to other people in the family to put some pressure on the Qimingxing Kindergarten.
But he didn't expect that all the pressure would be borne by the young director alone.
As for places like kindergartens, we can only put some obstacles in their way and raise the prices of vegetables and meat. If we do more, it will really damage our virtue.
But what if it was the police station? They wouldn't even dare to raise the price of vegetables!
He wanted to say something harsh to Chen Ran: "Chen Ran, you have to think it through!"
After losing this competition, Chen Shuzheng knew that it would be impossible for his family to officially take over the Chen Restaurant from now on.
He didn't dare to protest to Chen Boduan or Chen Yuncong, and could only shout in front of Chen Ran: "You can't be ..."
Uncle Chen, who was standing next to him, pulled Chen Shuzheng hard, preventing him from saying the next sentence.
Wang Changhai is the deputy director of Qiaotou Police Station. Although the police station is small, he is at least a second-level police inspector.
"I didn't expect it. You're so arrogant? For a lifetime? Saying this in front of me? It seems that it is still necessary to crack down on crime and eliminate evil."
Hearing that Wang Changhai was starting to make a big deal out of it, the oldest uncle of the Chen family present grabbed Chen Shuzheng and nodded and smiled.
"Don't take it personally. I was just angry because I lost... I'm so old, and I couldn't stand losing to my niece out of nowhere. I just said it in anger. Don't take it personally," Uncle Chen apologized, while pulling Chen Shuzheng hard, "Why don't you apologize!"
Wang Qing'an smiled and pulled Chen Ran over, asked her to stand in front of Wang Changhai, and put his hands on the girl's shoulders to make her stand up straight.
All chefs have strong hands. Uncle Chen was eating when he was pulled by Uncle Chen. He stumbled and fell in front of Wang Changhai and Chen Ran.
Wang Changhai sneered: "You just said you were so imposing, but I dare not accept such a great gift now."
Uncle Chen was lowering his head when he was poked in the lower back by Uncle Chen again. Several members of the Chen family nearby also came up to smooth things over.
"Don't worry about it. Brother Zheng has always been very proud and can't stand losing. This is not directed at you..."
"I'll definitely tell him when we get back! How can you talk like that? We are all law-abiding citizens!"
Uncle Chen was being held down by several hands. He gritted his teeth, raised his head and apologized.
"I'm sorry, I just said that."
There was a look of dejection on his face. He gritted his teeth and raised his head, and the blue veins on his temples were bulging.
"I am just not as skilled as others, there is nothing much to say..."
He had already imagined what would happen next. The Chen family would definitely have to change people to manage the restaurant, and his shares would be diluted... His status in the family would plummet.
It can be seen from Chen Ran that the way the Chen family deals with useless people is even more ruthless than dealing with garbage.
A group of Chen family members were afraid that he would say something again, so they hurriedly pulled him away. Only Chen Yijin was left at the back, and seemed to want to say something to Chen Ran, but was pulled away by Chen's uncle again.
Ms. Wang snorted softly, turned Chen Ran around to her, and formally introduced both parties.
"This is Deputy Director Wang Changhai. You can just call me Uncle Wang," Ms. Wang had already introduced Chen Ran to Wang Changhai. "Aren't you going to resign from the kindergarten soon? Are you satisfied with this job?"
Wang Changhai changed his tone with Chen Shuzheng just now and spoke slowly and softly, as if he was afraid to scare the little girl: "How about it, are you willing? Our Qiaotou Road Police Station is newly built, and the kitchen and canteen are very new. It's just that it may have just been built, so there are fewer people, but you can call anyone in the station!"
If it really doesn't work, let him ride a tricycle to buy groceries with the girl.
The headmaster also came over. She shook Ms. Wang's hand enthusiastically: "Luckily, you are here. I was worried about Ran Ran, but I didn't expect you to solve it all!"
Going to the police station is undoubtedly a good choice!
Not only does it sound like a good benefit, but it can also temporarily intimidate the Chen family.
Ms. Wang pulled Chen Ran aside and gave her careful instructions: "Although Chief Wang is being polite, you can't treat it like your own home over there. Try to get close to people there. The Qiaotou Road Police Station is not too far from the Chen family's ancestral home. If anything happens in the future... it may be able to help you."
Before this, Chen Ran had not had much contact with Ms. Wang. It can even be said that the two people's contact was carried out through the lion head.
Listening to Ms. Wang's gentle voice, she felt that the other party even put a small thing into her hand.
Chen Ran quickly retracted her hand: "You have already helped a lot!"
Ms. Wang raised her eyebrows and stuffed the thing into her hand without giving her any chance to discuss it. "Take a look first. It's not a valuable gift."
Chen Ran picked it up and saw that it was a small porcelain jar.
"I know a very good Chinese medicine doctor. They make their own ointment. I heard from the young director that you practice knife skills every night? Rub your wrists and shoulders to avoid any problems. This can reduce swelling and blood stasis, and prevent you from any injuries."
As Ms. Wang was talking, Qiu Xian next to her quickly came over and said, "Chen Ran, it's already so hard to eat your food in kindergarten now, what are you going to do when you go to the police station in the future?"
Zhu Chenchen also looked eagerly: "Sister Ranran, I also..."
Ms. Feng Meng pushed her away impatiently: "You eat in the kitchen every day."
She looked at Chen Ran with a little expectation: "If Qian Rui doesn't eat again, I can bring him to find you...you?"
The young director looked at everyone surrounding Chen Ran and quickly came over to push them apart: "Alright, all good things must come to an end. If there is a chance in the future, Ran Ran will definitely be able to open a big restaurant, so we can eat there then."
Several people couldn't help but exchange pleasantries, and even came over to take photos with Chen Ran. The young headmaster was afraid of affecting the normal work of the kindergarten, so he finally drove everyone away with a fierce face.
Chen Ran suddenly remembered something: "System, what should I do with my mission reward?"
Where is her kitchen knife? And how is she going to get the money she got as a reward for the first phase of the mission? Will anyone investigate her problem when a large sum of money suddenly appears?
The system responded very quickly this time.
[Rewards will be distributed in a way that is consistent with the logic of the human world. Please buy a lottery ticket within one month.]
ha?
Chen Ran didn't expect that the one million yuan would be awarded as a lottery prize, but this was much more reasonable.
However, she still felt uncomfortable when she thought about actually having to pay back one million to her scumbag father.
I'll buy it later...a day later is a day later!
She went to the staff lounge to pack her clothes. As she was packing, Zhu Chenchen suddenly slipped in.
"Sister Ranran!"
Chen Ran had long been accustomed to this greedy little cat stealing food everywhere. She didn't even turn her head and asked her, "What's the matter? Did you see the lion head I left for you? Didn't you eat enough?"
She reached out and touched Zhu Chenchen's head: "What else do you want to eat? I can make you another meal tonight."
"I want to eat the spareribs I had today! It would be better if I could have some peanuts with it, which would be nice, and some refreshing broccoli... It would be better if I could have some soup..."
Zhu Chenchen couldn't help but order a lot of things, and then she remembered the main purpose of her visit.
She pulled a knife out of her bag!
Chen Ran was startled, but she immediately thought of what the system had just said: "Rewards will be distributed in a manner that is consistent with the logic of the human world." Could this be the kitchen knife that the system rewarded?
She asked the system in her mind: "What if the task is not completed? Will she not give me this kitchen knife?"
[It will be an ordinary kitchen knife]
Seeing Chen Ran's surprised expression, Zhu Chenchen quickly explained: "Sister Ranran, this kitchen knife is really good! My grandma exchanged it for a bag of noodles when there was a Taoist priest who sold knives on credit!"
A bag of noodles, isn't that too expensive? It sounds like a long time ago, and a bag of noodles back then was different from a bag of noodles now.
Chen Ran was a little embarrassed, but Zhu Chenchen stuffed kitchen knives into her hands.
"Sister Ranran, it's useless to keep this kitchen knife in my house. My mom secretly took it to a treasure appraisal live broadcast room to ask, and everyone said that the person who sold the knife on credit was a liar... But I think this kitchen knife is really sharp, you try it!"
Chen Ran took the kitchen knife from Zhu Chenchen's hand and waved it in her hand.
Very handy.
She waved twice, and suddenly an idea came to her mind, so she opened the system panel.
Sure enough, the inventory was unlocked!
[Black Iron Kitchen Knife: One of the relics of the Chen family's Kitchen God, it will never rust or wear out]
[Special effects: to be unlocked]
Chen Ran gritted her teeth... Every time the system's tasks are chained, after unlocking one, you have to keep unlocking more!
However, this kitchen knife is indeed handy.
For the last meal of the night, Chen Ran prepared the food that Zhu Chenchen requested, and also found a few lunch boxes to pack for her parents.
Yuan Guozhong also cooked two dishes independently. Chen Ran corrected some of his cooking mistakes and then secretly went to the restaurant to observe.
Very good, the sour plum pork ribs really worked!
The children from the Qimingxing Kindergarten were all eating with relish. Qian Rui was also eating with big mouthfuls. He sat opposite Zhu Kuangkuang, watching the two children eat, making him want to eat a big bowl of food himself.
Only then did Chen Ran feel relieved.
She is leaving kindergarten!
The rented house had been vacated yesterday, and Chen Ran didn't have any extra things on her. Ms. Wang had been waiting outside for a long time, ready to drive Chen Ran to the Qiaotou Road Police Station.
Chen Ran put the luggage in the trunk of the car and handed a big box to Ms. Wang.
Ms. Wang frowned and said angrily, "What else are you going to give me? The most important thing for you now is to give yourself..."
Chen Ran interrupted her with a smile: "I cooked this dish!"
She also made an extra portion of sour plum pork ribs and lion head for Ms. Wang. Ms. Wang's two daughters can also be considered people she cares about, right?
Ms. Wang accepted it neatly, and then changed her tone very quickly: "...Then I'll take it!"
Qiaotou Road Police Station is a bit far from Qimingxing Kindergarten, and it took an hour to drive there.
However, the dormitory prepared for Chen Ran here is really new! The dormitory is a double room, and the other bed is occupied by an enthusiastic female police officer who had already helped clean the bed before Chen Ran came.
"The mattress is ready for you. The four-piece set is also the same one in our institute. I think the quality is OK. If you want to change it, I'll help you now. The water heater is ready. Do you want to take a bath?"
Ms. Wang stood at the door and looked at the two girls of similar age with a smile. Chen Ran could see at a glance that the other girl also had some signs of fitness, and the two of them had already started discussing fitness.
She didn't say much, and turned around and went home. Every time she eats lion head, she can think of her sister who ran away from home with her. Today, her sister was also picked up by her!
The two of them ate the lion's head made by Chen Ran and drank some wine.
Chen Ran only had time to wave to Ms. Wang before she was attracted by the policewoman's words.
"What? Human traffickers?"
The young policewoman's name is Liu Shihan. She was also very angry when she mentioned it: "This is a case where police officers from other places helped. Three children may have been arrested and brought to our place."
"Did they catch him?"
The policewoman shook her head and said, "No, they just have information that these children might be handed over to a human trafficker here and then sold out. Everyone in the station has gone to investigate today, so they left me on duty and will pick you up by the way."
Seeing that Chen Ran didn't say anything, she was worried that Chen Ran was frightened by the scene, so she spoke to comfort her.
"Don't worry, this kind of thing rarely happens in the police station. In fact, we grassroots police officers rarely handle serious cases. The most common thing we do is mediate family disputes and find people."
She pointed at herself and gave Chen Ran an example: "I went out on four police calls today. There was a guy who got up at six in the morning to do renovations, there was a fight between two scrap collectors, and there was a child who called the police to arrest an adult... The busiest department in the station is actually the household registration department. There is endless work to do every day."
"However, today everyone is worried about the child, and the director has spread out to find a needle in a haystack to target the traffickers."
The two chatted for a long time, and Chen Ran gradually gained some understanding of the work of grassroots police officers.
It was indeed different from what she knew before she came.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Liu Shihan couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Are you worried? Don't worry, we won't ask you to do anything else except cooking. And the director said that we can help you with anything! We've cleaned the kitchen for you today."
Chen Ran was not worried about this, she was just thinking about how to cook a good meal.
"No, I'm just wondering, since everyone is so busy on duty, do they have irregular diets? In addition to regular meals, do we need to prepare some staple foods that can be eaten at any time and can be heated up without being too cold?"
"Otherwise, like you just said, you go on a police call without even eating. Wouldn't it be much better if you could hide a bun or something?"
Liu Shihan was stunned for a moment and then laughed.
Their director said that the temporary chef would be a great chef, and it turned out to be true!
After Chen Ran said this, she began to be a little dazed. She even took a bite of the milk that Liu Shihan handed to her before drinking it.
--The system has issued another task.
[Random Task: Before the troops move, food and fodder must go first]
[The police officers at the police station have been unable to eat regularly for a long time, so let's prepare some burritos for them]
[Task requirements: Burrito consumption 0/10000]
[Task Reward: Activate the hidden special effects of the burrito recipe]
Along with the task, there is also a recipe for a burrito.
Chen Ran complained silently in her heart, so she had to learn not only red cases but also white cases, right? [Note 1]
However, burritos are indeed a very suitable standing dish!
No need to prepare the filling, just roll it up and eat it. The dough is prepared in advance and only needs to be baked for two minutes before eating, while it is still hot.
She praised the system: "You thought it through very well, and this time you even prepaid the recipe, so I can start making it tomorrow!"
There are so many ways to make burritos!
So, Chen Ran got up early the next day.
Although the Chen family also has several chefs who specialize in plain pastry, the overall training direction for the next generation is still focused on cooking.
Before this, Chen Ran had only made steamed buns a few times.
Fortunately, the recipes pre-paid by the system come with proficiency, otherwise she would really be afraid that she would fail in making the pancakes this time.
However, the system really gave a big giveaway this time. The burrito recipes included more than ten kinds of flatbread recipes!
There were thin pancakes, fried pancakes, hot pancakes, semi-hot pancakes, baked pancakes, and broiled pancakes. Chen Ran picked and chose a pocket pancake.
The tail of a burrito tends to leak food, but this pocket pancake won't.
She kneaded and saved the dough skillfully, made a hundred pancakes in one go, and then started to make the dishes to be put in the pancakes.
The best dish to go with burritos is, of course, braised food!
Logically speaking, she needs to go shopping for food since she is the only one cooking for the police station. However, the enthusiastic police officers had already filled the refrigerator yesterday.
She picked out two large, chilled pork elbows, and also took out eggs and bean curd skin, preparing to stew them.
That should be enough, right? After all, there are only six people in this newly built small police station.
She skillfully braised several dishes, cooked a pot of millet porridge, dropped the sandbag on her wrist, and started shredding potatoes.
In addition to the braised dishes, a plate of spicy and sour potato shreds and a stir-fried dish should be enough.
She was cutting when suddenly someone walked in from outside.
So early?
Chen Ran looked at the sky outside the window in surprise. The sky was just beginning to turn pale.
It's normal for her to get up early to make breakfast, but why do the police officers in this police station go to work so early?
"Hey, is this our new cook?"
The police uniforms of the few people who came in were a little wrinkled, their faces were pale and gray, and they couldn't help yawning while talking.
Chen Ran thought of what Liu Shihan said yesterday and was a little surprised. Did she look for him all night?
She couldn't help but ask, "Have you found the trafficker?"
The last person to come in was Wang Changhai. He came in and looked at the things on the table, frowned a little, and said, "There are only a few of us in the institute, so we can just do something simple. There's no need to come so early!"
He admitted that Chen Ran's cooking was indeed delicious, but he didn't accept this girl just to satisfy his appetite for a month or two.
After hearing what Wang Qing'an said, he was still prepared to take care of the little girl.
As a result, she has to get up at four o'clock to cook. Who will take care of whom now?
Chen Ran didn't care. The entire police station had been working all night to look for someone, so she just got up to cook some food. Wasn't that the right thing to do?
She looked at the millet porridge and said, "It's okay. I went to bed early yesterday."
Several other people have come over to see the food the cook has prepared.
Another middle-aged policeman laughed and said, "Oh, finally we don't have to eat bread anymore. We can't even order takeout in our station. Eating bread every day makes my mouth bitter!"
"Brother Hao, at least you can go home and have a meal cooked by your wife. Look at these singles, they are so embarrassed!"
When Hao Ge mentioned his wife, he looked worried: "I go home in the middle of the night every day, how can I ask my wife to save food for me? The rice I bought two days ago was not delivered, so she carried it up by herself, and her arms were strained... It's no wonder that I am a useless husband, as I am not seen every day."
"It's enough for your sister-in-law to support you. When you have a holiday, take your sister-in-law out to play more! Anyway, your nephew is in college."
The atmosphere was a bit awkward for a moment, and Wang Changhai quickly changed the subject.
He looked over at the two rows of small doughs neatly arranged on the chopping board and asked Chen Ran, "What are you going to do with this?"
"Make some burritos!"
Chen Ran exerted force on her hands, and the spicy and sour potato shreds fried in the pot poured into the bowl.
"I heard from Sister Shihan yesterday that the police station is often too busy to eat, and they have to investigate the human trafficker these days. I thought of making some burritos as a backup. If I can't make it in time for dinner, I can just take a burritos with me."
She pointed at the two dishes she had just cooked and said, "You can eat this dish with rice or wrap it in a pancake. I'll wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. You can cook it anytime you want. It only takes a minute or two."
"But I didn't expect you to come so early today. The braised meat will take a while, so I can only roll these two dishes to fill my stomach. Is that okay?"
Wang Changhai has long had his eyes on those shredded potatoes!
"Give me a potato roll!"
He is from Northeast China, where potato shreds are common in rolls. "Put some green onions in it. I remember asking these guys to buy some yesterday."
"Okay!"
Chen Ran lifted the plastic wrap, took out a few dough balls, and turned on the electric baking pan.
The kitchen is really well decorated, with all kinds of kitchen utensils. This commercial electric baking pan can bake four pancakes at a time.
After brushing the pan with oil and feeling the oil temperature with her hand, Chen Ran put all four dough balls directly into the pan.
Pocket pancake, as the name suggests, the whole pancake is like a pocket, and vegetables can be stuffed in the middle.
However, the recipe of this system is quite particular. This pocket pancake is not like what Chen Ran expected, which relies on oil in the middle to form a space .
The dough is semi-fermented, and the air inside expands due to heat, and finally expands into a hollow pocket-shaped cake.
Therefore, the best solution for this pocket pancake is to bake it so that it can be heated more evenly. But this canteen does not have an oven, after all, most Chinese food cannot be cooked in an oven.
However, you can also iron it!
Wang Changhai watched Chen Ran's movements in dazzle. The little girl quickly formed the dough into the shape of a pancake. With a rolling pin, she rolled, folded and swung the pancake directly into the pan!
Before he could see the movement clearly, all four cakes had been thrown in.
Next, it's Chen Ran's turn to perform.
In order to make the pancakes evenly heated, each pancake had to be turned constantly. Normally, turning it by hand was the fastest, but there were no gloves in the kitchen, so Chen Ran used a pair of chopsticks to turn it.
The tip of the chopsticks lifted one edge of the pancake slightly, steadily and accurately, and then with a swing of force, the pancake began to spin.
She used a pair of chopsticks to fiddle with four pancakes on the pan at the same time.
Slowly, the four pancakes swelled up, like four plump little balloons.
Chen Ran added some more oil.
The temperature in the pan was already very high, and the addition of oil quickly stimulated the aroma of the noodles. The dough, which was just plump and white, was immediately covered with a layer of golden crispy skin.
This pancake is amazing!
If it remains soft, the whole pancake will be suffocated when it is taken out of the pan. But taking advantage of the high temperature, the outer crust is quickly shaped, and the pancake will be like a baked hollow pancake.
Four pocket pancakes are out of the oven!
Chen Ran tapped the pancake lightly with a spatula, and she added chopped green onions and a generous amount of spicy and sour potato shreds, then placed them aside.
"Wait a moment before eating, it's hot!"
After all, she is a cook, and her hands have been covered with calluses, so she is not afraid of the heat. But ordinary people can't do that.
"What's in your burritos?"
"I'll have a stir-fry!"
"I want shredded potatoes too. I want to try the director's taste."
Chen Ran's stir-fried dish is made with leeks, bean sprouts, vermicelli and eggs. The vermicelli is soaked in water and colored with soy sauce in advance, and it is particularly tempting when mixed with the tender green leeks and white bean sprouts.
She made four wraps in one go, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and served each person a bowl of millet porridge.
Wang Changhai couldn't wait any longer!
He grabbed the biscuit and took a big bite.
Crisp! Fragrant!
The outer crust of this cake is a layer of crispy crust, which immediately breaks into countless crumbs in your mouth when you bite it, but the inner crust is soft and chewy, exuding the purest wheat aroma.
After staying up all night and searching all night, what is the most soothing thing at a time like this?
It must be carbs!
The spicy and sour potato shreds in the crust are also a carbohydrate bomb, but the taste is crisp. The combination of two different tastes of carbohydrates makes the hungry stomach feel extremely satisfied immediately after taking a bite.
At this time, take a sip of millet porridge...
"Oh, this is how people live!"
After eating the burrito, the warm millet porridge went all the way down the esophagus to the stomach. Wang Changhai felt as if his whole body was stretched in half, and it was extremely comfortable!
He leaned back in his chair unconsciously, and his whole body stretched out.
Not only him, but several other people who ate the burritos also exclaimed in praise.
"Sure, how did you cook this stir-fried vegetable? The leeks are cooked to perfection! I hate limp leeks, but this leek doesn't have the spicy taste of raw leeks at all, and it still tastes so good!"
"Delicious! This pancake is so fragrant. I think I can eat a few of them even without any food!"
Chen Ran had already baked another batch of pancakes. While the second batch of pancakes were coming out of the pan, she calculated the time and opened the pot of braised food.
An indescribable aroma burst out from the pot!
If carbohydrates are a soothing for an empty stomach and intestines, then this deadly meaty aroma is the best reward!
Chen Ran took out the plump elbow and placed it on the chopping board. Every inch of fat was trembling, and it was even broken into two halves by the force.
I can't imagine how delicious it would be to eat such a big elbow that bursts apart as soon as it is put into the mouth.
"Oh my god, hurry up, give me a piece, I can't take it anymore, I'm going to pass out!"
"It smells so good! I'm going to wrap this pork elbow in my next pancake!"
Chen Ran was just about to swing the knife to cut the elbow when she suddenly heard a noise outside the door.
Wang Changhai looked back and saw that it was Xiao Song from the institute.
Song Yifan just passed the civil service exam last year. His major was finance, but he was assigned to the Qiaotou Road Police Station.
The area under the jurisdiction of Qiaotou Road Police Station is basically full of construction sites. This area was originally a desolate suburb. Because of the recent development, there are too many construction sites and a large number of migrant workers who are difficult to manage, so Qiaotou Road Police Station was placed here.
He was a top student who graduated from the Finance Department, but he was assigned to a place like this to go out on patrol all day. Naturally, he felt frustrated.
He was able to study finance, and his family had some money. Qiaotou Road Police Station couldn't order any takeout, so he was the only one there, and he would find a runner to buy food in the city and deliver it to him every day.
"Xiao Song, come over and eat something?"
Song Yifan was extremely reluctant. He had followed the human traffickers all night last night, and now he just wanted to have a good meal.
He heard a few days ago that the institute might need to hire a cook, but what kind of cook could they hire in such a shabby place?
However, since the deputy director had spoken, he didn't know what to say.
"Okay... just give me half a bowl of porridge. My stomach is not feeling well after staying up late."
Just consider it as giving face to the director. After having some porridge, he will find someone to run errands and bring over two dishes.
Song Yifan walked over and Chen Ran served him a bowl of thick and soft millet porridge.
He took the millet porridge with both hands, and his eyes were fixed on the thick and trembling elbow.
Smells so good!
Just smelling the aroma, he could drink three bowls of millet porridge, not to mention the pork elbow.
Hao on the side had already started eating. The crispy pocket pancake contained a large piece of pork elbow. He even asked for the one with the skin. The fat pork elbow skin melted in his mouth as soon as he took a sip.
Plus the crispy crust...
Song Yifan stood aside and could even hear the rustling sound of the crispy biscuit crust being bitten.
Xiao Song knelt down!
Seeing that the pork elbow was about to be shared by the group, he quickly changed his words: "My appetite has suddenly improved! Give me three pancakes, one shredded potato, one stir-fried vegetable, and another pork elbow!"
Can't he just slap himself in the face? Where did this god-like chef come from?