The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 505 Business is booming!!!

One day in June, in front of the "He's Home Cooking" restaurant in Jiaodaokou.

It’s drizzling today, and everyone’s umbrellas form a small piece of sky.

Under the umbrellas, some people were pushing bicycles, some were holding net bags in their hands, there were blond-haired and blue-eyed reporters, and Japanese students... Everyone was crowded in front of the glass door of the restaurant waiting.

It was a little after 11 o'clock, as soon as the door opened, a huge crowd of people rushed into the restaurant.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't push, don't push, there are seats everywhere..."

"Boss He, give us some garlic pork..."

“…Ouch! Who stepped on my shoe?!”

"Boss He, the Nine-Turn Large Intestine you made is really authentic, I like it..."

Sha Zhu never expected that his newly opened restaurant would become such a hit!

If you think about it carefully, this is not surprising. First of all, Sha Zhu's craftsmanship is really superb, and ordinary people can't compare;
Secondly, this is a private restaurant in Yanjing City, so people are naturally curious and flock to it to find out what it is like.

Who would have thought that the food in this restaurant tastes even better than those in state-owned restaurants, and the prices are very reasonable.

In addition, the waitress Qin Huairu here has a warm and thoughtful attitude, making customers feel as comfortable as if they were back home.

These days, it is harder than climbing to heaven for ordinary people to have a meal in Yanjing.

The few restaurants are mostly state-owned ones. The dishes are of a single style and the waiters have stern faces and are indifferent to customers.

There is also the price. A table of food is usually equivalent to an average worker's monthly income.

In the 20s and 30s, the monthly income of an ordinary employee was yuan, and those who were slightly better could earn more than yuan.

Most people don’t eat out casually. Even for slightly wealthy families, the number of times they go out to eat out is very limited.

In comparison, how could “He’s Home Cooking” not be popular?
In the early days of its opening, ordinary people didn’t come to the restaurant very often.

Often one meal can cost a working-class family a week's food expenses.

In the first few days, most of the people who came to the store were children of high-ranking officials, foreigners from the embassy area, and reporters who came for interviews.

At most, there would be twenty to thirty reporters coming a day.

Sha Zhu invited the reporter to the kitchen and talked while he was cooking on the stove.

For fear of choking the foreigners, he opened the window to disperse the smoke.

When the reporter asked, Sha Zhu answered while cooking.

Once, the M Embassy proposed to book a table at "He's Home Cooking" for 10 yuan per person, which was a high cost.

These days, a casserole with cabbage and tofu costs only 1.9 cents, stir-fried shredded pork costs 5.6 cents, and braised prawns cost 2.40 dollars.

Foreigners eat quietly and don't talk much.

Sha Zhu was unsure and wondered if the food was not tasty.

I didn't feel relieved until I saw all the plates on the table were empty.

The foreigners were obviously drunk. Before leaving, they said to Sha Zhu in a big voice: "Hire, hire, hired by Wei Rui!"

Because of this incident, “He’s Home Cooking” was once again featured in the “Yenching Daily”.

From then on, Sha Zhu's restaurant became completely famous.

As more customers came, the restaurant became more popular and the raw materials became scarce.

In this day and age, you need quotas to buy grain and oil. Without quotas, Sha Zhu would ask Ma Hua to go to other places to buy grain and oil.

The farthest they went was to places like Gaobeidian and Baoding where there were markets.

Ma Hua got up at around 5 o'clock to take the train. There was everything for sale at the market. Rice, noodles and oil were all sold by private individuals at high prices.

At first, Ma Hua had no experience and bought four large bags of vegetables and meat by himself. He couldn't carry them all, so he carried them back on his back.

As the "He's Home Cooking" restaurant became more famous, such purchases were a drop in the bucket.

As a last resort, Sha Zhu had to run to Liujiazhuang for help.

Liujiazhuang is now the raw material supply base for dozens of large restaurants, hotels, and farmers' markets in Beijing.

After a while, several decisions were issued on opening up new channels, revitalizing the economy and solving urban employment problems, which clearly recognized that "individual workers are socialist workers in our country."

Like the first blow to break the ice, the living waters of the individual economy that had been sealed for many years gushed out.

Individual restaurants sprang up like mushrooms in Yanjing City.

Sha Zhu and others can now open a restaurant with peace of mind.

By the time we see off the last group of guests and finish cleaning the place every day, it is already late at night.

The legs of Sha Zhu, Qin Huairu, Liu Lan, Ma Hua and others felt as if they were made of lead. They had to use their hands to move their legs slowly onto the bed before going to bed.

After the restaurant was successfully run, it was thriving, and perhaps within a year, the family could become a millionaire. The money owed in the early days was paid off in just three months.

Because, at that time, individual businesses were not allowed to hire workers, Qin Huairu, Ma Hua and Liu Lan all came in the name of helping relatives.

Because they were too busy, Wang Qiuju and He Qiu had to come to the store to help after get off work or school.

Although the average family income level of ordinary people is not high these days.

But in a city as big as Yanjing, with a population of seven or eight million, there are always people who can afford to eat out.

The people of Yanjing are good at eating and drinking, no matter how small it is, they can eat or drink something, from a plate of pickles to a table full of Manchu and Han banquets.

When it comes to eating out, these days it is often visited by people with high social status and wealth.

For people from ordinary families, they have been frugal since childhood and eat simple meals. They only go out to eat during the Chinese New Year and other festivals to "satisfy their cravings."

But for people in later generations, "eating out" means having lunch or dinner.

When people from Yanjing say "going to a restaurant", they always do so with a lot of energy, and they can list a lot of things to you like a running commentary.

Such as the eight great manors, eight great halls, eight great buildings, eight great residences, eight great springs and four great pavilions.

We don’t know whether he has eaten there or not, but as long as he has eaten there, he can tell you a lot of stories.

In the past, there were not many lively places in Yanjing, and when we mentioned prosperous places, they were always associated with food.

Xidan and Xisi, Hongbinlou and Shusheng Hotel;
Donglaishun and Cuihualou near Wangfujing, as well as Dongsi Baikui Laohao, Qianmen Jinyang Restaurant and Duyichu;
Dongdan Chongwenmen Bianyifang, Di'anmen Make Restaurant, etc.

To be honest, the people who usually go to these famous restaurants are those with status, position and money.

Ordinary civilians seldom visit here.

A restaurant like "He's Home Cooking" has affordable prices, tastes as good as those in big restaurants, and has even better service. It's the only one of its kind in the whole of Yanjing. Do you think this business can be a bad one?
There is a world of its own when it comes to “eating out”.

Why is it called “going to a restaurant” instead of “going to a restaurant”?

People from Yanjing usually say where they are going when they go to a place.

For example, if you go to the park, you should say "go to the park to play".

When you go to work, you will say "going to the work place".

But when people in Yanjing go to a restaurant to eat, they often say "going to the restaurant" instead of "going to the restaurant".

It is said that in the past, only a very small number of people who traveled around doing business or left home to practice asceticism would choose to eat in restaurants in addition to their own dry food in order to fill their stomachs.

It seems that restaurants provide paid services specifically for marginalized people in society, and their social status is relatively low, hence the saying "going to a restaurant".

Therefore, Lao Yanjing decided to take them out to eat at a restaurant.

"Guan" refers to a restaurant.

In fact, not all places where people eat in Old Yanjing are called restaurants.

Old Yanjing people prefer something more down-to-earth: "Let's go and have a meal."

These are the most basic things that are a piece of cake.

There are also different levels of places to eat.

The lowest level is called a food stall.

They set up a counter as a table, put out a bench, and light a fire next to it to cook. The food is cooked and sold right after it is cooked and eaten.

Some don’t even have counters. You can buy and eat while standing or take away. It’s up to you.

This is how many Yanjing snacks originated and became famous.

A better place is called a restaurant.

The restaurant has a storefront, but it is not big and there is no aisle. There are tables and chairs right at the entrance. Some of them don’t even have a distinction between the front and back kitchens, and you can even see the smoke and fire.

The care for customers is also simple and practical. It is usually taken care of by family members, with the head of the family cooking and serving the customers.

A better place would be called a restaurant.

The restaurant is large, divided into front and back kitchens, and has special staff to take care of it. The decoration and furnishings of the restaurant are also higher-grade than those of the rice shop. At least the windows are clean, the tables and chairs are exquisite, tea and wine are available, and the food is varied.

But most restaurants only have halls and no private rooms.

Some restaurants specialize in specialties and are famous for their specialties or signature dishes.

The most upscale place to eat is called a restaurant.

Restaurants often have front halls and backyards, upstairs and downstairs, and elegant seats in high rooms, giving them a sense of the grandeur of a noble mansion.

The restaurant has famous chefs and famous dishes, and it organizes banquets and caters for guests. The environment is elegant and grand, and the waiters are well-dressed.

The waiters are waiters who serve people. They are smart and capable, with clean shoes and socks, regular facial features, generous conversation, and attentive. They are so friendly and decent, and they are all men, no women.

Not only is the hospitality at this restaurant exquisite, the dishes are also served in a grand manner. Unlike other places where they just fry one dish after another and feed the food to pigs one spoonful at a time.

The restaurant serves the dishes cold first and then hot, and they are all complete when they are served.

Depending on the size of the dishes ordered, one or several waiters will hold a large hardwood carved serving plate and serve them all at once.

The big restaurants in Yanjing not only have male waiters, but they also never make sure the wine is full. All the dishes and meals are served outside. They don't come unless you call them. The purpose is to make guests feel at home, without any interference, so that they can enjoy their stay in peace.

The big restaurants in Yanjing are unaffordable for most people.

From this point of view, "He's Home Cooking" is quite large and can be considered a large restaurant.

It is very popular because of its reasonable prices, nice environment and taste that is not inferior to big restaurants!

Sha Zhu's restaurant has been packed with customers recently, and the business is so booming that it is jaw-dropping. The neighbors are all extremely surprised by this.

Some people are sincerely happy for Sha Zhu's success and think it is the reward he deserves;

Those who once mocked Sha Zhu are now extremely jealous and feel mixed emotions.

Come to think of it, in this era, everyone has a meager salary, only a few dozen yuan a month, and the better ones only make a little over a hundred yuan.

But suddenly, the neighbor next to you earns in one day as much as others work for two or three months. How can this not make people feel emotional and unbalanced?
As a result, all kinds of rumors began to spread, and there was a lot of public opinion in society. Some people said that the He Jiajia was the vanguard of the restoration of capitalism, and some people said that Sha Zhu was engaging in "speculation and profiteering."

During this period, Shazhu was both painful and happy.

Even Wang Qiuju would get off her bicycle at the entrance of the alley after get off work every day and push it home step by step in silence, for fear that others would hear the sound of her riding her bicycle and point fingers at her behind her back.

Director Jin of the district's Industrial and Commercial Bureau has also received a lot of opinions, believing that "He's Home Cooking" is illegal and should be closed.

For a while, Sha Zhu was always worried.

When the restaurant made some foreign exchange coupons, Shazhu would promptly hand them over to the bank and not keep them in his own hands.

However, not long after, Director Jin of the District Industrial and Commercial Bureau personally came to dispel Sha Zhu's doubts and told him to go ahead with his business. Jin Yunpeng is the deputy director of the District Industrial and Commercial Bureau. In April or May this year, Sha Zhu started to apply for a business license from the Dongcheng District Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

Director Jin went to meet him and explained to him that it was right not to give him a license because there were indeed no relevant laws and regulations to issue licenses to individual restaurants.

At most, there is a niche in the service industry and repair industry these days. You can make clothes, weld iron kettles, and repair shoes on your own.
Later, Director Jin made a special visit to their home to understand the situation.

At first glance, it's clear that this family really wants to do it, and they are honest, hardworking and abide by the rules.

Director Jin had too many thoughts at the time. He didn't consider whether something would go wrong or whether there were any risks. He just wanted to give it a try.

After the leadership team of their district’s Industrial and Commercial Bureau discussed it, they all agreed to give Sha Zhu special approval: if it succeeds, it succeeds; if not, then shut it down.

In this way, Sha Zhu became the first person to eat "crab" and became the guinea pig in the experiment.

Because there was no precedent and the district industrial and commercial bureau did not have a formal business license for individual catering businesses, Jin Yunpeng and his team made one themselves.

The license that Jin Yunpeng used was a piece of handwritten paper from the industrial and commercial department, with probably just a few lines of words approving the operation of "He's Home Cooking".

After stamping the official seal, Jin Yunpeng signed on it, and the business license was approved for Sha Zhu.

Jin Yunpeng was not afraid when he signed the license, but he became really scared later.

After Shazhu Restaurant opened, Jin Yunpeng received a thick stack of letters of opinion, saying all kinds of things.

At this time, Z's thoughts were particularly strong and there was great pressure from public opinion.

But Sha Zhu's restaurant is indeed doing very well and they are daring to be the first. Jin Yunpeng believes that this is the right path.

So Jin Yunpeng withstood the pressure and went to Sha Zhu's house in person to cheer him up.

From then on, Sha Zhu calmed down and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the management of the restaurant.

Day after day, month after month, the restaurant is always bustling with people, with every seat occupied, and business is incredibly booming.

This time, Sha Zhu's luck really turned around and he became a well-known tycoon.

Sha Zhu is a kind person. Even after he became rich, he never forgot Ma Hua and others who had ventured into the sea with him.

At the beginning of the business, Sha Zhu generously promised to give Ma Hua the highest treatment, a monthly salary of 200 yuan, while Qin Huairu and Liu Lan each received a monthly salary of yuan.

Today, Sha Zhu's restaurant business is booming. After deducting various costs, he can still make a net profit of 7,000 to 8,000 yuan every month, which is equivalent to his total income in the past several years.

Although wealth came rolling in, Sha Zhu did not become stingy.

He took the initiative to offer a raise to Ma Hua and others, doubling their wages so that they could share the joy of success.

This made Ma Hua, Qin Huairu and others very happy. They thanked Sha Zhu profusely and promised to work for Boss He for the rest of their lives.

Qin Huairu earned 200 yuan a month, and from time to time she could bring back some leftovers from the restaurant.

As a result, her income became the highest in the Jia family.

The family status that had been lost was quickly restored.

Banggeng, the eldest son who had not been seen for several months, has recently returned home more frequently than his sister Huaihua.

In Jia Zhang's mouth, Sha Zhu became a good man again and she praised him to everyone she met.

Qin Huairu got a lot of benefits because of Sha Zhu, which made the neighbors around her feel uncomfortable. Seeing this, some smart people took the initiative to come to her house to establish a relationship.

"Zhu Zi, our two families have been neighbors for many years and have a very deep relationship.

You have to remember this friendship and give our family a hand!" said a neighbor with a big smile on his face and sincere words.

"Look, your nephew has been back to the city from the countryside for more than a year, and he still hasn't found a suitable job.

Without a job, finding a partner has become a problem. How can I not be anxious?

How can you bear to watch it go to waste like this?" Another neighbor also looked anxious and talked about his own difficulties.

After hearing this, Sha Zhu smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "I would like to hire a few more people to help, but this matter is not that simple.

The problem is that I am in a dilemma and don’t dare to make a decision easily!

You two, let's wait and see the situation. If the situation improves, I will definitely give priority to you."

"Okay, okay, Zhuzi, I know you are a kind person. I won't say anything else. We will wait for you to believe it!"

After seeing off the two, Sha Zhu discovered that there was still one person who had not left. He looked at the person in confusion and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"

The guest seemed a little embarrassed and stammered, "Zhu Zi, I'm not here to arrange a job for you."

Sha Zhu was stunned when he heard this, and asked in confusion: "Then what are you doing..."

The customer chuckled and said a little embarrassedly: "Actually, I've been thinking about doing some small business, but I'm short of money and don't have the capital. Do you think it's possible..."

When Sha Zhu heard this, he immediately understood the other party's intention and sighed in his heart: "This is really like people are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being fat!"

…………

Who was most affected by Sha Zhu's success in business?
Undoubtedly, it was Xu Damao who always boasted of being extremely intelligent.

Xu Damao is a man with a quick mind and many ideas. He always likes to show off his cleverness.

However, this time he was defeated by Sha Zhu, a guy who seemed honest but was actually very courageous.

Sha Zhu dared to try new things and dared to take the "first bite of crab". This courage and determination made Xu Damao feel mixed emotions.

Whenever Xu Damao looked at Sha Zhu's prosperous restaurant, an indescribable fire of jealousy would surge in his heart.

He thought to himself: "Who am I, Xu Damao? How can I lose to Sha Zhu in such a matter? No, I have to think of a way to get my place back!"

Xu Damao's family was well-off, and his wife brought a generous dowry.

Together with the property that Lou Bancheng later handed over to Lou Xiao'e before going to Hong Kong, and then fell into Xu Damao's hands, it was enough for their family to live a comfortable life.

Of course, there is no need to worry about money, but the key lies in what kind of business to invest in, which makes Xu Damao feel troubled.

He doesn't have the skills like Sha Zhu, who can't easily support his family with his craft.

As for those small businesses set up along the streets and going from one street to another, Xu Damao looked down upon them at all. He felt that they were too shabby and not in line with his status and position.

It was such a coincidence that one day, Xu Damao suddenly had an idea and decided to go to the small restaurant "He's Home Cooking" to have a meal.

Just as he was leisurely enjoying the dishes on the table, he suddenly heard a heated discussion.

It turned out that several diners at the next table were talking excitedly about their legendary experiences of going to the south and making a fortune in business.

(End of this chapter)