1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 229 This World (2)

The men of Qilu, young and old, are famous for being taciturn when they are not drinking. They are the epitome of being unable to speak even with three sticks.

Therefore, although the business of this small restaurant on the edge of Tengzhou City, which had been open for less than half a year, had improved visibly, even the regular customers who came once a week had never seen the chef come out to greet them.

Although as men from Qilu, everyone understands this kind of behavior, but since you are in the catering industry and run a small restaurant that specifically targets regular customers, it would be too disrespectful for you to always stay in the kitchen and never show up.

To be honest, the spicy chicken cooked in this seemingly unremarkable little restaurant is truly unique and irresistible; otherwise, if it were not for the boss's reluctance to patrol the tables, at least half of the customers would probably curse and never come back again.

Ok……

That’s right, spicy chicken.

Most people from other provinces may know the spicy chicken in southern Hunan, Guizhou, Bashu, and even Zhanyi in southern Yunnan, but many people may not know that Qilu, which is considered to be not spicy at all by outsiders, also has its own spicy chicken, which is listed as one of the "Qilu Fried Chicken Top Three".

This is the "Lanling Spicy Chicken" which is famous in the province.

As one of the most famous representative dishes in Lanling area, spicy chicken has a history of hundreds of years. Although it cannot be said that every household can make it and every restaurant can have it, but in a place like Tengzhou, even if you walk into a mutton soup restaurant, they can cook you a plate of delicious spicy chicken.

However, although the locals all know that the biggest secret to the deliciousness of Lanling Spicy Chicken lies in the spiral peppers that are only available locally, the skill involved in making a plate of spicy spicy chicken so addictive is probably not something that can be explained by just the spiral peppers.

As we all know, although people in Qi and Lu generally do not pay much attention to food, there are a few exceptions, and Lanling area is one of them.

So it's no surprise that today this small shop called "Lao Liu Fried Chicken Restaurant" will be packed with business again... It's only 4:30 in the afternoon, and it's not time to cook yet, but people have already come to reserve seats at the only four tables in the restaurant.

This situation is rare in Qi and Lu today, but it also proves the appeal of the spicy chicken in Lao Liu's Fried Chicken Restaurant to the gourmets in Lanling.

………………

Liu Sanduo didn't care how much honor it meant to a craftsman that those gourmets ran into the store early to grab seats;

He also doesn't care whether he hurts the feelings of these old customers by never going out to say hello or offer them a drink.

As a person who worked hard in a coastal city for two years and finally returned empty-handed, he now has a more open-minded attitude towards many things.

So, seeing that it was only half an hour before lunchtime, he was carefully counting the live chickens that the chicken vendor had just delivered.

Different from other fried chicken restaurants that only pay attention to the age of the chicken but not the breed, Liu Sanduo's fried spicy chicken only uses "Langya Chicken", one of the seven famous chickens in Shandong Province, and it must be free-range roosters that are more than one year old. In this way, the fried chicken will be smooth, tender, tough, fragrant and fresh.

Although this will inevitably increase the cost of ingredients by a large margin, Liu Sanduo never regrets doing so... It doesn't matter how much money you make, as long as you can live a more transparent and satisfying life, it is better than anything else.

That's right, although Lao Liu's Fried Chicken Restaurant's business has been gradually getting better in the past two or three months, due to its small size and overly sophisticated ingredients, Liu Sanduo's actual gross profit margin is pitifully low. If the customers order less wine, or even bring their own wine, he may not even be able to make back the processing fee.

But he doesn't care.

As for money, it's enough as long as it's enough. He has earned three to four thousand dollars in the past six months. In the village, it's almost ten years' income for a family. Now his parents, wife and son all live the same life as people in the city. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?
Besides, compared to the glitz and glamour of coastal cities, he prefers the dining consumption atmosphere in Qilu. Customers can eat affordably, and chefs like him can earn money from their skills. You enjoy your meal and I feel at ease making money... It's pretty good.

"Boss Liu, these are the big roosters that we just collected from the village. They are all over 7 jins and very big... There are 16 of them in total. Do you like them?"

The supplier was a native of Tianjin. Although no one knew why he would run from a big place like Tianjin to a small place like Tengzhou, which was upgraded from a county to a prefecture-level city last year, to do such a small business; nor did he understand why he still spoke authentic Tianjin dialect even after arriving in Qilu, Liu Sanduo didn't care.

Looking at the dozens of big roosters with golden and red feathers flapping their wings on the tricycle, Liu Sanduo nodded, then stretched out his hand and motioned to the chicken vendor to give him the order.

Although it was almost time for dinner and it seemed extremely unprofessional for the chicken vendor to deliver the live chickens now, the fact was that these chickens were not the ingredients to be used today, so he didn't mind even if the chicken vendor delivered them later.

Although his fried chicken shop cooks freshly weighed chickens, the live chickens that are delivered are not slaughtered. Instead, the ones that are slaughtered are the Langya chickens kept in another chicken cage in the yard.

This was the knowledge he had learned along the coast. Live chickens were bumpy and frightened during transportation, and their bodies would inevitably secrete an acidic substance that would affect the taste of the chicken. It was best to let them rest overnight before slaughtering them to maximize the deliciousness of the chicken... Although unlike slaughtering large livestock such as cattle, the sour taste was not obvious in the chicken itself, and could even be said to be negligible, but Liu Sanduo was unwilling to make do with it.

Seeing Liu Sanduo asking for the order without saying a word, the chicken vendor heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter of late delivery today was over. He took out the order from his waist bag and explained with a smile: "I didn't check the almanac before going out today, and I encountered a lot of weird things on the road... I make a living by buying chickens, but I encountered two waves of people buying chickens from me along the way, and they bought them from me on the street. How can this world be so confusing?" "The funniest thing is that these guys don't know the goods at all. They asked for the whole thing right away, and they only offered five yuan for a chicken... Isn't this a joke? For a Langya chicken of this quality and head, if I go to the village and beg everyone to buy it, it will cost at least ten yuan!"

Thinking of the ridiculous behavior of the two groups of laymen, the chicken vendor showed a sarcastic smile on his face: "From their self-introduction, they are from a company that supplies Qingfeng Foods. They even showed me something called a work badge... Qingfeng Foods is such a big company, but they found such an unreliable supplier. It's incredible that they haven't gone bankrupt yet!"

Liu Sanduo, who was checking the list with his head down, suddenly paused, then looked up with some confusion: "Qingfeng Food? Are you coming to our place to buy chickens... or are you going to buy them in the city?"

Seeing the usually silent fried chicken shop owner suddenly speak up, the chicken vendor was surprised but also became more interested. He said, "Why didn't they check the almanac before going out today? Those two guys from the so-and-so distribution agency said that Qingfeng Food is in short supply of raw materials, so they came to Lanling to buy the goods... Isn't this ridiculous? How could such a big company be short of chicken? Even if they were short of chicken, would they come all the way to Lanling to buy it? And they bought it on the market?"

The chicken vendor smacked his lips again. "But what's a little weird is that those people seemed to be really anxious, and what they said was almost the same. Not only did they all have Texas accents, but looking at the exquisiteness of their work badges, they didn't seem like scammers who came out to cheat people just for a few chickens... This is really strange. Could it be that Qingfeng Food is really short of chickens now?"

Liu Sanduo listened quietly, like a puppet. Just when the chicken vendor suspected that the fried chicken shop owner had some kind of illness, Liu Sanduo suddenly raised his head and asked, "Is that company called Xialiu Sales Agency?"

After the late spring rain in early April, he had always been paying close attention to Qingfeng Food and the Drilling Company. He also learned from some newspapers that he had asked others to bring to him that Linyi County had made many big moves this year, and that many of his customers were knowledgeable gourmets. He was used to moving a stool and sitting quietly at the entrance of the kitchen after work, and by chance he also learned about the relationship between Xialiu Distribution Agency and Qingfeng Food that was not well known to the world.

The chicken vendor looked at him in surprise, thought for a moment, and said, "Yes, it seems to be called Xialiu Sales Agency... Boss Liu is really an expert!"

Liu Sanduo ignored the chicken vendor's flattery and just stood there thinking quietly.

He could now barely be considered a member of the catering industry, so he naturally knew what it meant that Qingfeng Food, which was far away in Texas, came all the way to Lanling to buy chickens, and even bought them up in a panic on the market.

Qingfeng Food is in big trouble!

Although this has not been confirmed, Liu Sanduo thinks so based on his industry intuition.

Without much hesitation, Liu Sanduo suddenly handed the order back to the chicken vendor: "Boss Li, how many chickens do you have now?"

The chicken vendor was a little stunned by this. After thinking for a while, he said uncertainly: "Including the two houses that have not been delivered yet, there are about 80 or so. After all, Langya chicken is a bit expensive, so not many people want it... What, Boss Liu, do you want to add more?"

Liu Sanduo smiled and said, "I want all these chickens...I want them now!"

As he spoke, he looked at the dirty tricycle, then turned to look at the chicken vendor: "Boss Li, I remember when you went to the countryside to collect chickens, you drove a modified walk-behind tractor, right?... Could you please make an extra trip today and lend me that walk-behind tractor?"

The chicken seller was completely confused and wasn't sure what this guy was trying to do.

Seeing this, Liu Sanduo just smiled, waved his hand, and called his wife, who was in charge of finance, over. Without saying anything, he took out a handful of bills from her pocket and handed them to the chicken vendor: "These chickens are needed urgently, and the hand tractor is also needed urgently... Boss Li, please go back now and help me load the goods."

After saying this, without waiting for the chicken vendor to speak, Liu Sanduo turned around and walked into the living room.

Just as all the diners were looking at this boss who never set foot in the front hall in surprise, this man who was not good at anything opened a bottle of wine for the first time, poured wine for each table, and raised his glass: "I'm sorry, gentlemen... Lao Liu Fried Chicken Restaurant can't make spicy chicken tonight... You can order the rest of the dishes, it's free!"

He drank the wine in the glass, bowed deeply, then took off his apron in the panic-stricken eyes of his wife and strode towards the big rooster that had been resting in the yard all night.

As a seven-foot-tall man from Qi and Lu, all I want is to live a transparent life and live up to the law of cause and effect.
Besides, apart from eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, there must be something we want to achieve in life, right?

As the liquid dissolved in his throat, Liu Sanduo felt that his chest, which had been cold for half a year, was gradually heating up...

----

PS: There is another chapter in the afternoon. Since there is not much homework today, I will try to finish this part as quickly as possible. I know that everyone doesn’t like to read this kind of content, but this is my obsession.

I know that many people feel out of place when interacting with Shandong people, and even have some prejudice against people from the three provinces in the Central Plains, but I want to say... it’s not really like that.

In fact, perhaps the plots of these chapters seem nonsense to some readers, but I just want to say that the land and water nurture the people, and the people of the land and water have the persistence engraved in their bones. In fact, these plots are real even in some Qi and Lu regions now, let alone in the past.

Moreover, I have written very restrainedly that in this era when the media discourse power has been controlled by the South, I think most people from other provinces may not be able to understand the stubbornness, silence, repression and gangster spirit of the people in the three provinces of the Central Plains. Some behaviors and thoughts that seem stupid to the extreme in the eyes of others are really too common in this land.

(End of this chapter)