1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 120 Great News! (First Update, 4.4k words!)

A wooden plank was placed on the long bench, and a bed was placed against one wall, covered with a new cotton quilt that Zhou Yan had bought a couple of days ago.

The room was lit by a warm yellow light, and apart from a bed, there were only two wooden boxes, making it look empty.

Zhou Momo was wrapped in a small blanket and sleeping soundly like a little green worm.

Zhao Tieying lay on the bed, eyes wide open, looking around, too excited to sleep: "Old Zhou, does this mean we've moved into our new house?"

“Of course it counts. It’s an apartment building, with cement floors and white walls. It’s on the second floor, much better than our old patched-up mud walls.” Zhou Miao nodded with a smile. “Zhou Yan will still make the arrangements.”

"This kid seems to have suddenly become more insightful. He's become more reliable in his words and actions and knows how to share the burdens of his parents!" Zhao Tieying said with a smile, but her eyes were a little moist.

"That's your child too, and you've raised him little by little over the years. It's only right that you be filial to him." Zhou Miao reached out and hugged her, gently patting her back.

Zhao Tieying buried her head in his chest and whispered, "That night when I saw the house collapse, I felt like the sky had fallen. I never thought we would have a new home so soon."

“Home is where family is.” Zhou Miao hugged her tighter.

The gentle murmur of the river outside the window helps one fall asleep quickly.

……

Zhou Yan woke up just as dawn was breaking.

There's no way around it, my biological clock is already set. I go to bed early and wake up early, feeling refreshed and energetic.

I pulled the money box out from under the bed and stuffed a wad of it into my pocket. There were only nine tables of guests for lunch today, so I didn't need to prepare many dishes. But if I left early, I could pick out better quality ingredients.

With the launch of the braised meat, word-of-mouth spread rapidly, and the restaurant's turnover has remained stable at around 500 yuan for four consecutive days, with a gross profit of 260 or 270 yuan.

These past two days I've been rendering lard, bought half a tractorload of oak wood for firewood, renovated the second floor, built a new stove, and bought a new pot—all large expenditures.

I still have 762.62 yuan in cash.

That's a huge sum of money.

Of course, the salaries and commissions of Aunt Zhao and Comrade Lao Zhou have not been deducted.

Now, the beef stew sold by Zhao is consistently selling 120 bowls a day, with a very stable profit margin of 60%. Zhao's daily commission is about eight yuan, and her monthly salary plus commission is about 270 yuan.

Thanks to Lao Zhou's fancy meat-cutting skills, the braised meat in the shop has a stable turnover of about 150 yuan, with a gross profit of about 60%. Lao Zhou's daily commission is about 18 yuan.

Zhou Yan was happy to give the money. Aunt Zhao and Comrade Zhou are angel investors. This restaurant was opened with their family fortune, so it's only right that they ask for a share of the profits.

Besides, the two of them are now the restaurant's core technical staff. Without them, how could the turnover reach 500? The restaurant would have to close down.

Helping out at the shop is much better than Old Zhou slaughtering cattle. The workload is less than when he slaughtered cattle. Every morning, I go with Zhou Yan to buy groceries, and after we come back and finish processing the chicken and pig heads, we go fishing by the river in front of the shop.

However, the air force has been on fire for four consecutive days.

Yesterday, Comrade Zhou said that the dock in front of the textile factory is crowded with boats every day, scaring away the fish. Today, he's going to go fishing at his old spot.

I understand everything I understand.

Fishing under Aunt Zhao's nose, if you don't catch anything, you really don't catch anything. It's not good to go to the market to buy one to save face.

With 300 yuan left for groceries, Zhou Yan planned to take his parents and little Zhou Momo into the city to shop around after the store closed at noon, and buy some things for their new home at the department store.

The second floor is now in a state that is no different from a house with bare walls.

Just as Zhou Yan was about to leave, Old Zhou followed him downstairs.

"Old man, why aren't you making braised pork and cold chicken today? Why don't you sleep in a little longer?" Zhou Yan asked, looking at him.

"I've been sleeping so much more lately, I wake up as soon as it's light, and I feel uncomfortable lying in bed." Old Zhou took out his new fishing rod, which he had just made a couple of days ago, from the bottom of the stairs and said with a smile, "Let's go find a good spot early and catch a big fish."

In those days, fishing enthusiasts in rural towns mostly made their own fishing rods from bamboo poles, about 1.8 meters long. Any longer and they would be inconvenient to carry, too heavy and tiring to their hands.

Comrade Lao Zhou has always been skilled with his hands. This old bamboo pole was roasted over a fire and stretched straight. A semi-transparent fishing line was tied to the tip of the rod. The floats were made of six small, cut goose feather rods. The fish hooks were also changed from the original embroidery needles to purchased fish hooks.

Comrade Zhou, whose personal savings are plentiful, has significantly upgraded his equipment compared to a month ago.

The only thing that remains unchanged is loyalty to the Air Force.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case. After finishing his business hours, Zhou Yan would run along the river every day and see many fishermen sitting on both banks. Each of them had fish in their baskets, some big and some small. It was quite rare to see someone who didn't catch any fish.

Even if you don't know how to scoop fish out of the Qingyi River, in this era before electricians, fishing shouldn't be difficult; anyone with hands can do it.

"Old man, what do you use to fish?" Zhou Yan couldn't help but ask.

"For crickets, I see they all use this as bait. I specifically dig out big hooks, this thick and long, specifically for catching big fish," Old Zhou said, gesturing with his middle finger.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yan's vision went black again.

Using an earthworm as thick as half a middle finger on a fishing hook to catch freshwater sharks?
There are indeed big fish in the Qingyi River, but the fishhook that Comrade Zhou used was only a little bit as wide as his little fingernail.

Zhou Yan wasn't a fishing enthusiast, but he had a roommate in college who loved fishing. He was proficient in everything from hand rods to lure fishing, and he even made his own fermented rice in the dorm, getting so tanned he looked like an African.

He went fishing twice and learned the basic principles and methods of rod fishing. He even caught a few fish and found it quite enjoyable.

However, fishing makes it too easy to get a tan, so as a beauty blogger, I had to give up on this activity in the end.

Being handsome also has its troubles, which are hard for most people to understand.

“Old man, when you go dig for crickets today, just get the ones this big, a little bigger than a fishhook. Tear them in half, thread them back and forth on the hook,” Zhou Yan said to Old Zhou. “Then go to their rapeseed oil pressing workshop, buy a pound of rapeseed cake, grab a handful, soak it in water, knead it into a ball, throw it in the spot where you want to fish, and start casting after half an hour. If you still haven’t caught anything, you can keep the money you spent on fish today.”

Comrade Zhou was stunned; this method was quite different from what he had learned.

However, seeing Zhou Yan's confidence, he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

The father and son pushed the stroller out together.

For anglers, being able to leave early is equivalent to taking a break.

If Old Zhou still can't catch anything, then it just means he's really bad at it.

Later, I'll go buy a pound of cheap liquor, and when he comes back, I'll soak a bottle of rice in it and add some hard work.

Once the weather gets cold, it's the season for crucian carp fishing.

Crucian carp is great; it's useful for making crucian carp with mint.

Wild crucian carp is also very delicious when used to make fish soup.

There's no way around it; you have to spoil your own father.

This constant air force activity is not a solution; it's too discouraging.

When Zhou Yan returned with the groceries, Zhao Niangniang was sitting under a tree by the door combing her hair.

Zhou Momo got up early today, her hair loose, and was squatting down beside the ants that came out to forage, muttering to themselves:

"Ants, ants, do you have names?!"

Have you had breakfast?

"I'm so hungry, are you guys hungry?"

Zhou Yan laughed and said, "What are you muttering about?"

"Guoguo!" Zhou Momo jumped up and ran over. "I want noodles! I'm hungry!" "I didn't make noodles this morning, so I bought you steamed buns instead." Zhou Yan took an oil paper bag from the basket and handed it to Zhou Momo: "Hold on tight, there are four big meat buns."

"Meat bun!" Zhou Momo couldn't hold back her tears as they slid down her cheeks.

Aunt Zhao casually tied her hair up, took the steamed bun from her, and said as she walked inside, "I'll help you get it. It's no big deal if you drop it. Wash your face and hands first, and I'll comb your hair after you eat the steamed bun."

"Okay!" Zhou Momo followed along happily, climbed onto the stool herself, and sat down obediently.

Aunt Zhao put the buns on the table, wrung out a hot towel, rubbed Zhou Momo's face, and then carefully wiped her hands before taking a bun from the paper bag and stuffing it into her hand.

This bun is huge; Zhou Momo couldn't even close it with both hands. The little one's cheeks were rosy.

I took a big bite, made a cut, but didn't see any meat filling.

She chewed it, nodding her head: "It smells so good! It's sweet!"

Then I took another big bite from that opening, but still couldn't find any filling.

Now she was a little unhappy and turned to look at Zhou Yan, who was carrying meat, and asked, "Brother, where's the meat?"

Zhou Yan glanced at the bun in her hand and couldn't help but laugh: "Take another bite. If you still can't see any meat, I'll take you to the boss for a refund."

These days, steamed buns are large, with thick skins and little filling, mainly to fill you up, but they don't taste good.

Zhou Momo took another bite, and this time she bit into the meat filling. Her eyes lit up, and she turned to Zhou Yan with a smile: "Yes! Look, it's meat!"

"Then you can eat it. Next time, I'll make you a bun with lots of meat." Zhou Yan said with a smile. He just didn't know how to make buns, otherwise he would definitely make Zhou Momo a meat bun where you could taste the meat filling with just a small bite.

Aunt Zhao, being more experienced, prepared a dish of pickled radishes and roasted ginger, which she ate with relish along with the kimchi.

When living in the village, people usually couldn't afford to buy steamed buns. In the morning, they would cook a pot of sweet potato porridge and eat it with pickled vegetables.

Even if there's not much meat in the bun, it still has some meat to it, and this bun is soft and fluffy with a slightly sweet taste. It's delicious!

Zhou Momo ate half of her food, then slid off the stool and ran to the door to share a little of the small amount of meat filling with the ants.

Sister-in-law Zhao Hong didn't come today. There were only nine tables of guests, and they weren't making braised beef or stewed meat. Their family was busy enough, so they decided to let her rest for a day to avoid making the trip.

Around noon, Comrade Zhou returned wearing a straw hat, carrying a fishing rod and a fish basket, his smile clearly visible.

"Dad! Did you catch any fish?" Zhou Momo asked.

Zhou Yan and Zhao Tieying also came out to see.

"I caught three!" Old Zhou said with a smile, handing over the fish basket.

Zhou Yan peeked out and saw, wow, a small crucian carp weighing about two ounces, a yellow catfish, and a whitebait.

Three wild small fish

The system provides the identification results.

Great news! The Air Force has successfully broken the turtle-like barrier!
Look how happy Comrade Zhou is, he can't stop smiling.

Aunt Zhao also came over to take a look and said with a smile, "It's so small. Seeing how brightly you're smiling, I thought you got a big one. It's not as big as those two last time."

Old Zhou stopped laughing and scratched his head awkwardly: "It's a bit small, we'll catch a bigger one next time."

The broken tortoise was so pleased with itself that it almost forgot about this matter.

“Okay, we haven’t caught any fish the past few days. Let’s keep the crucian carp and yellow catfish alive for now, and then kill them when we have enough for a meal.” Zhao Tieying took the fish basket and walked towards the kitchen.

"Let me see! I want to see too!" Zhou Momo tiptoed forward, almost jumping up in her eagerness.

“Here.” Aunt Zhao glanced at it for her.

"Wow! Daddy is so awesome! He caught another fish!" Zhou Momo clapped her hands, looking at her father with admiration.

"Good girl, I'll catch you a big fish next time." Old Zhou's eyes were practically closed with laughter. What could be more pleasing than his own daughter's praise?

"The method you mentioned this morning really worked. A lot of fish came after I threw in the rapeseed oil cake, but I couldn't catch many. Two of them got away. I'll try it again next time I have time," Old Zhou whispered to Zhou Yan.

“That’s good. If the rapeseed oil cake works, I won’t waste the rice and wine to make you rice for wine,” Zhou Yan said with a smile.

Comrade Zhou said, "The cost of rice and wine is too high. I slaughtered a cow for Liu Wu's family before, and he charged me three cents a pound for rapeseed oil cake. One pound can last a long time."

Zhou Yan took the fishing rod from Old Zhou. The rod was indeed very well made, and the handle had been sanded, making it very comfortable to hold.

This is the cable set, right? It seems to have a problem.

"Old man, why don't you use some toothpaste tubes as a sinker here? The hook isn't even on the bottom, how can you catch big crucian carp?" Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"Huh?" Zhou Miao scratched his head. "There's such a thing?"

"I'll fix it for you." Zhou Yan found an empty toothpaste tube, which was still made of aluminum. He cut a long strip with scissors and wrapped it about ten centimeters above the fishhook.

"Throw it into the water, so that three of the floats are in the water and three are on the surface. That way you'll be fishing at the bottom, and you'll definitely catch a big fish next time," Zhou Yan told him.

"Okay! I'll give it a try next time." Old Zhou nodded, then looked at him and said, "I've never seen you fish before, how do you know about these things?"

"I only understand the principles from the book; you'll have to practice them yourself," Zhou Yan casually replied.

“What’s written in books must be the experience of masters.” Old Zhou was very confident. He carefully put the fishing rod back down the stairs, then cleaned the fish basket and hung it by the door to dry.

In this day and age, fishing is generally considered a waste of time.

Aunt Zhao is definitely an open-minded wife. Outsiders may think she's crooked, but at home she's always been a good wife and a good mother.

Of course, this is also largely due to Comrade Zhou's sense of propriety.

After each fishing trip, he would clean his fishing gear thoroughly to ensure that his house wouldn't develop any unpleasant odors because of his fishing.

He never left his dirty clothes from fishing to be washed by Aunt Zhao; he always washed and dried them himself.

Zhou Yan was the same way. Although they lived together, he would wash his own dirty clothes after running or doing chores every day.

It can be considered a kind of family tradition.

They had lunch early, and then the guests arrived in small groups.

“Aunt Zhao, Wang Min, and four others.”

"Boss, there are four people, including Liu Dezhu."

……

All the dishes were pre-ordered. Once you gave your name, you didn't need to order anything else. You just checked the menu and sent it to the kitchen, and Zhou Yan started cooking.

Five bicycles arrived at the gate at the same time. Zhao Dong was leading the way, carefully helping an elderly woman with gray hair off the back of the bicycle, and said softly, "Mom, be careful."

A middle-aged man in a suit, with a burly build and a potbelly, sat on the bicycle next to them. He frowned as he looked at the restaurant sign and said, "Zhao Dong, why did you choose such a small restaurant? It's my mother's birthday today. Even though we're not celebrating, we should still choose a better restaurant. How about we go to a state-run restaurant? I already told your sister that we'll pay the bill today."

This is Zhao Dong's brother-in-law, Huang He, the owner of Feiyan Restaurant.

"Yes, this restaurant is a bit small, not as grand as a state-run restaurant." A middle-aged woman in a cheongsam got out of the back seat of Huang He's restaurant. She had curly hair, light makeup, and a leather jacket, and looked quite elegant.

Zhao Shulan shook her head as she looked at the somewhat shabby restaurant.

　Asking for a monthly ticket~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)