1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 13 Zhou Brothers
Zhou Yan subconsciously took a step back.

The two burly men grinned, revealing rows of white teeth in the dim light, and their faces became clearer under the lamplight.

"Brother Haizi, Brother Jie." Zhou Yan felt relieved and greeted them with a smile.

These two burly men were his cousins, Zhou Hai, the second son of his eldest uncle's family, and Zhou Jie, the eldest son of his second uncle's family.

His father had four brothers, and his three older uncles each had two sons.

Because of the cattle slaughtering, the Zhou family not only had no shortage of food, but also no shortage of meat, so all of his cousins ​​grew to be over 1.75 meters tall and were very strong.

In Zhoucun, no one dared to bully the Zhou family. Even the hooligans of the commune had to avoid them.

After all, the Zhou family members are people who see blood every day. They have the brute strength to withstand even an ox, and they carry boning knives on their waists. They are not to be trifled with.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you. I heard you jumped into the river to save the deputy factory director's niece, and she reciprocated with her body, and you've even gotten your marriage certificate?" Zhou Hai grinned.

He was about the same height as Zhou Yan, but nearly twice the size. His dark skin made him look like a black bear, giving him an imposing presence, but his smile made people feel reassured and reliable.

"When are you going to the wedding banquet? I'll help you steal the bride then, and I can drink the whole table under the table for you!" Zhou Jie said with a simple and honest smile.

He was half a head shorter than Zhou Hai, but equally robust, with a round face. Most striking were his shoulder-length earlobes, which gave him a friendly appearance.

"what?"

Σ(⊙▽⊙“a?

Zhou Yan looked completely bewildered.

Where did this rumor come from?

The butchers nearby all slowed down their work and looked at Zhou Yan with gossipy expressions.

This has been the hottest topic in Zhoucun these past two days. The intelligence center at the village entrance is discussing it heatedly every day, saying that Zhou Yan has climbed the social ladder and his whole family is about to rise to prominence.

Yesterday evening, Zhao Tieying returned home carrying a pile of Friendship Snow Cream, Pechoin Cold Cream, and cigarettes, saying they were gifts from the city girl, which became further evidence of the matter.

This made the women at the village entrance very envious; they didn't even enjoy their sweet potato porridge for the past two days.

But the Zhou brothers were overjoyed. If they hadn't been so busy with work these past few days, they would have gone to town to find Zhou Yan and ask about the situation.

Today, Zhou Hai and Zhou Jie came to help slaughter the cow. They had heard from Fourth Aunt that Zhou Yan was coming to collect the meat, so they were eagerly waiting.

Seeing Zhou Yan arrive on his bicycle, he rushed over without even putting down his knife.

"No, that's not true. I'm the one who rescued her. She's a very generous person, so she gave me a bicycle and a bunch of gifts as a thank you gift. How could I possibly ask her to repay me with her body?" Zhou Yan waved his hands repeatedly, very seriously denying the rumors. "I'm still a genuine eligible bachelor."

"You really didn't get a marriage certificate?" Zhou Hai and Zhou Jie were greatly disappointed.

They're still thinking about attending the wedding banquet; they've even discussed how much to give in red envelopes to each of the brothers.

Zhou Yan is the youngest brother. Before Zhou Momo was born, he was the family's darling. Although Zhou Momo is now the darling, the brothers still care about and love Zhou Yan very much.

"No, really. That girl is innocent and we can't ruin her reputation." Zhou Yan shook his head.

“That’s right, that’s right.” Zhou Hai and Zhou Jie nodded repeatedly; this matter couldn’t be ambiguous.

The others, upon hearing this, seemed to be deep in thought.

It seems the rumors are unreliable after all. The fact that Zhou Yan failed to marry into a wealthy family made them feel somewhat better.

"This is the new bike I gave you? It looks really good, much better than my old, secondhand bike that rattles everywhere except for the bell." Zhou Jie changed the subject, his gaze falling on Zhou Yan's bicycle.

"Yeah, it's a Phoenix PA-18, pretty easy to ride." Zhou Yan nodded with a smile. "Jie-ge, want to go for a couple of rides?"

"Then I won't be polite." Zhou Jie shoved the knife into Zhou Hai's hand, then went to the bucket next to him to wash his hands clean. Only then did he take the handlebars from Zhou Yan, ride the bicycle around the threshing ground twice, and then came back. He put down the kickstand and exclaimed repeatedly, "This bike is so easy to ride! When I save up enough money, I'll get a new one too!"

Men's obsession with cars has been evident since the era of bicycles.

"Brother Jie, how's your hot pot business lately?" Zhou Yan asked, looking at Zhou Jie.

Zhou Hai and Zhou Jie usually help their family slaughter cattle and also sell soup pots together.

Zhou Jie was mostly in charge of the business; he seemed more approachable and had good salesmanship, while Zhou Hai assisted him.

The Zhou family, consisting of four members, slaughters cattle. In the past two years, Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai have been responsible for setting up and selling the offal at their stalls.

Zhou Yan wants to sell "Qiaojiao Beef," but he doesn't plan to do it secretly. He needs to explain it to Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai first to avoid any future rifts between the brothers.

"Business has been alright lately since the weather turned cooler. We sell about 80-90% of our offal every day, with not much left." Zhou Jie looked at Zhou Yan with a sincere expression and said, "Zhou Yan, is your restaurant not doing too well? Why don't you close it down and sell hot pot with me and Hai Zi? You can earn two or three hundred yuan a winter, and there's no rent. You can save up for two or three years and get married."

“Yes! We brothers work together. You just stand in front of the stall, and young women and wives alike will be happy to come and eat,” Zhou Hai said with a smile.

Grandpa Zhou sacrificed his life during the Korean War. Grandma Zhou raised her five sons to adulthood. As a master of diplomacy, she managed to keep her four daughters-in-law obedient and there were no unpleasant incidents in the family.

The brothers worked together as a team, helping each other, and the next generation of cousins ​​also got along very well.

The Zhou family fully supported Zhou Yan's decision to open a restaurant, and each family contributed money.

Seeing that the restaurant's business was not doing well, they were anxious, but they didn't dare to say much, for fear that Zhou Yan would think they wanted him to pay back the money.

Zhou Yan felt a surge of warmth in his heart. Brother Jie and Brother Hai wanted to give him a hand and let him sell hot pot together, so they were going to give him a share of the money that he and Zhou Hai could have earned.

These days, it's not easy for anyone to make money. Selling hot pot in the summer is a loss-making business, and they rely on the few months in winter to earn some money. This openness and friendship made Zhou Yan feel both unfamiliar and touched.

"I've switched to selling noodles now, and business has been pretty good these past few days. I can sell dozens of bowls a day," Zhou Yan said quickly. "The restaurant can survive on noodles alone. I'm not good enough at cooking other dishes, so I thought I'd try selling hot pot as a side business."

"Really?" Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai both beamed with joy upon hearing this.

“It’s not impossible for you to sell hot pot on the side, but your restaurant is located in front of a textile factory. The workers in the textile factory are rich, but they don’t seem to like hot pot very much.” Zhou Jie scratched his head and said, “We’ve been selling hot pot for two years, and we rarely see female textile factory workers come to eat.”

“My mom told me about this too, but I think they just haven’t tried it. I set up a pot outside the restaurant, and as soon as the aroma of beef wafts out, they come running,” Zhou Yan said with a smile, full of confidence.

“Okay, then come to our stall on your bike after you finish your work in the morning, and I’ll teach you how to make soup pot.” Zhou Jie took two steps forward and lowered his voice a bit: “I’ve improved the recipe this year and added two Chinese herbs. It tastes better than other soup pot vendors in our village. I’ll teach you everything.”

"Brother Jie..." Zhou Yan's feelings were a bit complicated. Who would open up so frankly right away? It was a bit unsettling.

Zhou Jie reached out and patted his shoulder, a smile on his lips, "We're brothers, there's no need to say anything, your brothers all want to see you make money and get married."

“Okay, I’ll come find you guys at eight o’clock.” Zhou Yan nodded, accepting this gesture of brotherhood.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai went back to their work.

Zhou Yan greeted his other uncles and brothers and walked towards Comrade Old Zhou.

The cow has been slaughtered and is now being butchered. The knife moves along the gaps between the tendons and bones, skillfully avoiding the knots and joints. At the intersection of tendons and bones, a gentle cut is all it takes to separate the meat from the bone.

Zhou Yan watched for a while and deeply felt that the story of the butcher dissecting an ox was indeed true.

Of the five Zhou brothers, all except their fifth uncle were butchers, but the one with the best skills was actually the seemingly thinnest Zhou Miao.

Watching him butcher a cow is an extremely pleasing performance; he uses only skillful techniques and rarely does one see him struggling to wield a large cleaver.

"Your mom went to wash the offal." Zhou Miao casually made a few cuts, cutting four pounds of tenderloin, three pounds of beef brisket, and another half pound of tenderloin.

He then placed a few large cow bones in a bamboo basket to the side. There was no need to use a scale; his knife served as the scale.

"I just told Brother Jie and Brother Hai about my plan to sell hot pot, and Brother Jie told me to come to his place to learn later," Zhou Yan said.

"Didn't you say you were going to make it into a medicinal dish?" Zhou Miao stopped what he was doing.

"We're just learning from each other," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

“That’s good. Zhou Jie is really good at making hot pot. His hot pots sell better than others.” Zhou Miao nodded and continued to divide the beef.

Zhou Yan walked to the basket placed to the side, lifted a corner of the small quilt, and found Zhou Momo sleeping soundly inside.

She was too young, and her parents didn't feel comfortable leaving her at home, so every time they went out to slaughter a cow, they would carry her out in a bamboo basket.

After waiting for a while, Zhao Tieying came up from the riverbank carrying a small basket of beef offal, and Zhou Yan then drove her and Zhou Momo back to the restaurant.

"Taking a car is so much easier! My back was about to break from carrying this basket all the way to your shop," Zhao Tieying said, putting down her basket.

"Momo's gotten so heavy! I'll pick you up on my bike from now on." Zhou Yan carefully lifted Zhou Momo out of the basket, and a cigarette came out with it from under the blanket. He asked in confusion, "Didn't Dad take this cigarette back to smoke?"

“What kind of cigarettes does he smoke? Quit them! He smokes at home every day, making us mother and son suffer. He coughs all the time. We can’t let him smoke anymore!” Zhao Tieying pouted, then added, “These are good cigarettes. Keep them. You can either sell them for money or give them away as gifts.”

"Quitting smoking is a good idea," Zhou Yan nodded.

It's a good thing to smoke less, but it seems that Comrade Zhao Tieying took the cigarettes back yesterday to save face, which made the old women in the village extremely envious.

"Remember this, this isn't for you to smoke!" Zhao Tieying glared at Zhou Yan. "You'd better learn to behave properly, don't learn to smoke, or I'll break your legs!"

Dear readers, please add this to your favorites and make a small investment! We'll be reaching 100 soon!


(End of this chapter)