1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

This line in Chapter 204 is very authoritative! (6k-page compilation)

"Thanks to Momo, we're getting to eat foreign cookies too." Aunt Zhao smiled as she took the box, examined it closely for a moment, and nodded, "They're really pretty. This box must be expensive."

"Guoguo, Dad, you eat too!" Zhou Momo handed two more cookies to Zhou Yan and Old Zhou.

"Thank you, Momo." Zhou Yan smiled and took it, first tearing open the packaging bag, and a golden cookie fell into his palm.

The front features a lotus pattern, and the fine pores on the surface exude a glistening sheen of oil, giving it an alluring luster. The sweet aroma of butter is irresistible, rich and lingering, making my throat involuntarily bob.

Zhou Yan wasn't really into desserts, but her meals had been too bland, with almost no snacks outside of her three daily meals.

Take a light bite.

Click!

With a crisp sound, the biscuit crumbled, and the aroma exploded in your mouth.

Its crumbly texture melts in your mouth, with a rich buttery aroma and a creamy, lingering flavor on the tongue, smooth and silky, making it truly delightful.

They finished the cookie in two bites, the lingering fragrance on their lips and teeth, and they still wanted more.

Indeed, humans cannot live without sweets!
This is something that can bring happiness.

Just don't overeat, otherwise the high calories can easily cause bloating.

After finishing the cookies, Aunt Zhao exclaimed in amazement, "So delicious! They're even better than the cookies I bought last Chinese New Year, with a wonderful milky flavor!"

"Hey, can you help me tear this?" After trying to tear open the plastic bag several times without success, Zhou Momo turned to Zhou Yan for help.

Zhou Yan smiled and helped her tear the cookie open, placing it in her palm.

The little one held the cookie up to his nose and sniffed it, then exclaimed in surprise, "This cookie smells like milk!"

She grabbed the food with both hands and brought it to her mouth, taking small bites, crunching and crunching like a little squirrel, eating with great relish.

In no time, a cookie was gone.

"It's so delicious! It's sweet and fragrant!" Zhou Momo said happily, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

After finishing the biscuit, she didn't want a second one. She closed the biscuit box and said in her childish voice, "Next time I go back to the village, I'm going to bring three for Grandma and one for Uncle. They'll definitely like them!"

“Your grandma will be so happy. She’s really spoiled her grandson.” Aunt Zhao said with a smile.

After Aunt Zhao finished washing and grooming the little one, he fell asleep in her arms, murmuring, "Cookies~ so sweet~~"

Comrade Lao Zhou also went upstairs. After a day of feasting and traveling more than 30 kilometers round trip, he was still a bit tired. He soaked his feet and immediately felt sleepy. He still had to get up early the next morning to buy groceries.

Zhou Yan took the ledger upstairs, pulled out a box containing money from under the bed, and put the five hundred yuan red envelope and the money for today's braised meat into the box.

The wooden box was filled with rolls of money secured with rubber bands, each roll containing one hundred yuan, one or two yuan notes, and five or ten cents. The amount of money was small, but the weight of the rolls was substantial.

This is all his savings.

Zhou Yan sat on a small stool and slowly counted the money.

8621.2 yuan.

He's just 1,400 short of saving enough to buy a house for 10,000!

As the hotel's revenue increased rapidly, the growth rate of deposits also increased significantly.

I'll have saved 1400 next week!
By acquiring the Qiu family's old residence, even if he doesn't rush to demolish and rebuild it, he now has a place to stay in Jiaozhou.

Zhou Yan had visited the Qiu family's old house before. Apart from the two storefronts which looked a bit out of place, the interior of the old house was very well renovated. It was quiet and elegant, and on East Street, it had a sense of tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle.

As long as we withstand the pressure of the first wave of demolition and wait a few more years, these old cultural relics houses will be so secure that no one can demolish them.

Therefore, this matter cannot be delayed for too long, otherwise, in the end, even he himself may not be able to dismantle it.

Zhou Yan wrote down the deposit amount in the ledger, gently closed the wooden box, locked it, and pushed it back under the bed. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

It was much faster than he had originally expected.

That's a huge sum of money—ten thousand yuan!
A bowl of braised beef only earns four cents, a bowl of noodles earns three or four cents. The whole family works together, and they accumulate their earnings little by little.

It was tiring, but it wasn't a wasted life.

Lying on the bed, Zhou Yan opened the panel and glanced at it:
[Player: Zhou Yan]

Occupation: Chef

[Wealth Points: 18921.36]

[Professional Skills]:
Knife skills (advanced): 9600/100000
Cooking temperature (intermediate): 9488/10000
Seasoning (Intermediate): 9688/10000
Eloquence (Advanced): 89999/100000 (Striving for even greater heights!)

Mastering the Dishes:

……

Mapo Tofu (Premium): 99999/100000
Fish-flavored Eggplant (Premium): 99999/100000
Snowflake Chicken Noodles (Premium): 99999/100000
……

task:

Side Quest: Zhao Shulan's Troubles! Progress 25%

Side Quest: Master's Obsession! Progress 99%

Main Quest: Breaking Boundaries Plan! Progress 66/200

Zhou Yan glanced at it and saw that the knife skills, cooking time, and seasoning had steadily improved, especially the cooking time and seasoning, which were close to breaking through to the advanced level.

His gaze lingered on Zhao Shulan's troubled task for a moment. The progress was 25%, and the target was 60 jin. Huang Ying had lost 15 jin in the past month!

The brother and sister ate a lot every day, with a daily meal allowance of six yuan and six jiao, and no less.

However, she usually wears loose clothing, and since Zhou Yan saw her three times a day, he didn't really notice how much weight she had lost.

Fifteen pounds may not seem like much to someone who weighs 200 pounds, but as a chef, I know very well how big a chunk of pork belly is.

That's good, the start has been very smooth.

Zhou Yan didn't expect to complete this task in a month or two. She could gradually lose weight through cycling, which was much healthier than simply starving herself.

To put it simply, losing weight is about creating a calorie deficit. Traveling between Jiaozhou and Suji three times a day, covering a distance of 60 to 70 kilometers, naturally burns a lot of calories.

It's relatively easy to lose weight in the early stages when you're overweight, but once you hit a plateau, you'll probably have to start controlling your diet.

Her appetite is still a bit large, about the same as Zhou Yan's.

But Zhou Yan does far more work in a day than she does in those three cycling trips, and she also goes for a run in the evening.

He ate and drank normally for more than a month and didn't gain any weight. On the contrary, he became more and more muscular, and even the outline of his six-pack abs became more and more obvious. The sit-ups he occasionally did at night were still having some effect.

Master's obsession with spicy pig liver has been stuck at 99% for some days. Zhou Yan had already given Lao Xiao a nudge today, telling him not to be lazy, to have dreams and aspirations, and to come to Zhou Erwa's restaurant to learn when there are no banquets to hold, so that he can break through to the perfect realm as soon as possible.

Comrade Lao Xiao has deeply realized his mistake and decided to come to Zhou Erwa's restaurant to learn the day after tomorrow, and will bring Comrade Xiao Zheng along to work as a waiter.

The difference of a hair's breadth is often the most difficult to overcome.

Zhou Yan wanted to lend him a hand and provide him with a stage where he could frequently stir-fry spicy pig liver.

As for the "Breaking the Circle" plan, it is progressing steadily.

Of these 66 people, Zhou Yan estimated that at least half were children that Zhou Momo had abducted from kindergarten and primary school, who used their pocket money to buy braised vegetables as snacks.

Its reputation is growing, and it has become a favorite among many children.

One jiaojiao candy cost 25 cents, enough to buy half a pound of braised vegetables and share with classmates.

Children who don't have much pocket money are very good at managing their money carefully.

After turning off the control panel, Zhou Yan sat up, picked up "How the Steel Was Tempered" from the bedside table, and began to read it seriously.

He must finish reading this book before going to sleep today. Tomorrow, he will go to Grandpa Wang's shop to borrow a new book and also check if his library has any cookbooks or other classics. He will borrow a few to keep in the shop.

Firstly, it was to appease my master, and secondly, I wanted to see and learn more, broaden my horizons, and expand my thinking.

After more than a month of cooking, he gradually discovered the joy of being a chef.

The satisfaction of turning ingredients into a dish, serving it to guests, receiving their praise, or seeing the amazed expressions on their faces is unparalleled.

The role shifted from a restaurant review blogger to a chef, and seeing customers from the kitchen's perspective gave me a unique feeling.

The system tasks could generate some unexpected recipes, but Zhou Yan still tried to use his years of experience eating and the recipes he knew to make some new attempts and cook some new dishes.

A person should have some thoughts of their own while living, right?
It's just that eggplants aren't available this season, otherwise Zhou Yan would definitely have tried fish-fragrant eggplant.

The stir-fried pork with salt that I had today was pretty good. He and Lao Luo have already made an appointment. He takes a day off every Tuesday and comes to the store to learn how to make snowflake chicken soup from him.

Zhou Yan had one condition: he had to make salt-fried meat with Lao Luo's students.

It uses the same cut of pork, but the texture and taste are quite different from twice-cooked pork. It's a good idea to add a side dish to the menu, and you don't need to add any extra ingredients.

Twenty-year-old Zhou Yan is determined to make a name for himself in this industry!

If the recipes provided by the system limit the upper limit, wouldn't that be a disservice to the steadily improving knife skills, cooking techniques, and seasoning?

Paul's story gradually becomes more exciting after he becomes a soldier. Zhou Yan, who used to fall asleep after reading half a page, rolled up the quilt, leaned against the headboard, and comfortably read the whole book in one go.

"The most precious thing a person has is life, and life is given to each person only once. A person's life should be lived in such a way that when he looks back on the past, he will not regret having accomplished nothing, nor will he be ashamed of being despicable and vulgar."

Zhou Yan copied this sentence onto the first page of her diary.

That way, reading this book won't be a waste of time.

Oh, he doesn't have the habit of keeping a diary.

That was Comrade Xiao Zhou's diary.

Who would write a diary if they were serious?

Comrade Xiao Zhou also can't write a diary because his handwriting is so ugly that even he can't stand it.

The first diary entry was only three lines long, ending with: "This handwriting is so damn ugly! Forget it, what's the point of writing a diary!"

Zhou Yan found this diary in the cabinet a few days ago, and after reading it, he fell silent.

He tore out that page of the diary and threw it into the stove to burn, but he kept the notebook; it would be good as an account book later. Closing the book, Zhou Yan picked up his watch from the bedside and glanced at it; it was already one o'clock in the morning.

Oh no, I stayed up all night!

He hasn't gone to bed later than 10 p.m. during this period.

I turned off the lights, pulled the covers over myself, and fell asleep instantly.

The next morning, Zhou Yan was woken up by Comrade Lao Zhou.

Zhou Yan rubbed his sleepy eyes and opened the door.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Old Zhou looked at him with some surprise.

"I got so engrossed in reading that I lost track of time and went to bed a little late," Zhou Yan yawned and explained with a smile. "Come on, I can take a nap this afternoon."

When the two went out, it was still completely dark.

With flashlights strapped to the handlebars, the two beams of light illuminated the road ahead as the father and son rode their bikes one after the other toward Zhoucun.

When they returned from their shopping, a thin figure was squatting at the door. Upon seeing them, the figure immediately stood up, smiling and revealing a set of clean, white teeth.

"Isn't this Laifu?" Old Zhou exclaimed in surprise.

"Laifu, what brings you here?" Zhou Yan was also a little surprised, looking at the tofu and the piled-up dried bean curd and tofu in his basket. It weighed dozens of kilograms, and he wondered how he had managed to carry it all.

Lai Fu handed Zhou Yan a piece of paper with a line of neat and elegant handwriting on it:

"Brother Yan, I came to get Grandma's medicine today. I'll bring you some tofu on the way so your uncle won't have to make another trip."

Zhou Yan laughed. This guy really is something.

It's only six o'clock now, just as dawn is breaking. The doctors at the factory hospital won't start work until eight o'clock.

He probably left around 5 o'clock, which is way too early.

Zhou Yan took a pen from his chest and scribbled a few words on a piece of paper: "Have you had breakfast?"

Laifu grinned and shook his head, then pulled out half a pencil from his pocket and wrote on a piece of paper: "Take the medicine when you get home."

"The hospital won't open until eight o'clock. It's warm in my shop, so I'll wait here until the hospital opens before going over. I'll cook you a bowl of noodles in a bit, so you can try your brother Yan's cooking." Zhou Yan handed him the note, smiled, patted his shoulder, and first pushed the bicycle full of vegetables through the door.

Laifu followed, carrying the basket on his back, and walked into the shop.

"I'll take it." Comrade Zhou stepped forward and took the basket from him.

Aunt Zhao also got up and looked at Laifu with heartache, saying, "He's almost sixty pounds, so heavy. You should ask your uncle to help you carry him. It's such a waste for you to carry him."

Laifu didn't understand, he just grinned.

He was covered in sweat and steaming, and his loose clothes made him look even thinner.

“This child…” Aunt Zhao sighed, picked up the thermos and poured him a bowl of water, smiling as she said, “Drink some water first.”

Laifu stretched out his right hand, tapped it twice with his thumb, and then took the bowl. He sipped the water slowly and finished the bowl in no time.

"What is he gesturing?" Aunt Zhao asked Zhou Yan.

"I'm saying thank you," Zhou Yan translated with a smile, though that was all he could understand.

"Although he can't speak well, he understands things very well and has been very polite since he was a child." Aunt Zhao smiled when she heard this, turned around and went inside to get a dry towel, and helped Laifu dry his wet hair.

Zhou Yan looked Lai Fu up and down. Although he still looked thin, he had actually gained some weight since the first time he met him, and his complexion looked healthier.

Zhou Yan had told Grandma Sun not to worry about the money, and to tell her to tell Laifu to buy some meat every few days so he could eat well and take care of his health.

He now buys 40 jin of tofu, 10 jin of dried tofu, and 10 jin of dried bean curd sticks every day. Just from his purchases, he earns 20 yuan a day.

After deducting the cost of the beans, the daily profit is at least ten yuan.

The grandmother and grandson are now high-income earners; they could easily eat a pound of meat a day without any problem.

Life is getting better day by day.

Comrade Zhou goes to collect the tofu every day, saying that Grandma Sun's legs have improved a lot and she can walk slowly now. The swelling in her eyes has gone down, and her vision is much better than before.

Last week, her tofu skin production increased from eight jin to ten jin, which also reflects her significantly improved health.

Soon after, Zhao Hong and Zhou Lihui arrived.

Zhou Lihui and Laifu are about the same age, but Huihui is a generation younger and has to call Laifu his cousin.

The two exchanged a few words on the paper. Huihui gave Laifu a handful of melon seeds and then went into the kitchen to help Zhou Yan.

"Uncle, Uncle Laifu can't hear or speak, and he's so thin. Won't he be bullied?" Zhou Lihui asked with some worry as he tended the fire for Zhou Yan.

“He was bullied before, but we, his fellow villagers, stood up for him, so it should happen much less in the future,” Zhou Yan replied.

“I’ll back him up from now on! I’m strong enough to do this kind of thing.” Zhou Lihui patted his chest and said with a bright smile.

“Okay.” Zhou Yan glanced at him and smiled.

The little guy has a strong sense of righteousness; he truly is a son of the Zhou family.

Laifu was also a restless person; after resting for a while, he went to help Comrade Lao Zhou with his work.

Children from poor families mature early and are very capable at their jobs.

Zhou Yan cooked him a bowl of beef and bamboo shoot noodles, and he drank every last drop of the soup.

It was already 7:40 when they finished eating, and Zhou Yan then told him to go to the hospital to wait.

After closing at noon, Zhou Yan pushed his bicycle out the door, with "How the Steel Was Tempered" and a bag of braised meat in the basket, and headed straight for the library.

Being young is great! Although I went to bed late last night and was busy all morning, I didn't feel very sleepy.

Grandpa Wang was leaning back in a recliner by the library entrance, listening to the radio with his eyes closed. Hearing the sound of brakes, he opened his eyes, saw Zhou Yan, and said with a smile, "What a rare guest! Comrade Zhou hasn't come to borrow books for over a week. Have you been a bit lazy lately?"

"This book, 'Forged in Fire,' is truly excellent. I fell asleep as soon as I started reading it before, and only finished it last night after staying up all night." Zhou Yan stopped the car, took out some braised meat and the book from the basket, and placed them on the small table next to him with a smile: "Uncle Wang, I brought you some beef and pig's head meat to go with your drinks."

"You're so kind, always bringing me braised meat when you come back." Grandpa Wang sat up, looked at him, and asked, "What book would you like to borrow this time?"

"Do you have any cookbooks? I'd like to borrow a couple to look at and learn some professional knowledge," Zhou Yan said.

"Don't you have a master? Why do you still need to learn by looking at recipes on your own?" Grandpa Wang asked with a smile.

"I want to read more recipes and classic texts to broaden my knowledge and expand my thinking. Now that I've opened my own shop, it's not as convenient to learn from a master chef as it used to be," Zhou Yan explained. After all, some masters still have to come to him to learn.

"The third bookshelf by the door, the last one on the second row, has a book called 'Sichuan Cuisine Recipes,' published by Rongcheng Catering Company. It contains a very comprehensive collection of Sichuan cuisine recipes. You can pick it up and take a look. I found it at a used bookstore last year."

“Okay.” Zhou Yan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately went inside to find a book. He quickly pulled out an old book with oil stains from the bookshelf.

The cover reads "Sichuan Cuisine Recipe," with the Chengdu City Catering Company listed below.

On the back, there was a line of small print: Internal Distribution.

Zhou Yan's eyes lit up; this line of text sounded very authoritative!

Rongcheng Catering Company is in charge of the catering industry in Chengdu. It manages a number of famous restaurants such as Rongleyuan, Chengdu Restaurant, Chen Mapo Tofu, and Zhong Dumplings, and has master chefs all over the place.

The high quality of this internally distributed cookbook is evident.

Zhou Yan opened the book cover, and the editor's note caught his attention. One passage read: "In order to critically inherit and develop the culinary techniques of our motherland, we invited a group of chefs and professionals with practical experience to form a writing team combining the old, middle-aged, and young generations. They collected local delicacies and compiled this 'Sichuan Cuisine Recipe' for use in culinary training classes and as a reference for employees..."

What a good thing!

This is a teaching material!
It tastes just right!
Zhou Yan flipped through a few more pages; the recipes were quite substantial and practical.

The ingredients, side ingredients, and seasonings are all specified precisely down to the cent, and the cooking methods are also clearly written out.

At first glance, it seems like anyone with hands could do it?

Although this book is marked as an internal publication, it is actually a textbook used in food training classes in various regions, and its circulation is certainly not small.

The publication date was July 1977, and the number of Sichuan cuisine masters did not surge.

It is clear that recipes are far from being a reliable source of knowledge and skills.

After all, most chefs, even with hands-on instruction from their master, need three years of knife skills training and three years of culinary apprenticeship before they can become qualified chefs.

Even though Master Xu had the recipe for chicken tofu in his hand, he still sent it to him so that he could study it and see if he could replicate it.

For example, the first step in making Snowflake Chicken Noodles is to make chicken breast into chicken paste.

Some chefs have no idea what chicken puree looks like, and they get stuck at the very first step when looking at a recipe.

All traditions must be built upon a chef's solid fundamental skills.

Zhou Yan wouldn't dare say that he could cook the dishes just by looking at the recipe, but this recipe book was definitely a good thing and worth studying in depth.

For example, the recipe for fish-fragrant flavor includes dishes like fish-fragrant eggplant and fish-fragrant tofu. Zhou Yan only knows how to prepare fish-fragrant flavor, but he can learn how to cook eggplant and tofu from this recipe.

Once you understand half of it, learning the other half will naturally be much faster.

He was quite interested in fish-flavored tofu because his shop actually had tofu.

"Master, this is truly a treasure!" Zhou Yan said with a smile as he came out of the library and looked at Grandpa Wang, who had already poured him a drink. "Then I'll borrow this book and study it carefully when I get back. I'll return it to you next week."

"No need to return it. I bought this book with my own money. I'm giving it to you as a return gift for this braised pork," Grandpa Wang said with a smile. "The book has been on the bookshelf for over a year, and no one has ever borrowed it. You're probably the only person in Suji Town who likes this book."

"Master! I'll bring you braised pork again next time!" Zhou Yan was deeply moved. He had truly struck gold. The master was indeed a treasure!
This reference book should keep him busy studying for a while.

"This is at most a reference book. You should read more classic books when you have time to improve your knowledge." Grandpa Wang looked at him earnestly and said, "I'll give you this book. Go and take the first book on the first shelf, the first one on the top shelf, and read it slowly."

"Okay." Zhou Yan replied, turned back to the library, and came out a while later with a copy of "Modern Chinese History" in his hand.

“Reading history makes one wise. You definitely can’t get through those long, bookish volumes, so start with Mr. Jiang Tingfu’s ‘A History of Modern China’,” Grandpa Wang said with a smile. “When you open the long scroll of history, you will feel your own insignificance and the brevity of life, and you will naturally be able to live more clearly.”

"Master, I've learned a lot. I'll definitely study it carefully when I get back." Zhou Yan nodded, smiled, and sat down on the small stool next to him. He asked curiously, "Haven't you had a meal with Grandma Qiu recently? She should be going to Hong Kong soon, right?"

Grandpa Wang picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and laughed heartily, "Even if she goes to Hong Kong, we can still keep in touch by letter. Life is full of partings and reunions, so let's enjoy our time together."

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