1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 251 This girl is so wonderful (Part 2)

Lin Bingwen's eyes were clear yet tinged with foolishness, which startled Zhou Yan. This little guy really didn't want to suffer at all.

Aunt Zhao couldn't stop smiling, her eyes constantly glancing at Xia Yao.

Comrade Zhou stared at Lin Bingwen with a wary look, his gaze as serious as if he were guarding against Huang Mao.

"If possible, could I have one too?" Lin Jingxing stared at Zhou Yan, his eyes filled with longing for the steamed buns.

"You two," Xia Yao shook her head helplessly. When her aunt came back, she would definitely tell her about it, and her aunt would be very happy.

I came back last week and stayed for a few days to help these two kids with their homework.

She has already started discussing with her how to legally give her son away to someone else and then bring him back when he turns eighteen.

I don't want to experience the hardships of raising a child at all.

Zhou Momo looked at the two of them and said seriously, "Then...then you can call me sister. I'll share half of my steamed buns with you from now on."

"Huh?" Lin Jingxing looked troubled.

“Sister Momo.” Lin Bingwen said without hesitation.

"Alright, alright, if you don't want to eat breakfast at home in the future, just come to the restaurant and I'll treat you to breakfast," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

He later asked Meng Anhe to help with the design plan, so treating the two brothers to breakfast was no problem at all.

Kids only need a few cents a day to eat.

Besides, given his relationship with Uncle Lin, these two kids calling him "brother" wouldn't be charged for a couple of steamed buns, would they?

"Really?! Brother Zhou Yan, you really are my brother!" Lin Jingxing's eyes lit up.

"Brother, can I come every day?" Lin Bingwen asked with a hopeful look. "I don't want to eat breakfast at home for even a day!"

"When have I ever lied to you? Just come on over," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"That's not a good idea, they might have already eaten it," Xia Yao said with a smile, sounding a little embarrassed.

"It's alright, how much can two kids eat?" Zhou Yan waved his hand dismissively.

"Quickly, say thank you," Xia Yao said to the two brothers. "Then you should go to school. I won't be responsible if you're late and have to stand as punishment."

"Thank you, Brother Zhou Yan!" the two said in unison, slinging their canvas backpacks over their shoulders and running outside. "Sister Yao Yao, hurry up! If we're late, the teacher will really make us stand as punishment!"

"Thank you for the steamed buns, they were delicious. I'll take them to school now," Xia Yao said with a smile as she stood up.

"You're welcome. Your affirmation gives me even more confidence in launching the bean sprout and pork buns." Zhou Yan shook his head.

"It'll definitely be a hit! Really," Xia Yao said, reaching out to pat Zhou Momo's head. "Goodbye, Momo. Auntie, I'm off now."

"Goodbye, Sister Yao Yao." Zhou Momo ran to the door.

"Take care, my dear." Aunt Zhao replied with a smile, watching her go, her face full of emotion: "This young girl is really too wonderful, just like the group of female educated youth who went to the countryside before, with a pure heart and full of enthusiasm."

“Yes, she’s pretty and speaks so sweetly, so softly and gently. Why is my voice so loud when I open my mouth?” Zhao Hong nodded in agreement.

“We Sichuan women are just like that, full of energy and enthusiasm,” Li Lihua said with a smile.

As they spoke, everyone's eyes fell on Zhou Yan.

"I'm going to make ramen." Zhou Yan turned and walked towards the kitchen.

"What's going on? Fourth Aunt, did Zhou Yan and Xia Yao get together?" Zhao Hong asked in a low voice.

Li Lihua also leaned over with a gossipy look on her face.

"They didn't tell us anything, and I shouldn't say anything about this kind of thing," Aunt Zhao shook her head.

“Young people are all like this at the beginning,” Zhao Hong and Li Lihua said with smiles.

Xia Yao and the others ate a few, leaving only four buns in the steamer.

Zhou Yan thought for a moment, packed the buns into a lunchbox, and said to Old Zhou, who was cutting up a pig's head, "Old man, go get some tofu later and take these four buns to Laifu and the others. How are Auntie's eyes and legs doing lately?"

"Okay, put it there, I'll pick it up in a bit." Old Zhou replied. "Your aunt's eyesight is almost better, though some presbyopia is inevitable. Her legs are also much more agile; she can walk around the yard without a cane anymore. The other day she was saying she'd come to the market sometime and have a meal at our shop."

"Just ask Laifu to bring her over. I'll treat her to dinner when she gets here," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"I told you, the old lady is very stubborn. She said that if she comes to eat, she must pay, and if she doesn't pay, she won't eat," Old Zhou said with a hint of helplessness.

“I don’t think their house is a good idea. It’s too dangerous. It’s bad enough that there’s not much rain in winter, but when it starts raining in the spring, the other half will probably collapse.” Zhou Yan looked at Old Zhou and said, “They don’t have any reliable relatives on their side. How about we, the two of us, take a look and see what we can do to fix it?”

“When I went back to the village a couple of days ago, your grandma mentioned this to me, worried that their house might collapse again. One of them has difficulty walking, and the other is deaf; it's really frustrating,” Old Zhou said, pausing what he was doing.

“I actually studied this last time and came up with two solutions. One is to find someone to rebuild the collapsed earthen wall and extend the eaves outwards a bit. We can leave the two collapsed rooms for now, since the grandmother and grandson can’t live in such a big place anyway.”

Another option is to buy a large piece of tarpaulin and cover the collapsed side to prevent rainwater from continuing to wash over the wall. This should hold for a while and prevent it from collapsing again.

The old lady was kind-hearted and remembered her old friend, which coincided with Zhou Yan's thoughts.

“The tarpaulin is just a temporary solution. It probably won’t hold up in the summer when the rains are heavier. I think it’s more reliable to ram the wall and reinforce the old house.” Zhou Yan shook his head and asked, “How much does it cost to ram a wall? And with the reinforcement, how much will it cost in total?”

“The mud wall is simple, it’s just time-consuming and labor-intensive. We have plenty of manpower; one wall can be done in three and a half days. The reinforcement is a bit more technical work. We’ll call Carpenter Wang over to give some pointers. It mainly involves using wood and planks for support, and the cost is mainly in the wood and planks, but it won’t cost much,” Old Zhou said. “To be honest, if my cousin hadn’t passed away, with his quick hands and feet, this house wouldn’t have collapsed, and it wouldn’t have taken so long to repair.”

“We didn’t know much about their family before, so we didn’t know about their situation. We never imagined that his nephews and nieces would be like this, bullying elderly people living alone and children!”

"I've already spoken to your uncle and the others. Once we've settled things with your aunt, we can call them over for help anytime."

"Great, then this matter is settled. I'll go help move bricks later." Zhou Yan nodded, not expecting that Old Zhou had done so much behind his back. The brothers were of one mind, and they really didn't care about anything that happened in the village.

Lai Fu and Grandma Sun have had a tough time. Since they are relatives and important suppliers to the restaurant, Zhou Yan naturally cannot sit idly by.

Customers started arriving one after another, and the restaurant quickly became busy.

Huihui is now not only a fire starter, but also in charge of cooking noodles, seasoning, and ladling toppings.

Zhou Yan is in charge of making ramen and quality control of the noodles prepared by Huihui.

His knife skills have steadily improved, and his noodle-cooking skills have also greatly improved. He can now cook noodles that are soft yet firm, chewy and smooth, which has relieved him of a lot of his workload.

"Uncle, I'm going to school now." Huihui filled another small jar with pickled radishes, smiled and greeted Zhou Yan, then slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and ran out the door.

He now makes sure to leave home 15 minutes before class every day, and then jogs to school to skip the morning reading session so he can catch the regular classes.

Although his grades remained stable, at least it didn't interfere with his work at the restaurant.

This child has a good personality, is emotionally stable, and works diligently. After spending more than a month in the kitchen, he is already quite nimble and will definitely be a good worker in the future.

According to Zhao Hong's sister-in-law, Huihui now cuts the pig feed for the old man's family every night when he goes home.

You don't need a guillotine; just use a kitchen knife to cut little by little, and you can cut for two hours without taking a break.

No wonder his straight-blade technique has improved so much lately; he's been secretly practicing at home.

After a busy morning, the braised meat was ready, and Huang Bing arrived wearing a hat and riding his little motorcycle.

"Auntie," Huang Bing greeted, heading straight to the kitchen. Looking at Zhou Yan, he got straight to the point: "Zhou Yan, my knife skills are now perfected. Can I sell your braised meat in Jiaozhou while riding a motorcycle? And will the price be the same as the restaurant's?"

Zhou Yan already knew that Huang Bing was practicing his knife skills diligently in order to sell braised meat.

This idle rich kid has been holed up in the kitchen for a month, and now he wants to ride his motorcycle around selling braised meat.

Zhou Yan laughed and said, "I don't care. Aren't you afraid of being recognized and affecting the business of your Feiyan Restaurant?"

"Feiyan Restaurant is my old man's business. If I can influence it, it means he's not good enough, so don't blame me." Huang Bing spread his hands, his face full of enthusiasm, and said, "I want to earn my own money! I've had enough of asking for money! From now on, I'm going to use my own hands to achieve my life!"

"So, have you prepared the money for your first order?" Zhou Yan looked at him. "You know my rules: I don't offer credit."

Huang Bing's generous expression froze, becoming somewhat complicated.

“I’ll figure out the money problem. Just tell me if you agree to this? I’ll ride my motorcycle through the streets and alleys selling braised meat. It’ll be really cool, and I’m sure there will be plenty of customers.”

Zhou Yan thought for a moment and nodded: "No problem. Go back and discuss it with your father first. I'm also going to Jiaozhou this afternoon to buy a house from your father. We can talk about it together then. What do you think?"

"Okay!" Huang Bing nodded with a smile. He hadn't planned to hide this from his parents anyway. After paying the bill, he picked up the braised meat that Zhou Yan had packed for him in advance, pulled down his hat, and went out.

Everyone says that the most frightening thing is when the second generation starts their own business, but Huang Bing, who chose to set up a street stall, is actually quite reliable.

The reason Zhou Yan readily agreed was simple: the profit margin on the braised meat that Feiyan Restaurant had previously agreed to with him was quite considerable after the price of meat was lowered.

With one more distributor, someone can take dozens more kilograms of meat a day, and that means they can earn dozens more yuan.

Why not?
No one can earn all the money in the market by themselves. Only through cooperation and mutual benefit can one earn more money.

At lunchtime, Huang Bing and Huang Ying, the brother and sister, arrived early.

As soon as Huang Ying entered, she said to Zhou Yan, "Boss Zhou, could I pack a serving of salted braised pork belly to take home for my old man to try?"

"Don't you sell them at Feiyan Restaurant?" Zhou Yan asked, puzzled.

"Sell it, but it's not as good as yours," Huang Ying said. "I just want him to taste what truly delicious salted braised pork belly is like! To see what it means that there are always people better than you!"

Zhou Yan: ...

You two siblings are truly filial to each other.

“Okay, I’ll get you a bowl to cool down, but you’ll have to figure out how to get it back yourself. It’s been a bumpy ride, so the soup might be a bit stale.” Zhou Yan nodded. It was just a friendly exchange, so he didn’t really care.

"It's alright, I brought a thermos. I'll put the bowl in it later. Even if some soup spills, it's fine. I can just pour it back in," Huang Ying said, pointing to the thermos in the bicycle basket.

"Okay." Zhou Yan nodded, and had nothing more to say.

Go into the kitchen, take a bowl of salted braised pork belly from the steamer, and put it on a rack to cool. Later, put it in well water to cool it down. If the fat can solidify, it will be much easier to handle. Anyway, they will have to steam it again when they take it back.

Both savory and sweet braised pork belly dishes are sold in shops at the market.

The shopkeeper steams the food until it's nine-tenths cooked and sells it in the earthenware bowl.

After buying it, you can steam it for about ten minutes and it will be ready. Just put the earthenware bowl on a plate and you have a steaming hot plate of salted braised pork belly.

Zhou Yan once filmed a video of a husband-and-wife shop that specializes in savory and sweet braised pork belly. They earned enough from those two big bowls to buy three apartments in Chengdu and support two college students.

During festivals and holidays, the earthen bowls piled up like mountains are a spectacular sight.

Anyway, salty and sweet braised pork belly are quite unique, so maybe he can sell them like that in the future and earn money from takeout as well.

There were no other customers in the shop yet. Huang Ying ran to the kitchen doorway, stood there, and asked Zhou Yan, "Boss Zhou, when do you plan to move the shop to Jiaozhou?"

"It's still early. We need to tear down and rebuild that house. We're working hard to earn money to repair it," Zhou Yan replied with a smile.

Huang Ying smiled and said, "If you open a restaurant in Jiaozhou, the business will definitely be very good. It will be much more convenient for me to come and eat there then."

Zhou Yan glanced at her, his round face beaming with an open smile; he believed that this girl truly thought so.

I just don't know what Huang Xiaoji is thinking.

I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well at night.

He'll definitely keep thinking about it, what if he got this house...

As soon as the factory's closing bell rang, the restaurant quickly became busy.

After Huang Ying and Huang Bing finished eating, they put the salted braised pork belly, whose surface had already solidified with white oil, into a thermos and carried it away.

"Did the old man ask you to buy it?" Huang Bing asked casually as they left the restaurant.

“No, I bought it myself.” Huang Ying shook her head. “Our restaurant’s salted pork belly uses local salted vegetables from Jiaozhou. I think it’s not as authentic as Zhou Yan’s, but the old man insists that his salted pork belly is the best in Jiaozhou. Today I’m going to let him taste what the best salted pork belly in Jiaozhou tastes like.”

Huang Bing looked at her and said, "Aren't you undermining Master Li? The old man doesn't cook. Master Li learned his cooking skills from Grandpa Li. His salted braised pork belly is still quite delicious."

“Your thinking is like an ostrich burying its head in the ground. Does it mean that delicious salted pork belly will cease to exist just because you don’t eat it? Since there are even better salted pork belly dishes, as the restaurant owner, you should be more perceptive and make the chefs adapt and change accordingly.” Huang Ying shook her head at him. “If the chefs can improve the flavor, the customers will be able to eat even more delicious salted pork belly, which is a good thing for the restaurant.”

Huang Bing scratched his head, "Is being a boss really that complicated?"

"You don't understand, I'm leaving." Huang Ying rode away on her bicycle.

After parking the car in front of Feiyan Restaurant, Huang Ying carried the food container into the restaurant and saw Li Liangcai, an old man, chatting with Huang He by the counter.

"Uncle Li, you've arrived." Huang Ying stepped forward and greeted him sweetly.

"Yingying's here," Li Liangcai replied with a smile, looking at her and Huang Bing who followed her in. "You two went to Suji for dinner again?"

“Yes, let’s eat at Zhou Yan’s shop.” Huang Ying nodded.

"Is it really that delicious? You can eat it three times a day, every single day and never get tired of it?" Li Liangcai asked.

As the former head chef of Feiyan Restaurant and the current head chef's mentor, he was somewhat bothered by the fact that the young master rode his bicycle dozens of kilometers back and forth to Suji every day to eat three meals.

His Li-style cooking skills were simply not to the liking of these brother and sister.

Even Kong Qingfeng would have to call him Brother Li when he met him.

Zhou Yan is indeed quite talented, a leading figure among the younger generation of disciples of the Kong school, and has been featured in Sichuan Cuisine magazine and Jiaozhou Daily.

But he was only twenty years old.

Chefs get better with age; that's a rule.

Generally, talented chefs reach their peak around the age of thirty-five, mastering various techniques.

By the age of forty, one can begin to master the craft, becoming proficient in both dry and hot dishes, and thus become a pillar of a restaurant's kitchen.

Zhou Yan has only been learning to cook for two and a half years, but he has mastered several dishes, which is already considered a sign of exceptional talent.

But even the most delicious food can't withstand eating it every day, right?

Moreover, they ate three meals a day, cycling from Jiaozhou to Suji to eat.

That's a round trip of twenty kilometers.

"It's delicious. If it weren't closed on Sundays, I would have liked to go eat there on Sundays too," Huang Ying said.

“That makes sense.” Huang Bing nodded in agreement.

Huang He quickly stepped in to smooth things over, laughing and saying, "These two kids, one is as thin as the Southern Mountain, and the other is as lucky as the Eastern Sea. To help them get some exercise, Shulan let them ride their bikes to Suji for meals, and they get pocket money as a reward. Look, in just one month, Yingying has lost twenty pounds, and Huang Bing, who was skinny as a stick, has even gained muscle."

Upon hearing this, Li Liangcai nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense."

He watched these two children grow up, so he knew their situation. Recently, they did look much healthier, and the effects of their exercise were obvious.

"Yingying, what are you holding in your hand?" Huang He asked, looking at what Huang Ying was holding.

"Old man, I brought you some salted braised pork belly made by Zhou Yan. It's a new steamed dish he introduced, and it's selling very well." Huang Ying smiled as she opened the thermos. "I think it's a bit different from the salted braised pork belly at our restaurant. Would you like to try some?"

"What's so special about salted pork belly? It's our restaurant's signature dish, and the customers have always given it good reviews." Huang He peeked inside and saw an earthenware bowl in the thermos. It was indeed salted pork belly, with solidified pork fat, a white mess that was hard to see clearly.

Huang Ying shook her head: "It's different. Zhou Yan's braised pork belly uses pickled mustard greens, which is especially delicious. I'll ask the kitchen to steam it. Why don't you try it? Maybe we can learn from it and improve upon it."

"Is it really that good?" Huang He knew how picky her daughter was; for her to praise it like this, it couldn't be bad. But glancing at Li Liangcai standing to the side, she shook her head and said, "Never mind, I just finished eating. Why would I want salty braised pork belly..."

Li Liangcai said, "Steamed! I also want to try it and see how delicious Zhou Yan's salted braised pork belly is. I've eaten Kong-style salted braised pork belly before, and it's different from the one I learned. Even Kong Qingfeng didn't dare to say he would teach me how to make it."

"Okay! I'll go steam it!" Huang Bing wasn't afraid of making things worse, so he picked up the salted braised pork belly and headed to the kitchen.

There weren't many customers left in the shop, but the steamers in the kitchen were still warm.

Ten minutes later, Huang Bing placed the earthenware bowl upside down on a plate, carried it quickly out of the kitchen, and held a pair of chopsticks in his hand.

"Come this way." Huang He gestured as they entered a small private room and closed the door behind them.

Studying the dishes of other restaurants is neither unusual nor shameful.

It's a common practice in the catering industry: if you don't learn from others' strengths and make up for your weaknesses, you'll be eliminated sooner or later.

The Feiyan Restaurant has been passed down through generations. It took a lot of research and innovation for it to be passed down to Huang He, which is why he was able to keep his loyal customers.

The plate was placed on the table, and Huang Bing reached out and lifted the earthen bowl.

As steam rises, a faint sweet aroma of bean sprouts mingles with the rich fragrance of meat, wafting through the air.

A plate of brightly colored braised pork belly sits upside down, its color perfectly even, glistening with oil. Each slice of pork belly is cut into even, thick pieces.

"It does smell quite good." Huang He couldn't help but swallow.

"Come on, everyone, have a taste." Huang Bing handed out chopsticks to everyone.

Li Liangcai took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat, which trembled slightly. The chopsticks sank into it, and the meat was full of oil. He then put it in his mouth.

"This……"

Li Liangcai's eyes widened immediately.

　There will be an extra chapter tomorrow, but not today, so don't wait!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)