1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 53 What a death!

Anyone in Suji Town could be Zhou Yan's shill, but no one at the textile factory believed the old factory director was a shill.

The old factory director was highly respected in the textile factory. He led the factory step by step to where it is today, with workers' wages increasing and their lives becoming more and more prosperous. The old employees admired him from the bottom of their hearts.

Moreover, the old factory director is a well-known gourmand and can cook himself. He doesn't even think much of the dishes made by Chef Xiao, so it's impossible for him to come here specifically to act as a shill for Zhou Yan.

People are more convinced that the food at Zhou Erwa's restaurant is indeed delicious.

The menu hanging on the wall wasn't cheap; the prices were about the same as those in state-run restaurants.

Zhao Dong finally voiced the questions that everyone wanted to ask but were too embarrassed to ask, proving himself worthy of being Director Zhao, who dared to take the lead in challenging the factory canteen.

"The factory manager and the others ordered everything on the menu yesterday, and they all said it was good, without any particular choice," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"Huh? Everything's agreed upon?" Zhao Dong was a little surprised.

The guests looked at each other, wondering if Zhou Yan was just bragging.
“It’s true. I ate at the restaurant last night. The old factory director commented on each dish and praised it highly.” Three customers walked into the restaurant, and one of them approached Zhou Yan and said, “We’d like a crucian carp with minced pork and a beef with minced pork and peppers.”

“Okay, let’s sit at table number three.” Zhou Yan picked up a pen and paper and quickly wrote it down.

After the worker sat down, he smiled and said, "The old factory director said it was good, but after he finished eating the crucian carp with mint, he also said, 'It's no worse than the restaurants in Chengdu.' He also said that the dishes made by Chef Zhou are better than those of the top chefs in Chengdu. Don't worry, you won't be disappointed."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

"Then I'll have a crucian carp with mint and a double-pepper minced beef," Zhao Dong immediately said. Following the crowd when it comes to food is less likely to go wrong, and he'd been craving double-pepper minced beef with rice for a long time.

"I'll have one too..."

Everyone took their seats and ordered food. The most expensive dish was crucian carp with mint, but it became the dish that everyone rushed to order.

It's expensive, but the portions are huge.

Two crucian carp, each weighing eight ounces, are perfect with rice.

For most workers, Rongcheng Restaurant was a legendary high-end restaurant. It was said that many leaders would eat there when they came to Rongcheng for inspections. The level of service was quite high, and the price was also quite high.

They don't know when they'll be able to eat the crucian carp with mint at Rongcheng Restaurant, but they can order the crucian carp with mint at Zhou Erwa Restaurant for lunch today.

At two yuan a serving, it suddenly became a good value for money.

"At this rate, the forty crucian carp that were just delivered probably won't survive until dinner," Zhou Jie chuckled softly.

"Fish is easy to arrange, just have Boss Gao send some more." Aunt Zhao was all smiles as she helped with taking orders and arranging seats.

Zhou Yan ordered several tables of food and then went into the kitchen to get busy.

There are quite a few new faces today, which is good news.

The former factory director has become a top livestream salesperson, bringing many new customers to Zhou Erwa's restaurant with just a few words.

The workers' enthusiasm even exceeded Zhou Yan's expectations.

Not only factory leaders and senior technicians, but also many long-serving veteran workers came in groups of two or three to try it out.

When it comes to food, people from Sichuan and Chongqing are truly meticulous.

Zhou Jie, who was originally in charge of guarding the braised beef hot pot, was called into the kitchen to kill fish at the last minute, and Zhou Yan couldn't handle it all by herself.

Fortunately, the earthen stove and large pot can fry eight fish at once, so the food is served quite quickly.

Prepare the stir-fried beef with two kinds of peppers in advance; it only takes a little over a minute from cooking to serving.

As for the pre-cooked beef and bamboo shoots and braised pork ribs, they can be taken out of the pot after heating, and they are in perfect condition.

As dishes were served from the kitchen to the guests' tables, exclamations of praise rose and fell.

"This fish is incredibly fresh! The taste is absolutely amazing!"

"This minced beef is so delicious! I think it's even better than the meat sauce I had for noodles this morning. It's freshly cooked, so it has that wok hei (wok aroma) and the beef is even more tender!"

"I'm living the life of the rich in Chengdu now."

"I knew the old factory director wouldn't lie!"

"Compared to this, the food served in the factory canteen now is practically pig swill."

The guests enjoyed the meal and offered their praise without reservation.

Zhao Dong ate with gusto, repeatedly exclaiming, "This braised crucian carp with mint is absolutely delicious! I doubt even Chef Xiao could make it taste like this. Zhou Yan is so young, how come his cooking skills are so good?"

"That means he's a genius, which means we're in for a treat," said Zhu Zhe, the vice-director at the same table, with a smile.

"The price is about the same as the state-run restaurants, but the taste is better, and it's located right at the factory gate. We'll come here every two or three days from now on," said Song Yang, another finance manager. "Remember to call me, okay? Don't eat alone!"

“Okay, we’ll eat it every three days.” Zhao Dong nodded.

“Yes, otherwise we can’t afford to build it.” Zhu Zhe nodded.

The three people having dinner reached a preliminary consensus.

……

"Fry the fatty parts until they're dry! Is it still twice-cooked pork if it's all watery?"

"I told you to stir-fry it until it's dry, not to burn it! This is harder than your grandma's dentures, how can the guests chew it?"

"I told you to slice the pig liver thinly, not to chop it into small pieces! And who cut this kidney? I'm speechless!"

Huang Fusheng held an iron ladle, pointing around in the kitchen, his forehead covered in sweat, his eyes glancing towards the door every now and then.

Wang Defa stood there, looking at the empty stir-fry area, his face ashen.

The worst-case scenario still happened. Overnight, all the customers in the stir-fry section disappeared.

An apprentice just went to the door to check, and most of them went to Zhou Erwa's restaurant.

Huang Fusheng felt like the sky had fallen. Just last Saturday, he had made a solemn pledge to Wang Defa, saying that he would win back all the customers lost in the stir-fry area.

That's good, the stir-fry section has no customers to lose.

So what are the chefs in the kitchen doing now?
Perhaps... there's no performance for diners?

Huang Fusheng tried to keep himself busy so that he wouldn't feel so awkward.

"Huang Fusheng, get out here right now," Wang Defa said coldly.

Huang Fusheng put down his spoon dejectedly, but quickly forced a smile and strode towards the door. He followed Wang Defa with a fawning expression and whispered, "Director, don't worry, I've already made arrangements..."

……

The dishes were all appetizing, and the workers ate quickly, so Zhou Erwa's restaurant had a high table turnover rate.

The first group of guests had almost finished eating, and the second group of guests sat down, leaving a few empty tables.

At this moment, a tall, thin man with a pockmarked face, smoking a cigarette, walked into the store with three young men wearing synthetic fiber floral shirts. He looked around first, then chose an empty table in the middle and sat down.

Zhao Tieying glanced at the four men, her brows furrowing slightly. These hooligans usually loitered on the streets; why were they wandering into the shop today?

However, since everyone who enters the store is a customer, Zhao Tieying still stepped forward and said, "The menu is on the wall. Just look for it and you'll see that we still have the dishes."

Wang Mazi, who was in charge, first looked Zhao Tieying up and down, but seeing that she was just a rural woman, he didn't take her seriously. His gaze then fell on the sign on the wall to the side.

"Hiss... Two yuan a serving of crucian carp with mint, so expensive?!"

"What? A serving of pork ribs costs 1.6 yuan? That's enough for half a month's worth of cigarettes!"

"Hey freckled guy, how would you like to order?"

The other three youths' expressions changed after looking at the menu, and they all looked at Wang Mazi.

"What are you yelling about?" Wang Mazi sat up a little straighter, coughed twice, and looked at Zhao Tieying, saying, "Give me one of each of these dishes first."

"Okay," Zhao Tieying replied and went to the kitchen.

"Those four hooligans don't seem like they're here to eat properly. They don't have a penny in their pockets, yet they ordered one of each dish," Zhao Tieying whispered to Zhou Yan as they entered the kitchen.

"Let me see." Zhou Jie, still holding a crucian carp in his hand, peeked out and said, "Isn't that Wang Mazi, that scoundrel? He was arrested and locked up for half a year during last year's crackdown. Does he still dare to cause trouble?"

"It's alright, just serve him what he ordered. We're very close to the security office," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

In 1984, the thing we feared least was hooligans causing trouble.

If you make the first move, the thug will even accuse you of being unreasonable.

“Yes, my knife isn’t dull either.” Zhou Jie nodded, shaking the fish-killing knife in his hand.

"If anything happens later, you can call the security department. But you two aren't allowed to act recklessly. These days, getting arrested means you'll be in big trouble. You have to be reasonable," Aunt Zhao warned the two of them before leaving the kitchen.

Four hooligans sat with their feet up, waiting for the food to be served, chattering incessantly. They were either bragging about which widow they had slept with or how powerful Brother Chao from the Jiaozhou gang was.

The workers all turned their heads, their eyes filled with disgust.

It seems that the hooligans who are in the spotlight are getting more and more energetic, and they dare to say anything.

The dishes arrived quickly, including crucian carp with mint, braised pork ribs, and much more.

The group immediately fell silent and swallowed hard.

They wander around the streets all day, they've never seen a dish like this before. Even if they try to sneak into a local banquet, the chefs in the village can't make this kind of crucian carp with mint.

"Eat, eat, eat until you're full before setting the table." Wang Mazi picked up his chopsticks and first took a piece of pork rib.

The others also picked up their chopsticks and began to wolf down their food.

It's not that they're not eating well normally; they just haven't had enough to eat for a few days.

They've never tasted anything so delicious in their lives.

Two bowls of rice, five dishes and a soup for five people. The fish head was slurped clean, and even the soup from the crucian carp with mint was used to mix with the rice and eaten completely.

"belch……"

Wang Mazi let out a burp, still feeling unsatisfied.

It was really delicious; he had never eaten such a delicious dish in his life.

"Brother Ma..." The young man sitting next to him nudged him under the table, slipped something into his hand, and whispered, "What do we do if you accidentally finish eating all of this?"

Wang Mazi's expression froze. He looked at the empty plates on the table, cleaner than his face. He glanced around, gritted his teeth, quickly put his hand into a plate, then slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and shouted, "Boss! How come you found some 'oil thief' in this dish?! I think you don't want to keep this shop open anymore!"

"I've been waiting for you to do something bad, you little bastard!"

"Damn it! Even a thief dares to throw oil onto my plate!"

"What a death!"

Zhao Tieying grabbed a kitchen knife from beside the stove and charged at Wang Mazi.

……
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(End of this chapter)