Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 243 Roar, Young Man!

Everyone entered the restaurant through the back door. It was lunchtime, and the restaurant was quite busy. While chopping vegetables, Sister Zhang said, "Next time you come this way, there will be a charge. We're already too busy to handle anything, and you're just making things worse. Hurry up and go over there."

Everyone laughed and hurried out of the kitchen, finding a place to sit down by the radiator.

Xiao Wei glanced upstairs and said to Xia Maosheng, "Why don't you go up and take a look around? Toast anyone you know."

Xia Maosheng asked with a smile, "Why aren't you going?"

Xiao Wei said, "I can't drink as much as you. Besides, you're a local. It'll be useful to know more people in the future."

Xia Maosheng said, "You're just lazy." He got up and went upstairs.

Li Bing brought over some hot water, and everyone got up to wash their hands. Li Bing asked, "What do you want to eat, boss?"

Xiao Wei, while washing his hands, said, "You're already the boss, why are you still asking what to eat? You're so dense, you're practically an expert already."

Li Bing said, "Okay, I'll see how I can arrange it for you. There was quite a bit left at that table, I'll add a few more for you, that should be enough." Xiao Wei looked up at Li Bing, both amused and exasperated, and gave her a thumbs up, saying, "You're good, you've made me proud." Everyone laughed.

Everyone sat down around the table, and Li Bing came over again to pour some hot water, saying, "Wait a moment, I'm not kidding. Only two tables have arrived. Sister Zhang said she'll serve the dishes first and then cook for you, in case things get urgent from above. It's the tax office."

Han San, holding his water glass, said, "It's alright, you can make the arrangements. We're on the same side."

Xiao Wei asked, "Does the tax office have two tables of its own?"

Li Bing nodded.

Chen Hui said, "The tax office didn't come for the business opening, did they? I remember they didn't."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "They didn't come. It's good that they did. Are you really thinking of taking over all the departments? Each unit has its own space. It would be good if they could take over half, or even a third."

We were told to wait a bit, but we didn't actually wait long. Chef Zhai was incredibly fast; the dishes arrived in about twenty minutes, and everyone put down their water glasses and started eating.

After eating a few bites and exchanging a few words, Xia Maosheng came downstairs, sat down at the table, and said, "I've had three cups. Before I left, I was thinking, if this is going to be a daily affair with every table full of toasts, I probably won't be able to go down less than three catties of liquor a day. That's unsustainable."

Chen Hui said, "When the top leader comes, just offer him a toast. Why bother with the lower-ups? Whether they come or not is not up to them. Just hand them a cigarette and give them a smile. If they come, you'll have to drink them to death."

Xia Maosheng slapped Chen Hui's thigh and said, "Okay, let's do it this way."

……

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, everyone poured themselves a glass of water and sat down to digest. Chen Hui said, "Are we just going to sit like this?"

Xiao Wei said, "If you don't want to sit here, do you want to lie down? Or go back to sleep? It's so early."

Chen Hui said, "Yeah, what are you doing sitting here so early? Go play in the back!"

Xia Maosheng asked, "Play ball?"

Chen Hui said, "Did you guys even try installing the karaoke machine? These people are perfect for it, why don't they go sing for a bit? You're so stupid."

Xia Maosheng was about to speak to Chen Hui when Chen Hui interrupted, "Are you stupid? Are you stupid?"

Everyone laughed, and Han San stood up and said, "Right, let's go sing. Let's see how it goes."

Everyone came through the kitchen again. This time it wasn't so busy. Sister Zhang said with a smile, "Let's set up a card system to charge a fee. It'll be 50 cents per person."

Chen Hui said, "Sister Zhang, Brother Zhai, come over when you're done with your work. Come have some fun in the karaoke room."

Brother Zhai nodded and said, "Okay, we'll come over and take a look in a bit. We haven't done it yet."

Sister Zhang asked, "Aren't there those TVs with karaoke on the street? You've never sung before?"

Brother Zhai shook his head and said, "Who would feel comfortable doing that in public?"

Li Wen pouted and leaned against the kitchen door, humming. Sister Zhang asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Wen stammered, "I...I want to sing."

The whole room burst into laughter when they saw the dough-making table in the kitchen.

A man in his fifties, wearing a military overcoat, walked in through the back door. Master Zhai glanced at him and greeted him, "You're here, Master Yu."

Master Yu smiled and nodded, saying, "Busy today?"

Li Wen said, "I've folded the clean ones into the basin for you. There will be more upstairs later."

Master Yu nodded, smiling, and offered a cigarette to Master Zhai. Master Zhai wiped his hands on his clothes, took the cigarette, and said, "The boss and the others are singing in that room. Aren't you going to go check on them?"

Master Yu shook his head and said, "I'm not going. I'm going to change my clothes and watch the stove." He then went to the guardhouse in front.

Sister Zhang said, "When do you think the boss's dad will arrive? Old Yu works here every night, is he trying to make a living?"

Sister Shang stood at the door of the noodle shop, smoking, and said, "Old Yu? Old Hao is there 24/7. At least Old Yu can go back during the day to cook something nice, and he can bring back leftovers every day. That's good enough."

Sister Zhang exclaimed "Ah!" and nodded, saying, "Right, we've been away for so long, we've forgotten about Lao Hao. Twenty-four hours a day, he's been doing this for over half a month now, hasn't he? His wife must be going crazy at home, she must be itching to go on like this."

Master Zhai coughed, his face flushed, and said, "You, you all need to watch your words, there are children here."

Li Wen leaned against the kitchen doorframe and said, "I don't understand. What did Sister Zhang say? What did she mean?"

Sister Zhang threw a cucumber butt at her: "Get lost, go upstairs and clean the table." Li Wen laughed and ran away.

Over here, a large group of people, taking advantage of the starlight, walked to the entrance of the karaoke bar. Huang Laowu unlocked the door with his key, turned on the lights, and everyone stomped their feet and went inside. They casually found a place to sit on the heated wall. Han San said, "You can't just mean sitting on the heated wall, can you? This thing burns your butt after a while, and besides, it's not romantic. You need to set up some tables and get some chairs with backs. No tea for karaoke? Where are we going to put it? Just hold it in our hands?"

Xiao Wei went over to turn on the machine and said, "I bought it, but it hasn't been delivered yet. It should be in the next couple of days."

Turn on the DVD player and projector, turn on the stereo, and there's a loud thud in the room, followed by a faint electrical hum.

The projector lit up, slowly casting a shadow on the smooth, white wall. It was blurry at first, but gradually became clear. It was the DVD player's logo. Xiao Wei casually picked up a DVD, put it in the machine, and pressed play.

These days, karaoke song selection, original soundtrack, accompaniment, pitch adjustment, volume, and everything else have to be manually adjusted on the machine; playing songs is a technical skill.

Han San got up and walked around the room twice, saying, "It's big enough, warm enough, and can accommodate many people. How are you planning to charge?"

Xiao Wei asked, "Would it be okay if it were the same as in Fengtian?"

Han San shook his head and said, "That won't work. If you ask me, just charge a certain amount per song. Just make a cup of tea when you come in; it doesn't have to be anything fancy. If you want to book the whole place, just charge by the hour."

Xiao Wei asked, "How much would be appropriate for one song?"

Han San said, "I'm not very familiar with the cost of living in Longcheng, but I estimate three or five yuan should be enough. A private room would be fifty yuan an hour."

Xia Maosheng asked, "How many songs can you sing in an hour?"

Xiao Wei shook his head. Chen Hui said, "There will definitely be at least ten songs. Each song is usually a little over three minutes long. Add in the time for changing discs, let's say five minutes."

Han San said, "If we don't book the whole venue, we can't sing that many songs; it takes time to find the right ones."

Chen Hui said, "That's about right. Let's charge like Third Brother said, five yuan per song, fifty yuan an hour. If it doesn't work out, we can talk about it later. Come on, let's sing."

As the music started, Chen Hui grabbed the microphone and shouted, "Sing it out! Shout it out, boys! I love you so much..."

Xiao Wei sat behind the control panel, dimmed the lights in the room, and smiled as he watched Chen Hui jumping around in the field.

(End of this chapter)