Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 291 Slowly Getting Along

The four girls got excited and hugged each other, jumping and shouting.

Xiao Wei smiled as he went out the door, exited the main building through the back door, came into the courtyard, took a breath of fresh air, and looked up at the vast blue sky.

Xiaowei's mother stood at the kitchen doorway and waved to Xiaowei, calling out, "Xiaowei, Xiaowei, come here."

Xiao Wei ran to his mother and asked, "What's wrong, Mom?"

Xiaowei's mom said, "Let's add two more people, and then move the cafeteria to the old building. This place is too small, it's hard to set up, and it's difficult to get food. That place is bigger, we can set it up more easily. What do you think?"

Xiao Wei glanced at the three women busy in the kitchen and said, "Sure, we can move over there now. There are about ten stoves over there, we can do whatever we want. We didn't say it had to be in this room. We were just short of people before."

Xiaowei's mother turned and went into the kitchen, saying to the three older women, "Come on, forget about what's simmering in the pot for now. We're moving, let's cook it in the old building. This is too inconvenient. Xiaowei, come in and lend a hand."

Xiao Wei went inside, and the five of them carried the things towards the old building.

Hao Xiaodong came out of the boiler room and, seeing several people moving things, asked, "What are you doing?"

Xiao Wei said, "Now that there are more people eating, the kitchen is too small. Let's move the cooking area over there. It's bigger and has more stoves, so we can make more space. From now on, we can get our food from this side." Hao Xiaodong nodded and said, "We should have moved the cooking area over here a long time ago." He came over to help.

After several trips back and forth, everything except the stewing dishes on the two stoves and the rice cooker that was cooking rice was moved over. Once inside, the kitchen, which used to be packed full of things, suddenly felt much smaller. The space was huge. Xiaowei's mom said, "This is great! There's a whole row of places to serve the food here. Once it's cooked, we can put it here, and we can put the chopped vegetables there."

The three older women tidied up and started working. Xiao Wei asked his mother, "Should we move the refrigerator over?"

Xiaowei's mother said, "No need, just leave it there for now, we'll deal with it in the summer. It's not that far. Hurry up and find two more people to come over. We're feeding almost two hundred people, and the four of us can't handle it. These past few days, even with just a few dozen people, our arms are sore from exhaustion."

During this period when classes were not in session, many people went out to explore and eat, and did not eat here. Only about 60 or 70 people ate here each day. Now that classes have started, everyone will definitely eat here, so the pressure has suddenly increased.

Xiao Wei scratched his head and said, "Where are we going to find someone now? How about we ask Sister Shang or someone from her group who has less work to come and help for a day? Have you bought enough groceries?"

Xiaowei's mom said, "We need to buy another rice cooker. Two cookers will be enough to cook four batches of rice, plus some steamed buns. As for vegetables, I'm not sure. We'll see how it goes today, and we'll know tomorrow. I sent Xiaowei to buy some more; we didn't buy enough this morning."

Xiao Wei said, "We need to cook more dishes, a dozen or twenty different kinds for them to order. Otherwise, how many of each kind would we have to make? No matter how big the pot is, we can't possibly cook them all."

Xiaowei's mom said, "We've made seven now. Let's make another seven or eight, one big bowl of each, and see if that's enough. I guess it'll be about right. What else should I make? We didn't even know what to do on the first day. Xiaoqin, do you have that bucket left? The stainless steel bucket for stewing."

An older woman looked around and said, "That's all. There were only five in total. We were saying we wouldn't be able to use them."

Xiao Wei walked out and said, "I'll go look for some more and buy a few more."

Xiaowei's mom said, "Don't forget the rice cooker, buy the largest size. They might not even have it anymore."

Hao Xiaodong was standing at the door smoking when he saw Xiaowei come out and asked, "What's up?"

Xiao Wei said, "We don't have enough buckets and pots. I'll go look for some more."

Hao Xiaodong said, "Boss, have you thought about where these hundred-plus people will wash their lunchboxes? There's no hot water at the main building, the kitchen here is too small, and the old building is a bit far away, plus there's not enough space. Finding a place to eat is easy, they can just sit in the classroom."

Xiao Wei stopped abruptly, stared at Hao Xiaodong for a moment, then turned back and went back into the old building.

"Mom, Mom, Hao just reminded me, how are we supposed to wash all these lunchboxes?" Xiao Wei asked his mother.

Xiaowei's mother paused for a moment, then looked up and thought for a while before saying, "Where can we swipe our cards? There's nowhere else that can accommodate so many people. If we're talking about a place, then this is the only option."

Sister Shang walked in and said, "Everyone's busy, except me. I'll help for a bit. What are you two talking about?"

Xiao Wei's mother said, "There are over a hundred people, where are we going to wash the lunchboxes?"

Sister Shang scratched her hair with her fingernail, looked around, and said, "This is fine. This case is so long, and there's a partition underneath. Have everyone wash their lunchboxes here and put them down there." She kicked the case with her foot and said, "Next time you get your food, just pick it up from here and get it from there. It'll be easier to queue up and save you from having to squeeze through the queue and get checked."

Xiao Wei said, "How can we tell who's who? We can't let things get mixed up!"

Sister Shang waved her hand and said, "You're overthinking it. Let them figure out their own ways. What do you care how they do it? When you set a wake-up time, do you need to tell people whether they wash their face or pee first?"

Xiaowei's mom said, "That's right, let's arrange it like this for now. It'll only be chaotic for the first few days. You should go buy things quickly. You need to buy all the soy sauce and salt, buy them by the case. A bag will be gone in a day if you're making two or three dishes."

Sister Shang said, "Go to the wholesale market. There are wholesalers over there. Go take a look. The area behind our restaurant is all retail, and it's expensive."

Xiao Jun and Liu Hongliang carried in a bamboo basket. Liu Hongliang said, "There's no one in the kitchen over there, so I guessed they were moving to this side. Boss, why can't I escape buying groceries no matter where I go? I have to carry groceries at the restaurant, and now I have to carry them here too."

Xiao Wei glanced at Liu Hongliang and said, "How about you don't have to carry it?"

Liu Hongliang chuckled a few times and then fell silent. Xiao Wei said, "Let's find someone else. Xiao Jun will be in charge of delivering and exchanging goods from now on. You can find someone else to buy groceries and such. Just make do for a few days, get to know them, and then we can figure out how to arrange things. Come on, let's go to the central market."

Liu Hongliang followed Xiaowei outside and asked, "Where are you going?"

Xiao Wei said, "We don't have enough rice cookers, and we don't have enough stew pots either. We'll buy two more large wok ladles, and then get a few of each of the seasonings. We can't estimate how much we'll need for a day right now, so let's just buy these for now."

Liu Hongliang said, "I bought a bag of garlic today, and I don't think it will last more than a few days. Aunt Zhang, aren't you going to add more people to help? We definitely won't be able to handle it. Just picking vegetables and chopping scallions, ginger, and garlic will take two people to watch over."

Xiao Wei said, "Go ahead and find two or three more people to do the work. I'll talk to Brother Xiao this afternoon. We need to find people from your side to do the work. Look at those people at the Labor Bureau, they even find sitting in the office tiring."

Liu Hongliang got into the car and started it, saying, "The levels are different. They're cadres on this side, they're government officials, while we're all workers who live off the wind. How can we be the same?"

(End of this chapter)