Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 303 The Shift in People's Mindset

The three people went out of the shop, locked the door, hung the sign that said "Come to the restaurant if you need anything" on the door, and entered the restaurant through the back door.

Walking into the lobby, we saw Master Zhai smoking and looking out through the glass door. Xiao Wei went over and asked, "What are you looking at, Brother Zhai?"

Master Zhai turned to look at Xiao Wei, pointed outside and said, "They're building a house across the street."

Xiao Wei walked to the door and looked over. In the open space between the road and the residential buildings, some people were building tin houses. They were made by unfolding large gasoline drums and welding the sheet metal onto angle iron. Then they filled the interior walls with yellow mud and stones. This method was quick and insulated, but it was ugly and uninhabitable. Usually, people who built these houses used them to open shops. In the 1980s and 90s, these kinds of makeshift houses were practically everywhere in Northeast China.

Xiao Wei asked, "What are you going to do?"

Master Zhai shook his head and said, "I don't know. Anyway, it's not like they're opening a restaurant. Opening a restaurant right in front of us is practically suicide, isn't it?"

The people peering through the glass door laughed. Since this place opened, no new restaurants have opened in this area. There used to be two restaurants near the department store, but they stopped opening after the New Year. One became a steamed bun shop, and the other became a Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodle shop. Now even the steamed bun vendors in the market have moved elsewhere.

Li Bing came over with a bowl and said, "Eat, eat. Xiao Liwen, go and bring the dishes."

Li Wen agreed and ran to the kitchen. Now, Huang Laowu and the others would leave a large lunchbox here, and Li Bing would pack it in the lunchbox and send it over after cooking. Only Xiao Wei and Li Wenhe ate at the restaurant, and Li Wen just hung out with them. Anyway, after the renovation of the first floor, there were only two tables set up, which were basically used by their own people. Very few outsiders ate there anymore.

The three of them ate, while Master Zhai continued to watch the excitement. There were no orders at noon today, but five tables were scheduled for dinner.

After observing for a while, Master Zhai said, "It looks like a breakfast shop to me. There are several rooms inside, and they're probably building the stove right now."

Xiao Wei said, "It would be best to come up with something new and interesting. We're tired of eating steamed buns and hand-pulled noodles all the time."

Li Wen said, "You're not even going to eat, yet you're so nosy."

Xiao Wei said, "Why wouldn't we eat it? If it's fresh, we should eat it. Everyone buys it to eat."

Master Zhai came over, sat down, and said, "It's fine to buy new things to eat, but we need to have more variety in the morning to make it feel like a proper meal."

Li Bing wiped her hands and walked over, saying, "Boss, why do I feel like a little maid now? I have to run around the noodle stall, serving dishes, cooking, and then delivering them."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "You have the nerve to say that? What's tiring? The noodle stall has several ladies who cook, steam, and sell the noodles. You just collect the money, serve the food, and press a button. Cooking is already hard work. What more do you want? To fly to the moon?"

Xie Na said, "Exactly, it's never enough. How about we switch?"

Li Bing chuckled, ran over and sat down next to Xiao Wei, saying, "Boss, I also want to go to the cake shop, or a karaoke bar, okay?"

Xiao Wei said, "The cake shop doesn't need anyone, and the karaoke bar stays up too late at night. You're a girl alone, so just behave yourself."

The two new waiters weren't very familiar with Xiao Wei yet, so they sat to the side listening to their conversation. Hao Xiaobo asked, "Boss, it'll be warmer soon, will the boiler still be running?"

Xiao Wei said, "We have to keep it on. We don't have public heating. Let's wait until it's not cold at night before turning it off. Besides, what are we going to do about steaming buns here?"

Hao Xiaobo said, "That will have to be in May. In the summer, we'll use jars for steamed buns here for a few months, and then the boiler will be turned on again at the end of September."

While eating, Xiao Wei said, "Using a can? Brother Zhai, how much difference does it make in coal usage if we use a can?"

Master Zhai thought for a moment and said, "A canister costs thirty yuan. If you're steaming buns, you'd probably need four or five a month. As for coal, how much does Bozi burn a day? Five or six tons, right?" Hao Xiaobo nodded. Master Zhai said, "If you're not using it for heating, then the canister is cheaper, a little over a hundred yuan a month, less than two hundred. Coal would cost five or six hundred."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, then let's burn the canisters for a few months. If we need to change the canisters, we can just send a truck over and bring back five."

Master Zhai said, "The pot definitely won't be as fast as the boiler, so it has to be lit in advance. Xiao Bing, you guys have to come earlier in the morning."

Li Bing exclaimed, then said indignantly, "Why did it end up with us? Brother Hao got off easy, the boss saved money, and we're the ones taking the blame?"

Everyone laughed, realizing it was indeed true.

Sister Zhang said, "It's alright, you don't need to get up early. The stove here is on 24 hours a day. You can just come over in the morning to get hot water and cook it."

Master Zhai nodded and said, "Oh right, putting hot water directly into the pot will save a lot of time. I forgot about that." Li Bing glared at Master Zhai, snorted, and got up to go to the other room. The room where they steam buns now sells steamed buns, twisted rolls, sugar triangles, dumplings, and fried dough twists. They don't have much free time except for eating. Although they're not tired, they're always busy.

Looking at Li Bing's swaying waist, Sister Zhang said, "Xiao Bing's waist is really thin, only half the size of mine. It's so good to be young."

Li Bing turned around smugly and wiggled his butt. Xiao Wei said, "What's so smug about? You don't even have a butt, you're so skinny you don't have a pound of meat on you."

Li Bing pointed at Xiao Wei and said, "You wait, one day I'll fight you to the death." He stomped his foot and left, and the others laughed.

Sister Zhang said, "I've been thinking these past two days that pancakes should sell well. There aren't many pancake stalls left these days. Last night I made a few sugar pancakes, and people from upstairs and downstairs came over to try them. In the end, we didn't have enough for our own family, so we had to cook rice."

Xie Na nodded and said, "I only ate it when I was a child. It seems like my family hasn't made it for several years now. We don't have the time."

Xiao Wei said, "If you want to eat it, why don't you make it yourself?"

Xie Na pouted: "No way, do you think making pancakes is as simple as just kneading dough and throwing it into a pan of oil?"

Li Wen said, "My family makes them. My mom makes them whenever I want to eat them, but it's quite troublesome, time-consuming and laborious."

Xiao Wei said, "Knowing it's time-consuming and laborious, why did you make your mom do it? Don't you have hands?"

Li Wen pouted at Xiao Wei, stared for a few seconds, then lowered her head to continue eating, saying, "I'm ignoring you, you're a bad guy." Xiao Wei shook his head; this was just a little girl who was always raised like a baby by her parents. He put down his chopsticks, rinsed his mouth with water, walked outside the door, spat the water out, and looked up at the opposite side of the street.

On the other side, a group of people were busy climbing up the roof, and the air was filled with the smell of welding.

A bearded man wearing a cotton-padded jacket, working in the factory, was handing out cigarettes to the workers with a smile on his face. He handed out more than a pack of cigarettes, lit one for the leader, said a few words, and then turned and walked over to Xiaowei.

Xiao Wei rinsed his mouth and was about to go back to his room when he saw the bearded man walking over, so he stood there waiting.

The bearded man walked over and offered Xiaowei a cigarette, saying, "You work at this restaurant? I haven't seen you much before."

Xiao Wei took the cigarette, nodded, and said, "Yeah, I haven't been around much lately. Something up?"

The bearded man pointed to the tin shack and said, "I need a place to do some small business. Are there many people here at noon? I have more than twenty people. Can you make room for them? They haven't eaten yet."

(End of this chapter)