All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

As the Spring Festival of 80 drew closer, He Yuzhu was no longer concerned about celebrating the New Year; his restaurant was so popular that it was even featured in a certain newspaper.

The reason is naturally that He Yuzhu's Jingchuan Restaurant was the first private restaurant in Yanjing. The restaurant had good food, a good environment, and good service, and was called a "three-good restaurant" by many old customers.

Because of its excellent reputation, Jingchuan Restaurant was featured in a certain newspaper. Some old-fashioned bigwigs naturally felt this was outrageous and criticized Jingchuan Restaurant harshly. With criticism came support, and for a time, Jingchuan Restaurant became a popular restaurant in this era.

He Yuzhu was startled by the attention this received and had no choice but to have Ma Hua act as his representative. He said that while it's true that fame should come early, there's also a saying that fame leads to an early death. He wanted to live a few more years and live a peaceful life as a man behind the scenes.

When the Spring Festival bell rang in 1980, a certain newspaper published a headline article: "We must vigorously support the development of the private real economy and make more 'Sanhao' restaurants appear on the streets and alleys of Yanjing!"

Once this article was published, all the noise stopped, and Jingchuan Restaurant embarked on a smooth path from then on!

Chapter 96: The Explosive Success in Yanjing

During the Spring Festival of 80, He Yuzhu was hardly seen in this compound. There was no way around it; he was too busy. The popularity of the Jingchuan Restaurant exceeded his expectations.

How could a restaurant featured in a certain newspaper not become famous?

At first, it was just ordinary people joining in the fun. But one day, a customer wearing glasses was queuing when he suddenly noticed the restaurant's sign. He adjusted his glasses and, after carefully examining the lettering, was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.

The middle-aged people stopped queuing and left. The next day, the restaurant's business boomed even more, with many bigwigs even bringing their families to come and try it.

When this happened, He Yuzhu thought it was an isolated incident, so he took the initiative to greet the guests. However, soon after, many bigwigs from various departments in Yanjing came in person, and He Yuzhu was completely dumbfounded.

After everyone tasted the food, they all praised the taste of Jingchuan Restaurant. The restaurant was so popular that there were not enough waiters. In addition, because the restaurant only served dinner, and the business was so popular that many people came to queue up as early as 2 or 3 o'clock, blocking the alleys and lanes, which also put the street in a difficult position!

Besides this problem, there is another one: because they are too busy, He Yuzhu and several apprentices are now taking turns to do it.

Everyone works hard from dawn till dusk preparing three meals a day at the steel plant canteen, and then they have to come here to get off work until 11 p.m. before they can go home. Everyone is exhausted and has dark circles under their eyes.

The restaurant had been open for two months. Apart from the first ten days when things were relatively relaxed, He Yuzhu didn't know how he got through the last two months. He had seen how hard everyone had worked.

So, after the restaurant closed that day, he kept all his apprentices behind to discuss the issue together.

He Yuzhu encouraged everyone to speak freely, expecting to receive a lot of complaints, but to his surprise, everyone said they were fine and could still persevere, which left He Yuzhu speechless.

When asked, everyone realized that although they felt it was hard work, it was worth it. He Yuzhu's bonus last month was several times their current salary. Although they were tired, they were full of hope for the future.

Who doesn't want a good life?

However, seeing everyone enduring this, He Yuzhu naturally felt that it was not a long-term solution. Although he wanted to earn money, his health was more important. Not to mention that they were still young men, even he, an old man in his forties, felt that he couldn't hold on any longer.

I have to resign now. I really don't have the energy to keep working at the steel mill. I'll just focus on running the restaurant well.

He Yuzhu also let his apprentices choose for themselves. He would not treat those who were willing to work for him unfairly. The salary increase would definitely not be small. Moreover, in the future, he might open a new store, and he would choose from his apprentices at that time!

As soon as He Yuzhu made this suggestion, all five of his apprentices expressed their willingness to work for him.

Seeing his apprentices' expressions, He Yuzhu was also somewhat moved. Of these five, apart from Ma Hua, the other four had been with him for at least seven or eight years. Over the years, countless people wanted to learn from him, but in the end, he kept these five because they were of good character.

Otherwise, if he really wanted to take on apprentices, with He Yuzhu's reputation, he could easily take on dozens of apprentices.

In this era, besides the bond between master and apprentice, the most important reason for them to give up a secure job was that He Yuzhu could help them make money. No matter how deep the bond between master and apprentice was, it could not ultimately withstand the test of profit. He Yuzhu was well aware of this and was very realistic about it.

Don't be fooled by the fact that your apprentices are honest and kind. If you keep ripping them off, they'll naturally leave. That's human nature.

Once everyone resigns, we'll have more time, and we can also start cooking Chinese food.

In addition to staff, He Yuzhu also plans to gradually position Jingchuan Restaurant as a mid-to-high-end restaurant. In the next few years, restaurants will be everywhere in Yanjing. In order for Jingchuan Restaurant to stand out, in addition to unique dishes, positioning is also very important.

Although taking a more down-to-earth approach might lead to better business, it's exhausting and doesn't generate much profit. In the future, they'll have to compete with a multitude of other restaurants, and with more customers, it's naturally difficult to maintain high-quality service.

What He Yuzhu wants to do is to make Jingchuan Restaurant the number one Sichuan restaurant in Yanjing City. It has the best chefs, the most authentic Sichuan cuisine, and the best service. All of these are indispensable. In the future, when people in Yanjing think of eating Sichuan food, Jingchuan Restaurant will be the first place they will think of!

Of course, since it's positioned as a mid-to-high-end restaurant, the prices won't be low, but they won't be too high either. Although Yanjing is full of hidden talents and wealthy people, with the reform and opening up, it's just a restaurant, not a luxury store.

He Yuzhu selected new dishes and immediately raised prices by 50% to 100%. Sure enough, as soon as the prices were raised, the number of customers who had flocked to the restaurant decreased by more than half, since the poor were the majority.

However, after the price increase, the service and food quality of Jingchuan Restaurant also improved. All the dishes are the freshest and of the highest quality.

Even during the month of price increases, He Yuzhu personally served as the head chef for a period of time, treating each dish with care. Relying on the excellent taste, a month later, the Jingchuan Restaurant was once again packed with customers.

The restaurant's transformation was very successful. Although there are fewer old customers now, mainly because not many old customers can afford to eat there every day, the reputation of Jingchuan Restaurant has grown even more.

After all, when people mention Jingchuan Restaurant, they think of two special things: first, the price is high, and second, the taste is good. With these two factors combined, many young people choose to hold their wedding banquets at Jingchuan Restaurant for the sake of face.

He Yuzhu made a fortune by capitalizing on the Chinese people's love of vanity for the first time.

Throughout the 1980s, He Yuzhu was constantly busy. Even when his son graduated from elementary school and the school required parents to attend the graduation ceremony, He Yuzhu didn't have time because he was too busy.

Fortunately, there is an elderly couple taking care of the two children, and the two children are now basically living and eating with the elderly couple.

He Yuzhu is never home, and Ran Qiuye has become more energetic and her personality seems to have become more irritable since she returned to school as a teacher.

Last time, He Hua only scored 80 points in one of her exams. Ran Qiuye made He Hua study until 11 p.m. He Yuzhu went home and then let the child rest. This made He Yuzhu suspect that Ran Qiuye was having an affair.

However, He Yuzhu dared not say this in front of Ran Qiuye. He was too busy now, and the two of them hadn't done "that" between husband and wife for half a month. He Yuzhu was afraid that he would disturb her, and he would have to get up early the next day to go shopping. His old back couldn't take it!

Life goes on, and He Yuzhu's Jingchuan Restaurant gradually became the most famous restaurant in Beijing. Although the prices were more than twice as high as those of newly opened restaurants, He Yuzhu made a fortune.

Even so, the number of visitors remained high, and many foreigners even came to visit, taking photos and giving likes. He Yuzhu believes that these photos will definitely trigger a wave of nostalgia online 30 years from now!

Chapter 97: The Formation of the "Five Capitals"

Although He Yuzhu has earned his first 100,000 yuan in less than a year, he still lives a low-key life, wearing a white shirt and black cloth shoes every day, a typical old Beijing slicker.

He was always smiling in the compound, leaving early and returning late, without arousing any suspicion from others.

His resignation attracted a lot of attention. After all, in this day and age, very few people have the courage to resign. The wave of people going into business was something that happened in the 1990s.

However, He Yuzhu said that he had been working for someone else recently, and the salary was a little more than that of the steel mill worker. He was still doing his old job as a cook, so no one asked any more questions. However, many people said behind his back that this silly Zhu was really born silly and had been silly his whole life.

With the opening of the Jingchuan Hotel at the end of 79, and thanks to its pioneering spirit and the affirmation from above, restaurants sprang up like mushrooms after rain throughout the streets and alleys of Yanjing.

Countless educated youth who had returned to the city and were unemployed at home seemed to have found a way out in life. They started to modify their tricycles, put a coal stove on them, and cook some tofu and radishes on it. They would sell these at the school gate and earn a few yuan a day, which was no worse than working in a factory.

There are also people who make steamed buns, mantou, fried dough sticks, jianbing guozi, roasted sweet potatoes, etc., all in order to survive, and they use all sorts of methods and means.

Of course, those are low-end methods. Some people with some savings also follow He Yuzhu's example, starting to rent shops or use their own shops, do some simple renovations, and start small restaurants. Most of them do quite well.

These days, as long as you dare to take the first step, you'll find that the outside world is much wider than you imagined.

The reform and opening up policy has indeed changed the way many people think, and has also enabled a group of pioneers to earn their first pot of gold.

However, this also brings about restlessness and utilitarianism in people's hearts. When you work hard in a factory, you only get a fixed salary of less than 100 yuan in the last month, while someone who sells jianbing guozi from a tricycle can earn 300 yuan a month. Many young people feel restless.

My former identity as a worker has gradually faded, and the glittering decorations of the 1960s and 70s are gone. This is an inevitable product of development. The development and changes of the times cannot meet everyone's expectations.

The success of Jingchuan Restaurant indeed earned He Yuzhu his first pot of gold. By the end of 1980, after reviewing his accounts, He Yuzhu calculated that his annual dividends had reached nearly 280,000 yuan.

The other apprentices' profit sharing plus fixed salaries each exceeded 20,000 yuan per year. This income level was more than ten times higher than the average worker's wage at that time, and this income was enough to satisfy them.

As the reputation of Jingchuan Restaurant grows, it is destined that the restaurant's annual income will double in the future.

As 1980 drew to a close, He Yuzhu began planning to open branch stores. He also promised his five apprentices that in the future, each of them would partner with him to open a store, with He Yuzhu investing in the store and holding only 40% of the shares, allowing them to be their own bosses.

Each of them learns a cuisine, and in the future, each shop will have a signature dish of a different cuisine. Jingchuan will focus on Sichuan cuisine, and later they will open shops in Beijing, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Fujian, opening a shop for each apprentice so that they can realize their dreams and pursuits!

He Yuzhu's guarantee was never questioned by his apprentices, which was a testament to the trust that had been built between him and his apprentices over the years.

Life seemed to be moving in a positive direction. At the end of August 1, He Yuzhu fulfilled his promise, and the Jingyue and Jingxiang restaurants were established one after another. The decoration of these two restaurants far exceeded that of the Jingchuan restaurant.

He Yuzhu invested over 200,000 yuan in each restaurant, which was 200,000 yuan in the early 1980s. In addition to money, He Yuzhu also used his connections to promote his apprentices' restaurants.

In mid-1982, the Beijing-Suzhou and Beijing-Fujian cuisines were established, marking the formal establishment of five of the eight major cuisines.

Apart from Ma Hua, who continues to follow He Yuzhu, the other apprentices have all started their own businesses.

He Yuzhu also fulfilled his previous promise: each of his apprentices would open their own restaurant. He Yuzhu would provide the capital and hold 40% of the shares, while they would hold 60%.

All the restaurants cater to the mid-to-high-end market, and each person has a unique skill, ensuring they will never starve. He Yuzhu also set a rule for them: every Spring Festival, the apprentices must gather together for a reunion dinner.

Soon, these five restaurants with "Jing" in their names became the famous "Five Jing" restaurants in Yanjing City. People said that if you wanted to eat authentic food, you had to go to one of these "Five Jing" restaurants. However, the prices were beyond the reach of ordinary people!

During the Spring Festival of 1983, everyone gathered for the first time. At this moment, in addition to being chefs, they also had the identity of bosses. As they kowtowed to him one by one to express their gratitude, He Yuzhu simply smiled and waved his hand, telling them to get up.

After their identities change, He Yuzhu wasn't really sure how many more years these gatherings could continue. Although everyone was honest and kind at heart, money can be a powerful motivator. If they all became millionaires and big bosses in the future, would they still maintain their original intentions?

He Yuzhu couldn't guarantee anything either. Human nature is the most difficult thing to understand, and he didn't want to understand it because it would hurt people.

The reason why He Yuzhu spent all his savings in just two years was something he couldn't tell anyone else.

At the end of last year, I felt like I was having a weightless dream in the middle of the night. Every time I was half awake, I seemed to hear thunder in my ears. Ran Qiuye never snores, so where did this sound come from? It could only be traced back to a distant memory deep in my mind.

So he wondered if he was about to wake up. Although he was still in the same world every time he woke up, He Yuzhu had to prepare in advance just in case.

So he invested all the money he had earned in the past few years into his apprentices' new stores. Every year, the shares from these stores were enough to allow Ran Qiuye and the children to live a more comfortable life.

Also, the hard work of the past two years has allowed him to finally satisfy his craving for being a chef, and he plans to make the most of his remaining time to enjoy this rare life experience.

You can't expect yourself to finally achieve something in your dream, only to wake up and find that all you remember is cooking, and you haven't experienced any other wonderful aspects of life.

So He Yuzhu decided to enter a semi-retired state. He's 45 now, and it's time to enjoy a few years of life.

He handed over Jingchuan to his eldest apprentice, Ma Hua, and the share transfer agreement was signed. He would take 30% and Ma Hua would take 70%. Ma Hua initially refused, but He Yuzhu patted him on the shoulder and said that this was all the master could leave him.

From now on, the fellow disciples will have to help and take care of each other. You are my disciples, He Yuzhu's disciples, so you can't disgrace your master.

After explaining everything, He Yuzhu was finally at ease and began to enjoy life every day. He also started to learn about hobbies other than cooking, such as walking birds, raising dogs, and occasionally playing chess with some old men.

Several elderly men noticed that He Yuzhu, who had been rarely seen for the past few years, suddenly had time to come every day, and asked him what had happened.

He Yuzhu could only laugh and say that he was an old man, and the boss felt he was being taken advantage of, so he was fired. Therefore, he had begun to retire.

This reason drew laughter from several old men, one of whom even privately called him into the house to inquire about the situation. He Yuzhu could only say that he had transferred his restaurant to his apprentice, and from now on he would only receive some shares and dividends. He said that the dividends alone would be enough for his whole family to live comfortably.

The old man was quite angry at the time and scolded him.

"You're only forty-five, yet you're so old-fashioned and lack ambition. Look at those young people in the compound, they all work long hours and earn several thousand a year. Can your meager dividends support your wife and children?"

He Yuzhu was both amused and exasperated, and could only hold up one finger.

"Uncle, this is the amount of dividends I receive every year. Do you think that's enough?"

An old man looked at the finger He Yuzhu had extended and said hesitantly.

"one thousand"

He Yuzhu shook his head.

"Ten thousand"

He Yuzhu shook his head again!

The old man finally lost his composure and spoke seriously.