Chapter 83

Ji Zhenfeng returned home after visiting Shanghe Village. His mother, Yang Yuqin, was in the living room, knitting sweaters.

Yang Yuqin is now retired. She was at the age where she could enjoy time with her grandchildren, but she did not live with her eldest son. Naturally, she didn’t need to help raise the children all day.

She knits two sets of sweaters for her grandchildren every year. In the summer, she would knit them. She wasn’t in a rush since she planned to let them wear it in the winter.

“Why did you come back late today? I cooked something for you to eat. “

By the door, Ji Zhenfeng changed his slippers. He walked over to his mother’s side of the sofa, sat down, took a grape from the tea table, and put it in his mouth.

“Today, I encountered Meixiang’s brother at the police station; they had purchased two bungalows near No. 1 middle school and were planning to start a small restaurant to do business with students and nearby residents.”

Yang Yuqin looked up as soon as she heard his words, but the movements in her palm continued.

She was aware of Meixiang. A female college student was recruited as a teacher at No. 1 Middle School. She was introduced to her son by his aunt—last time when Zhenfeng sent the Zhao family back to the countryside. The last time Zhenfeng returned with some vegetables and an old hen, the Zhao family was sent back to the countryside. Yang Yuqin called her grandchildren and prepared a stewed chicken soup for them. Everyone agreed that it tasted better than chicken bought from the market.

The chickens of the Zhao family are fed with earthworms, sweet potatoes, and fresh vegetables mixed with rice bran. They were released every morning and would return to the chicken pen at night. It’s the standard free-range chicken farming. The meat is firm and tender, so the stewed chicken soup will naturally be more delicious than the average stewed chicken soup.

“Their family was quite thoughtful.”

Yang Yuqin is a teacher in the end. Reading newspapers and listening to the radio is something she must do every day. She has a better understanding of the country’s situation than ordinary people.

The development of our country has been stagnant for a long time, and the development of the economy will be the theme for a long time in the future. Opening a small restaurant may seem like a small fight, but it is extremely rare for them to seize this opportunity.

What’s more, to be able to freely offer to buy two houses in the county, but also know to buy in the vicinity of the school, only means they have the brains to come up with this idea.

“What do you think of this girl? If you think it’s good, bring her back for us to meet. “

Yang Yuqin still believes in his son’s vision. After being picky for too long, the one he chose can’t be a bad one. If he was willing to make do with it, he would have made do with it. Not to mention that his aunt said the girl was good. It will not be bad.

Although she came from the countryside and her family background is poor, she is a serious college student or junior high school teacher. She heard that her family’s brothers and sister-in-law also got into the provincial university. Their families’ days will certainly be more and more prosperous in the future.

“Marrying a woman from a high family, marrying a woman from a low family” Marrying a wife with an inferior family status doesn’t matter. As long as the girl knows how to behave and how to be polite,

Ji Zhenfeng spat out the grape skin in his hand and made a sound. I was about to tell you about it; I’d want to properly introduce her to you and your dad, and I’d like to settle in early. If you have time, I’ll bring her to recognize the family. “

Ji Zhenfeng said, “recognize the family,” but also said that he wanted to settle early. He didn’t ask to get his parents’ approval but to tell them that he had identified Zhao Meixiang.

The education of the Ji family still respects the wishes of their children. Whether Ji Zhenfeng doesn’t get married in his twenties or Ji Zhenlin moves out with his wife after marriage, and his parents haven’t intervened too much.

The children and grandchildren have their own blessings.

“OK, when your father comes back, I will ask him, and let’s make an appointment.

Ji Zhenfeng’s father, Ji Qingming, has a busy schedule, and every day there is a queue of people looking for him, and the Health Bureau often has meetings to attend, so he won’t arrive home until 9 o’clock at night, so he has to come on his own time.

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Zhao Donglin and Li Wangping came to the county the next day to repair the house, clean up the useless furniture, repaint the walls, and replace them with new windows.

“I know the director of a furniture factory. Let’s go and see if there are any ready-made goods. “

Ji Zhenfeng took the two to the furniture factory, where they looked at a simple four-sided dining table.

“This one is sturdy, not fancy, but sturdy.”

The boss slapped the table to prove the firmness of the table.

Zhao Donglin handed out a cigarette to the boss and also gave one to Ji Zhenfeng.

“OK, that’s it. We can put six of them in our room, but I want to reduce the width by a few centimeters. “

This was Jiahui’s suggestion. There is no need to use a large table in fast food restaurants. A rectangular tabletop is more practical than a square one.

The couple came with their children, so naturally, they had to have a place to live. Two rooms were opened up and separated by a single room with a wooden board, and another bunk bed was placed.

Looking at the packed house, Zhao Caixia was full of smiles and had infinite visions for their future.

Although they didn’t buy the house themselves, their sister-in-law said that they bought it only for the convenience of doing business and to prevent the previous homeowner from backtracking. If they didn’t buy it, their business would only end up making wedding clothes for others in vain.

“Sister,” “Sister, you can use this house at ease. I won’t charge you a rental fee or divide your income. Take it as we bought a piece of land and keep it when I can use it in the future. “

Zhao Caixia told Jiahui not to let her feel embarrassed. which was equivalent to setting up a white wolf with empty gloves ^[1]a white wolf with empty gloves is someone who used to be nothing, but now they have everything. According to her eldest brother, her sister-in-law wanted to open a restaurant and buy a house. Her sister-in-law thought of a way to make money for her family without asking for a return.

Zhao Caixia was particularly moved. She didn’t say anything, but in her heart, she thought that if the restaurant really earned money, they should give her brother and sister-in-law a large share; otherwise, their conscience could not take it. 

Everything is ready. Zhang Qiaoer deliberately found someone to calculate the day. The restaurant’s opening was on the 8th day of the 6th month of the lunar calendar, that is, the 31st day of the 7th month of the solar calendar.

Before opening, it’s natural that they have to give the restaurant a name. It must be easy to understand, so they called it “Xiao Li Restaurant.”

“We have to advertise the restaurant.”

The advertisement must spread and inform the people. They must make the nearby residents ready for consumption.

“How to advertise?”

“Write a sign to hang outside the door, and then print some advertising paper to distribute in crowded places.”

The most crowded place is the food market.

“What’s written on it? Xiaoli restaurant is open for business. It’s half price for three days. It’s delicious. You can have three meals in the morning, noon, and evening. You can also enter the store without food stamps. Cash payment is immediate. The opening time is July 3, Shiyi, and the address is 200 meters east of the No. 1 middle school in the county.] “

“There are two rows of small characters below. The main products in the store are sour soup noodles, scallion oil noodles, shredded meat noodles, beef noodles, fat sausage noodles, and all kinds of fried rice snacks. “

“Sounds good. It’s like a noodle shop.”

“Anyway, it’s just around here. Half price should not be expensive; let’s go and try it then too. “

“Yes, go and see. I can see that this advertisement paper is written well. It’s quite exciting.”

Arousing interest was not as good as action. The opening day was early in the morning, more than five o’clock. Most of the nearby residents were still asleep. Outside the Xiao Li restaurant, the crackling of firecrackers had sounded.

The old people who woke up early were the first to be alarmed. It was just when the children were on summer vacation. The old people themselves certainly could not afford to eat in the restaurant, but for the sake of the children at home, they were willing.

The Xiao Li restaurant is busy. It has steamed stuffed buns, soybean milk, cakes, tea eggs, as well as all kinds of minced or diced meat and sauces, with everything needed available.

“Meat buns-10 cents

Vegetable buns – 5 cents 

Noodle cake-3 cents per piece

Tea eggs—10 cents per piece.”

There is a price list hanging on the wall, and the price of each kind of food is clearly marked.

The price is reasonable. It was neither expensive nor cheap. Besides, it’s half price for three days after opening. It’s only 5 cents for a meat bun or a tea egg. Raw eggs cost more than this price.

As for the noodles, the price was higher at 15 cents for mixed noodles with scallion oil, 20 cents for egg noodles and sour soup noodles, 30 cents for shredded meat noodles, and beef noodles were sold for 50 cents, and fatty sausage noodles were 50 cents a bowl.

“Give me three meat buns, two tea eggs, and two bowls of soy milk.”

“A bowl of scallion noodles and a tea egg.”

“A bowl of noodles in sour soup, a meat bun, a vegetable bun, and a tea egg.”

At today’s opening, the whole family came except Zhao Manzhu, who was watching the children at home.

Jiahui, Meixiang, and Zhao Caixia were in charge of the kitchen; Zhang Qiaoer and Zhao Donghe greeted the customers; Li Wangping and Zhao Donglin cleaned up the table and dishes, and Jiahui also worked part-time as a bookkeeper.

From five o’clock in the morning until after 9:30, they had a little break, and after a short break, I began to work on lunch again.

The lunch is even richer: in addition to noodles, there are all kinds of fried rice, chicken rice, chicken legs, chicken wings, chicken fillets, etc.

All snacks are served in limited quantities.

“What’s the meaning of this limited supply?”

Sorry, I hope for everyone’s consideration. The restaurant just opened, so we do not know the tastes of the guests, what they love to eat, and what they do not love to eat, so the amount of each food prepared is not large. In addition, it is now summer, things are wasted under the feast, so we do not supply a large amount, so it could only be first come, first served.

Secondly, the preparation of these is also time-consuming. Now it’s summer vacation, they can help, but after the start of the school year, Zhao Caixia and Li Wangping have only left. They are afraid they will be too busy.

“OK, give me a chicken leg to try. I will know if it is good or not once I taste it.”

“OK, thank you for your support.”

When paying, the customer smiled and said, “Your food tastes good, it’s large, affordable, and you don’t need a meal ticket, so I’ll patronize it more often.”

This day, everyone was busy until after ten o’clock at night and finally had time to sit down and fill their bellies.

“I just counted. Today’s collection amounted to 137 yuan and 65 cents. For our various ingredients, we spent 80 yuan and 72 cents. “

Zhao Caixia started to calculate on the board. Finally, she stared and didn’t dare set the channel. “We earned 56.93 yuan a day!”

Li Wangping couldn’t help rubbing his hands together happily. The money could not be earned by the married couple a month ago. It’s more than 50 a day! Wouldn’t it be thousands a month?

This is not making money. It’s robbing money. No wonder my sister-in-law was willing to spend 2,000 yuan to buy this house. At that time, they still felt that Jiahui’s money was spent in vain. Now that I think about it, they were short-sighted.

“The profit is OK. On the one hand, half of the ingredients we bought can be used tomorrow, such as eggs, flour, and pepper. On the other hand, we sold at half the price three days after the opening, which means there is a lot of room for profit. Finally, we mustn’t rule out that there is a large flow of customers because there is a half-price activity, so we did word-of-mouth in the first three days. Even if the event is over, there will be no shortage of customers if we did the word-of-mouth was strategy. “

Zhao Donglin and Meixiang naturally understood after Jiahui’s analysis. Zhao Caixia and Li Wangping were confused.

“What do you mean, are we making money or losing money?”

“Of course, we are making money, sister. Not counting the decoration invested in the early stage, we earned more than 50 yuan. My sister-in-law meant that we had activities in our store for three days and everything was half price. Many people came to eat because it was cheap. For these three days, we can’t tell how many people will be coming back. If we do our word-of-mouth, we’re not afraid of having no repeat customers.”

JIahui nodded appreciatively. Meixiang’s analysis is very thorough, which fully illustrates the importance of school education. Before, she was a nave girl, but now she can be alone. Ji Zhenfeng also looked at Meixiang with appreciation. His girlfriend is so capable, smart, kind, and considerate. Even if Meixiang sweats a lot after a busy day, she is the most beautiful in his eyes.

“Just earning money is good.”

Zhao Caixia and Li Wangping were relieved when they heard this.

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“I talked to my parents, and they wanted to see you.”

“Ah? Wasn’t it too fast? “

“No, I’m too slow. I don’t want to separate from you every day.

“Why are you always so glib?”

“Am I glib? That’s probably because I only do that to you; no one has ever said that before. “

Most women like it when men say, “I only do that to you.” It makes them feel different, love them, and are unique roses.

Meixiang is no exception. Listening to Ji Zhenfeng’s words made her feel sweet.

“I’m leaving. I will come over tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to come over to help, even if you have time. It’s also too tiring.”

After working all day, he came over to help greet customers after work. Meixiang felt distressed for him.

“I’m not tired when I see you. I’ll come over tonight. Wait for me.

Meixiang smiled and nodded repeatedly, then waved her hand and said goodbye to him.