Chapter 91: Grand Opening

The Feng family’s life was still decent. Over the past two years, Old Feng and Zhou Qiaoxia have raised chickens together. Although they weren’t extremely wealthy, they managed to earn enough to cover their living expenses.

Old Feng occasionally set up a vegetable stall in town, bringing in some extra income.

But their lives weren’t without difficulties.

A year ago, Feng’s second son got married and spent all the family’s money. During the process of preparing for the wedding, Old Feng injured his back, leaving him unable to work for a long time.

With Old Feng unable to work, all the household chores fell on Zhou Qiaoxia. She was already upset about spending a large sum of money on Feng’s second son’s wedding, and now with this added burden, she couldn’t help but complain. Listening to her complaints, Old Feng also felt unhappy.

That wasn’t the only problem. A year ago, Feng Wenbing took the high school entrance exam but didn’t get into high school.

This wasn’t uncommon. In rural areas, very few people make it to high school or vocational school.

Old Feng and Zhou Qiaoxia thought that if Feng Wenbing didn’t get into high school, he could find a job in a factory or help with chicken farming at home.

But Feng Wenbing didn’t want to work or raise chickens.

Zhou Qiaoxia didn’t like Feng Yi, feeling no affection towards him, but she treated Feng Wenbing like a treasure. She believed she would rely on him in her old age.

For this reason, she doted on Feng Wenbing.

Old Feng remarried a younger and pretty wife who gave birth to a chubby son. Naturally, he was happy and also doted on Feng Wenbing.

Feng Wenbing didn’t have to do any chores at home; he just had to focus on studying. If he could excel academically, he could have a good future. However, he didn’t get into high school.

Old Feng and Zhou Qiaoxia didn’t find raising chickens and farming exhausting, as they could fertilise the fields with chicken manure without any qualms. But Feng Wenbing was a teenager who had been studying all along.

When Zhou Qiaoxia asked him to feed the chickens, he refused to step into the coop full of chicken droppings!

If he didn’t want to raise chickens, getting a job was an option. However, most of the factories around here were light industries. In recent years, there were only clothing factories, chemical fibre factories, and silk factories opening up, and they mostly hired female workers.

Finding a job for men wasn’t easy; the available jobs mostly involved manual labour.

Jiang Lihai and Feng Yi started working in a brick factory at the age of sixteen. They didn’t find it particularly hard, but Feng Wenbing was different.

Working in a factory, moving bricks? Even Feng’s second son didn’t want to do that, let alone him!

Feng Wenbing couldn’t find a suitable job, refusing to do household chores… Old Feng and Zhou Qiaoxia couldn’t help but nag at him all day long. Feng Wenbing, being spoiled and unable to handle criticism, naturally threw tantrums, making everyone unhappy.

The atmosphere at the Fengs’ was always tense.

To make matters worse, news arrived that Feng Yi had been accepted into the university.

Feng Wenbing couldn’t even get into high school, yet Feng Yi managed to get into university!

Feeling inferior to his own brother had always been hard for Feng Wenbing, and Zhou Qiaoxia and Old Feng felt bitter about it too.

Today, someone came to their door just to stir up trouble: “If you treat Feng Yi better, you’ll have a university student in your family! People who go to university can make big money!”

“Today, someone is hosting a celebration. Are you invited?”

…

Zhou Qiaoxia angrily ushered the person out, unable to find words to express her frustration.

Jiang Liyun heard about the Feng family’s situation from Jiang Xiaogu. Jiang Xiaogu had subtly criticised Feng Wenbing, and Jiang Liyun could understand why.

In another ten or twenty years, many of the only children in the village would be unwilling to do dirty work, just like Feng Wenbing. Even she, after her rebirth, was unwilling to raise chickens or pigs.

Feng Wenbing was still alright. In his previous life, after graduating from junior high, he struggled to find a job for a while. However, he didn’t go astray and eventually found steady employment.

He led an ordinary life, which was why Zhou Qiaoxia always tried to get money from Feng Yi to support him.

Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi didn’t stay in Jiucun Town for long.

On August 6th, they returned to Shanghai.

Before leaving Shanghai, Jiang Liyun advertised her shop in the newspaper and had her employees distribute many flyers nearby. These flyers served as both advertisements and coupons. Holding a flyer entitled customers to buy a chicken burger at half price.

In December of the previous year, KFC opened its first store in Shanghai. This meant that the people of Shanghai were already familiar with KFC.

Jiang Liyun even visited the KFC in Shanghai and thought that the taste of her food wasn’t much worse than KFC’s. She had the advantage of lower prices and frequent promotions.

Twenty years later, there would be various promotions at hamburger joints, but at this time, KFC was expensive due to a lack of competition, and their promotions were limited.

Previously, when she ate at KFC, a pair of chicken wings cost two yuan, and a small cup of mashed potatoes was eighty cents!

The original chicken combo at KFC, which included one original recipe chicken, a cup of mashed potatoes, and a bun, cost six yuan!

At that time, only wealthy people could afford KFC, and their stores were quite luxurious.

She put a lot of effort into decorating her shop, making it modern and appealing, but in terms of size, she couldn’t compete with KFC.

She didn’t intend to compete; she just wanted to make money.

The food at KFC at this time was somewhat different from what it would be twenty years later, but the food in Jiang Liyun’s shop was quite similar to that period.

In her shop, a chicken burger cost four yuan, a pair of chicken wings cost two yuan, and a chicken roll also cost four yuan. During the opening, customers could buy a burger for two yuan with a promotional flyer.

Additionally, her shop had several combo options. For example, the six-yuan combo included a burger, a pair of chicken wings, and a cola.

Two days before the opening, this combo was sold for only five yuan!

On August 8, 1990, Charles Hamburger Shop opened its doors.

On the opening day, Jiang Liyun managed the cash register with a few trained employees under her, while Feng Yi supervised the kitchen, overseeing the preparation of various food items. If there were shortages of ingredients, he had to quickly arrange for restocking.

They had prepared a considerable amount of frozen ingredients, even including plenty of ice cubes. Since it was summer, customers would undoubtedly appreciate ice-cold cola.

At eight in the morning, Charles opened its doors, and the shop immediately attracted a large crowd.

Early in the morning, at the Qiao household:

Qiao Ming got up and found his mother looking at the promotional flyers from Charles Hamburger Shop. She had brought several back a few days ago.

Qiao Ming wasn’t fond of this shop. “Mum, why are you looking at this?”

His mother replied, “With these flyers, you can buy a burger at half price, only two yuan each!”

Eating at KFC usually costs around ten yuan per person, but at Charles, one burger only costs two yuan. Spending four yuan on two burgers would be enough to satisfy one’s hunger and be much cheaper!

The Qiao family was well-off, and Qiao Ming had been to KFC once. Not long ago, after he received news of his university acceptance, his parents took him there. They spent twenty yuan on some food, and Qiao Ming ended up eating most of it while his parents just tasted a bit.

“A burger for two yuan?” Qiao Ming glanced at the flyer, unable to resist salivating.

His mother continued, “I plan to buy a few more burgers to let your grandparents taste. They haven’t tried Western fast food yet. Do you want to come with me?”

Qiao Ming felt a bit reluctant but honestly said, “Sure!”

His mother took Qiao Ming and left.

In their neighbourhood, many people were going to buy burgers just like them. Spending ten yuan on a meal at KFC felt a bit extravagant, but spending two yuan on a burger was affordable for most.

“Is Charles Hamburger Shop also opened by foreigners, like KFC?”

“The decoration looks high-end.”

“They even sell pizza. What’s that?”

“I can smell the fragrance from afar!”

“I’ve been waiting since I saw the news in the newspaper a few days ago.”

“I only found out because I received the flyer. My child has been asking to eat there every day.”

While designing the signage, Jiang Liyun used both Chinese and English. The menu in the shop was bilingual, catering to the mindset of the time and appearing as “high-end” as possible.

As a result, when customers walked in, they didn’t feel that this shop was inferior to KFC.

Many customers who came to the shop had the flyer in hand, intending to buy the two-yuan burgers, but some ended up purchasing other items after entering the shop.

The five-yuan combo of burger, chicken wings, and cola sold particularly well!

Qiao Ming saw the combo and couldn’t help but say, “Mum, I want this!”

Fried chicken wings and cola—who wouldn’t like that?

His mother glanced at the price and reluctantly said, “Buy!”

Buying one combo and five burgers added up to only fifteen yuan, much cheaper than KFC!

Qiao Mother and Qiao Ming arrived early and quickly got the food they wanted.

The burgers smelled amazing, and the cola was icy cold!

The shop also had air conditioning, making it particularly cool.

Qiao Ming suggested, “Mum, let’s eat some here first, and then we can leave.”

The shop looked too fancy!

His mother thought for a moment and agreed, “Okay.”

Qiao Ming took his burger upstairs.

His mother followed, and they found a window-side seat. After sitting down, they carefully unwrapped the paper around the burgers.

The hot fried chicken sandwiched between the bread made Qiao Ming squint his eyes with delight.

This was incredibly delicious!

Qiao Mother, who found KFC too expensive the last time she went, couldn’t resist taking a bite of the two-yuan burger today. It was so good!

The burger was delicious, the fried chicken wings were tasty, and as for the icy cola… Taking a sip in the hot summer felt incredibly refreshing!

Qiao Ming couldn’t help but say, “Mum, I think their food is better than KFC!”

In reality, the taste was similar, but this shop’s items were cheaper!

His mother nodded in agreement.

She also thought the burgers from this shop were delicious. The fried chicken inside was particularly substantial, with a large piece, and the sauce was tasty, sweet, and sour.

The two of them each finished a burger and shared the two chicken wings and cola, and by this time, more and more customers were coming into the shop…