Chương 20: Can this price really be sold?

"Sister-in-law." Zhou Yan called out as he stopped the car. The woman standing at the door was his sister-in-law, Zhao Hong. She was thirty-two years old, about 1. 6 meters tall, and quite robust. She wore a dark blue cotton coat and canvas shoes. Her short hair was clipped behind her ears, and her round face was beaming with a friendly smile.

"Come help out early. Fanwa can go to school by himself anyway; just leave him some food in the pot," Zhao Hong replied with a smile, reaching out to help Zhao Tieying take the basket off his back. She lifted the corner of the blanket to look at Zhou Momo, who was still asleep, and whispered, "Momo is sleeping so soundly."

"She's such a little piggy, sleeping all day long," Zhao Tieying laughed. Zhou Yan opened the door and went in, first taking Zhou Momo upstairs to sleep. Then he explained the job duties and working hours to Zhao Hong in detail.

"Sister-in-law, do you think this is suitable?" Zhou Yan asked Zhao Hong.

"These chores are done at home every day, so there shouldn't be any problem," Zhao Hong nodded, then looked at Zhou Yan hesitantly and said, "But… isn't this salary a bit too high?" Her fourth aunt had come to talk to her about this yesterday, and she was so excited she couldn't sleep all night. Zhou Fei helps his father slaughter cattle, and his income is decent, but they have two sons. Not only are they in school, but they also need to get married in the future, so the couple faces a lot of pressure.

She does farm work and housework at home, raises two pigs, and earns barely a few yuan a year. Going out to work means she can't take care of her family and two children. Working at Zhou Yan's shop, she earns twenty yuan a month, which covers her family and children. If it weren't for her brother, she wouldn't have such a good opportunity.

"The shop is quite busy. As long as you can do your job well and make the customers happy, I don't think the salary is too high," Zhou Yan smiled. Zhao Hong's personality suited his requirements. Zhao Tieying chimed in, "If he dares to charge, then take it. As long as we do our job well, we deserve our wages." Zhao Hong looked at the two of them, her heart warmed, and nodded, "Okay, Zhou Yan, I'll do whatever you say. I'm just not good with words, I don't know if I'll offend the customers."

"No need to be too enthusiastic, just have a smile on your face," Zhou Yan reassured her, "Sister-in-law, don't be too nervous, our little restaurant doesn't have that many rules."

"That's right, I'll teach you all that. I've remembered everything Zhou Yan told me these past two days. I'll show you around the restaurant first..." Zhao Tieying pulled Zhao Hong towards the kitchen, starting her teaching session. Zhou Yan was happy to have some free time and carried the ingredients into the kitchen to get busy. This morning, the noodle shop's business had clearly picked up. They sold forty-eight bowls of noodles this morning.

Without Wang Laowu causing trouble, they were starting to build a regular customer base through word of mouth. Of course, even the textile factory leaders couldn't eat noodles for six cents a bowl every day; they'd just come every few days to satisfy their cravings. Zhao Hong was a woman of few words, but she worked efficiently, having inherited her mother's skills. She always had a smile on her face, and she did everything quickly and skillfully – serving dishes, clearing tables, and washing dishes.

"Zhou Yan's noodles must be delicious. The customers all praise them, and they drink every last drop of the soup," Zhao Hong said happily while washing dishes.

"Those people in the village are just talking nonsense! Zhou Yan's restaurant is doing very well! Fourth Aunt, you're so lucky." Zhao Tieying beamed, her lips curving upwards, and said, "Business only picked up these past few days because we switched to selling noodles." The bricklayer arrived at the shop just in time; the brick factory's tractor had unloaded three hundred bricks at the shop entrance, and other materials were arriving one after another.

Zhou Yan gestured to the bricklayer about the stove's location, holding a sketch he had drawn overnight, marking all the dimensions. He planned to build the stove at the restaurant entrance, inside the gate, near the textile factory's entrance – conspicuous yet not obstructing customers' access. The bricklayer was a master craftsman; he and his apprentice had done the stove work in the kitchen of Zhou Erwa's restaurant, and their skills were renowned throughout the surrounding area.

After listening to Zhou Yan's requirements, he told Zhou Yan to put down the blueprints and then immediately began work.... In the factory canteen office, the door was tightly closed. Wang Defa sat behind his desk with a gloomy expression, looking at the plump woman with wavy hair beside him, and asked in a low voice, "Are the accounts all correct?"

"No problem, I checked and corrected them all night yesterday, I guarantee there won't be any problems." Sun Meili reached out and patted the white dust off Wang Defa's shoulder, smiling easily, "Old Wang, why are you so nervous? Even if you gave Wang seventy times the courage, he wouldn't dare to betray you."

"It's hard to say, we always have to prepare for the worst." Wang Defa shook his head, and then asked, "What did Director Zheng say about Wang Laowu and his wife?"

"They'll be detained for a few days, and a fine is definitely unavoidable. Gao Tianlei is a very strong-willed person, so Director Zheng can't interfere too much. Fortunately, nothing serious happened, but since they found out they used diseased pork, they definitely won't be able to set up a stall at the factory gate anymore. Who would dare to eat noodles at his place?" Sun Meili shook her head with a smile, "This is good for that kid who runs the restaurant at the gate.

I saw his business was booming when I went to work this morning, there were quite a few bicycles parked outside."

"Even Xiao Lei can't beat me, what can that kid do with a noodle shop? I'll deal with him later." Wang Defa waved his hand dismissively, lit a cigarette, and added, "Keep the supply and marketing cooperative delivering meat for now, we'll deal with it when things calm down."

"Okay." Sun Meili nodded, wiggling her plump bottom as she sat on Wang Defa's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and said, "My husband's away on a business trip, Lao Wang, tonight…" … The stove was built in one day, the surface leveled with cement, smooth and aesthetically pleasing… at least that's how it looked at the time. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The large stove, a meter in diameter, was indeed eye-catching standing at the entrance.

The stove was raised, the rim of the pot a meter off the ground, making it look taller and easier to stand while cooking beef and offal. However, the stove couldn't be used the day it was built; it had to wait three days to dry before it could be used. For the next three days, Zhou Yan spent his free time teaching his mother how to make braised beef.

He was responsible for stewing the beef bone broth, and if he timed the stewing time for different types of offal right, the braised beef would be almost done; it really didn't require much skill. The secret recipe is all in this pot of soup. Comrade Zhao Tieying is considered a veteran in the world of hot pot; she can quickly master the art of cooking beef and tripe, retrieving beef intestines and tendons on time, and controlling the quantities.

In just three days, she was already capable of managing the stove by herself. During this time, Zhou Yan went to Jiazhou city to commission a neon sign, but after receiving a quote, he decisively turned right and bought a bucket of paint and a brush from the supply and marketing cooperative next door. That evening, Zhou Yan soaked the dried bamboo shoots as usual and took out the paint and brush from the storage room. He had already painted a layer of white lime on the side of the stove facing outwards.

He used a pencil to draw six squares according to the dimensions, then dipped the brush in red paint and directly wrote the six large characters "Zhou's Braised Beef". The characters were square and neat, yet the strokes were quite powerful. Then Zhou Yan switched to a fine brush and used black ink to briefly write a few sentences about the origin and effects of Braised Beef. The story highlights an elderly traditional Chinese medicine doctor surnamed Luo who cooked medicine in a suspended pot.

He added Chinese herbs to the beef offal soup and discovered that the soup was not only delicious but also had the effect of preventing and treating diseases. Customers flocked to the restaurant, and since there were no seats, customers who ate standing up would often put one foot on the crossbeam under the table, hence the name "Qiaojiao Beef" (meaning "staggered-foot beef"). That's right, this is the simple signboard Zhou Yan made, which also serves as an advertisement.

Whether this story can resonate with the textile factory workers and change the perception of soup pot as low-end depends on whether it can truly change their minds. Of course, this isn't made up; it's a legitimate family recipe. And Comrade Zhou Miao has already verified that a bowl of hot beef offal soup does indeed have a warming effect when you're feeling cold. After putting everything away, Zhou Yan took a cold shower and went back to his warm bed early.

He pulled a wooden box from under the bed and began counting his savings. The noodle shop's business had stabilized over the past three days. Besides the textile factory workers, people from town also came to try the food. He could sell out 100 bowls of noodles a day, resulting in a very stable income. After deducting the 71. 2 yuan spent on building the stove, he now had 173. 8 yuan in savings.

The wooden box contained stacks of banknotes tied with rubber bands, mostly one-jiao, two-jiao, and one-yuan notes, with only two large unity notes. Compared to his meager 3 yuan and 87 fen when he first arrived, he felt much more secure now. Although he was still heavily in debt, he was confident he could pay it all off within three months. He was now a poor man with a future!

After recording his expenses, Zhou Yan retreated into bed and glanced at his interface before sleeping: [Player: Zhou Yan] [Occupation: Chef] [Wealth: -556. 52] [Occupational Skills]: Knife Skills (Intermediate): 9964/10000 (Your knife skills are sufficient for most dishes) Cooking Techniques (Intermediate): 2468/10000 (Your cooking still needs practice) Seasoning (Intermediate): 2695/10000 (Please be gentle, Salt King) Eloquence (Advanced): 88889/100000 (Like a pig pushing a door curtain—all talk and no action) [Mastered Dishes]: Double Pepper Beef Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000 Braised Beef Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000 Braised Pork Rib Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000 Pickled Cabbage (Advanced): 99999/100000 Braised Beef with Pork Knuckle (Advanced): 99999/100000 Steamed Rice (Advanced): 99999/100000 Cucumber Salad (Intermediate): 1871/10000...

Special Skill: Food Appraisal (Master): 999999/1000000 (Cannot be upgraded) [Main Quest: Become a Master Chef! Become Famous Throughout the World!] [Wealth Shop]: Unlocked when wealth reaches 1000. Knife skills, heat control, and seasoning have all improved, and wealth is trending positive; everything is thriving!... Just as dawn was breaking, Chef Zhou went out early to buy groceries.

Today, he contracted to have the intestines and tripe from the cow his father slaughtered, along with ten jin of beef tendon and an extra two jin of hanging tenderloin. He wasn't sure he'd sell it all, but he wanted to make a good impression on the first day. Any unsold portions would be given to customers tonight as a trial, to build a sales channel and reputation. Now that his wallet was fuller, he could afford some initial investment and had more marketing options.

The offal and beef tendon were 3 mao per jin, a total of thirty jin, which his father had calculated at cost price. Zhou Yan didn't stand on ceremony; he'd just give his father a little extra when he made a profit. The cost of the offal, beef, and Chinese medicine was around 15 yuan, with firewood and seasonings extra. Even if he lost everything, he could afford it. But once the reputation was established, the profit margin for "Qiaojiao Beef" was far higher than noodles, and the service was fast enough.

A bowl of Qiaojiao Beef was priced at 0. 6 yuan, using three liang of offal and two qian of beef, costing 0. 12 yuan in meat. The cost of Chinese medicine, seasonings, and firewood was no more than 0. 2 yuan. The gross profit margin can reach 60%, which is higher than that of noodles. However, this money is not easy to earn. Comrade Zhou gets up at three o'clock to slaughter the cow, and Aunt Zhao is already cleaning and processing the offal on the banks of the Qingyi River at four-thirty.

After bringing it back to the restaurant, it has to be washed again with well water.

"Su Ji's soup pot usually sells for two or three mao at other places, Zhou Jie's price of four mao is considered high, and you're selling it for six mao, can you really sell it at that price?" Zhao Tieying stood by the stove, watching Zhou Yan put beef bones into the large iron pot, and said with some worry.