"Sister in law." Zhou Yan called out as he braked the bicycle. The woman standing at the door was none other than his eldest sister in law, Zhao Hong. She was thirty two years old, about five feet sixty, and quite stocky. She wore a dark blue cotton jacket and liberation sneakers. Her short hair was pinned behind her ears with a hairpin. A smile graced her round face, making her feel approachable.
"Come over early to help. Fanwa will be going to school by himself anyway, so just leave some rice in the pot for him." Zhao Hong replied with a smile, reaching out to help Zhao Tieying take the backpack off her back.
She lifted the quilt to glance at the still sleeping Zhou Momo, whispering, "Momo's sleeping so soundly."
"She's a little shrew, sleeping all day long." Zhao Tieying laughed.
Zhou Yan opened the door and went in, sending Zhou Momo upstairs to bed.
Then he went over the details of the job description and working hours with Zhao Hong.
"Sister in law, do you think it's suitable?" Zhou Yan asked Zhao Hong.
"I do this kind of work everyday at home, so it shouldn't be a problem." Zhao Hong nodded, then looked at Zhou Yan hesitantly and said, "But... isn't the salary a bit too high?"
Yesterday, Fourth Miss came to talk to her about this, and she was so excited that she couldn't sleep well all night.
Zhou Fei worked with his father as a cattle butcher, and his income was decent. But their two sons, not to mention their education, would have to get married in the future, so the pressure on the couple was immense.
She did farm work and housework at home and raised two pigs, earning only a few yuan year round. Working outside meant she couldn't take care of her family and two children.
Working at Zhou Yan's shop, she earned twenty yuan a month, which allowed her to take care of both her family and her children. If she wasn't a family member, she wouldn't have gotten such a good deal.
"Business is busy at the restaurant. As long as you do your job well and make sure the customers enjoy their meals, I don't think the salary is too high." Zhou Yan said with a smile. Zhao Hong's personality suited his needs.
Zhao Tieying chimed in, "If he dares to pay it, just take it. We just need to do our job well, and we deserve it."
Zhao Hong looked at the two of them, her heart warming. She nodded, "Ai, Zhou Yan, I'll do whatever you say. I'm just not very good with words, so I don't know if I'll offend the customers."
"Don't be too enthusiastic, just keep a smile on your face." Zhou Yan reassured her. "Don't be too nervous, sister in law. Our small restaurant doesn't have a lot of rules."
"That's right. I'll teach you all about it. I've taken note of everything Zhou Yan has told me over the past two days. I'll show you around the restaurant first..." Zhao Tieying pulled Zhao Hong towards the kitchen, beginning teaching mode.
Zhou Yan, happy to have some free time, carried the ingredients into the kitchen and began to work.
Business at the noodle shop picked up significantly this morning, selling forty eight bowls. Without Wang Laowu's troublemaker, word of mouth has already established a regular customer base.
Of course, at sixty cents a bowl, even the head of a textile factory wouldn't eat it everyday; they'd just stop by every now and then to satisfy their cravings.
Zhao Hong isn't talkative, but she's efficient. She's inherited Miss Zhao's skills, always smiling. She serves, clears, and washes dishes quickly and efficiently.
"Zhou Yan's noodles must be delicious. The customers praise them and drink up all the soup." As she washed the dishes, Zhao Hong beamed with joy. "Those villagers are just talking nonsense! Zhou Yan's restaurant is booming! Fourth Miss, you're so lucky."
Zhao Tieying beamed, her lips curled upwards as she said, "It's only since we switched to selling noodles these past couple of days that business has picked up."
The bricklayer arrived at the shop just in time. The brick factory's tractor unloaded three hundred bricks at the shop entrance, and other materials were arriving one after another.
Zhou Yan led the bricklayer through the stove's location, holding a rough sketch he'd drawn up the previous night, with all the dimensions marked.
He planned to build the stove at the restaurant's entrance, inside the door, near the textile factory gate. This would be both visible and inconspicuous without obstructing guests.
The bricklayer was a master craftsman. Zhou Erwa Restaurant's kitchen was run by the two of them, their skills renowned throughout the area.
After listening to Zhou Yan's request, he told him to put down the paper and then got to work.
…
In the factory cafeteria office, the door was closed.
Wang Defa sat at his desk with a gloomy expression. He looked at the plump woman with wavy hair next to him and said in a low voice, "Are the accounts all right?"
"No problem. I checked and revised them all night yesterday. I guarantee can't find any problems." Sun Meili reached out and patted the white dust on Wang Defa's shoulder. She smiled with a relaxed expression, "Old Wang, why are you so nervous? Even if Wang Qi had ten guts, 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 asked, "What did Director Zheng say about Wang Laowu and his wife?"
"They'll be detained for a few days, and fines are inevitable. Gao Tianlei is quite stubborn, so Director Zheng can't interfere too much.
Luckily, there wasn't any accident. But they were caught using diseased pork. They definitely won't be able to set up a stall in front of the factory anymore. Who would dare eat noodles there?" Sun Meili smiled and shook her head. "That's a good thing for the guy who runs the restaurant in front of the door. I saw he was doing a good business this morning when I came to work. There were a lot of bicycles parked outside."
"Even Xiao Lei can't fight me. What good is that kid doing running a noodle shop? I'll deal with him later." Wang Defa waved his hand dismissively, lit a cigarette, and said, "Have the supply and marketing cooperative continue to send meat for the time being. We'll see after this blows over."
"Okay." Sun Meili nodded, twisting her plump butt to sit on Wang Defa's lap, her arms around his neck. "My husband's out on a business trip, Old Wang, tonight..."
...
The stove was built in a day, its surface leveled with cement. It was smooth and beautiful...at least that's the current aesthetic.
The large stove, one meter in diameter, stood out at the doorway.
The stove was elevated, with the rim of the pot a meter off the ground, giving it a taller appearance and making it convenient for standing while simmering beef and offal.
However, the stove wasn't ready for use the day it was built; it had to wait three days for it to dry.
For the next three days, Zhou Yan spent his free time teaching his mother how to make Cross-legged Beef.
He was in charge of stewing the beef bone broth. By getting the cooking times for the different offal items just right, the Cross-legged Beef was almost ready; it truly required no technical skill.
The secret recipe was all in the pot.
Comrade Zhao Tieying can be considered an old chef in the soup pot industry. She simply simmered the beef and tripe, removed the beef intestines and tendons on time, and controlled the portions, and master it very quickly.
In three days, she was already capable of handling the stove by the door on her own.
During this time, Zhou Yan also went to downtown Jiazhou, intending to order a custom neon sign. After receiving a quote, he decisively turned right and bought a bucket of paint and a brush at the supply and marketing cooperative next door.
That evening, Zhou Yan soaked the dried bamboo shoots as usual and retrieved the paint and brush from the utility room.
He had already painted the stove's exterior with a coat of white lime. Using a pencil, he drew six grids to match the dimensions. Then, dipping his brush in red paint, he immediately scrawled the six large characters, "Zhou Ji Qiao Jiao Niu Rou".
The calligraphy is square and neat, yet powerful.
Zhou Yan then switched to a fine brush and, using black ink, wrote a few brief sentences below about the origins and efficacy of Cross-legged Beef.
He highlighted the story of an old Chinese medicine practitioner named Luo, who added herbs to a pot of beef offal soup and discovered that the broth was both delicious and had both preventative and therapeutic properties. Customers flocked to the dish, and with no seats available, those who ate standing up took to resting one foot on the horizontal beam under the table, hence the name Cross-legged Beef.
Yes, this was Zhou Yan's simple sign, which also served as an advertisement.
Whether this story can reshape the perceived low-end image of soup pots and gain acceptance among textile factory workers remains to be seen.
Of course, this isn't fabricated; it's a genuine, ancestral tradition.
Comrade Zhou Miao had already confirmed that drinking a bowl of hot beef offal soup after catching a cold does indeed help dispel the cold.
After putting his things away, Zhou Yan took a cold shower and returned to his warm bed early. He pulled a wooden box from under the bed and began counting his savings.
Business at the noodle shop had been stable for the past three days. Besides the textile factory workers, people from town also came to try the food. He could sell out all 100 bowls of noodles everyday, keeping his income very stable.
Excluding the 71.2 yuan he spent on building the stove, he now had 173.8 yuan in savings.
Inside the wooden box were stacks of banknotes tied together with rubber bands—mostly 10 cent, 20 cent, and 1 yuan notes, with only two Great Unity notes.
Compared to the meager 3 yuan 87 cents he had when he first arrived, he now felt much more secure.
Although he still owed a mountain of debt, he was confident he could pay it all off within three months.
He was now a poor man with a future!
After writing down his account, Zhou Yan retreated into bed. Before falling asleep, he opened his dashboard and took a quick look:
[Player: Zhou Yan]
[Profession: Chef]
[Wealth: -556.52]
[Professional Skills]:
Knife Skills (Intermediate): 9964/10000 (Your knife skills are sufficient for most dishes)
Heat Control (Intermediate): 2468/10000 (Noob, still needs practice)
Seasoning (Intermediate): 2695/10000 (Salt King, be gentle)
Eloquence (Advanced): 88889/100000 (Pork Curtain - All about the mouth)
[Mastery of Dishes]:
Double Pepper Beef Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000
Braised Beef Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000
Braised Pork Ribs Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000
Pickled Vegetables (Advanced): 99999/100000
Cross-legged Beef (Advanced): 99999/100000
Steamed Rice (Advanced): 99999/100000
Smashed Cucumber (Intermediate): 1871/10000
…
Special Skill: Food Appraisal (Master): 999999/1000000 (Unavailable for upgrading)
[Main Quest: Become a Chef God! World-Famous!]
[Wealth Mall]: Unlocked when your Wealth reaches 1000.
With improved knife skills, heat control, and seasoning, the wealth is trending upwards, and everything is flourishing!
…
At daybreak, Master little Zhou went out early to buy groceries.
Today, he contracted the intestines and tripe of the cow his father had slaughtered, ten pounds of beef tendon, and an extra two pounds of sirloin.
He wasn't sure it would sell out, but he had to make a splash on the first day. Anything he couldn't sell would be given to customers that evening to try, building up sales and reputation.
Now that his wallet was full, he could afford the initial investment and had more marketing options.
Beef offal and tendon were 0.3 yuan per pound, for a total of 30 pounds. His father charged him the cost price, and Zhou Yan didn't shy away from it. He just wanted to give Old Zhou some extra money when he made a profit.
The offal, beef, and Chinese herbs cost about 15 yuan, not counting firewood and seasonings.
Even if he lost everything, he could still afford it.
But as long as word of mouth built, the profit from the Cross-legged Beef would be far higher than that from noodles, and the dishes would be ready quickly.
A bowl of Cross-legged Beef is priced at 0.6 yuan. It uses 3 taels of beef offal and 2 cents of beef, for a total meat cost of 0.12 yuan. Including the Chinese herbs, seasonings, and wood, the cost is no more than 0.2 yuan.
The gross profit margin can reach 60%, slightly higher than that of noodles.
But this money isn't easy to earn.
Comrade Zhou gets up at 3 a.m. to slaughter the cattle, and Miss Zhao is by 4:30 a.m. by the Qingyi River to clean and process the offal. After bringing it back to the restaurant, it needs to be rinsed again with well water.
"Su Ji's soup pot is usually sold at 20 or 30 cents at other restaurants, but Zhou Jie's 40 cents is considered high. You're selling it at 60 cents. Can you really sell it at that price?" Zhao Tieying asked worriedly, standing by the stove, watching Zhou Yan add beef bones to the large iron pot.