Chapter 108

Everyone lay outside the restaurant to watch the fun.

While everyone was discussing, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan suddenly opened the door curtain and came out of the restaurant.

When they saw someone coming out, they immediately stopped talking and turned to look at them.

Then someone asked Chu Xia: "Who are the people coming to the restaurant?"

Chu Xia looked at the person who was speaking and gave a forced smile, "You should have all heard about it." Otherwise, they wouldn't have gathered around to watch.

After saying this, she ignored these people and walked to the bicycle with Lin Xiaohan. She pushed the bicycle and squeezed out a path among the onlookers and walked out of the alley.

The onlookers followed Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan to the entrance of the alley.

They gradually put their thoughts back and looked into the restaurant again, continuing to discuss in low voices:

"What does this mean?"

"So many people of special status come here to eat together, of course they are here to support the business."

"How can you explain this? The country not only does not care about capitalism, it supports it?"

"If this isn't support, what is it? These people obviously chose this time to come here on purpose. Isn't this actually supporting the restaurant's business, letting them continue to do well, and shutting up the critics?"

"Can you tell? They probably came here with a mission. Not only to support the Tang family's private restaurant, but also the leaders above are using these actions to let everyone know how determined they are to reform. They support this path. If the Tang family's restaurant fails and closes, they won't be able to continue on this path."

"I still don't understand what this is trying to achieve. We are a socialist country, right? If we continue to change in this way, won't it become a mess?"

"No one can tell what it will turn out like now, so let's wait and see."

"So his restaurant won't close down?"

"Why are they closing it? It will be packed tomorrow."

…

***

Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan came out of the restaurant because there were no more dishes left.

Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei made use of the remaining dishes first, and then they would go out and buy some more to take back. Today they wanted to use the most sumptuous dishes to entertain these guests.

After coming back from buying groceries, the people watching the fun in the alley had not yet dispersed.

It looks like one group left and a new group came.

Seeing Chuxia come back, they naturally asked a lot of questions.

Chuxia still didn't stop to answer. She just said a few perfunctory words, and walked into the gate with Lin Xiaohan. They parked their bicycles in the front yard, and took the dishes into the restaurant through the door in the front yard.

After entering the kitchen, they were busy picking and washing vegetables.

Wu Xuemei came over and asked them to put down their work and go out to greet the guests. She whispered to them, "We don't care. You should go see the world."

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan naturally understood what Wu Xuemei meant.

The two of them did not continue to stay in the kitchen to help, but went outside to greet the guests, serve tea and water, add peanuts and melon seeds, listen to their conversation, and join in the conversation.

No one here is pampered or arrogant. They are all Party members and have all experienced those ten years.

There is no distance between them and the common people. They are very easy-going and close when talking and chatting, and are no different from the people in daily life.

They didn't make Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan too busy.

Serving tea, pouring water, etc., do whatever you can do yourself.

They came this time mainly to support the restaurant.

The main topic of the conversation naturally focused on matters at the restaurant.

Of course the more we talked the closer we became, and we talked about other things too.

The topic turned to Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan, and the leader asked them: "Do you two usually just help out in the restaurant? Can't you find a job?"

The problem of a large number of educated youth returning to the cities and being unemployed is also a major problem that the country still needs to continue to solve.

Chu Xia smiled and replied, "We are still in school and will help out here during the holidays."

The man heard this and said, "Oh, that must be a college student. Where does he go to school?"

Lin Xiaohan continued: "We are at Peking University."

The man also laughed when he heard it, "What a coincidence, I also graduated from Peking University, and I am your senior."

Having said that, I instantly felt closer.

So we then talked a lot about the college entrance examination, campus and Peking University.

After we had done our best to entertain these twenty or so special guests, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon.

They had a great time eating, chatting and having fun during this trip.

Chu Xia, Wu Xuemei, Tang Haikuan and Lin Xiaohan saw them off together.

After they entered the alley, the people outside who were watching the excitement retreated to both sides of the alley to make way for them.

They stopped to say hello to the people in the alley.

The leader then said: "It is a new era now. We must not only reform and open up, but also liberate our minds. We must look forward and move forward!"

***

After seeing off these special guests, Chu Xia, Wu Xuemei, Tang Haikuan and Lin Xiaohan returned to the restaurant, sat down, took a long breath, then looked at each other and laughed.

After I finished laughing, I remembered that they hadn’t had lunch yet.

It just so happened that the fire in the kitchen was still burning brightly and there were still some dishes left over, so she went straight into the kitchen to continue cooking and frying, and prepared another sumptuous meal on the table.

After the meal, I felt more comfortable, at ease and satisfied.

I have had enough rest these days, and I become busy again in the afternoon. I go to the market to buy meat and vegetables, stock up as much vegetables and meat as I can, and process them in advance.

This time when I go out again, I no longer see those strange looks and critical voices in the alley.

But because of what happened before, especially those neighbors who had criticized the Tang family in person, they were too embarrassed to pretend nothing had happened and greet them again with a thick face, so they were just embarrassed when they met.

Originally, if the Tang family’s restaurant was closed.

The ones who were so embarrassed that they couldn't even raise their heads were the three members of the Tang family.

Now that things have taken a big turn, the ones who are embarrassed are those who watched the fun and put accusations on the Tang family.

This kind of embarrassment was also seen on the faces of the people in Courtyard No. 8.

Because they lived in the same courtyard, they were even more embarrassed than the others.

In early summer, they didn't care what others did. When they met, they just pretended not to see each other.

Business will be busy again, and they don't have the energy and time to waste on these unimportant people. They just need to do their own thing.

What they need to do is to let those who support them know that they can do a good job.

***

There were no surprises.

After today's events were reported in the newspapers the next morning, the area outside the Zhengyang Hotel and the alley of Tianxian Temple returned to their former bustle.

The business in the restaurant is booming again. Guests are arriving one after another at the table. The fire in the kitchen is burning brightly. The well-matched ingredients and seasonings in the iron pot create a very tempting aroma.

The fragrant smell of fireworks overflowed from the window and filled the entire Tianxian'an Hutong.

After the restaurant business returned to normal, there were only a few days left until New Year's Eve, so the restaurant did not do business for many days before the New Year.

This year the Chinese New Year is on the 29th, but Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei only did business until the 27th.

He closed the shop on the night of the 27th and took a break on the 28th to prepare some steamed buns and dumplings for the New Year. He had no shortage of other food, after all, his family ran a restaurant.

On the 28th, every family makes final preparations for the New Year.

After breakfast in the morning, Tang Haikuan kneaded the dough, while Chuxia and Wu Xuemei made the fillings together. In addition to steaming buns, they also prepared to make some dumplings with cabbage and pork fillings.

After kneading the dough and preparing the filling, there was nothing else important to do while waiting for the dough to rise. As the weather was nice and the sun was warm today, the three of us sat down in the yard to bask in the sun.

Tang Haikuan was tired from the sun and fell asleep leaning back in his chair.

Chuxia and Wu Xuemei knitted things together. Chuxia knitted simple thick wool scarves, while Wu Xuemei knitted fine wool gloves.

As the two were chatting and knitting, they suddenly heard a voice from the second door: "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

The sudden explosion woke up Tang Haikuan who was sleeping in a chair.

He shook himself up violently, opened his eyes dazedly and looked around.

Suddenly, a neighbor came in noisily.

He had a newspaper in his hand and went straight to Jiang Jianping in the west room after coming in.

He called Jiang Jianping out from the west room and asked, "Have you read today's newspaper?"

How could he read the newspaper if he didn't go to work? Jiang Jianping reached out to take the newspaper and asked, "What's wrong?"

It seems like there is something new and remarkable happening.

Of course, one cannot miss out on anything new, so Han Qingtian and Han Lei came over immediately.

When Jiang Jianping lowered his head to read the newspaper, they stretched their heads to read together.

It was really a remarkable new thing. The newspaper was the most authoritative newspaper in the country, and the content of the report was that a self-employed person had earned more than 10,000 yuan this year.

As soon as he saw the amount, Han Qingtian was so shocked that he exclaimed: "Earning more than 10,000 a year?!"

The neighbor who came to visit said, "Isn't it? This number is too scary. It took me a long time to react. Think about how much people with proper jobs earn in a year."

When Xu Lihua, Wang Cuiying and Li Lan heard this, they all came over to see.

Han Lei didn't finish reading it, and asked, "What did the newspaper say? Did it criticize this matter?"

Jiang Jianping had already finished reading it and replied, "Not only is there no criticism, but there is support and encouragement between the lines. It seems that this is the general trend."

Having experienced what happened at the Tang Family Restaurant before, they no longer find this attitude of their country surprising.

The neighbor who was visiting said, "You said this, isn't it true that the brave ones will be fed to death and the timid ones will starve to death? This year, those who have stepped out to start their own businesses, even if they didn't make tens of thousands, they certainly made a lot. This is the only one reported in the newspaper, there are probably many who made tens of thousands."

Having said this, they suddenly thought of the same thing.

Several people turned their heads in tacit understanding and looked at the Tang family of three who were sitting outside the main house basking in the sun.

They had always been curious about how much money the Tang family made since their business was so good.

The people of the Tang family refused to say anything, and every time they said that they didn't make much money after deducting various costs. Now, after reading the report in the newspaper, they suddenly had some concrete idea of ​​how much money the Tang family had made.

They had discussed and speculated privately before.

I thought the Tang family could earn at least a few hundred dollars a month.

They think that just earning a few hundred dollars is a lot.

But now it seems that they are too timid and can't even reach the edge even if they let their imagination run wild.

After looking for a while, several people turned around.

They looked at each other and cleared their throats, feeling as if cotton was suddenly stuffed in their throats.

Jiang Jianping suddenly said, "Why bother with other people's affairs? Just live your own life well."

The visitor said, "Since the country supports and encourages this, anyone can do it and make money, so we can make money too. We can't just let them make all the money. Who cares if it's respectable or shameful? Respectability can't make a living."

Han Qingtian nodded beside him, "It's not shameful to make money legitimately."

Han Lei continued: "Before, I wanted to let San'er go out and do something, set up a small stall or something, but my mother thought it was not decent and embarrassing. Look, he has made a lot of money."

Wang Cuiying's face turned pale and red, and she felt very regretful in her heart, as if huge amounts of money that should have gone into her pocket just flew past her pocket.

But she pretended not to care and said, "Everyone feels ashamed and undignified, and I'm not the only one."

It's all in the past, why bring it up now?

Han Qingtian said again: "It's not too late, let him try it after the New Year."

Sitting in the sun in early summer, with my head bent, knitting a scarf, I thought to myself - sorry, it's late.

Once this newspaper comes out, everyone in the country can see it and know that there is a large group of people who can make money by running an individual business. The threshold to open a store is high, but the popularity of setting up stalls will explode instantly.

If they can think of following the trend to make money, others will naturally think of it too.

After it becomes popular, everyone comes to get a piece of the pie, and the amount of money each person can earn is limited.

In the novel, Han Ting and Chaozi Guogai also followed the trend.

They sell this and that all the time. When they are lucky, they can make a lot of money, but when they are unlucky, they will suffer losses due to overstocking.

Of course, they don’t care how much money they make, the main thing is to keep up with the trend.

Even if they made some money, they would quickly spend it on eating, drinking and having fun.

After this year, starting from next year, the social atmosphere will be more open, and bell-bottom pants, floral shirts, afro hair, clamshell glasses, and tape recorders will become popular among young people in cities.

Han Ting and his friends spend all the money they earn on these things. The main content of their lives is not making money, but pursuing a life of elegance and fashion.