After the national policy of reform and opening up came out, many people began to hoard fixed assets. Zhang Weifang asked around for a long time and found out that all the storefronts near the train station and even the houses in the alleys had been sold.

With the help of acquaintances, Zhang Weifang finally bought a storefront opposite the train station. This storefront was quite large and was converted from a small courtyard. There was also a house in the courtyard that could be used for living.

Because the price was relatively high, no one had bought it yet, and now Zhang Weifang had just picked up the bargain.

However, although he had a storefront, Lu Shi did not move in. The flow of people at the train station is generally inside the station, and there are relatively few people outside the station. He plans to wait until after the New Year to make careful plans.

This winter, Lu Shi has been pushing a cart and selling noodles at the train station. Although he has made a lot of money, he has also suffered a lot.

When they went home for the New Year, as soon as they heard that Lu Shi had gone to set up a stall, the brothers and sisters immediately changed their faces and began to look down on Zhang Weifang.

Zhang Weicun even asked directly:

"Sister, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you're a public servant after all. How could you let your brother-in-law do this?"

Zhang Weishuang also asked worriedly:

"Yes, big sister, this is speculation, right? Won't you get caught?"

Finally, it was Zhang Weiren who came out to explain, and everyone calmed down:

"Now the country has a new policy that allows private businesses, so you don't have to worry."

Zhang Weifang didn't say anything. Anyway, they didn't receive much education and had limited horizons, so it was pointless to say anything.

In 1980, the country officially allowed individuals to engage in business, and Lu Shi immediately went to the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce to apply for a business license.

Lu Shi renovated the storefront and opened a small restaurant. He worked as a chef, hired a 50-year-old lady to wash dishes, and hired a waiter to serve the food.

At the beginning, there were very few customers in the restaurant, almost no one was there. Just when Lu Shi wanted to give up, his luck suddenly improved and the number of customers gradually increased.

The restaurant mainly sells large bowls of noodles and fried noodles. Some people also order stir-fried dishes, but rarely. At the end of the month, Lu Shi makes a net profit of more than 100 yuan.

When he was setting up a stall, Lu Shi could earn 200-300 yuan every month. Now that he has opened a restaurant, he unexpectedly earns less money and is more tired. He cooks and fries noodles all day long, and his arms are swollen.

He also had to collect the money himself, and was busy every day. In this month, Lu Shi lost ten kilograms.

Zhang Weifang looked at the dark circles under his eyes and smelled the fumes on his body. He couldn't stand it anymore and suggested:

"Why don't you hire a chef and just collect the money."

Lu Shi rubbed his sore arm, his face full of helplessness:

"It's hard to find chefs. The talented ones are all in state-owned restaurants, and I don't want to hire the incompetent ones."

"Just find someone who can make noodles. You can't sell many stir-fried dishes anyway."

Just when the two were worried, Liu Jiahua came to find Lu Shi. He heard Aunt Feng next door say that Lu Shi needed a chef. It happened that he had been cooking in Heilongjiang Province for a few years and his cooking skills were pretty good, so he went there in person.

In recent years, Liu Jiahua's life has not been easy. He has no job and has to take his wife to work in the village. Both of them are outsiders and can't earn many work points, so they have always lived a tight life.

As soon as he heard that Lu Shi was recruiting people, he came over immediately.

Lu Shi tested Liu Jiahua's cooking skills and found them to be quite good, so he asked him to start working.

With a chef in the restaurant, Lu Shi only had to collect money at the cash register every day, and his job became a lot easier.

In order to diversify the meal, Lu Shi also prepared his previous noodles, braised meat, and cold dishes.

Gradually, the business in the restaurant became better and better. However, a new problem arose: there was not enough staff.

Lu Shi thought that he needed to hire a kitchen helper and a waiter.

Now, a large number of educated youth have returned to the city, and there are many unemployed people. Therefore, as soon as Lu Shi posted the recruitment information, people came for interviews.

The person who came for the interview was a girl named Xiaomu who had just returned from the countryside. She was not tall, her skin was a little tanned, and she had neat short hair, giving people a very capable feeling.

Lu Shi had a good first impression of her, so he kept her as a waitress.

The kitchen helper is a neighbor introduced by Aunt Wang, who washes the dishes. She is also an aunt in her fifties.

The room in the courtyard is now Xiaomu's residence. Her home is quite far away, and it is inconvenient for her to commute to get off work every day, so Lu Shi let her live here.

Xiaomu is a grateful person. In order to thank Lu Shi for letting her stay, she works very hard every day and is very active. Everyone thinks she is a good girl.

The weather was getting hotter, and even though Lu Shi installed a ceiling fan in the restaurant, it couldn't block the high temperature in the kitchen.

The people working in the kitchen were sweating profusely every day. Seeing how hard they worked, Lu Shi gave everyone a raise.

Lu Shi and Liu Jiahua, two grown men, are even more afraid of heat, so they would take a shower in the backyard whenever they have free time.

On this day, the sun was high in the sky, as if it was going to scorch the earth. Lu Shi was tortured by the hot weather and could not bear it any more, so he decided to go to the backyard to wash his face, hoping to bring himself a little coolness.

He hurried to the pool, bent down, scooped up the cool water with his hands, splashed it on his face, and felt the momentary coolness.

After washing his face, Lu Shi felt very uncomfortable with the sweat on his body, so he took off his shirt. He soaked the shirt in water and rubbed it gently, trying to remove the stains and sweat smell on it.

Then, he picked up the washed shirt and hung it on the clothesline beside him. After doing this, Lu Shi did not stay for long. He turned around and left the backyard to continue doing other things.

However, he didn't realize that a small accident was about to happen...

After Lu Shi hung up the clothes, he forgot about it until Zhang Weifang was washing his clothes and found that one piece of clothing was missing.

When the weather is hot, Lu Shi usually changes his clothes every day, and the same goes for Zhang Weifang. She will wash both of their clothes after taking a shower every day.

Just then, Zhang Weifang found out after two days of washing clothes that Lu Shi’s white T-shirt was missing. She bought this shirt in the system mall. It was the same parent-child outfit for the family of three. It was made of ice silk and was very comfortable to wear.

Zhang Weifang couldn't find Lu Shi's clothes, so she casually asked:

"Where's your white short-sleeved shirt? Why can't you find it?"

Lu Shi slapped his head and suddenly remembered that he had hung the clothes in the backyard of the hotel, and it had been hanging there for two days, and he forgot to take them back.