Chapter 79: Imitation of the 1:0.9 replica stall
Amid the crowd's responses, Zhang Wenxin drank half a glass of white wine in one breath.
"Ni'er, you're so generous. Have another drink." Hu Laosan cheered loudly and grabbed the bottle to pour her another one.
In front of everyone, Wen Wanbai couldn't directly embarrass him, so she secretly pinched the flesh on his arm.
However, the thick-skinned Hu Laosan just thought it was a tickle and smiled at her foolishly.
"Okay, another glass." Zhang Wenxin tried hard to open his heavy eyelids and handed the glass forward, "Uncle, how come you have become two?"
After saying that, she sat down on the ground with her head resting on Yu Zhile's legs, making a humming sound.
"You get drunk after just one glass. You didn't inherit my drinking capacity." Father Zhang laughed.
The next second, Wen Rou and the old branch secretary slapped him on the head.
"Is there any father like you?" they said in unison.
Dad Zhang bent over and held his head, but did not forget to order a big chicken leg from Yu Haiguang.
"You are so shameless." Wen Rou twisted his ear.
This little episode made everyone laugh.
After a while, the girls chattered and asked Hu Lan to tell her love story in Xiangxi.
Hu Lan tried to evade the question but failed, so she tried to change the subject: "What's so interesting about my story? Why don't we let Xiao Sheng perform for us?"
"Okay." Sheng Lanyue took up the topic she raised generously.
He was a good dancer and had a good voice, so he sang a song that the troupe had specially written for the ballet "The Red Detachment of Women" for everyone.
“Dry your tears, light a big fire, and burn down the old society.”[1]
“Forward! Forward! The women soldiers carry guns for the people!”[2]
The moment he opened his mouth, everyone fell silent.
The passionate and powerful voice was very contagious, making everyone intoxicated by it, and some people even burst into tears after listening to it.
When he finished speaking, the only response he got was the whistling sea breeze.
"You sing so beautifully." Yu Zhile was the first person to applaud.
Then, the warm applause lasted for a long time, like the waves in the distance.
In the dim firelight, Sheng Lanyue had a smile on his face. His half-long hair was blown into a mess, but no one could take their eyes off him.
Many years later, many people still recalled this scene when they saw his photo in the newspaper.
At that moment, Hu Lan did not escape the girls' questioning.
Hu Shuang was bold and had a good relationship with her, so he started to make trouble.
Grandma Zhang watched everyone laughing and playing with a smile.
As time passed, the fire gradually became smaller and before we knew it, it was already late at night.
The girls left with the Zhang family, humming the song sung by Sheng Lanyue.
Yu Zhile and Yu Peilan helped Zhang Wenxin back to the house. Hu Shuang and others lived in the west room, and the men slept on temporary wooden beds in the yard.
Yu Haiguang picked up the sleeping Yu Chi, walked into the east room, and put him next to Yu Wanqin.
In the moonlight, he leaned over to tidy up her messy hair and whispered, "Good night, dream about us tonight too."
The last candle in the courtyard went out, and everyone slowly fell asleep.
Hu Laosan's snoring and the chirping of cicadas rose and fell, and the moonlight gradually became dim.
As the day dawned, the cries of lambs woke everyone up one after another.
After a simple wash, Yu Zhile and others sat and chatted, while Yu Haiguang and Zhou Yuesheng were busy in the kitchen.
After eating the warm rice porridge, everyone showed satisfied expressions.
After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye again. Yu Peilan looked back every few steps, feeling very reluctant to leave.
"I'm going to Beijing to participate in an exchange activity in July, so I won't be in the provincial capital." Sheng Lanyue took a small box from the back seat of the car and handed it to Yu Zhile, "I wish you a happy birthday in advance. Stay happy."
"Okay, good job." Yu Zhile replied with a smile.
Sheng Lanyue suddenly opened his arms and lightly wrapped them around her shoulders, saying softly, "I wish you good luck."
As he turned around, his eyes quickly swept over Zhou Yuesheng.
Zhou Yuesheng looked at his back and his eyes darkened.
"Sheng Lanyue is so thoughtful. She even prepared a birthday present for me in advance." Zhang Wenxin bumped Yu Zhile's shoulder with a wicked smile.
Chen Zhao was drunk last night and his mind was still slow. He didn't pay any attention to the eye contact between Zhou Yuesheng and Sheng Lanyue.
"Brother-in-law, why didn't you prepare a gift for my sister?" he asked stupidly.
As soon as this name was uttered, the atmosphere became subtle.
Yu Zhile glanced at Zhou Yuesheng, turned around, tapped Chen Zhao on the head, and walked into the yard.
Zhang Wen walked past Chen Zhao, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Don't drink anymore. I'm really afraid that you'll drink yourself into a fool."
"What do you mean?" Chen Zhao's mind suddenly became clear and he quickly started to argue.
Zhou Yuesheng recalled the information he had found before and found that Yu Zhile’s birthday was July 7th.
July 7th, Qiqi, this is also the origin of their unique name.
Thinking of this, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.
On the other side, Yu Zhile took the box back into the house and put it away, then went out to interrupt the bickering between Zhang Wenxin and Chen Zhao.
Afterwards, she discussed the staffing issue for the food stall with Zhang Wenxin.
"Haizhu has a good memory, and he quickly became good friends with Xiaoshuang and Yuanyuan. He can take over the job of cooking in the future."
"Hai Lan is meticulous but quiet. She is patient enough to learn new things, so she is quite suitable to be an apprentice in a state-owned restaurant."
Zhang Wenxin shared her observations.
When preparing food yesterday, she paid special attention to the two sisters and found that their styles of doing things were quite different.
Yu Zhile nodded in agreement with her and added: "Mengjun's personality is also suitable for being an apprentice. Next time we set up the stall, let Ling'er and Xiaoju do the delivery together."
Zhang Wenxin nodded in agreement.
Afterwards, the two arranged suitable positions for their friends regarding their subsequent side business development plans.
They expect to hand over the food stall in full in September and start preparations for kelp farming.
After finishing the business talk, Zhang Wenxin leaned back in his chair, stretched vigorously, and sighed: "It's great to have a fulfilling and hopeful life."
"Isn't life great with me around?" Yu Zhile joked.
Zhang Wenxin smiled and said, "Days like this are brought about by you, and the meaning is the same."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
At noon, Zhang Wenxin notified relevant personnel of the job change.
Yu Mengjun, Zhang Ling and Ge Xiaoju cried with joy when they heard the news.
Zhang Haizhu, who is about to be trained in cooking skills, is also very happy. Only Zhang Hailan feels a little disappointed.
If she was successfully selected as an apprentice in a state-owned restaurant, she would be considered half a city dweller, but she felt depressed.
"I, I don't want to take the apprenticeship exam." Zhang Hailan whispered.
Zhang Wenxin held her shoulders with both hands and said, "Hai Lan, our sideline group will not just stay at the food stalls in the market. You can go and learn cooking. When our cannery opens, there will always be a place for you if you want to come back."
"Really?" Zhang Hailan bit her lip.
Zhang Wenxin looked at her and nodded seriously.
Zhang Hailan thought for a while and agreed to take part in the apprenticeship interview two days later.
The next day, all members of the sideline group went into rest mode.
When it was getting dark, the fishing team in the village returned, and Yu Zhile led the people from the sideline group to pick fresh seafood.
The seafood from the same season was pretty much the same, but this time they picked up half a bucket of each.
At four o'clock in the morning, six people from the sideline group gathered at Yu's house.
Including Zhang Hailan and Yu Mengjun who were going for an interview, the nine people made a total of ten kilograms of rice noodles.
At five o'clock, when it was light, a group of people walked towards the city.
When he arrived at the stall, Yu Zhile discovered that the straw weaving stall on the south side had been turned into a food stall.
In addition to Xu Yu, there were two other people at the stall, one of whom was an old acquaintance of hers.
The other party's stove was exactly the same style as theirs; even the patterns on the seasoning bottles in the middle of the square table were exactly the same.
There was also a sign in front of Taohua Village’s stall, and the text layout was copied from theirs.
[Breakfast - seafood rice noodles 20 cents a bowl, lunch - braised short rib rice noodles 30 cents a bowl, note: add 5 cents to add two meat and one vegetable side dishes, delivery service is available.]
"They are all the same as ours. They are going too far!" Zhang Wenxin was very angry and wanted to step forward to argue.
Yu Zhile stopped her: "It's okay, we just need to do our own thing."
At this time, Zhang Haimei and a few others looked worried. The amount of rice noodles they made today was twice as much as last time, and they were worried that they wouldn't be able to sell them all.
"Everyone cheer up, we need to welcome our guests in the best spirits." Yu Zhile clapped his hands.
Zhang Wenxin took the lead and pulled the corners of his mouth, smiling reluctantly.
The others smiled uglier than each other.
Yu Zhile asked: "Don't you believe me?"
"Yes." Everyone answered decisively in unison.
Yu Zhile smiled and said, "That's fine. Leave everything to me. Today we will sell out all the rice noodles and rice vermicelli like we did last time."
Her voice was not loud, but it injected a powerful force into everyone.
Soon, everyone returned to normal and performed their tasks efficiently.
"Haimei, please send Hailan and Mengjun to the state-owned restaurant, and help me borrow some things from Brother Hu San." Yu Zhile looked at Zhang Haimei.
Then she whispered in my ear what she wanted to borrow.
"Okay, I'll be back soon." Zhang Haimei repeated to herself several times.
When the three men left, the sideline business groups from each village had already gathered together, and three or two people in blue work clothes walked in.
All the food stalls began to shout loudly, and long-drawn tunes floated over the sky above the market.
The three people from Taohua Village looked at each other.
Xiao Li crossed his arms, looking superior, with no intention of shouting at all.
In the past, in state-owned restaurants, there was no need to do such things, and there were plenty of customers.
However, Xu Yu considered himself an intellectual and could not bring himself to do something that would embarrass him.
"I'll shout, but I want more money then." The stranger gritted his teeth and began to bargain with Xu Yu.
He is also an educated youth from Taohua Village. His ideas are the same as Xu Yu's, and he has the nobleness of a scholar in his bones.
If something hadn't happened at home and no one had sent him money, he would never have done cooking.
"Okay." Xu Yu agreed readily.
Jia Fang took a deep breath and said loudly, "Breakfast seafood rice noodles are 20 cents a bowl, and lunch at the state-owned restaurant is 30 cents a bowl. The breakfast stall in Taohua Village is good and cheap, come and try it!"
Zhang Haimei heard the shouting, looked back, and remembered the big mole on Xiao Li's neck.
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