"Both sides sing, and the beginning and end of the song... are all about lack, for joy, that is, the beginning and the end are all about the same word."
"The Lantern Festival is coming soon... The big characters represent one person, and when you see a child, it's light!" some smart people whispered while queuing.
The people around pricked up their ears to listen carefully.
The man quickly covered his mouth and only thought in his mind.
Two bamboo strips hanging down...that's two.
The sun's shadow is horizontal... two suns are horizontal... it's coming!
Yes, adding a piece of bamboo, it happens to be the character "Lin".
Welcome...come, welcome!
The person who guessed correctly felt very relieved and thought that the riddle of "Jufu Restaurant" was interesting. It was not only about giving people a bargain, but also about welcoming guests.
Some others had guessed it, and with smiles on their faces, they bowed to the shopkeeper as soon as they entered the door and said, "Congratulations on the reopening of Jufu Restaurant!"
"That's right, that's right, congratulations, may wealth and prosperity come to you!"
The money-grubber only needs to tell the answer to the riddle to the shopkeeper. No one is stupid enough to tell the riddle to others.
The waiter just said that only the first ten people who guessed correctly can get this advantage. If I tell others, what if I can't take advantage of it?
At most, some people would think about telling their close friends tomorrow, and then line up early in the morning to take advantage of this deal.
Those who guessed the riddle correctly no longer cared about the free fun in the waiting area. The main thing was that as soon as they entered the door, the rich, fresh, spicy aroma of Jufu Restaurant made their stomachs rumble uncontrollably.
As the sun rises higher, it is time to eat. Being able to eat early and at only 20% of the price is pretty good.
Those who were crowded in the front soon filled up the kang room. Someone guessed the riddle and was counting the people in the front, and was a little dissatisfied when he saw this.
"Only ten tables of guests have passed by. Don't you have twelve kang rooms?"
Zhang Sanzhuang explained with a smile, "A diner up front reminded us that we weren't very hospitable up front, so we're leaving two kang rooms in the back empty for the host. One room will only accommodate guests agreed upon in advance by the host and our host, and the other will be reserved for guests in urgent need. The highest bidder gets it. Our restaurant values our diners the most, so we've adopted this suggestion, and the host is also happy with it."
Everyone: "..." Of course your boss thinks it's a good idea. The highest bidder wins, and you make all the money, right?
Some people were secretly cursing the diner in front of them for eating too many vegetables. Wasn’t he just being idle?
Miao Wan, who was stuffing silver coins into the servants under Bayin's command, sneezed.
She rubbed her nose and turned to ask Geng, "Is Taotao missing me? Mom, please wait a minute, let's finish this quickly and go back. He might wake up soon."
Geng looked at the content on the wooden sign and thought, are you sure it’s not Yu Maoyaner scolding you?
Miao Wan directed those shy northern Mongolian men to transport the signs they had made to the entrance of Washifang.
"As soon as it gets dark, put up the Lijia. Make sure it's strong and the torch is big enough so people can see it from a distance.
Please! I'll have someone bring you some wine and meat later. Please also be sure to tell Mr. Wuliangha that we sincerely welcome him to our restaurant and have reserved a VIP bed for him."
Geng: “…” What the hell is a VIP kang?
It doesn't sound like a place decent people would go. Can't it be called a private room?
Miao Wan had no idea of the countless complaints in her mother-in-law's mind. After they made all the arrangements, Miao Wan happily took her mother-in-law's arm and got on the mule cart to go home and breastfeed her baby!
Inside Jufu Restaurant——
"It seems that you value diners just to make them spend more money?" Someone complained dissatisfiedly. Anyway, no matter what they did, they could never please all the diners.
Zhang Sanzhuang pointed to the three painted walls in the lobby and said, "If any guests are dissatisfied, please feel free to leave your comments on the wall. When the owner arrives, we will definitely make improvements if they make sense, so that we can serve our guests better in the future."
Some people turned their heads to look at the wall, where someone had left a message: "Not bad, not bad, it tastes great."
Everyone: "..." Did you write this by yourselves?
However, the smell in the restaurant really makes people want to order food, it is so delicious.
Some people don’t care whether they can go to the kang room or not. The weather is not that cold anymore, so if there is no kang room, they can just sleep in the lobby.
In fact, the first thing they noticed when they entered the door was the triangular wooden signs arranged in an arc in front of the counter.
The rectangular wooden sign was black, with the day's menu written on it in colorful pens.
The main dishes are spring barbecue and bursting milk tea, followed by mapo tofu and yogurt. The original dishes of Jufu Restaurant are also listed on the blackboard.
All dishes are followed by prices, and the prices are followed by copper coins or ingots.
The characters are mainly yellow, with the remaining four colors used to outline them. When people look at them, although the characters are ugly and lack style, they are clear at a glance and extremely conspicuous.
The waiter greeted the customer and went to the counter. "Customers can place their orders at the counter. After paying, we will give them number plates. The waiters will serve the dishes according to the plates. It will be at least twice as fast as before. Please come this way."
This way, the waiters don't have to keep an eye on the customers, collect money, or worry about people eating and dashing. This saves the waiters a lot of energy and they can focus more on providing service to the diners.
As for the guests in the kang room in the backyard, although it was not as lively as in the lobby, they felt a greater change.
Although the waiters' faces had changed, there were still three of them.
Some old diners knew that with so many people today, they would have to wait a long time before they could eat, so they stared outside eagerly, hoping that their meal would be served as quickly as possible.
But they didn't expect to be able to eat it right away.
Who would have thought that as soon as the person entered the kang room and sat on the kang, Axun didn't have to wash the dishes, but immediately served the guest a hot towel.
Including three waiters, there were four people in total, and we worked very fast.
The guests washed their hands and faces with scented cotton towels, sat comfortably on the kang, and a tray with a list of dishes was brought to them.
"Guest, please feel free to order whatever you want. If we can't deliver the food within a cup of tea, you don't have to pay for today."
The guest was a little surprised. "A cup of tea? Are you sure?"
The longest time I waited in the past was half an hour.
The waiter smiled and pointed outside, "We have a chef cooking in the courtyard. Customers can go out and watch him cook. They can eat without worry. We will ensure that the food is ready within a cup of tea."
Barbecue doesn’t require much skill. You just need to prepare the ingredients into a state that can be put on the baking sheet. They don’t need to be cooked through, so how can it not be fast?
Miao Wan asked Sun Laohuo and learned that Yi'en's three apprentices were actually quite skilled, but they had not been with Sun Laohuo for long enough to become masters, so according to the rules, the recipe could not be given to them.
Miao Wan then asked Sun Laohuo to prepare the sauce in advance and move one-third of the ingredients to the backyard.
Sun Laohuo and one of his apprentices were busy in the kitchen, while two of his apprentices who were good at knife skills were cooking in the backyard to save the waiters from having to serve the dishes on the porch.
The guests flipped over their names, and the waiter came out to tell them. The two apprentices quickly prepared the ingredients, and asked the waiter to bring a stove with lit charcoal and an iron grate into the room to serve the guests and explain how to cook.
The only thing that needs to be replaced during the process is the iron grate, which can be replaced with a pair of pliers.
Soak the replaced iron grate in soapy water, rinse it clean with well water, and then blanch it in hot water before using it again, saving a lot of bowls and plates.
The guests were stunned and couldn't help asking, "What if we don't know how to bake it and it gets ruined?"
The waiter pointed to the two apprentices in charge of the cooking and said, "If you don't want to cook it yourself, just ask our chef to do it. It only costs ten cents, and the chef can help you with the whole process."
Guest: “…”Okay, that’s very thoughtful.
But with that dime, can't I just order some more food and bake it myself?
They say they don't know how to do it, but they just put the meat on the plate, roast it, dip it in sauce, and eat it with bread or vegetables. As long as they have hands, most people can do it.
As a result, the guests discovered that the food was served very quickly, almost within a few moments of ordering.
It feels fresh, watching the clean ingredients being grilled in front of you, with the rich aroma of the sauce, you don't even need chopsticks, you can just wrap it with vegetables or bread and eat it, the taste is no worse than barbecue.
As a result, many guests came out after their meals almost twice as fast as before, and the guests waiting in line for the kang room soon got their turn.
Of course, not all guests who choose to queue up do so for the kang room.
When there were still empty tables in the lobby, many guests would go straight to the waiting area behind the screen to watch what was going on.
As they walked around the screen, someone exclaimed, "Wow, this kang is interestingly designed, it's in the shape of a Chinese character '回'."
In order to accommodate more people and take advantage of the kang's characteristic of being warm in winter and cool in summer, Miao Wan asked her uncle Lin to think of a way to hollow out a part of the kang in the middle, just like in a kang house.
In this way, people can only sit on three sides, so we can just build two rows of narrow kangs and leave an aisle in the middle for people to walk.
The kang is a continuous floor with squares dug out at arm's length intervals to form an open Chinese character "回" (Chinese character for "U"). This means that people can sit on all six sides, allowing more people to queue up leisurely.
On the high-legged kang table, there are food versions of Huarongdao and Diedenggao.
Huarong Road only requires a simple wooden plate with a hollowed-out center to hold five rectangular wooden blocks and five square wooden blocks, one large and four small.
The other wooden blocks were marked with the word "roadblock", and only the large block was marked with ingredients such as pigs, sheep, and chickens, which were blocked at the top and the exit was at the bottom.
The new waiter was clever. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Each block of wood has different ingredients on it. Customers can choose their favorite ingredients to play with. If a pig escapes, the restaurant will give the customer a freshly prepared barbecue. If a sheep escapes, we'll provide you with a full plate of lamb skewers. If a chicken escapes, we'll give you a free roast chicken made with Chef Sun's secret recipe."
The restaurant was filled with delicious aroma. The diners were reluctant to finish their meals even though their stomachs were rumbling. This thing was really too novel.
Some people were impatient and had already started, but no matter how they moved the wooden block, they were blocked and couldn't get out.
"Could it be that we can't get out?" someone asked doubtfully.
The waiter took the Huarong Dao, which had not been touched, and under the eyes of the customers, he moved it for a while according to the method taught by Miao Wan and successfully rescued the pig.
"Our boss has already tried it. A clever person was able to rescue the food in just dozens or even hundreds of steps. I heard that he was the top scholar selected by the previous emperor!"
Qiao Shengwen solved it in just 103 steps. If Miao Wan didn't know the solution, she wouldn't be able to get out even after hundreds of steps. If she doesn't use her father-in-law's title of top scholar now, when will she wait?
A scholar, his eyes gleaming, pushed his way to the front and said, "Is this really something the number one scholar used? Then let me try it, let me try it!"
There were ten Huarong Roads in total, and all of them were robbed.
Some people couldn't grab it, so they turned to the stacking machine next to them and asked, "What is this? How do you play it?"
Diedegao is also called Jiejiegao. Miao Wan remembers that it has existed for a long time. It seems to be a Huangchangtichou wooden model from the ancient Han Dynasty.
It is said that it was originally played with bamboo strips, hence the auspicious name.
But there is basically no bamboo in the northwest, so she asked the Yu family to make long building blocks.
The waiter explained: "This is called rising step by step, and several diners can play it together. Just build a high tower with these wooden blocks, and when it is stable, pull out the wooden strips one by one.
There are fifty-four wooden planks in total. If you can remove twenty of them without them collapsing, you can get a twenty percent discount on the bill. If you can remove thirty of them without them collapsing, you can get a free meal. Just like outside, this is limited to the first ten customers."
After the waiter explained it clearly, many people became interested.
When people go out to eat in a restaurant, they usually go with friends and family. A few of them take a set of dishes, sit on the kang and start playing, without even caring about eating.
Of course, it was also because both the lobby and the kang room were full of guests.
In the waiting area, not only can you play games, but Ah Cheng also has a box of freshly made strange-smelling bean snacks hanging on his chest, and he puts a plate of snacks on the table for the guests from time to time.
The crunchy and fragrant strange-flavored beans are put into your mouth, and the different flavors always bring different surprises.
Some guests even stood on the ground and watched others play, eating the strange-tasting beans in their hands. They watched with great interest, and even when they sat down at the table to eat, they felt a sense of reluctance.
Of course, there are also those who are anxious.
Sometimes I haven’t eaten crystal agate meat for three days. I can’t taste such delicious dishes in other restaurants. I miss the taste even in my dreams.
Then I asked, "No more? Why no more? I came here specifically for the crystal agate meat, and I just want to try it. How do you do business?"
The waiter was not at a loss and immediately replied, "I'm really sorry, but we have a featured dish every day, and today's barbecue is especially delicious. Would you like to try it? If you have a favorite dish, you can order it half a day in advance, or you can order it and we'll send it to your door. We'll also make an apology for not notifying you in advance. These are all delicious things that are unique to us."
The main dishes are all prepared the day before, and the kitchen can serve the dishes quickly, which can reduce the time customers spend waiting in line. This is an idea that Miao Wan came up with after brainstorming.
If there are customers who like the dish that was prepared before, we will send someone to place an order in advance, otherwise we will have to wait until this dish is promoted.
As for the main dishes for the second day, they will be written on the small blackboard at the door in advance, which shows that every aspect has been taken into consideration.
Even if the customer is dissatisfied, he or she will generally accept the unique apology as long as he or she is not deliberately looking for trouble.
Jufu Restaurant became bustling from the morning, with diners coming in and out in an endless stream. Some people even didn't want to leave after their meal and stayed in the waiting area to watch people play games.
Snacks were eaten from time to time, which made the fun continue until the end of the afternoon.
The eyes of other shop owners who had been keeping an eye on Jufu Restaurant became red with envy, especially at night, when the business of Jufu Restaurant seemed to be even more prosperous, as if all the merchants had gathered here.
Normally, the restaurants and shops along half the street would have closed for business after 3:00 PM, and at most some traveling merchants who lived nearby would come to eat there at night.
Now everyone has gone to Ju Fu Restaurant, and the other shops seem to be a little deserted.
Fortunately, Zhang Sanzhuang is no longer arrogant. He remembers the strategy of being a versatile shopkeeper and asks the waiter to recommend other restaurants' signature dishes to the customers.
There was a constant flow of work coming out of the Ju Fu Restaurant, and people were going to various shops to buy things, just like in the past.
There are customers who don’t like the hustle and bustle. I heard that they can order takeout, so some people go to other shops and ask Ju Fu Restaurant to deliver the food.
So when Ju Fu Restaurant was at its busiest, business at other restaurants was also pretty good, except for the Tiao Street Restaurant, which had no customers at all in the evening.
Yu Maocai's face turned pale. "You guys can't do anything right. What's going on now? Even if his business is booming, he can't attract a single customer. Where are his regular customers? Where have they gone?"
The waiter was also puzzled. "I was waiting outside the door just now. I saw Mr. Li, who only came to our restaurant to eat, walk away without even glancing at us. He didn't go to Jufu Restaurant, but went to the roast goose shop next door."
Yu Maocai felt something was wrong and glared at the two servants with sad faces and droopy heads. "What are you still standing here for? Why don't you go and check what's going on?"
The two servants did not dare to offend their employer, so they ran out quickly and came back after a while.
"Boss! Boss, please go and take a look, Tile Market...Tile Market Square..." The two of them ran out of breath.
Yu Maocai found it difficult to listen, so he kicked the person away and went to see for himself with a lantern in hand.
At the entrance to the street in Washifang, there is a wooden sign that is deeply hammered into the ground and stands upright. There are two torches on the top, which is very eye-catching.
When he got closer and took a look, Yu Maocai was so angry that he almost exploded.
The signature dishes of the restaurants on the street were painted on the board with pictures and text. Yu Maocai tried to wipe it off but it wouldn't come off. He got close and smelled it and realized it was dye.
Why are you in such a hurry to wipe it?
The above lists in great detail the inferior raw materials and even spoiled ingredients used in the signature dishes of the street restaurant.
Although most of them cannot be tasted after being steamed, stir-fried or fried, you can still taste some strangeness if you taste it carefully.
As for what was different, it was written in great detail, classified into different categories.
Could you be more detailed?
Sun Laohuo discovered all of this by tasting it bit by bit. When he learned that Chang Ze would sell inferior goods as good ones, or even use spoiled ingredients to cook for customers as soon as the weather got warmer, Sun Laohuo went straight to Yu Maocai to talk about it.
Later, Yu Maocai tried to evade the issue and changed the subject.
From then on, Sun Laohuo wanted to leave the restaurant on Tiaojie Street. If it weren't for supporting Sun Yaozu's studies, he would have quit long ago.
That's why he left so happily when he learned that the Qiao and Zhang families were willing to use him.
Diners who come here to eat will definitely see the torch as long as they want to walk to the restaurant on the street. People are curious and will definitely come to take a look.
At this glance, eight out of ten people who have been to the restaurant on the street would be able to identify the name. It would be kind of them not to go to the restaurant to cause trouble.
As for the remaining two who have never been to the restaurant on the street... well, even if you don't believe it, it is imported food after all. There are so many restaurants, why do you have to go to a place that others say has problems?
Do you think your life is too long?
Yu Mao was so angry that he kicked it hard, but the wooden sign was too stable and he kicked himself down instead, lying on his back like a turtle that couldn't turn over.
The servants who came over hurried forward to help.
Yu Maocai got up and rushed to the Jufu Restaurant, "Sun Laohuo! I'm going to fight you!"
The restaurants on this street are having a hard time, so don’t even think about doing well at Ju Fu Restaurant!
"Go! Go get me a bucket of feces and throw it at the Jufu Restaurant!"
Chang Ze hurried over to stop him, "Boss, stop it! Boss, calm down! If you come here to make trouble, won't others be sure that what he said is true? They can still continue to operate if they change shops, but our restaurant can only move to the county town if we want to change!"
Xining Town is so small that if its reputation is ruined, it will definitely not be able to survive.
If we lose a thousand of our own men, we can injure eight hundred of the enemy. Considering the current relationship between the two families, this is not impossible.
But if Yu Maocai rushed over now, it would be like he was powerless and furious, and it would have no effect at all.
Since they dared to do such a thing, it is impossible that they were not prepared. When they arranged for someone to do bad things in the morning, the man who did it was from Northern Mongolia.
I heard that the owner of Jufu Restaurant is the Wuliangha clan, and they can't afford to offend them.
Yu Maocai was breathing heavily and understood this truth. Ever since he encountered Zhang Sanzhuang's family doing business, everything has been going wrong for him.
When Yu Maocai thought about the recent decline of restaurants on the street due to the popularity of Ju Fu Restaurant, he fell back.
"I'm in conflict with the Zhang family! I can't swallow this!"
Before fainting, Yu Maocai was still thinking that if things really didn't work out, he would sell the restaurant and move to the county town.
But before leaving, you must not spare Ju Fu Restaurant!
Soon after, the night deepened and the street gradually became quiet.
Just when everyone in the Jufu Restaurant, from the owner to the servants, was so tired that they lay down on the table and even lacked the energy to clean, someone was laughing loudly in the luxurious tent across the wall.
"Brother Muren, your wife is also very resourceful. You two are really a couple, hahahaha..."
This kind of revealing act, which uses visual deviation in front of people's doors to prevent people in restaurants on the street from noticing it for a while, but makes sure that no one will miss it, is comparable to the method of pretending to be rich and asking people to cause trouble secretly, which is acceptable.
If Miao Wan were here, she would definitely tell him that the advanced way to fight a business war is not to do it yourself, but to seize the opponent's weaknesses in one fell swoop, watch the fire from the other side, and watch his tall building collapse.
If you are still not satisfied, then add insult to injury and leave him no chance to fight back.
However, Miao Wan is not cruel enough, or she has not had time to do this, so Qiao Ruichen will of course help her think of this.
Qiao Ruichen, who had ridden back overnight, smiled and said, "A caged beast is more likely to hurt people. Brother Lao Bayin will have to send people to keep a close eye on the Yu family. If the time is right and we can buy the Yu family restaurant at the lowest price, our Qiao family is willing to take over, but we will still give Wuliangha a share."
Bayin looked at Qiao Ruichen as if jokingly, "Brother Muren, if you let me deal with those two traitorous servants, aren't you afraid that I might ask you something I shouldn't ask?"
Qiao Ruichen smiled frankly, "Given my friendship with Brother Agula, since we are going to cooperate with Wuliangha, we will naturally be honest with each other. There is nothing to hide."
"But someone under me made milk tofu without using the yeast powder you gave me. What do you think?" Bayin said directly, his expression much more serious.
Qiao Ruichen thought that this was happening much faster than he had expected.
But he wasn't nervous at all, and said in a light voice, "If it weren't for the yeast powder I gave you, could you really make milk tofu and save tens of thousands of kilograms of food by the beginning of spring?"
Bayin didn't say anything, but he was not ungrateful for this.
But he vaguely knew Qiao Ruichen's purpose. He and his elder brother were hesitant about whether what Qiao Ruichen gave them was worth Wuliangha's all to fight against the sky in the northwest.
Over the years, the brothers have not found any conclusive evidence to prove that their Abu and Eji were killed by Chen Sixu.
Qiao Ruichen stood up, pounded his shoulders, and looked at Bayin meaningfully, "There are many things that you don't have to worry about, Brother Bayin. You will find that the Qiao family can give you what the Chen family can never give you.
As for what Brother Agula is investigating, I will give you an answer soon when General Chen returns. I'll take my leave now. I'll leave the restaurant to Brother Bayin."
Seeing that he seemed to be going back to Xiping County immediately, Bayin stood up to see him off, "Aren't you going home to see your wife? My people reported that she has been making a lot of trouble these past few days. I wanted to ask my sister-in-law where she got so many tricks, hahaha..."
Qiao Ruichen subconsciously glanced in the direction of the Qiao family, his eyes becoming much gentler.
He glanced at the dried blood on his body and smiled faintly, "We're still three hundred enemy leaders short. General Dingbei will be back soon. When I'm promoted to captain, my wife and I will have the opportunity to host a banquet for Brother Bayin."
The author has something to say:
The person who guessed the riddle: Hurry up, go line up early tomorrow, I guessed it.
People who queued up in the middle of the night found out at dawn: Damn, why did the riddle change?
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