Zhou Chengning brought a few teachers over and asked them to choose the dishes they wanted to eat. He then went into the kitchen and said, "Juan, I'm bringing my colleagues over for lunch. I'll treat you for lunch and I'll give you the money when I get home in the evening."
The restaurant opened today and several teachers wanted to come and show their support. Zhou Chengning said he would treat them, but they all refused. He insisted, saying that they had to treat them for the first meal, after all, the teachers usually took good care of him.
Both parents were outside. Xu Xiangjuan was eating in the kitchen. There weren't many customers yet, so she ate first so she could get busy later. "Are those three teachers? Go out and entertain your colleagues first. I'm almost done with dinner."
She was very happy that her daughter Aning had good friends with her teachers at school, so she would definitely treat her well when she came to dinner.
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, don't eat too fast, take your time."
He plans to make spicy hot pot himself. He knows how to cook it. My love, eat well. Health is important.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Well, my parents are entertaining guests outside. I'll call them in for lunch. You can eat with your colleagues."
We don’t eat together at home now. The food is kept warm in the steamer. For example, now, after she finishes eating, her parents can go and eat.
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, is there enough rice or steamed buns for lunch? Four people."
He felt that rice and steamed buns were the best way to satisfy his hunger, and the four of them all had large appetites.
"enough."
"What is Niu Niu enough for?" Zhou Chengning finally found the little transparent Niu Niu in the corner.
What was just said was Niu Niu.
Xu Xiangjuan: "We've run out of steamed buns, but we've got a pot of rice. It's enough, don't worry."
The steamed buns were sold out in the morning, but she steamed a big pot of rice because rice is also being sold now.
Zhou Chengning: "Then I'll go out, Juan, take your time eating."
Xu Xiangjuan: "Go out, no need to eat slowly, I'm almost done."
"Dad!" Niu Niu called Zhou Chengning.
Although he felt that Little Bit was always mad at him, when Zhou Chengning heard Little Bit calling him, he immediately walked up to Niu Niu and asked, "What's wrong with Niu Niu?"
"Hug." Niu Niu opened his arms.
Since his lover didn't say no, Zhou Chengning picked up Niu Niu.
Niu Niu asked his father to take him out.
Zhou Chengning took him out and put him next to the counter. After Niu Niu was put down, he leaned against the counter and moved slowly.
"Dad, Mom, you guys go eat. I'm busy outside." Xu Xiangjuan came out after finishing her meal.
The only guests now are a few teachers brought by my son-in-law. There were more people during breakfast, but now there are not many people at all.
When they heard their daughter calling for dinner, they went in and wanted to take their grandson in, but the grandson refused to go.
Xu Xiangjuan sat at the counter and said, "Dad, Mom, Niu Niu just came out and wants to take a walk. You guys go in and eat. Don't worry about him. There aren't many customers right now."
Niu Niu was originally going to walk towards the food cabinet, but a few adults blocked his way by picking out vegetables, so he stood there waiting. When his mother came over, he turned around and walked towards where his mother was sitting.
The little guy stumbled over to her and only when he reached her did Xu Xiangjuan hold him up.
Mom was not eating, so Niu Niu talked to her.
Zhou Chengning chose a large basket for vegetarian dishes and a small basket for meat dishes.
Considering that a family might come over and want to eat one portion directly, the restaurant has large and small baskets. Even though it was a treat, Zhou Chengning still chose from two separate baskets. The prices of vegetarian and meat dishes are different.
Several teachers were quite reserved at first, but when they saw the rich variety of dishes, they forgot their restraints while picking dishes and asked each other if they knew what the dishes were.
Zhou Chengning knew and could help several teachers solve their problems.
After choosing the dishes, Zhou Chengning asked several teachers to sit down. He didn’t weigh the food and started cooking directly.
Xu Xiangjuan: "I'll go cook, you take care of Niu Niu outside and entertain a few teachers."
Zhou Chengning can cook spicy hot pot and blanch dishes by himself. He didn’t want to trouble his wife at noon, but his wife asked her to do it. In the end, he handed the dishes to his wife, picked up Niu Niu and sat in his seat.
Even though there were three unfamiliar uncles present, Niu Niu was not shy. After all, his father had fed him porridge not long ago, and the uncles were there when he was fed.
After teasing the child for a while, Zhou Chengning picked him up and said, "I'll go check if it's cooked. Teachers, please wait a moment."
Xu Xiangjuan was almost done cooking. "Aning, take this plate of shredded potatoes out. It was originally your lunch. You will eat it with a few teachers. Put it on the tray with the rice and take it away first."
"Okay, Juan." Zhou Chengning wanted to put Niu Niu in the chair, but Niu Niu refused, so he could only put Niu Niu on the ground first.
Niu Niu can't walk a few steps on the ground, so just leave him alone for now.
The rice is served in a small bowl with a small rice shovel, and the bowls are four normal-sized rice bowls stacked together, plus shredded potatoes, and placed on a tray.
Zhou Chengning put away the food, took the tray away, went to the kitchen and said, "The spicy hot pot is almost ready. Teachers, please serve your rice first. It's enough for the third or fourth bowl. It's such a big bowl of rice. The chopsticks are in the chopstick holder next to it. I'll go wait for the spicy hot pot first."
Teacher Zhou left, and Liu Liangzhi took the small rice shovel and said, "Let's start eating. No need to wait. It will be embarrassing if Teacher Zhou comes back and sees that we haven't started eating yet."
With him taking the lead, the other two teachers began to serve the rice and also helped Teacher Zhou to serve a bowl of rice.
To open a small restaurant, Xu Xiangjuan not only brought the original tableware, but also bought a lot of new bowls, plates and basins of various sizes. Zhou Chengning brought a large pot of spicy hot pot and ate the spicy hot pot directly without removing the tray.
"Mom." Niu Niu wanted to go outside and held her hand while calling her.
Xu Xiangjuan could understand what Niu Niu meant, so she simply took Niu Niu out. When Niu Niu came outside, there was no adult in the food cabinet, so he crawled under the cabinet. He was too short to reach the meat dishes on the bottom layer.
Niu Niu may have always had ideas about the food cabinet, but today he decided to touch it. Xu Xiangjuan let Niu Niu entertain himself while she went to add more dishes.
After all, it was the amount for four men, so there were fewer vegetables in the food cabinet. They just ate the meat dishes. After all, not many people ordered meat dishes usually, so there was no need to add more, as most of the dishes were vegetarian.
It just so happens that the washed vegetables left in the kitchen can be replenished.
Several teachers didn't say anything and were eating quietly.
When Xu Xiangjuan was preparing the dishes, a customer came over and asked for more sauerkraut rice noodles.
It costs ten cents to get more quantity, and Xu Xiangjuan picked up Niu Niu and went to the kitchen to steam the rice noodles.
Niu Niu felt that he was about to be touched, although it was just the child's illusion. When his mother picked him up, he cried out. After all, he could not be as tough in front of his mother as he was in front of his father, so he soon stopped struggling.
Zhou Chengning saw a guest coming, ate for a while, and then went into the kitchen when it was almost time.
Xu Xiangjuan didn't know how many times she had to say, "Eat well during meal time, don't worry about my work."
"Juan, it's okay, I'll take it to the customer." Zhou Chengning went out with the tray and came back with an empty tray after a while.
Niu Niu called daddy again and asked him to hold him. Xu Xiangjuan picked Niu Niu up and said, "Eat quickly, then go back to school. Don't worry about anything at home."
Xu Xiangjuan walked to the food cabinet with Niu Niu in her arms and tried to hold him with one hand. It was very strenuous but she managed to hold him. She then took out a small basket.
Niu Niu actually started to pick. He grabbed a little with his chubby hand and put it into the basket held by his mother's other hand.
Seeing this, Zhou Chengning stopped eating and went to hug Niu Niu.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Just eat, don't worry about it."
Her daughter Aning is really too worried and goes wherever there is work.
Don't let him do this again next time.
Zhou Chengning: "It's okay, wait until Niu Niu has chosen before eating, I'm already eating my second bowl."
It turned out that Niu Niu just wanted to pick the spicy hot pot. As long as Niu Niu touched it, Xu Xiangjuan put it into the small basket regardless of whether Niu Niu could catch it or not.
They had to pay attention to hygiene, so since the vegetables were destroyed by the cow, they put them into the basket.
After Niu Niu was satisfied with his selection, Xu Xiangjuan took the dishes to the kitchen, and Zhou Chengning put Niu Niu on a chair.
Since he had already picked out the ingredients for the spicy hot pot, Niu Niu was not in a hurry to go out and just sat back quietly.
Niu Niu just wanted to experience the feeling of picking vegetables and didn’t want to eat them, so he didn’t care when his mother put the vegetables in the corner.
The teachers finished their meal at 12:40, and it only took them a few minutes to walk back to school. Zhou Chengning wanted to stay, after all, the afternoon classes didn't start until 1:30, and he had complete free time during the lunch break, but he was driven away by his lover.
After sending them back to school, Xu Xiangjuan cleaned up the table and the dishes. It was still better now. No one wasted food and everyone finished everything.
...
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, it's Guagua who wants to come to the restaurant. She doesn't want to stay in the office, so I sent her over."
Xu Xiangjuan: "You still have classes, so I'll take you back to school as soon as I drop you off."
Xu Xiangjuan was sitting near the door and saw Zhou Chengning riding a bicycle with Guagua at a glance.
Guagua was put down from his bicycle and went in with his schoolbag to call his grandparents and Niu Niu. Zhou Chengning was unable to get off the bicycle. He supported himself with one foot and said aggrievedly, "Juan, I'm leaving now."
Xu Xiangjuan: "Hurry up and go, class is important."
After seeing her husband leave, Xu Xiangjuan told Guagua that she could come to the restaurant by herself after school. If her father didn't pick her up, it would only take a few minutes to walk back. Guagua would rather walk back by herself, so she readily agreed.
My daughter is almost five years old now. She often goes out to play, so it is not difficult for her to go back to the restaurant.
There were quite a lot of customers this morning, only a few came during lunch time, and no one came in the afternoon, so Xu Xiangjuan was still quite free.
Wu Caifeng didn't mention today's turnover to her daughter. Her main business was to clean the restaurant and prepare the ingredients.
My daughter said that there is no need to hoard vegetables now. As long as it doesn’t rain heavily, she can go out every day to buy them. There is not much work in the restaurant, so she can also go out to buy vegetables.
The town is called a town because it is a relatively prosperous village. As more and more people pass by, everyone is used to calling it a town. After Xu Gensheng had nothing to do, he liked to join in the fun here and there. Now he can sit still when he has work to do, and when he has no work to do, he can walk around nearby and see new things while strolling around.
Xu Xiangjuan doesn’t care where she goes. Guagua and Niu Niu also don’t care where they go as long as their parents are around.
Everyone has adapted fairly well. Xu Xiangjuan is not in a hurry to make money and has a good attitude.
If you don’t know, you might think that the whole family is sitting in a restaurant to enjoy their retirement.
When his sister came back, Niu Niu told her that he had picked vegetables today.
Of course, I can’t speak when picking vegetables, and I can’t speak today. But Niu Niu’s words sound like sister to Gua Gua, ah ah ah ah.
Gua Gua felt that his younger brother was asking for praise, so he praised his younger brother a few words and then asked his grandparents how many guests there were today and what they were eating.
If you ask your mother, she will definitely not tell her, and she will remember that she is bored. If you ask your grandparents, they will definitely tell her.
Wu Caifeng was very patient in telling her granddaughter how many customers there were today and what the most ordered items were.
Today there are definitely more steamed buns, steamed buns, and vegetable/sauerkraut noodles.
When Zhou Chengning came back from get off work, there were no customers in the restaurant. When Gua Gua saw that it was his father who came back, his face fell.
Not a guest, but Dad.
Zhou Chengning: "Is Guagua not happy that dad is back?"
Guagua: “Happy.”
The word "happy" would have been more convincing if my daughter's face didn't look so depressed.
Zhou Chengning: "Guagua, what's wrong?"
Guagua: “No guests.”
When she returned to the restaurant and her father came to the restaurant, there was no customer, only her younger brother Niu Niu, who was saying something that the adults couldn't understand.
Zhou Chengning: "It's okay, there will definitely be guests in the future."
He came at 4:10, which was only an hour after Guagua came back, so he thought it was normal that there were no customers. But when it was closing time at 5 o'clock, there were still no customers.
Xu Xiangjuan didn't say anything. Except for her and Niu Niu, no one else in the family had a good expression.
Zhou Chengning's bad mood didn't last long, and he became happy when it was time to go home.
His lover is not worried, and he shouldn't be worried either. It's good like this now as he has more time to rest.
For dinner, the family still had dinner in a small restaurant. After the meal, they took the money away, locked the doors and windows, and left.
Wu Caifeng was worried: "Juan, our vegetables won't be dragged away by rats, right?"
No one lives here, and it feels unsafe everywhere. The rats are really terrible.
Xu Xiangjuan checked and found no rat holes. Even if there were rats, she put them away tightly. "No, mom. It's well put away. The rats can't drag it away."
Her mother was still worried, so Xu Xiangjuan said a few more words to stop her from worrying.
After returning home, Xu Xiangjuan recorded today's accounts. The accounts still had to be recorded every day.
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, take this 10 yuan. It's for lunch for a few teachers."
Xu Xiangjuan: "No, who asked you to pay? Just keep it yourself. Besides, a spicy hot pot meal doesn't cost 10 yuan."
She probably has a rough idea of her man's small piggy bank now, and 10 yuan is a lot of money.
Although there was no business this afternoon, the income from the morning and noon was still more than what I earned from the shed outside my home in the past.
Of course, if you take the rent into account like her mother did, you will feel that you are not doing a good business at home.
It still takes time. It’s a time-honored brand, but so many people still buy it. Doesn’t it take time?
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, just keep it, otherwise I won't dare to treat you in the future."
He would feel burdened if he didn't give the money to his lover.
This is how he usually teaches Guagua. Guagua always uses his own money to treat others, so he also has to use his own money.
Xu Xiangjuan: "What does this have to do with whether you dare to treat me or not? You are not an ordinary person. You have to treat me every other day. You pay when we eat out and you have to pay when we eat at home. Am I too stingy? You keep it for yourself."
Guagua talks about treating everyone every day, but maybe he hasn't saved enough money and hasn't actually taken action yet. It's true that he wants to treat everyone, but it's also true that he hasn't saved enough money. Xu Xiangjuan doesn't object to Guagua saving money to treat everyone.
It's good for children to have this awareness from an early age, but she doesn't think her own man needs money.
Isn't the capital of her business his? If he wants, the family can give him the money.
No matter how much he wanted, as long as she had it, she would give it to him.
If you're not educating children, there's no need to make such clear boundaries.
They are husband and wife, not enemies.
Zhou Chengning: "Okay, Juan, I'll take the ten yuan back myself, but you can always keep the one yuan, otherwise I'll be unhappy."
Xu Xiangjuan accepted the 1 yuan because she was afraid that her son Aning would be unhappy.
Sometimes she really can't do anything about her own man, especially now that her temper has improved. Guagua's attitude towards his mother and Aning's attitude towards her are different.
It’s hard to say whether it’s good or bad, I just feel helpless because both children and adults have “exposed their true colors” because of her changes.
...
The restaurant's revenue in the first few days of operation was not as high as the first day, and there were still no customers in the afternoon. Even fewer people ate malatang, and most people ate noodles with vegetables/sauerkraut.
Xu Xiangjuan did not remove Malatang in advance, but waited until May.
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, I will go to the county school with my teachers tomorrow to study."
It was his first time to go to the county town for school matters. The principal said today that he would tell his wife when he got home.
"Are you going to the county town?" She remembered this happening. This year her husband would occasionally go to the county middle school.
Zhou Chengning: "Yes, Juan, I will go with the teachers in the morning and come back in the afternoon."
Xu Xiangjuan: "Okay, do you need to bring food?"
It sounds like a business trip, but basically he leaves in the morning and comes back in the afternoon. Xu Xiangjuan knows it all.
Zhou Chengning: "No need, Juan, two yuan is enough for me, I have money."
In fact, he felt that it was unnecessary to bring both yuan, but several teachers suggested that he bring 2 yuan, so he followed suit and brought 2 yuan too.
He didn't expect to encounter this kind of thing. He was so lucky. He was originally worried about how to buy a skirt for his lover.
Now, I have a legitimate reason to go to the county town.
Xu Xiangjuan didn't know that her man was still thinking about buying her a skirt. "Well, be careful on the road, follow the other teachers closely, don't get lost."
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, I'm not Niu Niu."
Guagua is quite good at recognizing the road. Ever since his wife told him to come to the restaurant by himself in the afternoon, Guagua has really returned to the restaurant very punctually without even lingering on the road.
The next day, Zhou Chengning did not leave early by himself, but followed the large group of people from his family and had breakfast at a small restaurant before going to school.
After a while, Wu Caifeng sighed, "Juan, why is the business in this town not as good as at home?"
Some guests came just now, but now there is no one here again.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Mom, don't worry, we haven't established ourselves yet, and not many people know about our restaurant, so we just need to wait."
Wu Caifeng: "I hope it will be fine. We have no old customers and no new customers now."
"Hello, is this Xu Xiangjuan's restaurant?"
"Yes, hello, who is it?" A customer came over, Xu Xiangjuan got up and went to the door, and was quite surprised to hear her name being called.
Two women came and were looking at the small blackboard outside the door.
Xu Xiangjuan asked Zhou Chengning to write on the small blackboard. He often has to write on the blackboard. His chalk writing is as beautiful as his pen writing. Unless you don't know how to read, as long as you can read, you can tell what is written.
"We came here to eat. We just happened to be here and remembered Sister Zhao's recommendation, so we came here together."
Sister Zhao, it should be Zhao Huizhu.
Xu Xiangjuan: "These are the items served at noon. We have everything."
"We eat spicy hot pot."
Xu Xiangjuan led the guests in, "Come in and take a look, there is also a small blackboard inside."
"Is the price the same as written above?" asked the woman who spoke at the beginning.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Yes, the same. If you want to eat spicy hot pot, you can choose the ingredients in the food cabinet. The bottom layer is the meat dishes. Vegetarian dishes are 0.5 yuan per pound, and meat dishes are 1.2 yuan per pound. Now we also have rice, which is 0.1 yuan a bowl. Sometimes our customers don't like noodles, so they will not choose noodles and order rice directly."
"Okay, we got it."
"The basket is here." Xu Xiangjuan said and continued to feed Niu Niu.
Just now when mom was not around, Niu Niu was trying to feed himself. His little mouth was covered with porridge and looked dirty.
Staring at the guests all the time would definitely make them feel uncomfortable. There were no other guests at the moment, so Wu Caifeng and Xu Gensheng went to the kitchen.
Neither of the two guests had ever had Malatang, so they decided to share one portion and order a bowl of rice each.
Sister Zhao said this restaurant had delicious food, so they came over and saw that there were no customers, so the family sat inside. They were not sure if this was the restaurant Sister Zhao was talking about.
Today, I went to Dezao Town for work in the countryside, and I wanted to make an appointment to eat at this small restaurant, but...
The malatang ingredients were neatly arranged and looked very fresh, which somewhat dispelled the stereotype that the food would not taste good if there were no customers.
"If each person's bowl of rice is not enough, you can get more rice. It's free." Xu Xiangjuan went to cook.
When mom was not around, Niu Niu continued to do it on his own.
His chair was brought over and was about the same height as the tabletop, so he could eat by himself.
Seeing this, the two guests came over to play with the baby.
Niu Niu was very guarding of his food, thinking that the two aunts were trying to steal his food, so he refused to give it to them and even called them mom.
There are bad guys who want to steal Niu Niu's food.
Xu Xiangjuan didn't have time to come, so Xu Gensheng went over, apologized to the guest, and moved the child and the chair back to the kitchen.
Niu Niu was still calling for porridge. After putting Niu Niu away, Xu Gensheng brought the porridge over as well.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Dad, please help me feed the cows. I don't have time now."
Wu Caifeng: "It's almost finished. Niuniu is a big eater. Guagua can't eat that cleanly at this age."
Feeling that grandma was praising him, Niu Niu laughed and asked grandpa to continue feeding him.
He had to finish all the porridge. When his parents fed him, they would scrape the bottom of the bowl clean.
The customer ate the spicy hot pot and exclaimed, "This is delicious. It tastes very good. Why are there no customers?"
They both ordered vegetarian dishes, and there were quite a few of them. They picked a lot and spent 80 cents.
Xu Xiangjuan was using chopsticks to arrange the dishes in the food cabinet. "We just opened this month, so it's normal that there aren't many customers. Business is much better on market days. We used to do it at home. Sister Zhao came to eat noodles and cold noodles. We only do spicy hot pot this month. Next month we'll switch to cold noodles and cold noodles. They're more comfortable to eat in the summer."
"Are you going to stop selling it so soon? We only ate it once, and we want to eat it again next time we come."
"Yes, we have been selling it for several months. Now the weather is hot and the food can't be kept. There are not many customers eating there, so we simply stop selling it."
"This is delicious. They must not know how to eat it or dare not eat it. In fact, this meal is quite cheap, at least cheaper than the restaurants in the county town."
As for the restaurants in the county town, Xu Xiangjuan thought of that old brand. Well, it was a bit expensive, with less rice than hers, costing only 20 cents a bowl.
"Next time you come, you can try other dishes. Basically, what we sell is what we can sell. What we can't sell won't be written on the blackboard."
"Yes, if we can't sell it, we will lose money."
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