Chapter 59. Dinner at a restaurant.
To be honest, video vlogs are more popular on Xiaohongshu than text and image notes.
Most bloggers share recipe tutorials, restaurant reviews, travel experiences, work and life records through vlogs, which generate much more data than regular text and image notes.
Moreover, notes or vlogs with more useful information tend to have higher likes and collection data, and most users here use this platform as an encyclopedia.
To be honest, this restaurant's account only posts the daily menu, and even the main image is just a simple menu sheet. There are no real photos of meat dishes. It all depends on the enthusiastic sharing of netizens who have dined at the restaurant. It's a miracle that it has such data today.
The account has a very active and loyal fanbase. If they were to release a chicken and beef tenderloin tutorial video with practical tips, it would be a way to give back to their fans and might even expand the reach of their business, attracting more netizens to follow their restaurant.
Gu Qingqiu quickly came to a conclusion and decided to put filming and editing on the agenda, but not now.
I have the day after tomorrow off, so I'll buy some ingredients then and film a tutorial on making milk chicken strips.
She picked a comment from a netizen who suggested making a tutorial video for milk chicken strips, and tapped her fingers on the screen to reply.
[Gu's Private Kitchen: Okay! I've received everyone's suggestions~ I'll definitely fulfill them! I'll film a video of making milk chicken strips in a few days and post it to everyone (heart)]
After replying, Gu Qingqiu exited Xiaohongshu and then went to Weibo to respond to some comments.
She also received comments from fans suggesting she share her recipe for milk chicken strips, and she replied to them in pretty much the same way.
After putting down her phone, Gu Qingqiu saw that Sister Zhou had already wiped all the tables in the dining area clean and even got a broom to sweep the floor. She said, "Sister Zhou, you should go back and rest as soon as you're done."
Sister Zhou nodded and smiled: "Okay, boss. I'm done here. I was wondering if Sister Tang might have missed anything since it's her first time working here, so I'll go in and take a look. I'll go back after I'm done."
Gu Qingqiu replied, "Thank you for your hard work."
"It's not hard work," Sister Zhou said, shaking her head. "With Sister Tang coming to help, things are much easier for me."
Gu Qingqiu: "Alright, let's go into the kitchen together and take a look."
The two entered the kitchen and walked to a slightly more inward side. They saw that Sister Tang had already washed the dishes and put all the bowls, chopsticks, and plates into the sterilizer to disinfect them. She was finishing up at the sink.
She was still very efficient, neatly arranging the dish soap, loofah, wire mesh, and other items she had just used, and wiping the water stains off the faucet and sink with a rag.
After she finished, Gu Qingqiu smiled and praised, "Sister Tang, you did a great job with this whole thing. You are truly a professional. Thank you for your hard work."
Standing to the side, Sister Zhou couldn't help but praise, "Yes, seeing you do this makes me realize what I was lacking before. I've learned a lot and broadened my horizons."
She had been thinking that even though Sister Tang was a professional, she might not be very familiar with some things since she was in a different place, so she was thinking of coming over to help. She didn't expect Sister Tang to finish everything so quickly and do such a good job.
Sister Zhou was very happy that the boss was able to hire such an employee, and she was sure the restaurant would do better and better.
Sister Tang was a little embarrassed: "It's a habit. We've always done it this way. Thank you for the compliment, boss."
She smiled at Sister Zhou and said, "Sister Zhou, don't be modest. You were already very capable of handling all these tasks by yourself before. I only know how to wash dishes."
Sister Zhou shook her head: "No, it's just that the boss doesn't mind. Sister Tang, you're already very capable, you don't need to be modest."
To prevent the two from continuing to be modest, Gu Qingqiu spoke up, saying, "You two are both excellent. It's my blessing that the restaurant can hire such outstanding employees as you two."
"Alright, now that you've finished your work, you should all go home and rest. I'm going upstairs to relax too."
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang readily agreed, and the group left the kitchen. The two women, carrying their bags, smiled and waved goodbye to the owner before walking together toward the street.
As she walked, Sister Tang raised her hand to check her watch: "It's only 1:40 now, not even 2 o'clock yet, and the boss is already telling me to go back."
Sister Zhou knew what she was thinking and explained with a smile, "Don't worry, our boss is very kind and capable, and quite lenient with us. As long as we finish our work to a high standard, we can go home early."
Knowing that Tang Jie's salary depended on her working hours, she reassured her, "Don't worry, it's two hours, and it's two hours. As long as you finish washing and cleaning up, the boss will definitely pay you normally."
After listening, Sister Tang gained a deeper understanding of the boss and felt much more relieved. She nodded and said, "I see. Thank you so much, Sister Zhou. I'm so glad to have found such a good job. The hourly wage is high, and the employee meals are delicious. I will definitely work hard."
"Don't mention it, we're colleagues, let's work hard together," Sister Zhou said with a smile.
The two chatted idly for a while, and after walking out of Surrey Street, they waved goodbye and went their separate ways because they were going in different directions home.
At Gu's Private Kitchen, in a room on the second floor, Gu Qingqiu came up, turned on the air conditioner, changed into her pajamas, lay down on the bed, and didn't feel like playing on her phone. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
I woke up in the afternoon, made some jasmine tea, played on my phone for a while, and then went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare ingredients at four o'clock.
The restaurant opens at 5 p.m., and Sister Tang arrives to work before 7 p.m.
The restaurant was clearly busier in the evening than at noon. Seeing that Zhou Meizi was able to manage the work in the dining area, Sister Tang went into the kitchen to greet the owner and then got to work at the sink.
At eight o'clock, the restaurant saw off its last table of customers, closed the wooden door, and ended its day's business.
Sister Zhou put all the bowls, chopsticks and plates in the sink for Sister Tang to wash, then got a rag, wrung it out, and used it to wipe the table. After that, she swept and mopped the floor in the dining room.
Gu Qingqiu then took a break. After sitting down for a while, she watched as Sister Tang and Sister Zhou were washing dishes in the kitchen and mopping the floor in the dining room, each doing their own job. They finished their work around the same time.
At this moment, the clock on the wall of the shop turned to 8:30.
It was half an hour earlier than usual when Sister Zhou finished all her work at nine o'clock.
Sister Zhou had anticipated this. With someone else specifically in charge of washing dishes, her work would be much simpler, and she would definitely finish earlier.
Fangfang will be especially happy when we get home before nine o'clock.
Tang Jie was a little surprised to see that it was only 8:30. She didn't expect it to be so early. However, the number of pots and pans that the restaurant had to wash for each meal was indeed much less than the restaurant where she used to work.
Thankfully, the boss said during the recruitment that the working hours were from 7 pm to 9 pm, but now it ends half an hour earlier. Not to mention there's time for dinner in between, so the actual working hours are probably less than an hour.
Seeing that the boss hadn't said anything and was still smiling, and didn't seem to have any intention of deducting her working hours, Sister Tang breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a little guilty. She felt that she had taken advantage of the restaurant and that she should work harder in the future.
Gu Qingqiu smiled and nodded, saying, "You've all worked hard. Go back and rest early when you're done."
Sister Zhou replied, "Okay, then you should get some rest too, boss."
Sister Tang nodded, "Okay, thank you, boss."
Before they left, the two of them helped close all the windows in the shop and took the kitchen waste to throw it away.
Gu Qingqiu closed the wooden door, took her phone, and went upstairs to rest.
Before going to bed, she remembered something and quickly posted a notice on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) to inform her fans that she would be taking a break tomorrow afternoon and the day after tomorrow.
The next morning, after having breakfast, Gu Qingqiu first edited and printed a notice about the restaurant's closure and posted it at the entrance before taking two shopping carts to the market to buy groceries.
We operate normally at noon, but when customers call Sister Zhou over to order or pay at the cashier, they can't help but ask why we're not open in the evening. Are we going to take a half-day off every day from now on?
Sister Zhou explained with a smile that she was going out for a party that evening to celebrate the arrival of a new colleague.
The customers expressed their understanding and then exchanged a few more jokes.
"Your restaurant has a great atmosphere, but are you really going out to celebrate? I feel like eating at your Gu's Private Kitchen is delicious enough, I can't think of anything better."
"You don't understand. Usually, all those delicious meat dishes in restaurants are made by the boss. For a colleague's get-together like this, the boss should also get a break and have some fun too."
"That seems to make sense. Well then, I hope you enjoy your meal!"
Sister Zhou smiled and agreed, thanking them.
Around 5 p.m., Sister Zhou and Sister Tang met at a restaurant. Gu Qingqiu and they took a taxi to Yongrun Plaza nearby and found a Hunan restaurant to eat at.
This Hunan restaurant is decorated in a light green color scheme. As soon as you enter, you can see a large round display stand in the middle, with bags of "water town rice" on it, which is said to be this year's new rice and available for customers to buy.
The shop looks very big. In addition to the tables in the main hall, there are four private rooms with an open kitchen. Outside the kitchen, there is a row of freezers with fresh ingredients.
Gu Qingqiu asked, "Shall we eat in a private room or in the main hall?"
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang said almost at the same time, "Let's eat in the lobby."
Gu Qingqiu nodded in agreement.
The staff understood what they meant and led them to a table by the window with a great view.
This is where you order by scanning a QR code. Gu Qingqiu told them to scan the code and add whatever they wanted to order. She also scanned the code herself to see what dishes she wanted to eat.
The last three ordered braised pork with preserved mustard greens, spicy shrimp, pounded chili and preserved egg, stir-fried farm vegetables, and lotus root and pork bone soup.
While waiting for their food, the three chatted from time to time, which helped them get to know each other better and strengthen their bond.
The tea served here is Pu'er tea, and it tastes pretty good.
The food was served quite quickly; the staff brought over lotus root and pork bone soup and braised pork with preserved mustard greens one after the other.
It wasn't until the dish was served that everyone realized that the braised pork with preserved mustard greens was accompanied by eight round steamed buns.
In a deep white porcelain plate were slices of dark red, marbled pork belly with preserved mustard greens, surrounded by a generous amount of preserved mustard greens. Eight white steamed buns were placed around the wide rim of the plate.
The white steamed buns had already been cut open with a knife, with only one edge still connected. It looked like they were meant to be filled with braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens.
Sister Zhou exclaimed, "I never expected that this braised pork with preserved mustard greens would come with steamed buns. Now we don't even need to order rice."
"Yes, this is the first time I've ever seen braised pork with preserved mustard greens served with steamed buns," Sister Tang said.
Gu Qingqiu had previously made braised pork with preserved mustard greens and sold it in restaurants, and customers said it tasted very good.
She was also quite curious about the taste of this braised pork with preserved mustard greens, so she smiled and said, "Everyone, please eat, don't be shy."
The lotus root and pork bone soup, which should have been enjoyed first to refresh the palate, was ignored for a moment, as all three pairs of chopsticks reached for the braised pork with preserved mustard greens.
The shop assistant had just brought them hot towels to wipe their hands. Now, Gu Qingqiu took a steamed bun with her left hand and used her chopsticks to put a piece of braised pork with preserved vegetables into the opening of the steamed bun.
She took a bite of the steamed bun filled with preserved mustard greens and braised pork. The first thing she felt was the fluffy and soft texture of the white steamed bun, and the rich aroma of the wheat filled her mouth. Then came the unique fragrance of the preserved mustard greens and the salty aroma of the braised pork. All these aromas intertwined, creating a particularly rich flavor.
The braised pork with preserved mustard greens sandwiched inside the steamed bun still feels soft and delicate when you bite into it. The rich aroma of oil and the overflowing savory sauce moisten the white steamed bun, making it both substantial and savory.
This combination is quite novel and gives you a satisfying feeling of fullness, since you get both meat and carbohydrates at once.
Because the braised pork with preserved mustard greens is folded and placed in the middle, taking a bite of it is incredibly satisfying, as you get both the pork and the steamed bun. Even if you only have the steamed bun left at the end without any meat, the savory and rich sauce staining the white steamed bun makes it delicious even on its own.
After finishing her meal, Gu Qingqiu picked up a piece of braised pork with preserved mustard greens and placed it in her bowl, savoring it slowly.
This braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens was pan-fried until it developed a tiger-skin pattern. The lean meat was tender and not dry, while the fatty meat melted in your mouth without being greasy at all. Overall, it was savory and delicious, with the salty and sweet aroma of preserved mustard greens.
Gu Qingqiu praised, "This braised pork with preserved mustard greens tastes very good. The steamed buns that come with it are also quite nice. They are very fragrant when eaten together, and the braised pork is also very good on its own."
If I had to nitpick, it would be that compared to our own, it still contains some impurities from the ingredients themselves, but it contains less black mist than most ingredients on the market.
But I won't go into that.
Sister Zhou nodded: "Indeed, the sauce from the braised pork with preserved mustard greens seeps into the white steamed buns, making them taste savory and delicious."
"It's really delicious, no wonder it's a signature dish. This braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens is very fragrant but not greasy, it's very satisfying," said Sister Tang.
Gu Qingqiu picked up another piece of braised pork with preserved mustard greens and ate it. This time, she moved her bowl closer to the soup pot, picked up a soup ladle, and ladled out a bowl of lotus root and pork bone soup.
She scooped up a spoonful of soup and drank it. The soup was warm, fresh, and rich, with the oil and meat aroma that came out when the pork bones were simmered, making the soup fragrant and mellow, and also with the sweetness of lotus root.
The unique fragrance of lotus root also gives this soup its aroma, making it sweet and refreshing, savory and flavorful.
The lotus root slices are cut into pieces that are neither too thin nor too thick. When viewed from the cross-section, they have countless beautiful round holes. I picked up a piece with chopsticks, brought it to my mouth, and took a bite. The firmness was just right, crisp with a hint of sweetness, and a little soft and glutinous. You could even pull out strands of it, which truly lived up to the saying "the lotus root is broken but the threads remain."
Undoubtedly, this is a very high-quality and fresh lotus root.
Gu Qingqiu quickly finished a piece of lotus root, then picked up another piece and ate until she had finished all the lotus root pieces in the bowl. Only then did she pick up a piece of pork bone and eat the meat on it.
Using pork bones for soup is more cost-effective than using spare ribs or pork spine bones. During the simmering process, a large amount of calcium and collagen will be released, and the released oil will also nourish the soup, making the flavor more mellow.
Most bone marrow pieces come with some meat on them, and the one that Gu Qingqiu is holding right now has a rather thick piece of meat hanging from one side.
With a gentle bite, the meat from the long-cooked pork bone immediately fell apart, becoming soft and tender, and tasted alright.
Since the spiritual energy in her dantian became more condensed and solidified through continuous cooking, and even grew at a very slow rate, Gu Qingqiu could feel her five senses becoming more and more acute.
Her sense of smell and taste were greatly enhanced when tasting meat and vegetables. For example, as she was chewing on the pork bone, she felt something was slightly off. It must be that the pork bone had been sitting for a while and was not fresh.
Of course, there was no obvious rotten or sour smell. If the kitchen really had this kind of pork bone meat and dared to use it to make soup, they would be asking for complaints and scolding from customers. The pork bone meat was not very elastic, and even the loose texture when biting into it earlier was a sign that it was not fresh.
At first, Gu Qingqiu thought it was because the soup had been simmered for too long that it became so loose and soft.
She glanced at Sister Tang and Sister Zhou, who were either eating pork bone or had just taken a bite, and neither of them showed any sign of discomfort. They had just praised the lotus root for being particularly soft and the soup for being very flavorful.
Only those with a keen sense of taste and smell can detect something amiss. Others who eat this bone and meat dish, while praising it highly, will at least not find fault with it.
Gu Qingqiu didn't say much. She finished chewing the piece of pork bone she was biting and swallowed it. Then she finished the soup and didn't touch the remaining piece of pork bone in the bowl. She picked it out and put it on her plate.
She was thinking about the taste of braised pork with preserved mustard greens, which was salty, sweet, fragrant, and had a good balance of lean and fatty meat. It was indeed very appetizing, and of course, it also went well with steamed buns.
Gu Qingqiu took another steamed bun, used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of braised pork with preserved mustard greens and stuffed it into the bun. She opened her mouth and ate it bite by bite. Every bite was full of the rich aroma of the bun and the salty fragrance of the braised pork. She was very satisfied.
The staff then served spicy shrimp and pounded chili and preserved egg.
The shrimp are already orange-red after being stir-fried, and with the addition of the bright red chili peppers, the whole dish becomes even redder under the warm yellow light.
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang each used their chopsticks to pick up some shrimp and eat them.
Gu Qingqiu was more interested in this Hunan specialty, pounded chili and preserved egg. The preserved eggs were sliced in half, with a crispy and fragrant skin, and chili peppers were mixed in. Because they had been roasted in advance, they also looked rather dry.
She picked up a piece of preserved egg dipped in chili peppers, brought it to her mouth, and took a bite. The preserved egg was chewy and smooth, and the yolk was especially smooth and delicate. The overall taste was salty and savory, with a strong spiciness.
Gu Qingqiu took another bite, this time eating it along with the shredded chili peppers stuck to it. Besides tasting the smooth, chewy texture and rich, salty, and savory flavor of the preserved egg, she also experienced a strong spiciness.
The laser chili peppers look dry, but they actually contain the juice of the chili peppers themselves. When you bite into them, they burst out with fragrant and spicy juice. They are very flavorful when eaten with preserved eggs, but the spiciness is not something that everyone can handle.
Fortunately, Gu Qingqiu was able to handle spicy food. After chewing and swallowing the preserved egg and chili pepper in her mouth, she finished the remaining preserved egg before picking up her teacup to drink the already cooled Pu'er tea to relieve the spiciness.
After the spiciness subsided, the salty, savory, and creamy flavor of the preserved egg lingered in the mouth.
Sister Tang and Sister Zhou couldn't help but slurp as they ate the spicy shrimp.
After drinking the remaining half cup of cooled Pu'er tea, Sister Tang opened her mouth and exhaled a few breaths of spicy air before saying, "I'm someone who can handle spicy food quite well, but this spicy shrimp is still spicy. It's no wonder it's Hunan cuisine."
Sister Zhou nodded: "Yes, I originally thought that the spiciness of this spicy shrimp was mainly in the shell, and that the shrimp meat would be better after peeling it. I didn't expect it to be so spicy. Some meat dishes in restaurants are also spicy, and I can usually handle them, but this shrimp is really quite spicy."
"The spicy dishes served in restaurants are usually not very spicy, catering to the tastes of people in Jiang City, using those less spicy chilies. Hunan cuisine, on the other hand, is definitely very spicy." Gu Qingqiu reminded them, "If you are afraid of spice, when you eat these preserved eggs later, pick off the chili peppers stuck to them. These chilies are quite spicy, but the preserved eggs are okay. They are quite fragrant with a little spiciness."
When deciding which restaurant to have a get-together at, it was Sister Tang and Sister Zhou who said they could handle spicy food that led the three of them to unanimously choose this Hunan restaurant.
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang smiled and agreed.
Gu Qingqiu asked them, "If it's really too spicy, shall we ask the staff to bring us some chilled drinks?"
Sister Zhou shook her head: "I don't need it. I can handle the spiciness of the shrimp gradually. If I'm really thirsty, I can just drink some cooled Pu'er tea."
Sister Tang also said, "Yes, boss, there's no need to order iced drinks. I don't drink iced drinks much. This Pu'er tea is fine with me."
Gu Qingqiu nodded in agreement. After thinking for a moment, she picked up her phone and scanned the QR code again to enter the ordering page. She looked past the drinks section at the bottom and saw the after-dinner fruit section that she vaguely remembered scanning when she ordered earlier. She clicked on it and saw that there was an option for chilled watermelon cut to order.
She added the item to her cart and selected "served after the meal" or "served immediately after cutting" from the pop-up menu, then placed the order.
Sister Zhou, always ready for a challenge, picked up a spicy shrimp, peeled it, and ate it. Sister Tang, on the other hand, went to try a dish she had never had before: pounded chili and preserved egg.
Gu Qingqiu also wanted to try just how spicy the spicy shrimp was, so she picked up two with her chopsticks and put them in her bowl.
I tentatively picked up a shrimp with my chopsticks and bit off the head with my mouth. My lips and the inside of my mouth got some of the spicy red sauce from the shrimp shell. It was quite spicy and a little numbing.
But Gu Qingqiu can handle spicy food quite well and can barely tolerate this level of spiciness.
She continued to bite off the shrimp tail and legs with her teeth, then used her tongue and teeth to bite off the shell, and finally tasted the whole peeled shrimp.
The spicy shrimp are quite large; even after peeling and removing the heads and tails, they are still about half a finger thick and long. The shrimp meat is firm, and the spiciness spreads gradually with each chew, making it quite intense.
If you taste it carefully, you can still taste the sweetness of the shrimp meat beneath the spiciness.
Even if Gu Qingqiu could handle spicy food, she would need to catch her breath after eating just one shrimp before she could continue peeling and eating more shrimp.
As you eat, you can really feel the intense spiciness of the spicy shrimp.
With each test, Gu Qingqiu's tolerance for spiciness increased. At first, she felt her lips were numb and probably turning red. Later, she didn't know if they were numb or if her lips had adapted to the intense spiciness, but she hardly felt anything.
Sister Tang and Sister Zhou also continued eating spicy shrimp, and as usual, they drank half a cup of cooled Pu'er tea to relieve the spiciness after finishing the shrimp.
Fortunately, the pot of Pu'er tea was large enough that it would have cooled down by now, as it was served early. Poured into their teacups, it cooled down even faster, just in time to keep up with the speed at which they ate the spicy shrimp.
Of course, Sister Tang and Sister Zhou also ate a lot of pounded chili and preserved egg; they both really liked this dish.
Sister Zhou exclaimed, "I usually buy preserved eggs to make preserved egg and lean pork congee, but I didn't expect it to taste so good this way. It truly deserves to be a signature dish of Hunan cuisine."
Sister Tang said with a smile, "It is indeed quite delicious. The preserved egg has a slightly charred outer skin and a chewy and smooth interior. The yolk is the most fragrant part. Although it is a bit spicy, it adds to the aroma. As long as you don't eat the chili peppers stuck to it, it's fine."
"This pounded chili and preserved egg dish is really quite good," Gu Qingqiu said, picking up another piece of preserved egg with her chopsticks.
Just as I was finishing a pot of Pu'er tea and still hadn't gotten rid of the spiciness, the staff came over and served a stir-fried farm-style vegetable dish and freshly cut chilled watermelon.
Tang and Zhou were quite surprised to see watermelon, but they didn't suspect that the staff had served the wrong dish, as this was rather unusual; it could only be that the owner had ordered it earlier.
Thinking back to when the boss asked if they wanted an iced drink, he fiddled with his phone for a while. Tang Jie and Zhou Jie exchanged a glance and confirmed that the boss had made the order.
Seeing them exchanging glances, Gu Qingqiu smiled and explained, "Since you don't drink iced beverages, I thought I'd order a meal with freshly cut chilled watermelon since I saw watermelon was an option on the menu. We always order fruit after meals when we eat out, so we just brought it out early."
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang smiled and said, "Thank you, boss."
"Don't be shy, eat up."
When Gu Qingqiu saw that the stir-fried farm vegetables were just stir-fried sweet potato leaves, she decided to eat a piece of watermelon first.
The plate of watermelon looked quite substantial, barely justifying the price of 28 yuan per serving. Some of the watermelon had toothpicks stuck in them for easy eating, and Gu Qingqiu took one to eat.
The watermelon is icy cold, sweet and juicy, with a dense and delicate flesh and virtually no seeds. You don't need to constantly watch out to avoid accidentally swallowing them. Just chew it freely, savor the cool, sweet juice, and then swallow it – it's incredibly refreshing.
Gu Qingqiu couldn't help but nod: "This watermelon is quite sweet and juicy, not bad."
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang each tried a piece or two and thought they were very good.
With the added chilled watermelon chunks as a safety net, the two of them ate the spicy shrimp with even more gusto, devouring shrimp and watermelon one after another.
Because chilled watermelon is so effective at relieving the spiciness, sometimes I can eat two or three shrimp followed by a slice of watermelon. It's a way of constantly improving my tolerance for spiciness through this constant stimulation.
Even when eating pounded chili and preserved egg, Sister Zhou and Sister Tang dared to eat some of the chili flakes stuck to them. It was spicy and refreshing, and they could relieve the spiciness by eating a piece of watermelon.
If all else fails, then eat two slices of watermelon!
Stir-fried sweet potato leaves are also good. The sweet potato leaves are fresh and crisp, and they have a savory flavor. However, in keeping with the light name of the dish, the main thing is to enjoy the freshness and crispness of the sweet potato leaves.
Gu Qingqiu thought that the stir-fried sweet potato leaves with soybean paste made at her own restaurant were the best. Whether it was stir-fried sweet potato leaves or water spinach, adding a little soybean paste would make the aroma rise dramatically.
The three of them ate their meal slowly, and by the end they had finished the braised pork with preserved vegetables, steamed buns, and stir-fried sweet potato leaves. They also had some spicy shrimp, pounded chili and preserved egg, and a lot of watermelon left. So they simply asked the waiter to bring a takeout box to pack it up.
After packing everything up, Gu Qingqiu told the two of them to each take some home.
Sister Tang shook her head: "I won't take it. My son doesn't eat spicy food much. Let Zhou take it back and see if your daughter can eat it."
During their two days as colleagues, the two chatted quite a bit and learned a little about each other's children.
Seeing that Sister Tang wasn't going to be polite, Sister Zhou didn't refuse and simply agreed: "Okay, Fangfang can eat a little spicy food, so I'll take it all back. With food and things to take, I'll be the happiest person tonight."
Sister Tang smiled and said, "I'm glad everyone enjoyed the meal."
Gu Qingqiu nodded with a smile: "Yes, we can organize staff gatherings like this from time to time, so everyone can get out and relax."
Sister Zhou and Sister Tang smiled and agreed.
The three of them got up and walked towards the store entrance.
The cashier was right at the store entrance. Gu Qingqiu quickened her pace and walked over. She had already paid for the meal online through the mini-program, and she was just coming over out of habit to get an invoice from the cashier.
Although there are usually not many customers requesting invoices, the cashier still skillfully wrote out the invoice and handed it to the customer, saying, "Please take care."
After that, customers paid their bills and left one after another.
After 8:30, there were no more customers, but the store was still open to welcome customers. Some employees were busy wiping down the tables, while the kitchen staff were cleaning the stoves and washing dishes.
After finishing all the work, the store manager would call all the employees together to stand and listen to him talk about his performance and shortcomings that day, and then give them a pep talk to encourage them to keep up the good work tomorrow.
After they dispersed, several employees picked up their bags, left the store, took the mall's escalator downstairs, and complained about the pre-get off work pep talk they had just received.
"The store manager's speeches at night have been getting longer and longer lately, he just keeps repeating the same thing over and over again."
"He's worried because he's watching the store's turnover. Business hasn't been good for the past month, much worse than before."
"It's all because a Gu's Private Kitchen opened on Suli Street, not far from here, and a lot of customers go there to eat. When they occasionally come here to eat, they always talk about how delicious the food is there, and it makes me want to go eat there too."
“I heard from other restaurant staff that their businesses have also been affected to some extent. And it’s not just Yongrun Plaza, restaurants in Shenghui Plaza have also been affected. It seems that many customers have gone to that private kitchen on Suli Street.”
"Sigh, in the end, we can't do anything about these external factors affecting us. What's the point of them bothering us every day?"
"I have to say, business seems to be pretty good tonight."
"I know that. I saw on Gu's Private Kitchen's official account that they said they were having a staff dinner tonight, so some customers came here. Haven't you noticed that our business picks up a bit every Tuesday? That's because Gu's Private Kitchen is closed on Tuesdays."
"Hilarious! The employees of Gu's Private Kitchen get time off and have dinner together, while we work hard and then have to listen to a lecture before we can leave."
"Sigh..."
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