Chapter 197 Zhang Chen is coming

The Su He family had never used the kitchen to cook, except once or twice. After a while, the neighbors started to worry about it.

They were not familiar with the Su He family and would just nod and say hello when they met on their way to and from get off work.

Aunt Xu did talk to her neighbors about Su He's family, mainly expressing her admiration for the fact that they had two college graduates.

They chatted with Aunt Xu, "Aunt Xu, the family next door to you eat out all day long? Are they very rich?"

The person who said this was Qian Sui'er, a young wife who lived next door to Aunt Xu on the right. She had no job and stayed at home to look after the children.

The family had moved in more than half a month ago, and she had never seen them use the kitchen once in the morning, afternoon or evening.

It’s okay on weekdays, as I can eat at the company, but I don’t cook on this weekend when it’s my day off.

Is this family so rich that they always eat out?

Aunt Xu glanced at Qian Sui'er and said, "How can I know?"

Qian Sui'er is even more gossipy than this old lady, and wants to know about everyone's family affairs.

Qian Sui'er smiled and said, "I think you are good friends with Teacher Su, so I'm asking you."

Aunt Xu: "Then I don't know if they have money or not. They have savings."

Compared with other neighbors, Teacher Su is better with her, but it is just limited to chatting. Who would tell others how much money their family has for no reason? He is not stupid.

But Aunt Xu was also curious, so she once talked about this with Su He, "Teacher Su, it's not a good idea for you to eat out every day. It costs a lot of money."

"If you think the kitchen is dirty, you can work behind me and I'll clean it for you."

Aunt Xu also guessed that Su He didn't use the kitchen because she thought it was dirty. It was unavoidable as it was shared by several families. She would always clean up after cooking, but she couldn't stop others from not cleaning up.

She can't clean up for long by herself, and the place will be dirty next time she cooks.

Especially the young wife next door, who never cleans up after cooking. It's no use telling her otherwise.

"No, Auntie, we eat at our own store for free. We have a pancake shop at home, and my parents and parents-in-law are looking after it." Su He thought that Auntie Xu was quite kind.

But forget it, it’s too troublesome to cook by myself, so I’d rather go to the bakery and eat ready-made ones.

Aunt Xu was surprised, "Teacher Su, are you saying that your family opened a pancake shop?"

Su He smiled and said, "Yes, it's not far from here, it's called Mongolian Stuffed Pancakes, Auntie, you can go and try it when you have time."

"Okay, okay. OK."

Aunt Xu remembered that her old man seemed to have packed some cakes for her last week and told her that there was a cake shop nearby and the cakes were quite delicious.

I guess it’s Teacher Su’s shop.

No wonder, they have their own store, they can just eat there, why bother queuing here to eat, besides, people are going to school or work inside.

Cooking is so troublesome.

After hearing this, Qian Sui'er was a little disdainful at first.

"It's not decent for this couple to be self-employed even though they have jobs."

Aunt Xu: "It's not shameful at all. The country allows and supports it. It's OK as long as you make money."

It's better than staying at home and not making any money.

She said, "Qian Sui'er, why don't you go out and sell steamed buns or something? Your son is grown up now and doesn't need you to look after him anymore since he's in school."

Qian Sui'er shook her head when she heard this and said, "I won't do it. It's so undignified."

If she were to go out to work, she would definitely go to a reputable state-owned unit. She wouldn't want to be a self-employed person, that would be too embarrassing.

After hearing this, Aunt Xu said nothing more.

The whole family depends on her husband's salary. It was okay in the past, because there was no extra work and it was a one-time job.

Now that the country has allowed it, who cares whether it's decent or not?

Can respectability be eaten?

Aunt Xu didn't understand.

If she were Qian Sui'er, she would have gone out to work long ago, selling buns or steamed buns, or anything else, as long as she could earn money and reduce the burden on her family.

The most important thing is that the country now allows it and encourages everyone to run individual businesses.

After the bun shop opened, Xiaomei, Mingyue, and Xueer came a few times. Seeing that the business was good, Xiaomei thought about whether to let Zhang Chen come over to sell buns.

She talked about this with Su He, hoping that her aunt could give her some advice.

"How about your Zhang Chen's dumplings? Are they delicious?"

Although the combination of white flour and meat is not too bad, it is sold to customers after all, and customers who can afford to buy buns should not be short of money.

If the food you buy once is not tasty, customers will eat somewhere else next time.

Xiaomei, "The buns made by my aunt Zhang Chen are delicious, especially the braised pork buns. They are especially delicious."

This is not her way of praising her man. At the end of 1978, the country announced reform and opening up, allowing ordinary people to do business on their own.

At the beginning of last year, when school started, she was so excited that she wrote to Zhang Chen, asking him to learn how to make dumplings, the taste of which was similar to the dumplings from state-owned restaurants.

Zhang Chen really practiced it.

Then he invented his own dish, steamed buns with braised pork in soy sauce. Originally, he didn’t know how to make it, but one day, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He fried the meat, then added a few spoonfuls of soybean sauce and onions.

Used as filling for steamed buns, it tastes surprisingly delicious after being steamed.

It was really delicious. Since that time, her family member Zhang Chen seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians and has come up with several kinds of bun fillings, including vermicelli and tofu, and eggplant and chili fillings.

Although the filling is weird, it tastes surprisingly delicious.

Moreover, the patterns on the dumplings are not inferior to those in state-owned hotels, and even feel better. Xiaomei thinks her Zhang Chen is very talented in this aspect.

She is very dexterous, and she can't wrap such beautiful patterns.

Not to mention her, even her elder sister, second sister, mother and grandmother couldn’t make such beautiful patterns.

The buns made by Zhang Chen have symmetrical folds, are very round, and are plump and white.

White flour and meat cannot be eaten every day, so Zhang Chen from her family usually uses cornmeal to make dumplings, and the fillings are various vegetarian fillings. Anyway, as long as the vegetables are edible, he will use them to make dumplings.

Su He heard this and said, "Okay, but Xiaomei, you can ask him to come over during the summer vacation. It's vacation time then, so you can go back and pack up and come over together."

"Zhang Chen can also earn a few extra months' salary."

In the book, after Xiaomei was admitted to university, she took Zhang Chen to the city where she lived. The book did not mention what business Zhang Chen did, but judging from the situation, it is possible that Zhang Chen also did catering.

Maybe it's just selling buns.

Xiaomei actually wanted Zhang Chen to come over right away, but after hearing what her aunt said, it seemed possible, as the holiday was not far away, only two months left.

Why not wait until the holidays and come over together?

This way Zhang Chen has enough time to prepare, otherwise she would be in a hurry if she asked Zhang Chen to come over now.

"All right, aunt, I'll go back and write the letter now."

When Xiaomei thought that she and Zhang Chen would never be separated again, she jumped for joy and left.

Su He looked at Xiaomei's back and smiled. They had been there together when they were young, so she understood Xiaomei's mood very well.

The couple didn't have any children yet and their relationship was very strong.

It's really not good to be separated from each other all the time.

Gu's mother also knew about this; the second daughter had told her about it when she was at home.

"Xiao He, if Zhang Chen comes here, he might stay in the attic of our store."

Gu's mother didn't know about the two brothers of the Tang family and thought that Mingyue and Tang Zexu had been renting a house.

Under such circumstances, it would be inconvenient for Zhang Chen to move in with them. Besides, the house was not big, and there was no extra room for Mingyue, Tang Zexu and their family of four.

Unless you sleep in the living room.

But it is very inconvenient to live there all the time. How can my brother-in-law always live in my eldest sister's house in my mother's family?

It is quite convenient to live in the attic of their bakery. Xiaomei can come and live with us at night.

"Well, what's wrong, Mom?" Su He looked at Gu's mother puzzledly.

She had already told this to Second Sister Gu before, so just live there, it's empty anyway.

They are not other people, they are our family.

Zhang Chen and Xiaomei are a nice couple.

The couple was very clean, so Su He didn't have to worry about them making the house dirty by living in the attic of the bakery.

Besides, my niece, uncle, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother are all in the capital. We have a place to live at home, so we can rent a house to them.

"It's okay, I just want to talk to you."

What could go wrong for Gu's mother? She just felt that the shop belonged to her son and daughter-in-law, and if a relative wanted to come and live there, she had to let her daughter-in-law know first.

You can't just bring someone here without saying anything.

Su He, "Well, Mom, how are you feeling? Are you tired?"

Since the bakery opened, more and more customers have come, and business is booming. The daily turnover has increased from five or six yuan to eight or nine yuan, and occasionally up to ten yuan.

Mother Gu shook her head and said, "I'm not tired. Why should I be tired? We are all fine."

There were four of them. Su's mother basically worked as a waitress at the front desk collecting the cashier, Gu's mother was busy making pancakes, Su's father was cooking, and Gu's father was clearing the table, washing dishes, sweeping and mopping the floor.

Anyway, apart from collecting money and taking orders, which was what Su's mother had to do, the other tasks among the four of them were pretty much mixed. Although Gu's mother and Su's father were chefs, they would also come out to clean up the front room when the kitchen was not busy.

Su He thought for a moment and said, "Mom, why don't I get you some help?"

She also didn't expect the bakery business to be so good. Initially, she asked her parents and parents-in-law to open the shop just to help them pass the time.

What she and Gu Jianhua thought at that time was that the shop was their own, the chefs and waiters were also their family members, and as long as they did not lose money every day in running a restaurant, it would be fine. She did not expect to make much money.

I never thought this small bakery would be so successful, earning over NT$150 million in the first month of operation.

Now the daily turnover is likely to exceed 300.

With a monthly turnover of 300 yuan, the shop was really busy. She was afraid that the elders might not be able to come to the shop, after all, they were too old.

Her parents and in-laws own a shop. Her ideal situation for customers coming into the shop should be that they come in one at a time after finishing their meal, rather than coming in a group.

Who knew that not only a bunch of them would come, but more and more.

This requires someone to do it.

Gu's mother refused to do it. "Why hire anyone and spend that money? The four of us can handle it. Besides, Zhang Chen will come over during the summer vacation. He will stay in the shop after selling buns. We can just ask him to do it. There is no need to hire anyone else."

"Yes, the four of us are enough, no need to invite anyone else."

Su's mother also came over and said something after she had finished her account.

Su He, "I'm just worried that you'll get tired."

"We are not tired. We are full of energy every day." Father Su came out of the kitchen.

This bakery is their first successful business venture. Every day, there are so many customers who like to eat their bakery and stir-fried dishes.

The feeling is indescribable. Although their family members always praise their cooking, after all, they are family members, and it feels different to be praised by customers.

"Okay, okay, let's not invite anyone." Su He agreed on the surface, but in his heart he was thinking about going back to discuss this matter with Gu Jianhua.

The bakery has a lot of customers every day, so it has to hire a waiter or a dishwasher.

When Su He returned home in the evening, she mentioned this to Gu Jianhua, "My parents are old and there are many guests. I am afraid they will be tired."

"Originally, our original intention was to bring the four of them to Beijing to live out their old age, take them to the park for a stroll, go fishing, etc. But now, they are looking after our store instead."

Su He felt guilty. His parents raised him all his life and now they were old, they still had to open a shop to make money for them.

Her parents-in-law are both in their seventies, and her parents are almost seventy too.

"Or, wife, I'll quit my job," said Gu Jianhua.

What his wife said does make sense. His parents are old, and they should not be like Old Man Wu in their village, who suddenly fainted while working in the fields.

Su He, "You quit your job and become a chef"

Gu Jianhua, "Yes, I am a chef. I think I am pretty good at cooking, not worse than my father."

"You don't want to work at the Public Security Bureau anymore? That's a job at the Public Security Bureau."

Although the salary is not much, it is acceptable compared to other positions. 48 yuan a month is really not a small amount.

And it's more respectable. It's better to say that you work in the Public Security Bureau than to say that you are a self-employed person.

Gu Jianhua, "Listen to me, my wife. I feel that this job of mine has no future and no room for advancement, and I am also old..."

When he was in his hometown, he was promoted to the position of deputy director by his superiors, but in that small county town of his hometown, it made little difference whether he was promoted or not.

Needless to say, when he arrived in Beijing, he had to start as an ordinary police officer.

The main reason is that they are short of staff in the store. My parents are getting old, and the smell of cooking oil will definitely affect their health after a long time.

Su He, "Well, what you said makes sense, but let's talk about this during the summer vacation. Zhang Chen will come over during the summer vacation."

Gu Jianhua: "That's fine."

After working as a police officer for more than ten years, he really wanted to change jobs.

"But you want to hire a dishwasher. Who do you hire? Is there anyone suitable?"

Su He shook his head, "No, but I'll ask, we have so many neighbors."

"When I have a day off the day after tomorrow, I will ask Aunt Xu next door to see if she has anyone suitable."

There were about ten households living on one floor of their tube-shaped building. Su He had only chatted with Aunt Xu next door a few times, and had hardly spoken to the other neighbors.

She is not familiar with them.

The main reason is that she works during the day and sleeps at night, so the chances of encountering her are rare.

Gu Jianhua, "Okay, then you can ask. We need to hire a dishwasher."

Su He: “Yeah.”

"As you said, you quit your job and become a chef in a pie shop. Who will bake the pie? You can bake it when there are few people, but you can't do it alone when there are many people."

Gu Jianhua sighed, "Then I will definitely ask my parents for help."

Su He said, "Then it's up to them."