Chapter 353: Looking for a Storefront

Xia Juanjuan found her former comrade who had come to help during the busy farming season and asked if any of the two factories were willing to lend them their houses.

Upon asking, I found out that it actually exists.

The staff dormitories are allocated to married people in the factory, while unmarried people live in single dormitories.

Some local workers have old houses at home and were allocated houses according to the house allocation rules, or their parents and themselves were allocated houses and one of their parents passed away, so they brought the other parent to live in their home to take care of him/her in his/her old age. Some of them also have vacancy and are willing to lend it out on an unexpected basis.

Xia Juanjuan asked her comrades to help inquire about the situation with those families who were willing to rent their houses, but she did not go to see them.

She was not the one who rented the house, so it was not easy for her to help Zhou Qiuhe and the others make the decision.

After greeting each other and making an appointment to view a house in the afternoon, Xia Juanjuan went for a stroll near the train station.

When she passed by two days ago, she remembered that there was only one state-owned restaurant left in the railway station, and there were two shops next to it that were closed all year round, so she wanted to come over to see what was going on.

There are all kinds of people near the train station, but the flow of people is also large, so it is a good location to rent a store and do business.

When I looked over, I saw that there were two stores next to the state-owned restaurant that were locked.

After asking around, I found out that one of these two restaurants was also a private restaurant.

I heard that the chef had gone to Beijing to learn his craft, and then returned to his hometown to open his own business. During those years, he worked in a state-owned hotel.

The chef was too stubborn and didn't get along with the manager, so he quit in anger.

The original scale of the state-owned hotel was to cover these two stores. After the chef quit, the taste of the food deteriorated a lot, and customers left. In addition, the stores were owned by the chef, so the hotel saw that it could not be maintained and closed them.

There is another one that is also privately owned. I don’t know what it sells, but it is also guarded by a general.

Xia Juanjuan went into the state-owned hotel and asked if anyone knew where the owners of the two houses lived.

It will take several years before private businesses are allowed to open shops, but when there are signs of this happening, and then you start buying shops, the prices will have gone up.

A few years ago, Xia Juanjuan was afraid that it would attract too much attention so she didn't do it, but now is the right time.

The waiter in the store looked arrogant and ignored Xia Juanjuan.

Instead, a kitchen helper came out to clean up the mess on the table and took over the conversation, saying with a smile, "Are you looking for Lao Liu? His house is not far behind."

Xia Juanjuan wanted to ask more carefully, but the waiter in the store said impatiently: "Auntie Li, just do your job, why are you talking nonsense?"

When Aunt Li heard this, she shrank her neck and didn't dare to say anything more. She collected the dishes and went to the kitchen.

Xia Juanjuan was also amused and confused. What kind of hatred or resentment is this? No wonder they say that waiters in state-owned stores have a stable job these days and that they have bad service attitudes.

But the people she met before, such as Director Zheng and the owner of the photo studio, were all good. Today, she had an experience of that.

Xia Juanjuan planned to wait until Aunt Li got off work before asking her about the details, so she walked outside.

I didn't expect the waiter had something else waiting for me.

"You come to the hotel but don't eat, why are you asking questions? You are a poor country boy, what a problem!"

Xia Juanjuan was a little angry now.

It would be fine if you don't allow me to ask, but it's too much to even speak in a derogatory manner.

Xia Juanjuan thought about it, then sat down and said, "Then I'll have a meal. Your specialty is soup dumplings, right? I'll have a basket of them and a bowl of vegetable noodles."

She had been to this restaurant before when she got off the train. The soup dumplings there were absolutely amazing, with thin skin, thick fillings and delicious soup, comparable to the quality of a hotel chef.

As soon as you taste the vegetable noodles, you can tell that they are fried with lard. There is a layer of oil on the soup. The vegetables are light and the noodles are tasty. The value for money is very high.

Adding a poached egg is the most popular order among customers in the past.

Seeing this, the waiter still had a sullen look on his face.

Why? If she didn’t eat, she would complain about others. If she ate, she would complain too, because she had to work.

"One dollar and fifty cents! Pay first." the waiter said arrogantly.

The price has increased compared to two years ago.

But Xia Juanjuan was not bothered. She paid the money and waited for the ordered food to be served.

While waiting, I looked around the store.

Since we are planning to become a competitor with this company in the future, we must first investigate the enemy.

She remembered that this store was doing good business two years ago. It turned out that there was also a store next door, and it was always packed.

I didn’t expect that in just two years, not only was half of the business closed, but there were no customers either, and the business was almost deserted.

After a while, the small basket and dough were ready.

Xia Juanjuan picked up a small steamed bun with chopsticks and took a bite, then frowned slightly.

It was hot, but it was obviously not freshly cooked, but leftovers that had been heated up.

The dough is thick and firm, with only a tiny bit of meat filling and a strange smell.

Taking another sip of the vegetable noodle soup, I realized that it really brought out the blandness of the soup to its fullest.

Xia Juanjuan even suspected that there was not a drop of oil in it, just a salty taste.

The noodles were also soft and overcooked, without any chewiness at all.

Xia Juanjuan was a little hungry, but couldn't eat.

No wonder this store lost its popularity, the food has become unpalatable, the prices have even gone up, and with waiters who speak in a sarcastic and mocking manner, it's hard not to feel unhappy.

I guess they think the railway station business doesn't have many repeat customers, so it doesn't matter.

But the guests are not fools, and word of mouth is the life of the hotel. After all this trouble, after a long time, once the reputation of ripping off guests gets out, it will be harder than climbing to the sky to redeem the reputation.

Xia Juanjuan ate a few more bites, but couldn't eat any more, so she got up and left.

In the end, she didn't bother to complain to the waiter, but he didn't intend to let her go. Seeing her leaving food, he sneered and said, "What kind of person is this! Wasting food!"

Xia Juanjuan turned around and sneered:

"What's wrong? Did I owe you money or did I dig up your ancestral graves? Why are you so mean?

You are so mean. Why did you become hoarse when I asked you just now?

Am I wasting food?

Your restaurant makes good food look like this and makes it hard for customers to swallow, isn't that a waste of food?"

The waitress originally thought that this customer had not spoken back at first and even sat down to eat after being ridiculed by her. She probably thought that this customer was just a cowardly person with a thin skin. She didn't expect that he would actually confront her like this now.

The hotel manager is her uncle, so no one dares to mess with her. Shen Qi is used to it. She was immediately angry and said, "You! I will remember you! If you come to our restaurant again in the future, I will kick you out!"

Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "Come again? The food is so bad, I don't think you'll be closing soon before I come back!"

After saying that, he walked away without looking back. The waiter was so angry that his face turned blue and he took it out on other customers in the store.

Looking at the time, Zhou Qiuhe was almost there, so Xia Juanjuan met her at the door of the agreed photo studio and went to look at houses together.

Finally, we decided on a two-bedroom, one-living room, and a kitchen. The landlord asked for fifteen yuan a month, and we negotiated it down to twelve.

The rent was not cheap. After all, Zhou Qiuhe worked in the county town and her salary was only 28 yuan a month.

However, Lijie also made some extra money. The house was big and in a good location. It was close to the county supply and marketing cooperative and the school. The children could go to and from school by themselves and there was no need for them to be picked up, which saved him a lot of trouble.

After renting the house, Zhou Qiuhe had to hurry back to the village, so Xia Juanjuan turned to the train station and waited for Aunt Li to get off work.