After three days of tidying up, the houses in town were finally finished, and Zhou Sui had someone make a signboard.
Four simple yet elegant characters: Zhouji Snacks
Before the store even opened, Zhou Sui put up a sign by the door that read: "On the opening day, every customer who enters the store will receive a free spiced tea egg."
In addition, there are watercolor paintings of several snacks, as well as their opening hours.
The store is fully stocked and ready to open for business.
The whole family was eagerly waiting, but Zhou Sui was unhurried, spending her days studying food in a notebook.
"Sui Sui, can we open for business tomorrow?" Zhou Dayong couldn't help but ask before going to bed that night.
He thought that if he rented the house but didn't open it for business, he would lose money.
"Open!" Zhou Sui's resolute words reassured Zhou Dayong, and he went to sleep satisfied with the affirmative answer.
On the opening day, apart from Zhou Xu and Zhou Yu who were still in school, the rest of the Zhou family arrived in town early in the morning.
As soon as the door opened, Zhou Dayong lit a string of firecrackers. The crackling sound symbolized a thriving business and attracted a lot of onlookers.
After all, the sign had been up for two days, but the store hadn't opened for business yet, and passersby were curious about what kind of novel food this newly opened store was selling.
As soon as the firecrackers were finished, Zhou Sui had someone move the wooden board with the menu written on it to the door.
People gathered around the door to take a look:
Delicious Oden
Big Bowl Mala Tang
Spicy Stinky Tofu
Crispy Grilled Sausage
Satisfying your cravings with hot and sour noodles
This is a drawing that Zhou Sui spent several nights working on. The lines are a little distorted, but it looks quite cute.
The people gathered at the entrance recognized Zhou Sui and her daughter when they saw the oden and mala tang stalls. "You used to sell from a cart on South Street, right?"
“Yes.” Zhou Sui nodded. “Now, in addition to oden and mala tang, there are several other snacks available.”
"We're giving away spiced tea eggs today for our opening."
"These eggs were boiled yesterday, and they're very flavorful."
As she spoke, Zhou Sui opened the lid of the pot on the fire by the door, and the aroma of tea eggs wafted out.
Those who had eaten oden and mala tang before went in first. "Their oden and mala tang are delicious, so the others should be pretty good too. Boss, give me a bowl of hot and sour noodles."
"Okay." Zhou Sui replied with a smile, leading the person to the table and calling out to Li Qiuju in the kitchen, "A bowl of hot and sour noodles."
Then she brought over two tea eggs in a small dish, saying, "Sister, have some tea eggs first, the hot and sour noodles will be here soon."
The older woman looked at the two tea eggs with some surprise, "Boss, I only ordered one serving."
Zhou Sui glanced at the child she was carrying on her back, "One of them is for the children."
"Oh, thank you so much! He can't eat eggs yet." The older sister's child is only a little over a year old.
"Today is our grand opening special, everyone who comes in and makes a purchase gets a discount." Since that's what she wrote on her sign, she'll definitely give it out.
People kept coming in, and Zhou Sui didn't have time to talk to her much. She greeted them and turned around to take their orders.
When we arrived this morning, Zhou Sui had already assigned everyone their tasks. She was responsible for taking orders and collecting money at the counter by the door.
Li Qiuju and Grandma Zhou were preparing the dishes in the kitchen. Zhou Sui had prepared the ingredients the night before, and all they had to do was follow the steps to serve them to the guests.
Zhou Xu and Zhou Dawu were responsible for serving dishes and picking up bowls, while Zhang Cui was responsible for serving tea eggs, sweeping the floor, and wiping the tables.
There was also a dishwashing job, which Zhou Dayong took on, since it saved him from having to move around.
Only half an hour after opening, the tables inside the store were already full of people, and several stools were placed outside.
Passersby were curious about the food on the table and wanted to buy some to try.
"Sui, there are no seats left, what should we do?" Zhang Cui looked around and saw that both the inside and outside seats were full.
"It's alright, Auntie, you can take this food home and eat it too," Zhou Sui reassured them, then called out to the people in line.
"All food items in the store can be taken away, and a tea egg will be given as a gift with each takeaway."
She noticed that several tables had only bought crispy grilled sausages, which could actually be eaten directly from the grill.
"You should have said so earlier, boss, I'm not in line anymore." Just as she finished speaking, a young man came over and said, "Give me two grilled sausages."
After Zhou Sui received the money, Zhun Tou said to Zhang Cui, "Auntie, could you please go to the kitchen and help pack this up? My mom and grandma might not be able to manage. The bags are in the rightmost cupboard."
"What about the eggs?" Zhang Cui asked.
"Tell my dad to come over." The pot for boiling eggs is right by the door. Zhou Dayong just needs to stand at the door, and each person who goes in can scoop an egg for him and have the customer take it inside.
Knowing that takeout was available, many people stopped waiting for a table, which made Zhang Cui in the kitchen sweat profusely. She had to write down an order for each serving, afraid of making a mistake.
"Boss, are you still open this afternoon?" someone asked as they finished eating and left.
"Yes, we're open. We don't close until 7 PM." Zhou Sui said, jotting down the question in her notebook. She had forgotten to mark the opening hours on the wall.
"Okay, I'll come again this afternoon and try your stinky tofu."
"This stinky tofu is delicious. It smells bad, but it tastes like nothing at all," said a customer eating stinky tofu by the door as soon as he finished speaking.
"I'm too full now, I don't have room for anything else, I'll come this afternoon."
Zhou Sui smiled and saw the person out. Of all the snacks, Zhou Sui was not worried about anything else, but she was a little concerned about stinky tofu, since it had a strong smell.
Fortunately, when she built the kitchen, she made it semi-open, separated by a layer of glass, so that people could see what was being done inside from the outside.
This is quite novel, since no other food shop in town has shown its kitchen to the public.
That's how everyone can see how stinky tofu is made. Originally, not many people ate it, but after watching the process, some people tried ordering it to try, and many of them thought it tasted pretty good.
One person says it's delicious, another says it's delicious, and naturally more people will eat it.
From opening time until 7 p.m., the store was constantly filled with people eating. Zhou Sui had prepared enough for two days, but she sold most of it in just one day.
As the last customer left the restaurant, Zhou Sui quickly asked them to close the door.
The whole family was either sitting or leaning, and although they were clearly very tired, they all had smiles on their faces.
"Oh my god, I tied that bag so hard today, my fingers got tangled in it several times."
Zhang Cui finds it funny when she thinks about it, "The more panicked I became, the more chaotic things got. At that time, I just wished I had only two hands."
“You’re still a bit weak. I was carrying two big bowls of hot and sour noodles, all full, and I walked really fast, and I didn’t spill a single drop,” Zhou Dawu said with some pride.
"Dad, please stop talking." Zhou Peng rubbed his nose. "If you have stinky tofu, let me get it. My nose smells like stinky tofu right now."
"Hahaha." Zhou Peng's words caused everyone to burst into laughter. "Da Wu is too bad, bullying his son."
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