“You’ve seen our meal standards here. Since they’re children from our residential area, they don’t have to pay. But if they come from outside to eat, then they have to pay according to our rates,” Zhao Qinglan said.
“Auntie, it’s only right,” Cheng Tao agreed.
"Lunch will be provided for a month, 15 yuan, plus 5 yuan in food coupons. If you think that's acceptable, then you can continue to come and eat here."
This price may not seem expensive at first glance; a meal costs less than a dollar.
But these days, many workers only earn a few hundred yuan a month.
Of course, Cheng Tao didn't care about any of that. Apart from occasionally eating at other people's houses, he spent more than that amount every month.
That's right, Zhao Qinglan planned to start a small catering business, but she didn't necessarily intend to make a lot of money from it.
After all, in this era, especially in a city in the Northwest, how many families would allow their children to spend money to have their meals at a private after-school care center?
She was just adding some revenue to the store on the side.
Another reason is that she also felt it was a bit inconvenient for the children to come to the kitchen to eat every day.
She was thinking of renting another house nearby. She had originally planned to pay for the rent herself, as a small benefit for the children in the family compound.
But her son's words last night gave her an idea.
She doesn't expect the small catering business to make a lot of money; she'll be satisfied if it can cover the rent and other costs.
Of course, she would be happy if she could actually make some money.
"No problem, Auntie, I'll pay right now." Cheng Tao immediately started taking out his money as soon as he finished speaking, as if afraid that Zhao Qinglan would change her mind.
Who carries so much money with them to school every day?
Like Da Wa, he has saved up quite a bit of his New Year's money and pocket money, but he usually only carries one or two yuan with him.
Judging from Cheng Tao's behavior, Zhao Qinglan became increasingly convinced that his family must be extremely wealthy and powerful.
After receiving Cheng Tao's money, Zhao Qinglan called her son to inquire.
Da Wa wandered around the classroom for a bit, and besides Cheng Tao, there were two or three other students who directly expressed interest.
This is just the initial result for their class; perhaps other classes have more examples.
Cheng Tao overheard the conversation between the mother and son, and when he returned to school with Da Wa and the others, he volunteered to help.
"Li Yansen, don't worry, I'll tell them that the food here is really good, and I'm sure a lot of people will want to come."
"Thanks," the older child said.
They walked back to the classroom arm in arm, which aroused the dissatisfaction of some students in the class.
Thinking about how Da Wa left just like that yesterday, I felt that Da Wa hadn't taken their words to heart at all.
A few people huddled together and whispered among themselves.
Well, the eldest child really didn't take them seriously.
In terms of age, Da Wa is actually the youngest in the class, while most of the students are thirteen or fourteen. However, Da Wa is more mature than them.
Perhaps it was his childhood experiences, or perhaps it was the many places he had visited with Zhao Qinglan over the years and the broadened his horizons, but in any case, the provocations and warnings from those people seemed very childish to Da Wa.
This is probably why Cheng Tao, who is also precocious, finds Da Wa pleasing to the eye and wants to be friends with him.
The incident at the small dining table didn't occupy Zhao Qinglan's attention much.
She's almost finished with her self-study course, and once she passes the exam, she'll get her certificate. She's been busy with that these past few days.
Once she gets the certificate, she can communicate and cooperate with Zhang Yu more often on their business.
Soon, besides Cheng Tao, more than a dozen students from various classes in the district middle school also thought of paying for meals together with the military.
Cheng Tao played a significant role in this, describing the meals provided by the military and civilians as both delicious and affordable.
These dozen or so students all came from well-off families, and their parents accompanied them to the military-civilian cooperation site for the inspection.
Not every student is like Cheng Tao, able to make their own decisions and carry so much money with them.
When parents first see that their children are eating in a kitchen shared by the military and civilians, some are naturally dissatisfied.
However, Zhao Qinglan quickly took these parents next door and told them that this would be where the children would eat from now on. They only needed to finish painting and cleaning before they could move to another place, which naturally satisfied the picky parents.
After a dozen or so other students started eating there, they felt that the money they had paid was well worth it.
When they got home, their parents would ask what they had for lunch, and after hearing their descriptions, they thought it was pretty good.
In this era when information exchange is not very convenient, word of mouth is a very important way of promotion.
After Zhao Qinglan finished renting and tidying up the place next door, and the children who were eating moved in, many more parents came to register their children for the after-school care program.
Among them were elementary school students and high school students.
In the end, Zhao Qinglan had no choice but to expand the scale and also recruited two more military wives from the military family area to take care of things here.
Because more students were eating at the military-civilian joint dining hall, Da Wa got to know many people from other classes and older students.
The boys in the class who disliked him became increasingly resentful.
But if they wanted to cause trouble for Da Wa, Da Wa was always surrounded by a large group of people, and they couldn't find a good opportunity for him in the short term.
Normally, Zhao Qinglan would go back to her family quarters to spend time with her husband and children on weekends. But now, on holidays, both her second child and her youngest child insist on going to the city to stay.
As for the third child, he just follows his older siblings wherever they want to do.
Finally, Zhao Qinglan passed the exam and obtained her certificate.
At this moment, she was finally a person with a proper education!
Perhaps after the turn of the millennium, her certificate lost its value, but in the 1980s and 90s, the certificates from open universities and night schools were still quite valuable.
With this certificate, it will be much easier for her to do things in the future.
After she received her marriage certificate, her whole family had a celebratory meal together.
As soon as this matter was over, she quickly contacted Zhang Yu, who was still in the south.
Zhang Yu then invited her to come to Shenzhen, at least to see their company.
That's right, Zhang Yu has already established a company in Shenzhen.
To be honest, Zhao Qinglan was quite tempted. She had never been to Shenzhen in the 1980s.
When she got home and told her husband, Li Huai expressed his support.
"Go ahead, don't worry about home, I'm here, and Mom is here too."
"How come you're so nice?" Zhao Qinglan chuckled.
"Since I'm so good, how about rewarding me?" Li Huai blinked.
"What reward?"
"You tell me first whether you agree or not."
"Okay, I agree." It's just a reward, after all.
Well, she was careless after all. Because of Zhao Qinglan's words, she really suffered a lot that night.
However, the person was quite satisfied, and his eyebrows were smiling when he went to the military camp.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
