Banquet catering
Liu Xiangmei felt that she was definitely not the kind of person who would forget the pain once the wound healed, and that wasn't just a simple wound. Those two-faced people, no, those beasts, wanted to sell her precious daughter. How could she possibly forget?
Although it was late at night, none of the Wang family members in Jinhua Village were asleep.
Liu Lan knelt before the Bodhisattva, muttering that she had admitted that she was feeling unwell that afternoon because she had no other choice, and hoped that the Bodhisattva would not take it seriously.
Wang Sheng sat on the doorstep, smoking his pipe, seemingly lost in thought.
Wang Tianhua and Liu Ailing were already in bed, but they weren't asleep.
When Wang Tianhua heard Liu Ailing say that she saw Liu Huahua working in Liu Xiangmei's shop, wearing the same shop uniform as Liu Xiangmei and the others, and looking very energetic, he felt uneasy.
Then she thought of the old man Li she had seen; he seemed even younger than before.
These things should have belonged to Old Wang's family.
If the mother and daughter hadn't discovered that incident a few months ago, the relationship between the two families wouldn't have been so bad, and Liu Xiangmei wouldn't have hired those unrelated people when she opened her shop in the county.
Dad can do Old Li's work, Mom and his wife can do Liu Huahua's and Chen Xiu's work, and as for himself, he can ask Liu Xiangmei to ask someone in the health bureau for a favor, and maybe he can be transferred to the county.
As he thought about it, Wang Tianhua couldn't help but smile.
Liu Ailing shoved Wang Tianhua, pulling him out of his fantasy world, and complained to him, "What are you grinning about? Did you hear what I said? Our family is in this state because of your mother. You have to have a good talk with her tomorrow. It would be best if you could get her to go to the county and kneel down to apologize to Liu Xiangmei. Once Liu Xiangmei forgives us, our lives might get better."
When Wang Tianhua heard "kneel down and apologize," his brows furrowed involuntarily. A mother-in-law kneeling before her daughter-in-law was simply the opposite of what was expected. However, his daughter-in-law was not wrong; his mother had indeed done something wrong. Today, it was also his mother's fault for acting recklessly; otherwise, Liu Xiangmei might not have been so angry.
In short, no matter what mistakes are made, it's always someone else's fault; this couple has become accustomed to absolving themselves of any responsibility for their own errors.
However, they distanced themselves from the situation, which others did not.
The next day, Liu Lan overheard the two of them talking in unison and decided that she should apologize to that bitch Liu Xiangmei. She was so angry that she couldn't breathe.
It took him a long time to recover, and then he slapped Liu Ailing across the face. How could his son have done anything wrong? It was all his daughter-in-law's fault for instigating things. Only by disciplining his daughter-in-law could the family be at peace.
So, in the days that followed, the Wang family was in constant chaos. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would fight over trivial matters every day, and Wang Tianhua was caught in the middle, only able to find a moment of peace when he stayed at the village clinic.
As for apologizing to Liu Xiangmei, Liu Lan would never agree to it, and Liu Ailing and Wang Tianhua had long forgotten about it.
Wang Sheng became even more silent. His family was on the verge of falling apart, let alone winning back Liu Xiangmei.
Now, all he does when he opens his eyes is work in the fields and smoke his pipe. Sometimes he doesn't say a word to anyone for days. Only when he occasionally hears someone in the village mention how good Liu Xiangmei's business is do will he get his attention, and then he falls into an even more deathly silence.
Liu Xiangmei's business is indeed getting better and better, and now she has even launched a banquet contracting service, which started with that deputy section chief from the Health Bureau.
The day Old Wang went to the house happened to be the day Section Chief Ji went to pay the deposit, which is why Liu Xiangmei was able to easily get Section Chief Ji to come forward.
Section Chief Ji's wife is in poor health, and her daughter-in-law also keeps an eye on the children, not letting them eat anything outside. The more they are forbidden to eat, the more they crave it, so the old lady and her grandson often sneak out to find food.
The two happened to run into the restaurant on the day they were making braised pork. Seeing everyone queuing up to buy it, and some even buying several portions at once, they joined in the fun. After eating it once, they couldn't forget it.
Later, the restaurant stopped serving braised pork. The two of them tried making it at home several times and also ate it at other restaurants several times, but the taste was always disappointing.
The more they couldn't have it, the more they craved it, and the two of them spent every day reminiscing about the taste of that braised pork. It was fresh and fragrant with a hint of spiciness, and the sauce was sweet, making it irresistible. They really wanted to eat it again, but the Haozailai Restaurant seemed to be keeping them hanging on, never making it again.
The old lady's birthday is coming soon, and Section Chief Ji plans to invite some relatives and friends to get together and celebrate with her. Originally, the old lady was unwilling, thinking it would be too much trouble and that her family could just cook a meal at home.
But her grandson pulled her into the bedroom and chatted with her for a while. She didn't know what he said, but when the old lady came out, she changed her mind. However, she had one condition: it had to be at the Hao Zai Lai Restaurant, and she wanted to order the food herself.
Although Section Chief Ji works in the personnel department, the incident at the Haozailai Restaurant caused quite a stir recently, so he also knows about the restaurant.
He hesitated and said, "This restaurant is a bit small. Let's go to the Jinzhou Hotel instead. We always go to the Jinzhou Hotel."
Section Chief Ji's wife also agreed, saying that Haolai Restaurant was just a hole-in-the-wall place, and it would be too low-class to hold a birthday banquet there!
Who knew that the old lady insisted on staying at Hao Zailai Restaurant, and the child also made a fuss, saying that he liked the food at Hao Zailai Restaurant.
This led to their discovery. Under questioning from Section Chief Ji's wife, the two hesitantly confessed to sneaking a meal at the Haozailai Restaurant.
Is it really that delicious?
The old lady and her grandson nodded vigorously, saying it was really delicious, especially the braised pork; they had never eaten such delicious braised pork in their lives.
Seeing a little child and an old man so eager to try the food at the restaurant, Section Chief Ji had an idea. You see, while these two were a bit gluttonous, they didn't eat everything. Their families were well-off, so they were quite picky eaters. Since they both said it was delicious, it must really be good.
Although Section Chief Ji's wife was still a little reluctant, since it was a birthday banquet for the old lady, she could go wherever the old lady wanted, and they would just prepare a few more hearty dishes.
They've reached an agreement on this, but they haven't considered whether the restaurant will agree to the return trip.
"I'm sorry, but we don't accept banquets at our restaurant right now," Liu Xiangmei said apologetically.
Section Chief Ji and his wife were dumbfounded. They never expected that after discussing it at home for so long, this situation would occur. What should they do? The two of them were already discussing what dishes to order.
Section Chief Ji's wife looked around and saw that it was only seven o'clock, but the restaurant's lobby was already full of people, and there were still people queuing outside. Business was indeed booming.
Looking at the skewers the customer ordered, "glug~", they looked pretty good.
Since they weren't accepting banquet bookings, they couldn't leave empty-handed. She asked Section Chief Ji, "Hey, Lao Ji, are you hungry?"
Huh? Didn't you come to reserve a table? Why are you asking this all of a sudden?
But as a man who had been disciplined for over ten years, Section Chief Ji understood immediately from his wife's eyes, "Hungry? Of course I'm hungry, I haven't eaten since I got off work!"
His wife nodded in approval at his answer, saying, "Since you're so hungry, let's order some grilled skewers first."
Since there were no seats available, the two had no choice but to pack their food and take it with them.
While waiting for the skewers, Section Chief Ji offered a few more words of advice: "Boss, when it comes to business, it doesn't matter what you sell. We're only booking the lunch banquet, so it won't affect your evening business at all. Think it over carefully. If you're willing to take it on, you can give me a call."
Liu Xiangmei had absolutely no desire to accept the banquet. The buffet was selling just fine, so why hold a banquet? And where would the students eat lunch if there was a banquet? So she took the phone number that Section Chief Ji handed her and put the matter aside.
Wang Yao only learned about this when she came back from evening self-study and overheard Chen Xiu chatting.
Upon hearing this, Wang Yao immediately became excited and ran to the kitchen to ask, "Mom, we can take on banquets! What a great opportunity to make money!"
"We sell buffet lunches at noon and barbecues in the evening, where would we find the time to help them with banquets?"
Wang Yao clicked her tongue and said, "We can hold it on Sunday. Students are on holiday on Sunday, and we would have reduced the amount of food at our buffet anyway. Now we might as well just take on a banquet at noon."
Liu Xiangmei paused in her work preparing the late-night snack. "That makes sense," she said, "but this time is fine. However, we've never hosted a banquet before. If we were to do it, I'd have to learn how and find out the average price per table on the market."
That's one good thing about Liu Xiangmei; she's very proactive. Wang Yao was very satisfied and reminded Liu Xiangmei to remember to call Section Chief Ji's house back.
After Liu Xiangmei made some inquiries, she finally divided the banquet into three tiers: 168, 188, and 218.
The next step is to order the menu. Different menus can be made according to the needs of customers. This was Wang Yao's suggestion. At the same time, she also suggested that she would prepare the banquet on Sunday.
Liu Xiangmei naturally disagreed. Wang Yao is already in high school, and her studies are so demanding. How could she waste her time on cooking?
She thought Wang Yao wanted to help her family, so she advised, "The family business is doing well now, at least it can support your college education. Just focus on your studies, getting into a good university is the biggest help you can give your mother."
Wang Yao didn't think that way at all; she just had an itch to do it.
In her past life, starting as a nanny, she had to cook almost every day, three meals a day without fail, and it had become a habit. Back then, she thought that if she could, she would never want to step into the kitchen again.
But people can be so strange sometimes. Now that she no longer has to spend every day in the kitchen, she finds herself missing the smoky, fiery days there.
So she insisted on hosting a weekend banquet, saying, "We should also change the menu in our restaurant. We always make the same few dishes, and everyone is tired of them. I'll make them this weekend, and you and Sister Xiu can learn from me. Let's change the weekday menu to seasonal dishes as well."
It was already autumn and winter, and the summer vegetables were basically finished growing, so changing the menu became an urgent matter.
After Wang Yao repeatedly assured that it wouldn't interfere with her studies, Liu Xiangmei finally relented. So when Section Chief Ji came over with his wife that noon, it was Wang Yao and Section Chief Ji's wife who discussed the menu.
Section Chief Ji's wife had lunch at the Haozailai Restaurant, and she was already a little dissatisfied when someone came to tell her about the banquet. When she saw that the person who came was a child like Wang Yao, she became even more unwilling.
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