Chapter 60 Chapter 60 The restaurant might not be able to continue operating? ...
After Yu Guodong's wedding banquet, Liu Mianmian stayed an extra day to discuss setting up an oil press. Opening an oil press was simple; as long as the funds and equipment were in place and the village agreed, it could be up and running quickly.
Liuxia Village is a large village, not too far from the township. It is located on the road that many villages in the west must pass through to get to the township.
There was an old landlord in the village. He used the money he earned from exploiting tenant farmers to build a big house at the intersection. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the old landlord saw that the situation was not good, so he ran away with his family, and the house became the property of the villagers.
Unfortunately, the house was a bit far from the village, standing alone on the side of the road. The villagers couldn't figure out what to do with it, so they just piled some debris there. A few years ago, during the "movement," some Red Guards had been messing around in it for a while, trashing the house to the point of collapsing part of the wall.
Liu Mianmian, who had the memories of the original owner, had set her sights on this place when she was considering opening an oil press. After discussing it with Yu Guoliang and the others, they all agreed it was suitable. The location was conveniently located on the road, and since the house had been badly damaged and wasn't very habitable, renting it shouldn't cost much.
It just needs some repairs.
It is difficult to repair it and make it habitable, but it is actually very simple to repair it and open a workshop.
Then there was the township. Yu Guoliang had established a good relationship with the locals due to his work buying fertilizer and growing peanuts. Furthermore, having engaged in farming and breeding for the past six months, he understood the importance of various policies and frequently visited the township to learn about them. Liu Mianmian had previously mentioned the idea of opening an oil press, and he had been keeping an eye on the idea. Therefore, he was confident he could get approval.
Then comes publicity.
There is an oil press in the village, but the equipment is very old and often breaks down. The village has no money to replace it with a new one, so it can only be repaired and used, so it is only open for half a month each month. Even so, the quality of the oil pressed out is very average.
This is also one of the reasons why Liu Mianmian proposed to open an oil press.
There is obviously a market and demand, but all aspects of rural construction require money, and funds are limited, so they cannot take care of this "small matter".
Indeed, looking at the current situation, the people's demand for oil pressing is not that strong, and the oil press in the village can still function adequately.
However, with the emergence of new peanut varieties, Qianjin Township's vast, previously largely unused mountainous land will gradually be planted with peanuts. It won't be long before, perhaps even next year, the township's peanut planting area and yield will increase significantly.
By then, peanuts will become an important economic crop in Qianjin Township, and people will line up with peanuts on their backs to be pressed for oil.
Of course, the prerequisite is that they have to let more people know that there is an oil press here.
Before opening, you can do some regular publicity, and after opening, you can organize some activities. I will talk about this in detail later.
What remains is funding and equipment, which is no longer a problem.
Liu Mianmian sorted out the items one by one. Things that seemed difficult at first became extremely easy when they came out of her mouth.
Lin Shanmei, who had just married into the family, was stunned and quietly tugged at Yu Guodong's sleeve: "Is your sister so capable?"
She had seen the original owner twice before, once when she came to her house for dinner, and once when she met by chance in the countryside. They hardly talked to each other. She only heard Yu Guodong say that his sister had a bad temper, but she never expected that she was so powerful.
Isn't it normal for such a powerful girl to have a bad temper?
Yu Guodong scratched his head, thinking that the youngest child didn’t seem to be so powerful in the past, but he was not sure. After all, the family was poor in the past. Maybe the original environment restricted the youngest child?
So I could only vaguely say, "It's quite impressive."
Lin Shanmei's eyes lit up immediately, and she whispered, "We have to listen to your sister. I think if we follow her, we might be able to make a lot of money."
She and Yu Guodong had actually been together for quite a while. These days, it was rare for couples to get married after such a long relationship. Her family was also very conservative. They always felt that she couldn't get ahead of her older brother, as it sounded awkward and would make it harder for him to find a partner.
However, Lin Shanmei felt that her long wait was not in vain.
Originally, the Yu family was of average means. If they had married earlier, the Yu family would not have been able to give her so much dowry, let alone hold so many tables for the wedding banquet.
Although she got married late, the Yu family gave her an additional betrothal gift because she declined the wedding banquet. As for the banquet, whether it was to compensate her or to gain face in the village, she was the one who benefited in the end.
She had never been married before, and there was some gossip in their village, but after the wedding banquet, I believe it will spread quickly in the village that her wedding was a very decent one.
Not to mention, the Yu family now has fish ponds and mountains, and they plan to open an oil press next.
Although she wasn't the type to despise the poor and love the rich, she and Yu Guodong met by chance and fell in love freely, and their feelings were still very deep, but who wouldn't like a wealthy husband? If you can live a good life, you naturally don't want to live in poverty.
This time, even Yu Yongcheng and Xu Li didn't say anything against it. The children had their own ideas, and they just tried their best to support them.
Of course, when there is no one else around at night, the old couple would feel a little dazed. One moment they raise fish, and the next moment they run an oil press. Just like the slogans painted on the village walls, are they really going to work together to achieve a well-off life?
Wang Zhiyuan was obsessed with raising pigs, and it just so happened that Aunt Liu and her husband were there the past few days. Somehow, Wang Zhiyuan persuaded Aunt Liu and her husband to invest their savings in his pig farm. Besides Aunt Liu and her husband, he also approached Liu Mianmian and Shen Weizhou. His own savings, combined with what his parents gave him, definitely wouldn't be enough.
He said that he had already picked out a place, so he would leave the wasteland in front of the mountain behind the village. He also asked the village party secretary indirectly and found out that the rent was not expensive.
Liu Mianmian looked at his dark skin and big white teeth, and felt that with such perseverance, he would succeed in whatever he did, so she naturally agreed.
Of course, it was too late before the New Year.
Moreover, raising pigs is not an easy job. Uncle Wang said that he has a comrade working in a state-owned pig farm, and he plans to arrange for Wang Zhiyuan to be an apprentice there so that he can learn the skills first.
After the discussion, Liu Mianmian and the others returned to Nancheng, while Wang Zhiyuan continued to stay in Qianjin Township. After all, he had invested money in the fish pond, and he had to sell the fish with Yu Guodong and the others before the New Year.
As soon as Liu Mianmian and her friends returned to South City, their next-door neighbor came over and said that the people from the Western restaurant had been looking for her for two consecutive days and asked her to go to the Western restaurant when she returned. Liu Mianmian gave her neighbor a handful of dried bamboo shoots she had brought back from the countryside and thanked him.
After entering the room, he whispered to Shen Weizhou: "I don't know what's going on."
Since she invested in more and more businesses, Liu Mianmian felt that she was actually quite busy, just using her brain and doing some inspections occasionally. Besides, she was no longer the Liu Mianmian who had only a few dollars on her, so she wanted to quit her job at the western restaurant.
However, when Liu Mianmian went to Manager Chen to resign, Manager Chen did not agree. Instead, he persuaded her sincerely in his somewhat humorous Hong Kong Cantonese.
If it was just because she felt the working hours were too long, why not just reduce them? If she just left like that, how sad would those loyal fans of hers, who had traveled thousands of miles across the city to eat at Zhijiang Road just to listen to her play the piano, and who had come on time every week just to order a song, be?
Liu Mianmian didn't think there was anything sad about people not being able to hear her playing the piano while eating in the restaurant, but she was moved by Manager Chen's proposal to reduce working hours. In the end, the two of them negotiated and Liu Mianmian only worked two hours in the evening, with her salary halved, but the song request fee remained the same.
When Liu Mianmian is not at work or is on leave, Teacher Jin will take over. When Teacher Jin is also unavailable, Manager Chen says that we can just leave her at work.
In fact, Liu Mianmian was quite happy to work in a Western restaurant occasionally. It was like practicing the piano with pay, and she could also listen to gossip about Hong Kong.
She asked for leave from the restaurant to go to the countryside these days.
Teacher Jin's child is in poor health and seems to need a lot of medical expenses. If time permits, she would be happy to work more, but she is busy with her own work and has to take care of the child, so she can't always spare the time to work part-time.
But since Manager Chen could say such a thing so easily, she shouldn't have people come to her again and again just because no one plays the piano, right?
Feeling confused, Liu Mianmian washed up and rested for a while before going to the western restaurant.
It wasn't dinner time yet, and everyone in the restaurant was getting ready. When the cashier, Arlin, saw Liu Mianmian, her first words were, "This restaurant might not be able to continue."
Liu Mianmian looked at her in shock, recalled the restaurant's occupancy rate, and hesitated, "No way, with such a high occupancy rate, the profit is not small, our restaurant should be making a lot of money!"
There is a saying that there is no shortage of rich people in any era, not to mention that it has been so many years since the reform and opening up, and many of the "trendsetters" who were the first to fight the waves have become rich. So even though their restaurant costs are not low, their Western food is authentic and their business is really good.
In the next few decades, there will be more and more wealthy people in China, and the restaurant business will only get better and better.
A'Lin looked around and dragged Liu Mianmian to a corner to talk. "Our restaurant business is good, but our boss is going back to Hong Kong. Manager Chen said that a restaurant is not a factory. The boss can't just leave on his own and keep the restaurant. He said he wants to follow the boss back to Hong Kong."
"Didn't everyone say that Miss Lin likes living in South City? Why does she suddenly want to go back?" Liu Mianmian asked with a frown.
Since Ah Lin was working as a cashier, she must be a close confidant of Manager Chen and knew a lot. She lowered her voice and said, "Boss Lin has been diagnosed with cancer. He has four wives and eleven children in Hong Kong City. Our boss said he was referring to the second daughter, but it was actually the second child born to the third wife. Now that things are going on in Hong Kong City, she must hurry back."
Arlene lowered her voice even further. "I heard from Manager Chen that because the boss likes living in South City, Boss Lin thought she was someone who didn't forget her roots, so he gave her some big projects in the mainland, like the Zhijiang Bridge. She was the contact person on the Lin side. But she had bad luck. Her business was booming here when Boss Lin was diagnosed with cancer. So what's the point of her staying on with these projects in the mainland? She must hurry back to be at his bedside to fulfill her filial duties!"
Arlene blinked, with an expression that said, "I understand."
Liu Mianmian: “…”
So, Manager Chen repeatedly sent people to find her, was it just to tell her that the restaurant could not continue to operate and she was going to be fired?
Arlin couldn't answer this question either. She only knew that it was actually Miss Lin Er who wanted to see Liu Mianmian.
Liu Mianmian looked at her deeply and thought to herself, "Actually, you already know enough."
She thanked Arlene and went to the manager's office on the second floor.
Manager Chen was sitting at his desk, writing furiously. When he saw Liu Mianmian, he closed his open notebook, poured her a cup of coffee himself, and said straight to the point, "Miss Liu, the boss wants to see you, but her flight back to Hong Kong this morning has already left. You missed it."
Liu Mianmian sat down and asked curiously, "Miss Lin is looking for me?"
Manager Chen smiled mysteriously and said, "The boss wants to do business with you."
Liu Mianmian thought to herself, Miss Lin Er wouldn't want to sell the Western restaurant to her, right? To be honest, she did want to buy it, but she didn't have that much money!
"I don't have the capital to do business with Miss Lin." Liu Mianmian said.
Manager Chen shook his head: "Ms. Liu, you know the Xu family, how come you don't have the capital to do business with the boss?"
Liu Mianmian raised her eyebrows.
How did he know that she knew the Xu family from Gangcheng?
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