After arranging for Luo Er to work at the restaurant, Li Hehua asked, "What about the other person? We are still short of a kitchen helper. Who do you plan to recommend for the job?"
Zhang Tieshan touched Li Hehua's hair and asked with a smile: "What do you think of my mother?"
"Ah?" Li Hehua opened his eyes wide, "Your mother? Are you kidding?"
Zhang Tieshan chuckled and shook his head, "I'm not kidding, it's my mother. You see, my mother has nothing to do at home every day. Now Qingshan goes to learn carpentry during the day and doesn't eat at home. I will show you the restaurant in the future and she won't eat at home. She will be bored at home alone, and there is no one to chat with her. If she comes here, she will help you, not to mention having things to do. Seeing how capable you are, and getting along with you day by day, she will definitely change her opinion of you. And you are the boss who pays her wages, she dare not give you a cold shoulder, you can rest assured about this."
"Moreover, the most important thing is that my mother can see Shulin every day here, so she won't miss her grandson anymore, and she won't want to take Shulin back home from time to time. Shulin can stay here with you forever, and you two won't have to be reluctant to leave every time."
As Li Hehua listened, she felt that it made sense. Zhang Lin was very efficient in the kitchen work. If she really didn't dare to show her a bad face, it would be a good idea to invite Zhang Lin. She wouldn't have to go through the trouble of recruiting people. And at the same time, it would allow Zhang Lin to see her grandson every day, so she would not want to take Shu Lin away, and she would not be so dissatisfied with her for taking her grandson away.
Zhang Tieshan’s suggestion is really good.
The more Li Hehua thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible. He nodded and said, "Okay, go back and discuss it with your mother. If your mother is willing to come, I have to tell you in advance. If your mother doesn't cooperate with me to work hard, then I can't keep tolerating her."
Zhang Tieshan was amused by her small tone and scratched her nose. "It's up to you to decide what to do at that time. I have no opinion."
In the evening, Zhang Tieshan told Zhang Linshi that Li Hehua wanted to invite her to work in the restaurant, and he would pay her 600 coins a month. Zhang Linshi was quite surprised and awkward at first, but when she thought about how much money she could earn every month, how she could see her grandson every day, and how she wouldn't have to be bored at home alone, she was moved, and she immediately ignored the little awkwardness and readily agreed.
A smile flashed in Zhang Tieshan's eyes.
Soon it was the opening day of the restaurant. Early in the morning, the sound of firecrackers rang out in front of the restaurant, and it became very lively. A large group of people gathered in front of the door to watch the fun. Among them were many of Li Hehua's old customers. They all learned about the opening of the restaurant from Cao Simei, so many people came specially that day.
After setting off firecrackers, Li Hehua led everyone to the door and said to the people in front of the door: "Today, our Delicious House is officially open. Some of you may be old customers of my house and are very familiar with my food. I didn't open the stall some time ago because of family matters. I want to say sorry to everyone here. Now, we are reopening. The first floor still has a variety of delicious snacks, and the prices remain the same. The second floor is a private room where you can order dishes. If you need to treat others to a meal, you can come with confidence. You will definitely leave satisfied."
Many of the old customers present clapped their hands and were very happy. You know, Li Hehua hadn't set up his stall for half a month, and they had been looking forward to it. They had been greedy for a long time. They were afraid that the boss would no longer do business in the future. Now, after opening a restaurant, the prices remained the same but the environment was even better. This was a great thing.
Li Hehua continued, "Now I have good news for you all. Today is the first day of opening of Delicious House. To celebrate the opening, all food today is half price! Everyone is welcome to come in and taste it!"
Half price! The price was reduced by half, and the crowd suddenly burst into shouts. Those who originally wanted to go in to eat were excited, and those who had never eaten Li Hehua's food were instantly curious when they saw the people around them were so excited. They also wanted to go in and try it to see if it was delicious. After all, it was not a loss at half price.
As a result, as soon as Li Hehua finished speaking, a large group of guests rushed into the restaurant to eat. So many tables on the first floor were occupied in an instant, and some people even shared tables.
Seeing this, Li Hehua quickly called Xiaoqing and Xiaohong and said, "Xiaoqing, follow me to the kitchen. We will be busy soon. Don't panic. Just make one portion at a time. Xiaohong, help your brother."
Xiaoqing and Xiaohong nodded seriously, and then hurried into the kitchen to get busy. The two of them practiced from morning till night for more than half a month, and they also had to accept Li Hehua's strict requirements. If there was anything wrong, they had to redo it until the taste met Li Hehua's requirements. Under such strict teaching, they had already practiced their skills, and now the food they made was no worse than Li Hehua's, so Li Hehua was completely relieved to leave the task of cooking to them.
After arranging Xiaoqing and Xiaohong, Li Hehua said to Mrs. Xie and Zhang Lin: "Your job today is to help out. Is that okay?"
Sister Xie said with full momentum: "No problem, Sister Lotus, don't worry, I have been doing this for so long."
As for Zhang Lin, she was still a little shocked. Seeing Sister Xie nod, she also nodded subconsciously, and then followed Sister Xie to the kitchen to get busy. When she started to wash the vegetables, she was still deeply shocked.
She had known some time ago that Li Hehua was going to open a restaurant. She was only slightly surprised when she found out, but she did not have much real feeling. She even felt a little nonchalant in her heart, thinking, what big things could a woman accomplish?
It was not until today when she saw the restaurant with her own eyes, saw so many customers coming in to eat, and saw everyone working diligently and seriously, that she suddenly realized - it turned out that Li Hehua really had the ability to open such a big restaurant and be the boss!
Is this still the ugly, lazy and scoundrel Li Hehua she knows?
Zhang Lin was so shocked that she couldn't help but secretly look at Li Hehua who came in to check on her while she was working. She saw that Li Hehua was wearing a sky blue cotton dress with a belt tied around her waist, which made her waist look particularly slender. She didn't look bloated at all. Her hair was combed into a bun, which made her look dignified and beautiful. Her face was the size of a palm, her skin was white, and her facial features were delicate and beautiful without the fat.
At this moment, it is not an exaggeration to praise Li Hehua as a beauty.
Moreover, she directed everyone's work calmly and arranged various things. Her orderly appearance made people inexplicably convinced.
Zhang Lin couldn't say how to describe Li Hehua at this moment, but she felt like she was glowing and extremely beautiful.
This, this, this... Is this still her ex-daughter-in-law who everyone hates? Why does it feel like she is a completely different person...
Li Hehua didn't know what was going on in Zhang Lin's heart. She was busy at the moment. After finishing the kitchen, she turned around and told Dahe, Xiaoyuan and Luo Er, "There will be a lot of guests today, so there will inevitably be a lot of things to do, but don't be anxious. Take them one by one. Give each guest a number card. The number cards are a pair. You can take the other one to the kitchen. Xiaoqing and Xiaohong will know what to do when they see it. Then you can eat according to the order on the number card. Remember?"
The three of them had been trained before, and at this moment they had no hesitation and said there was no problem.
Li Hehua cooks according to the modern ordering model. There is no computer ordering system here, and guests are not used to ordering at the front desk, so she specially customized number plates. Each number plate is a pair, one for the guest and the other in the kitchen. There is a big sign in the kitchen with many areas divided on it. Each area represents a type of food. When the number plate is placed on the corresponding food, the people in the kitchen will know what the guest ordered, and also know how many guests ordered the same thing, so they can cook them together to save time.
At this time, Zhang Tieshan was standing behind the counter at the door, watching the order in the restaurant while writing down what each table ordered in the account book and calculating how much money he needed to pay.
When Zhang Tieshan was very young, his father was still alive and his family was well off. He was sent to academy to study for two years and knew some simple characters. Otherwise, he would not have been given the name Shulin. You know, many children in the village were named Zhuzi, Tiedan, Goudan and so on, and Shulin's name was the most scholarly.
So Zhang Tieshan was able to recognize simple words but was not very good at writing. In order to make it easier for Zhang Tieshan to keep accounts, Li Hehua wrote down the name of each snack and taught Zhang Tieshan how to recognize them. Then he drew a table. The leftmost column was the label of each number plate, and the top row was the name of each food. Zhang Tieshan only had to tick the corresponding food according to what the customer ordered. He did not need to write by himself, and his accounting was quick and accurate.
Zhang Tieshan had a good brain and a strong ability to learn new things. He quickly mastered the characters taught by Li Hehua, and was very good at arithmetic and using the abacus. He never made a mistake when keeping accounts, which made Li Hehua praise him a lot. Of course, the consequence of each praise was that he would be bitten and wanted to scratch him.
Everything has been arranged. Seeing everyone busy and orderly, Li Hehua is very happy. Her restaurant has been successfully opened, and she believes that it will get better and better in the future.
At this moment, Da He suddenly ran into the kitchen and said to her, "Aunt He Hua, there are guests outside, and they want to order food in the private room."
Upon hearing this, Li Hehua immediately stopped what he was doing and said to Dahe, "I will go to receive the guests myself. You should follow my example and receive guests the same way I do next time."
Dahe nodded quickly.
Li Hehua came out of the kitchen and walked to the counter, where she saw an old acquaintance, the old man who introduced the restaurant to her. There were a few people following the old man.
Li Hehua was surprised, "Grandpa, do you want a private room?"
The old man pretended to be angry and said, "Girl, you finally came back to open your business. I have been waiting for you for more than half a month. I wanted to eat your cooking every day but couldn't. Now that you have reopened your business, how can I not come?"
Li Hehua smiled and quickly invited everyone to the second floor. "Old man, this is all my fault. I won't do it again. Come with me to the private room on the second floor. I will cook a good meal for you today as an apology."
The old man couldn't pretend anymore and burst into laughter. He followed Li Hehua upstairs with the people behind him.
Li Hehua took them into the private room and sat down, then asked, "Grandpa, you want to order some food today, right?"
The old man nodded and said, "I was planning to invite someone to dinner today, and I saw your restaurant opening, so I decided to come and try your cooking. Girl, I'm really looking forward to your cooking."
Li Hehua said with a smile: "Old man, I am grateful for your kindness. Today I will use all my martial arts skills to make sure I don't let you down."
Everyone present laughed when they heard this.
Getting back to the point, Li Hehua took out a specially made menu and placed it in front of them, "Grandpa, this is the menu of our restaurant. Take a look. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me directly, or you can order any dish you want, or let me recommend it to you."
The old man could recognize words, but he was old and his eyesight was not good, so he was too lazy to read. He felt dizzy, so he said, "I won't look at the menu. You can serve some of your specialties. Oh, and bring us a pot of wine."
Li Hehua nodded, "Okay, old man, please wait a moment, the food will be ready soon." After that, he said to Dahe beside him, "Dahe, first bring two plates of snacks for the old man and the others to taste, and then bring a pot of tea."
Taiga nodded and went downstairs to get ready.
Since the private room upstairs is high-end, the service must be good. Li Hehua would not save that little money, so he stipulated that all guests who go upstairs to eat in the private room will be served a pot of tea and two plates of pastries for free. This is also a good way to win the favor of bloggers.
After arranging the guests, Li Hehua went into the kitchen, put on an apron, walked to the table in the kitchen that was specially used to place dishes, and slowly picked the dishes, while thinking in her mind what she was going to cook next.
The old man brought four guests in total, plus himself, a total of five people. For five people, there is no need for too many dishes, just eight dishes will be enough, and it is best to have a combination of meat and vegetables.
Li Hehua went through the dishes quickly in his mind and finally decided to make dragon and phoenix balls in brown sauce, milkfish ball soup, king prawns, mini Buddha jumps over the wall, three treasures stewed with yam, spring rolls with shellfish, assorted vegetable stew, and three vegetables braised with coral. These eight dishes include both meat and vegetarian dishes, are delicious and high-end, and will definitely not disappoint.
According to the menu, Li Hehua quickly selected the dishes and asked Mrs. Xie to help wash them. She cut each dish first, placed them on the plate one by one, then heated the stove, poured oil, and started cooking.
Li Hehua seemed to have suddenly entered another realm. He said nothing, with a focused expression, as if the only things in the world were the dishes and the pot in his hands. He turned on the two pots and moved his two hands at the same time. Every movement was graceful and neat. With a flick of his wrist, the seasoning had already been put into the pot, just the right amount, not too much or too little. Everything was like a visual feast, which unknowingly attracted the attention of people around him and made people unable to take their eyes off it.
It was the first time for everyone to see Li Hehua cooking so seriously. It made people's hearts beat fast for some reason. If they didn't have their own things to do, they would definitely not be able to take their eyes away.
Zhang Lin was not that busy, so when she was helping, her eyes were involuntarily glued to Li Hehua. She blinked, her eyes full of surprise and admiration that she didn't even notice.
When Li Hehua's first dish was ready, the rich aroma immediately filled the entire kitchen and went into everyone's nose. Everyone present swallowed their saliva, feeling very hungry, and their eyes were fixed on the beautiful dish, their eyes almost shining.
“Serve the food.”
Li Hehua called out once, but found no response, so she turned around and saw that everyone was staring at the food in her hand. She felt helpless and amused. As for this, it's not like she hasn't cooked for them before, it's just that the dishes she made were not so formal, but there was no need to be so greedy.
Shaking his head, Li Hehua shouted to Dahe outside the window: "Dahe, come over and serve the food!"
When Da He heard this, he hurried into the kitchen to serve the dishes. When he saw the glowing dragon and phoenix balls in soy sauce, his eyes almost popped out, "Auntie Hehua, this dish looks so good and smells so good. I want to eat it just by looking at it. The guests will definitely be satisfied!"
Li Hehua patted his head and said, "Alright, alright, hurry up and serve it. Don't keep the guests waiting. Go upstairs slowly so you don't fall."
Daha let out a sigh and said, "Don't worry, I will be careful." After that, he walked away with the dishes as if he was protecting a treasure.
Li Hehua then went on to prepare the next dish. Since two pots were fired at the same time, his left and right hands worked at the same time and he was able to prepare two dishes at once. His speed was astonishingly fast. In less than half an hour, all eight dishes were completed. Finally, Li Hehua also made a fruit platter as a gift and asked Daha to bring it up.
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