Free Web NovelChapter 29: Chapter 23: If Anyone Says Your Cooking Is Bad in the Future...
Zhao Dong had been thinking about this for a while. Now that he’d had the perfect Zhenzi Rice, he couldn’t help but imagine how amazing it would be to mix it with finely chopped beef and double peppers.
Upon hearing this, the other customers in the shop all turned to look at Zhou Yan.
Noodles were fine for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner, rice was more satisfying.
The ribs and beef Zhou Yan stewed were truly fragrant, and the finely chopped beef would definitely go well with rice. If the price wasn’t too high, two or three people could easily share a meal. The thought alone was wonderful.
The specialty kitchen at the canteen wasn’t cheap, but about a hundred people still ate there every day.
The textile factory was doing well, and senior workers and management staff earned good salaries. There were quite a few people like Zhao Dong who were willing to spend money on good food.
"Soon. Once the Kneeling Beef sales stabilize, I’ll start preparing braised and stir-fried dishes," Zhou Yan said with a smile and a nod.
This was part of his plan. The current problem was that he was too busy. Only he could handle the noodle-pulling, and it would be difficult for his sister-in-law to master it quickly.
Once the Kneeling Beef business stabilized, he would move noodle sales to the mornings. That way, he could sell stir-fried and braised dishes for lunch and dinner, allowing the restaurant to truly live up to its name.
The earning ceiling for selling noodles was sixty yuan a day, but the ceiling for stir-fried dishes was much higher.
Zhou Yan’s target customers were clear: the people who ate from the specialty kitchen in the factory canteen, and the patrons of the Suji State-Owned Restaurant.
Poaching customers from the factory canteen meant digging up Wang Defa’s roots, and that was a job he was happy to do.
’He still remembered the score he had to settle over Zhou’s attempt to drown himself.’
"Alright, if you start selling stir-fries, I’ll stop going to the canteen for them," Zhao Dong said with a nod, then complained in a low voice, "After your master stopped cooking, the stir-fries there have gotten worse by the day." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Okay, you all enjoy your meal. I’m heading back to work," Zhou Yan said before turning and heading into the kitchen.
’Zhao Dong was a loyal customer of the factory canteen’s stir-fries, eating there twice every three days. He used to love ordering his master’s spicy crispy intestines and the mixed stir-fry of liver and kidney. If even he was starting to dislike the food, it really showed how unpopular Wang Defa was.
Zhou’s master, Xiao Lei, was the factory canteen’s only Second-level Chef and its former head chef.
One shouldn’t underestimate a Second-level Chef. In Suji Town, that was equivalent to a top-tier red-board chef.
The only other Second-level Chef was the head chef at the Suji State-Owned Restaurant.
Wang Defa demoting his master to a mere prep cook was no different from a company cutting its own main artery during layoffs.
It was only because the private economy had just opened up and everyone still valued jobs at state-owned factories that his master hadn’t quit in anger.
It wasn’t that Zhou Yan hadn’t thought about poaching his master. With a Second-level Chef skilled in red-board cooking, who also had a sterling reputation built over many years among the textile factory employees, business at Zhou Yan Restaurant would absolutely skyrocket.
That wouldn’t just be poaching a key employee; it would be ripping out the factory canteen’s entire foundation.
However, he quickly realized a problem. His parents didn’t know the extent of his culinary skills, so he could bluff his way through many things by claiming he’d learned them from his master.
But his master knew exactly what he was truly capable of.
Back when Zhou decided to open this restaurant, his master had pleaded with him three separate times, his scoldings growing nastier with each attempt.
Unfortunately, you can’t talk a damned fool out of his choices. Zhou wouldn’t listen at all; he was just reckless.
The whole affair nearly angered Xiao Lei to death, and he left Zhou with one final sentence:
"From now on, if anyone says your cooking is terrible, you are forbidden from saying you’re my apprentice!"
He had all but disowned Zhou as his apprentice.
Later, when Zhou Yan Restaurant opened, his master only had someone drop off a red envelope and never once visited the shop himself.
If Zhou Yan invited his master over, there would be no way to explain his sudden mastery of various dishes, or his quantum leap in seasoning and Fire Control.
He could only give up on the idea for now.
After the last customer paid and left, Zhao Tieying eagerly rushed into the kitchen. Seeing Zhou Yan stir-frying some green vegetables, she announced, "We sold thirty servings of Kneeling Beef at lunch today! That’s 18 Yuan in total!"
The launch of the Kneeling Beef went much more smoothly than she had imagined. When she used to sell soup pots, she’d sell a bowl for twenty-five fen. On a good day, she might sell twenty to thirty bowls. After a hard day’s work, she’d make six or seven yuan, and after deducting costs, making two or three yuan in profit was considered a great success.
And that was with years of built-up reputation and regular customers, and only during the peak winter season could she sell that much.
Today was the first time their restaurant had ever sold Kneeling Beef, and at the high price of six mao a bowl, yet they had sold thirty servings!
Zhao Tieying felt a little lightheaded. The money clutched in her hand didn’t even feel real.
"All the customers who tried it said it was delicious. Zhou Yan, this Kneeling Beef you make is just too good!" Zhao Hong said, coming in with a basin of bowls, her face also wreathed in smiles.
"This is just the beginning. Business will get even better," Zhou Yan said with a smile as he plated the stir-fried greens. With Lin Zhiqiang’s taste test, he had fully expected the Kneeling Beef to be a bestseller.
Besides the Kneeling Beef, they had also sold thirty-two bowls of noodles during lunch, only four bowls fewer than the previous day.
This dispelled Zhou Yan’s worries. The fact that the Kneeling Beef was selling well didn’t affect noodle sales, which meant it was pure additional income.
After lunch, Zhou Yan moved a bamboo reclining chair to a spot under a tree by the entrance and lay down, enjoying the cool autumn breeze. It was utterly relaxing.
"Brother, have some ding-ding candy." Zhou Momo sidled up to him, stood on her tiptoes, and raised her chubby little hand to offer a piece of candy to his lips.
Zhou Yan opened his mouth to take it, then smiled and patted her head. "Good girl."
"Hehe," the little one grinned. "Sister-in-law said Huihui and Fanwa don’t have class tomorrow, so they’re coming over to play with me."
"So what are you planning to do with them?" Zhou Yan asked with a smile.
Huihui and Fanwa were the two sons of his sister-in-law, Zhao Hong. The older one was fifteen this year and in his third year of middle school, while the younger one was seven and had just started elementary school.
According to generational hierarchy, they were supposed to call Zhou Momo "auntie." Since she was the youngest, they usually called her "Youngest Auntie."
"I’ll take them to the slide, and we’ll play hopscotch and go on the seesaw!" Zhou Momo counted on her fingers as if listing treasures. "And I know a super fun secret base!"
"Well, Momo is quite the aunt, knowing so many fun things to do," Zhou Yan said with a doting smile.
"Of course!" The little one puffed up with pride, then ran off to grab a small stool. She placed it next to Zhou Yan’s recliner to settle in for a long chat with him.
"Brother, look, there’s a caterpillar on that leaf."
"Brother, look, there’s a flock of geese in the sky! Where are they going? Are they coming back for dinner?"
"Brother..."
Zhou Momo was a little chatterbox, her head filled with a hundred thousand whys.
Zhou Yan answered her intermittently. Listening to her soft, sweet voice, he soon fell asleep.
"Brother, Brother..." After a while without hearing Zhou Yan respond, Zhou Momo got up and saw that he was asleep. She didn’t wake him, but instead put the little stool back and ran off to play by herself.
...
「Textile Factory, Main Conference Room.」
Lin Zhiqiang sat at the head of the table, holding a debriefing session for the factory’s key technical staff. He spoke about his takeaways from the technical conference he had attended in Rongcheng, as well as some industry news.
Compared to the morning, his condition had clearly improved in the afternoon; his voice was loud and full of passion.
"Zhiqiang, that was an excellent presentation. The future of our factory really depends on you young people who understand the technology," said the old factory director, Wang Hongliang, as he and Lin Zhiqiang left the conference room together after the meeting.
"Director, you’re too kind. Our factory has only achieved what it has today because of your capable leadership and proper management. All I know is how to bury my head in technical research," Lin Zhiqiang replied quickly with a smile.
"If it weren’t for your painstaking research, our factory wouldn’t be so profitable. I’ve already submitted the techniques you improved and summarized for the Ministry of Light Industry’s technology award. The leadership is very optimistic," Wang Hongliang said, looking at Lin Zhiqiang with eyes full of admiration.
"Thank you, Director. But the credit isn’t mine alone; it belongs to all the technical personnel at the textile factory." Lin Zhiqiang’s eyes lit up when he heard this. An award from the Ministry of Light Industry was the highest form of recognition for a technician.
"I saw you sneezing all morning, but you seem much better this afternoon. Did you go to the hospital to get some medicine?" Wang Hongliang asked with concern.
"I caught a bit of a chill. I had a bowl of Kneeling Beef at Zhou Yan Restaurant by the factory gate for lunch, and I felt much better after breaking a sweat. It felt more effective than medicine," Lin Zhiqiang said with a laugh. "Director, how about we go grab a bowl of noodles? Zhou Yan’s hand-pulled noodles are a must-try, and his Kneeling Beef is full of flavor too." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Zhou Yan is that young man who saved your niece last time, right? I can’t today, though. It’s my youngest grandson’s birthday, and he made me promise this morning that I’d be home for dinner." Wang Hongliang shook his head, then added, "Next time, have Meng and the two kids come along, and we can all have a meal together."
"Sounds good," Lin Zhiqiang agreed with a smile. He helped Wang Hongliang get his bicycle from the bike rack and watched him ride away before heading toward the factory gate himself.
’The Kneeling Beef he’d had for lunch really was effective at warding off the chill. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to get through this afternoon’s meeting. He decided he would go have another bowl tonight to reinforce the effects.’
"Uncle Lin, you’re here," Zhou Yan, who was teasing Zhou Momo at the restaurant’s entrance, called out with a smile when he saw Lin Zhiqiang approaching.
"Zhou, your Kneeling Beef was a huge help for me today," Lin Zhiqiang said with a hearty laugh.
Lin Zhiqiang finished a bowl of Kneeling Beef and two bowls of the broth before turning to the canteen to get takeout for his two children.
’According to him, growing kids didn’t need to eat that well, they just needed to eat their fill. As long as there was meat and vegetables, it was good enough.
Some dad he was.
Zhou Yan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion as he watched Lin Zhiqiang’s retreating back.
"Brother, when is Sister Yaoyao coming back for noodles?" Zhou Momo asked, tugging on his hem, her chubby little face full of expectation.
