After dinner, Comrade Zhou pedaled ho, giving Zhao Tieying and Zhou Momo a ride on his bike.
"A hundred a day, four days off a month, that’s twenty-six days... which cos out to twenty-six hundred yuan!"
"How much is that in a year? Th-three... over thirty thousand!"
"Good heavens!"
Sitting on the back of the bicycle with her arms around Zhou Miao’s waist, Zhao Tieying couldn’t help but gasp.
’That’s so much money!’
She hadn’t done the math during dinner. She knew a hundred a day was a lot, but calculating the yearly total left her stunned.
"That’s revenue, not pure profit, you know," Zhou Miao said with a smile. "But that kid, Zhou Yan, is really doing great. Even if the profit margin is only half, that’s still over ten thousand a year."
"He’ll make us a ten-thousand-yuan household in a year! That kid is a real go-getter!" Zhao Tieying’s face glowed with pride, and she was buzzing with excitent.
Zhou Miao was one of the best Cow Slaughterers in Zhou Village. Between slaughtering cattle and selling the at, he earned seventy to eighty yuan a month, for an annual inco of about a thousand yuan.
This inco was higher than that of most workers at the textile factory.
But the money Zhou Yan’s restaurant was making was more than ten tis what Zhou Miao earned.
If he kept earning this much every day, their family would surely have a good life ahead of them.
"That’s also because you, his mother, are such a great partner, shouldering the heavy burdens of cooking the Kneeling Beef and managing the cash register. You’re holding up half the sky in there," Zhou Miao said earnestly. "Without you, this restaurant wouldn’t have even gotten off the ground."
"Hmph, you’ve got a point there," Zhao Tieying said, beaming. "You’re pretty sharp, you know that?"
"I’m not selling at tomorrow. I just have to help the commune slaughter two cows in the morning. Huang asked to go fishing for a bit, so, what do you think...?" Zhou Miao asked cautiously.
"Go on, you’ve been working hard lately," Zhao Tieying said with a smile. "If you can catch any fish, we can have an extra dish for dinner tonight."
"I... I’ll do my best..." Zhou Miao’s voice trailed off, sounding less than confident.
For a fisherman known for coming ho empty-handed, the pressure to actually bring back fish for an extra dish was imnse.
The two of them chatted and laughed all the way back to Zhou Village.
The villagers, who were setting up their Dragon Gate Formation under the tree at the village entrance, spotted them from a distance and greeted them enthusiastically.
News that business at Zhou Yan Restaurant was booming had already spread throughout Zhou Village.
Sixty cents for a bowl of noodles, and he was selling dozens of bowls a day!
Earning tens of yuan a day—of course it was enough to make people burn with envy.
Overnight, Zhou Yan had transford from the prodigal son at the heart of the nightly storm of public opinion at the "village entrance intelligence center" to "that successful kid from next door."
And Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao had gone from being reckless fools who spoiled their child to good parents with foresight and courage.
Zhao Tieying had been in high spirits lately. She would comb her hair perfectly neat before going out, hold her head high, and had once again found the formidable aura of her days as the Iron Maiden of Zhou Village.
She skillfully returned the villagers’ greetings but didn’t ask Zhou Miao to stop, saying only that they needed to get ho to wash up and rest.
"They were gossiping about us nonstop before. Aren’t you going to say sothing to make them squirm a little?" Zhou Miao asked with a laugh.
"If they squirm, they’ll get envious, and who knows what kind of trouble that might attract. We shouldn’t cause problems for Zhou Yan," Zhao Tieying said, shaking her head. "Our family living a good life is more important than anything. Those old biddies in the village are already suffering enough."
She had already warned Zhao Hong not to talk too much in the village about how well the restaurant was doing, to avoid stirring up envy and malicious tricks.
"Alright, whatever you say," Zhou Miao agreed.
...
Zhou Yan didn’t rush to bed today. After locking the door, he went for a run along the river, making use of the last bit of daylight.
Being a Chef is physical work; pulling noodles and stir-frying are both a combination of strength and technique.
Having worked up a sweat, Zhou Yan stripped off his clothes, jumped right into the river for a swim, and took the opportunity to bathe. He imdiately felt completely refreshed.
He had gradually adapted to the work routine over the past couple of days, and his young, strong body allowed him to handle it all with ease.
Zhou Yan was tall, which made him look slender, but with his shirt off, he was all lean muscle, his eight-pack abs quite prominent.
Back ho, he rinsed off with well water, changed into clean clothes, and then settled down to do his bookkeeping.
Today he had sold out all one hundred bowls of noodles, bringing in sixty yuan. He sold sixty-nine bowls of Kneeling Beef for an inco of 41.40 yuan, and fifty-two servings of rice for 5.20 yuan.
The cost for the Kneeling Beef was roughly twenty yuan, aning the dish alone added twenty-one yuan in profit.
The once near-bankrupt Sichuan Cuisine restaurant was now on the right track.
Adding new dishes strategically was a quick and effective way to increase revenue and profit.
On the other hand, adding dishes without any planning could overwhelm the kitchen, throw the entire restaurant into disarray, and create total chaos.
As was his habit, Zhou Yan counted his cash on hand. It had reached 240.52 yuan.
This was no small sum. He planned to work one more day, set aside fifty yuan for operating costs, and then see which of his uncles or cousins was in most urgent need of money so he could start paying them back.
He wasn’t the kind of person who could stand being in debt.
He couldn’t sleep soundly with debt hanging over his head.
’He had no idea how those deadbeats developed such a mindset, owing money yet still acting like they were the kings of the world.’
The noodles and Kneeling Beef were the restaurant’s foundation, but until his influence expanded, the upper limit would probably be around one hundred servings a day. It would be hard to break past that.
Besides, it was foreseeable that a business making a hundred yuan a day would soon attract jealous eyes.
Get rid of one Wang the Fifth, and a Huang the Fifth or Zhang the Fifth would just pop up to take his place.
In the eyes of the average person, boiling noodles wasn’t exactly a high-skill job.
Once Zhou Yan established a market for his noodle soup at the textile factory, other people from Zhou Village would certainly set up stalls at the factory entrance, selling their own versions for twenty or thirty cents a bowl to undercut him.
The flavor and dicinal properties of his food were his moat. He wasn’t afraid of direct competition, as long as his rivals didn’t play dirty.
Besides, Zhou Yan had never considered the small-ti vendors setting up stalls by the gate to be his real opponents.
What was the point of fighting those vendors for a few asly yuan?
His target was the factory cafeteria.
[DING! New Main Quest has been issued: [Dominator Textile Factory]: Achieve 1,000 Restaurant Influence (Gaining the approval of one custor grants 1 Influence). By gaining 1,000 Influence, you will beco the most popular restaurant in the vicinity of the textile factory!]
[Quest Progress: 380/1000]
[Quest Reward: Unknown]
[Accept Quest: Yes/No]
Just as Zhou Yan stuffed the money back into the cash box, a task pane popped up on the panel.
"One thousand influence points... This is a quest to completely uproot the factory cafeteria," Zhou Yan couldn’t help but laugh.
The Jiazhou Textile Factory was quite large, with twenty-eight or twenty-nine hundred employees.
To gain those 1,000 influence points, he would have to snatch food directly from the tiger’s mouth—the factory cafeteria.
Fortunately, the factory district wasn’t far from Suji Town, which had a population of around twenty thousand. This was a potential custor base he could tap into once his restaurant’s reputation began to spread.
The 380 points in his quest progress represented his current regular custors from the textile factory.
If he wanted to continue expanding his custor base, he needed dishes that would attract even more people.
This was a long-term quest, and completing it would be rather difficult.
Zhou Yan figured that the reward for this quest would likely be of a higher tier as well.
This Main Quest was a cumulative achievent. As long as he ran the business normally and developed it step by step, he would complete it sooner or later. It was a guaranteed reward and a steady source of happiness. No need to rush.
Zhou Yan chose to accept.
After studying it for the past few days, he’d discovered that this ga panel was quite user-friendly. It didn’t have too many flashy, compulsory requirents, offered a very high degree of freedom, and its quests weren’t even mandatory. More importantly, there were no bizarre punishnts like having to streak for failing a quest.
’This was basically the perfect support tool.’
Zhou Yan didn’t like being driven like a donkey with a whip; it was very important for him to be in control of his own life.
Of course, the system’s rewards held the key to opening the door to a good life, so he had no intention of slacking off.
He would actively complete any task he could. The more new dishes he unlocked, the more adept he would beco at expanding and running the restaurant.
His current goal was to first save money and pay back the eight hundred-so yuan he owed.
...
The sky was just beginning to lighten when Master Zhou went out early to buy ingredients.
Today, he once again prepared ingredients for one hundred bowls of noodles and one hundred bowls of Kneeling Beef, his goal being to sell out.
Zhao Hong arrived bright and early, just like always.
Zhou Yan stopped his bike, glanced around, and asked with a smile, "Where are Huihui and Fanwa? Weren’t they supposed to co play with Momo today?"
"Those two little piglets are still sleeping. I told Huihui to bring Fanwa up after they wake up. Besides, the restaurant is already busy in the morning, and it’s annoying to see them monkeying around the shop," Zhao Hong explained.
"Little boys are all like that. What kid isn’t mischievous?" Zhao Tieying chid in with a smile.
The restaurant was indeed busy in the mornings.
The people of Sichuan love to eat noodles in the morning. Now that the mornings were getting a bit cold, eating a bowl of delicious noodle soup and drinking down the piping hot bone broth would warm a person to their core. It was incredibly comforting.
As its reputation grew, business at Zhou Yan Restaurant picked up noticeably.
This morning, they sold sixty-three bowls of noodles.
They were selling more with each passing day.
"Brother, I’m hungry! I want noodies, pork rib noodies!" Zhou Momo appeared at the kitchen door, rubbing her sleepy eyes and speaking in a high-pitched, childish voice.
"You got it. Coming right up," Zhou Yan replied with a smile.
Just then, Zhao Tieying ca over, hot towel in hand.
"Mama, I love you!" Zhou Momo retreated a step, attempting to awaken her mother’s tender love.
But Mrs. Zhao was unmoved.
Zhou Momo lifted her head, squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her jaw, and assud an expression of one facing death with heroic resolve.
The hot towel scrubbed her face, making Zhou Momo’s chubby cheeks change shape. Her mother didn’t stop for a good while.
Zhou Momo opened her eyes. Her little face was flushed, and her gaze was a few shades clearer.
She pursed her lips, hesitating before whispering, "Mama, could you be a little gentler next ti...?"
"If I go any lighter, the gri won’t co off. I know what I’m doing," Zhao Tieying replied.
"My facey is super clean. There’s no gri," Zhou Momo pouted.
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