Chapter 19: Hiring Someone

A beef soup pot was nothing unusual on the Zhou family's dining table.

Leftover beef offal from daily sales would be turned into a soup pot, and any leftover soup would be taken home for the family to finish.

However, today's soup pot seemed a bit different.

The thinly sliced *diaolong* beef was a delicate pink, scooped out the moment it was just barely cooked. Curly tripe and translucent beef tendon were garnished within the clear broth, and everyone was provided with a side dish of dried chili dipping powder.

"It smells so good. Why is it different from the ones I cook?" Zhao Tieying asked, somewhat puzzled. She had made plenty of soup pots; she had learned the dish from her mother-in-law when she first married into the Zhou family. Why, then, was her soup never as fragrant as Zhou Yan's?

"Taste the broth first." Zhou Yan used a ladle to serve a bowl of soup to each person.

Zhao Tieying took a sip, and her eyes instantly lit up. Her eyebrows arched as she reached out to pat Zhou Miao on the shoulder. "You're lying! This isn't even close to being better than mine! How is it the same?!"

"It tastes about the same to me. Yours is just as delicious," Zhou Miao replied with an innocent smile.

"Forget it, you don't understand." Zhao Tieying rolled her eyes at him, but the corners of her mouth curled up involuntarily. She took two more sips of the soup and nodded repeatedly. "It's even better than the soup Zhou Jie stews. It's so fresh, and the seasoning is perfectly balanced."

Zhou Momo remained silent, simply bowing her head to drink the soup. Her little mouth puffed out as she blew on it, taking small, rhythmic sips.

After finishing a bowl of soup, a light sweat broke out on her forehead, and a warm sensation spread through her body, significantly easing the fatigue from her chores.

*Gurgle.*

Zhou Momo had been eyeing the meat in the pot for a while. She swallowed hard, her small hands twitching with anticipation as she looked toward Zhou Yan.

"Come, here's some meat for you." Zhou Yan smiled and used his chopsticks to hand her a piece of beef.

"Chomp!"

The little one opened her mouth wide and caught it in one go.

The meat was soft and had a faint, milky aroma!

The meat was so yummy!

She loved eating meat the most!

"So yummy! More meat!" After swallowing the morsel, Zhou Momo began to act spoiled in her milky voice.

The three adults all laughed at her words.

Zhou Yan directly served her a small bowl piled high with meat. In addition to beef, there were various beef offal bits so she could try a bit of everything.

"So tender!" Zhao Tieying took a bite of beef, her face filled with shock.

How could beef be cooked to be this fresh and tender?

After cooking beef for over twenty years, this was the first time she had ever doubted her own skills.

"This chili powder is so fragrant!" Zhou Miao took a bite of tripe and praised it repeatedly. "The tripe is so crispy..."

Zhou Miao had eaten soup pots since he was a child—from his mother's cooking to his wife's—but if he had to say which was the best, it was this pot made by his son.

The first ladle of broth was so fresh it made his eyebrows fly. The tripe was crisp and delicious, the beef slices were large, thin, and soft, the beef tendon was stewed to a perfect melt-in-the-mouth texture, and the cabbage was crisp, tender, and sweet. Paired with the spicy dipping sauce, it completely revolutionized his understanding of a soup pot.

Zhou Yan went to bring out the pre-cooked rice.

A basin of rice and a pot of *Qiaojiao* beef were devoured by the family of four; not even a single leaf of cabbage was left.

"This soup pot of yours is just wonderful. The girls at the textile factory will surely love it. Selling soup pots in the shop—I think it's a go!" Zhao Tieying said with full confidence.

Her previous doubts had completely vanished.

"I think so too!" Zhou Miao chimed in. "Drinking this soup made me sweat, and I feel much better. It really is medicinal. If you promote that, you'll definitely get more customers."

"Meat is yummy!" Zhou Momo added.

"That's good then. I'll find someone to build the stove this afternoon. We'll do the preparations over the next two days and can start selling the soup pot immediately," Zhou Yan said with a smile. This pot of *Qiaojiao* beef had also exceeded his expectations—the broth was fresh, the meat tender, and the dipping sauce spicy and delicious.

"Alright, we'll follow your lead." Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao nodded in unison.

Zhou Yan had become increasingly reliable in his work these past few days, giving people a sense of security.

After Comrade Old Zhou was escorted upstairs to rest by Auntie Zhao, Zhou Yan was tidying up the dishes when someone arrived at the door and knocked. "Comrade Zhou Yan, I'm here to collect the rent."

The visitor was a delicate-looking young woman wearing a white shirt, black trousers, short hair, and small black leather shoes. She carried a brown leather bag and looked very capable.

Wang Wei was a staff member from the textile factory's finance department. At twenty years old, she was responsible for collecting rent from the shops owned by the textile factory, coming by on the 20th of every month.

"Alright, please come in." Zhou Yan responded with a smile and turned behind the counter to get the money. She was practically a landlord's wife now.

"It's fifteen in total. Please count it." Zhou Yan handed a stack of money to Wang Wei—one large ten-yuan note, and the rest were one-yuan notes.

"Mhm." Wang Wei took the money and counted it, carefully verifying the ten-yuan note before putting the money into her bag. She wrote a receipt, tore off a page, and handed it to Zhou Yan. Then, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said with a smile, "I heard you switched to selling noodles, and business is going very well."

Young Comrade Zhou was tall and handsome, making him quite popular among the young women and wives at the textile factory.

Wang Wei had come to collect rent three times before. After a few chats, she found the young man to be efficient and capable, leaving a good impression.

"It's alright, just enough to cover the rent," Zhou Yan said, tucking the receipt away and sighing. "It would be great if the factory could lower the rent a bit."

"I can't make decisions on that." Wang Wei smiled and offered a suggestion. "Didn't you save Deputy Factory Director Lin's niece? Why don't you try talking to him? He might actually give you a discount."

"How could I trouble him with such a small matter?" Zhou Yan shook his head decisively.

If he could steadily sell a hundred bowls of noodles a day, fifteen yuan in rent wasn't actually high. Moreover, he was about to start selling *Qiaojiao* beef, so his turnover would increase. As long as the factory didn't raise the rent on him, he would be fine.

"Alright, then I'll go collect rent from the next place. Come try your noodles next time I'm here," Wang Wei said with a smile before heading out with her bag.

"Take care," Zhou Yan called out as he continued washing the bowls.

"I'll do the dishes, you go attend to your business." Zhao Tieying came downstairs and took the bowls from his hands.

Zhou Yan indeed had important matters to attend to. He first tallied the money.

Of the hundred bowls of noodles prepared today, eighteen remained unsold. Subtracting the cost of ingredients, the surplus was 31.9. Including the money saved over the past few days (74.2) and subtracting the rent just paid, he had 91.1 yuan on hand.

Zhou Yan went out to find a mason, arranging for him to come build the stove tomorrow. He also contacted suppliers for blue bricks and other necessary materials, and even asked Zhou Jie to help order a one-meter diameter cast-iron pot.

The pot alone cost him fifty yuan; he only managed to get it because Zhou Jie used his connections and he provided two packs of Yuxi cigarettes.

In this era of scarcity, many things couldn't be bought simply with money. Otherwise, he would have wanted an even larger pot to place at the entrance—it would be a massive eye-catcher, more effective than any sign.

Labor and materials would cost about twenty yuan.

Just building the stove would cost seventy yuan.

Money was hard to earn, but it was so easy to spend.

However, Zhou Yan wasn't panicked. The reputation of "Tuesday Boy's Restaurant" had already spread through the textile factory, and his word-of-mouth was rising sharply. Meanwhile, his biggest competitor was currently serving a prison sentence.

Selling a hundred bowls of noodles a day would bring in a turnover of 60 yuan. After accounting for costs like firewood and seasonings, he could make nearly half in profit.

That meant earning eight or nine hundred a month.

At this rate, he could repay all his debts within two months, including the five hundred he owed his parents.

Selling noodles was his foundation; once the fame of the *Qiaojiao* beef spread, he would earn even more.

However, if he only sold noodles, he and Auntie Zhao would already be busy as spinning tops. Adding a soup pot would make things impossible to manage unless the system gave him a cloning technique.

...

For dinner, they reheated the leftover beef bone soup from lunch and ate it with the remaining beef offal; the family still enjoyed the meal immensely.

Having slept all afternoon, Comrade Old Zhou's energy had returned to its peak. He repeatedly praised the medicinal effects of Zhou Yan's soup, saying it worked better than actual medicine.

"I'm planning to hire someone," Zhou Yan said.

"Hire someone?" Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao both looked at him in surprise.

"That's another expense. The monthly wage will be at least ten yuan, right?" Zhao Tieying mused. "Should I work more?"

"Mom, you already do enough. I plan to hand the soup pot over to you, so I need to hire someone to serve the food, clear the tables, and wash the dishes, otherwise we won't be able to keep up." Zhou Yan said with a smile. "We need to ensure we are both good and fast so the customers are satisfied. Once business picks up, the labor costs will be covered, and we'll earn even more."

"I think Zhou Yan has a point," Zhou Miao added, nodding in agreement.

"Alright, then let's hire someone!" Zhao Tieying nodded, then thought for a moment. "How about asking Zhou Fei's wife to help? She's physically strong, quick with her hands, and since her two kids are in school, she won't have much to worry about. She's also a reliable person."

"That works! Let's have Sister-in-law try it out. If she's capable, it'll definitely be better than hiring a stranger," Zhou Yan agreed.

Zhou Fei was the son of his eldest uncle and the eldest among the cousins, the biological brother of Zhou Hai. He currently worked as a butcher following his father.

His wife, Zhao Hong, was from the same village as Zhao Tieying. It was Zhao Tieying who had originally played matchmaker for them. They had two sons; the eldest was in middle school and the youngest had just started primary school, so they were facing some financial pressure.

Zhou Yan had a good impression of his sister-in-law; she had a gentle personality and was a hard worker.

"I'll go talk to her when I go back tonight. How much do you plan to pay her a month?" Zhao Tieying looked at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan thought for a moment. "Twenty yuan a month. Do you think that's appropriate?"

"That's fine." Zhao Tieying nodded. "That's a very high wage. Even a waiter at a state-run restaurant only makes about twenty yuan a month, and those are places people fight to get into."

"Then it's settled," Zhou Yan decided.

Twenty yuan a month was indeed a high wage for a township, but it was within Zhou Yan's means. He was considering staff stability and ensuring the person wouldn't have any ulterior motives.

Besides, his sister-in-law was family. When he first started the restaurant, her family had lent him eighty yuan to get it going, which was no small amount for them.

...

At the crack of dawn the next day, Master Zhou was already out buying groceries.

By the time he drove Zhao Tieying back to the restaurant, a figure was already standing at the entrance. The person stepped forward and said with a smile, "Fourth Aunt, Zhou Yan, you're back."

"Zhao Hong, why are you here so early? Did you not sleep last night?" Zhao Tieying teased.