Starting a new chapter in life

Chapter 148 Human Heart

Jingyan didn't delay and immediately wired the 45 yuan for the wood ear mushrooms. The hazel mushrooms weren't in season yet. Once autumn came, not only would the wood ear mushrooms be thick and meaty, but the hazel mushrooms would also be very tender and have a good taste. She would use these for now as an emergency measure. Once the autumn wood ear mushrooms were in season, she would buy about a hundred kilograms.

In August, Jingyan calculated that the net profit was about 2,200 yuan. She paid everyone's wages, 25 yuan each and 30 yuan to Dou Zhixiao. Since the end of July, she had been responsible for picking up the goods early in the morning. Apart from preparing the spice packets in the morning and grilling in the afternoon, Jingyan was no longer needed to do any other work and was much more relaxed.

Jingyan deposited two thousand yuan into the bank, leaving the remaining hundred or so yuan. When the shop first opened, Sister Wang had helped a lot. Although Sister Wang didn't go to the shop much after they hired helper, Jingyan still gave her and her grandmother fifty yuan each as a reward at the end of July.

Since August, Sister Wang's monthly salary has increased from forty yuan to fifty yuan. Although she doesn't earn as much as before, she used to work so hard, and now she has a lot of free time. Her children are well-behaved and tidy up their things after playing, so she doesn't have to follow them around to clean up.

She's supposed to be in charge of the vegetable garden, but it's mostly Grandma who does the tending. As the old lady says, "People need to move around, otherwise these parts will age if they're not used for a long time. I can't do any heavy physical work, so tending the vegetable garden won't tire this old lady out."

So, Sister Wang's job is to manage the family's three meals a day and the house's cleaning. For someone used to these chores, it's a piece of cake, and Sister Wang is very satisfied with her life now.

She doesn't usually have any expenses, but since arriving at Jingyan's house, she has added three thousand yuan to her savings account. Combined with what she had saved before, she now has nearly five thousand yuan. What more could she ask for?

Jingyan's shop is indeed similar to what we guessed before. Previously, her customers were mainly residents in the surrounding area or people who often ate out. But ever since He Zhijun invited his colleagues, not only shipyard workers, but even employees of nearby military factories have made this shop their first choice when they go out for a better meal with their families on weekends and holidays.

Amid this busy scene, Jingyan increases her demand for mutton to 50 jin (25 kg) on ​​weekends, nearly 2,000 skewers. Her usual quantity remains unchanged, adhering to the principle of selling out on the same day and not preparing more.

Dou Zhixiao found a way to buy a set of tables, chairs, and a bed and moved them back to the shop. The style was simple, or rather, rudimentary, but in any case, it was usable. He moved in the day after he brought the furniture back. Although he was a boy, he was really a clean person.

He specially set up a clothes rack in the backyard and washed the sheets and duvet covers once a week. With this frequency, he was more diligent than Jing Yan, a woman. Everyone likes a clean kid, and many customers who come to the restaurant always ask him if he and Xiao Jinhua have a girlfriend or something.

The two young people were shy, and although they would often blush with embarrassment, neither of them would admit to wanting to date. Jingyan had also subtly inquired about it, but Dou Zhixiao's thinking was simple:

"Sister Yan, I'm currently living and eating at the shop. Apart from daily necessities and clothes, I don't have any extra expenses. I can save at least twenty-five yuan a month. I've inquired about the prices of the residential buildings around here."

"If I didn't have a work unit to allocate a place to me, a small two-bedroom apartment, only about 60 square meters, would cost nearly 5,000 yuan per square meter. If I wanted to find a pretty, virtuous girl to live with, I'd need at least one apartment, right? I'm still far from that."

Jing Yan was shocked: "Can't we get married by renting? Why do we have to buy a place?"

Dou Zhixiao shook his head with a wry smile: "Sister Yan, getting married casually is irresponsible to your life. If you want to find someone you like, you should at least have basic financial conditions. Otherwise, good girls have so many choices, why would they choose someone like me who has nothing?"

I heard that when you married your brother-in-law, his family had already prepared a house. Whether you didn't need it or not is one thing, but not having one is another. Do you think I'm right?

Jingyan nodded in agreement: "That's right. My family's dowry was three hundred yuan, and Zhijun's family gave six hundred yuan as a bride price, but he himself had one thousand five hundred yuan in savings, which was a huge sum of money at that time."

But even with that much money, when we first arrived in Beidahuang, we didn't have much to spend on rent; the majority of our money went towards furniture. We only bought a few items, but it still cost us seven or eight hundred yuan. The money really wasn't enough.

"Poverty-stricken couples face endless sorrows. It's reasonable for you to want to earn more money and have financial stability before considering anything else. As long as you're aware of this, that's fine. You're still young; your early twenties are the perfect age to build your future."

After asking Dou Zhixiao, she turned to Xiao Jinhua and asked, "What about you? When do you plan to get married? You're over twenty this year, aren't your family pressuring you?"

Xiao Jinhua smiled shyly, pursing her lips: "I have a childhood sweetheart, a neighbor who is my older brother. When we were little, our families arranged a marriage between us. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, his family was affected. To protect him, the neighbor uncle and aunt used their connections to get him sent to the countryside as an educated youth."

He failed the first batch of college entrance exams in 77, but passed the following year. He just graduated this year, and we don't know where he'll be assigned yet. There's no news. But my mom said she and my aunt have agreed that once Qi-gege (his brother) has a job, we can get married.

Jingyan looked at her hopeful face, but her mood began to grow heavy: "Did they say when they would hear back? They can't keep you waiting forever. A girl's youth doesn't last long, don't let it be wasted."

Xiao Jinhua thought for a moment: "No matter how late it is, there will be news by the end of this year. My mother said that even if Brother Qi agrees to marry me, we should let him come and stay for a while. They said that it has been so many years since they last saw him, and they don't know if he is still the person they remember. We should take another look before making a decision. After all, marriage is a lifelong matter, and we should be careful."

Hearing this, Jingyan breathed a sigh of relief. During those ten years of chaos, countless educated youth who had been sent to the countryside concealed their marital history. If this person was the same, then it was not just two people. A TV series called "The Debt of Sin" was about children abandoned by educated youth. Since the TV series had been produced, it was not an isolated incident. She could not and had no ability to control others, but she would pay more attention to her own employees.

The topic of finding a partner came to an end, and life went on as usual. In October, the National Day holiday coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and He Zhijun had a four-day holiday. His family in Yangzhou also had a holiday, so they drove over, parked their car at the parking lot at the dock, paid one yuan to park it for three days, and then took a boat directly home.

These past few days have also been Jingyan's busiest time. It's a holiday, and although traveling isn't very popular now, parents still take their children to explore the surrounding area, have a nice meal, go out to a restaurant, or buy some clothes—all choices that can make the children happier.

Jingyan's braised meat and barbecue shop has gained a certain reputation on the island in the past four months, attracting many customers. Jingyan has also moved the lighting time of the barbecue grill, which usually starts around 4 p.m., to 10 a.m.

Some parents originally only wanted to treat their children to a bowl of braised pork noodles, but when their children looked longingly at the meat skewers, the parents couldn't bear it and reluctantly bought one or two skewers for their children to try.

Originally, the 2,000 skewers were supposed to be sold out by around 9 p.m. on the weekend. However, because they started selling half a day earlier, the 2,000 skewers were sold out by 6 p.m. on the first day. While they were cleaning up, several groups of people came into the store to inquire.

The next day, Jingyan rushed to the early market and bought another 15 jin of mutton from the supply and marketing cooperative. Dou Zhixiao saw her carrying the mutton in and asked curiously, "Sister Yan, if we want to increase the amount of mutton, why don't we tell the meat processing plant and have them bring it over tomorrow?"

Jing Yan waved the meat in her hand and laughed, "The holiday is only three or four days. We didn't sell enough yesterday, but that's because we start cooking early. This kind of business only lasts a few days, and I don't know how business will be today."

Just to be on the safe side, I'll buy the missing supplies from the supply and marketing cooperative first. It's better to have a stable demand from the meat processing plant; otherwise, with such large fluctuations, their subsequent estimations of our needs will be prone to errors.

Although Dou Zhixiao didn't understand, he didn't ask any more questions. He took the meat and sent it to the kitchen for Xiao Jinhua to cut and prepare. Jing Yan followed him into the kitchen, and was just about to ask Aunt Li to count out another six hundred new skewers to clean when...

Seeing that Aunt Li had already pulled out the basket containing the new skewers and was counting them, Jing Yan chuckled. This group of employees was more outstanding than she had imagined. Not only were they attentive to their tasks, but they also cooperated very well with each other.

She was satisfied and in a better mood. Standing in the kitchen, she clapped her hands and said, "Our shop has been busy these past few days. Everyone has worked hard. After the holiday, let's get together. Make a list of what you want to eat in advance and buy whatever you need. Come to me to collect the money you need. We'll distribute the one-yuan bonus to everyone together then."

Upon hearing that there was more money to be made, everyone clapped their hands happily: "It's great to work here. The boss is generous. He gives bonuses when we're busy and even on holidays. We're so lucky!"

Jing Yan smiled, not wanting to disturb everyone's work, and turned to leave the kitchen. Sister Feng Cailian, while kneading dough, sighed, "The benefits in our shop are better than those in those big factories. My husband works in a shipyard, and all year round he only gets some rice, flour, and cooking oil during the New Year; the rest of the year he gets nothing."

"Even on holidays, we have to work, and there's no pay. Unlike here, where we were promised 25 yuan a month, I've only been here for a little over two months and I've already received three bonuses, each worth three yuan. Every time I bring a bonus home, my husband is so envious of me."

While scrubbing the metal skewers, Aunt Li chimed in, "Indeed, my husband is just an ordinary worker, earning only twenty-three yuan a month, less than I do, and his work is even more tiring than mine. Apart from not having the prestigious title of factory workers, we get real benefits. As long as our shop's business continues to be good, we can keep working. I'm reluctant to leave our shop."

The group compared their experiences again, and it made sense. Jing Yan, after all, had memories of her previous life. Although she was just an ordinary person before, her family had owned a sausage factory and a steel foundry. While she wasn't good at employee management, she understood one principle:

To retain employees, you have to pay them well. Of course, you have to be careful not to overdo it. She won't do anything that would make them resentful. So she only rewards them when they voluntarily do more work than their normal workload. This lets them know that they can only get extra pay if they put in the effort, which is a fair way to reward them.

When the family gathers together, they naturally have to eat and drink to their hearts' content. So, in the evening, they all gathered at the restaurant. Sister Wang was in charge of cooking in the kitchen. The aroma of stir-fries and stews wafted out of the kitchen, prompting many customers to ask what delicious food she had made and whether it was a new dish at the restaurant.

However, when Dou Zhixiao explained that the restaurant owner's family was having a dinner gathering and that the food was only for their own consumption, many customers were still disappointed. They could cook home-style dishes, but not many could make them taste good. Most of them just ate whatever they could find. Now that we have just entered an era of basic needs being met, the pursuit of taste is not very obvious. But if they know that there is a dish that is well-made, they will still be tempted. It's only human nature.

After seeing off the last group of customers, the staff cleaned the entire restaurant. Jingyan then invited them to stay and eat together. There were three tables in total: one for those who drank alcohol, one for those who didn't drink and brought their children, and one for the four staff members. The dishes were the same, and everyone sat next to each other but not together, so everyone was comfortable.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and tidied up, they went home. Dou Zhixiao saw everyone off at the door, closed the gate, bolted it, went back to check the stove and windows again, and then locked the door before going upstairs to wash up and rest.

The whole family strolled slowly home under the moonlight. He Jiaoxu had drunk a bit too much today and was unusually talkative, keeping pulling He Zhijun aside and saying, "Your wife has had a tough time. You need to help her out more. Don't just sit around doing nothing and be a hands-off husband. If you don't cherish your own wife, someone else will. Be careful not to lose her..."

Jingyan felt that her father-in-law was acting strangely today, so she leaned closer to Cui Hongru and asked curiously, "Mom, what's wrong with Dad?"

Cui Hongru patted her hand and smiled: "There's a company commander in his regiment who only takes leave to visit his family once every few years. Your dad asked him about it before, and he only said that his wife was virtuous and could take good care of the family. Who knew that two months ago his wife came to the army base, crying and shouting that she wanted a divorce."

When the political commissar and his team inquired about the situation, they learned that the company commander had several brothers who hadn't divided the family property. The mother-in-law managed the household finances, while the other brothers stayed at home. Whenever there was a quarrel or disagreement, the wives always had their husbands' support, or at least they would try to mediate.

His wife had to handle all the domestic squabbles alone, and after a while, everyone gets tired. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and went to the military base to apply for a divorce.