novelhk Chapter 146 Banquet
Chapter 146 Banquet
"Really? Thank you so much, Sister Yan! Don't worry, I'll definitely take good care of the shop and won't slack off. I'll go back today and talk to the landlord about terminating the lease. We'll discuss it properly, and maybe I can even get a few cents back." Dou Zhixiao was overjoyed.
Jing Yan waved her hand casually: "Okay, you need to add a wardrobe, a desk, and a bed to your room. See if you can buy these things on the island. I'll reimburse you for the furniture."
Dou Zhixiao was genuinely touched. Shops with small buildings and courtyards like this don't really have a problem with no one on night duty because they are inherently private and safe. Yan Jie actually made this arrangement to take care of herself, and the young man was deeply moved by this understanding.
In truth, Dou Zhixiao has romanticized Jing Yan's original intentions. People are generally quite simple and honest now, but in a year or two, those scoundrels and hooligans will gradually start causing trouble. Jing Yan's shop is on an island, where the security is relatively good, but who knows if there will be any scumbags among them?
Based on her past life's knowledge of the 1980s and 90s, Jingyan was genuinely worried that someone might try to take advantage of her shop. The braised meat there needed to be left overnight to absorb the flavors before it could be sold, which meant the shop had stock. Besides, she needed to keep a certain amount of loose change in the shop every day; she couldn't possibly carry it around with her every day.
Rather than living in fear later, it's better to take precautions now. As for choosing Dou Zhixiao, let alone trusting his character, even people who have known each other for a long time may not be able to see his true intentions, let alone someone who has only been here for a few days.
She chose him simply because he was a boy, which at least guaranteed her personal safety. She would put all her loose change in a locked iron box so she would know immediately if the lock was broken. Of course, if he was truly an honest man, then she had struck gold.
With everything mostly arranged, customers started arriving gradually. When it was quiet, they could choose the price of meat and have it sliced to order. Around three or four in the afternoon, when the flow of people picked up, customers dining in could have the braised meat sliced and weighed out from pre-cut pieces, which was faster.
Sister Feng also started to set up shop at the kitchen workbench, rolling and cutting noodles with a clanging sound. There were enough iron skewers today, and the lamb skewers had already been prepared in advance. For the time being, Aunt Li didn't have much to wash except for the noodle bowls and meat dishes. Whenever she had time, she would help Sister Feng cook and serve noodles, and occasionally help Xiao Dou deliver food to the guests. In short, everyone was busy.
Jingyan started grilling meat skewers after the charcoal fire in the barbecue grill was lit. Although many people thought the meat skewers were expensive, sales were still quite good. She started selling 600 skewers every day around 4 pm and usually finished by 7 pm.
On busy days, the food sells out by 6 PM. Today is the weekend, and there are even more people out and about, so the food prepared in the store is gone much faster than usual. Everyone finished packing up and left work at 8 PM.
When Jingyan returned home, she saw He Zhijun hunched over his desk, writing and drawing. She asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
He Zhijun looked up at her and smiled: "I spent the whole afternoon visiting all the leaders and colleagues I need to invite. I'm calculating how many tables I need to set up tomorrow. I need to calculate it today so that I won't make any mistakes tomorrow. Otherwise, if I make a mistake while I'm busy, it will look bad."
Jingyan rested her head on his shoulder and looked at the paper on the table: "Have you figured it out yet? How many tables do we need?"
He Zhijun pointed to the table with his index finger. "Eight to ten tables, I think. I don't think we can be too relaxed to have a banquet at home. It wouldn't be good to bring everyone up to the second floor. It's not that we can't have a banquet in the yard, but we grow a lot of vegetables in our yard. It would be a waste if we set up tables and trampled the vegetables."
Jingyan said casually, "Since the dinner date is set for lunch anyway, why not just have the meal at our restaurant? Since the guests are invited to your home, you can stay and entertain them."
"Tomorrow, Sister Wang and I will go to the shop to prepare. You can take the customers there around lunchtime. There are twelve tables in the main dining area; that should be enough. I'll put up a notice tomorrow saying we're only open for dinner. What do you think?"
He Zhijun sighed, "That's all we can do. I'll have to trouble my wife tomorrow."
Jingyan patted his shoulder, "Alright, now that the troublesome matter has been resolved, you don't need to be unhappy anymore. Go to sleep early, I have to get up early to go to the dock tomorrow morning. I'll take Xiao Dou with me, maybe he can handle the cargo pickup work in the future, that way I won't have to work so hard."
He Zhijun smiled and put away the papers. After washing up, he went into the room to sleep. Even in the middle of summer, they both felt hot. The young couple slept very soundly this time, wishing they were eight feet apart so that they wouldn't be affected by each other's body heat.
The next day, Jingyan's biological clock struck on time. She got up, dressed, and headed straight to the shop. When she arrived at the shop entrance, she saw a figure squatting in front of the shop. Jingyan went up to him and saw that it was Dou Zhixiao. "Xiao Dou, when did you get here? Why are you here so early?"
Dou Zhixiao lifted his head from under his arms, grinned at Jing Yan, and said, "Sister Yan, didn't you say you'd come at 4:30? I was afraid of being late, so I got up early today and arrived around 4:00. Let's hurry over."
Jingyan took out her keys, opened the door, and patted the handcart next to the door: "You push the cart."
Without saying a word, Dou Zhixiao pushed the cart out of the shop's door. Jingyan locked the door again, and the two headed straight for the dock. When they arrived at the dock, Jingyan gave Dou Zhixiao directions until they reached the deliveryman's location. The deliveryman saw her from afar and waved to her, and the two quickly squeezed past him.
"Sister Zhang, this is today's quantity. There are 40 jin of meat and ribs, which is 10 jin more than the previous order. The mutton is 30 jin, double the amount. These two baskets contain 370 eggs. The delivery guy said that 20 of them are extras to prevent breakage. The next delivery is in early August. He asked me to tell you about it."
Jingyan asked Dou Zhixiao to load everything onto the cart. She took out a piece of paper and handed it to the deliveryman: "From now on, I will order 30 jin each of braised pork, ribs, and mutton every day. Once autumn comes and the weather cools down, I will adjust the demand."
The deliveryman nodded, took the note, and stuffed it into his pocket. Jingyan took out a dollar from her pocket and handed it to him: "This is for your trouble. Starting next month, I will give you three dollars at the end of each month. Please keep an eye on the eggs for me."
The deliveryman happily accepted the money, patting his chest and assuring her, "Don't worry, Sister Zhang, I'll take absolutely good care of you."
The two of them worked together to push the goods back into the shop. They carefully picked the eggs out of the rice husks, checked them, and found that the quantity matched and that none of them were broken. Jingyan was very satisfied. She put the remaining rice husks into a sack, emptied the baskets, and placed them in a corner of the backyard, planning to take all the accumulated baskets over at the end of next month.
After that, Dou Zhixiao watched as Jingyan started getting busy around six o'clock, taking the braised meat and ribs that had been soaking in the pot to absorb the flavor, cleaning the food she had bought that day, and then starting to braise it.
Around 7:30, Sister Wang entered the shop with a basket of vegetables and Jingyan's breakfast. Everyone knew that a young man was going to the dock with Jingyan today, so she brought extra breakfast. Dou Zhixiao also ate breakfast with them at their invitation.
After breakfast, Dou Zhixiao had nothing to do, so Jingyan told him to go upstairs to rest for a while. But there was nothing there except a dining table, so there was nothing to rest on. He stayed in the kitchen to help kill and pluck chickens.
To be honest, having someone to help out makes things much faster. Two large basins of hazel mushrooms were soaked, six young roosters were killed, cleaned, and chopped into pieces. Sister Wang prepared the vegetables, while Jingyan picked out about four pounds of braised pork belly, sliced it into thin slices, and arranged them on a plate. Ten small plates of braised ribs were also prepared, with the ribs deliberately chopped into small pieces, partly to make it look like a lot, and partly to save money.
After making the preparations, Jingyan discussed it with Sister Wang and decided to cook rice. Sister Wang is indeed a cooking expert. Although cooking rice in a steamer is a bit complicated, the rice turned out really delicious.
The aroma wafting out the moment the rice was cooked was incredibly appetizing. After soaking and cleaning the hazel mushrooms, Jingyan started making chicken stew with mushrooms at another stove. These days, sweet potato starch is all the rage; it's very chewy.
When the chicken and mushrooms are almost cooked, add four or five handfuls of soaked sweet potato noodles. Cook until soft, and the broth in the dish will have reduced to the desired consistency. A small bowl of this on each table looks delicious.
The remaining vegetables were quite simple. The vegetables in the garden were growing abundantly in July and August. We also grow vegetables in our own garden and in the yard near the shop. The vegetables served to our guests were all picked from those two gardens.
Potato stew with green beans, braised eggplant in soy sauce, cucumber salad, stir-fried green peppers with eggs, and tomatoes with sugar—eight dishes in total, both hot and cold. Except for the meat, which cost money, everything else was picked from our own garden, which... saved us a lot of money.
With the dishes almost ready, He Zhijun, supporting his grandmother, led the large group over. At the entrance, they hesitated, looking at the "Temporarily Closed" sign hanging on the doorknob: "It seems this restaurant is closed. Is it appropriate for us to go in?" One of He Zhijun's superiors turned to ask him.
He Zhijun smiled and said, "This is my wife's shop. She usually sells braised meat and barbecue. It's not that I'm treating people; we don't have enough tables and chairs at home. If we borrow some, we'd have to return them, and we might not even have enough tableware."
But this is a shop, and aside from everything else, there are plenty of tables and chairs. So she temporarily closed the shop at noon today, only opening for the evening session. Let's go in. Judging by the time, everything should be ready by now." After saying that, he pushed open the half-closed door, turned around, and helped his grandmother into the shop.
Many of the people following behind had never been here before and were quite surprised: "Xiao He, your wife's shop is quite big, how's business?" He Zhijun's boss asked.
He Zhijun replied with a smile, "It's alright. It's mainly during the evening hours. The store doesn't have many varieties, and the quantity isn't large either. We close up shop as soon as we sell out."
The leader nodded: "Your wife has it tough too. Running a shop is hard work, and she doesn't necessarily earn much, plus she has a lot to worry about. Have you ever thought about finding her a job? Do you want me to help you look into it?"
He Zhijun… “Thank you, leader. I have two children, and my older brother’s child is also here. My grandmother is getting old, and my wife’s business offers flexible hours, making it convenient for her to take care of the family. It’s not suitable for her to work a regular office, so I won’t trouble you any further.”
Just then, Jingyan heard the commotion in the courtyard and came out to greet them. Upon seeing He Zhijun, she naturally walked to his side, helped her grandmother up, and said to He Zhijun, "Zhijun, the dishes are almost ready. Please arrange for everyone to sit down. We'll serve the dishes after everyone is seated. There are eight dishes in total, three meat and five vegetable, all of which are Northeastern cuisine. Is that alright with you?"
He Zhijun looked at the leader beside him and introduced, "This is my wife, Zhang Jingyan. I met her when I was serving in the Northeast Army Corps and brought her back to me. So today's dishes are Northeast cuisine. Everyone can try them and see if you can get used to them."
The leader looked at Jingyan with a kind expression and nodded: "You've married a good wife. With her round face and big eyes, she looks like a blessed person."
Jing Yan just wanted to laugh. What's wrong with people these days? Round face and plump body mean you're lucky? Don't they know that fat people are prone to strokes? But the person meant well, and she couldn't very well show her displeasure, so she could only force a bright smile and reply, "Thank you."
She led people into the shop. Many of them had never been before, and some had only been in the main hall. Someone asked if they could go to the second floor to take a look. Jingyan nodded and agreed: "No problem. The second floor is all private rooms. Please feel free to use it. The restroom is behind the stairs on the first floor. Just walk around it. Please make yourselves at home if I haven't been very helpful."
As the host and the person who invited the guests, He Zhijun was bound to be the one to fly around the whole place. Jing Yan told He Chaoli to find some children to play with, but not to leave the shop area, and then took Grandma, Sister Wang and the two children to the kitchen to find some peace and quiet.
Xiao Jinhua brewed a large pot of barley tea and handed it to Dou Zhixiao. Dou Zhixiao then began adding tea to the teacups at each table. There weren't many teapots prepared, only five. After all, it was impossible for such a large number of customers to come at the same time on a normal day. Two tables shared one pot of tea. He Zhijun explained this as well, and everyone felt that this was already very good.
After the people who had been wandering around returned one after another, Jingyan asked the dishes to be served. Nowadays, there is not much service awareness, and table manners are still based on the principle of not wasting food. So there is no particular order to which dish should be served first or last. As long as each table has a different dish, that's fine.
Eight dishes, served quickly in bowls and plates, were presented. He Zhijun stood up, said a few polite words, and then everyone began to eat. After the meal started, almost no one chatted. Those who brought children sat at separate tables for children around the same age as He Chaoli, while the younger children were held by their parents while eating.
Eight of the twelve tables in the hall were occupied. Jingyan prepared enough food for ten tables and instructed Dou Zhixiao to ask which table had empty dishes what they wanted to add. If there were any extras, they could make them in the kitchen.
The busy kitchen and the lively hall were bustling with activity. The banquet ended in just two hours. He Zhijun stood at the door to see the guests off. His boss and his family were not in a hurry. They thought they would talk to He Zhijun about work after everyone had left.