Mom, I Love You!

After dinner, Old Zhou rode his bicycle home with Zhao Tieying and Zhou Momo.

"One hundred a day, four days off a month, that leaves twenty-six days—that's 2,600 yuan!"

"How much is that in a year? Th-thirty thousand plus!"

"Good heavens!"

Sitting on the back of the bicycle and hugging Zhou Miao around the waist, Zhao Tieying could not help crying out in surprise.

That was far too much!

She had not worked it out carefully while they were eating. She had only felt that making one hundred yuan a day was quite a lot, but calculating the yearly amount left even her stunned.

"That's turnover, not pure profit," Zhou Miao said with a smile. "Still, Zhou Yan really did well. Even if half of it is profit, that's over ten thousand a year."

"Making ten thousand a year! That boy really knows how to get things done!" Zhao Tieying's face shone with pride, and she was a little carried away.

Zhou Miao was one of the best cattle butchers in Zhou Village. Between slaughtering cattle and selling beef, he could earn seventy or eighty yuan a month, around a thousand yuan a year.

That income was higher than that of most workers at the Textile Factory.

But Zhou Yan's restaurant was making more than ten times what Zhou Miao earned.

If they kept making this much every day, their family's future would definitely be good.

"That's because you, as his mother, helped so well. You took on the heavy responsibility of cooking Qiaojiao Beef and handling the cash register, holding up half the restaurant," Zhou Miao said seriously. "Without you, this place couldn't have gotten off the ground at all."

"Mm, that makes sense." Zhao Tieying beamed. "Your awareness is still pretty high."

"I'm not selling meat tomorrow. I'm just helping the commune slaughter two cows in the morning. Old Huang asked me to go fishing with him, so..." Zhou Miao said cautiously.

"Go on, then. You've worked hard lately too," Zhao Tieying said with a smile. "If you catch some fish, we can have an extra dish for dinner."

"I... I'll do my best..." Zhou Miao's voice weakened, sounding utterly lacking in confidence.

As a veteran of the Air Force, bringing fish home for an extra meal was an enormous pressure.

The two chatted and laughed all the way back to Zhou Village.

The villagers gathered beneath the tree at the village entrance, chatting away, spotted them from afar and greeted them warmly.

News of Zhou Yan's booming restaurant business had already spread through Zhou Village.

Noodles cost sixty cents a bowl, and he could sell dozens of bowls a day!

He was making dozens of yuan a day. How could that not make people green with envy?

Zhou Yan had leaped from being the wastrel everyone criticized in the nightly gossip storms at the village entrance information center to becoming someone else's promising child.

As for Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao, they had gone from being reckless parents who spoiled their child to far-sighted, bold, good parents.

Zhao Tieying had been particularly proud lately. Whenever she went out, she combed her hair neatly, held her head high, and seemed to have regained the imposing air of Zhou Village's Iron Lady.

She chatted easily with the villagers, but she did not have Zhou Miao stop. She only said they needed to go home, bathe, and rest.

"They've been gossiping about us all this time. Shouldn't we tell them something and make them feel bad?" Zhou Miao asked with a smile.

"If they feel bad, they'll get jealous. Who knows how much trouble that could bring? We can't cause trouble for Zhou Yan." Zhao Tieying shook her head. "Nothing matters more than our family living well. Those old women in the village are already miserable enough."

She had even told Zhao Hong not to talk too much in the village about the restaurant's booming business, lest jealous people try to cause trouble.

"Alright, I'll listen to you," Zhou Miao replied.

Zhou Yan did not rush off to sleep today. After locking up, he took advantage of the remaining daylight to run a lap by the river.

Being a chef was physical work. Pulling noodles and stir-frying dishes both required a combination of strength and skill.

After running until he was drenched in sweat, Zhou Yan took off his clothes and jumped straight into the river for a swim, washing himself at the same time. He immediately felt refreshed all over.

Over the past two days, he had gradually adapted to the rhythm of work. His young, strong body allowed him to handle everything with ease.

Because Zhou Yan was tall, he looked thin, but once he took off his clothes, his body was packed with lean muscle, and his eight-pack abs were especially obvious.

When he got home, he rinsed himself again with well water, changed into clean clothes, and recorded the day's accounts first.

Today, all one hundred bowls of noodles had sold, bringing in sixty yuan. Sixty-nine bowls of Qiaojiao Beef had sold, bringing in 41.4 yuan, while fifty-two portions of rice had sold, bringing in 5.2 yuan.

The cost of the Qiaojiao Beef was around twenty yuan, meaning Qiaojiao Beef alone had added twenty-one yuan in profit.

The Sichuan restaurant that had been on the verge of bankruptcy was now on track.

Adding dishes in a planned manner could quickly and effectively raise turnover and profits.

But adding dishes without any plan could overwhelm the kitchen, disrupt the order of the whole restaurant, and turn everything into a mess.

As usual, Zhou Yan counted the savings he had on hand. They had reached 240.52 yuan.

That was no small sum. After another day of work tomorrow, he would keep fifty yuan for working capital, then see which of his uncles, elders, or cousins urgently needed money and repay them first.

He was not the kind of person who could owe money.

With debts hanging over him, he could not even sleep soundly.

He had no idea how those deadbeats trained themselves to think that way—owing money while still acting like they were the boss.

Noodles and Qiaojiao Beef were the restaurant's foundation, but before its influence expanded, the upper limit would probably be around one hundred portions a day. It would be hard to make a greater breakthrough.

Besides, with a business bringing in one hundred yuan a day, people would soon start getting jealous.

Once one Wang Laowu left, another Huang Laowu or Zhang Laowu would come along.

Cooking noodles did not seem like much of a skill to ordinary people.

After Zhou Yan opened up the soup-pot market at the Textile Factory, people from Zhou Village would definitely set up stalls outside the factory gates, selling bowls for twenty or thirty cents to steal business.

His flavor and the medicinal benefits of his dishes were his moat. He was not afraid of direct competition, as long as they did not resort to underhanded tricks.

Besides, Zhou Yan had never considered the small vendors setting up stalls outside his restaurant to be his opponents.

What could he accomplish by fighting those vendors over a few cents?

His only target was the Factory Canteen.

[Ding! New main quest released: [Conquer the Textile Factory]: Restaurant influence reaches 1000. (Each customer's approval grants 1 point of influence.) Reach 1000 influence to become the most popular restaurant around the Textile Factory!]

[Quest progress: 380/1000]

[Quest reward: Unknown]

[Accept quest: Yes/No]

Just as Zhou Yan put the money back into the cash box, a quest panel popped up.

"1,000 influence? This really means digging out the Factory Canteen's roots." Zhou Yan could not help laughing.

Jiazhou Textile Factory was not small. It had around 2,800 employees.

To gain those 1,000 points of influence, he would have to snatch food from the Factory Canteen's mouth.

Fortunately, the factory district was not far from Suji Town. Suji Town had a population of around twenty thousand, a potential customer base he could draw on once the restaurant's reputation spread.

The 380 people in the quest progress were the restaurant's current regular customers from the Textile Factory.

If he wanted to keep expanding his customer base, he needed dishes that could attract more customers.

This was a long-term quest and would be relatively difficult to complete.

Zhou Yan estimated that the reward for this quest would probably be of a higher grade as well.

This main quest was an accumulated-achievement type. As long as he operated normally each day and developed step by step, he would complete it sooner or later. The reward was guaranteed, and so was a steady sense of happiness. There was no need to rush.

Zhou Yan chose to accept.

After studying it these past few days, he had discovered that the game panel was quite humane. It did not have too many fancy mandatory requirements, and its freedom was extremely high. System quests were not compulsory either, and there were no perverted punishments like being forced to run naked if he failed a quest.

Wasn't this simply a perfect support tool?

Zhou Yan did not like being driven like a donkey under a whip. Being able to control his own life was very important.

Of course, the system rewards hid the key to opening the door to a wonderful life, so he would not slack off.

He would actively complete every quest he could. The more new dishes he unlocked, the easier it would become to expand and run the restaurant.

His current goal was to save money first and repay the more than eight hundred yuan he owed.

At first light, Chef Zhou headed out early to buy ingredients.

Today, he still prepared ingredients for one hundred bowls of noodles and one hundred bowls of Qiaojiao Beef, aiming to sell out.

Zhao Hong arrived early as usual.

After stopping his bicycle, Zhou Yan looked around and asked with a smile, "Where are Huihui and Fanwa? Didn't they say they were coming over today to play with Momo?"

"Those two little piglets are still asleep. I told Huihui to bring Fanwa over after they wake up. Besides, the restaurant is busy in the mornings anyway. They'll be bouncing around like monkeys in the restaurant, and it'll be annoying just looking at them," Zhao Hong explained.

"Boys are all like that. What child isn't mischievous?" Zhao Tieying said with a smile.

The restaurant really was busy in the mornings.

People in Sichuan loved eating noodles in the morning. Now that the mornings had gotten a little cold, eating a bowl of delicious noodle soup and finishing the steaming hot bone broth warmed the whole body. It was incredibly comfortable.

As its reputation accumulated, business at Zhou Erwa Restaurant had noticeably improved.

They sold sixty-three bowls of noodles that morning.

They were selling more with each passing day.

"Big brother, I'm hungry. I want noodles, Spare Rib Noodles!" Zhou Momo said in a soft, childish voice as she rubbed her sleepy eyes and appeared at the kitchen entrance.

"Alright, I'll cook you some right away," Zhou Yan replied with a smile.

Zhao Tieying had already come over with a hot towel.

"Mom, I love you!" Zhou Momo took a step back, trying to awaken her mother's love.

But Her Majesty Zhao remained unmoved.

Zhou Momo raised her head, shut her eyes tight, clenched her teeth, and wore the expression of someone calmly facing death.

The hot towel pressed against her face and scrubbed until her chubby cheeks changed shape. Only after quite a while did Zhao Tieying finally stop.

Zhou Momo opened her eyes. Her cheeks were rosy red, and her gaze seemed a little clearer.

She pursed her lips, hesitated as if she wanted to say something, then whispered, "Mom, be gentler next time..."

"If I'm gentle, I won't be able to scrub the grime off. I know what I'm doing," Zhao Tieying replied.

"My face is already really clean. There isn't any grime," Zhou Momo said, pouting.