Zhou Yan moved to the dough station, lifted the lid off an enamel basin, and scattered a handful of flour across the table. He took half the dough, pulled and flicked it from both ends, stretching it evenly. With a light shake, it naturally twisted into a braid. Repeating the process several times, he coiled the dough into a long, evenly thick strand.
Once the dough was ready, he gripped both ends and pulled hard. When his arms reached their limit, he drew it back, folded it in half, and continued stretching. Between each flick and pull, the long dough became thin, round noodles.
The sight made Zhao Tieying and the other two's eyes light up.
Zhou Yan's movements were simply too practiced. The dough flipped up and down in his hands, and before they could get a good look, it had become fine, long hand-pulled noodles. The whole process flowed like drifting clouds and running water, too dazzling to take in.
"Wow! Does Big Brother know magic? He turned dough-dough into noodle-noodles!" Zhou Momo's mouth fell wide open in shock.
"Erwa's hand-pulled noodle technique is much better than Wang Laowu's. Who would've thought he had this trick up his sleeve?" Zhou Miao praised, thinking, As expected of my son.
"This skill really is good. Looks like he made plenty of hand-pulled noodles back when he was in the cafeteria." Zhao Tieying nodded repeatedly. Pastries and dough work were what she was worst at.
As they spoke, Zhou Yan had already finished pulling the noodles. The thin noodles were evenly thick, plump, and smooth. For his first attempt to reach this level, even he was delighted.
He pinched off the small clump of dough at the ends and dropped the noodles straight into the pot beside him, where the water was already at a rolling boil.
As soon as the noodles went into the pot, he lined up three large sea bowls and one small bowl on the stove and began preparing the base.
Sichuan pepper powder, MSG, soy sauce, and a spoonful of chili oil.
Once the seasoning base was ready, the noodles had floated to the surface of the boiling water.
He scooped them up with a large bamboo strainer, shook it twice, and tipped the noodles into the bowls. Then he ladled a spoonful of the freshly stir-fried Double-Pepper Beef Topping over them. A bowl of Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles was complete.
Zhou Yan had been hungry for half the day, and now he could not help swallowing.
Even by his standards, this serving of Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles was superb. Ordinary noodle shops would never spend the time and effort making hand-pulled noodles from scratch.
There was no need for ceremony among family. Zhou Miao and Zhou Yan each carried two bowls out of the kitchen and set them on the table.
Zhou Momo trotted out after them. The little girl was not even as tall as the table, yet she tried to climb onto the long bench herself. She struggled for quite a while without managing it, her two little braids bobbing back and forth as she grew frantic.
Zhou Yan casually lifted her up and let her sit beside him.
Zhao Tieying picked up her chopsticks and stirred the noodles. The snowy-white strands were immediately stained red with chili oil and coated in topping. Steaming noodle fragrance, mingled with the scent of meat and spice, rushed straight into her nose. It truly had both color and aroma.
She could not help praising it. "Oh my, these noodles look so much better than Wang Laowu's."
"Try them." Zhou Yan smiled, his face full of anticipation.
Double-Pepper Beef Noodles had to be eaten dry-tossed!
One jin of flour could make one jin and two liang of noodles.
Zhou Momo was only three and a half, so she was given only a small bowl. The other three each had nearly four liang of noodles in their bowls.
In this era, people had little oil or fat in their stomachs. They could work hard and eat hard, so naturally the family could not be shortchanged.
"Slurp!"
Zhao Tieying picked up a chopstickful of noodles. They gleamed with sauce and topping, and with one slurp as she fed them into her mouth, she sucked them in.
The numbing, spicy, fresh fragrance exploded across the tip of her tongue first. The chewy noodles were wrapped around minced beef that was crisp outside and tender within, blended with fiery millet chilies. The unique flavors of pickled chilies and pickled ginger added further layers.
Delicious! Truly far too delicious!
Their family ate plenty of beef. She often kept unsold scraps and trimmings for their own meals, but the beef she made had never tasted as good as Zhou Yan's.
This topping would not only be delicious tossed with noodles. It would surely be incredible mixed with rice as well!
Bite after bite, it was so good she could not stop.
Although these were dry-tossed noodles, the topping contained plenty of oil. The noodles were rich and slick in the mouth, not dry in the slightest. Eating them was simply exhilarating.
"These noodles are really excellent—even better than your Smashed Cucumber." Zhao Tieying swallowed the noodles in her mouth and looked at Zhou Yan. "If you switch to a noodle shop, I fully support it. With this bowl of noodles, no one in our commune can stand against you. It'll definitely work."
Ever since the restaurant had opened, people from the commune and the village had mocked Zhou Yan and the couple quite a bit.
Zhao Tieying was a notorious tough woman throughout the surrounding villages. Her fists were as formidable as her mouth, and when she was young, people had nicknamed her the Iron Lady. She had endured what others said these past days.
They could talk about her, but they could not talk about Zhou Yan.
If anyone dared badmouth Zhou Yan in front of her, she truly would tear that filthy mouth to shreds!
She knew Zhou Yan was under a lot of pressure and had not been in a good mood lately. She was afraid he would not be able to bear hearing too much gossip.
Though she felt heartache over the money, she felt even more heartache for her son.
Eight hundred-odd yuan—at worst, she and her husband could live frugally and work for a few years to pay it back.
But what mother did not want her son to amount to something, to be capable?
This bowl of noodles had far exceeded her expectations. At last, she could see hope that Zhou Yan might make a living from this.
After saying that, she lowered her head and took another huge bite, forcing the tears at the corners of her eyes back.
"I'll try some too." Hearing this, Zhou Miao took a big bite as well, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Zhou Miao loved noodles. They usually began slaughtering cattle in the middle of the night, and by morning he would find a noodle stall for a bowl of noodles. When it came to eating noodles, he could be considered half an expert.
Most dry-tossed noodles used minced pork topping. Pork with both fat and lean meat already contained plenty of oil, so stir-frying the topping did not require much extra oil.
Noodles generally needed alkaline water and salt. That made them chewy, but some people could not get used to the flavor of alkaline water.
But Zhou Yan's noodles were different. They were not only chewy and smooth, but also clean and delicious, without the slightest strange taste. If one chewed carefully, there was even the sweet fragrance unique to flour. Ordinary noodle-shop owners would never be willing to use such fine flour for their noodles.
The seasoning base was mixed just right, neither too salty nor too bland. Of course, the most outstanding part was still this Two-Pepper Beef Topping. Numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant, crisp outside and tender within, it clung wonderfully to the sauce. With a casual toss, it fused with the noodles, and even when picked up, the bits of meat stayed attached.
With many noodle shops' dry-tossed noodles, the topping was topping and the noodles were noodles. Only in the final few bites could one taste the noodles and topping together.
This bowl of noodles was absolutely the most delicious tossed noodles he had ever eaten!
After several bites, Zhou Miao nodded in praise. "Erwa, these noodles are too delicious. If I come to market in the future, I'll come here for a bowl of Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles."
"Isn't that only natural?" Zhou Yan chuckled.
[Recognition from a customer +1] [Recognition from a customer +1]
Two lines of notifications flashed before his eyes.
It seemed the system only recognized diners and did not care whether they were family. That was far too user-friendly.
Seeing that her parents had started eating, Zhou Momo was still clutching her chopsticks and trying to toss her own noodles. She was frantic with anxiety.
Zhou Yan simply helped her mix them evenly. Zhou Momo accepted the bowl with a beaming smile. "Thank you, Big Brother!"
Then she impatiently shoved two strands of noodles into her mouth, and her little eyes instantly lit up.
She did not have time to say anything at all. Lowering her little head, she began slurping madly!
It was too delicious!
Fragrant and spicy, with little bits of meat clinging to the noodles. They were tiny, but so fragrant!
She liked noodle-noodles!
From now on, she liked Big Brother's noodle-noodles best!
[Recognition from a customer +1]
Zhou Yan lowered his head to look at Zhou Momo, who was happily swinging her little legs as she ate, and his smile grew brighter.
My little sister is super adorable!
Zhou Yan lowered his head and began eating his own noodles. At this table, if anyone knew how to eat noodles best, it was naturally him.
He had eaten all kinds of tossed noodles. The stranger the name, the more he wanted to try them. Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles were fairly common, and one of the varieties he ate most often.
But this was his first time eating tossed noodles he had made himself. Before this, he had only mixed instant noodles.
When eating noodles, the noodles themselves came first.
If the noodles were bad, even the finest topping would be wasted.
Most places in Sichuan ate alkaline noodles, which had their own distinctive flavor. He could accept the taste, but a roommate from Shanxi had once sneered at it, believing that adding anything to noodle dough was heresy. A truly skilled hand-pulled noodle master only added water.
The hand-pulled noodles he had made today used only water, relying on kneading techniques to bring the dough together.
These noodles had none of the alkaline taste, yet they were just as chewy and smooth. They also held sauce exceptionally well. Coated in seasoning and topping, they did not slip off even when picked up. One bite was simply too satisfying!
Of course, this Two-Pepper Beef was the real masterpiece!
The beef was crisp outside and tender within, numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant. It had also absorbed the distinctive flavors of pickled chilies and pickled ginger, making it richly oily and fragrant—more delicious than every other Two-Pepper Minced Beef he had ever eaten!
Forget the resource-scarce year of 1984. Even in 2025, Zhou Yan would absolutely make a video raving about this dish based on this Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles alone!
Delicious!
The finest among tossed noodles!
Zhou Yan silently composed a five-hundred-character rave review in his heart. He waited for a long while, yet no system notification appeared.
Hah, what a waste of anticipation. Looks like the system didn't consider me a customer. Maybe it didn't even consider me human.
This bowl of steaming hot, spicy noodles filled his stomach, satisfied his craving, and soothed his hungry belly. The family of four ate until they were drenched in sweat, thoroughly satisfied.
After finishing the noodles, Zhao Tieying gathered the bowls and took them into the kitchen to wash.
Zhou Yan did not rush to take over the dishwashing. He brewed his father a covered bowl of tea and sat across from him. "Dad, there's something I'd like to ask you for."
Zhou Miao lifted the tea bowl and took a sip. Hearing this, he set it down, glanced toward the kitchen first, then lowered his voice. "Out of money again?" As he spoke, he had already begun reaching into his pocket.
"It's not about money. I'm planning to sell noodles for a while first, but not just this kind. I also plan to sell Braised Beef Noodles and Braised Pork Rib Noodles. Those are soup noodles, so I'll need to simmer bone broth. And I'll be using more beef from now on, so I want to arrange to buy meat from you and Uncle." Zhou Yan smiled.
He knew Zhou Miao had secretly given him money many times before, several yuan at a time. It was not much, but for a henpecked man, it was already an enormous risk.
"How much beef and beef bone will you need each day?" Zhou Miao asked.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yan said, "At the beginning, I plan to prepare ingredients for thirty bowls a day. I'll need one jin of chuck flap, one jin of brisket, one jin of ribs, and ten jin of beef bones each day."
"Beef bones aren't worth much, but six jin of meat for sixty bowls of noodles? Isn't your investment cost too high?" Zhou Miao asked in surprise. "How much do you plan to sell each bowl for? Can you make money?"
"Meat costs two yuan per jin, so three jin costs six yuan. Flour costs 0.17 yuan per jin. One jin of flour makes one jin and two liang of noodles. Each bowl uses three liang of noodles, so I'll need 7.5 jin of flour, which comes to 1.3 yuan. Then there are the costs of oil, vegetables, spices, and firewood. I estimated it roughly, and two yuan is more than enough. The total cost comes to 9.3 yuan." Zhou Yan explained unhurriedly, "I plan to sell them for 0.6 yuan per bowl. If I sell all thirty bowls, eighteen yuan comes in. After deducting costs, I can earn 8.7 yuan. If I sell more later, I'll earn even more."
After hearing this, Zhou Miao seriously calculated it in his heart for a while. Though he had not studied much, he had slaughtered cattle and sold meat for years, so he could keep accounts clearly.
Right now, beef bought with meat coupons cost 1.2 yuan per jin, but coupons were hard to come by. He might get lucky with brisket, but chuck flap was impossible to buy with coupons. Beef sold at the market directly doubled in price, starting at 2.5 yuan per jin. Ribs were about the same, and one needed an acquaintance to set some aside in order to buy them.
But at sixty cents per bowl, even he would have to think twice before ordering one. A bowl of bone-broth noodles at the stalls outside sold for only thirty cents. This was twice the price.
Still, those noodle stalls did not make noodles as delicious as Zhou Yan's, and their meat was pitifully scarce. One could not even find more than a few grains of minced meat, while Zhou Yan planned to give each bowl one liang of meat. Anyone who had eaten Zhou Yan's noodles and liked noodles would definitely be willing to pay a little more.
"You've calculated everything crystal clear." Zhou Miao smiled with relief. "You don't need to ask your uncle for two jin of beef. I'll set it aside for you. When I go back later, I'll speak to Zhang Laosan at the bridgehead and have him save one jin of short ribs for you every day. When you pick up the beef, you can get them at the same time."
"Alright!" Zhou Yan beamed. This was the family's network of connections. He added, "Dad, let's make this clear. I'm buying the beef from you, so you have to take my money."
"It's only a few jin of beef. Between father and son—"
"No. Otherwise, I'll buy it somewhere else." Zhou Yan's expression was firm. If his father gave him two jin of beef every day, then after a month, not only would he have worked for nothing, he would even be losing money.
With the beef supply secured, he finally felt at ease.
Zhou Yan had been a food blogger for three years and had prepared to open a shop for another year. Running a restaurant was the thing he was most adept at now.
The most troublesome part of starting a business was earning the first pot of gold. Going from zero to one was much harder than going from one to ten.
Little Zhou had used his own abilities to borrow the first pot of gold for him and had even left him with stable suppliers. It was far better than starting from scratch.
"Then I'll only charge you cost price. What father would make money off his son?" Zhou Miao pulled his hand from his pocket and stuffed several crumpled one-yuan bills into Zhou Yan's hand, lowering his voice. "Don't let your mother know."
"Dad..." Zhou Yan looked at the money in his hand, his heart stirring. In his previous life, he had fought desperately to earn every cent. When had he ever experienced someone stuffing money into his hand like this?
"Big Brother, I have money too! I'll give you all of it." Zhou Momo came over. Her little hand searched in her pocket for a long time before she pulled out a crumpled five-cent note and solemnly handed it to Zhou Yan. "I still want to eat noodle-noodles next time!"
"Alright." Zhou Yan smiled and closed his hand around the money, reaching out to rub her hair.
After tidying up the kitchen, Zhao Tieying came out holding the remaining half bowl of beef topping. "Zhou Yan, where should I put this bowl of topping?"
"Momo likes it. Take it back for her to mix with rice. I'll make fresh topping tomorrow morning," Zhou Yan said.
"What a good topping." Zhao Tieying looked hesitant.
"Yes, yes!" Zhou Momo happily bounced in place. She loved this beef so much.
Zhao Tieying smiled and patted her head. "Alright, we'll pack it up for you, you little greedy cat."
She handed the basket holding the topping to Zhou Miao. Then Zhao Tieying took a folded square handkerchief from the inner pocket of her clothes. Opening it revealed a stack of banknotes, which she stuffed into Zhou Yan's hand.
"Mom, this is..." Zhou Yan froze for a moment.
"This is what your father and I saved last month. Thirteen yuan and forty cents in total. Take it first for the shop's expenses." Zhao Tieying held the handkerchief and looked at him with a relieved smile. "Mom believes this time, you'll definitely make it!"
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