This Time, It Would Definitely Work

Zhou Yan moved to the dough-making area beside him, lifted the enamel basin lid, and sprinkled a handful of flour onto 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 began pulling hard. When his arms reached their limit, he drew it back, folded it in half, and pulled again. With each flick and stretch, the long dough gradually became thin, round noodles.

The sight made Zhao Tieying and the other two's eyes light up.

Zhou Yan's technique was 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 as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water, leaving them dazzled.

"Wow! Does Big Brother know magic? He turned dough-dough into noodle-noodles!" Zhou Momo's mouth fell wide open in shock.

"Erwa's noodle-pulling skills are way better than Wang Laowu's. I didn't expect him to have this up his sleeve." Zhou Miao praised him. As expected of my son.

"This is indeed pretty good. Looks like he made plenty of hand-pulled noodles at the cafeteria before." Zhao Tieying nodded repeatedly. Dough work was what she was worst at.

As they spoke, Zhou Yan had already finished pulling the noodles. The thin strands were even in thickness, plump and smooth-looking. He was delighted that he had managed this level of quality on his first try.

He pinched off the small bit of dough at the ends and dropped the noodles straight into the pot beside him, where the water was already boiling.

As soon as the noodles went into the pot, he lined up three large bowls and one small bowl on the stove and began preparing the seasonings.

Sichuan pepper powder, MSG, soy sauce, and a spoonful of chili oil.

Once the base seasonings were mixed, the noodles rose in the rolling hot water as well.

He scooped them out with a large bamboo strainer, shook it twice, and poured 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 ready.

Zhou Yan had been hungry for half the day and could not help swallowing.

Even by his standards, this serving of Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles was excellent. Ordinary noodle shops would not spend so much time and effort making hand-pulled noodles from scratch.

There was no need for formalities among family. Zhou Miao and Zhou Yan each carried out two bowls of noodles from 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 and tried climbing onto the long bench herself. She struggled for quite a while without managing to get up, her two little braids bobbing wildly as she grew frantic.

Zhou Yan casually lifted her onto the bench and had her sit beside him.

Zhao Tieying picked up her chopsticks and stirred the noodles in her bowl. The pale noodles were immediately stained red with chili oil and coated in topping. The steaming noodle fragrance, mixed with the scent of meat and spice, rushed straight into her nose. It had both looks 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 expectantly.

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 those days, people had little oil or meat 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 were coated with sauce and topping, gleaming with oil. She brought them to her mouth and slurped them in.

The numbing, spicy, fresh fragrance exploded on her tongue first. The chewy noodles were mixed with minced beef that was crispy outside and tender within, along with fiery millet chilies. The distinct flavors of pickled chilies and pickled ginger added even more layers.

Delicious! It was unbelievably delicious!

Their family ate plenty of beef. She often kept unsold scraps and trimmings for themselves, but the beef she cooked had never tasted as good as Zhou Yan's.

This topping would not just be delicious with noodles. It would probably be incredible over rice too!

She took bite after bite, unable to stop because it was so good.

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 satisfying.

"These noodles are really good, 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 a bowl like this, no one in our commune could compete with you. It would definitely work."

Ever since the restaurant opened, people from the commune and nearby villages had mocked Zhou Yan and the couple quite a bit.

Zhao Tieying was a famously fierce woman throughout the surrounding villages. Her fists were as formidable as her mouth, and when she was young, people had given her the nickname Iron Lady. She had endured hearing all those remarks lately.

They could criticize her, but not Zhou Yan.

If anyone dared badmouth Zhou Yan in front of her, she really would tear that filthy mouth apart!

She knew Zhou Yan was under a lot of pressure and had not been in a good mood lately. She was afraid that hearing too much gossip would break him.

She might hate spending money, but she cared even more about her son.

Eight hundred yuan or so—they could tighten their belts and work for a few years to pay it back.

But what mother did not want her son to make something of himself and 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 big bite, forcing the tears in the corners of her eyes back.

"I'll have a taste too." Hearing that, Zhou Miao also took a big mouthful, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Zhou Miao loved noodles. Whenever he slaughtered cattle, he started work in the middle of the night, then found a noodle stall for a bowl of noodles in the morning. When it came to noodles, he could be considered half an expert.

Dry-tossed noodles usually used minced pork topping. Half-fat, half-lean pork naturally had oil in it, so stir-frying the topping did not require much extra oil.

Noodles usually had to be made with alkaline water and salt. That made them chewy, but some people could not get used to the taste of alkaline water.

But Zhou Yan's noodles were different. They were not only chewy and smooth, but also fresh and delicious, without the slightest odd taste. Chewing carefully, there was even the sweet fragrance unique to flour. Ordinary noodle shop owners would never be willing to use such fine flour for noodles.

The base seasoning was mixed perfectly, neither too salty nor too bland. Of course, the most amazing part was the Two-Pepper Beef topping. It was numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant, crispy outside and tender inside. It clung exceptionally well to the sauce, blending with the noodles after just a quick toss, and even when lifted with chopsticks, the meat bits stayed attached.

At many noodle shops, dry-tossed noodles were one thing and the topping was another. Only the final few bites let you taste the noodles and topping together.

This bowl was absolutely the most delicious tossed noodle dish he had ever eaten!

After taking several bites in a row, Zhou Miao nodded in admiration. "Erwa, these noodles are amazing. If I come to the market in the future, I'll come here for a bowl of Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles."

"Of course you should." Zhou Yan chuckled.

[Recognition from a customer +1]

[Recognition from a customer +1]

Two notifications flashed before his eyes.

It seemed the system only recognized diners and did not care whether they were family. That was incredibly humane.

Seeing that her parents had started eating, Zhou Momo was still clutching her chopsticks and trying to mix her own noodles. She was getting so anxious.

Zhou Yan simply mixed them evenly for her. 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. Lowering her little head, she began slurping furiously!

It was too delicious!

Fragrant and spicy, with tiny bits of meat clinging to the noodles. So tasty!

She loved noodle-noodles!

From now on, she would love Big Brother's noodle-noodles the most!

[Recognition from a customer +1]

Zhou Yan looked down at Zhou Momo, who was happily swinging her little legs as she ate, and his smile grew even brighter.

My little sister is ridiculously cute!

Zhou Yan lowered his head and began eating his own noodles. At this table, the person who knew noodles best 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 dishes he ate most often.

But this was his first time eating tossed noodles he had made himself. Before this, he had only ever mixed instant noodles.

When eating noodles, the noodles themselves came first.

If the noodles were bad, no matter how good the topping was, it would all be wasted.

Most places in Sichuan ate alkaline noodles, which had their own distinct flavor. He could accept that taste, but his former roommate from Shanxi had scoffed at it, believing that adding anything to noodle dough was heresy. A truly skilled noodle maker used only water.

The hand-pulled noodles he made today used only water, relying on kneading techniques to bring the dough together.

These noodles did not have the alkaline taste, yet they were just as chewy and smooth. They also held sauce incredibly well. Coated in seasonings and topping, they did not slide off the chopsticks. One bite was simply satisfying beyond words!

Of course, the Two-Pepper Beef was the true highlight!

The beef was crispy outside and tender within, numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant. It had absorbed the distinct flavors of pickled chilies and pickled ginger, making it richly fragrant with oil. It was more delicious than every Two-Pepper Minced Beef dish he had eaten before!

Forget resource-starved 1984—even in 2025, Zhou Yan would absolutely make a video raving about this Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles dish alone!

Delicious!

The finest of tossed noodles!

Zhou Yan silently composed a five-hundred-word glowing review, but after waiting for a while, no system notification appeared.

Well, that was a wasted expectation. It seemed the system did not consider him a customer. Maybe it did not even consider him human.

That bowl of steaming, spicy noodles satisfied his craving and soothed his hungry stomach. The family of four ate until they were sweating all over, thoroughly content.

After finishing the noodles, Zhao Tieying collected the bowls and took them into the kitchen to wash.

Zhou Yan did not rush to take over the dishwashing. He made his father a bowl of covered tea, sat across from him, and said, "Dad, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Zhou Miao lifted the tea bowl and took a sip. Hearing that, he put it down, first glanced toward the kitchen, then lowered his voice. "Out of money again?" As he spoke, he was already 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. I'll also need more beef from now on, so I want to arrange meat purchases with you and Uncle." Zhou Yan smiled.

He knew Zhou Miao had secretly given him money many times before, a few yuan at a time. It was not much, but for a henpecked husband, it was already an enormous risk.

"How much beef and how many beef bones will you need every day?" Zhou Miao asked.

After thinking briefly, 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 daily."

"Beef bones aren't worth much, but you're using six jin of meat for sixty bowls of noodles? Isn't your cost way too high?" Zhou Miao said in surprise. "How much are you planning to charge per bowl? Can you make money?"

"Meat costs two yuan per jin, so three jin comes to six yuan. Flour costs 0.17 yuan per jin, and one jin of flour makes one jin and two liang of noodles. Each bowl uses three liang of noodles, so I need seven and a half jin of flour, which comes to 1.3 yuan. Then there are the costs of oil, vegetables, spices, and firewood. I roughly estimated two yuan, which should be more than enough. That makes the total cost 9.3 yuan." Zhou Yan explained calmly. "I plan to sell each bowl for 0.6 yuan. If I sell all thirty bowls, that's eighteen yuan in revenue. After costs, I can earn 8.7 yuan. If I sell more later, I'll earn even more."

After listening, Zhou Miao seriously calculated it in his head for a while. He had not gone to much school, but after slaughtering cattle and selling meat for years, he knew how to keep accounts.

Right now, beef bought with meat coupons cost 1.2 yuan per jin, but coupons were hard to come by. You might get lucky with brisket, but chuck flap was impossible to buy with coupons. At the market, beef prices were directly doubled, starting at 2.5 yuan per jin. Ribs were about the same price, and you needed an acquaintance to set them aside for you before you could buy them.

But at sixty cents a bowl, even he would have to think twice before ordering. A bowl of bone broth noodles from a street stall only cost thirty cents. This was double the price.

Still, the noodles from those stalls were nowhere near as delicious as Zhou Yan's, and the meat was pitifully scarce. You could barely find a few bits of minced meat, while Zhou Yan planned to give each bowl one liang of meat. Anyone who had tasted Zhou Yan's noodles and liked noodles would definitely be willing to pay a little extra.

"You've really thought it all through." Zhou Miao smiled in 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 tell Zhang Laosan at the bridgehead to save you one jin of baby back ribs every day. You can pick them up when you get the beef."

"Alright!" Zhou Yan beamed. This was family connections. Then he added, "Dad, let's be clear. I'm buying this beef from you, so you have to take the money."

"It's just a few jin of beef. Between father and son—"

"No. Otherwise, I'll buy from somewhere else." Zhou Yan's expression was firm. If his father gave him two jin of beef every day, he would not only be working for nothing each month, he would be losing money.

With the beef supply secured, he finally felt confident.

Zhou Yan had been a food blogger for three years and had spent another year preparing to open a shop. Running a restaurant was what he was most comfortable doing right now.

The hardest part of starting a business was earning the first pot of gold. Going from zero to one was far 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 a stable supplier. That was far better than starting from scratch.

"Then I'll only charge you cost price. What father makes 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 find out."

"Dad..." Zhou Yan looked at the money in his hand, his heart stirring. Every cent in his previous life had been earned through desperate effort. 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 and rummaged in her pocket for a long while before pulling out a crumpled five-cent note. She solemnly handed it to Zhou Yan. "I still want noodle-noodles next time!"

"Okay." Zhou Yan smiled as he took the money and reached 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 home for her to mix with rice. I'll make fresh topping tomorrow morning," Zhou Yan said.

"It's such good topping." Zhao Tieying looked hesitant.

"Yes, yes!" Zhou Momo happily bounced on the spot. She loved this beef so much.

Zhao Tieying smiled and stroked her head. "Alright, we'll pack it up and take it home for you, little glutton."

After handing the basket containing the topping to Zhou Miao, Zhao Tieying took a folded square handkerchief from the inner pocket of her clothes. She unfolded it, revealing a stack of banknotes, and stuffed it into Zhou Yan's hand.

"Mom, what is this..." 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 work!"