Damn Woman

"Zhou Yan, you got things up and running so fast? How's business?" Zhou Jie set down the rag in his hand and came over with a smile.

"Yeah, that was quick!" Zhou Hai also looked at him expectantly.

The owner of the neighboring stall, Zhou Liangliang, was cracking sunflower seeds. He curled his lip and muttered under his breath, "Tch, he'll sell maybe ten or twenty bowls at most. And I don't see anyone coming to learn from him either."

"Business has been pretty good. I sold seventy bowls on the first day yesterday, and I'll probably sell out a hundred bowls today," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"What? A hundred bowls?"

"Business is that good?"

Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai both looked stunned.

They had been selling beef soup pots for two years, slowly building up a customer base. Now that the weather had cooled down, being able to sell a hundred bowls some days was already considered good business.

Zhou Yan had just started selling beef soup pots, yet he had sold seventy bowls on his first day! And today he was going to sell a hundred bowls?!

Rustle...

The sunflower seeds in Zhou Liangliang's hand scattered all over the ground. He stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yan, his eyes full of shock and confusion.

A hundred pots!

How much money would that bring in? How much profit would he make?

They were all from the same village, all surnamed Zhou, so why did those brothers' beef soup pots sell so well?

Their cattle were all slaughtered at the same slaughterhouse!

That made no sense.

So damn irritating!

"That's wonderful! Zhou Yan, your cooking is incredible! You can sell a hundred bowls of beef soup pot right outside the Textile Factory." Zhou Jie was happy and relieved. "Now your restaurant business will really take off. You won't have to worry about it going under anymore."

"I knew Zhou Yan could make it work. He's been clever since he was little." Zhou Hai grinned foolishly, his face filled with pride.

"My beef soup pots sell for sixty cents a bowl," Zhou Yan said with a smile. He could feel their genuine happiness for him.

"How much?"

"Sixty cents a bowl!"

Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai stopped smiling, their expressions turning to shock and bewilderment.

Their stall sold beef soup pots for forty cents a bowl, already the highest price in all of Suji. They relied on flavor and reputation to keep their sales up.

Back then, they had gradually raised their prices from thirty cents to thirty-five cents.

Zhou Yan was charging sixty cents a bowl from the day he opened? And he could still sell a hundred bowls a day?

Since when had money in Suji become so easy to make?

Didn't the female workers at the Textile Factory dislike beef soup pots?

The two of them were a little dazed.

"You swear?" Zhou Jie looked at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Hai scratched his head as well.

"I swear," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"All right, I believe you." Zhou Jie nodded at once and grabbed Zhou Yan's arm. "That's fucking amazing!"

Zhou Liangliang had just grabbed another handful of sunflower seeds, but they now tasted bitter and numb, without the slightest bit of fragrance.

Sixty cents a bowl!

How was that any different from robbery?

He could still make money selling them for thirty cents.

If Zhou the Second sold them for sixty cents and moved a hundred bowls a day, how much would he make?

If he set up a stall at the Textile Factory gate, forget sixty cents—even if he charged fifty or forty cents, he could still make plenty!

As Zhou Liangliang did the math in his head, his hands began to tremble, and the sunflower seeds he had just grabbed scattered across the ground again.

"Parkinson's? Can't even hold onto your sunflower seeds." Zhou Yan shot him a sideways glance. He knew perfectly well what this guy was thinking.

The news that his Qiaojiao Beef was selling like hotcakes outside the Textile Factory, at sixty cents a bowl, would spread soon enough. The obvious numbers could not be hidden.

In a few days, the Textile Factory gate would definitely be packed with people from Zhou Village selling beef soup pots.

Setting up a stall was nothing more than moving to a different location, and it did not cost much. Peddlers were all shrewd.

Zhou Yan was not afraid of direct competition. The flavor and quality of his Qiaojiao Beef were his moat, and the reputation his restaurant had turned around these past few days was another advantage.

In the future, Jiazhou would be full of Qiaojiao Beef restaurants. The best-performing ones were never the cheapest, but the ones that perfected both flavor and marketing.

He had come to find Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai today because he planned to teach them how to make Qiaojiao Beef.

They were family, after all. He simply wanted them to live better lives.

[Ding! Side quest triggered: Qiaojiao Beef Heritage. As a traditional intangible cultural heritage dish, Qiaojiao Beef urgently needs to reclaim its name! Take on one apprentice as a Qiaojiao Beef inheritor, teach them the authentic method of making Qiaojiao Beef, and carry forward the heritage of Qiaojiao Beef.]

[Quest reward: Unknown. Accept: Yes/No.]

Zhou Yan's eyelid twitched as he glanced at the task window that had suddenly appeared.

That was rather unexpected.

This system even had side quests for culinary heritage?

But there was no reason to refuse a quest delivered right to his doorstep.

He decisively chose to accept it.

"Brother Jie, Brother Haizi, I made some improvements to this beef soup pot. The Textile Factory workers all said it tasted great, which is why I can charge this price." Zhou Yan called the two aside and lowered his voice. "Do you want to learn from me? As long as you make it the way I teach you, business will definitely be better than it is now, and you'll earn more too."

"How could we do that? Your restaurant business has only just started picking up, and you still owe a lot of money outside. As your older brothers, we can't steal your business." Zhou Jie immediately shook his head, his attitude resolute. "I know you sincerely care about Haizi and me, but we want you to do well too."

"Exactly. We can make money as it is. Out of all the stalls here, none does better business than ours." Zhou Hai patted his chest as he spoke.

Zhou Yan's nose stung, and for a moment, he did not know what to say.

What could buy sincere hearts?

At the very least, money could not.

"Brother Jie, Brother Haizi, listen to me." Zhou Yan looked at them with a serious expression. "I understand how you feel and what you're thinking, but I'm looking further ahead."

"You can't spend your whole lives running a stall here, can you? You're out in the sun and rain every day. When the weather is bad, you can't even set up. Once the slow season is deducted, you barely make any money over a year, and both sisters-in-law suffer along with you."

"When I run a restaurant, I won't just sell beef soup pots. I'm selling noodles now, and later I can sell stir-fries and braised dishes too. That's where my main business lies."

"Once you learn my beef soup pot recipe and hone the skill, you can open a shop in town, or even in the city. That's how you'll make more money and live better lives."

"You're worried about stealing my business? That won't happen. My customers are mainly Textile Factory workers. They won't travel this far just to eat the same beef soup pot."

"We're family, so don't stand on ceremony. Otherwise, when I go eat at Grandma's tomorrow, I'm telling on you two."

Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai both fell silent after hearing him out. One scratched his head, while the other rubbed his chin.

"Brother Jie, say something," Zhou Yan said, looking at Zhou Jie.

"Fine. You've put it that way—what else can we older brothers say?" Zhou Jie nodded. "Name a time. I'll come learn from you first, then I'll teach Brother Haizi after I've learned it."

"We're taking tomorrow off. Come find me at the restaurant next Monday morning," Zhou Yan said.

"All right." Zhou Jie smiled. "Then Brother Haizi and I will take you as our master."

"Zhou Yan is a proper chef now." Zhou Hai chuckled as well.

"No problem." Zhou Yan nodded. "Then I'll head back first. A group of students from Sichuan Fine Arts Academy came to eat at the restaurant today, and I still need to go back and prepare the seasoning."

"College students?"

"A whole group?"

Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai both looked amazed and hurriedly said, "Then get going. Don't waste any time."

"I'm off." Zhou Yan got on his bicycle and left.

Zhou Liangliang watched his retreating figure, his eyes darting around. Then he turned and woke his wife, who was dozing behind the stove, saying quietly, "Watch the stall by yourself tonight. I'm going to take care of something."

"How am I supposed to manage it alone? What are you going off to do?" His wife was still half-asleep, sounding resentful.

"We'll only sell a dozen or so bowls tonight. You could watch it with your eyes closed. I'm going to do something important. We might be about to get rich." Zhou Liangliang lowered his voice.

"Get rich?" His wife looked at him suspiciously. "Are you going to rob a bank?"

"Rob your ass! Go back to sleep, you damn woman!" Zhou Liangliang yanked over an apron and covered her face with it, then pushed his bicycle toward the Textile Factory.

PS: It's a new week, so please vote with monthly tickets and keep reading! Any support is appreciated!

Especially tomorrow, please make sure to tap into the latest chapter. Qingyu gives thanks.