Seeing others squat to shit made his ass itch!

"Uncle Lin, your timing was perfect. I was just planning to change the menu tomorrow. We won't be selling noodles at noon or in the evening anymore—we'll be selling stir-fries and braised dishes." Zhou Yan said with a smile. "Braised Spare Ribs and Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots will be the two braised dishes. Two-Pepper Beef will be the stir-fry, and there'll also be Agastache Carp. Qiaojiao Beef can be soup or a dish, so that makes four dishes and a soup. If there aren't too many people, it should be enough."

The three noodle toppings and sauces tasted good and could easily stand alone as dishes. Qiaojiao Beef was delicious too. Lin Zhiqiang pondered for a moment. "Little Zhou, did you just learn this Agastache Carp? How does it taste?"

"This, you can rest assured about. As long as you can handle agastache, I guarantee you'll be satisfied with the fish." Zhou Yan was brimming with confidence.

"Alright, I trust you. There'll be seven of us, so we'll order those five dishes." Lin Zhiqiang smiled. "Tomorrow evening after work, I'll pick up the two kids and come over for dinner."

"Alright, I'll get the ingredients ready for you tomorrow." Zhou Yan nodded, watching Lin Zhiqiang leave with a smile on his face.

Before he had even changed the menu, he had already landed an order. Uncle Lin really was like his own uncle.

Back in the restaurant, Zhou Yan dug out a long wooden board ten centimeters wide. He borrowed several tools from the Security Department next door, then returned and sawed the board into twenty-centimeter wooden plaques. He drilled holes in them, threaded string through them, and wrote the dish names and prices on each plaque.

He tore down the old menu and nailed a row of hooks onto the wall. The signs for the three noodle dishes hung together, while the other dishes were hung in another row.

When it came to setting the prices, Zhou Yan thought things over for quite a while.

Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots and Two-Pepper Stir-Fried Beef were priced at one yuan, but three liang of ribs seemed a little too little for Braised Spare Ribs. This was a pure meat dish, while the dried bamboo shoots made up more than half of the Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots.

In the end, he increased the ribs in each serving to half a jin, and the price of Braised Spare Ribs rose accordingly to 1.6 yuan. The cost alone came to 1.1 yuan.

Even Zhou Yan could not help sighing at that price. It was far too generous.

That was the limitation of the times. If such delicious Braised Spare Ribs were sold in later generations, he would have dared to double the cost, then double it again. He could have sold it both expensive and well.

Suji was an economic hub of Jiazhou, and Jiazhou Textile Factory was a leading enterprise in southern Sichuan's silk industry. It earned more than ten million US dollars in foreign exchange annually, had excellent profits, and was still expanding rapidly. It had many workers, and their wages were high as well.

Quite a few workers even came from Jiazhou every day to work at the factory.

In an ordinary little town, there would have been no way to open a Sichuan restaurant at a time like this.

What farmer had the money to eat a bowl of noodles that cost sixty cents?

Agastache Carp was two yuan per serving, while Qiaojiao Beef remained at sixty cents per serving.

Once the signs were hung on the wall, their red lettering looked eye-catching and attractive.

Replacing the fixed menu with wooden plaques was Zhou Yan's preparation for introducing new dishes tomorrow.

To reduce waste and make sure the ingredients prepared each day could all be sold, he would control the amount of ingredients he bought during the early stages.

Once a dish sold out, he would take down its sign and put it in the sold-out section, letting customers order from the remaining dishes.

It made ordering more convenient for customers and avoided the hassle of the front counter repeatedly confirming things with the kitchen.

Without a refrigerator, while still ensuring ingredient freshness, this was the best method.

Once business stabilized and the daily consumption of each dish became more predictable, he could gradually increase the quantities until they reached a balance.

Ingredient waste affected a restaurant's profits. Zhou Yan would not think that he could just eat whatever failed to sell himself. That would be far too unprofessional.

"Little Zhou, what are you clanging around with?" Luo Weidong, the head of the Security Department, stood at the entrance and poked his head inside, asking with a smile.

"Chief Luo, I'm changing the menu. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to sell braised dishes and stir-fries." Zhou Yan answered with a smile as he gathered up the tools.

"New dishes, huh?" Luo Weidong came inside and looked at the wooden plaques hanging on the wall. Smiling, he said, "There aren't many varieties this time. You're being pretty cautious."

A bowl of Qiaojiao Beef from Zhou Yan had brought him closer to the Security Department, and Luo Weidong had also come by once for noodles. They had truly tasted quite good.

But when Zhou Yan's restaurant had first opened, Luo Weidong had also eaten there once. The dishes had been utterly indescribable.

There had been dozens of dishes on the menu, yet he had not heard anyone say a single one was tasty.

This time, though, Zhou Yan had learned to be smarter. The noodle sauces had become braised dishes, and the minced toppings had become stir-fries. He was going for stability.

As for the prices, they were not cheap.

The cafeteria's braised beef cost eighty cents a serving with a ration coupon, twenty cents cheaper than Zhou Yan's restaurant.

Last time, he had eaten Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots Noodles. The flavor had been beyond reproach, genuinely better than the cafeteria's. Paying twenty cents more was acceptable.

"I'll take the tools back. Next time, I'll come try your fish." Luo Weidong took the tools from Zhou Yan.

"Thank you, Chief Luo." Zhou Yan smiled and saw Luo Weidong out.

After sweeping the floor, Zhou Yan went out and found a reliable fish stall. He arranged for twenty crucian carp to be delivered to the restaurant tomorrow at noon.

He wanted broad-backed crucian carp weighing eight liang each, decent-quality farmed fish. Crucian carp that size were just right for making Agastache Carp.

Zhou Yan also wrote a notice and posted it on the wooden board. Starting tomorrow, Zhou Erwa Restaurant would only provide noodles in the morning.

Once all the preparations were complete, the sun was already sinking westward.

Zhou Yan lay back in the reclining chair at the entrance to rest. The Textile Factory was not working today, and no one had set up stalls outside. The place was empty.

Only the newly moved stall across the street was occupied, where Zhou Liangliang and his wife were busy wiping down tables, chairs, and benches.

A mocking smile curled at Zhou Yan's lips. This guy had moved fast. He had come to scout the place yesterday, and today he had already moved his stall over.

Zhou Liangliang also spotted Zhou Yan sitting outside the restaurant. Smiling pleasantly, he said, "Zhou Yan, we moved our stall here. We're family, so you won't mind, right?"

"What's there for me to mind? This is Textile Factory property. If you want to set up here, go ahead. It's not like I can stop you." Zhou Yan said with a smile.

He had no use for this kind of fake-nice brother.

Zhou Yan glanced at the sign hanging over the stall: soup pot plus noodles. This guy wanted it all, did he? Who did he think he was?

But the more he acted like this, the less highly Zhou Yan thought of him.

This guy had failed to get so much as a sip of soup beside Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai's stalls, so he thought moving to the Textile Factory entrance would let him crush Zhou Yan?

Besides, he had never sold noodles before. He had probably seen that Zhou Yan's noodles were doing well and added them at the last minute.

Zhou Yan had expected this. Even if it had not been Zhou Liangliang, Zhou Mingming or Zhou Tiantian would have come. That was just how setting up stalls worked.

Zhou Yan enjoyed the breeze for a while before going inside to cook dinner.

"I don't think Zhou Yan is nervous at all. Will business really be better than at the docks if we sell soup pot here?" Zhou Liangliang's wife, Wu Guihua, asked quietly.

"Don't worry. Zhou Yan sells his for sixty cents a bowl. We'll sell the same soup pot and noodles for fifty cents, a whole dime cheaper than him. Business will definitely be good!" Zhou Liangliang said confidently.

They had finished all the preparations today and contacted the noodle factory as well. It would deliver the noodles to him tomorrow morning.

For the first day, he had not ordered much—thirty jin of fresh noodles, enough to make a hundred bowls.

The next day, before dawn had fully broken, Comrade Little Zhou rode out on his Twenty-Eight Bicycle to buy ingredients.

For today's noodles, sauces, and toppings, he only made enough for eighty people. If they did not sell out in the morning, the leftovers would become their staff meal.

He ordered three extra jin each of brisket and rib finger, enough for ten servings of Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots and Two-Pepper Beef.

He ordered four extra jin of ribs, enough for eight servings.

Braised Spare Ribs were delicious, but most people preferred fragrant, fatty Twice-Cooked Pork. The bones in ribs were nothing but excess, and the price was high too, making them poor value.

For the first day, he was being fairly conservative. Selling out the dishes he had prepared would count as success.

In any case, he still had enough Qiaojiao Beef for a hundred people as a fallback. Customers would have something to order no matter what.

Auntie Zhao had no objections to launching the new menu and strongly supported Zhou Yan's plan.

But when she rode on the back of his bicycle to the restaurant and saw Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua across the street simmering bone broth, she frowned. "When did they move over here? Seeing someone squat to shit makes their ass itch! Seeing someone jump off a cliff makes them want to spread their wings! Aren't they afraid of falling flat on their faces?"