What Kind of People Can Set Up a Stall Now?

Zhao Tieying's words made both Zhou Yan and Zhao Hong laugh.

"Fourth Aunt, Uncle!" Zhou Lihui stood ramrod straight with his schoolbag on his back, greeting them with a simple grin.

"Huihui, you're still up early," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"He spent the whole way reciting his lessons today. It's the first time I've seen him take the initiative to study. He said he wants to learn every character," Zhao Hong said, full of relief.

Zhou Yan nodded. "That's the spirit."

"Mm." Zhou Lihui nodded vigorously.

Zhou Liangliang wasn't afraid of Zhou Yan, but Zhao Tieying still made him feel a little nervous. He looked up and happened to meet her eyes, so he could only force a smile and say, "Auntie Zhao, you got here early."

"I wasn't early. Your noses are sharp, though. You came as soon as you smelled the food." Zhao Tieying smiled without any warmth.

Zhou Liangliang's mother, Gao Cuihua, was the head of the village women's committee. Two years ago, she had argued with Zhao Tieying over Zhou Momo's household registration. She was nothing more than an insignificant defeated opponent.

Zhou Liangliang gave an awkward, foolish grin and didn't dare reply.

He was nowhere near Zhao Tieying's level. He knew he couldn't win against that shrewish woman.

Seeing that he didn't even dare answer, Zhao Tieying boredly withdrew her gaze.

Zhou Yan lifted Zhou Momo out of the basket on his back and gently placed her on the bed.

The little one was like a caterpillar. The moment she touched the bed, she wriggled into the blankets and continued sleeping soundly.

Zhou Yan tucked in the corner of her blanket, then turned and went downstairs.

Outside the restaurant, Zhou Jie parked his bicycle by the side, locked it, and glanced at the stall across the street in surprise. "Zhou Liangliang? Why did they move their stall here?"

"They moved here yesterday." Zhou Yan smiled. "Maybe they think business will be better next to mine."

"That bastard has some thick skin. Back then, he saw my business doing well and insisted on setting up beside me. Now he sees yours doing well and moves right across from you. Does he think us brothers are easy to bully?" Zhou Jie darkened and rolled up his sleeves, ready to head across the street.

"Forget it, forget it. Nobody has it easy." Zhou Yan hurriedly pulled him back. "Let him set up. Even if he doesn't, someone else will. When you're selling food, it comes down to skill and taste."

"But..."

"He only sold ten or twenty bowls a day when he was next to you. Setting up across from me won't make his business much better." Zhou Yan smiled. "That husband and wife pair aren't the type to work steadily. They haven't even figured out how to sell hotpot, yet they want to sell noodles too. They're taking strides so big they'll split their pants."

Zhou Jie looked at Zhou Yan's confident expression and smiled too. "Makes sense."

"Come on. Today I'll teach you the authentic way to make Qiaojiao Beef."

"Qiaojiao Beef? Isn't it just hotpot?"

"Hotpot doesn't have enough of a hook, so I used the old name the previous generation used: Qiaojiao Beef." Zhou Yan led Zhou Jie over to look at the sign by the clay stove and the little story behind the brand.

After reading it, Zhou Jie nodded repeatedly. "It does look classier than hotpot. You're the smart one."

"Come on. I'll teach you how to make it today." Zhou Yan headed into the restaurant.

"Fourth Aunt, Sister-in-law." Zhou Jie greeted them first when he entered. When he saw Zhou Lihui standing nearby, he looked surprised. "Huh? Why is Huihui in the restaurant too?"

"Third Uncle, I'm here to learn cooking from Uncle," Zhou Lihui answered.

"Aren't you only in your third year of middle school? You're not going to study anymore?" Zhou Jie asked in confusion.

"He's still studying. He comes with Sister-in-law in the morning to help until seven-thirty, then goes to school." Zhou Yan explained, "He wants to be a chef, so I'm letting him get a taste of it first."

"Learning to cook from your uncle is great. Your uncle is incredibly capable. I came here to become his apprentice today too." Zhou Jie smiled and put an arm around Zhou Lihui's shoulder. "From now on, we'll be fellow disciples."

"Then... do you call me Senior Brother, and I call you Third Uncle?" Zhou Lihui asked expectantly.

"You really dare to dream. More like you should call me Senior Brother." Zhou Jie lightly smacked him on the head.

Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful.

"Come on, Brother Jie. Today we'll start with making the stock." Zhou Yan called Zhou Jie over, then said to Zhou Lihui, "Huihui, you're in charge of carrying water this morning. Fill this whole pot."

"All right, Master Zhou." Zhou Jie said with a grin.

"All right! Master Zhou!" Zhou Lihui turned and headed for the kitchen as well.

Zhou Yan started by explaining how the bones should be arranged in the pot, how many bones a pot of stock needed, which parts to use, the exact quantities, how to choose the beef offal... He explained everything in great detail.

Zhou Jie held a small notebook and wrote down every key point Zhou Yan mentioned.

He had been making hotpot for two years, and what Zhou Yan said wasn't actually all that different from what he already knew.

But the gap between a good chef and an ordinary chef lay precisely in those small differences. Zhou Jie understood that very well.

The reason his hotpot had stood out among so many stalls at the docks was the subtle differentiation he had painstakingly researched. Tiny differences determined the flavor of a whole pot of soup.

Even slight differences in the amount of spices used could make the broth taste completely different.

Zhou Lihui carried bucket after bucket of water and poured them into the pot, working with all his strength.

Though he was only fifteen, he had endless bull strength. He could carry two buckets at once without trouble. That was practically a family talent.

"These are the spices, and there are also these medicinal herbs..." Zhou Yan held a small scale, weighing ingredients as he packed them into a gauze pouch. "The amounts must be exact. Too little and they won't work. Too much and the flavor becomes overpowering. Then the soup turns into medicine and can't be drunk."

"Using so many medicinal herbs can't be cheap, can it?" Zhou Jie asked in surprise.

"If it were the same as everyone else's hotpot, I wouldn't dare charge sixty cents." Zhou Yan smiled.

"You're really using the good stuff." Zhou Jie nodded and carefully recorded the amounts of each spice and medicinal herb.

"Don't make the fire too fierce at the start. Use a fine skimmer to slowly remove the foam bit by bit. If you do this step well, the broth will be clear. Even a little impurity makes it unpleasant to look at and drink. It should be fresh, not gamey." Zhou Yan handed the skimmer to Zhou Jie. "From here on, just watch the pot and keep skimming slowly. Simmer it over low heat. Let my mother explain the precautions to you."

Zhou Yan brought Auntie Zhao over to guide him, while he himself went into the kitchen to prepare the toppings and stir-fry the Noodle Mince.

Zhou Lihui became his little helper, taking on miscellaneous jobs like washing vegetables and tending the fire.

He should have started with knife skills, but the restaurant currently had no spare ingredients for him to practice on, so they had to put it off for now.

The young fellow didn't complain in the slightest. Sitting before the stove, he looked as determined as if he were preparing for a postgraduate entrance exam.

Watching this, Zhao Hong smiled and went to the entrance to chat with Zhao Tieying.

Around seven o'clock, workers began arriving for work one after another.

Zhou Yan placed the notice he had written yesterday in a prominent spot at the entrance, informing everyone in advance: Starting today, Zhou Erwa Restaurant would only serve noodles in the morning. Lunch and dinner would only offer braised and stir-fried dishes.

Across the street, Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua also began shouting their sales pitch. "Noodles! Noodles for sale! Fifty cents a bowl! Just fifty cents a bowl!"

"They really are low. They're a dime cheaper than us, and they're shouting their heads off here too." Zhou Jie curled his lip, so angry his teeth itched.

Zhao Tieying looked perfectly calm. "Don't worry. Wang Laowu got sent to prison, didn't he? That stall has bad feng shui. Nobody can make a success of it."

The aftereffects of the Sichuan Fine Arts Academy students eating there for two meals in a row had yet to fade. Many workers who hadn't gotten noodles the day before had already decided early that morning to come try them, wanting to see just how delicious the noodles at Zhou Erwa Restaurant were to earn such lavish praise from Sichuan Fine Arts Academy students.

Zhou Liangliang's shout did draw the attention of some workers.

"Zhou Liangliang Hotpot selling noodles? Is this an internal feud in Zhou Village?"

"They took over Wang Laowu's noodle stall to sell noodles. They're planning to challenge Zhou Yan. I wonder how good their cooking is?"

"Is that the Zhou Village hotpot stewing in that pot? It's a dime cheaper than Zhou Erwa Restaurant, but ordinary Zhou Village hotpot only sells for thirty cents, doesn't it?"

Once their curiosity was piqued, people naturally went over to take a look.

Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua hurriedly put on broad smiles, delighted inside. Business at the entrance of the Textile Factory really was easy. Noodles at fifty cents a bowl could draw so many workers with just a shout, and they could all afford them too.

But the moment they got close, the workers all frowned.

An unprocessed gamey smell from the beef offal drifted out of the hotpot with the steam, hitting them in the face and halting their steps.

Then they looked at the several basins of Noodle Mince set out in front of the noodle pot.

The minced meat topping was dry and crumbly, without the slightest sheen of oil.

The Braised Beef had lost its shape and lay in a mushy mess in the basin. One look showed it had been stewed for too long.

The chicken offal was the wrong color too, pale white and utterly unappetizing.

"What kind of toppings and mince are these? My grandma cooks better than this. It's even worse than Wang Laowu's!"

"Can just anyone set up a stall now?"

"They want fifty cents for this? Even Wang Laowu wasn't that black-hearted."

The workers shook their heads and turned away, as if they had made up their minds about something.

There were only so many customers who liked noodles, and they had standards when it came to eating them.

The smiles on Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua's faces froze as they watched in confusion, bewilderment, and unwillingness while those customers walked straight toward Zhou Erwa Restaurant.

Of course, the smiles hadn't disappeared.

They had simply moved onto Zhao Tieying and Zhou Jie's faces.

"Come on in, darlings. The pickled radish is especially good today..."

Auntie Zhao welcomed the arriving customers with a beaming smile.