Chapter Summaries

Zhou Yan prepared Zhou Erwa Restaurant’s new braised-dish and stir-fry menu while arranging a cautious supply of ingredients and fish for its launch. Zhou Liangliang moved his soup-and-noodle stall across the street to compete, and Auntie Zhao disapproved as the first day of the new menu began.

• Lin Zhiqiang ordered five dishes for a dinner with his family the following evening, and Zhou Yan told him the restaurant would switch to braised dishes and stir-fries at lunch and dinner.
• Zhou Yan made wooden menu signs, set prices, arranged for crucian carp delivery, and posted a notice that noodles would only be served in the morning.
• Luo Weidong inspected the new menu, and Zhou Yan said he would come back to try the fish.
• Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua moved their soup-pot-and-noodle stall across from Zhou Yan’s restaurant, planning to undercut his prices.
• Before dawn, Zhou Yan bought limited ingredients for the menu launch, then brought Auntie Zhao to the restaurant, where she criticized the rival stall’s move.

Zhou Yan taught Zhou Jie how to make Qiaojiao Beef while Zhou Lihui helped at the restaurant and learned the basics of cooking. When Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua opened a cheaper noodle stall across the street, workers rejected their poorly prepared food and went to Zhou Erwa Restaurant instead.

• Zhou Yan dismissed Zhou Jie's anger over Zhou Liangliang moving his stall across the street and invited him to learn how to make Qiaojiao Beef.
• Zhou Jie and Zhou Lihui became Zhou Yan's apprentices for the morning, with Jie taking notes on the stock and Lihui carrying water and helping in the kitchen.
• Zhou Yan posted a notice that Zhou Erwa Restaurant would serve noodles in the morning and braised and stir-fried dishes at lunch and dinner.
• Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua advertised noodles for fifty cents a bowl, drawing workers curious about their challenge to Zhou Yan.
• Workers recoiled from the gamey smell and unappetizing toppings at Zhou Liangliang's stall, criticized the food, and headed to Zhou Erwa Restaurant.

Zhou Yan’s restaurant drew a full crowd, and Zhou Jie learned how Zhou Yan and Zhao Tieying prioritized customers and made the food feel worth its price. The chapter ended with Zhou Jie asking to learn Zhou Yan’s knife skills while Huang Fusheng lectured the Factory Canteen staff and someone openly mocked Wang Defa.

• Zhao Tieying arranged shared seating and charmed customers as Zhou Yan’s restaurant sold seventy-seven bowls of noodles, while the rival stall run by Wu Guihua and Zhou Liangliang sold none.
• Zhou Jie praised Zhao Tieying’s service, then tasted Zhou Yan’s Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles and realized why customers loved the restaurant.
• Zhou Yan agreed to buy chuck flap from Zhou Jie’s family at market price and explained how thin beef slices made Qiaojiao Beef seem generous without raising costs much.
• Zhou Jie admired Zhou Yan’s knife work and asked to learn how to slice one hundred and fifty pieces of beef from one jin.
• Huang Fusheng lectured the Factory Canteen staff about the declining reputation of their food and blamed Zhou Erwa Restaurant for taking customers.
• An unnamed speaker mocked Wang Defa’s claim that he had lost weight, leaving the kitchen silent.

Zhou Erwa Restaurant began selling stir-fries and braised dishes, and customers praised the food after Wang Wei explained the prices. At the Factory Canteen, Huang Fusheng’s cooking drew furious complaints from workers.

• Xiao Lei defended Zhou Yan and criticized Huang Fusheng, while Wang Defa told Huang to focus on competing with Zhou Erwa Restaurant.
• Wang Wei, Wen Ling, and Zheng Xiuhui visited Zhou Erwa Restaurant, where Wang explained its prices and ordered Two-Pepper Beef and Qiaojiao Beef.
• The women praised Zhou Yan’s food, and other customers began ordering dishes as well.
• Workers at the Factory Canteen complained that Huang Fusheng’s Kung Pao Chicken and Garlic Sauce Pork were badly cooked, and Zhao Dong demanded that Huang taste them himself.

Workers at the Textile Factory protested the cafeteria’s terrible food, while Zhou Yan’s restaurant prospered from his Qiaojiao Beef and Zhou Jie’s progress toward learning the recipe. Zhou Weiguo visited after the Personnel Bureau told him to wait for a work assignment, and the chapter ended with Meng Anhe questioning why Lin Zhiqiang had chosen Zhou Yan’s restaurant for dinner with the factory director.

• Zhao Dong’s complaints sparked workers’ anger at the cafeteria, and Huang Fusheng grabbed a cleaver before backing down when the other chefs mocked him.
• Deputy Director Liu Yusheng calmed the workers and privately warned Zhao Dong to consider the consequences of his methods.
• Zhou Jie praised Zhou Yan’s Qiaojiao Beef after the restaurant sold sixty-four bowls, and Zhou Yan told him to practice for two more days before graduating.
• Zhou Weiguo visited the restaurant after the Personnel Bureau gave him no decision, brought Zhou Momo gold-coin chocolates, and discussed his future work assignment with Zhou Yan.
• Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua argued after their relocated shop failed to sell any noodles or soup.
• Zhou Weiguo and Zhou Jie left after dinner, and Meng Anhe asked Lin Zhiqiang why he had chosen Zhou Yan’s restaurant for dinner with the factory director.

Lin Zhiqiang and Meng Anhe discussed Zhou Yan’s growing restaurant and his possible conflict with the Factory Canteen’s Wang Defa. As the restaurant drew customers and Zhou Liangliang’s bargain food went unsold, Lin brought Director Wang and his family to dine at Zhou Yan’s restaurant.

• Lin Zhiqiang told Meng Anhe that Zhou Yan had expanded his restaurant, and they discussed Wang Defa’s likely resentment and Lin’s plans to introduce Zhou Yan to Director Wang.
• Meng Anhe teased Lin Zhiqiang about becoming Zhou Yan’s uncle-in-law, and he said Zhou Yan was dependable before she pressed him about the study visit.
• Zhou Liangliang slashed his noodle and hot-pot prices, but Textile Factory workers avoided his stall because they feared the food was unsafe.
• Zhou Yan told Zhao Tieying that workers distrusted Zhou Liangliang’s unusually cheap food after the diseased-pork incident.
• Wang Hongliang and his family arrived at Zhou Erwa Restaurant with Lin Zhiqiang and Meng Anhe, and Zhou Yan welcomed them inside.

Zhou Yan hosted Wang Hongliang, Li Meilin, Lin Zhiqiang, and Meng Anhe at his restaurant, where his polite manner and clean, orderly establishment impressed them. The factory leaders and workers gathered to try the food, and the chapter ended as Wang Hongliang admired the first dish, Two-Pepper Beef.

• Zhou Yan explained that his Qiaojiao Beef broth came from his family recipe and that he had added his own improvements.
• Wang Hongliang and Lin Zhiqiang agreed to order every dish on the small menu, while other factory managers arrived and joined them.
• Zhou Momo charmed the adults and children, and Wang Hao, Lin Jingxing, and Lin Bingwen gave her their candies and snacks.
• Wang Hongliang learned that Zhou Yan had trained under Xiao Lei and privately resolved to judge his cooking carefully while giving him a chance.
• Zhao Hong served Two-Pepper Beef, and Wang Hongliang praised its appearance and aroma.

Zhou Yan’s dishes impressed Wang Hongliang, who praised the Two-Pepper Beef, Braised Spare Ribs, Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots, and Qiaojiao Beef. The customers watched as Zhou Yan served the Agastache Carp, and Wang Hongliang prepared to taste it.

• Wang Hongliang tasted Zhou Yan’s Two-Pepper Beef and said it was better than Rongleyuan’s.
• Li Meilin and the children tried the Braised Spare Ribs, while Wang Hongliang praised the Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots.
• Wang Hongliang and Li Meilin tasted the Qiaojiao Beef soup, and Wang Hongliang praised its broth, ingredients, and dipping sauce.
• Customers heard Wang Hongliang praise the Qiaojiao Beef, and one customer ordered a serving.
• Zhou Yan served the Agastache Carp as customers watched, and Wang Hongliang said he would compare it with versions made by first-class chefs.

Wang Hongliang praised Zhou Yan’s Agastache Carp and other dishes, bringing a rush of customers to Zhou Erwa Restaurant. After the restaurant sold out, the Lin family headed home joking about cooking and having another child.

• Wang Hongliang tasted Zhou Yan’s Agastache Carp and praised it as being as good as dishes from Chengdu’s famous restaurants.
• Meng Anhe tasted Zhou Yan’s dishes and recognized his exceptional cooking skill.
• Diners rushed to order, and Auntie Zhao announced that the restaurant’s dishes had sold out.
• Wang Hongliang told Lin Zhiqiang he planned to return and learn from Zhou Yan.
• Lin Bingwen asked when Lin Jingxing would cook for him, and Lin Jingxing asked Meng Anhe when she would have a little sister.

After the restaurant’s successful first day, Zhou Yan planned to stock up and use the growing business to repay the family’s debts. The family celebrated their progress, while Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua packed up their failed stall and left.

• Zhou Yan shared a substantial dinner with his family and discussed thanking Deputy Director Lin with pickled sour radish.
• Zhou Yan ordered beef for the next day, expecting word of the restaurant’s success to bring more Textile Factory customers.
• Zhou Momo asked Zhou Yan to take her out to play, but Zhao Tieying told her it was too late and she agreed to wait until morning.
• Zhao Tieying mocked Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua as they loaded their belongings onto a pedicab and left their stall.
• Zhou Yan tallied 160.8 yuan in revenue and about eighty-six yuan in profit, and hoped to repay the family’s remaining debts before Zhou Hao’s wedding banquet.
• Zhao Tieying and Old Zhou celebrated Zhou Yan’s success and shared affectionate words at home.