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Chapter 228: Saving Face in Front of Relatives and Friends
Chapter 228: Saving Face in Front of Relatives and Friends
This year, the fifth lunar month could be considered the busiest month for Nayie Village in recent years.
Inspired by Deng Shirong’s substantial income from his lychee and watermelon harvest, the villagers who hadn’t yet cultivated their orchards mobilized their entire families. Armed with hoes, shovels, and sickles, they toiled on their respective hills, sweating profusely.
Those who had already cultivated their orchards followed suit, building wooden huts within their orchards.
Previously, the villagers didn’t place much importance on the hills allocated by the production team. However, after Deng Shirong’s example, every household in the village treated their hills as their most valuable asset.
After all, Deng Shirong’s annual income of several thousand yuan was a feat nearly impossible to achieve in rural areas unless one owned a factory or engaged in some other major business.
By the end of May, it was time to harvest the rice.
Thus, the entire village of Nayie was bustling with activity throughout May. Unlike the apathy and perfunctory attitude of the past production team era, the villagers were now busy with a sense of hope and determination, their spirits markedly different from before.
In the midst of their labor, the villagers inevitably talked about Deng Shirong.
Everyone knew that Deng Shirong had taken his children to the county town to open a restaurant. Especially a few weeks ago, when Deng Shirong returned to pick up his children who were on holiday, the villagers all knew that his restaurant was about to open.
Now, over ten days had passed, and the villagers were quite curious about how the restaurant was doing.
In this era, rural life offered little entertainment, not even television. The villagers spent their days focusing on trivial matters, and thus the topic of Deng Shirong opening a restaurant in the county town remained a constant subject of discussion.
This sweltering May also saw the third population census in Bobai County.
The census results showed that the total population of the county had reached 975,820, with 517,081 males and 458,739 females.
It was 1982, and the total population was about to break the million mark, no wonder Bobai County would later become one of the top three most populous counties in the country.
Moreover, the male population outnumbered the female by nearly 60,000, reflecting the severe preference for males over females in the region.
...
Before they knew it, it was the 15th day of the sixth lunar month.
Tomorrow, Sufeng Restaurant would host its first banquet, and today the restaurant was busier than ever. They had to serve the guests who came to dine while also preparing the more time-consuming dishes for tomorrow’s banquet.
Chen Bangguo, the restaurant’s procurement officer, was running around non-stop, rushing to the market to buy whatever the head chef needed.
Bu Dashan, the assistant chef, was also under immense pressure, his clothes drenched in sweat from the constant work.
Despite his exceptional culinary skills, Deng Shirong chose to remain a spectator and not lend a hand. He wanted to see the restaurant’s true service capabilities.
If a head chef, an assistant chef, and Deng Yunzhen, who could also lend a hand, couldn’t handle the banquet, he would consider hiring an additional head chef or one or two assistant chefs.
That would naturally increase the restaurant’s operating costs, so Deng Shirong needed to observe whether Chef Zhang Guofu could manage such a large event.
In the high-end 38 yuan per table package that Deng Shirong had set, there were eighteen dishes and three soups: poached chicken, poached duck, poached goose, meatballs, egg rolls, braised pork, stir-fried pork, stir-fried pork liver, sweet lotus, glutinous rice, pork stir-fried with leek and garlic, stir-fried pork with green peppers, stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots, scallion-fried eggs, shredded bamboo shoots, shredded yam, peanut candy, mixed vegetables, pork bone and lotus root soup, winter melon and pork rib soup, and soybean and pig trotter soup.
Among the many dishes to prepare, meatballs, egg rolls, braised pork, sweet lotus roots, and peanut candies all needed to be readied today. The time-consuming stew also had to be started early tomorrow morning. The other dishes required preparation in advance as well, otherwise, everything left for tomorrow would be overwhelming.
Deng Shirong didn’t get involved, so Deng Yuntao took charge of the overall coordination.
Of course, even as a small boss, Deng Yuntao had to follow the instructions of the head chef, Zhang Guofu.
The head chef was the core of the operation for such a grand feast.
The restaurant usually closed around seven in the evening, but today they stayed open until nine.
...
The next day.
The sky was still dark when Sui Feng Restaurant opened its doors.
Apart from the waitresses Zhang Wenjuan and Zhang Wenying, who could arrive a bit later, all other employees came in early.
Of course, the "security manager" Zhang Guangzong, who had nothing to do all day, wasn’t counted among them.
They started working from before dawn and continued until around nine in the morning, finally completing all the necessary preparations.
...
East City Village.
The Wang Family.
Under the witness of relatives and friends, Wang Yong held his grandson and offered incense to the ancestors. After delivering a few auspicious words and setting off firecrackers, all the rituals were essentially complete.
Wang Yong handed his grandson to his grandmother and addressed the gathered relatives and friends with enthusiasm, “Dear relatives and friends, it’s about time. Let’s head to Sui Feng Restaurant for the meal!”
The Wang family’s relatives and friends were all excited. They had expected a simple full moon celebration, but the surprise of dining at the largest restaurant in the county was beyond their wildest dreams. They had been eagerly anticipating this ever since they heard the news.
After all, in those times, few people had the means to dine at a restaurant, let alone the largest one in the county.
Wang Yong’s daughter-in-law was especially delighted. When she got married last year, her father-in-law had invested all his money into a factory, so her wedding was quite modest. But just over a year later, her son’s full moon celebration was being held at the largest restaurant in the county, which earned her immense respect and pride among her family and relatives.
Thus, under Wang Yong’s lead, over 150 people set out from East City Village, heading for Sui Feng Restaurant on West City Road.
About ten minutes later, the sprawling Sui Feng Restaurant, covering over a thousand square meters, came into view.
Before Sui Feng Restaurant was built, the largest restaurant in the county was undoubtedly the state-owned restaurant, which covered just over 200 square meters. To the locals, it was already a grand place.
However, compared to the thousand-square-meter Sui Feng Restaurant, which was more than five times larger, it was in a completely different league.
Today’s first chapter is here. I’d like to conduct a survey: do you prefer a single chapter of 6,000 words or three separate chapters? If you like the current update style, we’ll continue this way. If you prefer larger chapters, I’ll set a fixed time for large chapter updates. Please leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!
(End of Chapter)
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