Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 380 Opening Soon

Time flies, and September 1st has arrived in the blink of an eye.

After waiting for more than a week, the propeller parts ordered by the shipping company still hadn't arrived. With the cooked food workshop about to open, Chen Fan had no choice but to go to the county to oversee the opening of the cooked food shop.

At the guesthouse at the Gufeng County Passenger Terminal, Chen Fan woke up promptly at 6 o'clock in a three-person room. He sat up, looked out the window, and saw a small ferry, Dongfanghong, docked at the pier, with passengers getting on and off the ship one after another.

The ship that runs the entire Yangtze River route is the Dongfanghong, which generally has four decks, plus a top deck with rooms, including the super dormitory-style rooms on the bottom deck, which are mainly for long-distance passengers.

These small ferries usually only have two decks and mainly run short or feeder routes. There are generally no berths on board, only seats. However, unless it is too uncomfortable to stand, most passengers will go to the railing and lean on it until they get tired of standing before going back to their seats.

People in many places along the Yangtze River who want to travel by large ferry have to take a small ferry to a large dock to transfer, so there are many more small ferries than large ferries.

Fortunately, although Gufeng County is not a major port, thanks to its proximity to the Yangtze River and the insufficient berths at Yunhu Passenger Terminal, several large ships still dock here.

This is also the reason why the people of Gufeng County consider this place to be a major port.

Although this "big dock" is only a few streets long.

At that time, all the passenger ships on the Yangtze River were called Dongfanghong, and they were distinguished by their serial numbers from which ferry companies they belonged to. Unfortunately, no one taught Chen Fan how to distinguish the numbers. Neither Zhang Wenliang nor An Quan knew how, so he could only watch the excitement.

However, he didn't have much time left to watch the excitement.

Anquan came in from outside carrying a washbasin, yawning and saying, "Even washing your face and brushing your teeth requires queuing, what a waste of time."

Chen Fan turned to look at him and said, "Who told you not to want a single room? A single room has a private toilet, and you can stay in there all night without anyone bothering you."

"That's diarrhea, okay?"

Anquan put the washbasin on the shelf and hung the towel on the wire, saying irritably, "Although the team reimburses the room fee, we should still save money where we can. We can be more extravagant when we make money later."

Then he slapped the quilt that was arched up in the middle of the bed and said, "Tiger, you're a lazy cat, aren't you? Get up!"

Zhang Wenliang stretched out his hands, threw off the blanket with a "plop," sat up, and asked groggily, "What time is it?"

To prepare for today's opening, they worked with the female workers at the cooked food workshop until after 10 p.m. last night before returning to the guesthouse. After returning, they took showers, discussed business, and didn't rest until very late.

Anquan held out his watch and handed it to him, saying, "See? 6:12."

Zhang Wenliang blinked, staring blankly at him. "What time does the shop open?"

Safety gestured, "8 o'clock."

Zhang Wenliang was speechless. "Of course I know it's 8 o'clock. I'm asking you, the opening is at 8 o'clock, and it's only 6:12 now. Why did you wake me up so early?"

Anquan said matter-of-factly, "I can't sleep. The opening is just around the corner. How can you sleep?"

Zhang Wenliang slowly lowered his head, gently rubbed his face, and sighed helplessly, "I'm going to wash my face."

At this point, even those who could sleep can't fall asleep anymore.

Chen Fan chuckled to himself, but remained completely still.

Security immediately turned its attention to him, asking, "Why aren't you up yet?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "We don't open until 8 o'clock, what's the rush?"

Despite saying that, she still slowly got out of bed, stretched, and then started practicing the Eight Pieces of Brocade.

Now it was Anquan's turn to be speechless. After a long while, she looked at him and said, "You don't seem worried at all?"

After several days of training, all 30 female workers successfully completed the training and graduated, including sales clerks and those on the waiting list.

Unfortunately, only 18 people are needed here for the time being, and the remaining 12 can only stay in Lujiawan... to serve the Nanhu Delicatessen.

On the first day they made braised chicken, Secretary Yang and his team took the prepared chickens and offal to town to sell. Unexpectedly, the results were better than expected. They only visited three units, and all the goods were sold out.

That's not all. With their braised chicken and chicken giblets, Secretary Yang and Captain Zhang joined forces to get the qualification to open a shop in town from Secretary Qian. Then, they urgently mobilized their social networks and rented a house near the town's crossroads as a shop that same day.

Unfortunately, the house is a bit old and is still being renovated.

Therefore, the sales performance of the cooked food shops here is directly related to the overall development of the cooked food business in Lujiawan. If the start is not smooth, it will be a big problem.

Although we now have many live poultry order customers, the contracts we sign do not include any provisions for breach of contract.

The main problem is that people don't pay attention to these things at that time; otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many ridiculous and absurd things a few years later.

So if others say they don't want it, they can just give it up. Ultimately, the aquaculture industry in Lujiawan still needs a channel that it can control and that can stably sell to the outside world.

This was also the main reason why Secretary Yang and his team resolutely decided to support Chen Fan's proposal to build a cooked food workshop.

How could you, Teacher Chen, not care about something this important?

After completing a set of movements, Chen Fan felt refreshed and said with a smile, "I've done everything I could. As the saying goes, once the bet is placed, it's over. Whether I live or die, we'll see."

Anquan's eye twitched slightly, and he pointed at him helplessly, "Your biggest problem is that you speak without thinking, and you even place bets. If someone hears you, you're in for a world of trouble."

Although the storm has passed, there are still some people who "reminisce about the past." They are like toads on your shoes—they don't bite, but they're still annoying.

After a pause, before Chen Fan could speak, An Quan chuckled and said, "But then again, that makes sense. Okay, now that you mention it, I don't seem so nervous anymore."

Chen Fan then laughed and said, "I'm not stupid. There are only the two of us in this house. What are you going to do about it?"

Before Anquan could speak, Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Even if you sue me, I won't admit it!"

Hearing this, Anquan felt even more helpless.

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "Alright, I'll tell you something to put your mind at ease."

He said mysteriously, "Do you know why I insist on opening at 8 o'clock every day?"

Anquan's eyes flickered slightly. "Why?" The start time for various units is 7:30 in the summer and 8:00 in the winter, but residents usually start buying groceries at 6:30. When the opening time was determined yesterday, Chen Fan directly set it for 8:00, which may result in the loss of a large number of potential customers.

He was too busy to ask yesterday, and he was thinking of asking today, but Chen Fan brought it up himself.

Is there some secret hidden here?
Chen Fan smiled slightly and said, "First, we need to give face to the Bureau of Commerce and the vegetable market management company. Opening later can show our attitude that we are not competing with them for business. We only sell our own cooked food. In this way, even if our cooked food shop becomes very popular in the future and affects their business, they will have no reason to take it out on us."

Anquan nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense."

Then he looked at Chen Fan and said, "If there's one, there's bound to be two. What else?"

Chen Fan turned and pointed to the dock outside the window, "Look what's that?"

Anquan looked in the direction he was pointing and said, "A passenger ship, what else could it be..."

Before he could finish speaking, Anquan suddenly realized, "8 o'clock! A large ship is docking at 8 o'clock!"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Indeed."

He looked out the window and said with a smile, "The Dongfanghong 49 ship came from Chongqing and is headed to Shanghai. The entire voyage will take four days. Do you think they'll disembark and come to check on things when they dock here, given the half hour they have?"

(The Dongfanghong 49 passenger ship. The time is made up by me, don't take it seriously.)

Anquan's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously, "Yes."

Chen Fan laughed, "A ship carries over a thousand people. Even if only a third disembark, and the remaining half go shopping..."

Anquan immediately said, "That's still two hundred people. At this time, our delicatessen's steaming hot food has just come out of the pot, even if only half of them come to buy it."

He said, his eyes widening, "I'm afraid we won't have enough to sell!"

Chen Fan shrugged. "If we can't sell enough, we'll keep making more. Otherwise, why would I hire 12 chefs? This dock has four large ferries and more than a dozen small ferries a day. There are at least 2000 passengers getting off the ships every day. Staying here is like guarding a huge treasure trove. Are you still worried about business not being good?"

Upon hearing this, Anquan laughed like a fool and shook his head repeatedly, "No worries, no worries."

Chen Fan chuckled, pulled the towel off the wire, and picked up the cup from the bedside table. "I'm going to wash my face and brush my teeth."

Imagine a few years later, the first private restaurant in the capital opens. It doesn't even have a business license. Because it lacks ingredients, it only makes a dozen or so ducks, just the kind of ordinary braised duck. As a result, it was sold out as soon as it opened.

Back then, he was just in a small alley, and he could still have such a good business by relying on his neighbors. Now, his cooked food shop is located in such a large area, and the other two shops in the county are also located in residential and commercial areas. If they still can't sell their food, then it would be a miracle!

After Chen Fan finished washing up, the three of them leisurely left the guesthouse.

Zhang Wenliang glanced at the security checkpoint and asked, "Why do I see you're not worried anymore?"

Anquan turned and glanced at him. "Worried? Who's worried?"

Zhang Wenliang was immediately choked half to death.

Chen Fan looked around and walked straight to the breakfast shop next door, thinking to himself that in later generations, places related to passenger transport basically had no good food. He wondered if there would be any difference in this era.
A short while later, we entered the breakfast shop, and the ordering area was right at the entrance.

The cashier sat listlessly in a chair, with a table in front of her that had two drawers. On the table were rows of meal tickets, similar to regular meal tickets, with the names of different dishes printed on them. Behind her, on the wall, hung a blackboard, which naturally had the menu written on it.

Chen Fan glanced at the menu and then ordered, "Comrade, I'd like a fried dough stick, two fried dough balls, three sweet potato pancakes, a fried dumpling, and a bowl of tofu pudding."

Anquan muttered from behind, "It's all oily except for the tofu pudding. They really know how to eat, and they eat so much."

If it were 20 years from now, the second part would probably be "not afraid of getting a sore throat," but nowadays people lack oil and fat, so fried food naturally becomes a "high-end product," which is why people say "they really know how to eat" when it's safe.

Youbing needs no explanation. Youdunzi is similar to jiaoquan in Beijing, but it tastes much better. Jiaoquan is just a smaller version of fried dough sticks, while youdunzi can be sweet, savory, meat, or vegetarian. Sweet ones are mostly filled with red bean paste, vegetarian ones with shredded radish, and meat ones with meat. After being mixed with batter, it is deep-fried in hot oil.

In some places, the fried dough balls have a hole in the middle, while in others they are just a whole dough ball. No matter what shape they are, the taste can be described in one sentence: crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, delicious.

Making sweet potato pancakes is also very simple. First, cut the sweet potatoes into cubes, then mix them with batter, use a small strainer to shape them into pancakes, and then fry them in oil.

The outer batter is salty and crispy, while the sweet potato inside is sweet, soft, and fragrant—it's still delicious.

The last fried dumpling wasn't an ordinary dumpling; it was a huge dumpling, bigger than the palm of your hand, filled with chopped vermicelli, or chives, celery, pickled mustard greens, or sometimes a mixture of meat filling, before being deep-fried.

The taste can be summed up in two words: slurp!

After paying and getting a ticket, Chen Fan queued up at the food counter to collect his meal. He found an empty table, sat down, and started eating.

He wolfed it all down, and it all went down his stomach.

Chen Fan smacked his lips, tasted it, and commented that it was authentic and had a unique flavor.

They were indeed far superior to the assassins at later passenger stations.

Safety was alright. Although he was fat, he didn't eat much. Zhang Wenliang, like Chen Fan, practiced martial arts and was a bottomless pit when it came to eating, but due to his limited budget, he could only order the same set meal as Teacher Chen.

After eating and drinking their fill, the three of them strolled leisurely across the river embankment and down the slope, soon arriving at "Luwan Delicatessen".

Luwan, needless to say, is naturally derived from the name Lujiawan.

The store door was already open, and two sales clerks, dressed in clean blue uniforms and wearing white sanitary caps, were wiping the counter repeatedly.

Chen Fan stopped at the door and looked around at the surroundings.

The storefront is about 4 meters wide, with a wooden plaque above the entrance bearing the words "Luwan Cooked Food Shop" in large characters handwritten by Secretary Yang. The plaque was then carved by craftsmen in the town, and Chen Fan put it into a kiln for carbonization. Compared to the surrounding store signs, it looks particularly high-end.

The store is about 5 meters deep, with two-thirds of its area occupied by a glass counter. There is only one narrow passage about 1.5 meters wide leading in, through which you can observe the products in the counter and finally pay at the cashier inside.

Throughout the process, the salesperson collects the goods on behalf of the customer to ensure food safety as much as possible. Only after the checkout is completed will the salesperson wrap the goods in oil paper and give them to the customer.

It is actually the most common delicatessen model in later generations.

However, the counter is now empty except for rows of polished ceramic plates, waiting for the cooked food workshop to deliver the goods.

(End of this chapter)