Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 381 Let's Count the Money

Chen Fan chatted briefly with the two sales clerks, asked about their preparations, and then came out to stand at the door without waiting inside.

At this time, people were coming and going on the roadside, and many people were looking into the store, but when they saw the empty glass counter, they left in a hurry with doubt.

The three of them weren't in a hurry. They stood by the roadside chatting quietly, but the way they kept glancing at each other across the street revealed that they weren't actually at peace.

We waited until 7:50 before a cart finally appeared across the street. One person pulled the cart from the front, while two others pushed it from behind, mostly watching over the enamel buckets on the cart.

They carefully navigated through the slowly moving traffic and stopped in front of the store.

There were also 5 or 6 other people following behind, and as soon as the cart stopped, they busied themselves carrying the 16 white enamel buckets from the cart into the store.

(White enamel bucket, a useful tool for transporting meals in the cafeteria)

These few buckets don't require many people, but since it's opening day, they all volunteered to help.

Chen Fan, An Quan, and Zhang Wenliang also walked to the counter at the door, watching them carry the goods inside while observing whether they had made any mistakes.

Buckets of cooked food were delivered into the counter, and the two sales clerks immediately got to work after receiving the goods.

One person was responsible for carrying the goods inside, while the other was checking the items using the delivery slip given by the deliveryman.

As the lids of these buckets were lifted, a rich aroma of meat immediately filled the air, attracting many people to stop and watch.

First, hang a chicken, duck, and goose on the counter above the main entrance. Then, according to different areas, place these cooked foods into rectangular enamel plates in the glass counter, and wipe up any spilled brine with a cloth.

While they were busy and focused, a large crowd gathered at the door in just two minutes.

Chen Fan and his two companions quickly made way for the customers and were pushed aside.

At this point, someone couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade, how much are these?"

Saleswoman Hou Mingying immediately hung the price tag on the wall above the counter. She glanced at Chen Fan, who had been squeezed to the side of the road, and received an encouraging look before smiling and saying loudly, "Hello everyone, we are from Lujiawan Production Team of Nanhu Commune. This cooked food shop is a side business run by our brigade. Today is our first day of business. Welcome to make your purchases."

Then, pointing to the price list hanging on the wall, he said, "Currently, we are selling braised chicken, braised duck, braised goose, and chicken, duck, and goose offal. We also have braised potatoes, edamame, dried bean curd sticks, and tofu skin. We have whole chickens, ducks, and geese, as well as individual legs, wings, and pieces. We offer a wide variety of products at affordable prices."
Chicken is 2.4 yuan per jin, goose is 2 yuan per jin, duck is 1 yuan per jin, ...

While she was explaining, Chen Fan grabbed his wristband, checked the time, and said with a smile, "It's already 8:5. The big ship should have arrived by now."

He flipped his wrist free and said irritably, "You say you're not short of money, why don't you buy yourself a watch?"

Chen Fan looked at the watch on his wrist with disgust, and said with a sneer, "Too ugly, I don't like it."

The pocket watch that Master Lu gave him was quite nice, but Chen Fan left it at home and didn't bring it out.

There's no other reason. Since the Fourth Prince gave us a pair, we should wear them together. Otherwise, it would look bad if one was new and the other was old.

Although Anquan had gained some understanding of Chen Fan's shamelessness, he was still annoyed. "Hey, you're still complaining? There are some decent watches in Shanghai, all imported. A Swiss Titoni watch is 300 yuan, and there are even ones with calendars. Would you buy one?"

Chen Fan's interest was piqued. "You have imported watches? Besides Titoni, what other brands do you have?"

Anquan was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at him. "You really want to buy it? There are other brands, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Piaget, Omega, Donald... there are quite a few."

But it's not cost-effective. The cheapest imported watch is a Longines, which costs around 280 yuan, and Rolex is about the same. However, a Shanghai brand watch only costs 120 yuan, and the cheapest BJ brand watch only costs 80 yuan.

He held up his wrist and said, "Hey, this is the BJ brand, it works great too, why waste money on that?"

Chen Fan chuckled twice. "I was just asking."

Then, changing the subject, she said, "But for a Shanghainese like you to wear a BJ brand watch, isn't that a bit...?"

The words weren't fully spoken, but the meaning was conveyed.

An Quan's expression turned serious, and he immediately said, "I love the capital of my motherland, is there a problem?"

Chen Fan decisively gave a thumbs up, "Okay."

He then turned to look at the levee, paused for two seconds, and suddenly pointed in that direction, "Look, isn't that the 'main force' arriving?"

Anquan and Zhang Wenliang immediately looked in that direction and saw a large, dark crowd surging out, looking around curiously; they were clearly from out of town.

No need to ask, the large passenger ship has definitely arrived.

Chen Fan immediately made a hand gesture towards the store.

Another saleswoman, Deng Jiazhen, had already quickly cut up a bunch of samples and put them on an enamel plate, but instead of bringing them up, she was eagerly waiting for Chen Fan to arrive.

Upon seeing his gesture, he immediately brought out the enamel basin and a large bamboo tube filled with short bamboo skewers, placing them both in front of the counter.

Seeing Chen Fan's gesture, Hou Mingying looked towards the embankment and saw the crowd walking down the long slope. She quickly shouted, "These are samples. If any customers are interested in buying, you can use this bamboo skewer to try a little. Our cooked food shop focuses on genuine products and unique flavors. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

The brand-new signboard, the rich aroma, and the crowd gathered at the entrance all attracted the attention of the visitors.

The customers at the door were somewhat bewildered when they saw the sample plate.

They even offer free samples? That's something new!

Actually, now there are not only tastings, but also trial programs and price reductions for promotion.

For example, in 71, Shanghai was promoting energy-saving honeycomb stoves. The initial price was 12 yuan each, and staff from the neighborhood committee and supply and marketing cooperatives would deliver them to residents' doorsteps. They could simply buy them and bring them home. However, the following year, many residents accepted the stoves and found them very useful, so the price was raised to 16 yuan, and ration coupons were required.

Another example is when restaurants launch new dishes or dim sum shops introduce new items, they will prepare some for regular customers to try and ask for their feedback.

However, in Gufeng County, or even Yunhu area, especially at this time of year, tasting becomes a novelty.

When I go to restaurants or buy things, I'm already lucky if I don't get a cold shoulder, let alone get a free sample?

So for a moment no one moved.

Just as Chen Fan was thinking about whether he should pretend to be a shill, two out-of-town tourists squeezed to the front, each picked up a bamboo skewer, stuck a little bit of minced meat into it and put it in their mouths.

After tasting it carefully, the two nodded in agreement. Then, looking at the price tag on the wall, one of them said, "This tastes good, and the price isn't expensive."

Then he looked at Hou Mingying and asked, "Saleswoman, this doesn't say how many tickets are needed. How are the tickets calculated?"

Hou Mingying immediately smiled and said, "Hello comrade, we don't require tickets for anything we sell here."

In fact, starting this year, the Yunhu area has abolished the rationing system for poultry products. Whether you go to the market or a restaurant, you don't need a ration coupon for chicken, duck or goose.

Moreover, these items were originally "unplanned products" and were not included in the special categories of "cotton, grain and oil". Lujiawan itself could decide whether or not to require coupons. For example, those traded in the farmers' market basically did not require coupons.

However, those "three major categories," although they are also agricultural products, are absolutely red lines that cannot be crossed.

Small-scale transactions are generally not a problem as long as you're not caught in the act, but opening a shop is a restricted area and it will take a long time before it's gradually opened up.

"No tickets required?"

Whether they needed tickets or not, the man's eyes lit up when he heard Hou Mingying's answer, and he reached for his money. "I want a chicken and a goose, and I'll weigh one pound each of chicken offal and goose offal."

His eyes were fixed on the price tag. "I've had boiled edamame before, but I haven't tried braised potatoes, dried bean curd sticks, and tofu skin. All three are the same price. Can we get two jin?"

The main reason is that potatoes weigh a lot, and if you weigh too little, you can only taste them. Since this vegetarian dish "only" costs 5 cents a pound, I might as well just weigh two pounds.

As Hou Mingying issued the invoice, she nodded repeatedly, beaming from ear to ear, "Of course."

Then she tore off the menu she had written down and handed it to him, pointing inside and saying, "Comrade, please pay here."

Deng Jiazhen was already holding a tray, helping the passenger retrieve his belongings.

The man walked into the passage, and his companion ordered the same thing as him.

In this way, the delicatessen was officially opened for business.

These two people's purchases became a signal, and more and more people tried the product and placed orders.

At this point, it's easy to distinguish whether the person buying the items is a local or a tourist.

Locals usually only buy a little bit, some even just a single chicken leg.

Although chicken drumsticks are a bit more expensive, they have more meat, so naturally more people buy them.

Passengers disembarking from the large passenger ship were much more generous, buying at least a whole chicken and only a small amount of other side dishes. As a result, within ten minutes, this batch of goods was visibly almost gone.

Fortunately, as soon as these customers started their shopping spree, Chen Fan had already hired a female worker and asked her to go back and quickly bring over all the remaining stock.

On the first day of business, we naturally wouldn't prepare just this much; otherwise, we wouldn't need 12 people to cook.

Today alone, 100 chickens, 100 ducks, and 100 geese were prepared for the three stores, along with several baskets of vegetables. Anquan and Zhang Wenliang were always worried that they wouldn't be able to sell them all, but based on their trust in Chen Fan, neither of them raised any objections.

The female workers were even less likely to do that; they simply did whatever Teacher Chen told them to do, without having to consider anything else.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye. The out-of-town passengers on the large passenger ships had already boarded and left. Two more groups of people arrived later, and only now has a gap appeared, with no new passengers coming.

At this point, the number of people in front of the shop had decreased by more than half.

But the store was sold out.

"Huh? Sold out?"

A man stood in the store, craning his neck to peer into the back of the counter, still muttering in frustration, "How did it sell out so quickly? I haven't bought anything yet!"

Hou Mingying breathed a sigh of relief, walked up to him, and said with a smile, "Sir, I'm very sorry, everything we prepared this morning has been sold out."

The man straightened up and looked at her. "Is there any more today?"

Hou Mingying was immediately stumped; Teacher Chen hadn't taught her this.

Seeing this, Chen Fan walked in and said with a smile, "There's none left in the morning, but there will be another one at 2 PM."

The man's eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded repeatedly with a smile, "Okay, okay, I'll come again this afternoon."

The few people who were still standing at the door reluctantly left after hearing Chen Fan's words, and then left with a sense of relief.

Chen Fan glanced at the food plate with only a little soup left, then looked at them, and asked with a smile, "How are you feeling? Tired?"

Hou Mingying immediately laughed and said, "How could this little bit of work be tiring? It's not even as tiring as cutting a basket of rice during the double harvest season."

Deng Jiazhen nodded repeatedly and walked over, saying, "I'm really not tired. I feel like I've just warmed up."

Compared to working in the fields, working here is like being in paradise.

At this moment, Zhang Wenliang walked in, his face full of confusion. "Only an hour has passed, and all that stuff is sold out?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Not only that, we brought half of the things we prepared in advance to sell here. In just one hour, we sold a total of 150 chickens, ducks and geese."

Anquan walked over and said, "You just told the customers that there would be more to sell at 2 pm, but we've sold out of today's stock. Where are we going to get anything to sell?"

Chen Fan smiled slightly, turned to a female worker and said, "Go and check on the other two stores. If they haven't sold out yet, bring them over here to sell."

He didn't implement any commission system, but strictly adhered to the rules of the time, calculating fixed work points for these female workers, so there was no need to consider the differences in sales revenue between different stores.

As for whether it will affect their enthusiasm, that's not a concern at all.

Because Secretary Yang and his team had already made it clear beforehand that if they did a good job, they would continue working, and if they didn't, they would give up their positions to others.

The cooked food shops in Lujiawan are open to anyone from Lujiawan, but they are not a guaranteed job for any one person.

Anyone who dares not to work seriously is the one who is ruining everyone's livelihood.

Under these circumstances, unless she wants to go back to farming, who would dare to be careless and negligent?
Sure enough, at Chen Fan's command, the female worker took off running, afraid of delaying the business.

Chen Fan watched her weave through the carriages and wagons, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. "Be careful," he said.

A voice came from afar, "I know."

Why should I pay attention to someone who's all smiles and has only safety standing nearby?
Once the female worker had disappeared from sight, Chen Fan smiled at An Quan and said, "Brother An, why don't you hurry up and call Secretary Yang and ask them to organize another batch of goods to be delivered?"

It's only a little past 9 o'clock now. Our boat should be able to get home before 10 o'clock, and then we can load the food onto another boat and deliver it over. It definitely won't be past midnight yet. Two and a half hours is enough time to prepare a new batch of cooked food.

Safety clapped his hands and ran outside without saying a word.

Chen Fan patted Zhang Wenliang's arm and laughed, "Brother Sanhu, let's count the money."

As soon as he said that, the store erupted in laughter.

Immediately, everyone looked at Hou Mingying and Deng Jiazhen, their eyes filled with hope.

The two of them didn't hesitate and, taking advantage of Chen Fan and Zhang Wenliang's presence, counted out today's earnings.

There are 50 chickens, 50 ducks, and 50 geese, along with the same amount of offal, and several buckets of vegetables.

Hou Mingying and Deng Jiazhen counted the money inside the counter while the others watched from outside. Before long, the two of them had finished counting the money in their hands.

After further consideration...

Hou Mingying looked up, her hand trembling slightly as she took the money, staring blankly at Chen Fan. "Total...total...1247.58 yuan."

Chen Fan picked up the three delivery slips, placed them on the counter, and chuckled softly, "They're about what I estimated."

He remained calm, while the others were going crazy.

Zhang Wenliang grabbed his arm, glared at him, and said, "You earned over 1,200 yuan in just one day?"

He shook his head violently as soon as he finished speaking, "No, no, it's one store, and there are two other stores, so it adds up to..."

Zhang Wenliang, who is usually very good at accounting, felt like he didn't have enough fingers at this moment.

Chen Fan chuckled from the side, "Around two thousand five hundred."

"Two thousand and five?"

Zhang Wenliang slowly raised his head. "Two thousand five hundred a day? That's twenty-five thousand in ten days, and in a year...?"

He felt that his brain wasn't good enough, and that he hadn't read enough books!

Chen Fan laughed and said, "The accounts can't be calculated like that. The cooked food workshop, the cooked food shop, and the production team all operate independently. The production team sells live poultry to the cooked food workshop, and after the cooked food workshop processes it, it is wholesaled to the cooked food shop. Each of these three units makes its own money."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Wenliang said seriously, "It's all the brigade's money, and it's also the money of all the commune members!"

Chen Fan nodded, both amused and exasperated, "Yes, yes, it's all our money."

He was also a formal member of Lujiawan, so of course he had a share.

In other words, everyone in the Lujiawan production team who had work points received one.

After saying a few words, Zhang Wenliang finally felt his mind come to life. He rolled his eyes, pulled Chen Fan to the door, and whispered, "What do you think? From now on, let's stop selling live poultry and just sell cooked food instead?"

Chen Fan glanced at him, his eyes full of strangeness.

Zhang Wenliang quickly said, "I mean we won't look for new customers in the future. We'll definitely continue to supply those we've already signed contracts with, unless they decide they don't want the goods anymore. Apart from these customers, we'll keep the rest of the live poultry and cook them into cooked food to sell. What do you think?"

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and said, "I think it depends on the situation."

Zhang Wenliang was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Chen Fan said seriously, "Don't forget, Lujiawan isn't just about itself. There are four other production teams behind it. If they all start raising livestock, there will be four times more chickens, ducks, and geese. Will these few cooked food shops be able to handle it all?"

Zhang Wenliang immediately frowned and lowered his head to ponder the intricacies of the matter.

Chen Fan continued, "If possible, I would certainly like to put all the money in my own pocket, but in that case, we would have to open more cooked food shops, and we would have to open shops in other counties, in prefectural committees, and even in provincial capitals and other provinces, so that we can consume so much live poultry."

Furthermore, just wait and see if you don't believe me. This year we helped our members make money, and they will definitely expand their breeding operations and optimize their breeding structure. They will all raise chickens and geese, and each team will also increase the number of ducks they raise. When they produce more live poultry, what will they do with it?

Each and every one of these things needs to be planned in advance. Otherwise, you might make them money today and they'll be grateful to you, but if you make them lose money tomorrow, that's a different story.

Zhang Wenliang had fully regained his senses by then. He glanced at him and chuckled softly, "You know, scholars are just different."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "I think I'm better suited to hands-on work. This kind of brain-intensive work is yours. I'm your tool, you point and I shoot, that's all."

(End of this chapter)