Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 383 Don’t dare to think

Despite their best efforts, the Luwan deli managed to reopen before 2 p.m.

After a morning of buzz, many people heard that a cooked food shop had opened here. Unlike the live poultry in the market or the restaurants where you can sit down to eat, this place displays all kinds of cooked food directly in the counter, allowing you to choose whatever you like, regardless of your budget, and you can take it home after you buy it.

Even if they didn't bring baskets or crates, they would wrap the food in oiled paper, tie it tightly with thin hemp rope, and carry it with them so they could eat it as soon as they got home.

Although braised meat could be bought in restaurants before, people always like to follow new trends. After a few years of mundane and boring days, it's rare to find such a unique store, so why wouldn't they come and check it out?
So when the store reopened in the afternoon, there were actually twenty or thirty people waiting at the door.

Fortunately, Chen Fan saw this situation and had Hou Mingying and Deng Jiazhen order the dishes according to the menu and number them beforehand. After the goods were delivered, they immediately packed the dishes according to the numbers and collected the money. Everything was in an orderly manner and no trouble occurred.

With the start of a new round of sales, the batch of goods made at noon is still decreasing at a visible rate.

There's no way around it, this location is just too good. Every day, dozens of passenger ships of all sizes dock here, and at least two thousand people come ashore to stretch their muscles. Even the county department store opened its only branch in the county at the next intersection on this road.

Today, the main store of Luwan Delicatessen is located at this important transportation hub. All travelers going into the county town will pass through here, so how could business be bad?

Therefore, there are only two things that can limit a store's sales revenue: one is that the store is too small, and the other is that there are too few goods!

Two hours later, Hou Mingying, looking exhausted, raised her hands and shouted with renewed vigor, "Comrades, customers, I'm so sorry, all the food we prepared today has been sold out. We will prepare more stock tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding!"

“I don’t understand.”

A man held up a numbered menu and shouted, "I've been waiting for over half an hour, and you even gave me the number, so why is there nothing left to buy?"

Hou Mingying's smile had almost frozen, and she said weakly, "Besides here, we have two other stores across from the vegetable market and at the intersection of Wuyi Street..."

Before she could finish speaking, another person shouted, "Those two houses sold out a long time ago. They're the ones who sent me here."

Upon hearing this, Hou Mingying was stunned and instinctively looked at Chen Fan and the others on the side of the road.

Chen Fan remained unmoved and calmly said, "Secretary, proceed according to plan!"

Secretary Yang, who arrived by ship at noon, couldn't help but roll his eyes, "You're just going to wear this old body out."

After saying that, he walked into the store.

When the customers saw Hou Mingying's gaze, they unconsciously turned around to look at who she was looking at, and then they saw Secretary Yang, who exuded the air of a village cadre.

When Secretary Yang walked over, they consciously made way for him.

Zhang Wenliang watched Secretary Yang walk into the crowd, his eyes filled with worry, "Will it work?"

Chen Fan crossed his arms and leaned against a sycamore tree by the roadside, saying calmly, "If the Party Secretary can't do it, then can you?"

Zhang Wenliang's lips twitched slightly. "You know that's not what I meant."

Ye Shubao, who came with Secretary Yang, patted Zhang Wenliang on the shoulder and said, "Keep an eye on things."

As he walked up the steps of the store, Secretary Yang turned around and said calmly, "Hello comrades, I am the secretary of the Lujiawan Production Brigade. This Luwan Delicatessen is a side business run by the Lujiawan Brigade of our Nanhu Commune."

Just then, a girl who looked to be under 20 years old suddenly screamed, startling everyone.

Ignoring the strange looks from those around her, she stared at Secretary Yang with shining eyes and asked loudly, "Is it that Lujiawan where the writer Chen Fan is from?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately turned to look at Secretary Yang.

At the back of the crowd, Chen Fan gasped and quickly said to Zhang Wenliang, "I'll go first!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Wenliang watched Chen Fan disappear from sight. He turned his head and searched everywhere, "Where is he? Where did he go?"

Ye Shubao, standing beside him, stared blankly at the endless stream of people on the street, but could no longer find Chen Fan. "He's even faster than a rabbit???"

Standing on the counter in the store, Secretary Yang heard the girl's words and immediately chuckled, "Yes, it's Lu, the one with writer Chen Fan..."

As he spoke, he naturally looked at Chen Fan, but only saw Zhang Wenliang, Ye Shubao, and An Quan standing by the roadside in a daze.

As for Chen Fan, where is he?
Fortunately, the old man reacted quickly, pausing for less than two seconds before smiling and continuing, "...Jiawan, yes, that's Lujiawan."

Upon hearing the answer, the girl cheered with joy, "Is Writer Chen here? Will he come here?"

Everyone around her looked at her, then at Secretary Yang, their movements remarkably synchronized.

Secretary Yang, not seeing Chen Fan, knew he didn't want to show up, and said with a regretful expression, "Well, Writer Chen didn't come, and probably won't. What's the main reason?... Yes, he's busy with his writing. Didn't 'Jiangnan Literature' publish his article? He has to submit one article every month, plus several other articles. His workload is quite heavy, so he didn't come."

Hearing this, the girl looked disappointed, seemingly unable to accept it. "Oh, you didn't come?"

Anquan's eyes twitched as she watched from behind. Did she idolize Chen Fan?

In Lu Xun's "Letters Between Two Places - To Xu Guangping No. 105", he wrote: "It seems that I have become an idol as well."

So the term "idol" was born a long time ago, but Anquan just couldn't associate it with Chen Fan.

The main problem is that the kid just doesn't look like it.

At this moment, Secretary Yang also felt a chill run down his spine. Chen Fan had taught him how to say it, but this wasn't included!

However, having served as a Party Secretary for many years, he possessed some ability to adapt to changing circumstances. After a brief pause, he cleared his throat and said in a friendly tone, "Young comrade, although Writer Chen isn't here, all the food at our Luwan Delicatessen is made under his personal guidance."

Before he could finish speaking, the girl asked in surprise, "Writer Chen can cook cooked food?"

Secretary Yang's expression immediately changed, and he said in a serious tone, "More than that! Not only can he cook cooked food, but his culinary skills are also quite advanced. Moreover, he can repair radios and diesel engines. At the same time, he is the best veterinarian in our production team and also knows first aid. He is the most capable person in our Lujiawan!"

He knew he couldn't use the prefectural committee leadership as a pretext, otherwise the leaders would be unhappy, so he didn't mention going to the prefectural committee to compile books.

Nevertheless, it still shocked everyone.

If he hadn't exaggerated like that, the girl might have believed him. But after exaggerating like that, she immediately became suspicious. If even she was suspicious, what about others?

Are there really so many talented people in this world?
However, regardless of the circumstances, it's true that Chen Fan is from Lujiawan, and this shop is a side business for him in Lujiawan.

Since that's the case, let's show our support!

Just as the girl was about to buy something, she finally realized that everything was sold out!

She immediately asked, "Is there really nothing left to sell today?"

Secretary Yang coughed again, looked at the dozens of people gathered at the store entrance, and said loudly, "Oh, is that so? For those who didn't get a number today, I'll bow to you all as an apology."

As he spoke, he raised his hands and clasped them in a gesture of apology, saying, "Excuse me, excuse me." Seeing that the Party Secretary had personally come forward to apologize, even the most furious among them felt embarrassed to cause any more trouble, so they all waved their hands, saying, "It's alright, it's alright."

"Come again tomorrow, it's the same."

"We need to prepare more tomorrow, lest we run out of stock again."

After they finished speaking, they didn't disperse but remained standing there watching.

Secretary Yang chuckled and made a fist-bow, saying with a smile, "Definitely, definitely."

After the noise subsided, he continued, "For those who already have numbered slips, we'll give you two options. One is to reorder them according to the order, and you can buy them first thing tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, those who had received the numbers nodded in agreement, agreeing that this was a good idea.

At this moment, the girl's eyes flickered slightly, and she asked loudly, "What's the second one?"

Secretary Yang smiled and said, "Secondly, if you are not in a hurry, you can continue to wait here, or pay a deposit and come back to pick it up later. We will arrange for someone to make it on the spot, but it will take a little longer, more than an hour."

Two conditions were given, and after a burst of noise, some people chose to buy it the next day, while others chose to buy it today.

In any case, we've gotten through this hurdle today.

The rest was naturally none of Secretary Yang's business. After giving Hou Mingying a few brief instructions, he got up and left.

Walking across the street toward the cooked food workshop, Secretary Yang, with his hands behind his back and a big smile on his face, said, "I hadn't noticed before, but Xiao Hou is quite good. Even if Xiao Chen gave them training courses, if they didn't have some basic skills, they wouldn't have been able to handle this situation today."

Zhang Wenliang smiled and said, "No matter which production team it is, it's all men who are in charge. Even if they do side jobs, there are almost no women. Where can we find them?"

Ye Shubao shook his head, but then brought up another matter, "More than that, I'm quite curious, how come Xiao Chen has become an idol too?"

He turned to look at Secretary Yang and complained, "If you ask me, you shouldn't have mentioned Xiao Chen's many abilities just now. People outside only knew that he could write books and cure diseases. Now, just wait and see, in less than three days, everyone in the county will know that he is a genius. Maybe some units will even offer him a high salary to work for them."

Secretary Yang's expression changed slightly, and he looked somewhat embarrassed. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

After a pause, he explained, "I was forced into this situation, and things just got to this point. What else could I say? If I said he was a bookworm who spent all day writing books in his room, would anyone believe that?"

Which unit in this county doesn't know he's skilled in medicine? The animal husbandry bureau also knows he's a veterinarian. If you ask me, it was only a matter of time before it was exposed. Even if I didn't say anything today, people would have found out sooner or later.

At this point, he suddenly turned his head and looked around, "By the way, where did Xiao Chen go?"

Hearing this, Zhang Wenliang couldn't help but complain, "You're one to talk! Just now, when that girl shouted, Xiao Chen disappeared like a monster. He vanished right before my eyes. I couldn't even see how he ran away. Isn't that strange?"

Secretary Yang looked on with curiosity, "Is that so?"

Ye Shubao immediately said, "What demons and monsters? Little Chen has been learning from Lao Xiao for more than half a year. He's just fast, like a rabbit. Plus, there are a lot of cars on the road, so it's normal for him to disappear in no time."

It was only then that Anquan spoke up, "Let's hurry and go to the workshop to see if he went there, or if he went back to the guesthouse."

As they talked, they unconsciously quickened their pace and soon arrived at the two-courtyard house where the cooked food workshop was located.

Upon arrival, Secretary Yang immediately went to find someone, only to receive unexpected news.

"What? He went to the prefectural committee?"

Luo Haixia, the "team leader" in charge of the workshop, nodded. "Teacher Chen said that he is going to sell cooked food at the prefectural committee. If he can open up sales channels, he can not only sell a lot of cooked food every day, but he may also have the opportunity to open a shop at the prefectural committee."

He told us to make more cooked food before he left, and we've already done so. It's almost ready to be cooked. He even took two buckets of reserved cooked food as samples. By now, he should have already boarded the ship.

Secretary Yang and the others looked at each other in bewilderment. This guy went to the prefectural committee without even saying hello?

Does he not need a letter of introduction?
However, considering Chen Fan's influence in the prefectural committee's health department, a letter of introduction would probably not be necessary.

If you don't need to buy short-distance bus or boat tickets, or stay at the health department's guesthouse, then what use is the letter of introduction?

Secretary Yang shook his head helplessly, then began to assign tasks, "Xiao Luo, you go and keep an eye on the kitchen. Once it's done, deliver it to Xiao Hou's shop immediately."

After Luo Haixia left, he said to Zhang Wenliang, "Once the three stores have delivered all the money, you should accompany Accountant Li to the credit union to open an account and deposit all the money."

Fortunately, loading took some time; otherwise, Accountant Li from the brigade headquarters would not have made it to the ship that delivered the goods and would have had to travel by car.

But no matter what happens, we have to come to the county town today. Not only that, we also have to deposit all the money there. Otherwise, with several thousand yuan in cash at home, no one can sleep at night.

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you bring your gear?"

Zhang Wenliang immediately patted his waist, "I have it with me."

He chuckled and pointed to the backyard of the workshop, "There are also 18 guns here. If you're worried, pick two more people to bring the guns and come with us."

Secretary Yang thought for a moment and shook his head slightly. "No need. Their guns are for protecting this courtyard. Your gun is enough. Besides, this is the county, so there shouldn't be too many problems. You can go with Accountant Li."

Zhang Wenliang readily agreed, "Okay."

……

While Zhang Wenliang accompanied Accountant Li to the credit union to open an account and deposit money, Chen Fan returned to the dockside guesthouse, took his belongings and two buckets of cooked food, and boarded a small passenger ship bound for Yunhu Lake.

The waterway, less than 10 kilometers long, didn't take too long.

After getting off the ship, I took a bus to the health center; it wasn't even 5 p.m. yet.

As usual, I first went to the Political Work Department to meet with Sister Zhou and the others, and delivered a few packages of cooked food. After that, I didn't even need to go to the unit's canteen. Sister Zhou made the decision: "From now on, deliver 20 jin of cooked food every day. As long as it's meat, not vegetables. Let's start with this and adjust it if needed later."

Chen Fan immediately beamed with joy, "Thank you, Sister Zhou. I'll bring you a rabbit next time."

The health department doesn't have many staff, so 20 jin (10 catties) of cooked food is more than enough.

However, for the prefectural committee's health system, a mere health department was never Chen Fan's target.

Those large hospitals, and the health college with thousands of students, are Chen Fan's real targets.

If we could open a shop near their workplace and obtain the qualification to supply the canteen, Lujiawan alone probably wouldn't be enough to meet their needs.

If we could use the health system to directly establish connections with the three major passenger stations and two major wharves of the prefectural committee, we could open shops in these places.

Wow, the profits are unimaginable for Chen Fan!
(End of this chapter)