Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

Two days after leaving the police station, the fat man was fired.

Fatty's cooking skills are only good when he makes hot and sour shredded potatoes; the other dishes he makes are not as good as the third aunt's.

Yi Zhonghai and his group certainly wouldn't support him for nothing.

The fat man's salary is three hundred yuan a month, which is equivalent to ten yuan a day.

The combined salaries of Yi Zhonghai and several others don't even equal his.

What's more, they don't even earn ten yuan a day.

After firing the fat man, the task of cooking was handed over to Qin Huairu and the three aunts.

These two are both incredibly stingy, and the portions they make are getting smaller and smaller.

Each time the food is cooked, they place a lunchbox next to it and first put a spoonful of the dish into the lunchbox.

The saying goes, "If the cook doesn't steal, the grains won't be plentiful."

These days, people have big appetites. Their food is already not enough to fill them up, and if they keep doing this, basically no one will come to their door.

Several people sat in the restaurant every day, worrying.

After a month, the money I earned wasn't even enough to pay the rent.

Qin Huairu cried out in distress: "Old Yi, Old Yan, what should we do now?"
If this continues, we'll go bankrupt.

Yi Zhonghai subconsciously uttered half a sentence: "Find Sha Zhu..."

He only realized halfway through his sentence that He Yuzhu wouldn't pay any attention to him at all.

He didn't even know why he said that.

Qin Huairu thought he would have a good idea, and stared at him with bright eyes.

Feeling embarrassed by the stares, Yi Zhonghai awkwardly said, "Let's go find Yan Jiecheng again."

Yan Bugui said, "Don't bother looking for him, it's no use. The head chef at his restaurant is more expensive than Fatty, even the worst one is five hundred yuan a month."

Can we afford to hire them?

Yuefeng Restaurant's business has not been doing well since the company split up.

Yan Jiecheng and his wife were afraid that Yu Li would poach their staff from their restaurant, so they raised the wages of the restaurant's employees.

They thought they could still make money even without Yu Li's dividends.

Unfortunately, due to the dispute over the separation of the family businesses, the restaurant's reputation suffered, and fewer customers came to eat there.

When Li's restaurant opened, it took away some of their customers, and they earned less money than they did before they separated.

Yu Li's restaurant business isn't doing well either. Her restaurant is entirely supported by Chef Gu.

Chef Gu's culinary skills are only so-so. Although he learned cooking from He Yuzhu, it wasn't a systematic approach.

He couldn't have managed such a large kitchen on his own.

Yu Li was so anxious that she brought back all her retired colleagues.

Even so, there's no way to solve the kitchen problem.

Business was bad, so Yan Jiecheng was no longer willing to pay them such high wages.

But he didn't dare to cut wages rashly, so he wanted to drive away those with higher salaries.

Yan Bugui went to him, and he readily agreed.

Yan Jiecheng agreed, but Yan Bugui was unwilling. Yan Bugui and his group had a clear idea: they wanted to borrow Yan Jiecheng's chef, and at most, they would pay Yan Jiecheng some fees.

It's impossible for them to pay such high salaries to hire people.

Their small restaurant barely makes any money. How can they afford to hire people with such high salaries?

Yi Zhonghai said angrily, "They are all unfilial and have no basic human decency."

Yan Bugui looked somewhat embarrassed.

Yi Zhonghai then continued his conversation, referring to his son.

By evening, the restaurant was still empty. The food they had prepared was almost dried out.

In order not to waste the food, they had no choice but to cook it and take it home to eat.

Several people carrying lunchboxes returned to the courtyard house, only to be greeted by the indifferent gazes of their neighbors.

When they first opened the restaurant, everyone thought it would be profitable and wanted to invest.

Yi Zhonghai and the others were afraid that others would take advantage of them, so they resolutely disagreed with investing.

Everyone holds this grudge. If they weren't afraid of offending Yi Zhonghai and his group, they would have already made sarcastic remarks.

They dared not, but Xu Damao did.

Xu Damao walked in with a smile, carrying a plastic bag.

His construction company recently got things done, and thanks to He Yuzhu's connections, he secured a project.

Seeing that he was about to make a lot of money, Xu Damao bought lots of delicious food every day, and his refrigerator was overflowing.

"Oh, you're off work. Opening a restaurant really makes a difference; our family's living conditions are much better now."

Upon hearing this, many people nearby covered their mouths and laughed.

Yi Zhonghai ate meals brought back from restaurants every day, so of course he lived a good life.

These days, ordinary people usually only have one or two dishes for a meal. Under normal circumstances, no one would have four or five dishes every meal.

Even when Yi Zhonghai's restaurant is struggling, he always makes sure to prepare extra dishes. If they can't sell them, he can't bear to throw them away, so he'll eat them himself.

They ate themselves into a rich family, but didn't make any money.

Yi Zhonghai and Xu Damao were naturally at odds; just looking at Xu Damao would raise his blood pressure.

He can't do anything to Xu Damao right now, so he can only pretend he doesn't see it.

Qin Huairu's eyes were full of envy when she saw what Xu Damao was holding.

"Da Mao, stop making sarcastic remarks, okay? You have so many ideas, come up with a solution for me."

Xu Damao laughed and said, "That's easy. If you're not good at cooking, you can make breakfast."

That place used to be a steamed bun shop. Now that you've opened a restaurant, there's one less place to buy breakfast around here.

What he said was true.

Nanluoguxiang is close to the Forbidden City, and the buildings here were built a long time ago, so there aren't many places suitable for doing business.

The steamed bun shop closed down, and there's one less breakfast vendor in the neighborhood.

For someone like Xu Damao who doesn't make breakfast, this really means there's one less place to eat breakfast.

Qin Huairu listened to this and seemed to be thinking about it. She then picked up her lunchbox and went into the central courtyard.

Yan Bugui had also figured it out, so he gave the lunchbox to the third aunt and went to the Intermediate People's Court.

Meanwhile, Yu Li, who was resting at home, also had a bright idea in her eyes.

After her restaurant reopened, business was so-so; she worked hard for a month but didn't earn much money.

She kept thinking about how to increase the restaurant's profits. Unfortunately, no matter what method she tried, she couldn't solve the problem.

The biggest problem is still the chef. Without a skilled chef, the restaurant's business won't improve.

But good chefs aren't so easy to find. Didn't you see that He Yuzhu only hires his own apprentices and grand-apprentices when he opens a restaurant?

These days, there are no schools that train chefs, and there aren't many chefs who are truly skilled.

In her desperation, Yu Li told Li Zhenjiang the truth when she got home.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhenjiang refused.

"Forget about it, our restaurant won't do."

"Why not? Breakfast makes more money." Yu Li was a little unhappy that he rejected her so quickly.

Li Zhenjiang explained, "Don't you think about it? How many people go to restaurants like ours for breakfast these days?"

People usually buy their breakfast from street vendors.

Furthermore, our restaurant has high operating costs. If you make steamed buns, how much will you charge for them?

We're selling it at the same price as outside, and we're losing money. But if you sell it at a higher price, how many people will buy it?

Yu Li wasn't stupid; she was just a little anxious, which is why she hadn't thought it through.

After listening to Li Zhenjiang's analysis, it became clear that selling breakfast was not a viable option.

The meat buns outside cost one cent each, but even if their restaurant sells them for five cents, they're still losing money.

Yu Li couldn't imagine how many ordinary people would buy a meat bun that cost 50 cents.

"This won't work, that won't work, what do you suggest we do? We've spent so much money on renting and renovating, most of it was borrowed."

Li Zhenjiang glanced cautiously at Yu Li: "How about I go ask Brother Zhu?" (End of Chapter)