Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 262 The Tavern's Predicament, Li Hongbing's Business

"Hongbing, you've seen the situation at the tavern. You're knowledgeable and have many ideas. Actually, I've been wanting to ask you if you have any good suggestions?"

After chatting with Cai Quanwu and Li Hongbing for a couple of minutes, Xu Huizhen hesitated for a moment before suddenly asking a question.

Li Hongbing was taken aback for a moment, then said directly, "Huizhen, you're putting me in a difficult position. I'm just a cook; you're clearly better at business. Why are you asking me instead?"

Xu Huizhen was also stunned for a moment when she saw this, and then noticed the other people in the store, obviously realizing something.

There weren't many customers in the store at the time, but there were quite a few employees. Xu Huizhen thought that Li Hongbing was keeping quiet because he had some reservations.

Li Hongbing's main job was indeed as a master chef at Fengzeyuan, but Xu Huizhen had also gained his insight and ability to analyze and judge situations.

When the wave of full-scale public-private partnership arrived, Li Hongbing's seemingly casual reminders were actually insightful, perfectly predicting and accurately stating the future.

Xu Huizhen had witnessed Chen Xueru's various responses, and later learned that they were Li Hongbing's doing, so she naturally did not underestimate Li Hongbing.

"Sigh, I was just asking. The current state of the tavern makes me feel bad."

Xu Huizhen said this with apparent disappointment and frustration, but then suddenly changed the subject and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about it. I just remembered that I chatted with Xue Ru for a while at noon, and she said she wanted to eat our family's pickled vegetables. Since you're here, come with me to the backyard, and we can take the pickled vegetables Xue Ru wanted back with us later."

"Is this happening?"

Li Hongbing was somewhat surprised, but not particularly suspicious.

Given the relationship between Chen Xueru and Xu Huizhen, ordering some pickled vegetables would be a casual matter.

Moreover, Chen Xueru did like the pickled vegetables at the tavern; they were quite nice as a side dish with her porridge.

With Li Hongbing's current cooking skills and abilities, making some delicious pickles himself is no problem at all, but he's too lazy to put in the effort and prefers to buy some from outside.

However, Chen's mother would sometimes make some pickled vegetables herself after getting the recipe from Li Hongbing.

Even though Li Hongbing is a renowned master chef, let alone in the current situation, even before the quota was reduced, it was impossible for him to eat fish and meat every day.

Plain porridge and side dishes are a way of life, and a daily routine for most people.

Li Hongbing was no exception.

soon.

Xu Huizhen, Cai Quanwu, and Li Hongbing entered the cellar in the backyard where pickled vegetables and wine were stored. Xu Huizhen's gaze fell on Li Hongbing, and she said in a serious tone, "Hongbing, I know you may have had some concerns just now. Now that there are no outsiders here, just say what you want to say!"

"Didn't you bring me here to get the pickled vegetables Xue Ru wanted?"

Li Hongbing realized what was happening, but was utterly speechless.

So Xu Huizhen was still concerned about what had just happened.

"That's just an excuse. I don't believe you can't see through it."

As Xu Huizhen finished speaking, her eyes were fixed on Li Hongbing.

She was forced into a corner, which is why she took the initiative to ask Li Hongbing for help and advice.

Xu Huizhen is a very opinionated and strong-willed person.

After the reduction in food rations and the introduction of the "alcohol restriction order," the tavern's business was affected, but she kept thinking of various ways and measures to maintain the tavern's business and try to save herself.

Talk about it.

Because Xu Huizhen keenly sensed something was wrong, she had Cai Quanwu purchase a batch of wine before the ban on brewing wine from grains was issued. Furthermore, after other taverns ran out of wine to sell, she implemented a limit on the number of people and the quantity of wine, which is why this batch of wine has been available until now.

While other taverns were empty and almost closed, this little tavern still had some regular customers coming in at night.

However, this situation cannot last long, as their wine inventory is almost depleted.

When Li Hongbing came over in the afternoon, Xu Huizhen, who had really run out of ideas, finally had this "bright idea".

For the sake of her tavern's business, or even just to survive, she no longer cared about saving face or being proud.

Seeing Li Hongbing remain silent, Xu Huizhen gave a bitter smile and couldn't help but worry, "You know the situation at the tavern. If it were just me and Quanwu, it would be fine; we could just tough it out ourselves. But there are so many people in the tavern, and the income is so low. We've been losing money for two months straight, and we can barely afford to pay salaries..."

Li Hongbing felt helpless when Xu Huizhen mentioned this.

The tavern isn't big, but it has quite a few employees.

Besides Cai Quanwu and Xu Huizhen, there are also Accountant Liu, Cashier Kong, Chef Ma, and Waitress He Yumei, plus the salaries of a whole bunch of people.

These people were hired by Fan Jinyou when he was the general manager of the tavern, in a moment of madness.

Although Fan Jinyou later fell from power and was imprisoned, even though the tavern didn't need that many people, he couldn't dismiss the people he had previously hired and had to keep them.

In the past, business was good for the tavern, so it wasn't a problem. But now people can't even afford to eat, so who has the spare money or the mood to go out for drinks? In addition, the supply channels for alcohol have basically been cut off, and they can only rely on limited inventory to stay afloat. Business has long since plummeted.

"Yes, Hongbing, if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them. Whether they are useful or not, Huizhen and I will thank you."

Seeing this, Cai Quanwu chimed in, "You don't know, but in order to pay the wages of the other employees in the shop, Huizhen even gave up her own dividends and wages, and is even planning to pay their wages out of her own pocket."

Cai Quanwu naturally had no dissatisfaction or opposition to Xu Huizhen's actions and decisions, but even if he expressed his support, this was not a solution.

"Sigh, the food supply is already tight enough, and if we lose our wages, we really won't be able to make ends meet."

Xu Huizhen did this not entirely for the sake of the tavern, but also for the sake of the tavern's employees and their families.

Li Hongbing had no doubt about Xu Hui's selflessness and motives; she was indeed that kind of person.

Even though Li Hongbing had made many preparations in advance for these three difficult years, the current predicament of the tavern was something he could not change.

“Huizhen, nothing. Putting aside the current situation of the tavern, the situation outside is like this, and I think you are equally aware of it.”

Seeing that Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu were both looking at him, Li Hongbing shook his head and said, "The biggest problem now is the alcohol."

I think you've already visited all the wineries and workshops you could find. With the policies from above in place, even if there were grain, let alone no grain, no one would dare to use it to brew wine.

With your abilities, getting some grain shouldn't be too difficult for you. But even if you have the brewing tools and facilities, and know the brewing recipes and techniques, would you dare to defy the law?

"Even if you dare, given the current price of grain, what would the cost be, and how much would the brewed wine have to sell for per ounce to break even and make a profit? You can't possibly not think of that, can you?" As Li Hongbing said this, Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu, who had originally held onto some hopeful thoughts and pinned their hopes on Li Hongbing, also lowered their heads in disappointment.

They weren't unaware of what Li Hongbing was saying; they simply refused to accept it.

What we lack now is not customers, especially as the weather turns colder and winter is just around the corner, at which point the demand for alcohol will increase.

What we're lacking is wine!
The biggest problem for a small tavern is that it has no alcohol.

Li Hongbing's system space contained grain, and even a container of rice. However, no matter what, Li Hongbing would never use these to help Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu.

They had a good relationship, but it wasn't to the point that Li Hongbing would disregard his own situation and risk exposing his biggest secret just to help them get their tavern business going.

If Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu were short of food and struggling to make ends meet, given the current relationship between the two families, Li Hongbing would definitely lend a helping hand to help them through this difficult time.

But clearly, that's not the case.

When you want to help someone, you should consider the situation and act within your means.

Li Hongbing would never do something that sacrifices himself for others.

He hasn't reached that level of greatness and selflessness yet.

"Hongbing, I'm so sorry, I'm just worried about the current situation, that's why I'm giving you this problem. I know that in this situation, no one can help right now..."

Xu Huizhen sighed and apologized to Li Hongbing for her rash actions.

Her actions today were clearly a desperate attempt to find a solution, putting Li Hongbing in a difficult position.

"Understandable."

Li Hongbing nodded and looked at Xu Huizhen, saying, "You don't need to apologize. We're all friends, and I'm Jingli and Jingping's godfather. If you're facing difficulties and feeling pressured, it's okay to talk about it."

Even though he had become godparents to both of Xu Huizhen's daughters, Li Hongbing couldn't completely treat Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu as family, but he could certainly treat them as close friends.

One advantage of being friends with Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu is that you don't have to worry about them betraying you.

There's no need to elaborate on Cai Quanwu.

In terms of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, the "software" aspect is top-notch, but the "hardware" aspect is a bit lacking.

But Xu Huizhen herself didn't care about any of this, so it had even less to do with Li Hongbing.

For Li Hongbing, making friends is not about looks, but about sincerity.

Despite Cai Quanwu's less-than-ideal appearance, putting that aside, he is truly an excellent choice and life partner for Xu Huizhen.

When Li Hongbing and Chen Xueru got married, Sha Zhu met Xu Huizhen once and then took a liking to her, but Li Hongbing had no intention of playing matchmaker at all.

Compared to Cai Quan, Sha Zhu is far inferior.

Fortunately, Sha Zhu was also proud and arrogant. Even though he was interested in Xu Huizhen's beauty, he gave up the idea when he learned that she had been married and had a daughter.

As for Xu Huizhen, although Li Hongbing thinks her actions are sometimes a bit too saintly, it also proves that she is good to the people around her, and what she does only affects her own family at most, without harming other people around her.

As long as he can't be hurt, Li Hongbing doesn't care what Xu Huizhen likes to do.

After this incident, Xu Huizhen and Cai Quanwu naturally wouldn't discuss that topic again.

However, when they came out of the cellar, Li Hongbing had a jar of pickled vegetables in his hand.

Although Chen Xueru's request for pickled vegetables from Xu Huizhen was a lie Xu Huizhen made up to create an opportunity for them to talk alone, she did say it in front of the other people in the tavern. In order not to expose the lie and cause people to overthink, Li Hongbing naturally had to take some back with him.

This isn't about taking advantage of others; it's about being meticulous.

After all, there's a system on him, and there's a reason why Li Hongbing has been able to keep this earth-shattering secret until now.

In this regard, Li Hongbing dared not be careless in the slightest.

They went to check on Li Jianwu and Xu Jingli, and found them chatting away, sharing their own interesting stories. Li Hongbing and Cai Quanwu only glanced at them before leaving.

When Xu Huizhen returned to the lobby of the tavern, Cai Quanwu suddenly looked around and whispered, "Brother Niu came over last night and brought over several items, but it was too late. I was originally thinking of having you come over tonight after get off work, but I learned from your wife at noon that you're off work. Since you're here now, why don't you take a look?"

"Okay!"

Upon hearing this, Li Hongbing understood what was going on and did not object.

Actually, this was something that Li Hongbing entrusted to Cai Quanwu and Master Niu.

I collect antiques!
Li Hongbing wasn't hoping to get rich from this or hoard it to wait for it to appreciate in value; he simply had nowhere to spend his money.

In this era where you basically need ration coupons to buy things, Li Hongbing's monthly salary is barely enough to cover his expenses, not to mention the cash rewards that the system unlocks with each skill upgrade.

If he keeps it sitting there, when the next set of RMB is issued, Li Hongbing won't be able to exchange so much money at the bank all at once unless he spends it in advance.

The amount is so large that it's too easy to attract attention.

The second set of new banknotes has been in use for several years, and there are less than three years left before the issuance of the third set of RMB.

Fortunately, this third set of RMB banknotes will be used stably for the next few decades until the new century, so Li Hongbing will no longer have this problem.

In Beijing, there are still many old people and descendants of the old regime. Even though they are not as prosperous as they used to be, they still have a lot of ancestral property and treasures left by their ancestors.

A dead skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

During those difficult three years, many people struggled to make ends meet, not to mention those who relied on selling off their ancestral property to survive, and who were used to a comfortable life.

The coming period is clearly a good opportunity to collect these valuable items.

Li Hongbing didn't intend to handle this personally, nor did he plan to put too much effort and time into it. Instead, he found two helpers.

One was Niu Ye, who came from that group, and the other was Cai Quanwu, who was standing in front of them.

Both of them were reliable, so Li Hongbing wasn't too worried.

(End of this chapter)