Rebirth of a Top Student's Handbook

Zhou's mother returned to her parents' home and simply returned all the ovens. She had originally planned to buy them, but worried that her sisters-in-law would gossip about them, so she simply returned them. She also gave Zhou Min's maternal grandparents 500 yuan as compensation for not returning to her parents' home for almost half a year.

Zhou Min's maternal grandmother knew that Zhou Min was going to the county town to do business and tried to stop her. However, Zhou Min's mother, whose appetite had already been spoiled, wouldn't listen to anyone's advice, and the argument ended badly. Returning home early, Zhou Min's mother immediately contacted her landlord in town to terminate the lease. Because Zhou Min's mother's restaurant had been very successful, the landlord's shop had been sold quickly. He even bought some fruit to thank Zhou Min's mother for this.

Zhou's father packed up everything in the house and shop, hired a van, and took everything over. To make sure nothing was left behind, Zhou Min and her mother checked the house and shop again and again until they found absolutely no problems before leaving with the van.

By the time they arrived at their house in the county town and put everything away, it was already nine o'clock at night. Everyone was starving, and they relied entirely on a pot of noodle soup from Zhou's father to solve their hunger. As Zhou Min ate this simple bowl of noodles, she felt that after half a year of practice, her father's cooking skills were far superior to those of her previous life. You see, in her previous life, her father only cooked according to his own taste, and every dish was heavily seasoned. Later, as he got older, all the dishes became stews.

After dinner, everyone rested. Zhou Min's room used to be a study, with a tall bookshelf and a large desk, but no wardrobe, and the bed was very narrow, only 1.2 meters wide. But Zhou Min was already very content.

The next day, Zhou Min's family went to the restaurant to clean. Zhou's parents first organized everything and checked what was missing, while Zhou Min wrote down everything that needed to be bought and the quantities. It wasn't until after 1 p.m. that they finally finished taking stock. For lunch, the family of three ate the extra steamed buns and porridge they had made in the morning.

In the afternoon, Zhou's mother started cleaning, while Zhou Min and her father went to buy things separately. Zhou Min went to Jiang Ge's shop, where she quickly selected small appliances commonly found in later generations, such as ovens, rice cookers, soy milk makers, and juicers. Of course, she chose large-capacity ones. In the end, Jiang Ge sold them to Zhou Min at the wholesale price and even helped with delivery.

After buying the appliances, Zhou Min went to the wholesale market and bought a lot of beautiful teapots and teacups. After hearing that they would help with delivery for large orders, Zhou Min also selected many sets of high-end bowls and plates to put in the private room.

When they returned to the shop, they found that Zhou's father was already wiping the tables. They asked him what was wrong and learned that Zhou's mother had gone to the market. By the time Zhou's mother returned with the groceries, it was already evening. Fortunately, Zhou's father hadn't waited for her to finish the groceries and had already prepared dinner.

During the meal, Zhou's mother said, "I contacted a grocery store and they agreed to deliver groceries to our door every morning. However, we need to call them in advance every day. I'm thinking of installing a phone at home, or maybe I should get you a cell phone too?"

After considering the money in his hand, Mr. Zhou decided to install a telephone. The next day, while Mr. and Mrs. Zhou were finalizing the menu, Zhou Min, through Sister Zhang's introduction, found a long-established restaurant and commissioned a simple, old-fashioned signboard that read: "Uncle Zhou's Private Kitchen." Upon returning, Zhou Min revised the menu prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, selecting several of their specialties as signature dishes and appropriately raising the prices. Although making money was the goal, Zhou Min still wanted to ease the burden on Mr. and Mrs. Zhou. Of course, she also lowered the prices of many dishes that could be mass-produced.

With the prepared menu in hand, Zhou Min went directly to a small advertising company, which was actually just a roadside printing shop that offered color printing and laminating services for various types of paper.

Zhou Min, who used to edit photos for her husband's online shop in her past life, possessed incredibly high-level Photoshop skills, making her a true master. In the early days of Photoshop, Zhou Min was practically a god-like figure.

Zhou Min turned on one of the computers, downloaded and installed Photoshop, and started typing up the menu. She also added several soft-focused food photos to each menu page, making them look incredibly appetizing.

This is actually a very common marketing tactic in later generations, but it's so novel now. Zhou Min believed that this menu would definitely attract more customers, so to make the menu look high-end, she translated each Chinese menu item into English using fancy font.

By the time Zhou Min finished everything, it was already past 2 PM. After explaining how to print, Zhou Min quickly went out to buy some snacks to tide her over.

When Zhou Min returned, they had already started laminating each page of the menu. Zhou Min printed a total of 20 menus, which cost 400 yuan, and that was after she made them herself; otherwise, it would have been even more expensive. The boss was very interested in the menus Zhou Min made, but Zhou Min, who was extremely busy, said, "I have absolutely no time to teach you."

Back at the shop, Zhou's parents, knowing that Zhou Min had already eaten lunch, didn't say anything. Zhou Min noticed the refrigerator was already stocked with plenty of vegetables, and the kitchen was mostly stocked with seasonings, rice, and flour. She suggested hiring another person. Zhou's father, short on cash, suggested having some of Zhou Min's uncles come and help during the opening days.

Zhou's mother is currently baking pastries in the newly bought oven. Several glasses of juice and soy milk are already on the table, and various kinds of bread and cakes are placed on the top shelf of the refrigerator. Seeing this, Zhou Min thinks that her mother is quite clever, as she quickly got the hang of the new appliance.

After tasting each of the freshly made juices, Zhou Min was even more impressed with her mother. In her past life, Zhou Min frequently made her own juice; if it weren't for the health benefits, she wouldn't have wanted to drink it at all. But she hadn't expected her mother's first attempt to make it to be so delicious—it was truly a matter of talent. In her past life, when Zhou Min tried to teach her mother how to use these appliances, her mother was already quite old. Back then, her mother was a stubborn old woman, resistant to anything new. If it weren't for the fact that Zhou Min's family had all sorts of advanced appliances, forcing her to learn, her mother wouldn't have wanted to use any of them. As for juicers and soy milk makers, they weren't necessities, and her mother never used them. Therefore, in her past life, Zhou Min had never tasted her mother's homemade juice.

When Zhou's father saw Zhou Min's menu, he was extremely satisfied and immediately felt full of energy again.

The signboard was finished and delivered early the next morning. Zhou Min asked them to install a row of spotlights on top of the signboard for use that night.

By the time everything was ready, Zhou Min's wallet had shrunk by more than half. Meanwhile, Zhou's parents had already completed all the pre-opening preparations.

The next day, Zhou Min's four uncles came to help early in the morning. After the firecrackers were set off and the ribbon was cut, Brother Jiang and Sister Zhang each brought a large group of friends to cheer on Zhou Min's family. Because Zhou's mother had baked a lot of cakes in advance and put them in the shop window, these beautifully colored cream cakes attracted many customers.

After all the guests left in the evening, everyone was exhausted. Zhou's father had Zhou Min's uncles sleep on the floor in the shop.