Siheyuan: My wife is Xu Huizhen

Chapter 81 Meeting Qin Huairu for the first time

"Yes, this house belongs to the Military Control Commission."

Several people glanced at each other, and then nodded slightly. They were all wondering what kind of relationship He Yuzhu had to get this house, but they would definitely not ask directly.

Several of them are the nearest bosses or shopkeepers nearby. When they see workers coming and going in the past few days, they know that the house has an owner.

A door was opened today and cigarettes and alcohol have been sold, so a few people made an appointment to come over to see who the new neighbor is.

When several people saw that He Yuzhu was relatively kind and smelled of green onions, they asked about his origins.

Everyone was surprised when they learned that He Yuzhu was also the cook in the back kitchen of Tai Feng House.

The chef from the back kitchen of Tai Feng Building, one of the eight buildings, comes to sell braised vegetables for breakfast. At least the taste should be pretty good.

After chatting for a while, several people stood up and left to complete the initial contact.

In the evening, the master's wife came with her daughter and goddaughter He Yuyu to help.

When there are more people, the work becomes faster, and everything is quickly tidied up, and the trial operation can begin.

He Yuzhu then remembered that he had not posted a recruitment notice yet.

The teacher's wife said, "Isn't this simple? I'll find a few hard-working aunts for you. I'll find two first. When the business gets better, I'll gradually add more people."

"That's fine, thank you, Master."

"If you keep being polite like this, I'll hit you." The master's wife glared at him and said.

He Yuzhu could only smile naively.

Xu Huizhen said: "Someone came over just now to get drinks and asked if there were any dishes to go with the wine. How about you prepare some and maybe someone will come in the evening?" '

He Yuzhu thought about it and said, "Okay, then I'll buy vegetables and meat."

Generally, half an hour is enough to braise the meat, and it will basically be delicious. Of course, if it is delicious, it will take a longer time. Now that we have all the ingredients, we only need to buy the ingredients and come back to cook them freshly and wait until the evening.

"Then you go and come back quickly, I'll make preparations first."

After Xu Huizhen finished speaking, she went to pack her things and worked with He Yuzhu for a while. She was already familiar with this.

He Yuzhu rode his bicycle to the meat stall and reached this point. Of course, he didn't have much good meat, he just asked for some bones.

In recent days, He Yuzhu has bought a lot of meat and vegetables in advance, and they are all stored in the space. He does not buy them directly at the stalls, but returns and takes them out in his pocket on the way.

Start cleaning up when you get back.

The most common stewed vegetables eaten by people in Beijing are pig head meat, beef, mutton, dog meat, donkey meat, horse meat, etc., and of course various offal.

Less common are venison and camel meat.

He Yuzhu only took out part of it, and then several people gathered it together and put it in the pot to marinate.

It was just dark, and the cold dishes and braised vegetables were all ready. He Yuzhu moved a table outside the door, then made four or four cold dishes and fried two hot dishes, and started eating and drinking outside the door.

After a while, someone was very surprised and murmured: "When did there be a tavern?"

Then he walked in. Seeing that the environment was relatively tidy, he nodded with satisfaction: "Boss, give me two taels of sorghum to cook, and one peanut."

"Okay."

There was a special two-liang small wine bottle, and Xu Huizhen gave her a glass of wine and a plate of cold dishes.

The guest said, "Can I move a table and eat outside? It's too hot in the house."

"Okay, how can I let you move?"

As she spoke, Xu Huizhen called He Yuzhu to come over and move the table out.

Yandai Xiejie is a commercial street with a width of more than 10 meters. Many neighbors come here to enjoy the cool air at night.

There were two tables of customers drinking outside the tavern. The pure aroma of sorghum wine and the strong aroma of braised pork actually aroused the drinking bug in many people, and they sold several bottles of wine in a blink of an eye.

People in the capital have the habit of going to pubs to drink and chat at night, especially when three or five friends gather together to talk about the world while drinking wine, and talk about the topics they care about most at the moment.

From the country's policies to the trivial matters between neighbors, there is nothing they don't talk about.

When Vanilla saw people coming, she got up and got busy. In a blink of an eye, the five newly prepared tables were all filled with people.

The mistress smiled and said, "It seems you are right to open a tavern here."

He Yuzhu sighed with emotion: "I didn't expect that business would be so good after setting up a stall."

Fortunately, it is summer now. When the house is hot at night, everyone will come out to cool down. After all, not many people are willing to buy ice every day to cool down.

Today was just for preliminary arrangements, and I was thinking of hiring someone to start making breakfast in the next two days, but I didn't expect that the business of the tavern would start first.

When master Hong Henian came with Ye Xiangqun, he was surprised to see that the room was full of people.

"Is this open?"

He Yuzhu said: "I didn't expect that I just bought wine today."

Hong Henian smiled and said: "It seems that this is the right step. There is no tavern on Yandai Xiejie yet. This is your only business."

I was a little worried about He Yuzhu before, but looking at his appearance today, there should be no problem.

He Yuzhu brought half a catty of wine and a few side dishes. Hong Henian opened the lunch box he brought, and they started eating supper.

He picked up the wine glass, smelled it, took a sip, and said, "Are you bringing this unwatered wine just for me?"

"Master, I decided not to water down these things, so that I can do long-term business." This is what I had agreed with Xu Huizhen before.

Hong Henian nodded and said hello.

Today is the first day of operation and there are some shortcomings. The braised vegetables are stewed for a short time and are not strong enough.

There were not enough kerosene lamps with glass shades, so it was a bit dark when eating outside, and there were not enough wooden tables. People who came later had to eat and drink on the curb with their food and drinks.

There are other shortcomings, He Yuzhu sees them all and is ready to improve them tomorrow.

It was busy until about eleven o'clock, and the crowd gradually dispersed. After a few people cleared up, they all had smiles on their faces.

After seeing off the master and his wife, Xu Huizhen said happily: "Brother Zhuzhu, I sold more than seven yuan today."

"There are so many? How much can you earn?"

"It's less than three yuan, I didn't calculate it carefully." The main reason is that Xu Huizhen doesn't know the cost of braised vegetables yet, so she only made an estimate.

"It's already very good. As time goes by, these neighbors will become regular customers."

"Yeah, it's all neighborhood business."

After the three of them washed up, they lay down in the yard and slept. Of course, each of them had a single soft bed.

This kind of bed is no longer seen in later generations. The surrounding frame and legs are made of wood, but the middle one is not a wooden board, but a net woven with very thick hemp rope.

It's very comfortable to lay out a mat and sleep on it.

The three of them stood side by side, looking at the stars in the sky, chatting softly, and yearning for a better life in the future.Unknowingly, the three of them gradually fell into sleep.

When he got up early the next day, He Yuzhu started to get busy. He first went to buy some meat and vegetables.

He Yuzhu bought a lot of each kind of meat, put it in a cloth bag, and when no one was paying attention, part of it was received into the space with his mind.

Now that He Yuzhu has his own braised pork stall, others don't know how much meat he can sell. No matter how much He Yuzhu buys, others will only think that the business is good.

When he came back, his two pockets were full of raw meat.

Meat is now cheap, with pork costing 3 cents per pound, and mutton costing only 4 cents per pound, which is about the same as beef.

This is still good meat. If you buy it with water, etc., the price will be halved.

The market price is cheap, but in 50, a pound of pork only cost 2 cents and 2 cents.

The most expensive thing is eggs, which cost as much as 7 cents per kilogram.

A 50 kilogram bag of Bayi wheat flour costs 16 yuan. This needs to be explained.

Just the year before last, major floods broke out in major river basins across the country, resulting in a reduction in grain production. In order to reduce waste, superior leaders increased grain rations, so in March of the year before last, they changed the standards for grain processing.

Superiors stipulate that all public and private grain stores are only allowed to sell [-]-meter-[-]-meter coarse rice and coarse noodles.

The so-called August 100st flour means that 81 kilograms of wheat must be ground to produce [-] kilograms of flour.

And 92 meters, naturally the same principle is true. Compared with polished rice and refined noodles,
Bayiyi and Jiu[-]m retain more of the aleurone layer and grain germ of the grains.

In addition to better nutritional value, it can also prevent and treat the occurrence of beriberi.

Moreover, if everyone eats eighty-nine noodles and ninety-two meters, the country can produce 12.8 billion more kilograms of grain a year out of thin air and feed more than 200 million more people.

The same goes for rice and noodles. After buying meat and vegetables, He Yuzhu made two more trips and bought five bags each. When he returned to the tavern, he only had one bag of each item.

Xu Huizhen reminded: "Brother Zhuzi, if you don't want to do anything today, go to the Military Control Commission to complete the rental contract. This matter cannot be messed up."

After last night's trial opening, the two are confident that they can run the store well.

The most important thing right now is of course getting the rental contract right.

"Okay, I'll go right now."

He Yuzhu did not delay and came to the Military Control Commission first when it was time to go to work.

First, he found Tian Zao and said, "Sister, I'll rent that house for five years first."

"Okay, you decided so quickly?"

"Yeah, I tried operating it for one night last night and it was pretty good, so I think I'd better rent it for five years first."

The public-private partnership started in [-] and ended in [-]. It was all completed. He Yuzhu proposed renting for five years, which was enough.

Tian Zao smiled and said: "So yesterday's business must have been very good, otherwise you wouldn't have come here so early in the morning to sign the lease contract."

"Sister is my master. Of course I won't hide it from you. The business is indeed going well and there is no problem in supporting the family."

Of course He Yuzhu would not have said this to anyone else, but this was not someone else either. He could clearly feel Tian Zao's love for him.

"Sister, I'll invite you, brother-in-law, and senior brother to have dinner with them tonight."

"Okay, let's try your craft tomorrow night. I have something to do tonight."

"Okay sister, then we've decided."

Tian Zao asked a few questions to confirm that the business was okay, and then took He Yuzhu to another room, which should be the housing management department. He went through the rental procedures smoothly, and He Yuzhu paid one year's rent.

After some hesitation, although it is very common to reciprocate courtesy, these leaders are all soldiers, so He Yuzhu decided not to mess around.

With the lease contract in hand, He Yuzhu also breathed a sigh of relief, now he felt safe.

He had already taken a few days off, and He Yuzhu didn't mind extending it for another day. He returned to the tavern and taught Xu Huizhen how to braised pork, and then started doing carpentry.

In the morning, the teacher's wife brought two women over for the interview. As expected, the teacher's wife had a good eye and found two women. They felt clean and tidy. Their main task was to make buns and clean up.

After He Yuzhu nodded, even the master's wife stayed to help. Busy, He Yuzhu made five more tables and some benches in one day.

These are all materials that have been prepared in advance. Now they just need to be usable. They don't even use varnish, just use raw wood.

Use it first, do it later, and replace it gradually.

The mistress said: "Zhuzi, you are good at carpentry. When Jin Yan gets married, you can make a set of furniture for her."

Hong Jinyan, who was helping next to her, immediately blushed with embarrassment and said angrily: "Mom, what are you talking about? I won't marry anyone and will provide for you at home."

"You kid, I have your elder brother, why do I need you to support me?"

Ye Xiangqun is only one year older than Hong Jinyan, and the two have been childhood sweethearts since childhood. Otherwise Hong Henian would not have taken Ye Xiangqun under his side as his apprentice, and he would have been his intended son-in-law.

However, the relationship between the two has not been confirmed yet, and they will only discuss their marriage after Ye Xiangqun learns the craftsmanship and becomes a chef.

"That's right, I think Brother Ye is very good. Sister Jin Yan, I promise to make the furniture beautiful for you when the time comes, so that you can get married in style."

He Yuzhu's joke made Hong Jinyan even more shy. If his mother can't beat him, can this junior brother not be able to beat her?

Hong Jinyan stretched out her hand to hit him and said angrily: "Let me tear your foul mouth apart and let you talk nonsense."

He Yuzhu smiled and asked his senior sister to hit him twice to vent his anger. He happened to hear the sound of someone selling ice cream outside, so he ran out quickly and said, "Sister, don't be angry, I will buy you ice cream."

Just then I ran out of the tavern and saw a middle-aged man in the distance carrying a white painted wooden box.

The wooden box was not big, only one foot square. The middle-aged man shouted about ice cream and popsicles as he walked.

At this time, bicycles were too expensive and ordinary people could not afford them. They could not sell ice cream on bicycles, so they had to sell ice cream on their backs.

There were 8 people in the store now, so He Yuzhu bought 4 milk ice cream sticks for 8 cents.

The cheapest ice cream only costs a penny a pop, and He Yuzhu would certainly not be stingy about buying such a bargain.

When he came back, he gave it to his wife first. Sister Jin Yan glared at him and took one. After everyone shared the food, they continued to work.

He Yuzhu returned to the courtyard again and slept in the tavern after that night. All the clothes and other things at home had to be moved there.

As soon as I entered the gate, I saw Mrs. Zhang coming from the hanging flower gate and cursing: "Damn vixen, you have obsessed my silly son, why don't you die?"

He Yuzhu asked with a smile: "Mrs. Zhang, who are you scolding? Which vixen charmed your son?"

Mrs. Zhang glared and shouted, "What does it have to do with you?"

Then he walked out of the door angrily.

He Yuzhu had a guess. Did he call Qin Huairu a vixen?
Before, I just casually told Jia Dongxu to lie about the military situation, saying that the two of them had slept together. If Jia Dongxu dared not to marry, the girl would sue him.

He Yuzhu entered the yard with doubts and saw Aunt Yi chatting with a very beautiful girl under the tree in the middle yard.

When they heard the footsteps, both of them turned their heads. If this wasn't Qin Huairu, who could it be?

(End of this chapter)