Chapter 1819: Chapter 1817: Wildly Imaginative

Today was the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and more and more shops had already reopened.

The beef noodle restaurants at the station were the earliest to open, after all, as soon as the fifth day of the new year passed, many people who had gone home for the holiday started to return one after another, especially migrant workers.

The city’s construction was changing with each passing day, requiring a large number of construction workers, so more and more migrant workers were pouring into the city. They were adding bricks and tiles to the city’s growth, and a whole year of hard toil was so they could go home and have a good New Year.

They went back in high spirits, and when they returned, they were also full of hope.

After all, some migrant workers took home goods and money for the New Year that the people who stayed in the village couldn’t earn in five years. When they first left, they were gossiped about, but now they could straighten their backs.

So when they came back to this city again, they were naturally full of hope.

The Top Grade Beef Noodle Restaurant received guests from all over the country.

So as soon as a bus pulled into the station, the place would become bustling.

If they strictly required twenty‑four‑hour business, there would be customers around the clock, but Sima Xiaowen and Gu Qiaoqiao had vetoed that. Money was important, but people also needed rest. Even if they arranged night shifts, there were too many people and things that had to be taken into account.

For now they didn’t yet have the conditions for that. If they did, they could build staff dormitories, and then the employees wouldn’t face other dangers going to and from work.

So at present, their business hours were different from other noodle shops; they closed after 10 p.m.

But recently, both Sima Xiaowen and Gu Qiaoqiao had been thinking about this issue.

If they couldn’t find a suitable place to buy for staff dorms, they could temporarily rent one.

Because Gu Qiaoqiao had noticed that among the customers who came to eat here, ordinary people were the majority.

Some people were a bit strapped for cash and only ordered one bowl of beef noodles. Then several companions would crowd around, take out mixed‑grain buns or corn pancakes from their pockets, and eat them with that one bowl of beef noodle soup, eating with great relish.

And there was another very important problem now: as the noodle restaurant’s reputation grew, the number of people coming here to eat exploded. All sorts of people from all walks of life came, so the staff here were basically busy every single moment. To Gu Qiaoqiao, at this rate there was almost no difference between this and working twenty‑four hours a day.

It was fine for a short time, but over the long run, with such high‑intensity work, the employees definitely wouldn’t be able to bear it, and neither Gu Qiaoqiao nor Sima Xiaowen wanted to see that day.

So the two of them put this matter on the work schedule in advance. The three of them held a meeting together and finally decided to adopt a three‑shift system, with employees working eight hours a day.

Employees on the night shift would get overtime pay.

And most importantly, they would build staff dorms for the night‑shift workers.

Don’t think this beef noodle restaurant was just an ordinary noodle shop; they already had ninety‑eight employees on the payroll.

The largest restaurant opposite the station was the Top Grade Beef Noodle Restaurant, and it was the busiest business within a ten‑li radius.

It wasn’t that no one had tried to sabotage them, and it wasn’t that no one had set their sights on this noodle shop. Many people wanted to cooperate with them.

But at the moment, there was simply no need for cooperation. Besides, it was already operating in a partnership model: Chu Chengfeng, Sima Xiaowen, and Gu Qiaoqiao.

And these three people, whether they themselves or the families and forces behind them, were not people ordinary folks could afford to provoke.

Besides, the Top Grade Beef Noodle Restaurant had the best reputation in the area.

Many unscrupulous businessmen were taking advantage of the favorable policies to fish in troubled waters, passing off shoddy goods as quality. But market competition was ultimately still healthy; since they didn’t run their businesses properly, in the end they could only fail.

So only by putting your heart into it could you win the market.

In that case, renting a place nearby wasn’t a difficult matter; it was just that the rent was a bit high.

And it couldn’t be too far from the noodle restaurant.

According to Chu Chengfeng’s opinion, they should still buy a place.

But this matter was handed over to him to take care of.

Still, it wasn’t something that could be done in just a day or two, so for now the noodle restaurant’s opening hours remained the same as before.

They opened the doors at six o’clock.

And at this time, Old Lady Lu had already gotten off the train with Big Brother Lu and Old Man Lu. At this very moment, they were standing in front of the main entrance of the Top Grade Beef Noodle Restaurant.

The restaurant had three floors, with a lavishly decorated exterior. The five large characters on the signboard were bold and flowing, and the entrance was clean and tidy.

Although they had only just opened, the inside was brightly lit and there were many customers. After all, at this time, although it was already dawn, the light indoors still wasn’t that bright yet.

After traveling such a long way, the three of them were both exhausted and hungry.

But seeing a restaurant like this, they were suddenly filled with courage, as if they could see mountains of gold waving them over. That pretty woman had said that this Top Grade Beef Noodle Restaurant at the station also had something to do with Li Gufen, but she rarely came here.

She was at another noodle shop; strictly speaking, that was the first shop they had opened.

It was said that Li Gufen was the head chef in charge of both noodle shops. Although she didn’t come to the station branch often, it was still under her management. As long as they came here to ask for Li Gufen, the waiters would tell them where she was.

The exterior was lavish, and the interior decoration was the same, worlds apart from those greasy little snack joints. At a glance, you could tell this was a big restaurant.

Standing at the door, the three of them were momentarily at a loss, but when the waiter greeted them warmly, they instantly gained some courage, especially Old Lady Lu, who suddenly felt very confident. She thought that her eldest daughter‑in‑law was the head chef here, and that in the future she would be the head chef’s mother‑in‑law. Wherever she went, wouldn’t people have to treat her with respect, even more respectfully than now?

However, compared to the past, Old Lady Lu had indeed become much more subdued over the last two years, no longer so overbearing. After all, the incident with Zao Hua had dealt her a heavy blow. She’d been unable to lift her head, too embarrassed to speak to people, and would avoid them from afar.

So she didn’t dare say outright that Li Gufen was her daughter‑in‑law, because she hadn’t even seen Li Gufen yet, and the two of them hadn’t remarried. But she felt that was only a matter of time.

She didn’t have much money in her hands now. Her second son only gave her a little living allowance; the rest had to be earned by working the fields themselves, and how much could they earn in a whole year?

Also, in the past two years, Li Gufen had indeed earned a good bit of money, but almost all of it had been spent on Zao Hua.

She had gone to ask for that money a few times, but had been driven out by Zao Hua.

At that time, she really did miss that Li Gufen, who never hit back or talked back.

Fortunately, before that pretty woman left, she had thrown her 200 yuan.

So she hadn’t dared to ask why that pretty woman told her this news but wouldn’t say who she was; she couldn’t even guess.

But it was a good thing after all, and the woman even gave her money, so why wouldn’t she take it?

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