Shanhai Hot Pot Restaurant

Chapter 24

Middle-aged men crowded the hot pot restaurants, and their requirements were highly unified. No red soup pots, all clear soup pots, and even the order dishes were basically vegetarian dishes. Except for meatballs, fish balls and other meat dishes suitable for clear soup pots, there was no Order other meat dishes.

They didn't order any drinks either, and quickly went to get their soup bowls.

Ming Qian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he really didn't know that his own soup could have this effect, and he didn't want this soup to have a signboard that could "rejuvenate a man".

"Mr. Yang." Ming Qian invited Mr. Yang aside when the others were eating in full swing, and whispered, "Can you say hello to the others? I don't know that soup has this effect, so don't go out and promote it." .”

Mr. Yang was stunned for a few seconds. For the first time, he knew that there was a boss who didn't want to improve the business. He asked strangely: "Why? Can't you earn money?"

Ming Qian organized his speech for a while, then frowned slightly and said, "I'm just worried about becoming famous. Everyone thinks that my soup is just for people... um... that or something."

It's not that he doesn't want to make money, nor does it mean that he wants to push out the money he gets, but he knows very well that once the fame is established, the people who come here to eat must be middle-aged men.

Others will also wonder if there are any medicinal materials added to his soup, can people with good health eat it?Can children eat it?

Ming Qian didn't want to only earn money from middle-aged men.

He wants to make everyone's money!

"Since you said that, I'll tell them after eating." Mr. Yang is very considerate, "I won't help you promote this."

Ming Qian heaved a sigh of relief, his slightly frowned brows relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face: "Then you go and eat, I'll bring out the rice."

Many people who come to eat hot pot at noon order rice, but those who eat hot pot at night rarely order rice.

Yiyi prepares everything including rice in the store. Whether it is meat dishes, vegetarian dishes, or rice seasonings, everything Yiyi chooses is fresh and delicious. At first, Mingqian thought that Yiyi went to the wholesale market to buy goods. After seeing the rice, Mingqian Denied his guess.

This is definitely not wholesale market rice.

Mingqian himself doesn’t know how many times he has been to the wholesale market. The wholesale market is characterized by large quantities and cheap prices. If you want good goods, you have to look slowly and shop by yourself. Maybe the food in this store was very fresh last week, but you won’t know next week. Where did the stock come from.

Moreover, the meat sold in the wholesale market is basically sold to restaurants. There is very little fresh meat, and most of it is cheap and large-volume "zombie meat".

That is, meat that has been frozen for a long time, with various chemicals and seasonings added, or duck breast meat pretending to be beef, etc.

Many cheap stores rely on cheap raw materials to make the difference.

Otherwise, if you really buy fresh meat, you won’t be able to earn back the labor costs.

When Mingqian and Yao went to buy goods before, they could only ensure that the ingredients they bought were real and fresh enough, but the ingredients could only be said to be ordinary, which had nothing to do with high-end products, such as beef and pork, And definitely not buying the best parts.

The meat dishes and vegetarian dishes that Ke Yiyi bought must be "high-end" with the naked eye.

Including rice.

The rice grains are plump and haven't been cooked yet. You can smell the natural rice fragrance when you pick up a handful of rice. Mingqian squatted in front of the rice bag and didn't even want to wake up. Although he has been cooking and eating by himself since his parents' accident in high school, He has no research on buying vegetables and ingredients.

When he went to the vegetable market, he always followed the uncle and aunt. After the uncle and aunt finished picking the vegetables and talking about the price, he went to rub the fruits of other people's victory. After all, the boss would be embarrassed to sell him at the original price, so he followed the uncle. Aunt bought the price to come.

But even he knew that Yiyi bought good things.

He'd also seen Haruka eating raw beef—never before.

"Why are you in a daze?" You Jun sat behind the counter and looked up at Ming Qian.

Ming Qian hurriedly walked to the counter, squatted beside You Jun and said, "Guess why they come to eat hot pot at noon and only order clear soup?"

He thought that this question must be able to ask You Jun.

In the end, You Jun just said indifferently: "Xu."

Ming Qian blinked, and said in surprise: "Could it be that soup stone water has this effect? ​​Why didn't I find it before?"

Youjun hooked the corner of his mouth mockingly: "It's just tonic, but human men's physical weakness will be manifested in sex."

Not like them foxes.

Ming Qian suddenly realized: "Oh, that's good, that's good."

It would be too scary if it was dedicated to invigorating kidney deficiency.

"Boss, add some soup."

"We also want to add soup to this table."

"Boss, why don't you just put the soup pot here, we'll add it ourselves."

"Give me two more tomatoes. Is there any corn left?"

"I want a pea tip and a lettuce."

"Boss, is the rice ready?"

……

Ming Qian went to the kitchen to see if the rice was steamed. He bought a special rice cooker for restaurants. It has only two functions, steaming rice and cooking porridge.

Originally, Mingqian thought that the rice steamed by such a rice cooker would be the same as that of ordinary restaurants outside, not to mention compared with household rice cookers. , At most, it can improve the taste, but not the taste.

It is very different from steamed rice from real good rice.

But as soon as he entered the kitchen, Ming Qian could smell the fragrance of rice, and the whole kitchen was overbearingly occupied by this fragrance.

Mingqian opened the lid of the rice cooker, and a more intense aroma rushed towards his face. Mingqian was wrapped in the steaming white mist, and he had the illusion of being in a fairyland for a moment.

But he quickly came back to his senses, took out a clean bowl, and put the rice into the bowl.

Yao wanted to take out the rice, but Yiyi stretched out her hand before him.

Yiyi can't speak, but she has a firm attitude, as if she wants to prove that she can do the job well.

Ming Qian handed her the rice bowl, and she put the bowl on the tray until there was no more room on the tray, then she carried the tray out.

As soon as she went out, the hall that was filled with all kinds of noisy sounds just now suddenly fell silent.

The men suddenly began to pay attention to their voices and manners when eating. Every time Yiyi put down a bowl of rice, there would be a "thank you" sound, and Yiyi would only smile back at this time.

But different from the morning, these men didn't ask Ming Qian for Yiyi's contact information, at most they just praised Yiyi for being beautiful.

"My daughter is as beautiful as her." Mr. Yang said cheerfully, "Now he is engaged in finance abroad, and he is said to be working on Wall Street soon. Maybe he can find a foreign son-in-law for me."

The person at the same table quickly said: "You can't find foreign devils. Foreign devils are very open. They must give your daughter a cuckold."

"That's right, it's better to find a young man from China."

Mr. Yang rolled his eyes: "Come on, you guys can say that too."

They roared with laughter. There were only a few bachelors in their group, and all the others had wives and children.

When men reach middle age, they have to face the dilemma of declining physical strength, especially if they never exercise.

When I was young, I felt that money was the most important thing in life. The society judges whether a man is good or not is also an important indicator of whether the man can earn money and how much money he can earn. As for his physical fitness and his personality and morality, they all have to be left behind.

Before entering middle age, they still feel that they have a lot of time and can wait until they don't have to work hard to make money before recuperating their bodies.

But the middle age came earlier than they expected. It probably started from hair loss, rapid weight gain, and a stomach that couldn’t be retracted even when breathing. Everything reminded them that the healthy body of their youth had gradually gone away.

Countless wine bureaus and cigarettes handed by friends, the company's business, and the occasional decline in income are all like a needle, stimulating their fragile brains from time to time.

The body also went from bad to worse.

Marriage also had many problems.

The life time of husband and wife is getting shorter and shorter, and they are becoming more and more powerless.

Many of them have entered another stage with their wives, just like two old people living together, but losing the passion and love of life, trivial housework, exhausted career, can empty a couple's love for life all longing.

Sex is just one part of it.

Mr. Yang drank another bowl of soup and felt that he was six or seven percent full. He boasted triumphantly, "I'm lucky. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have such soup."

"That's not as much time as your Boss Yang."

"I'm dizzy from being so busy every day. I went to talk to the contractor about renewing the contract, and my face was dying of laughter."

"You are lucky. Several companies I cooperated with abroad have gone bankrupt this year. I can't sleep during this time. If I can't find a partner, the overseas business will be over."

"Boss Yang is doing well. His daughter is capable and the company is stable. He only needs to go to Myanmar occasionally."

Mr. Yang waved his hand: "I'm also thinking about retiring. Now that the price of stones is getting higher and higher, how much leftovers would I have to throw away for a single stone? Now I don't dare to throw away, no matter how small the leftovers are, I have to use them."

"Whenever I'm not short of money, I'll go to play stone gambling, maybe one day I will get rich overnight." Someone laughed.

Mr. Yang suddenly raised his head and asked Ming Qian: "Xiao Ming, I'm going to get a batch of stones tomorrow, do you want to come and have a try?"

Ming Qian quickly said: "I won't, I'm afraid of anything related to gambling."

A group of people laughed.

"Don't be afraid, Lao Yang's stones are all selected, and all of them can be shipped, and the loss will not be much."

"The stones that a layman can come across are all rotten stones that have been waxed by hooligans. If you go to Lao Yang, you will definitely not lose money."

Ming Qian still refused. When he was in college, a classmate borrowed online loans to gamble, and he didn’t study well. As a result, the money was not paid, and he couldn’t finish his studies. He couldn’t think about it before graduation, so he climbed to the clock tower and did stupid things.

But Mr. Yang didn't really want Mingqian to gamble, he just used this reason to give Mingqian something, so he said: "If you don't gamble, don't gamble. I will pick a stone for you when the time comes."

Ming Qian said helplessly: "President Yang, I really don't want to play this game, you just come to eat hot pot often."

"That won't work." Mr. Yang shook his head and said, "I can't bear it if I don't give you something, and I feel better after giving you something, so I give you a gift to make me feel better, not to give you money..."

The long series of words made Ming Qian dizzy

In the end, Mr. Yang made a conclusion: "I'll have someone send it over to you when the time comes. If you want to cut it, you can cut it anywhere, and you can find me. If you don't want to cut it, just keep it as a display."

Everyone who heard it praised Mr. Yang for his generosity, acquiescing that Mr. Yang would not give Mingqian a bad stone.

This is tantamount to giving away money for nothing, and tens of thousands of bases.

Someone else persuaded Mingqian: "Boss, you just accept it. Don't look at Lao Yang. He looks bad. He is rich. Last year, he spent tens of millions to buy a stone from Myanmar. Once he cut it up, he changed hands and sold it." Earned more than 1000 million."

"That's right, don't save him money."

Mr. Yang didn't speak, just sat on his seat and smirked.

When he got up this morning, he and his wife were still tender for a while, and the two of them seemed to have returned to their youth, and they almost didn't want to leave each other's side.

He also seems to have become a little boy.

Ming Qian didn't understand why they were so fanatical, anyway, he could do it if he had money to earn.

They stayed in the shop for two hours and drank two pots of soup that Mingqian cooked.

In the afternoon, Mingqian had to cook two more pots, in case the guests came in the evening and there was no clear soup pot.

The rice is also very popular, a big pot of rice was eaten up, not even the bottom of the pot was left.

When collecting the money, Ming Qian still gave a discount. He is a small business, and the biggest discount he can accept is [-]% off. If it is less than [-]% off, he will not make a profit, and if it is less than [-]% off, he will lose money.

After all, in addition to the cost of ingredients, labor, water, electricity, etc. are also added.

If the storefront is not his own, the price will go up even more. This is the case in the real industry, even a tile on the ground has a cost.

After sending away this group of customers, no other customers came in the store.

Ming Qian was too lazy to cook, so he went to the noodle shop next door and asked Brother Zhang to cook four bowls of noodles and bring them over. They would return the noodle bowls after they finished eating.

All the merchants on this street love to do this. No matter how delicious their own food is, they are tired of eating it. They are too lazy to make it by themselves, so they ask Brother Zhang to order a bowl of noodles.

The business in Brother Zhang's shop is good. People eat noodles for three meals a day. There are meat, noodles, and vegetables. It is also convenient to eat. It seems that there is no need to close the shop to become a food stall.

"Thanks to you." Brother Zhang handed Ming Qian a cigarette.

Ming Qian doesn't smoke: "I don't smoke."

Brother Zhang put the cigarette away again. Although he didn't have much contact with Ming Qian, he knew that Ming Qian was a good young man: "Many guests came to eat noodles last night, and they said my noodles are delicious .”

Brother Zhang is really happy: "At first, I was going to sublet the store, set up a food stall, sell some cold potatoes or something, or go to the construction site to sell boxed meals."

Ming Qian was also happy for him: "I think sometimes whether the business is good or not depends on luck. You can see that some restaurants don't taste very good, but the business is good. Diners also know that the taste is mediocre, but they are willing to eat. Some restaurants taste good. Everyone praises, but usually there is no one.”

He shrugged: "This is metaphysics."

Brother Zhang also nodded, and exhaled a puff of smoke: "It makes sense."

Although the noodles in Brother Zhang’s store are not boiled with soup stones, they are definitely not bad. There are three big chunks of beef in the beef noodles, and the noodles are also very strong. It should be the handmade noodles that he bought. The knife-shaved noodles are cut by his wife himself. .

After eating the rice cooked by himself for several days, Ming Qian felt that it was better to make something else.

If you hand over the soup stone to Brother Zhang, with the skills of Brother Zhang and his wife, you will definitely be able to make the noodle shop bigger and stronger.

After Ming Qian finished eating the noodles, he felt that he was still too unpursued. He asked, "Do you think we should add a business and get some snacks? It's something like appetizers?"

Yao, who was the first to respond, said happily, "Let's make crispy meat. Crispy meat is delicious. I also like pumpkin pie."

Ming Qian asked strangely: "Have you eaten?"

Yao shook his head obediently: "I haven't eaten it, but I watched it in the video."

Ming Qian: "...Then you said you like to eat."

Yao: "I think I will definitely like to eat."

Yiyi handed over the phone: "I can make stewed vegetables."

Ming Qian looked at Yiyi, Yiyi avoided Ming Qian's gaze, and smiled with her head down.

"Heh." You Jun didn't eat the noodles, he sat aside and asked mockingly, "Is it good?"

Ming Qian thought—here it is again, he said naturally: "It would be impolite not to look at others when talking to them, this is the etiquette of the human race."

You Jun looked at Ming Qian, and the two looked at each other, Ming Qian showed You Jun a bright smile without any shyness.

It was You Jun who looked away first.

He no longer looked into Mingqian's eyes, nor did he look at Mingqian's face. The moment they looked at each other, he always felt a little uncomfortable.

But I can't tell what's wrong with it.

A strange force prompted him to "escape" from Ming Qian's sight.

It seems that there is a monster that can eat people in Mingqian's eyes.

But he has seen all kinds of monsters, so there is no reason why he would want to look away.

Ming Qian didn't notice the change in Youjun's mood, so he asked naturally: "Do you have anything you like to eat?"

Ming Qian asked You Jun, his body turned slightly sideways, his upper body leaned forward, as if he was going to lean on You Jun's body.

She didn't realize that she and Youjun were unmarried couples at all.

After all, although he has been single for so many years, he never thought what would happen to him with a man.

Men are just friends and brothers in their lives, and there is no "male defense".

You Jun unconsciously leaned back, the movement was so small that no one could see it.

When the distance was too close, he could smell Ming Qian's body.

The smell of various spices, the smell of smoke when I went to buy noodles just now, countless kinds of smells mixed together, but it is not unpleasant.

At least Youjun didn't have the urge to throw him out.

To Mingqian, he seems to be "kinder" a lot.

The tolerance is also much higher.

Youjun pursed his lips into a straight line, and he said softly, "Stay away from this deity."

Yep, rejected again.

Ming Qian was not angry either, he was used to it.

"Then let's try crispy meat and pumpkin cake first." Ming Qian thought for a while, "You can also add brown sugar glutinous rice cakes."

"Yiyi, try making lo mei this afternoon, and it will probably be sold tomorrow."

Yiyi gave an OK gesture.

Youjun watched Mingqian and Yiyi interact with each other with cold eyes, and he didn't know where the anger came from. He suddenly stood up and walked out of the store, not wanting to stay in the store for a moment.

The remaining three looked at each other.

Ming Qian blinked in embarrassment, he didn't know what he did wrong again, no, he never did right in front of You Jun.

Yao whispered, "Boss, you'd better catch up."

Ming Qian: "...I caught up with him, what did I say?"

Yao whispered: "It's always like this in TV dramas, you catch up, you argue for a few words, then hug each other and gnaw your mouth, and you're reconciled after gnawing, sometimes it rains, gnawing your mouth in the rain .”

Ming Qian: "...What kind of TV series do you watch?"

Yao moaned and said, "Romantic drama!"

"A drama from 20 years ago, right?" Ming Qian stood up, "Remember to return the bowl."

Yao nodded and watched Ming Qian chase him out.

After losing sight of anyone, Yao said to Yiyi: "Have you ever seen other people fall in love?"

Yiyi nodded, and Yao asked again: "Are they all the same as your lord and the boss?"

Yiyi shook her head.

The two little monsters didn't understand each other, so they ate the soup together in a tacit understanding.

Ming Qian finally "chased" Youjun, and he knew very well that Youjun didn't really want to get rid of him, otherwise he would never be able to catch up.

"I was wrong." Ming Qian recalled what Fatty once taught him, just stopped You Jun, stopped, and apologized sincerely, "I should pay more attention to your feelings, it is also the first time I have a fiancé, I have no experience , if I do something that makes you angry, just tell me."

The fat man once said to him: "Based on my experience in reading novels and TV dramas, if you quarrel with your girlfriend, you must coax her first. The important thing is the attitude. Do you understand the attitude? You have to let her know that you value her,"

Although Fatty has no experience in love, but with years of influence from movies, TV series and novels, he considers himself a master of love, and often instills some strange knowledge into Ming Qian.

You Jun stood where he was, and he didn't know why he was angry. He just walked out just now, and he felt a little unbelievable.

But Ming Qian caught up with him at this time, stopped him, and even apologized, but instead he was aroused, and calmly said: "What's wrong with you?"

coming!

Ming Qian took out his omnipotent words: "It's my fault for making you unhappy."

He looked up to observe Youjun's expression.

Originally, he thought that You Jun's expression would become normal, but when he said this, You Jun's face became even uglier as if he stepped on something dirty.

Youjun said indifferently: "You don't even know where you are wrong."

Ming Qian was about to collapse, but he still asked gently: "You tell me, I will definitely change."

Youjun didn't speak, nor did he look at Mingqian.

After being silent for nearly a minute, Ming Qian couldn't hold back and asked, "What are you thinking?"

Youjun didn't seem to react, and blurted out: "Where did you make this deity angry?"

no?Don't you know why you are angry?

Ming Qian almost knelt down.

You Jun quickly reacted, glared at Ming Qian viciously, and said angrily, "I am angry, must there be a reason?!"

Ming Qian: "...No, no need?"

You Jun was satisfied, yet seemed dissatisfied, he looked at Ming Qian again, and saw the bewildered look on Ming Qian's face.

Ming Qian looked at Youjun with a confused face, and then watched Youjun walk back into the shop again.

And he stood there, completely bewildered.

Although he hasn't started falling in love yet, he has already felt the troubles of falling in love.

What do those people who are in love think?

Why can't I figure out how to fall in love?