Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

He Jiafu took the cigarette and lit it, while Zhou Yu also took a cigarette but put it behind his ear.

Seeing Zhou Yu accept the cigarette, the thin, dark-skinned middle-aged man grinned and said to Zhou Yu, "Handsome boy, you must be Zhou Yu, right? My name is Gao Jing'an, and I'm the owner of Haojiaxuan Convenience Store. You can also call me Uncle An."

"Hello Uncle An, my name is Zhou Yu," Zhou Yu said.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Uncle An, do you have any rental period requirements? If possible, I'd like to rent it for a month first and see how it goes."

Although He Jiafu had just assured him that he didn't need to worry about the lease term, Zhou Yu still asked one more question when facing the person in question.

He did a quick calculation: fifty yuan a day including water and electricity, and he could save more than a hundred yuan a month on gas by switching to an electric stove to cook soup. With a fixed stall, he wouldn't need to buy a cart, and switching to a fixed stall frame would save him several hundred yuan more. In fact, it was still a good deal.

"We all know each other, so I don't need to collect your deposit. If you don't want to renew your lease, just let me know a week in advance," Gao Jing'an said casually.

Small towns are like that, a society built on personal connections. Since they all knew each other, Gao Jing'an didn't hold it against Zhou Yu.

Moreover, it's only been a short time since the start of the school year, so even if Zhou Yu leaves early, he won't have to worry about finding people to rent to him.

"Do you still want that stall stand? The previous tenant asked me to sell it; you can give me two hundred yuan."

"I'll go see if I can use it." Zhou Yu didn't refuse. He walked to the entrance of the convenience store and began to examine the stall shelves.

Seeing Zhou Yu walk away, Gao Jing'an said with a grin to He Jiafu, "Afu, your daughter probably thinks your cooking isn't good enough. I sometimes see her going out to buy food; she doesn't seem like she's trying to lose weight."

He Jiafu got a little angry: "Nonsense, my daughter wouldn't like my cooking? Are you kidding me?"

Seeing that he was angry, Gao Jing'an just smiled and didn't provoke him any further: "Alright, alright, you're a chef, she'll definitely like your cooking. But, these days, girls like new things. Why don't you research something new for her to eat?"

He Jiafu: "How could that be? She said when she was little that she would always like my cooking. And if she didn't like it, why didn't she tell me?"

"Given your current attitude, even if I were your daughter, I wouldn't dare to speak up," Zhou Yu thought, having heard He Jiafu's blustering yet cowardly shouts from afar.

At this moment, He Jiafu looked as aggrieved as a child.

It seems that the problem with He Jiafu's daughter is most likely with He Jiafu himself.

Since his daughter is at Ocean University, we can find an opportunity to learn more about her.

Zhou Yu decided to help He Jiafu fulfill his wish list.

After checking that the stall at the convenience store entrance was indeed suitable for his use, Zhou Yu no longer hesitated.

He readily paid the rent and stall fee, and signed the contract with Gao Jing'an.

With the matter mostly settled, Zhou Yu bid them farewell.

Now Zhou Yu only needs to buy two more electric soup stoves.

......

After listing all the necessary equipment, he went to the second-hand wholesale market and bought everything he needed.

The secondhand market now has such a complete selection of items, mainly because too many people are still thinking too much about going into the catering industry.

Therefore, all kinds of equipment recycling are available, and there are even a few items that Zhou Yu did not specify. After learning about Zhou Yu's needs, the boss directly provided them for him.

Zhou Yu sighed. If it weren't for his system, he felt that if he had also recklessly opened a shop, he would have ended up in the secondhand market as well.

Right now, in the secondhand market, nine out of ten customers are there to sell things.

After all the preparations were complete, Zhou Yu borrowed a bread cart and moved all the ingredients and tableware to the stall in front of the convenience store.

Zhou Yu finally relaxed after everything was settled.

Everything is ready; we're just waiting to start setting up our stall tonight.

He was somewhat agitated.

......

Sunday, 5 p.m.

In October, G City was still scorching hot.

However, the sweltering heat did not draw more students back to the cafeteria.

The food stalls near the entrance of Ocean University gradually started to attract more people.

At this moment, Zhou Yu had already arrived at his own stall in the Haojiaxuan convenience store.

After greeting Gao Jing'an, he began to put up his signboard.

He didn't make the signboard very complicated; he just bought a piece of red paper and found an old craftsman to write the horizontal inscription: Zhou's Traditional Bamboo-Pressed Wonton Noodles.

Then two menus were posted vertically: Finely shredded cucumber: 10 yuan; Cucumber salad: 3 yuan.

He had pasted up a traditional Chinese painting depicting bamboo-pressed noodles in front of his stall.

When he was putting up the sign.

Passersby asked curiously, "What are you selling?"

"Wonton noodles," Zhou Yu replied as he put up the signboard.

It seems there's a good flow of people here; people are already asking about it even before we've officially opened. Zhou Yu was somewhat excited.

How much?

"It's a great deal, only ten yuan a bowl. Plus, my noodles are made using traditional bamboo-pressed noodle techniques, purely handmade, which tastes much better than machine-made noodles."

Seeing that the visitor seemed very interested, Zhou Yu enthusiastically introduced his wonton noodles to him, "Would you like to try a bowl?"

"Let me take a look first." I thought I was about to close a deal, but the person left unexpectedly.

Zhou Yu was somewhat disappointed.

However, he wasn't too disappointed. After all, people were already asking about him even when he was just putting up the sign, so it would be a piece of cake for him to officially open for business.

After people tried it, word spread quickly, and selling it out was a piece of cake.

However, before Zhou Yu could be happy for long, the bustling crowd he had imagined did not come his way.

Waves of students walked by, and apart from occasionally glancing at his stall and asking a few questions, no one actually came to buy anything.

"You're so handsome, you don't look like a proper street vendor." Gao Jing'an said to Zhou Yu with a grin as he walked out of the convenience store.

Zhou Yu was speechless. Is being handsome a bad thing?

Although Zhou Yu really knew how to make wonton noodles, a person's temperament cannot be changed in a short time.

His attire still maintains an urban business IT style.

Although he is 35 years old, he is 1.8 meters tall and his figure has never changed.

Coupled with his unremarkable appearance, much like that of many book lovers, Louis Koo certainly seemed out of place as someone who sets up a street stall.

"Uncle, running a restaurant isn't that easy."

Before Zhou Yu could finish his self-admiration, a slightly grating voice rang in his ears.

Zhou Yu looked in the direction of the sound.

It's the fried rice noodle stall next door.

The street opposite Ocean University isn't very wide, so these street vendor stalls are scattered in twos and threes.

This fried rice noodle shop is right across from Zhou Yu's stall.

The stall owner was a young man in his early twenties, but he was very skilled at tossing and frying noodles.

Seeing Zhou Yu looking at him, the man continued, "I don't know why everyone thinks running a restaurant is easy. Everyone with a little capital rushes in. Uncle, you'll go bankrupt."