1996: Starting from a bankrupt farmhouse restaurant

Chapter 146 Opening of the Lamb Offal Shop

The glass partition only separated the area from the large pot to the ceiling, below which was a single marble countertop.

The lamb offal soup prepared in the kitchen is placed directly on a marble countertop, and the people in the front of the house can take it out immediately.

The front desk is right in front of the counter. After you collect the money here, you hand the ticket directly to the kitchen, and the kitchen will cook the dishes according to the order. There will never be any mistakes.

One side of the reception area is also enclosed by a glass cabinet, inside which are several large metal trays containing various cold dishes.

This shop only sells lamb offal and he luo noodles, served with a few refreshing cold dishes to cut through the richness. It's very delicious and also helps increase the average order value.

On the wall next to the reception desk, there is a prominent price list.

The cheapest he luo noodles cost 1 yuan, while lamb offal ranges from 1.5 yuan to 3 yuan, depending on the amount of meat.

Besides he luo noodles, the only staple food available was a white pancake that cost 3 mao (0.3 yuan).

Lamb offal soup restaurants generally don't serve rice, as fewer people order it and steaming a separate pot would be wasteful.

Like Xiao Lu's Farmhouse Cuisine, every table in the lamb offal soup shop has a small condiment box.

Vinegar, fried chili oil, and salt are standard accompaniments, along with toothpicks, tissues, and chopsticks.

This way, customers don't have to run around to get their things after they sit down, and the store doesn't look so messy.

In addition to the tables inside the shop, there were also two rows of tables outside.

This type of fast food can be served in just a few minutes, and its success hinges on high occupancy and table turnover rates during peak hours.

If there are too few tables, you won't make much money at all.

Another advantage of opening a shop in a small town is that you can take advantage of the rural market days.

During market days, the store's sales can at least double.

The lamb offal soup shop is essentially two shops combined, with a storefront that is 10 meters wide.

The enormous "Hero's Offal Soup" hanging on the rooftop is practically the most eye-catching thing in town.

These large characters are clearly visible from any direction you come from.

Lu Yuan had Zhao Tong make illuminated signs for the lamb offal soup shop, so that as soon as it got dark, the shop would be the most eye-catching place in town.

There are no streetlights in the town; in the past, people could only rely on the faint lights from each shop to guide them after dark.

Nowadays, the few words above the mutton offal soup shop light up on the street corner, almost like a lighthouse.

The shops in the town are completely different from those on the national highway; there are several villages surrounding the town.

The villagers also have consumption needs in the afternoon and evening, so it is necessary to keep the lights on at night.

The opening ceremony was very grand, with a banner hanging at the entrance that read: "Eat mutton offal and get a free white pancake!"

Since white cakes aren't worth much anyway, it's more important to lower profits and attract more customers during the first few days of opening.

Moreover, although my uncle was the only owner of a lamb offal soup shop in the town, there were also noodle shops, spicy hot pot restaurants, and so on, which were all competitors.

They're also vying for their customers, so a grand opening is very important.

To create hype, Lu Yuan even had his uncle invite the folk performance troupe from Daning Town, who started dancing at the entrance early in the morning.

The young man playing the waist drum, the old lady riding the fake donkey, and the old man playing with the handkerchief created a lively scene amidst the deafening sound of gongs and drums.

The owners of the mala tang (spicy hot pot) and ramen shops crowded around the entrance, peering in from a distance.

"Who are they? Why are they making such a big fuss?"

"I heard the boss's surname is Wei."

"Wei? From Weijia Village? Don't they raise sheep there? What are they doing in town?"

"Are you stupid? Raising sheep means there's bound to be a lot of offal, right? It's perfectly normal for people to open shops there, isn't it?"

"So you're saying this person is an expert?"

"This shop looks promising; things aren't going to be easy for them!"

The villagers, always eager for a good show, came running at the sound. By the time Lu Yuan arrived, several circles of people had already gathered at the entrance.

Lu Yuan finally managed to squeeze to the front, and Wei Yinghong immediately urged, "Little Yuan's here, hurry up and set off the firecrackers!"

At Wei Yinghong's command, her uncle immediately took out a lighter and lit the firecrackers that had been set up.

Firecrackers crackled and popped, bringing the atmosphere to a climax, and the villagers who were watching spontaneously applauded.

After the firecrackers stopped, Hero Lamb Offal Soup officially opened for business.

Everyone is eager to try a new store, especially since the white cakes are free today.

After some villagers led the way in, table after table was filled in no time.

My second aunt and my youngest aunt had already prepared everything in the kitchen, including hats and masks.

My uncle was greeting customers at the counter. He had a pre-printed ticket book in his hand, on which were written the sizes of lamb offal: large, small, etc.

Single-item names such as pure meat and lung noodles.

After the customer orders at the front desk, he writes down the corresponding table number in the ticket book and then tears the ticket off the book.

The meal ticket actually had identical contents in both halves; he tore off one half and gave it to the customer. He simply turned sideways and placed the other half on the marble table.

My aunt is in charge of cooking in the kitchen. She is calm and reserved, but she is reliable and efficient.

She quickly prepared a serving of lamb offal soup based on the ticket, then pressed a bell, and her aunt would serve the lamb offal soup to the corresponding table according to the information on the ticket.

After the eldest aunt took it away, the younger aunt would stick the completed ticket onto a steel needle, just like how hospitals used to handle registration tickets in the old days.

My aunt was quick and efficient, and very hospitable. She mainly greeted customers in the lobby, helped them sit down, and guided them to order food. She would crack a joke from time to time, making everyone laugh.

The auntie has a tray in her hand. She will serve the lamb offal and white bread to the corresponding table according to the customer's needs.

After serving the dishes, she would collect the tickets from the customers to prevent anyone from asking for an extra serving when she was busy.

After ordering their food, customers can easily move to this side of the cold dish counter to choose the cold dishes they want.

Today, I specially arranged for my aunt's husband to serve the customers food, and then hand it to them after serving them.

Customers can take their own food home and eat a few bites before the lamb offal soup arrives. This will not only fill their stomachs but also prevent them from drooling when other people's lamb offal soup arrives first.

Lu Yuan stood in the kitchen, actually overseeing the whole situation. His second aunt and his youngest aunt worked together very well.

Having trained at Xiao Lu's farmhouse restaurant for a month, they weren't flustered at all.

Actually, the shop mainly relies on the two of them working together. The uncle's side only gets crowded for a short while when people are getting on the bus. Once the customers are all seated, he doesn't have much to do.

So after the initial busy days of opening are over, it's also my uncle's job to serve cold dishes to customers.

Although only my aunt was cooking in the kitchen, she was very fast.

The main reason is that for dishes like lamb offal soup, a lot of the work involves preparation in advance.

The lamb offal is cooked and chopped in advance. After the customer orders, the auntie only needs to prepare the bottom of the bowl, blanch the corresponding lamb offal again, and then put it into the bowl.

Even the broth in today's bowls was prepared in advance by Lu Yuan, just in case the opening was a huge success.

Such standardized processes, minimal staffing, stable food production, and high profit margins are especially rare in the catering industry.

Aside from mala tang (spicy hot pot), few other businesses can make as much money as lamb offal soup.

Before long, most customers had a bowl of spicy mutton offal soup in front of them.

The heat from these bowls of mutton offal soup filled the room with its delicious aroma.

The mutton fat and chili peppers released a rich aroma when stimulated by the hot soup.

In this atmosphere, diners picked up a mouthful of food with their chopsticks, not afraid of getting burned, and slurped it down.

The first group of customers to eat immediately gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed, "It smells so good! I can't take it anymore, I need a sip of the soup!"

The broth, made with mutton fat and chili, is incredibly fragrant. After finishing it, customers exclaimed "Ah!" three octaves higher.

"You're just a spoon; the soup's meant to be used to soak bread!"

Another customer broke the white pancake in half and soaked it in the broth. The pancake, now a tempting red color, was soaked in the broth and he swallowed it in one bite, exclaiming "Wow!"

He immediately pointed to the bowl and said, "I told you I wanted steamed buns soaked in broth, this is absolutely amazing!"

The other customers, who hadn't yet received their turn, could only eat a bite of cold dish to tide them over. Then, one of them glared at the customer who was eating with exaggerated manners and said, "If you're going to eat, then eat quietly. People who know you'll know you're eating lamb offal soup, but people who don't might think you're horny!"

The customer who was reprimanded wasn't annoyed and continued to happily eat the mutton offal soup in his bowl.

Just then, a customer who was enjoying his meal exclaimed, "This is what real mutton offal soup should be! What kind of trash was that Yang Ermazi restaurant before? It deserved to go out of business!"

Mentioning Yang Ermazi immediately prompts someone to say, "Pah! Don't mention that rotten stuff! I ate some and it felt like I ate shit!"

"Shut the hell up, I'm eating right now!"

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Yang Ermazi, standing not far from the mutton offal shop, was looking at his smiling uncle inside with a mixture of resentment and regret.

He thought that if he hadn't done that thing back then, and had talked to his uncle properly, his uncle would definitely have agreed to open a shop together.

He only found out after the shop closed that his uncle's older sister's son had made a fortune running a restaurant.

With this resource, my uncle will definitely have no problem opening a shop!

But it was too late. He pounded the utility pole twice and turned to leave.

After spending some time in the kitchen, Lu Yuan realized he had nothing to do, so he took his younger cousins ​​to the convenience store across the street to make some purchases.

The children were also in the way of the shop; there was nowhere for them to sit or stand.

Lu Yuan arrived at the entrance of the convenience store, opened the freezer door, took out an ice cream, and sat down to eat it.

Zhuangzhuang and Longlong took Miaomiao to the convenience store for a shopping spree, while Lu Yuan just waited to pay the bill.

Just then, a young woman in her twenties suddenly appeared at the entrance of the convenience store.

She wore a light gray shirt with navy blue trousers and a red cardigan over it. Her hair was neatly tied back in a bow, with tidy bangs in the front.

Her gaze was fixed on the lamb offal soup shop across the street. She looked quiet and charming, but Lu Yuan could sense that she was harboring strong emotions.

It wasn't until he saw where the woman's gaze was directed that he realized this was his soon-to-be aunt-in-law, whom he had almost lost.

The prospective aunt stood motionless at the entrance of the convenience store, staring at her uncle for a good ten minutes.

Her anxious gaze was unmistakable, and tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill over, but she stubbornly tilted her head back to stop them.

As she watched, her gaze gradually returned to calm, and a smile appeared on her face.

That wasn't about letting go, but rather about feeling relieved and looking forward.

Lu Yuan couldn't help but laugh, thinking to himself that this aunt was finally settled.

After watching for a while, Auntie turned to leave when Lu Yuan suddenly spoke up, "Sister?"

My aunt paused for a moment, then turned to the young man at the entrance of the convenience store and asked, "Comrade, is there something you need?"

Lu Yuan smiled and pointed to the mural at the entrance of the mutton offal shop, saying, "It's nothing. I just wanted to tell you that the funniest part is in the bottom left corner of that mural." Auntie turned her gaze to the mural, then looked at Uncle in the shop, and hesitated.

After hesitating for a moment, she slowly walked around to the wall painting from the side, squatted down to look at the two little lambs, and a happy smile instantly appeared on her face.

She covered her mouth, laughing as she looked around, when she suddenly heard her uncle's voice inside. Reluctantly, she left the shop entrance and headed towards where the shuttle bus was parked.

Across the street, she smiled and waved at Lu Yuan, mouthing something as she did so.

Lu Yuan waved his hand, understanding her meaning, and instantly his face darkened. Her mouth was saying, "Call me Auntie next time!"

It seems my uncle has been making quite a few phone calls lately; he's probably gotten himself completely exposed.

In a courtyard house by Houhai Lake in Beijing.

Zhao Yan sat obediently on the sofa, while a woman with a noble bearing and a resemblance to Zhao Yan in appearance looked stern.

She scolded him, "Everyone says I raised a good daughter, she's been sensible and obedient since she was little. But after you graduated from university, you went off to teach in some remote mountain village in the Northwest without saying a word."

"You're incredibly audacious! Didn't you see the news? The female teacher who volunteered in the area was imprisoned by local villagers?"

"Can you adapt to those conditions? You've never lived in the countryside before, you can't even get a bite of meat, those outhouses are suffocatingly smelly, and even washing your hands is a struggle!"

Zhao Yan felt a little guilty listening to this. She compared her own experience of teaching in a rural area with what she described, and it seemed that it was very different from what she had described.

So she comforted her, "Mom, I'm doing fine, and the countryside isn't as bad as you say. The place I live is actually quite similar to ours!"

Zhao Yan's mother sneered, "How is it similar? Do they also live in courtyard houses over there?"

Zhao Yan smiled sheepishly and said, "No, they also live in single-story houses over there."

"You're really going to drive me crazy!" Zhao Yan's mother felt something was off about those words.

"Mom, don't be angry. I brought you a gift from that village." Zhao Yan took out the high-end mooncake gift box and placed it on the table.

When Zhao Yan's mother saw her daughter chatting and laughing, and even looking a little plumper, she immediately calmed down.

So she glared at her daughter, somewhat speechless, and said, "You can't even lie properly. You bought it to show your respect to your mother, so just tell the truth. What village's specialty is like this?"

Zhao Yan was getting a little impatient with her mother's words. She pulled a wooden gift box out of the bag and explained, "Mom, I'm telling the truth. This gift box is hand-carved by an artisan. Look!"

Zhao Yan's mother reluctantly sat up and said, "It sounds so mysterious. Let me see what's so special about it."

She leaned closer and immediately noticed the engraved pattern on the box, a combination of openwork and relief, with a very sophisticated aesthetic.

Such exquisitely crafted boxes are not uncommon; they are also used in some valuable antiques.

But if it's just a mooncake gift box, this is indeed a bit of a waste of resources.

However, this gift box did pique her interest. She knew her daughter wouldn't lie, so what village would use this to pack mooncakes?

She fiddled with the delicate clasp a few times before opening the gift box.

When she opened the gift box, even though she was used to grand occasions, she was still somewhat shocked.

This ingenious design, like the Lotus Platform of Putuo, is exquisitely beautiful.

There were exactly eight mooncakes, no more, no less, but these eight mooncakes looked to be of high quality.

The most ingenious thing was that there were three bottles of sauce below. She picked up each sauce and looked at them one by one, her surprise deepening.

"Yan Yan, are you sure these are all from the village where you live?" Zhao Yan's mother asked incredulously.

"That's right, I eat these things all the time!"

Suddenly, Zhao Yan had a bright idea. She took out the bread that Wei Yinghong had baked that morning from her bag and handed it to her mother: "Mom, this is raw toast baked by Aunt Wei, the one I'm staying with. Have some first. Dad will be back soon, I'll cook!"

Zhao Yan's mother's initial slight shock has escalated into a series of multiple shocks.

First of all, I cherish my daughter so much that she's hardly ever been in the kitchen, and now she can actually cook?

Secondly, a woman from a rural area in Northwest China baked a loaf of bread and brought it back for her daughter. Do you think that's reasonable?

Finally, this toast was surprisingly delicious!

When Zhaoyan's mother broke open the toast, it was completely different from what she had eaten abroad. This toast was as soft as a cloud, full of milky aroma, and released a rich wheat fragrance when chewed.

She was reluctant to admit it, but it was the best bread she had ever eaten.

Just then, the sound of a door opening came from outside the courtyard, and a tall man carrying a bag entered the house.

The man was around 50 years old, wore glasses, and appeared reserved and refined.

As soon as he entered, he noticed the open mooncake gift box and asked, "Yaqin, this gift box looks exquisite. Who sent it?"

Ding Yaqin smiled and kept everyone in suspense, saying, "Hongbo, you'll never guess who sent it."

"Why all the mystery?" Shao Hongbo took off his coat and sat down next to Ding Yaqin, examining the gift box. "This gift box is really beautiful. Where did you get it? I'd like to buy some as gifts."

Ding Yaqin replied, "Ask Yan Yan later; she gave it to me."

"Yan Yan's back?" Shao Hongbo's face lit up with surprise, but a cold glint appeared in his eyes in an instant: "That brat, she caused such a huge mess, and she still dares to come back? Where is she?"

Ding Yaqin didn't believe her husband would get angry at their precious daughter, and gestured towards the kitchen with her chin, saying, "Your daughter is cooking for you!"

"What?" Shao Hongbo was utterly shocked. He asked, "When did my daughter learn to cook?"

He couldn't accept it and rushed straight into the kitchen.

Seeing the dishes already plated in the kitchen, he was so shocked he could have swallowed an elephant whole.

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