Daily Life of Building a Food Business in the Eighties

Gourmet Guide to Running a High School Cafeteria [Gourmet] starts before May Day. Please add it to your reading list! The blurb for my next-next novel, School Gate Lunch Counter [Gourmet], is at the end. Blurb: After a dream, Yan Shuangmu discovered that she was living inside a male-oriented period novel, and the protagonist was her younger brother. Only then did she realize that everything she had was her brother's starting capital. In the end, all anyone had to say was, What a pity... Yan Shuangmu immediately took matters into her own hands. That very night, she took her grandmother and left the city that was like a prison in the book, heading for the capital, Jing City. Before long, butterfly pastries, pepper-and-salt peach cookies, braised meat, and braised vegetables were winning over everyone nearby. And the spicy, aromatic malatang and rich, delicious braised noodles were even more irresistible. They helped Yan Shuangmu build up a substantial amount of starting capital. * The restaurant by the school was a sensation from the day it opened. It wasn't just students and nearby residents. As its reputation grew, people all over Jing City came to know Yan's Restaurant. At the enthusiastic request of the public, the restaurant expanded again and again, until it eventually became the grand Yan's Restaurant! Even then, a long line still formed outside. Yan Shuangmu had worked through the entire summer and was hoping for a break when she heard her homeroom teacher's proposal. She was completely baffled. The school was piloting a cafeteria reform program. So she was supposed to take over the cafeteria??? Had the school administrators caught on to the fact that students kept eating at her restaurant? Was this their way of bringing her into the fold? Of course Yan Shuangmu wouldn't refuse. Come on, this was a great sign. She wasn't just going to do it, she was going to do it well! Yan's Restaurant, Yan's Cafeteria Stall: always your first choice~ * Yan Shuangmu's little braised-food workshop also changed with the times, becoming a food factory that brought childhood joy to countless kids. Instant noodles, spicy strips, calcium-milk biscuits... Yan's Snacks became the cherished childhood favorite of countless children. And parents loved Yan's Food too: its meat sauce, braised foods, and more were lifesavers for appetites everywhere. Not to mention all kinds of convenient ready-to-eat meals. Yan's: the nation's beloved childhood favorite! * After moving to Jing City, Yan Shuangmu's life grew more and more enjoyable. She built her business, kept up with the latest gossip and drama, and even had a puppy-like man trailing after her. He followed her around, insisting she take responsibility for him. Gourmet Guide to Running a High School Cafeteria [Gourmet] [The Management System is at your service. Please select the shop you wish to run.] [We have detected a cafeteria registered in your name. Automatic binding complete.] [Beep! Beep!! Beep!!! Warning, warning, warning! Player data exceeds limits. System capacity insufficient. The System is about to, ] The moment Zhou Erxing returned home to take over the family cafeteria, which had been passed down through generations, he heard a voice as soon as he stepped into the school. He then acquired a defective System that had turned into a cafeteria management System. Zhou Erxing flatly rejected the System's complaints. "You bound me without even asking how good I am at cooking." [...] [Harsh words chill a System to the bone, even in June.] "System, why is your interface incomplete?" [It blew up.] * Yun City No. 1 High School was the best high school in Yun City and several surrounding cities, and it always dominated interschool competitions. But there was one exception: The cafeteria at Yun City No. 1 High School was the very worst of everything a school cafeteria could offer. Every student who stepped inside would first ponder the meaning of life: Why do people have to eat? "Every meal is an interrogation of life, a defilement of the soul, the cruelest punishment. Every time I enter the cafeteria, my taste buds dance on the edge of a knife." A tearful essay by an anonymous student who scored 75 in Chinese. Boarding students returned to school with bags full of food, while the day students had practically become delivery drivers. Figuring out how to plan their meals and keep their taste buds from sounding the alarm every day had become a closely guarded skill passed down through generations at Yun City No. 1 High. Then one day, the worst cafeteria in the school, Cafeteria Three, got a new manager. The new first-years, who hadn't yet suffered through the cafeteria's food, became the taste testers. In the morning: assorted-meat steamed buns, minced-meat flower rolls, flatbread stuffed with vegetables, chicken wontons... At lunch: sweet-and-sour ribs, pork braised with fermented bean curd, tomato beef brisket, hot-and-sour fish head... Dinner was just as good: fried ribs with rice and vegetables, Qishan minced-meat noodles, lamb paomo... There were also beef noodles loaded with beef, tangy and spicy dumplings in red chili oil, and rice noodles drenched in rich sesame sauce. Limited-time treats like lotus pastries, Lian Tang mooncakes, and twisted coin-shaped doughnuts gave every student something to look forward to at Cafeteria Three. What delicious food would Cafeteria Three have today? Cafeteria Three quickly became No. 1 in the hearts of students, the most popular cafeteria by far! Students at other schools and their cafeterias: We were all competing to be the worst. How did Cafeteria Three at No. 1 High quietly get so good?! * At the end of the week, parents at No. 1 High prepared a huge feast at home, waiting for their children to return and eat like famished beasts. "Son, why have you stopped eating? You must have lost weight after a whole week at school, " "Who hit you?!" Before the parents could get a good look at their child, they looked up and saw their kid's face had swollen a whole size! "No, it's just that the school's new cafeteria is so good, I ate a little too much." Before school started: "Sweetie, don't be scared when you go to No. 1 High. Mom knows someone. Your aunt's cousin's daughter-in-law works at Cafeteria Three. She can look after you." "How's the cafeteria going to look after me? Give me an extra scoop of rice?" After school started: "Mom, can you get me my great-aunt's contact info? I don't need an extra scoop of rice. I just want to eat at Cafeteria Three every day!" School Gate Lunch Counter Wei Zhouchen returned from the big city to her small hometown. She had only wanted to lie flat and live a quiet life, but her cooking was just too good. Most importantly, there was a little kid at home who showed off the food Wei Zhouchen made every day, successfully making a whole group of friends cry with envy. As a result, just two days after Wei Zhouchen got home, people showed up at her door. She hadn't even figured out how to apologize when someone asked, "Do you take kids?" Huh? What did they mean? "Chenchen, I've watched you grow up. Now that you're back, you can't just do nothing..." Her neighbor went on and on, leaving Wei Zhouchen completely confused. "Have you considered opening a lunch counter for kids?" Wei Zhouchen got it. They hadn't come to hold her accountable; they were bringing her a business opportunity~ She had planned to refuse, but then she saw the eager look in the eyes of the little show-off at home, along with a bunch of kids peeking around her door. "I'll do it!" * Why do elementary school students' eyes often fill with tears when their teachers keep them late? Why have middle schoolers trained themselves to run like the wind just to get to lunch? Why are teachers no longer willing to leave through the school's north gate after work? Why has the kid who never wanted to eat suddenly gained weight? The answer is all at Chenchen's Lunch Counter~ * "What's for lunch today?" "Pork belly, tomato and egg stir-fry, sweet-and-sour ribs, and greens." "Damn it! Do the students even know what they're eating?!" "I heard there's also a little cake made by Boss Chenchen today?" "Yep, three layers with cream filling! Why can't I be twenty years younger?" "A delicacy like this should be for adults to enjoy!" Theme: Your fate is in your own hands