Chapter 249 - 157: Kong Sect and Legacy
In contrast to the quiet stalls on either side, Zhao Minghui's sweet-skinned duck stand was still seeing a steady stream of workers. Some bought the sweet-skinned duck, and others bought braised peanuts.
It was Saturday, and the sweet-skinned duck was selling well. Of the six ducks he'd prepared today, four were already sold.
"The braised peanuts haven't been selling as well these past two days. It's about half of what we sold last week. If this keeps up, will we sell even less next week?" Zhang Xiuqin said with a hint of worry as she packed a sweet-skinned duck and handed it to a customer.
"Don't worry about it. Zhou Yan said he isn't getting into the duck business, so all we have to do is focus on making our sweet-skinned duck well." Zhao Minghui smiled philosophically. "Besides, we tried his braised vegetables yesterday, and they were honestly incredible. If I were a customer, I'd also buy the braised lotus root and potatoes for forty cents a pound. We should be counting our blessings that our braised peanuts are selling at all."
As he spoke, he glanced at the dejected Yang the Third and Zhu Feng at their neighboring stalls, and the grin on his face grew even wider. "Seeing them so miserable makes me happier than selling an extra twenty pounds of braised peanuts."
Zhang Xiuqin laughed too. Thinking of how the others had ganged up on them before, she also felt a satisfying sense of vindication.
...
"Mrs. Zhao, are you really not open tomorrow? I was planning to bring a friend over to eat."
"That's right, I made plans with a friend too. I promised I'd bring her here for the Huo Xiang Carp tomorrow. She absolutely loves fish."
A notice board at the restaurant's entrance announced they would be closed the next day for a private matter and would not be taking banquet reservations. Customers kept trickling in to ask if it was true.
"Oh, dears, I'm so sorry. Zhou Yan has something on tomorrow, so we can't open," Zhao Tieying explained with an apologetic smile. No fewer than ten customers had come in to ask about it today. 'Every 'no' is money walking out the door,' she thought.
But there was nothing to be done. Zhou Yan had said he was going with his master to some sort of chef exchange in Jiazhou tomorrow afternoon. The three of them left behind were no substitute for a real chef.
The customers could only sigh in resignation and leave. Zhou Yan was the one and only chef at Zhou Yan Restaurant; if he wasn't there, the restaurant obviously couldn't open.
After closing time.
Mrs. Zhao looked at Zhou Yan as he came out and asked curiously, "Zhou Yan, what is this chef exchange thing you're going to? I had to turn away more than fifteen tables worth of reservations today."
"My master wants to broaden my horizons. We're going to meet my grand-master, Kong Qingfeng—the former head chef of Le Ming Restaurant and a famous chef in Jiazhou," Zhou Yan said with a smile.
"Oh, so you're formally meeting your lineage. That's very important," Mrs. Zhao said, looking thoughtful. She then added, "Make sure you wear your new clothes tomorrow. Don't embarrass your master."
"Will do," Zhou Yan replied with a smile.
...
「Night.」
Mrs. Zhao and the others had already gone upstairs to rest.
After Zhou Yan finished counting the money, he solemnly wrote in the savings column: 4,318.24 yuan.
Thanks to the booming sales of his braised vegetables and beef, his savings for the week reached 2,158.66 yuan.
Progress toward buying a house: 43%!
Zhou Yan couldn't help but rub his hands together. 'I'm getting so close!'
He was earning good money every day, but it was definitely tiring.
The tough-as-nails Comrade Zhou was so busy that by the end of the day, he no longer had the energy for their chess games. He'd just soak his feet and head straight upstairs to bed. He hadn't even gone fishing in days, somewhat lost in a sea of endless potatoes and pig's head meat.
Mrs. Zhao Hong was also visibly exhausted. By the end of her shift, the only thing in her eyes was a desperate longing for the weekend.
The most energetic person in the entire restaurant had to be Mrs. Zhao. At night, she would still have to get Zhou Momo washed and ready for bed, sing her nursery rhymes to sleep, and somehow always seemed to be brimming with vitality. She was truly worthy of her "Iron Maiden" title.
Zhou Yan had youth on his side, and he exercised regularly. A good night's sleep was all it took for him to be re-energized for the next day.
'But when it came to making money, he never felt tired.'
'He needed money and loved making it. That was him, no doubt about it.'
He carried the small case upstairs and pulled a larger wooden chest out from under his bed. He took out a key, unlocked it, and emptied the contents of the smaller case—bundles of cash, each tied into stacks of one hundred yuan—into the larger chest.
It was mostly small bills and change; a "Great Unity" ten-yuan note was a rare sight.
But this small change shouldn't be underestimated.
A single jiao could buy two sticks of malt candy, enough to keep Zhou Momo happy for a whole afternoon.
Saving up bit by bit, he'd be able to buy a house soon.
He locked the chest and pushed it back under the bed.
Zhou Yan climbed into bed, picked up *How Steel is Made* from his bedside, which was still on the second page, and started his nightly reading:
"Paul Korchagin..."
The book drifted down onto his face. Zhou Yan was out like a light.
'Such, perhaps, was the charm of Paul Korchagin.'
'Those long foreign names really did seem to help one fall asleep faster.'
In the past, if Zhou Yan ever got insomnia from editing videos, he would open a novel titled *Daddy's Otherworldly Restaurant* and be asleep within three pages.
「At the crack of dawn the next day...」
Comrade Zhou climbed out of bed, pulled open the curtains, and stared blankly for a moment before lying back down to catch a little more sleep.
'A weekend only truly feels like a weekend when you don't have to work.'
Zhou Yan slept until nine o'clock. He got up, changed into a new chef's uniform and new pants, and pushed open his door. A pair of leather shoes was sitting right outside—the very pair he had bought for Comrade Zhou.
After a moment's hesitation, Zhou Yan swapped his canvas Liberation shoes for the leather ones.
'Sure enough, pairing the new pants with leather shoes gave him a completely different look.'
He put the watch on his wrist, thought for a moment, and then took it off again, placing it under the quilt on his bed.
'It's one thing to dress respectably so I don't embarrass Master.'
'But for a grand-disciple to show up in brand-new clothes and a new Shanghai watch on his wrist would be a bit too flashy—almost like upstaging his elders.'
'Zhou Yan himself wouldn't have cared, but he had to consider things from his master's perspective.'
A November morning already had a bit of a chill, but what twenty-year-old is afraid of the cold? When Zhou Yan went downstairs, he didn't even glance at the jacket hanging by his bed.