novellhall Chapter 136 The Café's Favorites
Chapter 136 The Café's Favorites
Aunt Liu was a warm and cheerful person. She pulled Xu Fengxian over and said, "Sister, just accept it. We get the same salary. From now on, we'll just focus on our work and not worry about anything."
"Yes, Aunt Liu is right. The wages are the same, and I haven't given you or Uncle any special treatment," Qiao An said with a smile.
Xu Fengxian's heart trembled. Thirty yuan a month, plus three catties of wheat flour.
Are the ordinary workers in the factory not even treated as well as them?
And meals are included.
This is like a windfall.
Qiao An placed the sauce she had chosen in her spatial storage last night on the table. She wasn't sure how many dishes she could sell today since the cafeteria was opening, so she prepared extra sauce just in case.
"Okay, okay."
Qiao An placed a key in Aunt Liu's hand. "This is the key to the tricycle. I prepared it especially for you. The tricycle is parked outside the cafeteria. The handlebars are blue, so don't mistake it for something else."
Aunt Liu was so happy to have a tricycle to ride on her first day of work that she almost jumped for joy.
God knows how much she envied Joan.
With a tricycle, you can come to town whenever you want. How convenient!
Once the price was agreed upon, the five people got to work.
Mixing fillings, making steamed buns, dumplings, and pies.
Today's dishes are green pepper buns, fennel and pork pies, and cabbage and pork dumplings.
Three kinds of fillings, two meat and one vegetable.
Therefore, the pricing also differs.
Vegetarian steamed buns cost 30 cents each, stuffed pancakes cost 50 cents each, and dumplings cost 3 yuan for a serving of 20.
This price is higher than what she initially offered to Director Geng.
When Director Geng was selling food to customers in the cafeteria, he didn't raise the prices, but he did charge for food coupons.
Since Qiao An doesn't need food coupons, the price can naturally be raised.
Fan Liangui and Xu Fengxian grasped the concept immediately and got the hang of it quickly.
The five of them first completed the tasks requested by the Armed Forces Department. Qiao An then took Fan Liangui to the Armed Forces Department to deliver the goods and introduced him to the canteen staff, hoping to make him a familiar face.
When they returned to the cafeteria, the second batch of steamed buns had just come out.
Two large bamboo baskets were placed on the table inside the window. Fist-sized buns were poured into them and then covered with cotton quilts to keep them warm.
Under Aunt Liu's guidance, Xu Fengxian made pancakes, and she felt sorry for Aunt Liu when she saw her pouring so much oil into the pan.
"Ouch, there's too much oil in this."
Aunt Liu couldn't help but laugh out loud when she heard this.
Because Xu Fengxian's expression was exactly the same as hers back then.
"Joan said that if there's not enough oil, the pies won't taste good. We have to make sure the pies are delicious so that more people will buy them and we can make back the money for the oil. Don't you think so?"
Aunt Liu brought up what Qiao An had said back then, and Xu Fengxian thought it made sense, but she still felt sorry for her, so she simply stopped watching.
On the other side, Dongmei and Fan Liangui had already boiled the water in the pot and started putting dumplings in.
At 12 o'clock, the workers began to enter the canteen one after another.
Most people choose to get their food from the window closest to the door.
However, sharp-eyed people soon noticed a figure appearing in window number 13, which had been empty all along.
They had tried almost every dish at every window in the cafeteria, so some curious people went to window number 13.
When they saw the bamboo basket full of steamed buns and pies, their mouths almost watered.
"Comrade, these steamed buns aren't the ones from a while ago...?"
Before he could finish speaking, Joan nodded.
"That's right. The steamed buns, pies, and dumplings that the cafeteria sold a while ago were made by us. Now we've taken over this stall, and we'll be selling them in the morning, noon, and evening."
The worker in the gray overalls stared blankly for a few seconds before looking at the wooden sign hanging on the side of the window, which listed what they were selling that day.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed unconsciously.
"That's great!! I didn't know you had to queue up to buy your steamed buns. I've only managed to buy them twice."
After saying that, he handed over the lunchbox.
"I want two steamed buns and one meat pie."
"Okay."
Joan is a clean person, and she is even more particular about the things she puts in her mouth.
So she asked Huo Jiyun to make a few wooden clips when she had some free time.
She used tongs to take two steamed buns and a pie, and put them into the workers' lunchboxes.
"One yuan and one jiao, no food coupons required."
"No food coupons?" The worker was stunned.
He was a level 5 worker, earning about sixty yuan a month. He didn't mind spending money on food, but he had to be careful with his food ration coupons.
As it turned out, Qiao An's window number 13 didn't require food coupons, which made me think the price was a bit expensive.
Now it actually looks cheaper.
Upon hearing the price, and the fact that no food coupons were required, more and more workers gathered around window number 13.
Joanne leaned out of the window. "Everyone, line up! Don't worry, you'll all get yours."
The five people worked together efficiently, with each person taking on a specific task.
In stark contrast to the other windows, window number 13 had a significantly longer queue.
The person in window number 3 peeked out, then turned and muttered to the man inside wearing an apron.
"Look at this, all these people have been lured over there. What kind of business is this? Doing things like this on the first day, how can we not be resented?" Zheng Hongying said with a sneer.
The man wearing an apron inside is her husband, Gu Zili.
"People come here for the novelty. They used to sell a small amount, so the scarcity made it valuable. Now they come every day, but they'll get tired of it and no one will come anymore. Just you wait, in a few days there will be fewer people."
As Zheng Hongying served meals to the workers in line, she glanced sideways at the innermost part of the line.
"Hey, there's a huge green worm in this dish, can't you see it?" The young worker who had just taken away the lunchbox suddenly came back and pointed to a large green worm in the lunchbox, questioning him.
Zheng Hongying rolled her eyes in annoyance.
They have to prepare so many dishes every day, how can they have time to carefully select the vegetables? They just make do with whatever they can find. They have so much to do.
"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Look how similar the color of this green caterpillar is to that of the vegetable," Zheng Hongying explained perfunctorily.
The young worker who came seeking an explanation turned pale with anger.
Originally, Zheng Hongying could have simply said a few nice words and changed the dishes for her family, and that would have been the end of it.
But she just can't be reasonable.
"What are you talking about? Are you blind? You can't see bugs when you're picking vegetables? Last time I found a bunch of sand and stones in your vegetables, I almost broke my teeth, and today it's bugs again. Can't you two even cook properly?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongying became angry, put her hands on her hips, and started shouting loudly.
"Hey! Who are you talking to? Who knows if you secretly put these bugs in here yourself to frame us? I've seen plenty of people like you!"
"You... how can you be so unreasonable? I only took a few steps out, how could I have had a chance to release the bugs?" The young worker, holding a lunchbox, was so anxious that his face turned red.
"What do you mean there's no chance? You can do it whenever you want! If you're so capable, catch me red-handed, otherwise, don't spout nonsense!"
The young worker blushed deeply; he couldn't argue with Zheng Hongying, and he couldn't eat the food in his lunchbox either.
Before he could leave, Zheng Hongying snatched the lunchbox from his hand and dumped the food into the swill bucket next to him.
Then, with a "clang," he slammed the lunchbox onto the windowsill.
"If you don't want to eat, then get out. Do you think I'm begging you to eat?"
"You! You shrew!"
The young worker picked up his lunchbox and stormed off.
"Alright, alright, don't be angry. Her cousin is the head of the county's Organization Department; we can't afford to offend him."