novellhall Chapter 103 Cooperation with State-Run Restaurants
Chapter 103 Cooperation with State-Run Restaurants
The quality of these mushrooms grown by Wenrou is truly exceptional. Ever since the canteen used them in a dish once, everyone in the army has been praising them.
Even the military leaders praised Wenrou for growing such good mushrooms. When Political Commissar Zhao learned that Wenrou wanted to sell these mushrooms, he immediately prepared a letter of introduction.
That would be wonderful if these mushrooms could actually be sold.
After Sister Wang took the mushrooms home and cooked them, the aroma immediately attracted many people to come over.
In the past few days, everyone in the compound has learned that the gentle mushrooms have been successfully grown.
The aroma alone made many people's mouths water.
"Sister-in-law Wang, could you give some of these mushrooms to my family? I'd like to take some home and try them."
"Yes, sister-in-law, I could smell the delicious aroma from your house from far away. My husband said the stir-fried mushrooms at the army base are so good that they're impossible to get."
Looking at them, Sister-in-law Wang said somewhat embarrassedly, "We only had a little bit left, and we've already finished it all."
She didn't get much from Wenrou, but she didn't expect the stir-fried mushrooms to be so delicious.
Now all the mushrooms in the field have been harvested, and only Wenrou's place in the whole courtyard still has some left.
When Wenrou was planting mushrooms before, they not only didn't think it was a good idea, but also made sarcastic remarks. Now they couldn't bring themselves to ask her for some.
"Sister-in-law, you have the best relationship with Huo Tuan's wife. If you ask her, she will definitely give it to you."
"Yeah, sister-in-law, we can just switch with you."
Everyone says the mushrooms Wenrou grows are delicious, and they've been craving them for days.
Especially when I smell the delicious aroma coming from Wenrou's home every day, I can't help but crave food.
Knowing that Sister Wang was easy to talk to and kind-hearted, they could only place their hopes on her.
When Sister-in-law Wang heard them say that she should ask Wenrou for it, she was prepared to refuse, but when she heard that they were willing to exchange something for it, she agreed.
"Then I'll go talk to her," said Sister Wang, and then went to find Wenrou.
She was worried that Wenrou would disagree, but to her surprise, Wenrou readily agreed.
"Girl, they treated you like that before...you..." Sister Wang asked, somewhat confused.
"When doing business, how can you turn down money?" Wenrou said with a gentle smile.
Since they wanted to exchange things, Wenrou certainly wouldn't refuse.
She gave some mushrooms to Sister Wang and said, "If they want to trade them for grain, then it's one pound for one pound. You can decide how much to accept."
Sister-in-law Wang didn't expect Wenrou to trust her so much, and she also took this opportunity to learn a lot about doing business from Wenrou.
"Girl, you're amazing." Sister-in-law Wang was full of admiration for Wenrou's extensive knowledge.
As soon as she went out with the mushrooms, they were all snatched up.
"Don't rush, take it one at a time." Sister-in-law Wang didn't expect that the mushrooms she gently grew would be so popular.
Wenrou took out more than ten kilograms of the product and quickly replaced them all.
Sister-in-law Wang was even happier than Wenrou, and she gave Wenrou more than ten kilograms of grain.
"Girl, this is the grain we exchanged."
Wenrou couldn't let her work for her for nothing, so she took out three pounds from the bag and gave them to her.
"I can't accept this," Sister Wang quickly pushed it back.
She was just helping out; she never intended to take anything from him.
Besides, Wenrou had helped her a lot in the past, so she was still able to understand the situation.
Wenrou stuffed the grain into her hand and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, if you don't accept it, I won't dare to ask you to help me again in the future."
"Ah...this..." Sister Wang looked at the grain in her hand, feeling quite embarrassed.
"I can't go to the fields in my current condition. In about ten days, the second batch of mushrooms will grow, and I'll need your help again then."
Wenrou trusted Sister-in-law Wang, and with her help, she could relax a lot.
"Alright, I'll accept it then. If you need any help, just come to me." Seeing that Wenrou had already said so, Sister Wang readily agreed.
The first batch of mushrooms takes a little longer to cultivate, but she can harvest three to four more batches later, and each batch is harvested faster than the last.
Wenrou took the exchanged grain into the house and ran into Huo Tingting who was coming out from the opposite direction.
"Grandpa said she's hungry and wants to eat stir-fried mushrooms. Where did you put all the mushrooms you harvested?" Huo Tingting asked Wenrou directly.
She just saw that the mushrooms Wenrou planted were so valuable that they could be exchanged for food.
She always arrived late at the army canteen and couldn't get any food.
Hearing them say that stir-fried mushrooms were so delicious, she naturally wanted to try them out to see what they tasted like.
"That's all." Wenrou glanced at her gently, then stepped inside.
The old man ate the mushrooms she stir-fried yesterday, and he's been eating them almost every meal these past few days. He's already tired of them, so why would he still want to eat them?
It's highly likely that Huo Tingting wanted to eat it herself, so she used the old man as an excuse.
Huo Tingting has been eating at the military canteen these past few days. She originally thought that stir-fried mushrooms were a new dish at the canteen and was even thinking of grabbing some to take back for her grandfather to try.
However, the daily supply of mushrooms is limited, and she has never managed to get any.
But she never expected that the mushroom was grown by Wenrou.
Not only that, but whenever she went to the cafeteria these past few days, Wenrou would make stir-fried mushrooms for her grandfather.
By the time she returned, they had finished eating.
She only found out about this today, and she's furious.
"Wenrou, I clearly saw you take out so many just now, how could there be none? When my brother comes back, I'll tell him how you treated Grandpa." Huo Tingting had no choice but to bring up the old man.
Wenrou turned around to look at her, and sneered with disdain, "You'd better go now if you want to."
Huo Tingting was so angry that she stomped her feet when she saw that Wenrou no longer respected Huo Yanchuan.
The remaining mushrooms at home are indeed all gone; the rest that were picked are at Professor Peng's house.
She still planned to take those to town to sell, so of course she wouldn't take any more out.
The next day, she didn't take much, only two small bags of mushrooms, to town.
Huo Yanchuan was worried about her and originally planned to go with her, but he was called away by Political Commissar Zhao at the last minute.
He could only let Hao Gang go with him, along with Peng Xiaowan.
"Sister-in-law, are we really only taking this much? Shouldn't we take more?" Hao Gang asked, looking at the two small bags in his hands.
Wenrou knew exactly what she was doing. This trip was just to let people see her goods. If a deal could be made, she would bring them all over at once.
"No need, let's go to town first."
She had a letter of introduction, so she took it to the town's supply and marketing cooperative.
Upon arriving at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, Wenrou led the two of them directly inside.
She had noticed before that although the supply and marketing cooperative also sold mushrooms, they were mostly dried mushrooms, and fresh mushrooms were very rare.
She wasn't sure if it would work, because in those days, supply and marketing cooperatives didn't allow private individuals to purchase goods.
However, she has a letter of introduction from the military, and the military's mushroom cultivation project has been reported, so the mushroom cultivation site is now considered a public resource.
"Comrades, what would you like to buy?" the sales clerk asked as Wenrou and her group walked in.
Wenrou handed over the letter of introduction and said, "I'd like to see the director of your supply and marketing cooperative."
When the sales clerk saw the letter of introduction that Wenrou handed over, and realized that it belonged to someone from the military, she quickly brought the director over.
When the director of the supply and marketing cooperative heard that Wenrou and her companions were comrades from the army, he treated them with great hospitality.
"Director, we've come here to represent the military in a potential collaboration with your supply and marketing cooperative. These are mushrooms we grew ourselves; take a look."
She gently handed one of the small bags of mushrooms to the director.
"Mushrooms you grew yourself?" The director looked puzzled when he heard Wenrou's words.
Everyone knows that it is extremely difficult to grow crops in places like the Gobi Desert, let alone grow anything else.
Even though he had a letter of introduction from the military, he still opened the bag with some skepticism.
He was stunned when he saw what was inside.
"Did you really grow these white mushrooms?"
Their supply and marketing cooperative usually sells dried mushrooms, and they have never seen white mushrooms of this quality before.
She nodded gently. "I wonder if we could collaborate?"
"Your products are good, but we can't guarantee they'll sell. We'll have to try." The director was very cautious.
Wenrou knew, of course, that business deals weren't easy to close, but she was very confident in her product.
"No problem, we'll leave this small bag here for you to try first."
After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Wenrou led the two straight to the state-run restaurant.
"Xiaorou, what if the director of the supply and marketing cooperative doesn't want to cooperate with us in the end?" Peng Xiaowan asked worriedly on the way.
Seeing how smoothly Wenrou talked with the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, she was on tenterhooks.
"Do you think our mushrooms are delicious?" Wenrou didn't answer, but asked with a smile.
Upon seeing this, Peng Xiaowan nodded repeatedly, "Of course."
She used to pick wild mushrooms in the mountains, but none of them tasted as good as the white mushrooms that Wenrou grew.
When she took her first bite, she never imagined that mushrooms would taste so good.
"That settles it. Since so many people like to eat it, it means our product is popular and our quality is not a problem. So the most important thing now is how to promote the product as quickly as possible," Wenrou said confidently.
This was Peng Xiaowan's first time doing business with Wenrou, and she looked at her with admiration when she heard Wenrou's insightful ideas.
"Xiaorou, you're amazing."
Not only her, but Hao Gang, who was listening nearby, was also stunned.
No wonder the regimental commander has his eye on her; her vision is indeed broader than theirs.
If it were them, they probably would never have come up with these ideas in their entire lives.
He, like Peng Xiaowan, was worried that their trip would be in vain.
But Wenrou was surprisingly calm. Seeing her confident demeanor, he had a strong feeling that they would definitely succeed this time.
Upon arriving at the largest state-run restaurant in town, Wenrou did the same thing as before: she found the restaurant manager and handed him her letter of introduction.
Despite having a letter of introduction, the hotel manager still didn't take Wenrou and her companions seriously.
Even Wenrou could tell that the person in front of her was much more difficult to deal with than the supply and marketing cooperative director from before.
"Comrades, I'm really sorry, but our restaurant's food supplies are sourced through fixed channels, all in cooperation with state-owned enterprises. Although you have a letter of introduction from the military, as the manager, I have to be responsible for all our guests, so we can't cooperate with you."
The hotel manager had no interest in the bag in Wenrou's hand. There were so many state-owned enterprises that wanted to cooperate with their hotel that they couldn't even choose from them all. He didn't even consider a small workshop like Wenrou's.
"You...you're clearly looking down on people." Hao Gang's expression changed when he heard the manager's words.
The hotel manager didn't want to deal with them anyway, and seeing his attitude, he simply had the guests escorted out.
Wenrou watched the manager walk out and realized that this deal seemed to be more difficult than she had thought.
He didn't even look at their mushrooms before having them thrown out.
"What should we do now?" Peng Xiaowan stood at the door and looked at Wenrou with a worried expression.
Hao Gang then realized that he had acted too impulsively, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so impulsive."
If it weren't for what he said, they might still have had a chance.
"It's alright, we'll think of another way."
Wenrou knew that Hao Gang was right; the restaurant manager looked down on them, and no matter how much they said, it wouldn't make a difference.
"You two wait for me outside," Wenrou said to the two of them.
Seeing that Wenrou was going to act alone, Peng Xiaowan said with some concern, "Xiaorou, what are you going to do? Let us do it."
"Yes, sister-in-law, leave it to us." He came here to protect Wenrou; if something happened to her, he wouldn't be able to explain it to the commander.
She looked gently at the two of them, then glanced at the person standing at the door.
She originally wanted to sneak in, but now there's definitely no way.
So she came up with a plan and said to the two of them, "You two make a scene here, the bigger the better, and I'll sneak in."
The two looked at each other, wondering what Wenrou was up to.
But knowing that she must have her reasons for asking them to do this, Peng Xiaowan simply sat down on the ground and decided to go all out.
"Help! This is bullying! The restaurant manager is bullying us!"
The old Peng Xiaowan would never have done this, but recently she has become more familiar with Wenrou, and her skin has gradually thickened.
In addition, seeing how capable Wenrou was, she didn't want to hold her back.
This was the first time Hao Gang had ever seen Peng Xiaowan act like a shrew, and he couldn't help but laugh.
Peng Xiaowan glared at him, signaling him to cooperate quickly.
"Get your manager out here! What right does he have to bully my wife? If you don't give me an explanation, I'm not done with you!" Hao Gang chimed in from the side.
At this moment, the noise at the door attracted more attention, and more and more people gathered around.
Wenrou took the opportunity to slip inside with the bag and went straight into the kitchen.
She quickly found a chef's uniform and put it on, then took out the white mushrooms from the bag and prepared to start stir-frying them.