Reborn in 1985: Starting from Contracting a Ranch

Chapter 6 State-Run Restaurants

Upon arriving in town, Shan Yaowen first went to the purchasing station. Although the commune had been changed to a town, the purchasing station and supply and marketing cooperative were still there.

However, Shan Yaowen did not take the goods inside, but instead asked his elder brother to go in and ask about the price.

"I asked, and the purchasing station says it's based on grade. Wild boar meat is only 1.5 yuan per jin."

Compared to Shan Yaowen, Shan Yaowu was the honest and hardworking type, only good at burying his head in his work. After asking the price, he looked at his younger brother with a puzzled expression:

"Aren't we selling? Why go through all this trouble? Can't we just bring it in?"

"We do want to sell, but we need to compare prices from at least three different vendors," Shan Yaowen chuckled.

Previously, they could only sell to purchasing stations or supply and marketing cooperatives, since these were official institutions, and private transactions would likely be labeled as speculation and profiteering.

However, since the reform and opening up, especially starting this year, this aspect has become more relaxed.

"Compare prices from three different vendors? There are two other vendors willing to buy?"

Shan Yaowen nodded. "Of course, things are different now than before. The economy will be more active after the reform and opening up, and people want to eat better when they have more money. There are fewer things on the mountain this season, especially meat, so there are more people buying it."

"Mosquito, what are we doing? Aren't we going to sell?" Lin Hao, who was behind them, saw the eldest brother of the Shan family go to the purchasing station and then leave, so he quickly called out to Shan Yaowen.

"Let's go check it out over there first."

After saying that, Shan Yaowen drove the carriage through a maze of turns until he arrived at a state-run restaurant.

At that time, state-run hotels were not exclusive to large cities or county towns. In their area, any "town" with a certain population and functions usually had at least one state-run hotel.

Beside the town's only crossroads, there is a two-story building facing the street, with a sign that reads "State-run Restaurant" hanging at the entrance.

Instead of going through the main gate, the two carriages went around to the back gate.

Shan Yaowen skillfully pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and knocked on the kitchen door.

The door was opened by a young man dressed in a chef's uniform, though the uniform was tattered. He still looked arrogantly at Shan Yaowen, who was dressed like a country bumpkin.

"What are you doing? This is the kitchen, you can't just wander in here, you know?"

Shan Yaowen frowned, but quickly put on a smile and handed over the cigarette. "Boss, I'm here to see Purchasing Officer Qu."

The young man's expression softened slightly upon seeing the cigarette. He reached out and took it. "Daqingshan? Not bad. You're looking for Purchasing Officer Qu, right? Wait here, I'll go get him for you."

Seeing that guy's smug look, even Shan Yaowu couldn't stand it. After he went inside, he walked up to his younger brother and asked, "Awen, what do we want with him?"

"Let's see if we can secure the order from the state-owned restaurants." Shan Yaowen reached for a cigarette and offered one to the two people next to him. "If we can get the order from the state-owned restaurants, we'll have another stable supply channel in the future."

"Moreover, we have connections with state-owned restaurants, and maintaining good relations with them will be beneficial for our future aquaculture business."

Shan Yaowen had a lot on his mind. Since he had decided to take the ranch route, he needed to make many arrangements in advance.

As for the young chef's attitude, he might have been angry in the past, but now he doesn't care about such things; that's just how people in state-owned stores are.

The chefs and waiters in state-run stores were all full-time employees with secure jobs, so they didn't consider themselves waiters at all.

They only show a service-oriented attitude when some leaders come. Compared to the employees of the supply and marketing cooperative beating customers, their arrogant attitude is already quite good.

The three chatted for a while, then the back door of the kitchen opened again, and a person came out.

"You're looking for me?"

Qu Jitong looked at the three men and one woman in front of him with a puzzled expression. He remembered that he did not know these people.

Dan Yaowen, ever the friendly type, stepped forward and offered a cigarette. "Are you Qu Jitong, the purchasing agent? I was introduced by Uncle Lang to deliver meat. He told me you needed these things."

"Oh, him? Okay, let me see what kind of meat it is." Qu Jitong breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Lao Lang's name and saw that Shan Yaowen could call him by his name. It was fine as long as it was introduced by an acquaintance.

In fact, Shan Yaowen had created a time gap. He did know Qu Jitong and the so-called Old Wolf, but it was much later in his previous life that he met them.

That time, he hunted a deer, and then Old Wolf introduced him to a state-run restaurant to sell it. The restaurant offered a higher price than the purchasing station.

"Wild boar meat," Shan Yaowen pointed to the two carriages.

"So many! You're quite capable, young man. What's your name?" Qu Jitong could roughly tell how big the two pigs were just by looking at the wild boar meat on the cart.

It just so happens that the restaurant is short of meat at this time, so this trip really came to his heart's content.

If I can secure these hundreds of kilograms of meat, the other purchasing agents will fall behind in meeting their quotas.

"Shan Yaowen is the second oldest in his family. You can call me Awen or Shan Lao Er (Second Oldest Shan)."

"Hey, Wen, don't be so reserved. I'm much older than you, just call me Uncle Qu or Uncle Tong."

After the two got closer, things became much easier. One of them was selling, and the other was willing to buy, so they hit it off immediately.

Qu Jitong glanced at the people weighing the goods, then turned to Shan Yaowen with a smile, "Awen, if you have any good stuff in the future, you can bring it over here to find me."

"no problem."

The wild boar that Shan Yaowen killed had about 200 jin of meat, but he only put about 150 jin of wild boar meat on his side for sale. After deducting the offal and adding some meat he kept at home, that's all he put on the market. At the restaurant's price of 1.6 yuan per jin, that's 240 yuan.

Lin Hao's family had less meat. His pig was smaller to begin with, and the one he put out to sell weighed 130 jin (65 catties). This was after he gave the whole pig offal and a spare rib to the Shan family. It felt like his family didn't have much meat left.

However, Lin Hao didn't care at all. Looking at the 208 yuan in his hand, his eyes narrowed with a smile.

You know, they used to work on a collective ranch and could only save up this much money in a year, but they made so much money just by hunting a wild boar.

Sure enough, following the mosquitoes was the right move. The price here was not only a penny higher than at the purchasing station, but they also didn't arbitrarily grade and suppress prices.

"Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative." Now that he had money in his hand, Shan Yaowen spoke a little louder.

"Awen, what are you doing at the supply and marketing cooperative? Are you going to buy something?" Shan Yaowu's personality was such that he would save the money he earned and only take it out when he needed to spend it.

In his opinion, the second son was good in every way, except that he needed to change his extravagant spending habits, otherwise he would not be able to save money and how could he get married if he had no money?

"Yes, let's buy some things."

"No, you can't have money in your hand. Give me the money, I'll keep it for you, and when you have some money..."

Before he could finish speaking, Shan Yaowen interrupted him, "Brother, I'm not going to spend all this money at once, and I'm not buying it for myself. My sister-in-law is pregnant now that she's married into the family, have you ever bought her anything decent?"

If it were for his own money, Shan Yaowu would definitely be unhappy, but when it came to buying it for his wife, he hesitated immediately, though he still refused verbally.

"Your sister-in-law doesn't need to..."

Shan Yaowen put his arm around his older brother's shoulder. "It's just a bar of soap, it won't cost much, and Mom can use it too, and so can my little sister."

In the end, not only the Shan brothers, but even Lin Hao was persuaded to buy a bar of soap for his mother.

Seeing Lin Nian's envious look, Shan Yaowen simply bought another one. "Nian Nian, take this."

"Your brother's such a cheapskate, if he won't buy it for you, I will."

Lin Hao was still thinking about how happy his mother would be if he took the soap home when he heard Shan Yaowen badmouthing him in front of his sister, and he immediately became unhappy.

"It's none of your business if I buy it for my sister."

Shan Yaowen glanced sideways at Lin Hao, who had run into the supply and marketing cooperative again, and smiled at Lin Nian, "See? Now you have two bars of soap."

Lin Nian covered her mouth and sniffed the soap in her hand, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with laughter:

"Thank you, Brother Yaowen."

After Lin Hao finished buying his goods and left the supply and marketing cooperative, he looked suspiciously at Shan Yaowen and his sister chatting and laughing by the carriage. Suddenly, an extremely bad thought popped into his head.

No way?

These two?

No wonder my younger sister insisted on coming out with me this morning, and even said that Dad made her come out.