pjbooks Chapter 102: Buying Sheep?
Chapter 102: Buying Sheep?
Chapter 103: Buying Sheep?
The security guard had just led Li Xiangyang and his group into the private room and was about to leave when he was stopped by a staff member in a blue uniform dining in the lobby. The staff member said arrogantly, "Hey, what's going on here? We just asked for a private room, and you said you didn't have any. How come they got one as soon as they arrived?"
"Yes, we didn't have any private rooms available before, but now they're free!"
The security guard made up any excuse and brushed it off.
He remembered this person; he was an employee of the pharmaceutical factory. The person had just contacted him, saying that several factory leaders were coming over for lunch and asked him to help arrange a private room. The security guard ignored him, so the person held a grudge against him.
They're looking for trouble.
"You—..Okay, a private room is fine, but doesn't your restaurant have a sign saying you don't serve walk-in customers? I think they're just ordinary herders!"
"You've brought them in and given them all the food, what are we employees supposed to eat then?"
The gatekeeper curled his lip, a little impatiently saying, "Don't look down on us. They're herders, not tourists. If they hadn't provided the ingredients, you wouldn't have anything to eat today, you know? The cornbread you're eating now was all brought over by them!"
"Forehead----?!"
The employee was speechless for a moment and left indignantly.
A moment later, the wooden door to the private room suddenly creaked open.
Just as Li Xiangyang and the others were about to sit down, Tu Weimin burst through the door and walked in.
Li Xiangyang was immediately taken aback, not expecting Tu Weimin to come in person. He had only intended to use Tu Weimin's name to come in for a meal. "Brother Weimin, you're here! Come, come, sit here." Li Xiangyang stood up and made room for Tu Weimin next to him.
Although Liu Xiulan and Zhao Lijuan did not know Tu Weimin, they knew from the gatekeeper that Tu Weimin was a formidable character, so they couldn't help but steal a glance at him.
"No, no, I can't sit down, I have something urgent to attend to."
Tu Weimin quickly waved his hand, then gently gripped Li Xiangyang's shoulders and said, "Xiangyang, I'm so glad to see you! By the way, did you buy your tickets?"
When Tu Weimin asked if they had bought tickets, he meant whether they had ordered food and paid for it.
In those days, the process of eating at a state-run restaurant was different from that of eating at a restaurant in later generations.
Generally, people would enter and reserve a seat first, and then go to the ticket counter to look at the menu on the blackboard. The menu was usually written in chalk and included the names of the dishes, prices, and food coupons.
After selecting your food, tell the waiter your order, pay, and give them your food coupons. Once the clerk issues the receipt or gives you a numbered metal tag, you can go to the food counter and wait in line for your food.
Once the chef has finished cooking, he will loudly call out the name of the dish, and you can claim it by presenting the receipt and carry it back to your table yourself.
It was an almost entirely self-service process, completely different from the later restaurant dining model where you are served from start to finish.
"Not yet," Li Xiangyang replied truthfully. "We just finished reserving our seats and are about to go buy tickets!"
As soon as they came in and heard there were private rooms available, they immediately came over to reserve seats, without even having time to order food or buy tickets.
"Okay, okay, it's fine as long as we haven't bought tickets yet."
As Tu Weimin spoke, he beckoned to the cashier at the ticket counter and said, "Xiao Liu, come here for a moment. Give this table a braised ribbonfish, a fried shrimp chip, a stir-fried pork with green peppers and wood ear mushrooms, and oh yeah, a Mapo tofu. Put it all on my tab."
"Ah—Brother Weimin, no need, no need, we can do it ourselves—"
Li Xiangyang and his group wanted to refuse, but Tu Weimin directly told the ticket clerk to process it, not giving them a chance to refuse.
Liu Xiulan and the others stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
Are Xiangyang and Tu Weimin really that close? How come they're all so generous?
They had never even seen these dishes before, let alone eaten them, but just hearing the names made them sound very expensive!
This braised ribbonfish... what kind of fish is ribbonfish? Shrimp... I've seen that before, but what are these fried shrimp chips?
This stir-fried pork with wood ear mushrooms and shredded pork with green peppers—the green peppers and wood ear mushrooms seem rather expensive, don't they? And what about Mapo Tofu? What exactly is Mapo Tofu?
So everyone looked at Li Xiangyang strangely. Li Xiangyang was also a little surprised. Why was Tu Weimin suddenly so enthusiastic today? It seemed like he was going a little too far.
Such a waste of money!
Ribbonfish are marine fish! They are transported from Liaoning and Heilongjiang via cold chain, and are rarely seen in pastoral areas these days.
Shrimp chips are made by soaking dried shrimp and then frying them. They are purely "city food" and are almost non-existent in pastoral areas. Li Xiangyang only saw them in his previous life in the 1990s. Green peppers and dried wood ear mushrooms cannot be grown on the grasslands and are all transported from elsewhere.
Tofu can almost only be made in state-run tofu workshops.
The five dishes all use ingredients rarely found in pastoral areas; they are all high-quality dishes and cost at least four yuan.
Li Xiangyang keenly realized that Tu Weimin probably needed his help, but what kind of troublesome matter could it be that required such a request?
But he didn't dare to make any promises and wanted to wait for Tu Weimin to speak first, so he smiled and said, "Brother Weimin, this is too much for you. We'll just have some cornbread and steamed buns to tide us over."
"Hey, Xiangyang, don't be so polite with your brother. These are all restaurant specialties, rarely seen in the pastoral areas. You're always eating out, so why don't you let your wife, your brother, and your sister-in-law try them too!"
Tu Weimin's words were very well-chosen, reiterating his friendship with Li Xiangyang. Then, his expression changed, and he suddenly pulled Li Xiangyang aside, whispering, "Xiangyang, to be honest, besides inviting you to dinner, I have something I'd like to ask for your help with!"
"Need my help? Brother Weimin, you don't need to use the word 'need.' Just tell me what you need, and I'll definitely do it within my capabilities."
Given Tu Weimin's current state and the fact that he has always treated Li Xiangyang well, Li Xiangyang will try to handle things unless they are particularly difficult. Of course, he won't make any definitive statements.
"It's so good to hear you say that. I think only you can handle this!"
Sigh—to be honest, I'm almost at my breaking point. I've been trying to reach you for days but haven't been able to, I'm so worried."
"Can't hold on? The restaurant was doing just fine, wasn't it?" Li Xiangyang was confused. "Brother Weimin, tell me slowly, what happened?"
"Sigh, it's still the higher-ups." Tu Weimin looked helpless and pointed to the ceiling: "They know that the supply and marketing cooperatives basically don't give our restaurants any quotas anymore, but they still insist that our restaurants have to be open for at least three hours every morning."
"Shouldn't this be the responsibility of your superiors and the store manager?"
Hearing Li Xiangyang say this, Tu Weimin became even more anxious: "Don't even mention it, a higher-ranking official can crush you!"
As you know, I'm the head of the purchasing team now. One second, the higher-ups assign a task to our hotel management, and the next second, the management calls the store manager to their office and gives the store manager a tough task. The store manager turns around and tells me to figure it out myself. If I can't do it, there are plenty of people who want this purchasing team leader position!
"Xiangyang, you have to help your brother through this difficult time. In the last two days, I've already used all the connections I could, and we've barely managed to get by. But now, with heavy snow blocking the roads everywhere, supplies simply can't be delivered. Everyone else is using the food they've saved for their own families to help me out, and soon the supply will run out."
"Brother Weimin, what do you want me to do? Tell me, and I'll do my best to help you with anything I can."
"Here's what I'm thinking: aren't you in a pastoral area? Could you secretly see if you could get me some sheep? I don't need many, just one a day, until New Year's Eve, for nine days."
"So, you want a sheep?"
Li Xiangyang frowned; this really put him in a bit of a predicament.
At this time, the sheep raised by herders that were ready to be sold were all bought up by the supply and marketing cooperatives before winter.
Moreover, it is still in the stage of unified supply and sales, stipulating that all sheep must be sold to the supply and marketing cooperatives, and private transactions are strictly prohibited.
Every sheep is recorded in the brigade's ledger; even if he dared to buy one, the herdsman had to be willing to sell it first.