Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 130 People Have to Bow to Reality

After speaking, Yingzi's mother ate her meal in silence. Yingzi stood up, poured her mother a cup of hot water, and placed it on the cabinet.

Master Zhai sat down on a small stool by the bed and looked at the ground. For a moment, the ward fell silent.

The patient in the next bed, perhaps uncomfortable with the quiet, coughed and chuckled, saying, "Yingzi's dad, this food smells so good! It's making my mouth water. What is it?"

Yingzi's mother smiled and said, "What else can we make? We just stewed some sauerkraut. We're out of vegetables at home, but we can afford to eat some greens."

The woman in the next bed was an old lady with a full head of white hair, a bit plump. She gently tapped her leg with her fist through the blanket, nodded, and said, "Yes, we can't afford it. A pound of green beans costs four yuan, and a meal costs several tens of yuan. Now, everything is expensive, everything is going up, except wages, which haven't changed."

Master Zhai looked up and asked Xiao Wei, "Where is your restaurant located? Is it far from here?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's near the farmers' market, not far from where Jian'an Company used to run Jubinge Restaurant."

Master Zhai was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Jubinge? You've contracted it out? For how long?"

Xiao Wei said, "The contract is for nine years. Do you even know that place?"

Master Zhai chuckled and said, "Everyone in this business knows that area. They made quite a splash when they opened. The chef there used to be my fellow apprentice, but he moved to Jinzhou with his whole family." He turned to Yingzi's mother and asked, "Should I go check it out now?"

Yingzi's mother was a little happy and nodded, saying, "Go ahead, I'm fine here. Yingzi and your dad can go together."

Master Zhai said, "Yingzi, stay here. It's so cold. The wind is strong now, and it's snowing again."

Yingzi stood up, put on her hat, and said, "It's okay, I'm not afraid. Let's go. I'll check it out for you. Mom, just leave it there after you finish eating. Drink some hot water and I'll come back to clean it up in a bit."

Yingzi's mother said, "You're making it sound like I can't move. I'm almost fully recovered. Go on your way, drive slowly, and watch out for cars."

The five people left the ward, went downstairs, and walked out of the hospital.

It was indeed snowing outside, and the snowflakes were large, fluttering and covering the sky and the earth.

The wind wasn't strong when it snowed, and it wasn't as cold as usual.

Master Zhai was about to push his bicycle when Xia Maosheng said, "Brother Zhai, let's take a ride."

Master Zhai said, "You all take the car, I'll ride there myself. I know the way."

Yingzi said, "Dad, are you sure you can manage? Can't all these people walk together? It's snowing right now. If you fall, I'll have to take care of you both at the hospital."

Master Zhai parked the car again, picked up his gloves, and walked over, saying, "What are you talking about? You say all sorts of things all day long. Let's go, let's go together."

Yingzi reached out and hooked her arm around Master Zhai's, saying, "That's right! I told you long ago not to ride a bicycle in winter. The roads are so slippery, and the snow is so thick where we live. What if you fall? But you wouldn't listen. Think about it, you only pay two yuan a day for the round trip, which is only 60 yuan a month. How much would it cost if you fell? Right?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's okay. When your dad starts working for me, we'll reimburse his travel expenses. Riding a bike in winter is indeed dangerous, Master Zhai. You have to listen to Yingzi about this."

Yingzi laughed and said, "Look, I found another 60 yuan." The others laughed.

After waiting for a while at the hospital entrance, the five of them got into a car and headed towards the farmers' market. There were many more people from the city, and they squeezed together all the way to their destination.

The car stopped at the intersection of the main road, and the five people got out and walked in. It wasn't far, only two hundred meters.

From afar, you could see several people busy on the restaurant rooftop under the heavy snow. They were carpenters installing a gazebo, which was an all-wood structure. The components were already made on the outside and then installed, and the paint had already been applied.

Master Zhai glanced at it and said, "Are you going to put that pavilion back on?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Yeah, otherwise it's too empty up there. In the summer, we can go up and sit for a while. We can put some flowers up there in the summer, it would look so nice."

The restaurant door wasn't locked. Zhang Jie and the others hadn't gone home; they came back here after leaving the bone restaurant. Right now, Shang Jie was chopping meat with Li Bing, Xie Na was kneading dough, Li Gengsheng was writing something on a table, and Li Wen was sitting on a stool in a daze.

There was no heating in the restaurant, and the stove wasn't lit, so it was a bit cold. The little girl huddled up on the stool.

As Xiao Wei entered, he glanced around and asked, "Where are Sister Zhang and Liu Hongliang?"

Li Wen turned her head and looked over, saying, "Sister Zhang is in the back of the kitchen. The boiler installers have arrived, and Sister Zhang is watching them work. Brother Liu is breaking up coal, and Sister Zhang said to raise the stove."

Xiao Wei walked over and glanced at the meat that Sister Shang and Li Bing were chopping, then asked, "You went grocery shopping? Who paid for it?"

Shang Jie gestured with her chin towards Li Gengsheng.

Xiao Wei walked over to Li Gengsheng, who was keeping accounts, writing each item down very carefully.

Xiao Wei asked, "How much did you spend today?"

Li Gengsheng looked up and said, "One hundred and forty-three yuan and eighty-five cents. I didn't give the five cents. It cost one hundred and forty-three yuan and eighty cents."

Xiao Wei took out five hundred yuan from his pocket, threw it on the table, and said, "Take this first, and ask me for it when you've spent it all." Li Gengsheng agreed, put the money away, and continued writing the accounts.

Xiao Wei said to Master Zhai, who was following behind, "This is the beginning, there's nothing here yet, we just took over today. This house didn't have heating before, but they're installing a boiler in the back right now, so we'll heat it ourselves from now on."

Master Zhai said, "Well, business was bad here before, partly because it was cold inside. I don't know what they were thinking back then. Such a big building without heating, who would come to eat in the winter? It just didn't work out after a while."

Hearing the voices from behind, Sister Shang turned around and called out, "Master Zhai, you're here?"

Master Zhai looked over, smiled, and nodded, saying, "You work here? Yes, they came to my house today, so I came to check. It's not finalized yet."

Xiao Wei said to Xia Maosheng, "You accompany Master Zhai for a walk, I'll go check out the back."

Behind them, Sister Zhang stood on the coal pile. A light truck was parked at the back door. The cargo had already been unloaded, and there were still some 6-point pipes on the truck. A threading pliers was propped up on the ground at the rear of the truck.

The kitchen was noisy with people clanging and banging as they were installing the boiler. These small boilers are quick to install, and since the water pressure isn't high, hot water is pumped up.

Liu Hongliang squatted under the coal pile, holding an axe, and hacked away at the coal. He had already smashed a small pile, saying, "Sister Zhang, is that enough? Is this really necessary?"

Sister Zhang, without even lowering her head, said, "Not enough, smash it, it's far from enough."

Xiao Wei walked over to the door and peeked inside. Workers were drilling foundation bolts. The boiler was installed in a corner inside, and two people were using rulers to lay out the pipes.

The kitchen here is about the same size as the one there, but originally only two stoves were installed, so there's still a lot of space inside.