Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 129 Yingzi's Mother

Yingzi frowned and said, "Smoking in the house again? You're the one who made my mother sick."

Master Zhai wasn't angry. He said, "That's just how it is."

Yingzi turned and glared at Xiaowei and Xia Maosheng. The two glanced at her, tucked their cigarettes behind their ears, and Master Zhai, without lighting one, put the cigarette back in the pack, stuffed the pack into his pocket, and asked, "You guys wanted to see me? What's up?"

Xia Maosheng looked at Xiaowei, who said, "Hey, Master Zhai, my name is Zhang Wei and this is Xia Maosheng. We run a restaurant near the farmers' market. We heard from Fifth Brother that you're good at cooking, so we came here to ask you to be our head chef."

Master Zhai paused for a moment, nodded, and reached for a cigarette, but stopped halfway through, saying, "I have a job, and besides, Yingzi's mother has been sick lately, so I have to stay at the hospital every day. I don't have time."

Yingzi said, "Oh, Dad, your company's going bankrupt anyway, so what? How much do you get paid a month? That guy, he can't even cook potato shreds properly, yet he gets to work, and you get half that at home. Why? It's because he has connections. We're not going to argue, can't we just find our own way to earn money?"

Master Zhai glanced at his daughter and said, "You don't understand. If people find out about our work relationship and start hitting each other, what will happen in the future?"

Yingzi said, "Making money is one thing, but what's the difference between not doing that job and doing it? You're still thinking about relying on that meager retirement pension? I get over three hundred a month, how much do you get?"

In the early 1990s, the national wage system had not been adjusted. At that time, the wages of migrant workers were higher than those of employees in state-owned enterprises. In 1990, a state-owned enterprise worker could earn a little over 300 yuan a month, which was about the same as that of a waiter in a private restaurant. State-owned service industries earned even less, with people like Sister Zhang earning a little over 200 yuan.

Chefs at state-run restaurants can earn up to 500 yuan, while privately owned restaurants have already earned over 1,000 yuan, with some earning as much as 3,000 yuan.

In 1993, wages were generally adjusted, and the average wage for all workers was around 800 yuan, which exceeded the 500 yuan earned by waiters in private restaurants.

During the same period, the wages of chefs in private restaurants doubled, with ordinary restaurants paying around 2,500 yuan and better restaurants starting at 4,000 yuan. There weren't many large restaurants back then; a restaurant with five or six tables was considered quite large and could accommodate forty or fifty people at a time. The key issue was that few ordinary people were willing to spend that much money.

It wasn't until the late 1990s, when the average wage of all workers approached 2,000 yuan, that the switch to mass consumption was turned on. Large restaurants began to appear more and more, with increasingly luxurious decorations. The wages of head chefs rose sharply, approaching the 10,000 yuan mark, and professional kitchen management teams began to emerge.

Master Zhai ignored Yingzi's comment, turned around and went back to the kitchen. A moment later, he opened the door and said, "I'm taking your food to your mother. I've left yours in the pot. You all sit down." He then closed the kitchen door.

Xiao Wei glanced at Xia Maosheng, then at Yingzi. Yingzi said, "That's just my dad's personality. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital to find him."

Xiao Wei smiled and asked, "Will it get better?"

Yingzi said, "It's okay, he's the kind of person who needs to be pushed. He always overthinks things and never gets things done. Wait for me, I'm going back to my room to put on some clothes." She got out of bed and ran out. She lived alone in the room and a half across the street.

Bozi followed, but was beaten and sent back in the yard.

Yingzi changed into a red down jacket and wore snow boots, which was quite trendy at the time and cost a lot of money.

The four people went out, but Master Zhai was long gone. He had gone there by bicycle, which was quite a feat for him, given the strong winds and heavy snow.

When we got to the fork in the road ahead, which was where Xiaowei and the other two had gotten off, the four of us huddled in a corner to avoid the wind and waited for the bus. We waited for more than ten minutes, and our feet were numb with cold before the bus finally came. Luckily, there were fewer people on the bus, so we got seats.

Yingzi's mother lives at Longcheng No. 2 Hospital. The car happened to pass by the entrance, and the four of them got out of the car at the hospital gate and walked into the hospital.

When the four of them arrived at the ward, Master Zhai hadn't arrived yet. In this weather, he couldn't pedal his bicycle very fast and fell behind the others.

Yingzi's mother was sitting on her hospital bed chatting with someone in the next bed when she heard the door open. Turning around, she saw her daughter walk in and asked curiously, "Why are you here again? Where's your dad?"

Yingzi took off her hat and gloves and threw them onto her mother's hospital bed. She sat down next to her mother and said, "They're in the back, in the car I was in."

Her mother, perhaps due to illness, didn't look too well and was quite thin. She smiled at Bozi and said, "Bozi, you're here too. Sit down. And who are these two?" She looked at her daughter.

Yingzi said, "They always come to my place for meals. They know Uncle Wu, and now they own a restaurant. Uncle Wu asked Bozi to bring them to see my dad, and guess what my dad said? He was afraid his colleagues would find out and ruin his job. I'm so angry! What's the point of his lousy job? He doesn't even earn as much as I do."

Yingzi's mother looked at Xiaowei and Xia Maosheng and asked, "Where is your restaurant?"

Xia Maosheng said, "We've taken over the area around the farmers' market, the one that used to belong to Jian'an Company."

Yingzi's mother nodded and asked, "How much money can Lao Zhai give you per month?"

Xia Maosheng looked at Xiaowei, who said, "Fifth Brother introduced him. He said Master Zhai is very skilled. We're planning to order 1,500 first, and then discuss it further once business picks up. What do you think?"

Yingzi asked in surprise, "Fifteen thousand?"

Xiao Wei nodded.

Yingzi said to her mother, "Fifth Uncle only paid nine hundred for that cook."

Yingzi's mother asked, "Can it last? I'm worried that Lao Zhai might not. Some other companies approached him recently, but they didn't offer as much as you guys. Lao Zhai went to one, but it fell through in less than three months, and now he's out of work and only earns half his salary at home."

Xiao Wei said, "It's okay, we can definitely do this for a long time. We also have a training school here. The restaurant is mainly for students to do internships and such. And we don't rely on the outside world. Our contract is for nine years."

As soon as the ward door opened, Master Zhai walked in carrying a lunchbox wrapped tightly in an old cotton-padded coat. His face was flushed red from being in a warm place for so long, and the frost on his beard had not yet melted.

He looked around the ward, put the lunchbox bag on the bedside table, took off his cotton hat and gloves, wiped his face with a towel hanging by the bed, and said, "Why did you guys come here? You must have taken a car, it got ahead of me."

Yingzi's mother said, "They're looking for you to work here. They've come all this way in this freezing weather. They're really sincere. Why don't you go and take a look?"

Master Zhai hung up the towel, unwrapped the old cotton-padded coat containing the lunchbox, folded it neatly and placed it under the bed, opened the lunchbox and placed it on the cabinet, took a spoon out of his pocket and handed it to Yingzi's mother, saying, "Eat first, let me think about it."

Yingzi's mother took the spoon, wiped it with her hand, and said, "Go and take a look, okay? Staying at home all the time isn't a good thing. You need money for this and that. I'm broke now. Can you rely on the child? How long will it take for your workplace to respond? You don't need to ask anyone for help, and you don't have any connections."