Chapter 1500: Chapter 275: Cadre Relatives!
"Chuanfu Old Chen" is undergoing a tense renovation, but the prominent lightbox has already been installed.
The restaurant isn’t big, but the facade isn’t small.
Because they rented a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom unit facing the street, previously someone had opened a restaurant here, connecting the four south-facing bedrooms. There’s a long corridor running east to west, with four rooms and a living room on the north side, each intended for four to six four-person tables.
Another living room will serve as the restaurant’s only private room.
A small bedroom not facing the sun has been connected to the original kitchen to form the back kitchen.
Behind this building is a row of bike sheds, and Boss Chen has rented four to use as a place to cook hot pot ingredients and as the restaurant’s storage room.
Because someone previously ran a restaurant here, Boss Chen doesn’t need massive construction, nor does he have to worry about being blamed by the upstairs residents for knocking down walls, which could potentially affect the building’s structure.
The goal now is to make this restaurant in an old building look high-class, stylish, and distinctive!
The side facing the street already has doors and windows, now the doors will be replaced with tempered glass, the windows enlarged, the walls covered with high-end aluminum composite panels, and the ground and steps at the entrance paved with pristine non-slip tiles.
The workers keep asking to buy this and that, and there’s a long list of kitchen equipment to purchase.
Boss Chen is not only overwhelmed, but spending money like water.
After procuring the renovation materials, he gets out of the recently purchased van, opens the back door, ready to call the workers to move things, when his wife and the newly hired junior supervisor come up to him.
"What are you two doing out here? You can’t move the things in the car."
"Not to move things, but to let you go buy more," the young Boss Lady flips her long hair, handing over a long purchase list.
Boss Chen adjusts his glasses, takes the list and asks, "What is a ’hanging barrel’, and what’s it used for?"
Despite his name, Boss Chen is not old, he’s thirty-three this year.
Maybe because he’s the second child at home, many call him Second Brother.
The Boss Lady is even younger, about twenty-eight, tall, fair-skinned, not only beautiful but also fashionable and poised.
Zhang Hongmei likes dealing with young bosses and their ladies, as they’re more magnanimous than the older ones.
She quickly explains, "Second Brother, a hanging barrel is a large stainless steel barrel used for making soup."
"Making broth?"
"Yes, it’s used for hot pot and stir-frying. If many people eat hot pot, there won’t be enough soup."
"What about this large iron pot?"
"Used for cooking hot pot ingredients."
Every profession has its own specializations, and Boss Chen truly doesn’t understand these things.
Not wanting to keep buying the wrong items like before, he looks up and asks, "Where’s Master Xiang?"
The Boss Lady is very pleased with the newly hired head chef, she turns around smiling, saying, "In the kitchen repairing the diesel stove."
"Repair the diesel stove later, Hongmei, have your Master Xiang change his clothes upstairs and come with me to shop. Didn’t he say he wanted to check out the seasonings yesterday? We can do that after buying the hanging barrels and the big pots."
"Okay, I’ll call him."
"Master Yang, once the items you needed are bought, come out to move them, I need to head out again soon."
"Coming!"
...
Amidst the hustle and bustle, a middle-aged man who looked like a cadre and a woman in her fifties pushing a bicycle came by.
The middle-aged man looked like a cadre, not just because he had a black briefcase hanging on his bike’s handlebars, but also due to his attire and demeanor.
Boss Chen also has a cadre family background, though his father was a factory director. He grew up in the factory, but unfortunately, the once sizable factory went bankrupt, otherwise the factory director’s son wouldn’t have had to open a restaurant.
The middle-aged man, smiling as he approached, gave the impression of a cadre similar to those from his father’s factory.
"Hello, is there something you need?" Boss Chen couldn’t help but ask.
The middle-aged man looked up at the newly installed large lightbox, parked his bicycle, took out a soft Zhonghua cigarette, offered one, and smilingly asked, "Comrade, are you the owner of this restaurant?"
"Yes, what’s up?"
The restaurant hasn’t officially opened, so why are they here to collect fees?
But he doesn’t quite look like one of those fee collectors, as they don’t offer cigarettes, only smoke others’.
Feeling puzzled, Boss Chen furrows his brow, the middle-aged man laughs and asks, "Boss, may I know your surname?"
"My surname is Chen."
"No wonder it’s called ’Chuanfu Old Chen’, because your family name is Chen." The middle-aged man smiled and asked further, "Do you have a chef named Xiang here, Mr. Chen?"
"Yes, may I know your name and what’s your business here with him?"
"My surname is Liang, I’m Xiao Xiang’s relative. I heard he’s working here, so my wife and I came to see him."
"You’re Master Xiang’s relative?"
"Yes."
There aren’t many Xichuan people in Binjiang, otherwise Sichuan chefs wouldn’t be so hard to find.
Recalling how the junior supervisor mentioned yesterday during dinner that he has relatives in Binjiang, Boss Chen smiles and says, "Master Xiang is upstairs changing his clothes, he’ll be out soon."
"Great, great, no rush." Having finally found the place and soon to see the person, Old Liang felt pleased, looking up at the building, then around, curiously asking, "Mr. Chen, from your accent, you must be from downtown."
"Yes, I was born and raised in Binjiang."
"Running such a big restaurant, you must have invested a lot of money."
"It’s not a big restaurant, just a small place. But yes, the investment is substantial. Renovations can be a bottomless pit, tens of thousands have gone, and I don’t even know where."
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