Chapter 331 - Even Tong Jiaxin was quiet that night. (1)
That unfilial child Rugui. Not only did Old Mr. Wan found out about his girlfriend through someone else. He said he needed to talk to her first before he could bring her home to introduce her to his grandfather!
He had been so busy at his work that he barely had time to eat dinner. Who knew how long it would take if they waited for him to consult Young Grass?
Uncle Zong, “I think it’s one of the government-operated restaurants around City Nan. Commander, Miss Young Grass is too incredible. She is able to become the manager of a restaurant at such a young age!”
“Miss Young Grass is such a good cook. It only make sense that she is the manager of a restaurant,” said Old Mr. Wan proudly with his goatee fluttering.
That was his future granddaughter-in-law they were talking about. Of course she was incredible.
Uncle Zong, “Commander, are you heading to the restaurant? I’ll go with you.”
Old Mr. Wan gave him a look before he shook his head from side to side like a rattle drum. “No can do. You can’t come with. Miss Young Grass had met you before. She would recognize you right away if you come with me.”
Uncle Zong, “Do we still need to be secretive about your visit, Commander?”
Old Mr. Wan said matter-of-factly, “Of course. As the little jerk Rugui had been keeping this a secret from me, I will be keeping my meeting with Young Grass a secret from him too!”
Uncle Zong was stunned, “……”
But that meant he would not be able to have Miss Young Grass’s cooking!
***
Tong Mianmian’s fever had reduced but she was still very dispirited and looked very pitiful.
Tong Xuelu brought her home and had Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin took good care of her. She then went over to give Shen Wanrong a heads up before she headed into the restaurant.
After she arrived at the restaurant, she held another regular meeting and encouraged others to speak up. They were welcomed to express opinions concerning anything.
Both Guo Weiping and Meng Qingqing were quiet people and both shook their heads gesturing that they had nothing to add.
Guo Chunyu raised her hand and said, “Manager Tong, we have heard from many of our patrons we are not serving enough malatang and that they would not be able to get it if they don’t arrive early enough. Should we consider serving more?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. If they want to make sure they can have it, they just need to come earlier."
Tong Xuelu gave her a look. She felt that Guo Chunyu would be good in business after the economy had opened up.
Given that they were only making a fixed income right now regardless of how much the restaurant was making, what was the point of working harder?
That was the biggest problem with communism. Most people do not aim to go higher once they’ve met the minimum requirements.
Tong Xuelu had a good idea how to make more money in the future but they were not there yet.
“Let’s make some meatballs today.”
They would not be increasing the quantity but they could increase the variety. The patrons would be burned out very fast otherwise.
Tong Xuelu brought Guo Weiping with her to buy the ingredients after the meeting.
Beef was relatively cheap at this era compared to the future. One jin of beef was about the same cost as pork.
Tong Xuelu bought some beef, fish, and pork to make beef meatball, pork meatball, and fish balls.
Guo Weiping was surprised when he saw her buying beef. “Manager Tong, are all the beef for beef balls?”
Tong Xuelu nodded. “You’ve never had it before. If done right, beef meatballs taste better than fish balls. You will see.”
Remembering Tong Xuelu’s cooking, Guo Weiping couldn't help but gulped. Nothing that Manager Tong had made was not tasty.
Tong Xuelu started making beef meatballs after they had returned to the restaurant.
As the weather was getting colder, they could store the extras for another day.
Making beef meatballs were very physically demanding. One would need to separate out the tender and membranes and get rid of the fat. Then they would need to pound the meat out.
The pounding part was especially exerting. Tong Xuelu had everyone took turns doing that.
After the beef had been minced, they had water and cornstarch into it before mixing them all up until there were air bubbles in the minced meat. Then they were ready to be formed into balls.
The beef meatballs needed to be set first before they could be cooked in a pot. It was certainly more work making beef meatballs manually but they for certain tasted better than those made by machines.