Reborn in 1977

Chapter 381: Let's Count the Money

Chen Fan chatted briefly with the two saleswomen, asked about their preparations, and then came out to stand at the door, not waiting inside.

At this time, people were coming and going on the roadside, many of them looking into the store, but seeing the empty glass counters, they left with doubt and hurried steps.

The three of them were not in a hurry, standing on the roadside chatting in low voices, but their occasional glances at the opposite side showed that their hearts were not calm.

They waited until 7:50, when a flatbed cart finally appeared across the road, one person pulling the cart in front, two people pushing in the back, and more people watching over the enamel buckets on the cart.

They carefully crossed the slowly moving traffic and stopped in front of the store.

There were also five or six people following behind. As soon as the flatbed cart stopped, they busily carried the sixteen white glazed enamel buckets into the store.

(White glazed enamel buckets, a handy tool for transporting food in the cafeteria)

Of course, so few buckets didn't require too many people, but since it was the opening day, they all came to help voluntarily.

Chen Fan, An Quan, and Zhang Wenliang also walked to the counter at the door, watching them carry the buckets inside while observing if there was anything being done incorrectly.

One bucket after another of cooked food was sent into the counter, and the two saleswomen immediately busied themselves after receiving the goods.

One was responsible for moving the buckets inside, and the other was holding the delivery list from the deliveryman to check the items.

As the lids of these buckets were opened, a rich aroma of meat immediately spread out, attracting many people to stop in front of the door.

First, they hung a chicken, duck, and goose each on the counter at the entrance, and then, according to the different areas, they placed these cooked foods into the rectangular enamel plates in the glass counter, while using a rag to wipe off any卤水(braising sauce) that accidentally dripped.

Just as they were nervously busy, a large crowd of people gathered at the door in just two minutes.

Chen Fan and the others quickly made way for the customers, being squeezed to the side.

At this time, someone couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade, how do you sell these things?"

The saleswoman, Hou Mingying, immediately hung the price list on the wall above the counter, first glancing at Chen Fan, who had been squeezed to the side of the road, and receiving an encouraging look, she said with a smile, "Hello everyone, we are from the Lujiawan Production Team of Nanhugongshe. This cooked food store is a sideline run by our brigade. Today is the first day of opening, welcome everyone to buy."

Then, pointing to the price list hanging on the wall, "Currently, we are temporarily selling卤鸡(braised chicken), 卤鸭(braised duck), 卤鹅(braised goose), and 鸡杂(chicken giblets), 鸭杂(duck giblets), 鹅杂(goose giblets). In addition, we also have 卤土豆(braised potatoes), 毛豆(edamame), 腐竹(dried bean curd sticks), and 豆腐皮(tofu skin). Chickens, ducks, and geese are available whole, as well as individual legs, wings, and pieces. There are many varieties and affordable prices."

"Chicken is 2.4 yuan per jin, goose is 2 yuan per jin, duck is 1 yuan per jin…"

While she was explaining, Chen Fan grabbed An Quan's wrist to check the time, and said with a smile, "It's already 8:05, the 'big wheel' should be here."

An Quan struggled to break free, and said unhappily, "You don't seem to be short of money, why don't you buy a watch yourself?"

Chen Fan looked at the watch on his wrist with a look of disgust, and said with a pursed mouth, "Too ugly, I don't like it."

The pocket watch given by Fourth Master Lu was good-looking, but Chen Fan had left it at home and didn't bring it out.

There was no other reason. Since Fourth Master had given a pair, they should naturally be worn together, otherwise it would be unsightly to have one new and one old after using them.

Although An Quan had a certain understanding of Chen Fan's thick skin, he was still annoyed, "Hey, you're even being picky. There are good-looking ones in Shanghai, they are all imported watches. A Swiss Roamer watch costs 300 yuan, and there are even ones with a calendar. Will you buy one?"

Chen Fan became interested when he heard this, "There are imported watches? Besides Roamer, what other brands are there?"

An Quan was stunned for a moment, staring at him blankly, "Do you really want to buy one? There are other brands, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Piaget, Omega, Donald… quite a few.

But it's not worth it. The cheapest imported watch is Longines, which costs about 280 yuan, and Rolex is about the same, but a Shanghai brand watch only costs 120, and the cheapest BJ brand watch only costs 80."

Saying that, he stretched out his wrist, "Look, this is a BJ brand, it's also very useful, why waste that money?"

Chen Fan chuckled dryly, "I'm just asking."

Then, changing the subject, "But you're from Shanghai but you're wearing a BJ brand watch, isn't that a bit…?"

The words were not finished, but the meaning was conveyed.

An Quan's expression straightened, and he immediately said, "I love the capital of the motherland, is there a problem?"

Chen Fan decisively gave a thumbs up, "Okay."

Then he turned his head to look at the embankment, paused for two seconds, and suddenly pointed in that direction, "Look, is that the 'main force' arriving?"

An Quan and Zhang Wenliang immediately looked over there, only to see a dark crowd of people pouring out, each looking around, and they knew at a glance that they were from out of town.

No need to ask, the large passenger ship had definitely arrived.

Chen Fan immediately made a gesture to the store.

Another saleswoman, Deng Jiazhen, had already skillfully cut a pile of samples for tasting, put them on an enamel plate, but did not bring them up, but looked forward to Chen Fan's arrival.

When she saw his gesture, she immediately brought out the enamel plate, and also took a large bamboo tube, filled with finger-length short bamboo skewers, and placed them together in front of the counter.

When Hou Mingying saw Chen Fan's gesture, she followed the trend and looked in the direction of the embankment, and also saw the crowd walking down the long slope, and quickly shouted loudly, "This is a sample for tasting. If any customers are interested in buying, they can use this bamboo skewer to poke a little and taste it. Our cooked food store focuses on genuine goods at a fair price and unique taste. I believe everyone will not be disappointed."

The brand-new signboard, the rich aroma, and the crowd gathered at the door all attracted the attention of the out-of-towners.

And the customers at the door were a little confused when they saw the plate of samples for tasting.

There's even tasting? This is a novelty!

In fact, now there is not only tasting, but also trial use and price reduction promotions.

For example, in 1971, Shanghai wanted to promote energy-saving honeycomb stoves. The price set at that time was 12 yuan each, and staff from the street office and supply and marketing cooperative enthusiastically delivered them to the door. Just buy them and bring them into the house. As a result, by the second year, many residents had accepted this type of stove and also felt it was very useful, and the price was raised to 16 yuan, and tickets were also required.

Then, some restaurants launch new dishes, or dim sum shops launch new products, and they will also prepare some for old customers to taste and ask them to give more opinions.

But in Guifeng County, or even Yunhu area, especially at this point in time, tasting has become something new.

Usually, it's good enough not to be given a cold face when going to a restaurant or buying something, let alone tasting?

So for a while, no one moved.

Just as Chen Fan was thinking about whether he should pretend to be a shill, two out-of-town travelers squeezed to the front, each picked up a bamboo skewer, poked a little minced meat and threw it into their mouths.

After tasting carefully, the two nodded together, and then looked at the price list hanging on the wall, one of them said, "This tastes good, and the price is not expensive."

Then he looked at Hou Mingying, "Saleswoman comrade, you didn't write how many tickets are needed on this. How are the tickets calculated?"

Hou Mingying immediately smiled and said, "Hello comrade, everything we sell here does not require tickets."

In fact, starting this year, Yunhu area has cancelled the tickets for poultry products. Whether you go to the market or a restaurant, you don't need tickets for chickens, ducks, and geese.

Moreover, these things originally belong to "extra-planned products", and are not within the special three categories of "cotton, grain, and oil". Lujiawan can decide for itself whether to require tickets. For example, transactions in the farmers' market basically do not require tickets.

On the other hand, those "three categories", although also agricultural products, are absolute red lines that cannot be touched.

Small amounts of transactions are actually not managed as long as they are not caught in the act, but opening a store is a restricted area, which will not be gradually opened up until much later.

"No tickets?"

I don't know if they still need tickets there, but when the man heard Hou Mingying's answer, his eyes lit up, and he reached out to take out money, "I want a chicken and a goose, and a jin of chicken giblets and goose giblets each."

He stared at the price list, "I've eaten boiled edamame, but I haven't tasted braised potatoes, dried bean curd sticks, and tofu skin. The three are the same price, can you make up two jin?"

Mainly because potatoes are heavy, if you weigh less, you can only taste the flavor, and this vegetarian dish "only" costs 50 cents per jin, so just weigh two jin.

Hou Mingying nodded repeatedly while writing the receipt, smiling so widely that her mouth couldn't close, "Of course."

Then she tore off the recorded menu and handed it to him, then pointed inside, "Comrade, please pay here."

Deng Jiazhen had also already taken a tray and was taking things for the traveler.

In this way, the cooked food store was officially opened.

And the purchase of these two people has become a signal, more and more people try and order.

At this time, it is easy to distinguish whether the people buying things are locals or travelers.

Most locals will only buy a little bit, some even only buy a chicken leg.

Although chicken drumsticks are a bit more expensive, they have more meat, so naturally, more people buy them.

And the passengers disembarking from the large passenger ships are much more generous, buying at least a whole chicken, and also buying a fair amount of other side dishes.

As a result, after a dozen minutes, this batch of goods that was transported over was visibly disappearing rapidly.

Fortunately, as early as when these customers started snapping up the goods, Chen Fan summoned a female worker and told her to quickly go back and bring all the inventory over.

It was the first day of business, so naturally, they wouldn't just prepare this little bit of stuff, otherwise, there wouldn't be a need for 12 people to cook.

Just for today, they prepared 100 chickens, ducks, and geese each for the three stores, as well as several baskets of vegetarian dishes. An Quan and Zhang Wenliang were always worried about not being able to sell them all, but based on their trust in Chen Fan, they didn't raise any objections.

The female workers were even less likely to object. Anyway, they would do whatever Teacher Chen said, and they didn't need to consider anything else.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye. Those out-of-town passengers from the large passenger ships had already boarded and left. Later, two more batches of people came, and only now has there been a lull, with no new passengers arriving.

At this time, the number of people in front of the store had decreased by more than half.

But the things in the store were also sold out.

"Ah? Sold out?"

A man stood in the store, stubbornly bending over to look into the counter, still regretting and muttering, "How could it be sold out so quickly? I haven't bought anything yet!"

Hou Mingying slowly breathed a sigh of relief, walked up to him, and said with a smile, "Comrade customer, I'm very sorry, but everything we prepared this morning has been sold out."

The man straightened up and looked at her, "Will there be any today?"

Hou Mingying was immediately in a dilemma. Teacher Chen hadn't taught her about this question.

Seeing this, Chen Fan walked in and said with a smile, "There won't be any in the morning, but there will be some at two o'clock in the afternoon."

The man's eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded repeatedly with a smile, "Okay, okay, okay, then I'll come again in the afternoon."

Several people who were still standing at the door, reluctant to leave, also heard Chen Fan's words, and only then did they leave with a bit of relief.

Chen Fan looked at the food trays with only a little soup left, and then looked at them, and asked with a smile, "How do you feel? Are you tired?"

Hou Mingying immediately laughed and said, "How could this little bit of work be tiring? It's not as tiring as cutting a cage of rice during the double抢."

Deng Jiazhen also nodded repeatedly, walked over and said, "It's really not tiring, it feels like we just started moving around."

Compared to working in the fields, working here is like being in paradise.

At this time, Zhang Wenliang also walked in, with a face full of puzzlement, "In just one hour, so many things, and they're all sold out?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Not just that, half of the things that were prepared in advance were brought over and sold here, which is a total of 150 chickens, ducks, and geese in one hour."

An Quan walked over and said, "You just told the customer that there would be more to sell at two o'clock in the afternoon, but today's goods are all sold out, so where will you get something to sell?"

Chen Fan smiled slightly, turned his head and said to a female worker, "Go and see the situation in the other two stores. If they haven't sold out, bring them over here to sell."

He didn't implement any commission system, but strictly adhered to the rules of this era, and the female workers were paid fixed work points, so naturally, there was no need to consider the differences in turnover between the stores.

As for whether it would affect their enthusiasm, there was no need to consider it at all.

Because Secretary Yang and the others had already said the ugly things first. If they did a good job, they would continue to do it, and if they didn't do a good job, they would give up their positions to others.

The cooked food store in Lujiawan, as long as it's someone from Lujiawan, can enter, but it's not someone's iron rice bowl.

If anyone dares to not work seriously, then they are smashing everyone's rice bowl.

Under this kind of situation, unless she wants to go back to farming, otherwise, who would dare to be careless and negligent?

Therefore, as soon as Chen Fan gave an order, the female worker ran away, fearing that she would delay business.

Chen Fan watched her shuttle back and forth between horse carts and trucks, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, "Be careful."

A voice came from afar, "Got it."

Only An Quan was standing next to him with a sullen face, why should I be careful?

When the female worker ran out of sight, Chen Fan smiled at An Quan, "Brother An, why don't you hurry up and call Secretary Yang and ask them to organize another batch of goods to be sent over.

It's only a little after 9 o'clock now, and our boat should be able to go home before 10 o'clock, and then load the boat and send it over, and it will definitely not be 12 o'clock. Two more hours is enough to rush out a new batch of cooked food."

An Quan clapped his hands, and ran out without saying a word.

Chen Fan then patted Zhang Wenliang's arm and said with a smile, "Brother Sanhu, let's count the money."

As soon as these words came out, there was a burst of laughter in the store.

Then everyone looked at Hou Mingying and Deng Jiazhen, their eyes full of hope.

The two of them were not ambiguous, and took advantage of the fact that Chen Fan and Zhang Wenliang were both there to count the income for today.

50 chickens, ducks, and geese each, and the same amount of poultry offal, as well as several buckets of vegetarian dishes.

Hou Mingying and Deng Jiazhen counted inside the counter, and the others watched outside. After a while, the two of them finished counting the money in their hands.

Then they added it up...

Hou Mingying raised her head, her hand holding the money trembling a little, and stared blankly at Chen Fan, "A t-total of 1247 yuan, 5 jiao, and 8 fen."

Chen Fan picked up 3 delivery orders, and then put them on the counter, and said softly, "It's about the same as I estimated."

He was very calm, but the others were about to go crazy.

Zhang Wenliang grabbed his arm, stared and said, "Earned more than one thousand two hundred in one day?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he shook his head violently, "No, no, it's one store, there are two other stores, so added together it's..."

He usually knows how to calculate accounts, but at this time Zhang Wenliang felt that his fingers were not enough.

Chen Fan said with a smile, "About two thousand five."

"Two thousand five?"

Zhang Wenliang slowly raised his head, "Earn two thousand five in one day? Then 10 days is twenty-five thousand, and one year is...?"

He felt that his brain was not enough, he still didn't study enough!

Chen Fan said with a smile, "The accounts can't be calculated like this. The cooked food workshop, the cooked food store, and the production team are all independently accounted for. The production team sells the live poultry to the cooked food workshop, the cooked food workshop makes it, and then wholesales it to the cooked food store. These three units each earn their own money,"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Wenliang said solemnly, "It's all the team's money, and it's also the money of all the commune members!"

Chen Fan nodded with a wry smile, "Yes, yes, yes, it's all our money."

He is also a formal member of Lujiawan, of course he has a share.

Or rather, as long as there are work points in the Lujiawan production team, they all have a share.

After saying a few words, Zhang Wenliang finally felt that his brain was working again. He rolled his eyes, pulled Chen Fan to the door, and said softly, "What do you think, in the future, we won't sell live poultry, and just sell cooked food?"

Chen Fan glanced at him, his eyes full of strangeness.

Zhang Wenliang quickly said, "I mean, we won't look for new customers in the future. We will definitely continue to supply those who have signed contracts, unless they don't want it themselves. Except for these customers, we will keep the remaining live poultry to make cooked food and sell it. What do you think?"

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and said, "I think it depends on the situation."

Zhang Wenliang was stunned, "What do you mean?"

Chen Fan said solemnly, "Don't forget, Lujiawan is not the only one. There are four other production teams behind it. If they all start breeding, then there will be four times more chickens, ducks, and geese. By then, can these few cooked food stores eat them all?"

Zhang Wenliang immediately frowned and lowered his head to think about the tricks in it.

Chen Fan continued, "If possible, of course I also hope to earn all the money into my own pocket, but in this way, we must open more cooked food stores, and we must open stores in other counties, in the prefectural committee, and even in the provincial capital and other provinces, so that we can digest so much live poultry.

In addition, don't wait to see, this year we have helped the commune members earn money, and then they will definitely expand the breeding, and will optimize the breeding structure, and will go to raise chickens and geese, and each team will also increase the number of ducks raised, and then how to deal with more live poultry produced? Then how should we deal with it?

These things must be considered in advance, otherwise, you can let them make money today, and they will be grateful to you, but when they lose money tomorrow, it will be another matter."

Zhang Wenliang was completely awake at this time, glanced at him, and said with a chuckle, "Don't say, scholars are different."

After a pause, he smiled again, "I think, I'm still more suitable for doing some hands-on work. This kind of brain work is left to you. Anyway, I'm a gun in your hand. I'll hit wherever you point, that's it."