Chapter 322

As soon as she had opened the door, she felt the fall breeze and that made her shudder.

It was so cold.But cold was good. It would befit her new project that she had in mind.Tong Jiaming was already up. As usual, he started the porridge and went to study inside the study.Comparing to Tong Jiaxin, Tong Jiaming was studious and disciplined.Tong Xuelu collected the egg laid by Xiao Lu. Xiao Lu clucked when it saw her as though it was saying, “Look, I’ve laid another egg.”Tong Xuelu, “I know. I’ll bring you some nice food in a little while.”Mooncake, the drama-queen dog, heard the word food and got even more excited than Xiao Lu. He bounced up and down and started Xiao Lu.Tong Xuelu pan fried the egg and made some vegetables. That would make a balance diet.After breakfast, she brought the still sleepy Tong Mianmian over to the Wei’s and also paid them Tong Mianmian’s lunch money for the month.Shen Wanrong grumbled for a little bit before she accepted the money.Meng Qingqing and the others were already waiting when Tong Xuelu arrived at the restaurant.They were chatting outside of the restaurant and Guo Chunyu’s face was flushed from laughing. Her voice was loud and clear and could be hear from afar.Guo Chunyu teased Tong Xuelu when she saw her. “Oh, you are here finally, Manager Tong. We have been waiting forever!”Tong Xuelu smiled and didn’t say anything.She liked the way things were right now. It was much better than looking at Tan Xiaoyan’s square face the first thing in the morning and had to put up with her snide comments from time to time.After they had walked inside the restaurant, Tong Xuelu called for a meeting before the daily cleaning was commenced.“We are going to start buckling down today. My plan is to return our restaurant’s sales back to where it was in two weeks’ time.”Guo Chunyu, “What do you have in mind, Manager Tong?”Tong Xuelu looked over at all over them and said, enunciating every syllable, “Malatang.”Malatang?Meng Qingqing and the others look baffled.Tong Xuelu elaborated, “Malatang is to skewer the meats and vegetables and cook them in a sauce. Qingqing, did you bring me what I have asked?”Meng Qingqing nodded quickly and produced a large back of skewers. “My dad said this is all he had for now. He can get us some more in a couple of days.”Guo Chunyu and Guo Weiping both stepped forward and look at the skewers inside the bag curiously.Tong Xuelu pulled a handful of the skewers out and inspected them. She finally nodded approvingly.The skewers were very even and their surfaces very smooth. There was no worries that someone’s mouth would be poked.Such handy work back in these days!The idea of malatang had occurred to her when she returned from the Commerce Department meeting.She had thought about hotpot as well but she had quickly rejected that idea. She would need too many pots for hot pot.The restaurant only had a few pots currently and it hotpot would not be practical.Malatang, on the other hand, was much simpler. As long as the ingredients and sauce were good, it could be very tasty while requiring very minimal tools and space.She had asked Meng Qingqing the day she returned to the restaurant whether her father would be able to provide them with skewers.She had learned from Meng Qingqing in the past that her father could make furniture from bamboos and many from the Production Team pay him for his work.Meng Qingqing nodded immediately. Skewers were much easier to make comparing to furniture.Tong Xuelu, “Very well. Tell your dad that we can use a second batch.”This fell under the category of normal business purchases – from the restaurant to the production team. As such, there would be no worries that they would be reported for under-the-table trading.Meng Qingqing’s eyes beamed and she nodded repeatedly. “Okay. I will let him know when I get home tonight.”Her mom had spent a few days in jail after she had rejected Liu Dongchang and, as Liu Dongchang would no longer be their son-in-law, her brother also could not become a permanent employee at his workplace.Her grandfather had been very displeased with her because of that. Now that the government-operated restaurant was purchasing skewers from her father, she was also bringing in income for her family in a sense.Perhaps her grandpa would be less critical of her this way?Tong Xuelu returned the skewers back into the bag. “I need to go buy ingredients. It would be a sizeable purchase. Come with me, Xiao Guo.”Guo Weiping nodded quickly.Guo Chunyu and Meng Qingqing did not feel that Tong Xuelu was being unfair. They started with the cleaning after the two had left.