Rebirth in 1986: Unforgettable Regrets
Chapter 56 Busy

Chapter 56: Chapter 56 Busy

"One cabinet, how many boards can it be made into?" Zhang Hualian doesn’t know much about these things, and she asked again, "Where will Xiao Yue and Xiao Jun’s clothes go in the future?"

"Our original cabinet was quite large, if we use it just for tabletops, three or four tabletops could be made," Tang Zhengde replied seriously. Although he was not a carpenter, he still knew a bit and added, "Moreover, there is some leftover wood at home, we could patch together another tabletop, and as for the table legs, we will find some more material when required."

"Hualian, I will dismantle this cabinet tomorrow and carry it into town," Tang Zhengde felt more convinced as he thought about it, knowing that buying a table outright would definitely be costly.

No sooner said than done, that very night, Tang Zhengde started dismantling one wardrobe, turning them into individual boards. The next day, early in the morning, he and Zhang Hualian carried the boards to the county.

Thinking that it would be inconvenient to take the boards on the bus, Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian carried the boards and a quilt and walked all the way into town, where Tang Zhengde inquired after a carpenter from Tang Mingli and began scouring the market after specifying the desired size of the table.

Since they were starting a restaurant, they had to buy bowls necessarily, ones for morning soup noodles, stir-fried noodles, and they also needed to buy rice bowls, dishes, and soup bowls.

Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian compared prices at different vendors, and painfully made the purchases, placing everything into the rented shop space.

Zhang Hualian started cleaning the place up. Yesterday, both Tang Zhengde and Tang Yue did a simple cleanup, but there was still much to do.

Behind the shopfront was the kitchen and the courtyard, and further inside were two rooms and a storage room.

The kitchen had been unused for a long time, and it took Zhang Hualian and her husband the whole afternoon to clean it.

That evening, Tang Mingli came to call them for dinner, and looking at the freshly tidied house, he praised, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, it really turned out well, the house may be old, but the location is great."

"Mingli, do you think people will come to eat here?" Tang Zhengde felt somewhat anxious, always worried about losing money.

"Second brother, when I first started selling clothes, I also feared it would be a loss, but isn’t it thriving now?" Tang Mingli encouraged, "Second brother, later when we buy houses in the county, let’s buy next to each other so we can look out for each other."

"I don’t even dare to think about that," Tang Zhengde laughed naively, "I just hope to earn back the capital and then maybe next year or the year after, we could get Xiao Jun to study in town too."

"Yes, by then, our family of four can be together," Zhang Hualian also looked forward to that day.

In the past, they often stayed together, but Xiao Yue and Xiao Jun didn’t get along well, and it didn’t feel like home.

Now that Xiao Yue has grown up and became sensible, the home atmosphere changed and became particularly warm, and she wished she could see her beautiful daughter and sensible son every day.

The shop hadn’t opened yet, but Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian were always busy. Even the walls were painted by Tang Zhengde himself.

Zhang Hualian assisted him. The white walls were painted very cleanly. The thoroughly cleaned kitchen got a fresh coat of paint too, making the whole room brighter.

The day they rented the shop, Tang Yue said that it must be bright and clean.

These past few days, successively, Tang Zhengde had also brought clothes from home, along with some other daily necessities, observing a principle of frugality, only short of moving everything from home over, so they didn’t have to buy new.

Saturday.

After Tang Yue arrived at the newly renovated shop and saw the clean storefront and the neatly arranged tables, she couldn’t help exclaiming, "Mom and Dad, you’ve done a really good job, is this table new?"

"The table is made from the wardrobe wood, re-polished, as good as new," Tang Zhengde trusted Tang Yue’s judgment while asking her if anything else needed to be changed.

Tang Yue examined carefully. A clean and tidy dining area was good, and the kitchen, under her parents’ care, had completely changed from the old one. Also, to support cooking, they built a new stove specially for burning coal briquettes. Although the coal costs money, it’s not easy to get firewood in the county.

The necessary bowls in the shop were also washed spotlessly clean by her mother. Of the two rooms, one was laid with quilts, and the other was still empty.

Zhang Hualian said, "Xiao Yue, we only have three quilts at home. We brought only one here; the other two are left at home. Now that you live at school and Xiao Jun is home alone, we aren’t worry-free. Later on, we’ll buy another quilt to put in the room here, and then you can stay here."

"Mom, leave this room for Xiao Jun. I’m fine staying at school, and besides, with lots of school work, running here every day isn’t convenient," Tang Yue understandingly said, "So is Xiao Jun home alone this week?"

"No, I’ve told Xiao Jun to eat at Grandma’s house," Zhang Hualian was a bit worried. Xiao Jun was just in his first year of junior high. A couple of days alone at home, wouldn’t he feel uncomfortable? Wouldn’t he get scared?

"Mom, Xiao Jun has grown up too, and soon it will be the holidays. Then we can have Xiao Jun come to live in town," Tang Yue comforted, then changed the subject to ask, "Dad, for opening the restaurant, do we need to get any sort of license? Have you checked with the industrial and commercial bureau?"

Tang Yue had no prior experience running a store and was unfamiliar with these processes.

"I’ll go with your uncle tomorrow to inquire," Tang Zhengde answered, feeling that having all necessary permits would be better.

"So when will we open?" Tang Yue asked next.

Tang Zhengde looked towards Zhang Hualian.

Zhang Hualian spoke up, "Xiao Yue, we plan to open in the next few days. Look, not much time left, owing so much money, opening sooner rather than later is better, isn’t it?"

"That’s true," Tang Yue nodded in agreement, "Mom, check which day is good to open sooner."

The next day, Tang Zhengde went to the industrial and commercial bureau to inquire about the necessity of a license, and after sorting things out, Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian decided to start with breakfasts, getting the hang of it before progressing to stir-fries.

The name of the shop had yet to be decided.

Early Tuesday morning, Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian got up early. The soup for noodles and the ingredients like bean sprouts, soaked tofu, some greens, and shredded meat, as well as green squash for stir-frying noodles, were all ready, but although the shop had been open for a while, not a single customer had come yet.

When Tang Mingli arrived, seeing Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian anxiously standing at the shop entrance looking around, Tang Mingli immediately laughed. He said, "Second brother, go cook some soup noodles and stir-fry some more noodles."

"Okay," Tang Zhengde agreed without hesitation and busied himself in the kitchen.