Reborn in the 80s: Everyone Falls For Me
Chapter 166 - 165: Love at First Sight (2 more updates)

Chapter 166: Chapter 165: Love at First Sight (2 more updates)

Being able to make such delicious Liuyue Su, Li Qingshui believed her culinary skills couldn’t be too bad.

Thinking of Liuyue Su, Li Qingshui suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, girl, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

At those words from Li Qingshui, both Xu Niannian and Xu Zhiqiang turned their heads back, shifting their gaze from the wall.

"Yesterday, a woman came to my place looking for you, and said she had previously cooperated with you. She asked if I knew your contact information."

"She wanted my contact information?" Xu Niannian laughed, "Does she have a mole the size of a fingernail on her face?"

Li Qingshui nodded, "Exactly, that’s her, so you know her?"

Xu Niannian replied, "I know her, she’s a collaborator from the suburbs."

"That’s not good."

Hearing Xu Niannian confirm that she really was a former collaborator, Li Qingshui worried she might have messed up something important for Xu Niannian.

"When I saw the way she slipped into my store yesterday, all sneaky like a mouse, I thought she had just come to dig up information on you because my Liuyue Su were selling well, so I brushed her off. I didn’t tell her you were here."

Xu Niannian smiled lightly, "It’s fine, I don’t plan to continue cooperating with her anyway."

Seems like this Du Cui would find out sooner or later.

But Xu Niannian wasn’t afraid, even if Du Cui did show up, she wouldn’t let her stir up any trouble.

From her tone, it seemed Xu Niannian was not satisfied with this collaborator, but Li Qingshui didn’t ask further.

Since they were opening a restaurant, Xu Niannian didn’t cover the roof with those messy "leaves", fearing they wouldn’t stick well and would be more of a hassle if they fell into customer’s bowls.

Some leftover plastic rope from a previous purchase was still there, so Xu Niannian took it and, with Li Qingshui’s help on one side, quickly wove a square net.

After pulling and stretching it, they had Xu Zhiqiang and Sige nail it to the middle of the ceiling while standing on stools.

With this added touch, and the results of a day’s bustle, the whole shop’s appearance had greatly elevated in class.

The entire place radiated a sense of vibrant spring, with an elegant environment that made people feel comfortable just by looking at the decorations.

With concern, Li Qingshui said, "Girl, the level of your shop’s planning seems quite high, but right now, there are many poor people. I treat you like a sister and won’t hide it from you. My family has been running a shop here for so long, and even though those rich folks are generous with money, there are only a few of them. Most of the money we make comes from the pockets of poor people."

Of course, by ’poor people’, Li Qingshui didn’t mean the old farmers who only have their crop income.

They can’t be relied on to dine out; with that money, they would prefer to buy more grains to feed their family for ten days or half a month at home.

The ’poor people’ she referred to were mostly the workers in town who had a steady salary.

These people earned between 20 to 30 yuan a month. If the food were cheaper, they might give it a try, but if it were expensive, they wouldn’t come at all.

The main thing was they couldn’t afford it; everyone needed to get by, and who would unnecessarily spend big on dining out every day?

Li Qingshui’s words were a reminder to Xu Niannian not to set her prices too high.

"Thank you, Sister Li, I understand what you’re saying. Don’t worry, when it’s time to open the shop, I’ll be relying on you for support," Xu Niannian replied.

Xu Niannian knew what Li Qingshui meant; opening this restaurant, she had never intended to price things too high, just like a typical restaurant.

She had dined at a few nearby restaurants in recent days, paying special attention to the prices.

Only then did she realize the few dishes she and Jin Yu ordered near the hospital that day were indeed a lot more expensive.

Even though there were three big meat dishes, in other restaurants, they would have cost around three yuan each; that restaurant had obviously doubled their prices.

But that was normal, the same in any era; the higher the foot traffic, the more expensive the rental, naturally resulting in prices increasing.

Being near a hospital, that’s to be expected.

Starting from the bottom, Xu Niannian had no intention of raising prices. The first step was to capture the customers’ appetites. Setting high prices from the start would only scare them away.

She understood these principles.

Still, she was quite thankful to Li Qingshui for being so considerate and caring towards her.

For the carpentry, Xu Niannian planned to go and hurry them along, to see if they could finish the tables and chairs two days earlier. If that wasn’t possible, she decided to bring over whatever was ready.

Having agreed to treat Li Qingshui and Sige to a meal today, Xu Niannian didn’t delay and cheerfully said, "Let’s go, Sister Li, to my place. I’ll be cooking today. I’ll let you and Sige taste my culinary skills."

Li Qingshui covered her mouth with a laugh, "You’re serious, thank you, sister. But it’s too late today. Our shops are close to each other, I can come over for a meal at your place any time when I’m free."

Li Qingshui insisted, so Xu Niannian didn’t say much else.

The next morning, Xu Niannian went to see the carpenter first, together with Xu Zhiqiang.

Xu Niannian had ordered forty tables and eighty benches from the carpenter.

She originally wanted to ask if the carpenter could speed up the process, but to her surprise, he had already finished everything.

It turned out that the carpenter’s son had returned from out of town and they worked together, which explained the rapid progress.

The tables and benches were of a simple design, without any need for fancy patterns, and the carpenter, with over a decade of experience, was very fast.

Having completed the tables and benches three days ahead of schedule, Xu Niannian couldn’t be happier. She added more money for the carpenter to make a cash counter and agreed to pick up the goods in three days.

The carpenter said it would be ready in one day, and Xu Niannian smiled, "Alright, sir, I have other things planned for tomorrow. If it’s convenient for you, could you deliver it to my shop? I’ll pay extra for delivery."

The old man had never heard the term "delivery fee" before, but he understood the concept easily.

He smiled and waved his hand, "No need, no need, it’s no trouble at all, just give me the address."

"Okay, thank you, sir, you are really kind," Xu Niannian said sweetly, seeing that the old man had a kind face and was obviously a good person.

After giving the address to the old man, Xu Niannian planned to find some people to move the tables and chairs.

The old man told her there was no need to look for help and shouted into the house, "Gangzi, we’ve got work, come on out."

"Eh, coming," a hearty and masculine voice came from inside.

Xu Niannian raised her eyebrows in curiosity, looking at the old man who explained with a smile, "My son, we have a bullock cart at home, I’ll have him help you deliver these items."

"Great, thank you, sir."

Soon, the man called Gangzi came out, a towering figure almost one meter eighty, but his face was not as imposing at all.

Clean and sunny, that was Xu Niannian’s first impression of Gangzi.

Gangzi walked out with a smile, and upon laying eyes on Xu Niannian, he was stupefied, unable to move, staring at her in a daze.

Xu Niannian wasn’t experiencing this sort of thing for the first time, she was used to it, and although Gangzi’s gaze was bewildered, it wasn’t off-putting.

To Xu Niannian, Gangzi felt like a very innocent and pure big boy.

She took the initiative to break the awkwardness, lifting the corners of her lips into a smile, "You must be Gangzi, right? I’ll be troubling you in a bit, thank you."

Her voice was soft and tender, with a touch of allure that surpassed any of the damsels from Jiangnan that Gangzi had encountered.

Gangzi snapped back to reality, nearly falling into astonishment once again.

Her voice was so pleasant to listen to.

Gangzi scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward, and showed a shy smile, "No need to thank me, it’s what I should do, thank you for supporting our family’s business."

Xu Niannian smiled again, without further comment.

With so many items, Gangzi had to use the bullock cart, which could only carry four tables and eight benches at a time.

This was possible only because Gangzi skillfully stacked and tied them together, maximizing the load.

The tables and benches weren’t particularly heavy, but due to their four-legged design, they took up a lot of space.

Otherwise, even more could have been transported.

Xu Zhiqiang and Xu Niannian didn’t just stand by; Xu Niannian carried two long benches in her arms while Xu Zhiqiang shouldered a table.

While the two benches weren’t very heavy, carrying them for a distance was enough to make her arms sore.

Xu Niannian felt as if her arms were about to break off.

Fortunately, the shop wasn’t too far from the carpenter’s home, just around two streets away.

After a busy morning, they finally moved all the tables and benches to the shop.

Xu Niannian was extremely tired.

She poured a glass of water for Gangzi, "Gangzi, thank you for today, if not for you, I wouldn’t know how much longer it would have taken."

In this era, unlike the future, selling goods didn’t include delivery.

Here and now, selling goods was just the simple act of a transaction. How the goods were taken home was the buyer’s concern, requiring one to find someone to transport them.

That’s why Xu Niannian was so grateful to Gangzi.

Facing Xu Niannian’s coquettish smile, Gangzi was somewhat overwhelmed. He took the water she passed, hurriedly bowing his head, "You don’t need to thank me, it’s all part of what I should do."

"Hmm?" Xu Niannian was puzzled; had she misunderstood, and his family actually did help with deliveries?

Gangzi licked his lips, lifted his head, and tried not to stutter, "And thank you for supporting our business."

So that was what he meant, Xu Niannian laughed.