Era: Start as a buyer

In early May of 1959, the green train headed to Yancheng, Jiangzhou.

"Zheng Ke, this way, come here quickly, there's a seat over here. Hello, comrade."

"Well, hello, comrade."

The trains in this era are inherently slow and have to pass through many stations. They stop and go, and it is normal to take a day or two to travel hundreds of kilometers.

Despite the poverty of this era, there are generally few seats on trains. It's not that there are many rich people, but the transportation is underdeveloped. If you go to other places, taking the train is actually the most convenient in this era. And because there are so few flights, you can’t just go to one place and get a ticket for the day.

It is already evening now, and the train has just left the boundary of Gancheng. Now there are people boarding the train at the new stop. The smell inside the car is a bit unpleasant, but it's better by the window.

Luo Cheng was sitting on a hard seat. A sleeper would definitely be more comfortable and wouldn't smell so bad. But these days sleepers are not for ordinary people. Luo Cheng is a section chief in a factory, and his administrative level is the lowest deputy section level. It can only be said that it is better than ordinary people. If ordinary people go to other places to take a train, they need a certificate or a letter of introduction.

In Luo Cheng's current position, he can barely buy train tickets without a letter of introduction, but they can only be ordinary tickets. Of course, Luo Cheng also brought a letter of introduction issued by the factory. When traveling to other places, many places not only look for your ID, but also a letter of introduction.

There is no food for sale on this train. Many people bring their own food, all kinds of food. In addition, even though it is only May, the weather this year seems to be hotter than in previous years, and there is no fan or air conditioner in the car. The smell of sweat and some food is strange if it is not unpleasant.

This was Luo Cheng's first time taking a train, not counting the high-speed rail he would take in the future. It’s hard to describe the trains of this era, they always feel like they’re swaying. Many people got motion sick on the car and couldn't help but vomit. The smell in the car was even worse. Some people may not vomit originally, but if they are stimulated by the smell, they will vomit.

Luo Cheng felt dizzy at this moment. Even if one of the two girls who just came up to sit across from him took the initiative to say hello to him, Luo Cheng also responded slightly.

His head was dizzy, but Luo Cheng didn't feel like vomiting. Anyway, it was just uncomfortable. Before I got in the car, I deliberately brought a few newspapers to read in the car in order to pass the time. But now I can't see at all. If I focus on something with my eyes, my head will become even more dizzy. I could only lean my head against the iron basket of the train window and keep my glasses closed as much as possible to feel better.

"Comrade, what's wrong with you? Do you need help?"

"No, it might be motion sickness, I'll be fine just like that."

"Oh, comrade, call us if necessary."

"Well, thank you."

Perhaps because she saw something was wrong with Luo Cheng's current situation, the little lesbian girl later asked him about his situation enthusiastically. He speaks Mandarin with a slight accent, which is okay. At least he can communicate in Mandarin.

Luo Cheng's seat had been occupied before, and they were all from the same province. But even in a province, Luo Cheng couldn't understand the dialect. The other person couldn't speak fast, he was from Macheng. When he spoke fast, Luo Cheng felt like he was speaking Japanese.

When you go out, you don't need to guess if you are neatly dressed, well-dressed, and able to speak Mandarin. The other party is at least an educated person. An uneducated person, there are really many accented Mandarin these days that cannot be spoken.

After thanking the other party for his kindness, Luo Cheng planned to continue to close his eyes and rest, but he took a look at the lesbian named Ke Ke. It feels a bit surprising and familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen it before. The feeling may be an illusion. I should have never met the other person before. Why does he look familiar? I feel dizzy. I can't think too much and continue to empty my head.

"Zheng Ke, you are so awesome. This time you go to Jiangcheng, you will become a magazine editor."

"Zhang Peng, as an intern, it's hard to say whether you can pass the internship period."

~~Zhang Peng? Luo Cheng was just confused, not really asleep. Why did the little girl sitting opposite have such a name? Luo Chengdu opened his eyes curiously and glanced at the girl named Zhang Peng again. Compared with Zheng Ke, how should I put it, she is considered beautiful in this era. But it has no characteristics, and I think it looks good, but in the future, there will be more beauties like this, and it is easy to forget, at least here in Luo Cheng.

"Zheng Ke~~!!!."

"Comrade, her name is Zhang Yueyue."

Luo Chengna deliberately opened his eyes to look at Zhang Yueyue, then closed them again. The two people opposite were a little embarrassed, it was just a small name joke. Life in this era is so boring, and many people’s names are used as memes for entertainment. This is a combined-character stem, and there are also split-character stems. For example, if a person named Zhang Pao is called Zhang Huobao, it is normal.

The train continued to move, and the words of the two little girls on the opposite side reached Luo Cheng's ears from time to time. It turns out that one is an intern editor of a magazine and the other is a logistics intern of a newspaper. In this day and age, those are all talented women.

The most important thing is that the place they went to is the same city as Luo Cheng, but Jiangcheng is a big place, so the chance of encountering him in the future is very small.

I don’t know how long it took, but the train stopped again, and the sky outside the window became dark. We stopped at another station, and some people got on and some got off. Each stop is not short, but neither is it long.

Luo Cheng felt his head was a little hot. When the train was moving, the wind coming in from the window was a bit comfortable, but as soon as it stopped, his head felt uncomfortable. My body seems to have no strength left.

Luo Cheng took out a bright yellow orange from the cloth bag he took out. He felt that the smell in the carriage must be unpleasant, and eating an orange might relieve it. But after simply peeling the orange, I found that I had no appetite at all. I felt that putting the peel of the orange in front of my nose and smelling it would make me feel better.

"Well, you two comrades, why don't you eat oranges? I can't eat them, so I just want to smell the orange peel. Peel this, please eat it."

"This~~, thank you so much."

When Luo Cheng took out the oranges, Zhang Yueyue and Zheng Ke saw it. The fruit was bright yellow, and they felt that it should be very sweet and delicious.

They didn't expect that the other party would peel it off and refuse to eat it, and his eyes did look a little confused. It's not like he deliberately picked up an orange to strike up a conversation with them, plus the other party is wearing a formal suit and looks handsome, so it is indeed easy for girls to like him.

The oranges were divided between Zhang Yueyue and Zheng Ke. To eat one piece, they had to wait until the taste was gone before eating the second piece. It was so sweet. Sweet things can bring happiness to people. This may not necessarily be true in the future, but in this era of scarcity, a piece of candy or a piece of sweet fruit can make people feel satisfied.

Zheng Ke smiled while eating oranges. His teeth were very white and he had two small dimples when he smiled.

It's just that Luo Cheng didn't see the other party's smile. The orange peel seemed to have some effect when he first smelled it. But he felt very dizzy, a bit unlike simple motion sickness.

Fortunately, the train started moving again, and the wind outside the window blew on his forehead, which relieved him a lot.

"Comrade~~, comrade~~, can you hear me~?"

"Comrade~Comrade~~~."

In his confusion, Luo Cheng seemed to hear someone calling him comrade, but he didn't seem to hear it. He wanted to open his eyes, but he didn't know how. Perhaps because he was too tired, Luo Cheng gave up responding again~~.

"Yueyue, this comrade doesn't seem to be motion sick, but is sick. His forehead is a bit hot."

"Ah, Zheng Ke, what should I do?"

"I'm going to see the flight attendant. I think I have a fever and see if there is any medicine."

"Well, let me check to see if he has any water. I drank all my water."

"I'm confused now. It's not good to look through other people's things. I have water in the kettle, just use mine. I'll take a look and go find the flight attendant."

"Okay, go quickly."

Luo Cheng could feel someone touching his forehead, but it didn't feel real to him. He was sick. In fact, he rarely got sick since he was a child, and he rarely caught a cold once a year. He might have gotten sick, but he couldn't afford it, and he might not remember it after he fought it off. But he didn't remember a few times when he had a fever.

"Luo Cheng, wake up quickly, what's wrong with you?"

"Ah, Xiaofei, I don't know, I feel dizzy."

"You have a fever. Your body and forehead are very hot. Did you sweat last night and you didn't cover yourself with a quilt? How do you feel? Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"what time is it now?"

"It's almost four o'clock."

"Is there any medicine at home? I don't think the problem is big. Take some medicine and see if it doesn't work. If it doesn't work, go to the hospital."

"I don't have any medicine at home, but there are many takeaway pharmacies that are open 24 hours a day. I'll buy it right now, and you wait."

Luo Cheng nodded. Liu Xiaofei usually seemed unreliable and played mahjong every day, but at critical moments, it could be seen that she was still very concerned about him.

It was still dark outside, so Liu Xiaofei went out, but there was a pharmacy at the door of the community. I came back in ten minutes, and then I used a hot water kettle to boil water and bought a more effective brewing agent.

"Dalang, Dalang, get up and take medicine."

Luo Cheng understands this, Diao Chan feeds Wu Dalang the medicine.

After drinking the medicine, Luo Cheng lay down for a while, feeling much more comfortable, and slowly fell asleep again.

In this future era, Luo Cheng has actually done nothing recently. I don’t want to be too tired and bother myself with anything. The local chicken restaurant opened successfully because the publicity was good and the prices were reasonable. At least some of the signature local chicken dishes were very reasonably priced. Luo Chengding’s prices are not high, mainly because he raises the native chickens himself. Even if he supplies local chickens and eggs to local chicken restaurants at wholesale prices, Luo Cheng will still make a profit.

The procurement problem at the local chicken restaurant has been solved for now. I still use Zhou Meng's younger brother. Who is not using him? But Luo Cheng followed the advice of the canteen's 'director' Zhu Li and made a distribution list of dish ingredients. Zhu Li got this from other colleagues. The price on the delivery list is not actually the lowest price. It is common for the prices of many seasonal vegetables to fluctuate.

But as for the distributors, they will not deliver according to the daily price, but will adjust it every ten days or so. And because this price list is for door-to-door delivery, the price is still slightly different from purchasing it yourself.

However, this is only a temporary measure. As long as Luo Cheng doesn't find his own supplier, even if Zhou Meng's brother is not used, something fishy will still happen. In any industry, such a situation will occur when purchasing.

It's just that if the catering industry reaches a large scale, it will be different. Julie used to be the store manager of a fast food restaurant chain. Since it is a chain store, it is not just one store. You may be in a store and want a lot of goods, but you can't afford the quantity.

For example, a store needs two to three hundred kilograms of vegetables a day, which sounds like a lot, but if it is dispersed into various dishes, it may be ten kilograms of peppers, ten kilograms of eggplant, zucchini, celery, etc., a dozen vegetables add up to two Three hundred pounds. But there are not many individual dishes.

But when you have ten catering branches, it's different. You can just contact the wholesale food boss yourself and arrange for people to deliver goods to each store. In regular chain stores, no one is actually responsible for purchasing. The store manager arranges for inventory to be made. If anything is missing, he or she will report it to the headquarters, or to the person in charge of delivering food.

It's just that Luo Cheng only has one restaurant now. If he hires someone to deliver it, he has to prepare a car. It is better to let Zhou Meng's brother take responsibility first. As long as the price does not exceed the price on the price list, even if there is oil and water, he will not make much money. It’s still more cost-effective than hiring extra people to deliver.

So things at the Chicken Restaurant are like that for the time being. Now is the Labor Day, and there are gifts for eating local chicken when it opens. The business of the local chicken restaurant has been good since it opened. If you eat local chicken, you will get beer. If you don’t drink, you can also choose to get Guihaha mineral water as a gift. If you have children, they will also get AD calcium milk. .

The Tujiguan store also sells drinks, but recently it is best not to use any related products of the Yifu Spring brand. There is no other way. If you encounter someone who shoots videos with rhythm, expose your address and store name, and start a boycott. Although Luo Cheng is rich, he doesn't want to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This local chicken restaurant is in business now, but the real situation will depend on whether the business can be stable after May Day. If things are stable, Luo Cheng also plans to strike while the iron is hot and follow Zhu Li's suggestion to open a chain of local chicken restaurants.

It's just that Liu Xiaofei went to the Chicken Restaurant when it opened, met Zhou Meng, and then always told Luo Cheng suspiciously that she had a problem. She couldn't tell what the problem was, and just talked about a woman's sixth sense. Therefore, when he wanted to open another branch, Liu Xiaofei said that he would no longer be a partner, and it was not like he had no capital, so he would just do it alone.

Luo Cheng and Zhou Meng are just a partnership for a local chicken restaurant, not a company brand partnership. If they continue to be a partnership, all the local chicken restaurants opened later will use the same name to build a scale. Later, when Luo Cheng wants to open another local chicken restaurant alone, it really won't work, at least not under the same name.

However, Luo Cheng's mind was not on the local chicken restaurant. What he was interested in was the large dining hall.

As for the large canteen, it has long been out of control. It has changed from a profit-making canteen to a service one. This is just like the previous hospitals. The previous hospitals were service-oriented, but now they have become a profit model and charge for everything.

Although Luo Cheng's position in the big canteen was not expected to make much money at the beginning, he only needed to earn the food expenses of his workers. But the model is still profitable, but before it opened, control of the canteen, at least the lobby part, had been lost. But now it's the dishes, and I can't hold on anymore.

For example, the garlic sprouts on the market are very expensive now. If you buy the garlic sprouts that are just on the market at the price of the dishes in the cafeteria, you will definitely not buy them. But some people wanted to eat, so they went directly to the canteen director Zhu Li for advice. The food was expensive, so they still had to buy it with vegetable tickets. Vegetarian dishes originally cost one ticket, so they gave two.

In the final discussion, if you can't afford to offend the old people, try to obey them. We just need to provide services. Just like Donglai Supermarket, its business is good not because the goods inside are cheap, but because the after-sales service is good and the goods are genuine. Even the purchase price is marked out for you.

Luo Cheng doesn't need to limit the price anymore. He has to sell it at a low price. Let’s also follow others’ example and just clearly mark the price.

For example, for a portion of stir-fried meat with garlic sprouts, if six pieces of garlic sprouts weigh one pound more, mark it directly, and also write down the amount of meat per pound. Then write down a portion of stir-fried meat with garlic sprouts. How much garlic sprouts should be used and how much meat should be used. Just add a crafting fee, but the purchase mode is still to use meal tickets. Giving a few more tickets is about a kind of sentiment. Paying cash to scan a code or something is meaningless.