Back to the 1970s: Building My Fortune Through Time Trading

Chapter 207: The Cafeteria Reopens

"Su Xiaoxiao, stop right there!"

Su Xiaoxiao frowned and turned around, seeing the furrowed brow of the person approaching her: "Zhang Dongmei, what do you want now?"

She wore a gloomy expression, looking somewhat intimidating.

"You..."

The originally aggressive Zhang Dongmei immediately softened up when she met Su Xiaoxiao’s gaze.

After a moment, she straightened her back and began to speak: "Why are you being so fierce? I haven’t even settled the score with you yet. Was it you who pulled some strings on the bidding? Otherwise, with my brother-in-law’s cooking skills, how could he possibly lose to your mom and sister? How could those two country bumpkins compare to a proper chef like my brother-in-law?"

"Did you find a way backstage with the general manager? Otherwise, why would the general manager side with you so much? Don’t you know that my brother-in-law resigned from his ironclad position at the state-run restaurant for this bid? It’s all your fault, I’m not done with you over this."

The more Zhang Dongmei spoke, the angrier she became, glaring at Su Xiaoxiao as if she could make her eyeballs pop out.

Su Xiaoxiao really didn’t want to deal with Zhang Dongmei, that nutjob, so she rolled her eyes: "So, you can’t shit and blame the toilet, or trip while walking and blame the road for being uneven? Not succeeding in the bid is your own problem, what’s that got to do with me? Why don’t you look for reasons in yourselves first, maybe you didn’t work hard enough? Didn’t pay enough attention?"

Constantly suspecting someone is finding back doors or other ways, she thought Zhang Dongmei herself was the most likely to be doing that.

If not for that, with her making such a fuss day in day out, it’s already a miracle the leaders haven’t fired her.

Not working properly all day, just seeking attention.

Zhang Dongmei was so angry at Su Xiaoxiao’s words that her face turned red, she was just about to speak when a female voice chimed in from the side.

"All day not working well, just thinking about nonsense, if you put this much thought into work, you wouldn’t be stuck at such a desolate counter."

Zhang Yulan from the very beginning didn’t think much of Zhang Dongmei, having a bunch of petty mindedness, fussing about this or that all day, not focusing on work one bit.

"You... you all..."

One-on-one, suddenly turned into two-on-one.

Zhang Dongmei’s face turned even redder with anger.

She shot Zhang Yulan a glance, speaking in a sarcastic tone: "Don’t think that by sucking up to Su Xiaoxiao every day you’ll gain something, she’s always been so stingy, sucking up to her won’t do any good."

She sure could lie through her teeth, who knew who was the real petty one all day long.

Zhang Yulan couldn’t be bothered with her either, linking arms with Su Xiaoxiao said: "Xiaoxiao, let’s hurry to work, if we’re late, this month’s full attendance bonus is gone."

Hearing this, Su Xiaoxiao didn’t pay Zhang Dongmei any more mind, turned, and left with her.

They had just returned to their counter when the department store officially opened for business.

In the morning, there were many people in the department store, and the two of them quickly got absorbed in their busy work.

They were busy all the way until noon, and Su Xiaoxiao, thinking about Liu Cuilan and Xu Zhaodi, headed quickly to the cafeteria when the time came.

Today was the first day the cafeteria reopened for business, and as soon as Su Xiaoxiao arrived, she saw a long line of people inside.

The enticing aroma of food filled the cafeteria air, making people swallow hard.

Su Xiaoxiao stretched her neck to look towards the window, and noticed that besides Liu Cuilan and Xu Zhaodi, even Su Wenbing and Su Fusheng were there serving food.

It was the weekend, and both were off, perfect for serving as free labor.

She initially worried business might be slow on the first day, but to her surprise, practically all the department store employees had come, each standing in line at the window, making it quite lively.

Su Xiaoxiao looked around and found a line that was a bit shorter and stood in it.

Even though her family was running the cafeteria, she couldn’t show favoritism and needed to follow the rules.

Zhang Yulan and Qin Shuang also came over with their lunch boxes, happily lining up behind her.

The line they chose was the one Liu Cuilan was handling.

Liu Cuilan was always efficient, and after a short while, it was Su Xiaoxiao’s turn.

Seeing Su Xiaoxiao approaching, Liu Cuilan still maintained a polite and gentle smile and asked her: "Hello comrade, what dishes would you like?"

You could say her mother really did act the part, as Su Xiaoxiao suppressed the urge to laugh and pointed with her hand, saying: "Comrade, please give me a bit of these two dishes."

Su Xiaoxiao indicated the dish containers in front of her, and upon hearing this, Liu Cuilan immediately picked up the ladle and gave a big scoop of each dish, filling her lunch box to the brim.

Su Xiaoxiao was shocked, could her family still make money with her mom serving dishes like this?

This was too generous, as she thought this, her gaze unconsciously moved towards the nearby window, discovering that they didn’t serve others as much.

So this was a special treatment for a close family member, realizing this, Su Xiaoxiao happily smiled at Liu Cuilan and left with her lunch box.

She got two dishes in total, one was scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and the other was spicy and sour shredded potatoes.

Very simple dishes, each made just to her liking.

The shredded potatoes were tangy and spicy, the scrambled eggs with tomatoes had a rich aroma.

Several clerks eating nearby were also full of praise.

"This cafeteria chef’s cooking is really good this time, unlike the last one where I ended up with a stomachache for days."

"Exactly, the previous cafeteria food was both bad and risky, I’d rather eat cold hardtack with pickles."

"I really hope this chef stays with us in the cafeteria, if I could eat such good food every day, I’d be so thrilled, it’s just as good as any state-run restaurant chef."

All the clerks nearby were eating with their heads down, praising endlessly, showing how popular her mom’s and Sister Zhaodi’s culinary skills were.

The two seemed to have heard the chatter around too, serving food with increasing enthusiasm.

Suddenly, from afar, Su Xiaoxiao saw General Manager Yan and Xu Cuilan walking over with their lunch boxes.

She didn’t expect these two leaders to personally come to the cafeteria for lunch.

As she pondered this, they sat down with their lunch boxes right next to Su Xiaoxiao.

Yan Guohua saw her and gave her a slight smile: "Comrade Xiao Su, your mom and sister’s cooking is really great, tell them to keep it up, as long as nothing goes wrong, our department store’s cafeteria will rely on them from now on."

Xu Cuilan also added with endless praise: "Absolutely, their cooking is even better than a state-run restaurant chef’s, didn’t expect you to have such a blessing, Xiao Su."

The two of them took turns complimenting, making Su Xiaoxiao sit up straighter and feel even prouder.

Just then, a sour, sarcastic voice suddenly interjected from the side.