Literary Heroes of the Republic of China

Mu Qiong can still understand the psychology of ordinary people at this time. He believes that if there are employees in suits who speak foreign languages ​​at the entrance of this western restaurant, the business will definitely be better.

The boss was able to open a store and do business in the concession, so he had a good vision, and he knew it was a good idea, so he was immediately moved.

However, although he was tempted, he still said: "This is a good idea. I will give you a piece of ocean as a reward, but our restaurant cannot recruit you."

An ocean?Mu Qiong was a little surprised, but also puzzled: "Why didn't you recruit me?" With only one ocean, it would not be enough to buy pots, pans, and other daily necessities for the family. He still hopes to have a stable job.

"You look like you can work?" The owner said: "Also, you really don't smoke opium?"

Mu Qiong was helpless: "I really don't smoke! I'm sick and my family is poor, so I haven't had enough to eat for a long time."

The original owner was in the period when he was growing up as a teenager, and he was not fat at all. This time, after going on a hunger strike for almost a month, only skin and bones remained.

The people in the place they rented understood his situation and had only sympathy for him, but after they came out... many people looked at him with colored eyes.

"The rotten boat still has three catties of iron. I think you have an extraordinary temperament and conversation. Even if your family is ruined, you won't be hungry for food, right?" The owner of the western restaurant said: "You said that if you didn't smoke opium, you would be like this ?”

When Mu Qiong heard this, he was about to explain it before selling it badly, when suddenly someone interrupted: "He doesn't smoke opium."

Mu Qiong looked over and found that the speaker was a young man in his early twenties.

This man was very handsome, even if he had the fashionable middle cut, it would not damage his appearance. He was wearing a long gown, and he was carrying a medicine box with a red cross printed on it. He seemed to be a doctor.

The owner of the western restaurant knew him. When he saw him, he had a big smile on his face: "Doctor Fu!"

The doctor surnamed Fu nodded to the boss, and said: "He looks like this, you can tell that he is hungry and thin, and he didn't smoke out of opium."

The boss is obviously very convinced of the doctor: "With Dr. Fu's words, I feel relieved."

Mu Qiong was also very grateful: "Thank you, Dr. Fu!"

"You're welcome, I have something else to do, so I'm leaving first." Dr. Fu nodded towards Mu Qiong, and left with the medicine box.

After Dr. Fu left, the boss looked at Mu Qiong without any disgust: "Dr. Fu said so, I will give you a chance."

"Thank you." Mu Qiong said.

"Come in." The boss greeted him and walked into the restaurant. When Mu Qiong entered his western restaurant, he realized that the layout inside was indeed a bit Chinese.

This western restaurant turned out to be a dark red Eight Immortals table, and there were some ordinary calligraphy works hanging around it, but it also sold western food...

Forget it, the tables and chairs inside are old, and there are nicks made with a knife on each table, which is very unpleasant.

The owner of the western restaurant took out a pen and a notebook and asked, "Where are you from? Do you have a diploma? Where do you live?"

Mu Qiong has already felt the wariness of strangers in this era, and he doesn't hide anything. He honestly told his situation, and he didn't even hide who his father was.

There is nothing wrong with his identity, and it is not good to fabricate information and be known in the future.

At this time, he did not say that he had studied in the preparatory class of Peking University, but said that his grandfather had asked someone to teach him French and English.

After hearing Mu Qiong's "unlucky history", the owner of the western restaurant had a better attitude towards Mu Qiong: "Your father is really wrong! If you marry your aunt, marry your aunt! How can you drive away your wife and children! And you The attitude of the family over there in Suzhou towards you... Tsk tsk, someone has probably greeted you!"

Mu Qiong didn't agree with the first half of the boss's sentence, but agreed with the latter.

After Zhu Wanwan returned to Suzhou, someone in the Su family must have instructed her to treat her like this.

People these days have a strong sense of family. If any family in the family is not doing well, other people will help. It makes no sense to be so unfeeling to their mother and child when they come to them.

After figuring out the specific situation of Mu Qiong, the owner of the western restaurant was not so vigilant. He handed the notebook and pen to Mu Qiong and asked Mu Qiong to write down his name and everything.

Moo-joon finishes writing in no time.

Mu Qiong's handwriting was beautiful, and the boss was even more satisfied. He talked about Mu Qiong's treatment: "I'll take you to make clothes later. You can only wear the clothes in the store. As for the salary, it's six silver dollars a month. "

The salary here in the concession is higher than that outside, six silver dollars a month is not too much, and of course it is not too little.

At least Moo-joon is satisfied.

Of course, it’s a bit too far away to get the salary after one month, and the boss is definitely not willing to give him the salary of an almost complete stranger in advance... Mu Qiong thought about the piece of ocean that the boss promised before: "Boss, what did you do before?" Said that I gave you an idea, you want to give me a big ocean..."

The boss looked at Mu Qiong.

Mu Qiong smiled embarrassedly: "My family can't open the pot anymore...Boss, I have some ideas about how to decorate your restaurant! I can also cook Western food!" Of course he can't decorate the restaurant, but he With a modern vision, I can at least offer some advice. As for cooking western food...he bought a steak and fried it at home.

"You won't be missing." The boss glanced at Mu Qiong and gave Mu Qiong a silver dollar.

In a western restaurant, apart from the boss, there is also a cook and a helper.

The boss explained to the cook, and took Mu Qiong to a nearby tailor shop.

The tailor shop also sells cloth, and there are all kinds of fabrics. The boss ignores other people's suggestions and directly asks for the cheapest one, and asks them to make a suit and trousers plus a shirt for Mu Qiong.

I can't make much money on the fabric, so the tailor is not enthusiastic. Fortunately, his professionalism is still there. He measured Mu Qiong's size and said: "You are still growing, I will make you a little bigger, you guys Pick it up in three days."

The boss paid a total of one ocean for the suit, trousers and shirt. He glanced at Mu Qiong and said, "Go buy another pair of shoes."

The price of leather shoes is not cheap. Although the boss picked a cheap one, he still spent [-] cents and complained: "The business hasn't improved yet, so I spent several yuan on you!"

Mu Qiong has been chatting with this boss all the way, and he knows that his surname is Chen, and he has been in Shanghai for almost 20 years.

Boss Chen was a cook in his early years, and later he saved enough money to open his own restaurant. His western restaurant had a good business in the past few years. He made a lot of money and was worth a lot of money. Pounds, I sent my son to study abroad, and I don’t have much money around, but there is a better western restaurant next door to his house.

Boss Chen's business has been bleak this year, and the store is almost out of business.

"Boss, sometimes you spend money to earn more." Mu Qiong said.

"Who knows if I can make money!" Boss Chen sighed.

Mu Qiong couldn't answer this question, so he said, "Boss, you don't have enough money to redecorate the store, but you can do some other decorations."

"What arrangement?" Boss Chen asked.

"Repaint the walls, cover the tables and chairs in the store with light-colored tablecloths, and put a vase on the table..." Mu Qiong made some suggestions of his own.

Boss Chen was very interested: "Tell me about it in detail."

Mu Qiong spoke in detail.

In Shanghai during this period, there were also authentic western restaurants, where the cooks were even foreigners, but the consumption in such stores was beyond the reach of ordinary people. In addition, the decoration of those stores was very luxurious, and the style was difficult to imitate .

For Boss Chen, a Chinese-oriented Western restaurant, the simple transformation methods mentioned by Mu Qiong are obviously more suitable for him.

Not to mention anything else, adding tablecloths to the tables in his store will save more money than replacing all the tables and chairs with new ones!

At this time, Western-style things are expensive. If you want to replace the tables and chairs in the store with Western-style ones, it will cost at least a few dozen oceans.

Boss Chen immediately decided to try what Mu Qiong said.

Although the business of Boss Chen's shop was not good, it was still in business, so it didn't close. When the two returned, there was a young couple having dinner, and the restaurant was still full of attractive aromas.

In front of the young couple were bread, butter, a bowl of soup, a bowl of fruit, a bowl of stir-fried vegetables, and a fried pork chop.

Mu Qiong looked at the menu hanging on the wall, only to realize that this western restaurant mainly sells fried pork cutlets.

He asked Boss Chen before he knew that when guests come to eat western food, each guest will be charged [-] cents, and then they will be served with fried pork chops, fried seasonal vegetables, fruit and soup. In addition, bread and butter There are also unlimited sauces.

Converting the two cents of Xiaoyang, it is about 70 yuan in modern times. This amount of money per person for a meal is not cheap, but it is not too expensive.

"By the way, you said you can cook western food, what will you do?" Boss Chen asked Mu Qiong after introducing the situation in the store.

"Fried steak." Mu Qiong said.

Boss Chen gave Mu Qiong a hard look: "Steak...do you know what the price of steak is in Shanghai?"

Mu Qiong didn't know, but he could guess.

There are more pigs in the south of the Yangtze River, and few people raise cattle. Cattle are raised for the convenience of farm work... Fresh beef is definitely not cheap.

"Okay, you can go back first. Come here before eight o'clock tomorrow morning and start working officially." Boss Chen said.

After such a round of tossing around, it was already evening, and the sky outside the window darkened, making the already dim western restaurant look even darker, and Boss Chen had to turn on the lights.

"Okay." Mu Qiong agreed.

After Mu Qiong finished speaking, he was about to leave, but before he went out, Boss Chen stopped him again.

Boss Chen went into the kitchen, came out again soon, and gave Mu Qiong an oiled paper bag: "This is the leftover bread from the past few days. It's not bad but it's a bit dry. Do you want it?"

"Thank you boss!" Mu Qiong answered with a smile.

Even if the bread is no longer soft, it must be better than batter.

The concession at night was very lively, but Mu Qiong didn't have time to look around, so he hurried to the tram stop and squeezed onto the tram.

The tram stopped at the station where he had come, and Mu Qiong got off, striding home with some dry bread in his arms.

There are already street lights in the concession, but there are none here. Fortunately, the night is good tonight, so I can see clearly.

Enduring the soreness in his legs, Mu Qiong walked quickly. After walking for a while, he suddenly saw someone walking towards him...it was Zhu Wanwan!