The writers at that time were particularly dignified and would never bow down for a few pieces of silver. Just like Chen Xi, he felt that he was not hired but a free man. He liked the stories written by Zhan Aiping and the teahouse she opened. He wrote in the teahouse during the day and told people stories in the evening. This was his freedom and his happiness.
No one could insult his happiness with money.
Zhan Aiping understood what he meant and did not force it. Instead, she admired him a little. At the same time, she also liked this newly free and open era a little.
Although gold was everywhere in the 1980s, strangely enough, many people did not pursue money fanatically, believed that money was supreme, or felt overwhelmed by the need to make money.
This is also based on a certain historical background. Perhaps it is because there is no pressure to buy a house, and there is no need to bear a 30-year mortgage and work diligently day and night to repay the loan.
Although they are poor, many families have savings and rarely spend beyond their means. Just like Mrs. Luo, even if she has saved a lot of money, she still spends it frugally. The more money she saves, the more at ease she feels.
There is no pressure to buy a house and no huge mortgage, so there is no psychological burden. Renting a house in the city only costs a few dollars a month. Everyone does not have a house, so they all share a house and pay a small rent.
Since they were so free and easy, Zhan Aiping also returned the favor. It was not easy to make a lot of money from such a small oil tea house, but it could also provide a place for many people who loved literature to gather and rest, and facilitate people's creative exchanges.
In the past, the oil tea shop was mainly open in the morning and evening, but now it also opens in the morning and afternoon. During the day, the oil tea shop also sells coffee, latte, Yunnan black tea, Pu'er tea, milk tea and various breads and cakes.
There are few coffee shops in the city now, let alone here. Who would have thought of opening a coffee shop here? Not many people come here to drink coffee.
Zhan Mingzhao used to work in the Yunnan Import and Export Company, where he was mainly responsible for connecting with the tea factory for product exports. He was also particularly knowledgeable about the production and export of coffee. Zhan Aiping asked him to help buy a batch of coffee and tea.
In recent years, the production of coffee and tea has increased, and exports alone can no longer consume the production capacity. The domestic public has not yet developed the habit of drinking coffee and good tea. If we wait a few more years, many good teas will even be unsalable. Zhan Aiping bought a lot of coffee and tea, which can be regarded as helping to convert exports into domestic sales.
Zhan Mingzhao: "Sister, you are really, you open a teahouse and sell coffee."
Zhan Aiping said: "Coffee and tea are both refreshing and prevent drowsiness."
The coffee products in their oil tea house were well received as soon as they were launched. Many people would order a cup of coffee and some pastries when they came to write during the day. They sold very well, and because they were quite rare, after word spread, many people came to drink lattes.
Many people are not used to drinking pure coffee, but latte with milk is very popular. Of course, the best-selling one is taro latte, which is priced high but still many people buy it.
Coffee is sold in a tea house decorated in Chinese style, and there are coffee cups of various colors. Although it looks a bit of a weird combination of Chinese and Western styles... In fact, it is the same in various other places.
A lot of foreign things are mixed like this when they are first introduced.
Gu Sheng and Luo Zhiguo also brought some comrades to listen to martial arts stories. Men, after all, like to listen to these stories of fighting and killing, stories about family and country, chivalrous spirit, and various kinds of brotherhood... It makes people's blood boil. Many people are exposed to such new martial arts novels for the first time.
Not to mention the men, even Mrs. Luo was so overwhelmed that she was now particularly open-minded and felt that money and other things were not as important as her chivalry.
Mrs. Luo is happy: "I just drink oil tea and listen to stories every day. I am happy even if I don't make money."
Mrs. Luo had let it go mentally, but reality dealt her a heavy blow.
Because Ai Ming's oil tea house's business started to become popular again, the private rooms were fully booked, keeping her busy day and night.
"The oil tea in your shop is still the best."
“These melon seeds are good!”
"I still like the atmosphere of this store. There are quite a lot of people!"
Mrs. Luo was about to cry: "There are so many guests, delaying my listening to the story. Xiao Shen, you must tell me the story alone later."
There are more customers and we need to make money, so we won’t let her listen to stories anymore.
Mrs. Luo felt very uncomfortable: "I didn't want to make so much money!"
She would feel uncomfortable if she didn't make money, and she would also feel uncomfortable if she made money. But she was still a mortal after all, and it was impossible for her to reject money.
Ai Ming Oil Tea House's business is booming again, with large crowds of people at all times of the day. It is no longer on the same track as Ai Ping Oil Tea House next door.
Shi Songhong and others from Ai Ping Oil Tea House were very anxious. The business of their teahouse was getting slower and slower. Every day, only a few tables of people came to drink tea, and the rest were all empty as they had all gone to Ai Ming Oil Tea House.
Shi Songhong: "This... ours is good quality and cheap, don't come here!"
She asked a customer, who said, "When we get together for tea, a few cents or a dollar is nothing. Since we're all out here, we should just pick something good."
People prefer Ai Ming Oil Tea House because they have more varieties of dim sum, better quality tea, a better environment, and a literary atmosphere. I heard that they even have storytelling in the evening.
"I'm treating, so of course I'll go with the expensive one. If I treat people to the cheaper one, would I still be a human being? That's nonsense. You can't save money just by saving money on this. The ingredients they use are just good."
"Just choose the one with the best environment."
Generally, those who are willing to book a private room are either the host or colleagues who are pooling money together. The price difference between the two oil tea houses is not that big. If one of them obviously has better service and better taste, it may be more expensive, so you can choose the other one.
As for the customers who want to discuss business and treat guests, is there any need to ask? Of course, they should choose the more expensive one. What else is missing? The more expensive the better the quality, the more it can show his sincerity.
"Why don't we hire the storyteller from their oil teahouse and give him a few dozen more dollars. I don't believe he won't come."
Shi Songhong went to the next door to recruit people, but was poured cold water on because the people said: "You want to insult me with money? No one can insult me with money..."
Shi Songhong: “?!!!”
Isn't the purpose of opening a teahouse to make money
Is it an insult to accept money? Then she would hate to be insulted by others with money every day.
"Who are those people next door?"
A teacher said: "He is a person with feelings."
“Can feelings be eaten as food?”
They also wanted to learn how to sell coffee, but they didn't know how to make it, so they could only watch the business go by slowly. Before long, a teacher suggested that they make some changes: "Our place is so big, and the teahouse is not as good-looking as the one next door. If we change it into a restaurant, it will be much more impressive."
The tables, chairs and benches in their teahouse are all new and very beautiful, much better looking than those small fly-infested restaurants. If compared with the oil teahouse next door, the decoration is not very good, but if compared with those restaurants, theirs is a big hotel with beautiful decoration.
It is so much better looking than those old state-owned restaurants.
Shi Songhong and the others thought so and so they made some changes to the decoration, removed the sign, and changed the name to Ai Ping Private Kitchen, which also sold oil tea and meals.
Guicheng has been open to foreigners for tourism since 1973, so there are many foreigners coming to travel here. After Ai Ming Oil Tea House started selling coffee, it also attracted many foreign tourists. People came to drink coffee in the afternoon, and in the evening Shi Songhong and others would bring foreigners to taste their own "private kung fu dishes".
"Kung Fu food?"
The oil tea shop next door changed its name. Zhan Aiping went to take a look and saw the "Aiping Private Kitchen". She was speechless. They changed the name, so why didn't they change the front part
Mrs. Luo said, "If you change it, how can people brag that we are a sister store?"
Zhan Aiping: “…”
She really had no way to interfere with what name people chose, but she still told the customers in the store and denied the relationship between the two families.
*
"Xiao Zhan." Shen Liqing found Zhan Aiping and asked her to go to a reading symposium. These young intellectuals got together and recently came up with an idea after thinking about it.
Zhan Aiping asked, "You want to start a publication, do you want me to join you? Do you want me to invest?"
Shen Liqing said, "Yes, there are six or seven of us who have invested together. We have decided on the name of the publication, which is "Story Talk". Those of you present here are all founders."
Zhan Aiping agreed: "I can invest in you."
At this time, books and periodicals are flourishing. Investing in a periodical is considered a good investment. Now is the heyday of paper media publications. If you do well, you will not have to worry about losing money.
Shen Liqing said, "No, Xiaozhan, you can't just invest, you have to write! Sister! Don't waste your talent for writing short stories."
Chen Xi said: "Yes, we want to invite you to write a work."
"Write a short story?" Zhan Aiping was stunned. She hadn't written a story for a long time. She was now reading medical books. Before that, she was planning to edit elementary school mathematics tutoring materials.
Do you want to start writing the story again now
“Yes, it’s a short story.”
Zhan Aiping said: "What topic should I write about? My writing skills and imagination are not good enough..."
"Xiao Zhan, don't be so modest. You are a great writer, a great writer!"
Chen Xi said: "Let's write some popular stories. Do you know what is the hottest thing in the newspaper right now?"
"Invest to make money? A martial arts story?"
Chen Xi said, "It's about the future! I can write martial arts stories. Doctor Zhan, Xiao Shen said that since you can organize the college entrance examination review materials, your physics and chemistry foundation must be very good. Why don't you imagine what our era will be like in the next 40 or 50 years? How far will our technology develop?"
Zhan Aiping was stunned. Since the reform and opening up, all kinds of new foreign home appliances have entered the country. Now the hot topics in society are technology, fantasies about the future, and the exploration and pursuit of aerospace.
Many students taking the college entrance examination sign up for aerospace majors, as they want to explore the vast universe and the starry sky.
Zhan Aiping said: "I can write the future."
"Great! Each of us should prepare a story and publish it in the first issue of our "Story Chat". We will definitely become a big hit this time!"
After Zhan Aiping returned home, she started to think about a story about the future in her mind. After thinking for a long time, she finally had an inspiration. She decided to write a story called "My Day in 2015."
When I wrote about 2015 in 1980, it was already considered a science fiction story about the future. Now there are many fantasies about the future in newspapers.
Zhan Aiping doesn’t read what’s written in the newspapers. She just writes what she wants to write about, what life will be like in the future. Personal computers have just been developed, and in the future information technology and computers will change people’s lives…
She doesn’t write about computers, she writes about smart brains and smart phones…
Zhan Aiping was very creative and wrote tens of thousands of words in a very eloquent manner. This is a very interesting story about the future.
After it was finished, the first reader was Gu Sheng, who spent half an hour reading "My Day in 2015" written by his wife.
Gu Sheng: "Wife, your imagination is not good enough. Others wrote that in thirty or forty years, people would start going into space and migrate to Mars. What's wrong with what you're saying?"
The decades-long space race between the two superpowers has made many people fantasize about the universe and planetary migration.
As early as the 1960s, Ultraman began to fight small monsters. By the 1980s, there were more than a dozen Ultramen on the scene, and no one knew how many monsters there were.
"You have no imagination." Zhan Aiping looked at him with disdain, but she looked at what she had written again and found that what she had written was indeed not as bold as the imaginations of people of this era about the future.
People out there have long been fantasizing about alien species invading the Earth.
But in fact it is not.
Zhan Aiping: “…” Do you want to add some mecha battles
Gu Sheng said: "But it's quite interesting. With a smart phone, you can see the other person's appearance when you make a call, just like watching TV now?"
“Imaginative, huh?”
Gu Sheng nodded: "Yes, it's really imaginative. If I really had such a smart phone, I would call you every day."
Zhan Aiping said with a smile: "Why would you call me when we meet every day? If we really have to wait until 2015, you will have retired, Director Gu."
Gu Sheng blinked his eyes: "Please call me General Gu."
Zhan Aiping: “…”
"Okay, General Gu."
Zhan Aiping revised the manuscript again. She took it to the oil tea house with great enthusiasm for everyone to read. She knew the joy of sharing and discussing works. Chen Xi read what she wrote and his eyes lit up immediately: "Your angle is different."
Chen Xi has seen many works about the future, all of which involve the starry sky and the universe, immigration to Mars, spaceships, meeting aliens and so on... However, Zhan Aiping's work about the future does not have the starry sky and the universe, nor aliens, but rather the changes in daily life.
"Interesting, yours is interesting! It's unconventional!" Chen Xi praised repeatedly. Only things that have never been seen before can make people amazed.
Shen Liqing smiled and said, "Xiao Zhan, you are too modest. You even said that you have no imagination. If you don't have imagination, then who has imagination? You wrote it in great detail."
“The more details, the more interesting it is.”
"Look at how brilliantly you all write. I can't even write this cliché love story."
They shared each other's works and discussed the establishment of the publication together, but the reality of wandering and heavy rain ruthlessly extinguished their enthusiasm.
This "drifting rain" was real heavy rain that lasted for a long time.
The water is rising!
Classes in several children’s schools were suspended. Many places outside were flooded and roads were cut off. It was really not easy to live on the first floor. If you live on the first floor by the river, you can really catch fish at home.
"Mom!! The water level is rising!! The water level is rising! Many people are stuck in school and can't go home!!!" Gu Yuan and her sister Xiaomianhua were shocked. Of course, they preferred having holidays.
"Mom, I heard there are floods in many places."
Zhan Aiping had a headache: "Yes, the water level is rising."
"How long will this rain last? When will it stop raining?"
This is a flood. It has rained too much continuously, causing the river water to rise and overflow. The riverside road is always flooded, making it extremely inconvenient to go out.
However, the residents of Guicheng are obviously accustomed to this, because it happens every year. It would be strange if the water level did not rise in a certain year. It is still raining, and many people are calmly pushing their bicycles on the road. Some even take the opportunity to catch fish with fishing nets. At this moment, the water in many places is only up to the knees, and in some places it is already above the waist.
Everyone took turns using various weapons, and some just paddled back home on rafts.
(End of this chapter)