The train is traveling on the Mongolian plateau. The sand dunes, rugged hills, and low barren mountains outside are all earthy yellow with dots of green dotted among them, which is particularly conspicuous.
After passing Linxi and entering Keshiketeng, the loess on the plateau becomes thicker, and the train passing through the wasteland-like land easily reminds people of a desolate scene.
Yes, the Mongolian Plateau is like this in May, with only mottled green on the ground. The grasslands in July are the most beautiful.
After Director Wu contacted his comrades, ten days later, the owner of Meng Restaurant changed and Mulan came down. So Lao Tan and Sister Yuan took leave and set off for Hohhot with Mulan.
After riding the train for fourteen hours, the train stopped at 7:30 the next morning, and the two of them walked out of Hohhot East Station.
Director Wu's comrade Zhang Yu has been waiting at the station for a long time.
Zhang Yu, forty-five years old, is short, smart and capable, with bright eyes. He is a businessman at first glance. He is from Heilongjiang. After changing his career, he went to work in Hohhot and married his wife there.
Because of his economic acumen, he first opened a restaurant and after making his first pot of gold, he partnered with his friends to start a coal business.
The coal business was more profitable than the hotel, so he gradually lost control of the hotel. But the hotel was the base where he made his fortune, and he didn't want to leave it alone, so Mulan and Lao Tan went to Hohhot.
Lao Tan and Mulan were both tired after taking the train all night. Zhang Yu took them to have breakfast first, and then opened two rooms in a hotel near the hotel so that they could rest first and then take a break in the evening.
Lao Tan was indeed a little tired. Although he got a sleeper, his sleep was not comfortable and he did not feel tired. After taking a hot bath, he lay on the bed and slept until four o'clock in the afternoon. He did not wake up until Mulan knocked on the door.
Mulan woke up early and took a walk outside.
"How did you sleep?" Mulan asked with a smile.
"Very good, comfortable." Lao Tan said.
"This place is hotter than ours."
"Yeah?"
"I went out for a walk and then came back. My long sleeves were a bit unwearable."
Lao Tan didn't go out and didn't know what was going on. He went to the window and looked outside. It happened to be that the sun was shining in the west. The sun was very high and there was plenty of sunshine.
At this time in the provincial capital, the sun is already somewhat westward. The sun rises one hour later here than in the provincial capital, and the sunset is naturally one hour later.
"Are there many people on the street?" Lao Tan asked.
"Not many, not many people. The street is quite wide and there are few cars. You can see how far away you are from there," Mulan said.
"What street is this?"
"Not far to the west of Hailar Street is Boss Zhang's restaurant, called Northeast Restaurant. It has 400 square meters on the first and second floors. It looks okay." Mulan had obviously become familiar with the terrain.
"Didn't you go in and take a look?" Lao Tan asked.
"No, just look outside."
"Go over and take a look later."
Lao Tan and Mulan left the hotel.
Hailar Street where they are located is located in the north of Hohhot, close to Daqingshan Mountain behind it.
Daqingshan belongs to the Yinshan Mountains, starting from the upper reaches of the Dahei River valley in Hohhot in the east to the Kundulun River in Baotou in the west. Deshenggou Township at the northern foot of Daqingshan in Wuchuan is the famous Daqingshan Revolutionary Base, 70 kilometers away from Hohhot
, is a famous old revolutionary base in the country and one of the 100 national scenic spots.
The sky is cloudless, clear and blue. Such a sky is rare in provincial capitals. It makes you feel relaxed and happy, as if your heart has been opened.
The street is very wide and there are very few vehicles. Indeed, as Mulan said, you can see very far away from where you stand.
There are restaurants, barber shops, pharmacies, and optical shops on both sides of the street------a Northeastern restaurant is not far away.
When the two of them arrived, the store door was closed, and it didn't look like it was open for business.
The two pushed the door open and went in. There were no lights on inside, so it seemed a little dark. A waiter in red overalls was sleeping on the table at the door. He woke up when he heard the door open and rubbed his sleepy eyes with his hand.
"It's closed now. It's not time yet." The waiter spoke with a local accent and seemed a little impatient. Lao Tan still didn't understand clearly.
Old Tan was stunned and looked at his watch. The time was half past four.
"What time does it open?" Lao Tan asked.
"Five o'clock." the waiter replied.
"Can I see the private room first?" Lao Tan asked.
The waiter looked at Lao Tan and Mulan, his face full of reluctance.
"We are friends of your boss." Mulan said.
Hearing that he was a friend of the boss, the waiter changed his expression, but he was not very enthusiastic and said: "Follow me upstairs."
Lao Tan and Mulan followed the waiter to the second floor.
There are six private rooms on the second floor, but they feel smaller than the first floor. Lao Tan looked around and found that the kitchen was on the second floor.
The two of them quickly came down from the second floor and went straight out of the hotel without stopping.
"His waiter is pretty cool," Mulan said.
"It's a lack of management." Lao Tan said with a smile.
"It looks like business won't be very good."
"Well, I heard it's not good, but I won't pay any money."
The two of them continued to walk forward and came to a restaurant called "Fu Lai Home Cooking". Lao Tan said that he should go in and see if his waiters were rude.
It was exactly five o'clock.
I pushed the door open and came in. It looked like I had just arrived at work. Two waiters were cleaning, and a young man who looked like a waiter was standing in front of the bar, talking and laughing with the little girl inside.
Seeing someone coming in, a cleaning waiter called the waiter: "Bilige, there is a guest."
The young man turned around. He had been chatting and laughing just now, but his expression immediately changed and he said to Lao Tan and Mulan: "I just went to work and am cleaning up. It's past five-thirty to eat."
Lao Tan was stunned and thought that this was too outrageous. He had to wait until they finished cleaning up the meal. If they couldn't finish cleaning up, they wouldn't be able to eat.
Mulan was also stunned by Chuan Caisheng's words, and couldn't help but look at Lao Tan suspiciously.
The two of them thought they had entered the wrong place. This was not a hotel, but a public canteen from the 1970s.
"We're not here to eat." Lao Tan said.
"Oh. My bathroom is not open to the public." The young man replied.
It was quite humorous and made Lao Tan and Mulan laugh, and they turned around and came out in unison.
It seems that the waiters at this place are full-time tyrants.
Mulan became a little worried and said to Lao Tan: "If all the waiters are like this, it will be difficult to control."
"No, it can always be like this. There are good ones." Lao Tan said.
"This place should start work at five o'clock, which is an hour later than ours." Mulan said.
"Well, it's late here."
Further ahead is the traffic post. Standing at the traffic post and looking north, you can clearly see the village at the foot of Daqing Mountain.
The two of them were not in the mood to wander around now, so they turned around and walked back.
When passing by Fulaiju and Northeast Restaurant again, Mulan couldn't help but said: "There are still people eating like this. It seems that the restaurant in this place is easy to open."
Lao Tan said: "Maybe the people in this place are just like that. They talk loudly and the customers are not picky." Then he added: "If you train the waiters like the Mongolian restaurant, I think it will be full of customers."
"I know Master Tan, but I don't have the energy to do what I just did. Besides, look, there are not many people on this street and it's not prosperous. It doesn't feel as good as Gan Qika." Mulan said a little frustrated.
"You're wrong. After all, it's the capital. It's bigger than Ganqika. It's just that this place is close to the edge of the city, like a suburb. It takes time to get used to everything," Lao Tan said.
"Hey, look, you've already come. After all, you have to work for two days to try. You can't just leave after one day. You can't afford to lose that person--" After Mulan finished speaking, she looked at Lao Tan and asked.
He said in a tone of voice: "Master Tan, don't leave in a hurry. You have to help me straighten this out anyway."
"Well, don't worry, it's necessary. Besides, Director Wu has to deal with things. It's not going to be easy if we don't straighten things up." Lao Tan said.
Mulan looked at Lao Tan gratefully and felt happy.
In the evening, Zhang Yu came to pick up the two of them, and the three of them arrived at the hotel first.
There were not many people eating, there were four tables in the lobby and three in the private room.
After Zhang Yu introduced Xia Juan, the front desk manager, to the two of them, he led Lao Tan into the kitchen on the second floor.
The kitchen is not big, no more than 50 square meters.
The cold dish room is eight square meters, and the cold dish chef is a young man in his twenties named Baojun.
There are three sets of stoves in the hot dish room for eight people, three stove cooks, three chopping boards, and two load tables.
There are two people serving pasta, one washing dishes and the other picking vegetables.
There are thirteen people in the whole kitchen.
The head chef is Yan Dahu, the master who cooks on the innermost stove. He is thirty years old and from Shanxi. He has a good physique, but his eyes are a little small. He has a very simple and honest appearance, but paired with these small eyes, he looks very sophisticated and scheming.
.
Zhang Yu introduced Lao Tan to Yan Dahu, and the two shook hands.
There was a hint of wariness in Yan Dahu's eyes. This is also a normal reaction. Any head chef will think more about the boss leading a chef into the kitchen - either he is replacing himself or preparing to hire a new one.
The hygiene of the kitchen is poor. The white tiles on the walls are yellowish, and there is a thick layer of grease on the exhaust hood. It is estimated that it has not been cleaned for three months. The floor is dripping with water, and there are trampled vegetable leaves under the feet of the chopping board.
This kind of sanitary condition is rare in restaurants in provincial capitals. The Food and Drug Administration must ensure that a seal is affixed when inspecting.
Lao Tan thought that maybe the management here was not strict, or maybe the boss had a good relationship with the Food and Drug Administration.
You can tell how good the management is from the hygiene aspect, and the head chef is unqualified.