"Zhou Yan is so lucky to have a helpful mom like you. This restaurant couldn’t run without you," Zhou Miao said softly, putting an arm around her.

Zhao Tieying turned her head. "Oh, right. I was so busy yesterday I forgot to tell you. Zhou Yan gave me my salary—thirty yuan for the month. He also said that starting next month, he’ll give me a twenty percent commission on the profits from the Kneeling Beef."

"Right now, the restaurant sells 120 servings of Kneeling Beef a day, and the profit margin is about fifty percent. So for a month, just the twenty percent commission would be... over a hundred yuan!"

Zhao Tieying was stunned after doing the math herself.

"That much?" Zhou Miao was also a little surprised.

In a small town, thirty yuan a month was a high salary. That’s why Zhao Hong was thrilled to be making twenty yuan a month.

Zhou Miao was a skilled Cow Slaughterer and also sold beef, but she only made seventy to eighty yuan a month, which was considered a lot among the Cow Slaughterers in Zhou Village.

With Zhou Yan giving Zhao Tieying a thirty-yuan salary plus over a hundred yuan in commission, the total income was so high she wouldn’t dare tell anyone about it.

Zhao Tieying thought for a moment and said, "In that case, maybe I should refuse the commission. It’s just too much. A thirty-yuan salary is already very high. He works from morning till night; it’s already hard enough for him to earn anything at all."

"I think you should take it for now." Zhou Miao smiled and shook her head. "Spend the salary as you like, but save the commission money for him. Save up for a couple of years, and he can use it to get married. Young people don’t always know how to save money when they have it."

Zhao Tieying nodded at her words. "You’re right. The matchmakers for Zhou Yan were practically lining up today. We can have him try going on a few blind dates during the New Year."

"Let him think about that himself. He’s only a twenty-year-old kid. You’ve had a long day. Let me give you a back rub so you can get to sleep early." Zhou Miao turned her over and began giving her a skillful massage.

...

The next day, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Zhou Yan was woken by a noise in the courtyard.

He pulled the light cord by his bed. CLICK. A dim, yellow light flickered on, and Zhou Yan rolled over and climbed out of bed.

’It’s great to be young and strong. After a night’s sleep, his body was full of energy, all his fatigue gone. Another day full of vigor.’

Zhou Yan pushed the door open and stepped outside, involuntarily shrinking his neck against the cold morning breeze. In a corner of the courtyard, Comrade Zhou was sharpening a knife. A flashlight hung from a nearby tree branch, swaying slightly in the wind. Hunched over, Old Zhou pushed and pulled with a steady rhythm.

"Did I wake you?" Comrade Zhou asked without turning around.

"I usually wake up around this time anyway." Zhou Yan walked over. Seeing the row of slaughtering knives laid out to the side, his hands started to itch. "Dad," he said, "let me help you sharpen for a bit. My master taught me how to sharpen knives, too. I can get them really sharp."

"A Cow Slaughterer’s knife must be sharpened by his own hand. That’s the only way you’ll have a feel for it when you make the cut." Comrade Zhou didn’t stop what he was doing, speaking at a measured pace. "No matter how sharp someone else gets it, it might not suit you."

"Alright, then. I’ll go make breakfast." Hearing this, Zhou Yan said no more and turned toward the kitchen.

He had heard the same thing from his master: "A butcher’s knife can only be sharpened by the butcher himself. You don’t even let others touch it."

There wasn’t much else to eat at home. The eggs were from their own hens, and there was still a little flour left in the kitchen, so Zhou Yan casually made a pot of dough drop soup.

He fried some eggs in lard, then poured in hot water and simmered it into a creamy white broth. He tossed in a handful of freshly picked bok choy from the courtyard, a vibrant, lush green.

On a deep autumn morning that already held a hint of a chill, eating a steaming hot bowl and drinking every last drop of the soup warmed you up from the stomach out, making your whole body feel cozy and warm.

"Delicious. I’ll make it this way next time, it’s so convenient," Mrs. Zhao said, quite satisfied.

Today, Comrade Zhou was going to the next village to help someone slaughter a cow, so he slung his bag over his shoulder and left on his bicycle.

Mrs. Zhao picked up the soundly sleeping Zhou Momo from the bed, carefully placed her in the back-basket, and tucked the small blanket snugly around her, leaving only a small part of her face showing. Then she got on her bicycle and went out.

When it was time to buy beef, Zhou Yan hesitated for a moment but decided against buying beef shank.

He ordered three pig heads. The day before, Zhou Yan had already arranged for Zhang the Third and Xu the Second to help debone them. The deboned meat would be sold to him at sixty cents per jin, and one pig head yielded about six jin of meat. The three pig heads cost him 11.2 yuan.

Zhou Yan also took the leftover pig skulls, which they didn’t charge him for. He would use them to make a richer, more flavorful broth for his noodles, which would also make the soup’s color whiter.

He then went to the market and bought two large, live roosters. Each one weighed about six jin, and they cost him 9.6 yuan in total.

On the way, he also bought two small, round, woven bamboo trays and a bundle of thin bamboo strips.

He stopped his bicycle at the restaurant’s entrance. Zhao Hong and Zhou Lihui, who had arrived early, came forward to help unload the goods.

"Why so many ingredients today?" Zhao Hong asked, surprised, as she carried the two large roosters.

"We’re starting to sell braised dishes and cold-mixed chicken today, so I bought pig heads and chickens." Zhou Yan lifted the pig heads down and looked at Zhao Hong. "Sister-in-law, this morning, you’ll be in charge of slaughtering these two roosters. Just drain the blood and pluck the feathers cleanly. Don’t gut them."

"Got it," Zhao Hong nodded.

The new dishes were set to go on sale at noon, which meant the braising had to start in the morning. This made their already busy mornings even more hectic.

However, the braising and soaking times for the pig head meat and pig ears weren’t long. As long as the prep work was done, it would be fine to start braising after the morning rush was over.

The effects of the Wang Defa case had continued to ferment over the weekend and hadn’t yet dissipated. The number of customers coming to Zhou Yan Restaurant for noodles this morning had clearly increased.

Zhou Yan had actually anticipated this and prepared an extra twenty servings of noodles, but they still sold out by seven-forty.