At 6:00 p.m., the sun had just set, and offices large and small across the capital were gradually winding down for the day!
The same was true in Beiguan Village!
But today, the locals suddenly noticed that the large warehouse in the southeast corner of the foundry looked different.
First of all, it was lit up like a Christmas tree—no one knew exactly how many light bulbs had been installed, but it was far brighter than any ordinary home.
In Beiguan Village, situated at the urban-rural fringe, this was quite conspicuous.
More importantly, every visible corner of the warehouse was packed with people—it was incredibly bustling!
Outside, the lot was packed with all kinds of vehicles—sedans and SUVs alike.
It’s rare to see so many cars parked in front of a single store—at least, it’s not a common sight in Beiguan Village.
Actually, people had noticed some time ago that the place was undergoing renovations, which had been going on for over half a month. The owner had even paved over the empty lot where they used to “draw maps” at night.
But since the sign hadn’t been put up yet, no one knew what exactly was going on here.
Now we finally know—a restaurant has opened here!
In an instant, passersby were intrigued by this bustling new restaurant!
Inside, Li Yi was caught off guard by the sudden influx of customers.
In fact, customers had been trickling in since 5:30.
First up was the portly official who’d come with Jiang Longyin at lunchtime. He brought over a group of more than ten people, immediately requested a large private room, and started ordering beef and lamb dishes left and right.
They’d gotten a free meal from Li Yi that afternoon and thought the owner was a decent guy.
On top of that, Jiang Longyin—the district’s top official—had nothing but praise for Li Yi and even called him “brother” himself, which naturally led those people to speculate about Li Yi’s relationship with the Jiang family.
More importantly, the grilled meat and beer at lunch had been absolutely delicious, and the hot pot lamb was excellent as well. Since the district was hosting several officials from out of town that evening, the portly official simply brought his guests here.
He figured the unique local cuisine would satisfy his out-of-town colleagues while also supporting Li Yi’s business—killing two birds with one stone.
Just as they had settled in with these officials, Jiang Longcheng arrived.
The guy was planning to host a birthday dinner at Li Yi’s restaurant that evening—a request Li Yi had specifically made. After all, with the Jiang family backing him, Jiang Longcheng usually mingled with the children of high-ranking officials or the heads of various enterprises—all well-connected and well-heeled individuals.
The fact that he was hosting a banquet here was, in itself, a sign of his endorsement of the restaurant—essentially serving as a living advertisement for Li Yi.
And the guests he was hosting were all people with significant spending power. It was only a matter of time before his “Grassland Beef and Lamb” dishes attracted a large number of repeat customers.
Within half an hour of Jiang Longcheng’s arrival, a steady stream of vehicles began pulling up in front of his restaurant.
This wave brought in forty-five or forty-six people at once, including Ye Jianhua, Lin Jianguo, and others—all guests invited by Jiang Longcheng!
Just as Li Yi thought that was all for the evening, another three or four tables of customers trickled in.
They were the very people who had come to sample Li Yi’s grilled and hot-pot meat at lunchtime—the restaurant’s first batch of repeat customers.
Some were hosting work-related dinners, others were treating their superiors to a meal, and still others had specifically brought their wives, children, and elderly relatives to sample Li Yi’s grilled and boiled meat.
Though their reasons varied, their destination was the same!
Seeing so many people pour in all at once made Li Yi overjoyed.
The arrival of these repeat customers signaled that his restaurant had begun to gain recognition among this elite crowd.
Of course, it also kept Dongzi and the others running ragged.
They could handle the three tables of customers they had in the morning.
But the sudden influx of so many people in the evening was truly unexpected.
Fortunately, Li Yi had anticipated the evening’s situation. After all, Jiang Longcheng had a wide network of contacts, and when he said he was treating everyone, it was certain that quite a few people would show up.
So Li Yi had his staff slice the grilled meat and marinate it well in advance.
He’d also washed and plated the vegetables and other sides, ready to serve them the moment the guests arrived.
Even so, the extra crowd still left them scrambling.
After all, including Li Yi, there were only five people in such a large restaurant. It was manageable when there were few customers, but once the place got crowded, they were overwhelmed.
Fortunately, the best thing about grilled and hot-pot meat is how low-maintenance it is. Almost all the dishes require no special preparation—especially the beef and lamb, which just need to be sliced quickly enough.
So, even though they were busy, the few of them could still handle it!
They worked from 5:30 p.m. straight through until 9:30 p.m. By the time they saw off the last table of customers, the group was nearly exhausted.
But everyone, including Li Yi, was happy!
The worst thing in the restaurant business is a deserted storefront with no customers—that kind of situation is torture for both the owner and the staff.
On the contrary, the best thing about running a restaurant is having a crowd—the more people, the better the business.
Clearly, judging by how things went today, they’re off to a great start!
After a brief rest, Dongzi and the others set about cleaning up and tidying the place, while Li Yi continued tallying the accounts.
After tallying everything, he had collected a total of 664 yuan tonight, plus 72 jin of grain coupons!
Of that, Jiang Longcheng’s group spent 320 yuan, the table with the portly official spent 150 yuan, and the remaining four tables combined spent less than 200 yuan.
After deducting various costs, the gross profit for the evening was roughly 160 yuan, with a net profit of 140 yuan.
The reason the profit seemed a bit low was mainly because Li Yi had given Jiang Longcheng a 50% discount.
In reality, Jiang Longcheng and his group had spent 640 yuan at his restaurant that night.
After all, their group numbered a full forty-five or sixty people. With that many people, they ate a whole fat sheep, plus twenty to thirty pounds of beef and a large amount of vegetables.
Add in the drinks and beverages, and 320 yuan wouldn’t even cover the cost!
But since Li Yi had invited them here in the first place—and the purpose was to help him get some publicity—he naturally couldn’t make money off them.
Later, Li Yi tallied the evening’s receipts along with those from lunch and discovered that, for the entire day, his actual profit amounted to a mere 4 yuan.
Even so, Li Yi was still very satisfied.
With such a successful start, why would he worry about not making money in the future?
In short, after today’s grand opening, Li Yi was brimming with confidence about the future prospects of Grassland Beef & Lamb.
After finishing the accounts, Li Yi took stock of the spices and ingredients in the kitchen and drew up a list of items to be restocked for the next day.
Meanwhile, Dongzi and the others had finished cleaning up.
Afterward, Li Yi called the younger staff members together for a brief meeting.
First, he reviewed the issues and shortcomings encountered that day and emphasized some key points to keep in mind.
Next, Li Yi assigned tasks for the following day, then sent Dongzi, Shitou, and Yongzi back to their rented apartment to rest, while he and Qiangzi stayed behind at the shop.
Li Yi was well aware that public safety in the capital wasn’t very good these days.
With large numbers of educated youth returning to the city and not enough jobs to go around, many were left unemployed, and these people had become a source of instability.
Especially since Beiguancun’s current location wasn’t the downtown area within the Fourth Ring Road of decades later, but a true urban-rural fringe—public safety there was particularly hard to describe. Otherwise, the robbery of Jiang Longcheng wouldn’t have happened.
With a store this big, if no one was watching it at night, it was almost certain to be broken into.
Therefore, Li Yi planned to have two people stay at the store every night from now on!
And on the very first night, he felt it was his duty to take the first shift!
Perhaps because they were so exhausted, after seeing Dongzi and the others off, Li Yi and Qiangzi each made a makeshift bed by pushing chairs together. Once they had their bedding in place, they quickly fell asleep.
But while they slept soundly, others were destined to lie awake!