Such a Lovely Story, This Kind of Life Gives You Something to Look Forward To

@Xiaoxiyan: My mom's workplace used to have a couple working as temporary workers. The man's surname was Su, and the woman's surname was Zhou. When they first started, the man was only in his twenties, working in the boiler room. He worked diligently every day, keeping the boiler running perfectly, never careless. At that time, he was illiterate; when picking up his salary, he couldn't even sign his own name and only learned how after practicing for a few days.

After working for a few years, the couple took over the unit's cafeteria. The woman brought in a few relatives from their hometown to help for pay, while the man continued to tend the boiler, going to help his wife manage the cafeteria after his shift.

The originally unappetizing cafeteria became more and more delicious. In addition to the daily required dishes and soups provided by the unit, they also made extra stir-fries and catered small banquets of two to five tables. The ingredients were fresh, clean, and hygienic. The best dish was the spicy chicken, which was their signature. Back then, when we had out-of-town relatives visiting, my mom would take them to the cafeteria to order a table of food—it was affordable and tasty.

Later on, the couple rented a storefront right at the entrance of my mom's workplace, specializing in stir-fried spicy chicken. Customers would buy freshly slaughtered whole chickens on the spot, and the couple would chop them up and stir-fry them to order in small woks. The entire process, from ingredients to preparation, was completely transparent, making it incredibly popular.

From two woks to a row of over a dozen woks stir-frying simultaneously, from one small shop to three large shops and a restaurant—for over twenty years, the taste never changed and remained delicious. The couple personally stir-fried the chickens for twenty years, only stepping back from the front lines in recent years because they were getting too old to handle the physical labor.

The registered trademark of this shop is "Qianfeng," which is now a famous brand in Guiyang. The main store is on Bageyan Road next to Qianlingshan Park, the place where I grew up.

This is a story of "starting from scratch" that I witnessed with my own eyes. Diligence, hard work, responsibility, plus a bit of good timing—this is the path that brought Uncle Su and Auntie Zhou to where they are today.

(This is not an ad; they don't even know who Xiaoxiyan is. I'd have to mention my mom's name and my childhood nickname for them to know it's me [Haha][Haha][Haha])