Chapter 2450: Fat Sister

"That's right, that's right!" A boy snatched the microphone and flatteringly held it out to Sun Xiaohui: "Sister, you sing!"

"You guys sing." Sun Xiaohui waved her hand: "I'll go see how you've decorated."

Sun Xiaohui walked around the new home. The 'Double Happiness' characters were already pasted up, and the balloons and ribbons were mostly hung. A gentle breeze blew in through the window, causing the balloons and ribbons to sway lightly.

Sun Xiaohui was mentally calculating the arrangements for tomorrow. In the morning, she would have the important items like the wedding quilts delivered and spread out, then clean up the room. The day after, she would go buy melon seeds, peanuts, and candies—essential snacks for the wedding.

Actually, these things should have been bought earlier, but because of the weather, they would easily get damp if bought too soon, so she had thought to wait until the wedding date was near. After all, these weren't anything special; small shops sold them, and it would be convenient to buy them whenever.

There were also her maternal grandmother, grandfather, uncle, and aunt who were in Shunfu City; they would arrive a day early. The new home couldn't accommodate guests, and neither could the old house or Sun Xiaohui's new apartment, so she still had to book two rooms at a hotel.

Furthermore, she still had to book a few tables at a restaurant for the night before. Relatives and close neighbors would all need to be hosted. So, she would be very busy for the next few days, and Sun Xiaohui had already taken leave.

After walking around, Sun Xiaohui greeted Li Yulien: "Auntie, there's nothing else here, so I'll head off first. I'll come back tomorrow."

"Alright!" Li Yulien enthusiastically saw Sun Xiaohui to the door: "Xiaohui, there's nothing major here, don't you worry about it, just go handle your own affairs."

Sun Xiaohui nodded: "Then I'll trouble you, Auntie, please take care of things."

"It's all family business, why are you being so polite?" Li Yulien smiled and waved her hand.

Sun Xiaohui got into the elevator, but she didn't leave. Instead, she went to her own home on the 22nd floor, took out her keys, and opened the door. She loved this apartment so much; both the layout and the renovation left her incredibly satisfied.

After the renovation was finished, it had been aired out for a month. Since then, whenever she had time, she would come over to spend a while. Her favorite thing was to sit on the recliner by the floor-to-ceiling window, look at the scenery outside, and quietly nap for a bit.

On long weekends, she would come over to stay for two days on Friday night; on short weekends, she would come over for one night on Saturday. It wasn't that she didn't want to live here every day, but it was a bit far from the Criminal Police Brigade, and there were too few bus routes; it was too troublesome to transfer if she lived here. So, she still lived at the old house with her parents most of the time.

Sun Xiaohui walked to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of Very Cola, then went to the floor-to-ceiling window, sat on the recliner she had specially bought, and took a sip of the cool cola, feeling an indescribable sense of comfort.

"Old classmate, I really don't know how to thank you."

Sun Xiaohui muttered to herself, then thought about the issue of alcohol and beverages. When booking the banquet, the restaurant provided the drinks, and they had agreed without much thought, as it was provided at retail price. Buying the drinks herself would mean going to a store, the price would be the same, and then she would have to transport them to the restaurant herself, which was too troublesome.

However, now that she could get the drinks at factory price, she had to consider whether to notify the restaurant to cancel the drinks they had booked. If it were only eight or ten tables, it wouldn't matter; with few people, how much could they drink? Saving a little money wouldn't be worth the trouble.

But they had booked thirty-six tables; the consumption of alcohol and beverages would certainly not be small. Especially in this sweltering weather, while few would drink white liquor, the beer consumption would definitely be high. In this case, going to the agency to pick up the goods at factory price would definitely save at least five or seven hundred.

Right, Sun Xiaohui sat up straight, thinking about the matter. It was summer vacation now, so there would definitely be many children. When booking the banquet, they hadn't counted the children, so thirty-six tables might not be enough.

Sun Xiaohui got up and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, stretching. It seems she still has to go to the restaurant to add three or four tables. Even if there's leftovers, it's better than not having enough. Then cancel the wine and drinks ordered at the restaurant, and go to the agency again.

"Sigh!" Sun Xiaohui sighed; she really was destined for a life of toil. The important thing was that she had to handle the order at the agency herself; no one else could do it for her.

Sun Xiaohui went downstairs, and she heard a burst of firecrackers coming from the small plaza. She had originally wanted to go out through the north gate, but hearing the firecrackers, she turned and headed toward the west gate.

It was Sunday, and there were quite a few people in the small plaza, many of whom had been attracted by the firecrackers. As soon as Sun Xiaohui exited the west gate, she saw a crowd gathered to the north. She walked over curiously; it turned out that Fat Sister's Bun Shop was opening.

"Fat Sister's Bun Shop has finally opened." A middle-aged woman said happily: "In the future, if I don't want to cook in the morning, or if I get up late, I can eat here."

"Indeed!" A young girl echoed: "I'm too lazy to cook in the morning. When we were in the old family area, we just bought some fried dough sticks and soy milk to make do. If we don't want to cook at night, we go to Auntie Pang's steamed bun shop opposite the winery, or go next door to drink lamb offal soup."

Most of the people here were distillery employees, and they all knew Fat Sister's Bun Shop. It was famous for two reasons: the taste was good, and the group leaders often patronized it, so its reputation in the distillery was quite significant.

"It's already past ten." A middle-aged man said to the two men beside him: "Let's go in and support Boss Zhou's new shop. My treat."

The three men walked up the steps and pushed open the door. A wave of cool air hit them: "Oh, they've got the air conditioning on; this is really cool."

"Welcome." A waiter hurried over: "Sir, how many of you?"

The waiter wasn't old, looking only seventeen or eighteen. She wore black leather shoes, a black knee-length skirt, a white shirt, and a black vest with "Fat Sister's Bun Shop" printed on the back.

"Three!" The middle-aged man replied, then began to size up the interior. His first impression was that it was big—much bigger than the old shop across from the distillery. He had never seen a restaurant decorated so exquisitely, luxuriously, and with such a nice environment, and it was just a bun shop! Even the Municipal Party Committee guesthouse he had visited once wasn't decorated as nicely as this.

The middle-aged man and the other two men sat at a window seat. A huge floor-to-ceiling window occupied the entire wall, with Cherry Blossom Avenue right in front of them. Several children were chasing each other, while adults followed behind, calling out for them to slow down and be careful.

At this moment, Sun Xiaohui pushed the door open and walked in. At first glance, she fell in love with the environment here. The new Chinese-style decoration, antique floor tiles, grand coffered ceilings, and a culture wall introducing the "Century-old Culture" of Fat Sister's Buns gave the restaurant a very strong sense of history.

The entire dining hall used a large number of classical wooden carved screen partitions, making the entire hall space clearly divided. Combined with the wooden and fabric dining chairs and the warm-toned lighting on the ceiling, the entire space looked very warm.

A waiter hurried over: "Hello, how many of you?"

Sun Xiaohui smiled and said: "Just one!"

"Alright!" The waiter gestured: "There are seats over here, please have a seat."

It wasn't mealtime yet, but there were already quite a few guests, with about half the seats taken. Moreover, guests kept coming in, and it was estimated that it would be full by mealtime. Anyone coming after that would have to wait for a seat.

Sun Xiaohui sat at a nearby table, where a menu was placed. She reached out and picked it up, discovering that not only had the variety of buns increased—including seafood, shrimp, corn, fresh mushroom, and more—but they had also added water-filling buns, pan-fried buns, char siu buns, and braised pork buns. Additionally, the number of mixed vegetable dishes had increased to over twenty, along with braised dishes, pickles, and eight types of soup.

Sun Xiaohui flipped through the menu: "One char siu bun, one pan-fried bun, give me a portion of braised pork bones, and a bowl of tofu soup."

"One char siu bun for one yuan, one pan-fried bun for one yuan, a portion of braised pork bones for three yuan five, and a bowl of tofu soup for five jiao, totaling six yuan." The waiter recorded it while speaking, then took a number tag from their pocket and placed it in front of Sun Xiaohui: "This is your pick-up number tag. After the food is ready, the broadcast will call the number, and you can take the tag to the pick-up area to collect your food and pay."

"Alright!" Sun Xiaohui picked up the number tag; it was a rectangular plastic tag with the numbers '17' printed on it.

"Boss Zhou, congratulations, congratulations!" Zhou Anlei was carrying a square tray of steaming braised pork bones out to the sauce dish area when he heard someone congratulating him. Without looking, he knew it must be a regular customer.

"Brother Zhang, Brother Liu, it's been a long time. Have you moved over to this side too?" Zhou Anlei looked toward the direction of the voice. As he guessed, they were indeed regular customers who often came to the old shop to eat, though it had been a while.

"We moved over two months ago." It was Brother Liu speaking, who looked to be in his mid-thirties: "Because we have to take the shuttle bus back every day, we haven't had time to go eat. But now it's great; you've opened a shop over here, and we can eat Fat Sister's buns often again."

Now, all enterprises under the Yugong Group, including the electronics factory, had raised their wages. Therefore, the staff had plenty of money in their pockets, and there were too many people who didn't want to cook at home and often ate out.

Zhou Anlei picked up a plate, arranged a cold platter, and sent it over: "Brother Liu, Brother Zhang, thanks for your support. This is on the house."

"Boss Zhou, you're too polite." Brother Liu's smile instantly brightened.

"What are you talking about, don't be polite." Zhou Anlei smiled: "Alright, you guys eat slowly, I still have to get back to work."

"You go ahead!" Brother Liu and Brother Zhang nodded hurriedly.

"Is this the shop our son opened?" Zhao Guifen stood at the door, looking around, unable to believe that such a big, grand shop was opened by her son.

Zhou Xiaode stood to the side, his eyes also unable to take it all in. His feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and he didn't dare to take a step forward.

The waiter hurried over, smiling: "Uncle, Auntie, please have a seat over here."

Zhao Guifen asked eagerly: "Little girl, is the boss of this restaurant named Zhou Anlei?"