Chapter 165: Wool-Shearing

"If you like fat, order large sancha; if you like lean, eat cucumber strips; if you like half-fat and half-lean, eat small sancha."

Li Xuewu explained with a smile, "I like to eat all of them, so I ordered all of them." He then asked the waiter, "Do you have soda?"

Seeing that Li Xuewu was dressed decently and ordered a lot, the waiter was also very polite and replied, "Soda only has soda produced by the Beijing Food Factory, but we have fruit wine, produced by the Beijing Winery. There are various fruit wines, and also Red Star orange wine."

Seeing that Lin Tingting didn't say she wouldn't drink, Li Xuewu smiled and said to the waiter, "Help me get two bottles of soda, and one bottle of grape fruit wine. Thank you."

The waiter hugged the menu and replied, "You're welcome." She took Li Xuewu's money and tickets and turned back to the kitchen to place the order.

Although the female waiter's attitude was indifferent, Li Xuewu was very satisfied that she could say so much.

Seeing the waiter leave, Li Xuewu said to Lin Tingting, "When can you also speak politely like them?"

Hey, Li Xuewu was already satisfied with such a service attitude.

Upon hearing this, Lin Tingting's eyebrows stood up: "If everyone who buys things at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative could sit here and speak politely like you, and only come to these few tables a day, I could also speak like this."

Damn! Different eras, different concepts, ideals collided with reality, and he could only be left speechless.

Li Xuewu changed the subject awkwardly and asked, "Don't you take days off? Why can I see you every time I go?"

Lin Tingting asked with a smile, "Didn't I not see you last time? Why? Don't want to see me?"

Li Xuewu placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of Lin Tingting and said with a smile, "How is that possible? I wish you could be transferred to where I am or I could be transferred to your Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so I could see you every day."

Lin Tingting scoffed and laughed, "In your dreams!"

The two flirted and took their bowls to stand up and walk toward the counter. There was a seasoning station by the counter, with chili oil, shrimp oil, sesame paste, fermented bean curd, and other seasonings.

The two talked and laughed while taking seasonings, and then returned to the table.

A brass old hot pot had already been placed on the table, with charcoal fire underneath. The spicy soup in the hot pot hadn't boiled yet and was a bit reddish.

The waiter carried a tray and arranged the meat, vegetables, and dishes for Li Xuewu's table on the table.

Then she turned back to the counter to take two bottles of orange soda and one bottle of grape fruit wine and placed them on the table, "peng peng peng" three times, all opened.

"The dishes and wine are all served," she said, and then left.

Actually, Li Xuewu also quite liked this straightforward service method, which gave guests a sense of space.

Looking at the steaming hot pot, the meat color was large sancha with one end white and one end red, cucumber strips with meat color all red, small sancha with meat color red at both ends and white in the middle. When the plates of meat slices were served, they were all neat and tidy, cut thinly, and rolled into small tubes, looking comfortable and tasting fine and tender.

Li Xuewu put some vegetables into the pot and poured soda into their cups.

"Their meat is truly fine and tender."

Hearing Li Xuewu's words, Lin Tingting also nodded in agreement. These meat slices could be eaten after being shabu-shabu in the pot for a few seconds, without any blood foam, and the entrance was delicate, fresh, and tender, with a good texture.

Especially with seasonings like chili oil, shrimp oil, sesame paste, and fermented bean curd, eating slowly was very flavorful.

Lin Tingting was obviously hungry, and her mouth didn't stop. Li Xuewu didn't disturb her, and the two ate until they were half full before slowing down to chat.

Lin Tingting pointed to the grape wine bottle on the table and said, "This is produced by the Night-Shining Cup Winery in the eastern suburbs. Now it's merged, and our store still sells this kind of wine."

Li Xuewu didn't know how to taste wine, and in his previous life, he didn't drink at all because of poor health. In this life, he mostly drank on occasions, and although his health was good in this life and he could drink, he didn't learn the ropes.

"I don't know how to taste wine, I just know how to drink. One catty of white wine is no problem, but this grape wine has a kick, so I dare not drink too much."

Lin Tingting scolded, "Drink less even if you can drink."

Li Xuewu nodded with a smile and asked Lin Tingting, "Is the tobacco and alcohol in your store easy to buy?"

Lin Tingting gave Li Xuewu a slap and said, "I just told you not to drink too much, and you want to buy wine again. Smoke less too."

Li Xuewu explained with a smile, "Isn't it almost New Year? There are relatives and elders at home, and when visiting relatives and friends, isn't it a courtesy to bring tobacco and alcohol?"

Only then did Lin Tingting know she had misunderstood and said in a low voice, "What tobacco and wine do you want to buy?"

Li Xuewu whispered, "What do you have?"

Lin Tingting was extremely familiar with this, like reporting dish names: "Famous wines include Dong wine, Dukang, Fen wine, Xifeng wine, Luzhou Laojiao, Moutai."

She pointed to the Da Qianmen Li Xuewu placed on the table and said, "There are many tobaccos. This Da Qianmen you smoke, Beijing, Fireworks, Xima, Zhonghua, Phoenix, SH, Pegasus, Qunying..."

Li Xuewu hurriedly interrupted, "Are Moutai and Zhonghua easy to buy?"

Lin Tingting asked in surprise, "Why buy Moutai? Xifeng wine is better. Tobacco is the same, Zhonghua's new filter-tipped ones are 1 yuan a pack, and the store basically can't get the goods. Shanghai's new one also has a filter tip, and it's much easier to buy than Zhonghua."

Damn, it was hard to buy Zhonghua tobacco, so he could only look for wine.

Li Xuewu asked, "Is Moutai easy to buy?"

Lin Tingting nodded and said, "It's not difficult. How much do you want?"

Her words already pointed out Li Xuewu's thought that he couldn't get much without tickets.

Li Xuewu said with a smile, "5 cases?"

Lin Tingting's chopsticks stopped, she glared at Li Xuewu angrily, and said, "It's 4 yuan and 07 cents a bottle, enough for your monthly salary. Do you have money and nowhere to spend it? Is that thing really that good to drink?"

In his previous life, Li Xuewu sent more than this, even four months' salary. He poured another glass of grape wine for Lin Tingting and explained, "Two leaders, one teacher, one godfather, and some friends. Can I go empty-handed when visiting during the New Year?"

Lin Tingting thought for a while and said, "I didn't expect you to have so many connections. 1 case is okay, but for 10 cases you have to find Director Ma. If you find him, getting ten or twenty cases for you is no problem."

Lin Tingting had learned about Li Xuewu's family from the side and knew that the four people in the family were earning wages now, and it was truly a turnaround starting this year, so she didn't doubt it.

Li Xuewu nodded. He had thought about this matter too simply. The supply of tobacco and alcohol now was not as sufficient as in later generations. If he wanted to buy more, he still had to find Director Ma.