Chapter 458 - 221: Oh, That One from Mountain City

Chapter 458: Chapter 221: Oh, That One from Mountain City

"Huang Xiaoji! Is this how you handle things?!"

"Tell me! What are you going to do now with that dilapidated tiled-roof house you bought for eight hundred yuan?"

"I must have been out of my mind to believe you! Don’t you touch me!"

At Feiyan Restaurant, Zhao Shulan’s eyes were wide with fury, her fists clenched.

Huang He cowered, standing at the other end of the counter, and stammered, "Oh, come on, Shulan. The kids are here. Give me a break, will you? Let’s just drop it."

Huang Ying and Huang Bing stood to the side, eating melon seeds and enjoying the show.

"Mom, it’s fine. Don’t mind us. Just pretend we’re not here," Huang Ying said with a dismissive wave.

"Yeah, Mom, calm down. Don’t hurt your hand hitting him." Huang Bing nodded in agreement, then produced a feather duster from somewhere and handed it to his mother.

"Huang Bing! I’ll get you for this sooner or later!" Huang He, flustered, shuffled a little farther away and bared his teeth at Huang Bing.

Huang Bing sidled up to Zhao Shulan and goaded, "See, Mom? Old Man still isn’t convinced!"

WHACK! Zhao Shulan raised her hand and smacked him on the butt first.

"Oww!" Huang Bing yelped, hopping in pain with an innocent look. "Mom, why’d you hit me?"

"Just looking at you is annoying me!" Zhao Shulan shot him a look.

"Heh heh. See? Your mother can’t stand a traitor!" Huang He chuckled, looking a bit smug.

WHACK!

The next second, the feather duster landed on his butt too.

Huang He’s expression flickered through several emotions, but he managed to grit his teeth and hold back a cry.

"Doesn’t hurt, does it?" Zhao Shulan raised her hand for another strike.

"It hurts, it hurts! Ouch!" Huang He quickly yelped.

"You dare cry out!" Zhao Shulan raised her hand again, feigning another blow.

Huang He quickly ducked behind Huang Ying, saying with a hint of grievance, "Yingying, talk to your mom. Weren’t we, father and daughter, in agreement about this house?"

"Mom, that’s enough, that’s enough. It’s not easy on anyone." Huang Ying stepped forward with a smile to comfort her, gently taking the feather duster from Zhao Shulan’s hand. "Look, this just proves your judgment is better and more forward-thinking than ours. This family really needs you in charge for things to work."

Hearing this, the corners of Zhao Shulan’s mouth curved up uncontrollably. She nodded and said, "Yingying is still the most sensible one. You have a point."

"Yes, yes, yes, that’s exactly right." Huang He nodded furiously. ’Daughters are the best. You can always count on a daughter.’

"Old Man, you said the Qiu Family’s Old Mansion was bought by Zhou Yan. Is he buying it to live in, or is he planning to move his restaurant here?" Huang Ying asked, looking at Huang He.

"Spending ten thousand yuan on an old house just to live in it would be a huge loss," Huang He mused. "Zhou Yan is a sharp young man. He must have bought the Qiu Family’s Old Mansion because he’s eyeing the location. He most likely wants to open his restaurant here in Jiazhou."

"Really?! That’s great!" Huang Ying’s eyes lit up. She smiled and said, "Then let’s keep that dilapidated house. When I make enough money, I’ll build a small house there. Then I can just step outside to eat at Zhou Yan’s restaurant, and I can even be his neighbor."

Huang He and Zhao Shulan exchanged a look, their expressions a bit strange.

Huang Bing’s eyes also lit up after hearing this. "That’s a great idea! If you build it, you have to save a room for me!"

"No way. You can go live with your future wife," Huang Ying said, shaking her head.

"Alright, alright, build my ass. That property is only accessible by a tiny alley where you can’t even turn a bicycle around. You want to build a house in there? Are you nuts?" Zhao Shulan rolled her eyes. "Originally, if we could have gotten the house in front, it would have been feasible to connect the two and build. Now, we need to be thinking about how to get rid of it and recoup some of our money."

Huang He mused, "What if I go ask Zhou Yan? See if we can buy the Qiu Family’s Old Mansion from him."

"Countless people were eyeing the Qiu Family’s Old Mansion and couldn’t get it. How did Zhou Yan manage it? It means he successfully convinced the Qiu family matriarch. You can only imagine how much work and effort went into that," Zhao Shulan said, looking at him. "Let me ask you, if you went through all that trouble, emptied your savings, and even went into debt to get this house, would you be willing to sell it?"

Huang He scratched his head. "Well... they’d have to add money."

"You dare say ’add money’!" Zhao Shulan’s eyebrows shot up.

"I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t!" Huang He waved his hands frantically.

"Zhou Yan was able to fork over ten thousand for this house, which means even if you offered him another thousand or eight hundred, he wouldn’t even bat an eye," Zhao Shulan said calmly. "So how much do you think you’d need to add? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Huang Xiaoji, do you have that kind of money? If you drained the family savings to buy it, where would you get the money to build on it?"

Huang He thought for a moment and fell silent.

Zhao Shulan’s tone softened a bit. "Put the word out and see if anyone wants that dilapidated house. Try selling it at eight hundred for a month. If there are no takers, we’ll lower the price and sell it slowly."

"Okay," Huang He nodded, a little dejected. He had been actively planning this for a month, calling in all sorts of favors, and had spent over a hundred yuan just gathering information.

He was just about to get a lead on Wang Yu over in Suji, but Zhou Yan had beaten him to the punch.

It left a truly sour taste in his mouth.

"Yan is so amazing! To think he could pull out ten thousand yuan to buy a house. He’s so capable!" Huang Bing exclaimed, the realization dawning on him late.

"Yeah, and Boss Zhou’s restaurant hasn’t even been open for that many months." Huang Ying nodded in agreement. Zhou Yan Restaurant’s business was just too good, packed with customers for all three meals. She thought for a moment, then said, "Old Man, I think we should be considering what kind of impact it will have on our business if Boss Zhou opens his restaurant here in Jiazhou. At that point, he definitely won’t be giving us any special treatment on the braised meat."

"It’s fine. We target a different clientele." Huang He waved his hand dismissively. "He chose that location to open a restaurant, so he’s definitely trying to capture the business of traveling merchants and tourists. Our Feiyan Restaurant relies on the loyal customers we’ve built up over years of good reputation, as well as guests hosting banquets and those with high-end dining needs. If nothing else, he can’t compare to the decor of our Feiyan Restaurant. That’s what you call heritage."