’Damn it!’

Jealousy twisted his features beyond recognition.

But Jun Xinghe still gave his personal, subjective opinion. "If it were up to me, I’d be more than satisfied with you. You’re great just the way you are."

Jiang Liu shrugged helplessly. "I just wish my girlfriend’s father thought the same way you do."

Jun Xinghe sighed. "If your girlfriend’s father isn’t happy with you, don’t be discouraged. It’s definitely not your fault."

"With your qualifications, in my opinion, even if the daughter of a publicly listed company’s CEO were to marry you, it would be its own kind of perfect match."

"Thank you for the encouragement," Jiang Liu said with a sincere expression.

"Mm..."

Jun Xinghe was in no mood to continue the conversation.

Talking about this with Jiang Liu felt like personally handing his first love over to someone else.

His chest felt tight and heavy.

"Well, we’ll be heading out. Everything you sell in your shop is delicious. I’ll come back when I get the chance."

"Okay, goodbye."

As they walked out of the little shop, Jun Xinghe sighed again and again, as if he’d just lost the love of his life.

He just couldn’t understand it.

’Why do other people’s daughters have such sharp eyes? She spotted Jiang Liu right away and even managed to capture his heart.’

Thinking of his own daughter, Jun Xinghe was so exasperated he could have ground his teeth to dust.

"Old Xia, we’re heading back now. We’ll meet up here at Jiang Liu’s place again some other day when we’re free."

After saying goodbye to Xia Changzhi, the two of them walked toward their parking spot.

"Let’s just go straight to the airport."

Guo Dapao looked at his phone, a little troubled. "Old Jun, how about we wait a bit? I saw a small apartment over at the Picasso on the next street. I want to go check it out, and if it’s good, I plan on securing it right away."

"...That works. We’ll check it out together. Oh, right. Once my branch factory opens up over here, we can stay here often."

Jun Xinghe could already picture it: stepping out his door and seeing Jiang Liu’s restaurant right there.

He’d be in his soft slippers, holding a thermos, playing cards and chatting with Old Xia on Yangzhai Street whenever he had free time.

’How wonderful would that be.’

"You’d better be the one treating, then!"

"As long as you stand in line for me, I’ll treat you every day."

"Pah! In your dreams."

Back in the minivan, Jun Xinghe took out his laptop and held a meeting with his company’s senior executives.

His expression was icy the entire time, and he spoke with sharp finality.

The executives were all trembling with fear.

Experts at reading the room, they could tell at a glance that President Jun was in a bad mood today.

’What happened? Did a deal with a partner fall through?’

’But that wouldn’t be enough to make him like this!’

...

Just before one o’clock, all the food in the shop was sold out.

A business owner who was lingering by the door, unwilling to leave, called out in frustration, "Boss Jiang, can’t you sell me five steamed buns? I’ll pay double!"

"They’re really all gone. You want me to pull five buns out of thin air?" Jiang Liu retorted irritably.

"Sigh, I waited in line for two hours and couldn’t even buy a bowl of soup. If only Boss Jiang could make more."

"Let’s go, Boss Le. We’ll go eat at Xiaotong’s Restaurant. It can’t compare to Boss Jiang’s, but it’s not bad."

As the customers outside dispersed, the last group inside finished up and left as well.

The shop was empty.

Jiang Liu began to clean up. The tables were already quite clean; the last customer to leave had made a point of wiping their table down thoroughly for him.

’All I have to do is wash the plates, bowls, steamers, and the floor.’

「Just then.」

The sun was high in the sky as Wang Cheng walked in, carrying a briefcase and accompanied by Landlord Zhang.

Landlord Zhang was a portly, middle-aged man with a pale face—abnormally so, as if he were recovering from a major illness. He carried the faint scent of traditional Chinese medicine as he walked.

"Lawyer Wang?"

Jiang Liu heard footsteps and came out from the kitchen. He was a bit surprised to see the lawyer, as he hadn’t expected him to come by at this time without calling first.

Lawyer Wang greeted him with a smile.

"Boss Jiang, long time no see! This is Landlord Zhang. I’ve already settled everything with him. The property transfer has been finalized, so all that’s left is for you two to sign a few contracts."

For the past few days, in order to help Jiang Liu smoothly acquire the storefront next door, he had barely eaten or slept properly. All his time had been spent in a battle of wits with this Landlord Zhang.

"That fast?" Jiang Liu was pleasantly surprised. He quickly walked over and shook Landlord Zhang’s hand. "Hello, I’m Jiang Liu."

"Zhang Zhicheng," Landlord Zhang said, nodding with a smile.

Jiang Liu said, "You two haven’t eaten yet, have you? Let the contracts wait a moment. I’ll make you something to eat. We can talk while we eat. Beer?"

At the mention of food, both men’s mouths immediately began to water.

They had planned on coming here to sign the contracts precisely so they could freeload a meal off of Jiang Liu.

"Yes!"

"I’ll have a bottle too," Lawyer Wang said with a smile, raising his hand as he sat down.

Jiang Liu went to the kitchen and prepared a plate of ham, a large portion of sashimi, a dish of twice-cooked pork, and a few bottles of beer.

Simple and unpretentious.

Jiang Liu seemed to have a faint impression of this Landlord Zhang. He was probably a regular at the shop.

The three of them sat and chatted for over twenty minutes, then signed the contracts.

The property rights had already been transferred to Jiang Liu’s name that morning. This was something that normally had to be handled in person, but as a prominent lawyer, Wang Cheng naturally had his own connections and channels.

Finally, Jiang Liu paid the remaining 1.1 million to Landlord Zhang.

A total of 2.1 million.

After paying the money, Jiang Liu breathed a sigh of relief.

Wang Cheng handed him the documents and the keys.

’From this moment on, my shop can finally be upgraded and expanded!’

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading back, Boss Jiang." Wang Cheng was full and content, a satisfied look on his face.

’This one meal made all his hard work over the past few days worth it!’

"Wait, isn’t your wife at home? Let me pack some food for you to take back to your family."

"Haha, thank you, Boss Jiang!"

Wang Cheng was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected this bonus; making friends with Jiang Liu was certainly worth it.

Jiang Liu packed up a portion of ham, twenty steamed buns, and three bottles of juice for Wang Cheng.

Zhang Zhicheng swallowed, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.

After seeing the two of them off, Jiang Liu eagerly took the bronze-colored key and opened the adjacent roll-up door.

A musty smell hit him, and a cloud of dust billowed into his face.

Zheng Qiang’s old shop was filthy. The wood-patterned floor tiles were covered in black grime, the dozen or so tables on the left were battered and broken, and the counter on the right was blanketed in dust.

Jiang Liu went to take a look at the back kitchen and was nearly overwhelmed by the stench.

It was the foul odor of rotting radishes.

The back kitchen had been cleared out, except for an upright freezer in the corner. Jiang Liu opened it and, sure enough, found a red plastic bag inside, filled with a greenish-white, putrid liquid.

’I’ll just leave this to be thrown out with everything else during the renovation...’

Pinching his nose, Jiang Liu locked the door again.

He felt a bit disgusted. When the time came to renovate, he would have the whole interior gutted and redone from scratch to make it cleaner.

As for the back kitchen, Jiang Liu planned to connect it to his own kitchen’s storage room. He would keep only the one entrance to his current kitchen and seal off the door to Zheng Qiang’s old one.

’Now I need to find a renovation crew...’

Jiang Liu thought of Huang Yunfeng.

’His construction site must have people with renovation skills.’

He opened his phone.

As expected, his girlfriend had already sent him a flood of messages.

.....