Chapter 90: Inspecting the Storefront, a Familiar Face?
After hanging up.
Lin Feng called Huizi.
"Hello..."
"Good morning, Mr. Lin."
It was as if Huizi had been waiting for his call.
She picked up the instant it started ringing.
Lin Feng was slightly taken aback when he heard her voice.
But he quickly recovered.
"Good morning, Miss Huizi."
"If it’s convenient, you can come pick me up now."
Now that he was awake, it was time to get down to business.
The issue with the storefront still wasn’t resolved.
"I’m already downstairs at your place, Mr. Lin."
Huizi’s voice came through the phone again.
"You’re already downstairs?"
Lin Feng got up and walked to the window.
He looked down through the slightly water-stained glass.
He saw the 7 Series parked downstairs.
"Wait for me, I’ll be right down."
Lin Feng said before hanging up.
He then went back to his room to change.
Only then did he head out and go downstairs.
Huizi, who was waiting in the car, felt a bit anxious.
Lin Feng had lent her the car last night.
To avoid a situation where Lin Feng might need to leave in a hurry this morning,
Huizi had been waiting downstairs since eight o’clock.
However, to avoid disturbing him,
she hadn’t called him.
When it came to these small details,
Huizi was very thoughtful.
At least in Lin Feng’s eyes,
Huizi waiting downstairs with the car early in the morning had won his approval.
By the time Lin Feng came down,
Huizi had already moved from the driver’s seat to the passenger’s seat.
He opened the car door and got in.
Looking at Huizi in the passenger seat,
Lin Feng smiled and said, "Morning."
"Good morning, Mr. Lin."
"I’ve already contacted the people about the storefront. We can go view it anytime."
Huizi said.
"There’s no rush to see the property. Have you had breakfast, Miss Huizi?"
Lin Feng asked after fastening his seatbelt.
He had a habit of eating breakfast.
Besides being hungry, it was also to avoid getting stomach problems.
Huizi shook her head.
She had woken up at seven and arrived at Lin Feng’s place by eight.
She’d been waiting here ever since and hadn’t had time to eat.
"Then let’s get breakfast first."
"We can look at the storefront after."
Lin Feng made the decision for her.
Lin Feng wasn’t a naturally assertive person.
But after deciding to start a company,
Lin Feng began to consciously make decisions.
Whether he was truly assertive or not,
he at least needed to give others that impression.
Huizi hadn’t really felt anything at first.
But after hearing Lin Feng’s words,
she suddenly realized she was quite hungry.
Breakfast in Xiang City.
Starts with a bowl of rice noodles.
For Lin Feng, a native of Xiang City,
being in Yang City for so long without being able to eat authentic Xiang City rice noodles and scallion oil pancakes...
...was a bit torturous.
Huizi seemed unable to accept eating a staple food for breakfast.
So she just ordered soy milk and fried dough sticks.
A breakfast of soy milk and fried dough sticks...
’It’s probably popular all over the country, right?’
Huizi ate very elegantly.
Even though she had been dismissed by the An Family,
she still wore a professional suit.
While eating, she gently held back her long hair with her left hand.
Her grace attracted the gazes of many people around them.
In contrast to Huizi’s elegant table manners, Lin Feng was much more unrestrained.
He was wearing expensive casual clothes,
yet he was slurping his noodles with gusto.
His leg was also bouncing restlessly.
’Who cares about image?’
’If you don’t shake your leg while slurping noodles, can you even call it slurping noodles?’
People from every place have their own food memories.
Like Yu City with its spicy noodles,
Wudu with its hot dry noodles,
and Lanzhou with its beef noodle soup.
Tasting authentic Xiang City food again after more than a month,
he was very satisfied.
At the same time, the system activated.
[DING... Congratulations, Host, on eating long-missed Xiang City cuisine.]
[Random Buff Triggered: Food Memories of Home.]
[For every Xiang City dish the Host eats, your physical condition will reach its peak for the day.]
[Physical condition includes, but is not limited to: stamina, endurance, and learning ability.]
’This...’
’I can get a buff just from eating breakfast?’
’That’s pretty slick.’
’It’s easy enough while I’m in Xiang City, though.’
’But what am I going to do when I go back to Yang City?’
’From the way the system described it, this buff can be infinitely renewed.’
’If that’s really the case,’
’I should really consider hiring a chef in Yang City who can cook Xiang City cuisine.’
’Wait a minute.’
’I already know a great chef.’
An image of Chu Ling’er couldn’t help but surface in his mind.
That quiet Sichuan Girl who always kept her head down.
’She’s so good at cooking Sichuan food, other cuisines should be a piece of cake for her, right?’
’After all, Xiang City and Sichuan and Chongqing have a lot of similarities!’
’Maybe I should just hire her for myself when I get back?’
’To cook for me exclusively?’
If he could really trade a salary of a few thousand a month for a month-long full-power buff,
it would definitely be a win for him.
An absolute steal, in fact!
But it was too early to be thinking about all that.
’Better to finish up my business in Xiang City first.’
The storefront Huizi found for Lin Feng wasn’t too far from his home.
This was because Lin Feng had already given her his requirements.
And unlike Huizi, Lin Feng wasn’t a steady driver.
The 7 Series wasn’t a supercar,
but its power response had been tuned very well.
He stomped on the gas.
The 4.4T engine roared to life.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the storefront Huizi had found.
It was located in a small plaza within the CBD.
It looked like it had been a restaurant before.
Furthermore, the surrounding office buildings were enough to support the foot traffic in this small plaza.
There was an advantage to opening a restaurant in a place like this.
The employees in the surrounding office buildings...
...were all potential customers.
Although urban white-collar workers had a decent lunch break,
most of them chose to eat somewhere nearby.
When Lin Feng and Huizi arrived, it was around eleven o’clock.
But they could already see many people with bags of all sizes, preparing takeout orders to be delivered to the office buildings.
One could only imagine how lively this plaza would be in a little while.
’If possible, it would also be great to open a coffee shop here.’
He glanced around.
The small plaza had at least seven or eight coffee shops.
’But there’s probably still a market for it.’
Overall, Lin Feng was very satisfied with the location.
"Mr. Lin, this storefront is 260 square meters in total."
"But because it’s in the CBD,"
"the unit price is a bit higher, close to 40,000 per square meter."
"After all the paperwork is completed, the total price will be around eleven million."
"The previous tenant was renting it annually."
"However, due to circumstances in the first half of the year, his funding chain broke."
"That’s why the landlord is thinking of selling it directly."
Renting a place this large in this kind of location would cost at least 500,000 a year.
It was indeed a huge financial pressure.
But if he could buy it,
this location was basically a safe investment.
Although housing prices in Xiang City had taken a hit in the first half of the year,
that was just due to the broader economic environment.
It wouldn’t be long before they rose again.
"Where’s the landlord?"
After getting a general understanding of the situation, Lin Feng made his decision.
’I can take this storefront.’
Even though the final price exceeded his budget by one million,
it was all worth it.
Lin Feng wasn’t short on cash right now anyway.
His bank balance alone was enough to cover the cost.
’Besides, don’t I have the 90% Off Property Card from the system as a safety net?’
"I’ve already contacted the landlord."
"She said she’s here in the plaza."
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Lin. I’ll call and ask."
This small plaza had dozens of shops.
Without calling, it would be impossible to find her exact location.
Huizi made the call, and it was answered after a few rings.
After a brief exchange, Huizi put her phone back in her pocket.
"Mr. Lin, the landlord said we should wait at the entrance of the storefront. She’s coming over now."
Lin Feng nodded.
He walked toward the storefront side-by-side with Huizi.
After waiting for two minutes, Lin Feng saw a familiar face walking toward them.
Actually, "familiar face" wasn’t quite right.
They had only met once, just yesterday.