From Wage Slave to Tycoon

He knew Chen Fei’s earlier cough was meant to tell him something. During a lull in the conversation, Su Chen caught a glimpse of Chen Fei in the back out of the corner of his eye.

He saw Chen Fei, in a spot hidden from the driver’s view, trace two circles in the air with his right hand.

Su Chen understood immediately. Chen Fei was telling him the driver was taking them the long way around.

He glanced at the taxi’s meter. ’Good grief...’ They had already gone over nine kilometers, almost ten. He couldn’t imagine how far out of the way the driver had taken them.

Any good feelings Su Chen had for the driver instantly plummeted into the negatives. ’So all that enthusiastic chatter since we got in the car was just because he was treating us like pigs for the slaughter.’

Even though he knew such things were unavoidable while traveling, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed now that he was aware of it.

"Driver, we should be there by now, shouldn’t we? This 8.5-kilometer trip has already stretched to ten. It’d be a bit much if we’re still not there," Su Chen said, his tone losing its earlier friendliness.

Hearing this, the smile on the driver’s face stiffened. He was about to argue but then caught Chen Fei’s chilling stare in the rearview mirror. A shiver ran through him, and he hurriedly said, "We’re almost there, almost there! It’s just around the corner."

As a taxi driver, he had seen all sorts of people and his fair share of tense situations, but Chen Fei’s stare had genuinely shaken him. He finally understood that these two weren’t as harmless as they looked.

SCREECH~

The taxi pulled to a steady stop by the side of the road. The driver forced a smile, pointed to the right, and said, "Tongfa Restaurant is right over there."

Following the driver’s finger, they saw the sign for the old Tongfa Restaurant come into view.

Su Chen grunted in acknowledgment, opened the door, and got out. Chen Fei, still in the back, scooted toward the door, looked at the driver, and asked in a completely flat tone, "How much?"

The taxi driver swallowed hard and glanced at the meter. It read sixty-five yuan.

"Hey man, just fifty is fine!" the driver said shamelessly.

Chen Fei pulled out his phone and paid the fifty. As he was getting out, he made sure to look back at the driver and add, "Don’t take detours in the future. Not everyone is as reasonable as we are."

He expected some kind of response, but the moment he shut the door, the taxi shot away, showing none of its earlier sluggishness.

The sight left Chen Fei momentarily stunned.

Neither of them took the matter to heart. After all, when you’re traveling, you’re bound to encounter all kinds of weird things; you can’t let incidents like that ruin your mood.

They walked into the old Tongfa Restaurant. It was probably still early, as there were only one or two other occupied tables, and the customers looked like they were tourists, too.

They chose a table by the window and sat down, and a waiter immediately came over with a menu.

Su Chen took the menu and glanced at it. It didn’t highlight any of the house specialties, so he asked, "Could you recommend a few authentic Tianjin dishes for us?"

Perhaps accustomed to customers like Su Chen, the waiter pointed directly to several items on the menu and said, "The Eight Treasures Tofu, Pan-Fried Triple-Treasure, Old-Style Sautéed Trio, Braised Beef Knee, Stir-Fried Shrimp..."

He rattled off a list of several more dishes.

Su Chen took a look and ordered the first five dishes the waiter had mentioned, figuring the two of them could probably finish it all.

The kitchen was remarkably fast; in less than twenty minutes, five authentic Tianjin dishes were set down in front of them.

Su Chen picked up his chopsticks, about to dig in, when Chen Fei suddenly said, "You might want to brace yourself. These dishes may not be as good as you’re expecting."

"Huh?" Su Chen’s hand paused mid-air, and he looked at Chen Fei in confusion.

Seeing his reaction, Chen Fei quickly explained, "Tianjin cuisine is primarily salty and savory, with secondary notes of sweet and sour. It’s a little different from what you’re used to."

"Oh." Su Chen, who had been about to try the Old-Style Sautéed Trio, quietly redirected his chopsticks toward the Braised Beef Knee.

The Braised Beef Knee looked soft, tender, and juicy; Su Chen thought it looked absolutely delicious.

He picked up a piece and popped it into his mouth without a second thought.

Su Chen’s brow furrowed instantly. Even though he had been mentally prepared, he had truly never before tasted a sweet-and-sour dish like the Braised Beef Knee, which leaned so heavily toward the sweet side.

He tried the other dishes, finding the Pan-Fried Triple-Treasure and the Stir-Fried Shrimp to be quite good.

This meal effectively dashed Su Chen’s high hopes for local delicacies. Thinking it over, he realized it made sense. Every region has its own unique palate, Wudu included.

Someone from the coast, accustomed to lighter, sweet-and-sour flavors, would also struggle to adapt to the local cuisine of the southwestern regions right away.

Once he thought it through, Su Chen’s expectations for local delicacies in other places were no longer as high as before.

Chen Fei did the heavy lifting for this meal. As he put it, he didn’t care about the flavor profile; as long as it was edible, it was good food.

Back in his special training days, they could forget about gourmet food; they were lucky if they could catch a small wild animal to eat.

After their meal, Su Chen and the others didn’t go sightseeing. They took a taxi straight back to the hotel. This driver, thankfully, was decent and didn’t take them the long way around.

Once they got back to the hotel, they checked out immediately, hopped in their G-Wagen, and hit the road back to Shanghai.