Starting from a Bankrupt Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant

"Yes, they met today and got back in touch," Zhou Yan said with a smiling nod. "But Mrs. Qiu remains completely devoted to Mr. Duan. Her feelings for Wang Yu are no longer romantic, and Wang Yu has no intention of pursuing anything more."

"It seems they’ve become good friends. Mrs. Qiu is preparing to go to Hong Kong to reunite with her children. She left Wang Yu her mailing address so they can write to each other anytime."

"Wang Yu was overjoyed. He told me that he has another tie to this world now, and no more regrets."

The old woman smiled in contentment, remarking with a sigh, "That’s wonderful. They’re both such decent, honorable people. To reunite after nearly fifty years... it’s truly a rare thing."

"Yes. If they’d missed this chance, they would have regretted it for the rest of their lives," Zhou Yan agreed with a nod.

"Don’t tell me you were the one who arranged this?" The old woman’s gaze fell upon Zhou Yan. "You only asked me about it the day before yesterday, and today they’ve already met. And you know so much about what happened."

’The old woman truly was wise; you couldn’t hide anything from her.’

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded. "Actually, it’s all thanks to you. If it weren’t for you, the two of them might never have met in this lifetime."

"Me?" The old woman frowned.

Zhou Yan said with a perfectly straight face, "You said Wang Yu used to give his fiancée braised beef, and Qiu Qi happens to love braised beef. Then, Wang from the library kept asking about your braised beef.

So I took a wild guess. I never thought I’d get so lucky—a blind squirrel finds a nut, and all that! Turns out, this Wang Yu changed his name to Wang Ran. One plate of braised beef and two glasses of wine later, he told me everything.

I went to Jiazhou yesterday afternoon to arrange a time for them, and sure enough, they met in Suji this morning.

So you see, if you hadn’t provided those crucial clues, this never would have happened, right?

Wang Yu is coming to thank you in a couple of days. If you don’t understand him, just nod. To get him to talk yesterday, I told him you were the one who told me everything. You absolutely can’t let the cat out of the bag, got it?"

"You clever rascal. You’ve got more tricks up your sleeve than King Yama himself!" The old woman nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. You can rest assured, I won’t breathe a word."

"I was just doing a good deed, after all," Zhou Yan said with a grin. ’Talking to a sharp old woman like her is so easy.’

"But you’re so busy with your business, running around day and night. How did you find the time to go all over the place playing matchmaker for them?" The old woman looked at him. "There must have been something in it for you, right?"

"Mrs. Qiu’s granddaughter said if I could help her grandmother find peace, she would persuade Mrs. Qiu to sell the Qiu Family’s Old Mansion to me," Zhou Yan said with a smile. "You know the one, right? It’s right across from Jiazhou Port, and the foot traffic is incredible. I want to buy it, save up, tear it down, and rebuild. Then I can move to Jiazhou, open a restaurant on the first floor, and live on the second. It’ll be perfect."

"You’ve really got it all planned out, kid. From the village to the town, and now you’re heading for the city." The old woman chuckled. After a moment’s thought, she added, "That Qiu Family mansion isn’t small. How much would it cost to buy?"

"Ten thousand."

"How much?!"

"Ten thousand," Zhou Yan said with a smile. "The location’s prime, the lot is spacious, and most importantly, the view is fantastic. From the second floor, you can see the Min River and the edge of the Great Buddha. It’s absolutely perfect."

"That’s all well and good, but where are you going to get ten thousand yuan?" The old woman’s brow furrowed slightly, her face clouded with worry.

"Grandma, don’t you worry about the money. If I’m daring to even think about this, you can be sure I’m confident I can earn it," Zhou Yan said quickly, his heart warming at her concern.

The old woman looked at Zhou Yan, who was sitting on a small stool. She reached out, stroking his head, and said gently, "Xiao Yan, take your time. Life is long. Don’t be anxious, don’t be rash. Set smaller goals. Earn your money coin by coin, and live your life day by day. That’s how you live a rich and flavorful life."

"Mm, I know." As Zhou Yan felt the frail but warm hand stroking his head, his nose suddenly felt stuffy.

’The old woman always had such a caring and compassionate heart for the younger generation.’

Zhou Yan sniffled and changed the subject with a smile. "Grandma, is there anywhere you’d like to visit? Once I’ve earned enough money, I’ll take you on a trip."

"Visit where?" The old woman thought for a moment before asking, "Is South Korea far? How much would it cost?"

"South Korea?" Zhou Yan was taken aback.

The old woman nodded. "That’s where your grandfather died in battle. He was a sniper. He killed dozens of those foreign devils, including a high-ranking officer. He was awarded a First-Class Merit. If I ever get the chance, I want to see the place where he fought."

Zhou Yan looked at her. The old woman’s expression was calm, but a storm of emotion swirled in her eyes.

Zhou Yan recalled a memory: the night before his grandfather left to rejoin his unit, Zhang Shufen had tucked a pair of cloth shoes into his pack, telling him to come back alive.

But on a rainy day, all that came back to her was a plaque.

The First-Class Merit plaque was hung in the main hall, but her husband would never return. The child in her belly would never meet its father.

Zhou Yan squeezed the old woman’s hand and said with a smile, "Grandma, as soon as China and South Korea establish diplomatic relations, I’ll take you there. I read in the paper that international relations are improving. It shouldn’t be long now. When the time comes, we’ll go by plane."

The old woman smiled at his words and nodded. "Deal."

Worried that it wouldn’t be safe for his youngest uncle to give the old woman a ride on his bike, Zhou Yan made a point of taking his grandmother home himself.

...

"Dad, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Duan Yu Yan said, gripping the phone in the Jiazhou post office.

"Sweetheart, did you convince your grandma? Is she willing to come to Hong Kong?" a voice with a Sichuan accent asked from the other end of the line.

Duan Yu Yan said proudly, "That’s right. The good news is that after my tireless, painstaking investigation, I’ve finally helped Grandma find peace. She just agreed to come back with me to Xiangjiang at the end of next month and stay for a while."

"That’s wonderful! Sweetheart, you’re really something! Your uncle and aunt were just here yesterday discussing it with me. They said if your grandma wasn’t willing to come, they were going to bring the kids back to Jiazhou next month to see her." The voice on the other end of the line was filled with excitement.

Duan Yu Yan held the receiver a little further from her ear. When the voice on the other end paused, she said, "Tell Auntie and Uncle they don’t need to come. It’s a hassle for the whole family to travel back and forth. I’ll bring Grandma back next month."

"Perfect! Perfect!"

"By the way, what was the bad news you mentioned?"

"Promise you won’t get mad when I tell you," Duan Yu Yan said.

"Just tell me. I’m a civilized man. I don’t curse."

Duan Yu Yan glanced around, chose her words carefully, and whispered into the receiver, "Grandma’s long-held sorrow was about the young master of the Suji Wang Family, Wang Yu, the man she was once engaged to. I found him. In fact, I took Grandma to meet him today. She was so happy. She wore a new cheongsam and was beaming the entire way home."

"Holy shit!"

A series of loud CLANGS and BANGS came through the phone, like something had been knocked over.

After a moment, the voice returned. "You’re talking about Wang Yu? Wang Yu from the Suji Wang Family? Where did you find him? The search came up with nothing!"

"Huh? Dad, you know about him?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Your grandfather mentioned him in a letter a few years ago," her father said. "He wrote that his biggest regret was not being able to find Wang Yu. He thought that if he could just let him and your grandmother meet one more time, she would be truly happy."

"Your grandfather also said that Wang Yu was a hero who defended our homeland, and that he himself didn’t have such grand abilities—he could only do his best to protect your grandmother."

"Your poor grandmother didn’t even know if Wang Yu was alive or dead, so of course she worried. Because he couldn’t find the man, your grandfather always felt like he had failed your grandmother in some way."

"Sweetheart, you’ve done something wonderful. If your grandfather knew, he would be so happy."

The voice on the other end of the line sounded a little choked up.

Duan Yu Yan gripped the receiver tightly, her mouth slightly agape. Tears welled in her eyes, which were filled with a mixture of shock and guilt.

’Grandpa...’

’He was so good to Grandma!’

’No wonder Grandma’s eyes always sparkled like that whenever she mentioned him.’

’It must be that only when you love someone that deeply do you always feel like you owe them more.’

"Sweetheart, when you get back, I’ll transfer that apartment in Central to your name. And that branch company you were talking about? Just go be the general manager. Don’t worry, do whatever you want with it. The president there has been with me for decades, he can take it..."

She barely heard the rest of his words. She just felt her heart fill with love, as if she’d drunk a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter’s day, warming her from the inside out.

"Dad, I think the world is a beautiful place."

After a moment of silence, her father’s laughter came through the line. "Sweetheart, your mom and I will wait for you to come home for dinner."

"Mm-hm."

...

「Suji.」

「The kitchen of the town’s state-run restaurant.」

Director Yan Wenhe, Head Chef Fan Qingfeng, and lead server Wu Danzhen were huddled together, looking at the leftover food on the shelves with solemn expressions.

Yan Wenhe spoke. "What went wrong? On a typical weekend, we get forty to fifty tables. Today, we only had thirty. We’ve never had this much food left over!"

"There’s meat, vegetables, and even fish," Wu Danzhen said after a moment’s thought. "Director, how should we split it? My kid was just saying yesterday they wanted some fish. If you two don’t want it, I’ll just take it home."

"These pork ribs are still good. They’ll go bad by tomorrow if we leave them, so I’ll take them home and make some rib soup," Fan Qingfeng chimed in.

Hearing this, Yan Wenhe eyed a piece of pork belly that was a good pound and a half. He nodded. "Alright, I’ll take the pork belly then."

The three of them divided up the meat.

As Yan Wenhe held the pork belly, he thought for a moment and added, "I still feel like something’s not right. To lose over ten tables of customers just like that... where did they all go? Did some new restaurant open in town and steal our business?"

"Oh, Director Yan! So we were short a few tables, so what? Look how much more relaxed it was for all of us today. The customers weren’t breathing down our necks," Wu Danzhen said with a laugh. "We all get paid the same salary anyway. Who can stand it when it’s that busy? My hands feel like they’re about to fall off from carrying all the plates."

"Wu has a point," Fan Qingfeng added with a nod.

Hearing this, Yan Wenhe waved his hand impatiently. "Fine, fine. Let’s clock out."

As he walked out with the pork belly, he also grabbed a head of cabbage from the shelf.

...