Chapter 196: No Chance to Call Me Big Bro!

No grandson, no daughter-in-law.

I ask in this situation how many days can a mother’s goodwill towards her returning son last?

Actually it doesn’t even take days. Sleeping in late a few times, casually tossing clothes around, and a mother’s love will disappear at an unimaginable speed.

Soon the first day’s six dishes and one soup will turn into two dishes lasting the whole day.

Then it will be no dishes, just twenty yuan cash.

In the end, she’ll even forget to give the twenty yuan and you’ll have to rummage through the cupboards for instant noodles.

But Jiang Qin isn’t an average person. He won’t give mom any chance to get fed up with him.

The next day at seven in the morning when it was barely light out, Jiang Qin had already washed up, making his early rising parents look at him with suspicion, not understanding what had gotten into their son.

“You just got back, not sleeping in?”

“Not sleeping anymore. The plan for the day is set at dawn.”

“Where are you going? Not even eating breakfast?”

“Going to Jizhou Library.”

Watching Jiang Qin hurry out the door, the couple couldn’t help exchanging a glance.

First day of winter break, 7:30 am, not even eating, going to the library?

Yuan Youqin was a bit worried, “Old Jiang, we’re always ordering him to study when we call. Did we push him too hard?”

“What else could it be? You think college awards are easy to get? And one with a trophy at that!” Jiang Zhenghong pointed at the trophy already displayed in the living room.

“No, we need to persuade him when he gets back tonight not to study so intensely. As a mother it scares me to see this.”

“You don’t need to worry too much. He probably just got back and can’t adjust his schedule. Let’s observe for two days first.”

Jiang Qin had no idea his parents had imagined him into such a state. He swished out the community gate towards the library.

After all, it was a winter morning. Jizhou’s streets had very few people and the sky was still covered in a fine misty white fog spreading all around.

Feng Nanshu wore a white down jacket, standing in front of the unopened library, craning her neck to look in his direction until he appeared from the hazy white mist. Only then did she patter over to the roadside to wait, her usually aloof expression instantly turning silly and cute.

“Jiang Qin, hold hands.”

Jiang Qin took her soft little hand that felt a bit cold, cupped it in his hands to blow two breaths of air, then stuffed it in his pocket to warm it for a while, “You thought I would refuse, right? Hehe, if I said I won’t hold hands, you’d definitely call me big brother again. I see right through you.”

The little rich girl raised her face to look at him blankly, feeling the handsome silly bear was a bit smart, but also a bit dumb.

“Why are you drooling while looking at me?” Jiang Qin narrowed his eyes.

“Jiang Qin, I’m hungry. Take me to eat breakfast.” Feng Nanshu rummaged in his pocket a couple times.

Jiang Qin rubbed his own belly, also feeling it was empty, “I’m hungry too. I’ll take you to drink lamb soup.”

“Okay.”

The two held hands, walking forward along the misty, deserted street. Come to think of it, this was their first time holding hands on the streets of Jizhou.

When passing by the gates of South City High, Jiang Qin didn’t know why, but his heart suddenly started pounding.

Outside the high school you lived at for three years, holding hands with the prettiest fairy girl from high school…

Holy sh*t, this feels even better than tricking people.

If enumerated, this awesome feeling could at least rank second in life.

Jiang Qin suddenly let go, pretending not to hold hands anymore, making the little rich girl whine and whimper while shoving her hand back.

See, this awesome feeling could rank first in life.

About ten minutes later, Jiang Qin brought the little rich girl to Peace Road. There was a Yang’s Lamb Soup restaurant here that he had invested in as a trial during summer break.

“Uncle, long time no see.”

“And Auntie…Auntie, hello.”

Yang Shuan was also on break starting today, so he was dragged up by his old man early in the morning to help. Because the lamb soup restaurant gets especially busy on winter mornings. Plus, they opened a fourth branch so they were a bit short on hands. That’s why he got roped in.

But he never imagined his first customer this morning would be Jiang Qin, that devilish former high school classmate, now sworn brother of his dad.

But to be honest, when Yang Shuan called Jiang Qin uncle, he didn’t have much psychological resistance anymore.

Why?

Because Jiang Qin invested over 100,000 yuan in their family business, not even taking quarterly dividends, letting it be used to support his dad opening branches everywhere. Because of this, their family was thriving and he was living it up in college.

Heard that Guo Zihang even shamelessly called him Godfather. What reason did he himself have not to call him Uncle!

But…

He had to call Feng Nanshu Auntie now. He really felt like dying.

She was the unattainable dream of all South City High boys, that unforgettable pure white from countless youths. But now she became his aunt. Dammit, who could he reason with about this?

“Shuan, you’re back on break? How were your final exams?”

Jiang Qin put on the amiable attitude of an elder, thinking to himself it was finally his turn to ask someone else this. Felt great.

“Exams were alright…”

“Did you win Learning Star?”

“What’s Learning Star?”

“Tsk, didn’t even get an award? I had prepared a red envelope for you. Saved it this time.”

Jiang Qin was very smug as he held Feng Nanshu’s hand and walked into the shop.

After a while, steaming hot lamb soup was served, accompanied by two pan-fried buns, plus a pot of beef vermicelli stew.

Seemed Yang Jianguo took his suggestion, not just doing the single lamb soup item, but starting to increase variety.

Running a restaurant is like this. Only by providing customers more options can you maintain stable, lasting traffic. If you just have a single signature dish, no matter how delicious, it’s not a long-term plan. Because restaurant brands rely on repeat business. But people will get tired of a single item no matter how good.

In other words, signature dishes are a sharp weapon to attract customers, but a restaurant can’t just have a signature.

Jiang Qin reached out to tear the bun, throwing small pieces into the lamb soup, then feeding the little rich girl a bite, stuffing her cheeks full, her eyes brimming with delight.

After eating for a while, Jiang Qin suddenly remembered last night’s topic, a bit curious how much substance there was in wealthy families’ red envelopes.

“Little rich girl, do you get red envelopes for New Year’s?”

Feng Nanshu shook her head, “No red envelopes.”

“Makes sense, you’re not lacking money either.” Jiang Qin shrugged.

“Will Jiang Qin get red envelopes?”

“Yeah, elders usually all give red envelopes. Uncles, aunts, they’re a must every year. You have to say I’m all grown up, can’t take it anymore, while stretching out your pocket to let them put it in. It’s quite amusing.”

Feng Nanshu thought for a long time, reached out to take her wallet, pulled out a hundred yuan bill and handed it to Yang Shuan sitting beside them, her expression aloof like an elder.

Yang Shuan: “?”

Jiang Qin: “?”

“…”

After a long while, Yang Jianguo rushed over after hearing the news, giving Jiang Qin a big hug, calling him brother every other word.

After exchanging greetings, he opened his briefcase, took out a contract from inside, and passed it to Jiang Qin.

“A few days ago someone wanted to partner with me to open franchise stores. I don’t understand that stuff so I stalled them, planning to wait for you to come back and see if it’s feasible.”

“Franchise stores?”

Jiang Qin flipped open the contract and read it for a while, “Franchising can be considered, but not now. My suggestion is to first establish ourselves in the Jizhou market, make a name for ourselves. Then we can do franchising ourselves, much better than letting others take a cut.”

Yang Jianguo had a blind trust in Jiang Qin. He immediately tossed the contract aside, “Then I’ll listen to you. Won’t do franchise partnerships for now. Will keep opening branches.”

“The speed of opening branches shouldn’t be too fast either. Still need to research new products. Right, I have two recipes here. One for dumplings, one for spicy chicken. See if you can use them.”

Jiang Qin took out his phone and forwarded two text messages to Yang Jianguo.

The spicy chicken recipe was from Dong Wenhao. They made it during a company outing before and Jiang Qin felt the flavor was quite good.

The dumpling recipe was from Song Qingqing’s mom. He hadn’t tried it, but judging from Old Lu, Zhu Feng and Dean Zhang’s reactions, the filling flavor must be exceptionally tasty.

“These recipes aren’t mine. If they work out, consider it a tech investment. Take out a portion of annual revenue, give them a cut based on a ratio.”

“Okay, I’ll give them a try.”

Jiang Qin nodded, reaching out to feed the little rich girl across from him a spoonful of lamb soup, using his pinky to wipe the soup water spilling from the corner of her mouth.

As a result, he fed her a few more times after that, with soup water “accidentally” spilling from the corner of her mouth each time.

“?”

Seeing that Jiang Qin had noticed, Feng Nanshu immediately pursed her little lips, eyes darting around, looking like she knew nothing.

When they finished eating their fill, Jiang Qin got up to leave. Yang Jianguo immediately told his son to go out and send off Uncle and Auntie. Yang Shuan was spacing out holding that hundred yuan bill. Hearing the words Uncle and Auntie made his scalp go numb.

“Uncle, take care. Don’t come again in the future.”

“This nephew, what kind of talk is that? Be good and listen at home. Don’t be mischievous. Can’t spend red envelopes randomly either. Use it to buy school supplies!”

“…”

In the next few days, Jiang Qin left early and returned late, basically leaving at 7 am and coming back at 5 pm. And each time he said he was going to the library.

No choice. The little rich girl was waiting for him at the library. Otherwise where would they meet?

But in Yuan Youqin’s eyes, this made her very worried. She thought what’s wrong with her son, it’s not high school, no matter how diligent he is there’s no need to study this much, right?

Going to college but not dating, only knowing to study all day. How can this be?

She considered it for a long time, then put away the trophy displayed in the living room, deciding not to give Jiang Qin too much pressure.

“Hey, where’s my trophy?”

Jiang Qin came out of the bedroom to get water and immediately noticed his trophy had vanished.

“I put it away for you. Study less in the future. Watch more TV. Your dad went to the cable company to pay today. Paid for cable, got twenty more channels.”

“????”

Jiang Qin froze for a moment, instantly understanding the couple had misunderstood, thinking he was going to the library to study.

But this wasn’t easy to explain. Because he wasn’t going out to date, just to walk his good friend. They probably wouldn’t understand such an advanced concept.

Then he’ll just be idle for the next two days so the couple won’t worry.