Chapter Thirty: Acting on a Whim

“It’s true, but what can we do about it now? If you ask me, we should open our own snack shop right next to theirs and compete with them openly.” Wu De suddenly came up with this idea.

Not far from the snack shop, there were several vacant rooms.

“It seems you have a point, but we don’t have a chef. What would we serve?” Gou Weidong thought it was a good idea too—at least they could make some money.

“Stir-fried dishes. I have a buddy who specializes in that. Tomorrow I’ll go find him. As for the factory’s rooms, I’m sure we can figure out how to get them, and they won’t be too expensive.”

“That’s settled, then. We have to find a way to squeeze out Chen Huajiang’s snack shop. Otherwise, I just can’t let it go. If you won’t do it, I’ll do it myself.” Wu De’s personality was always quick to act.

“I’ll do it. But if we do this, we’ll have to quit our jobs at the factory. Still, if we can drive out Chen Huajiang’s snack shop, I’m willing to resign.” Gou Weidong had no other friends and could only follow Wu De’s lead.

Chen Huajiang and Daguang threw out all the unnecessary items and then handed two thousand yuan to Daguang.

“Daguang, I’ll be out for a couple of days. Clean up here a bit, buy a new refrigerator—should cost about a thousand. Fix whatever’s broken, it shouldn’t cost much.” Chen Huajiang planned to take this opportunity to go to Yunnan and bring back some medicinal herbs.

For franchising, these were crucial. He needed to get the whole franchise process ready as quickly as possible.

“Brother Jiang, where are you headed?”

“I’m off to get some herbs. Once we have them, your braised pork will taste better than your dad’s.” Chen Huajiang said cheerfully.

“Shouldn’t you take me with you? My nose is sharp—what if you get scammed?” Daguang’s logic seemed sound.

Chen Huajiang thought for a moment and decided to bring Daguang along. If he went alone, it would be risky if anything happened.

“Alright, I’ll take you. In that case, don’t bother cleaning up. Just leave things as they are. We’ll tidy up when we return.” Chen Huajiang was eager to set out and didn’t want to waste time.

“When do we leave?” Daguang asked.

“Tomorrow. Come find me in the morning, and we’ll go buy tickets.” Daguang nodded enthusiastically—he had never left Nanming City in his life.

That night, after returning home, Lu Cheng saw Daguang packing and asked in confusion, “Why are you packing?”

“I’m going out with Brother Jiang for a while,” Daguang replied simply, not mentioning the medicinal herbs.

If he said so, it would be like telling Weimeixian directly. Now that Lu Cheng worked at Weimeixian, father and son were basically rivals.

“Is your snack shop closing?”

“We’ll reopen when we get back.”

Lu Cheng didn’t ask further. His workload wasn’t heavy now. As long as he finished three hundred portions a day, he could rest; everything else wasn’t his responsibility.

When Lin Jiayin came home from work and saw Chen Huajiang packing his clothes, she was puzzled.

“By the way, honey, I’m going to Yunnan tomorrow. Here’s two thousand yuan for you—keep it. While I’m gone, don’t be hard on yourself.” Chen Huajiang took out two thousand yuan from his pocket and handed it to Lin Jiayin.

“Why are you going all the way to Yunnan? It’s so far.” Lin Jiayin was worried.

“I need to get some herbs for our barbecue. We can’t find them here; only Yunnan has them. So I’ll be gone for about ten days, round trip.” Chen Huajiang was always honest with Lin Jiayin—they were a couple, after all.

“Is it really necessary to go all the way to Yunnan? Just use what’s available. Do you really think you’re running a big restaurant?” Lin Jiayin didn’t understand his reasoning.

She felt that their little snack shop was already doing well enough and couldn’t see why Chen Huajiang kept pushing.

“I told you, we’re going to make big money. Herbs are essential. Once I bring them back, you’ll understand.” For franchising, taste was everything. Chen Huajiang’s barbecue wasn’t necessarily the best, but he was the first to do things this way. Without other barbecue shops for comparison, there was no competition yet.

But in a year or two, there would be plenty of rivals. He needed to be ready for them and cover all his franchisees in Nanming City.

Lin Jiayin didn’t really understand any of this, so she went off to cook dinner.

That night, Lin Jiayin had trouble sleeping. Without Chen Huajiang at home, she felt uneasy.

Ever since Chen Huajiang’s personality changed, she hadn’t been bullied or mistreated. She worried that someone might come and give her trouble while he was away.

“Make sure you come home early. Once you get the herbs, catch the train back quickly.” Lin Jiayin knew Chen Huajiang hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

Chen Huajiang smiled, hugged Lin Jiayin, and whispered in her ear, “You miss me that much?”

Lin Jiayin’s face flushed all the way to her ears, but fortunately the room was pitch dark and Chen Huajiang couldn’t see.

“Who misses you? Don’t talk nonsense,” Lin Jiayin retorted coyly.

Chen Huajiang held her tighter, but could do nothing more—after all, Huanhuan was still in bed.

The next morning, Chen Huajiang got up early and took Daguang to the train station.

The train was packed, one of those old green carriages. Luckily, they managed to get seats. They had hoped for a sleeper, but those were sold out.

After squeezing onto the train and finding their seats, Daguang said excitedly, “Brother Jiang! We can watch the scenery along the way!”

“When we make money, I’ll buy a car and take you out for a drive,” Chen Huajiang promised. For him, this goal would be easy to achieve, though to others it might seem unrealistic.

Meanwhile, Wu De was sitting in Wu Min’s office.

“Dad, talk to the security department for me. I want to rent those rooms next to Chen Huajiang’s snack shop. Isn’t he doing well? I’ll open one too, sell things cheaper, and surely drive him out.”

Wu De was confident in himself.

“Why did you suddenly decide to open a snack shop like his?” Wu Min didn’t understand his son, who always acted on impulse.

“There’s only one snack shop in the factory. Of course everyone goes to him. Why should he make all the money? I can make money too,” Wu De argued convincingly.

Wu Min wasn’t particularly clever, but felt his son’s reasoning made sense.