Chapter Forty-Five: Paying the Price

Seeing Zhou Guo'an's ingratiating manner, Chen Huajiang smiled lightly. He knew the herbs were definitely insufficient—after all, Wu De was his nephew, so he must have kept some for himself.

"Da Guang, weigh the herbs. See if the quantity matches," Chen Huajiang said, still smiling as he looked at Zhou Guo'an.

Deep down, Zhou Guo'an was extremely uneasy. Earlier, when he went to Wu De's place, he had seen them handling a large pile of herbs. He was certain the amount would fall short, but he had no idea by how much.

"Brother Jiang, we're short by about ten pounds," Da Guang reported.

Chen Huajiang was stunned. In just one night, they had used up ten pounds of herbs. The herbs they painstakingly brought back from Yunnan had been squandered by these people.

"Give me an exact number."

"We're twelve pounds and three taels short."

Chen Huajiang turned his eyes to Zhou Guo'an, who couldn’t just go straight to Wu De now. If the bureau found out about his relationship with Wu De, he’d be criticized, maybe even driven out of the Food Bureau. All he could do was force a smile.

"I'll pay for whatever’s missing. How much do you want?"

Chen Huajiang knew Zhou Guo'an wasn't short on money. Since that was the case, there was no need to be polite.

"We went all the way to Yunnan to get these. We don’t want your money. You go and buy us the herbs."

Chen Huajiang was deliberately making things hard for Zhou Guo'an. In the entire city of Nanming, it was impossible to buy his kind of herbs.

"This... where am I supposed to buy them? I can’t find anyone selling them. Boss Chen, just name a price, will you?"

Zhou Guo'an was close to tears from anxiety.

"I'm just afraid you can't afford the price if I say it."

"Just tell me. As long as it’s not outrageous, I’ll manage."

Zhou Guo'an was desperate. He had no other choice. If the chairman found out the issue wasn’t resolved, he’d be in serious trouble.

"Ten yuan per pound. Twelve pounds—one hundred and twenty yuan."

Chen Huajiang named the price without hesitation. Zhou Guo'an was momentarily stunned; this was a steep price. He only made a few dozen yuan a month. Paying one hundred and twenty yuan was painful. But if he didn’t pay, the problem would remain, and things would get even more complicated. He figured he’d settle the matter and then go to Wu De for reimbursement. If Wu De refused, he’d go to Wu Min—his own brother-in-law.

"Fine! One hundred and twenty it is. I’ll pay you right now."

Zhou Guo'an pulled out twelve ten-yuan notes from his pocket and handed them to Chen Huajiang, who took them without hesitation and added, "Next time, do your homework before acting. Don’t lose your job over something like this."

"You’re right, Boss Chen," Zhou Guo'an replied, then left the snack shop.

Wu De and Gou Weidong had thought this matter would drag on for a week or ten days. They hadn't expected Chen Huajiang to resolve it overnight.

Wu De, still confused, went to find Zhou Guo'an and asked, "Uncle, what’s your relationship with their chairman anyway? I never heard anything about it."

Zhou Guo'an, visibly annoyed, slammed the table and said, "How the hell should I know what our chairman’s relationship with him is? Let me tell you, I paid him a hundred and twenty yuan in compensation. Hurry up and give me the money."

Looking at his disappointing nephew, Zhou Guo'an was filled with frustration.

"What? You gave him a hundred and twenty? Why?"

Wu De hadn’t realized this was compensation for the missing herbs.

"What choice did I have? There were twelve pounds less than before. That Boss Chen said ten yuan a pound. What was I supposed to do? You all used up the herbs, so you have to pay for them."

Hearing this, Wu De was resigned. They had indeed wasted a lot of Chen Huajiang’s herbs, but they hadn’t expected him to ask for such an exorbitant price—ten yuan a pound.

"Fine, I’ll split it with my partner. That should do, right?" Wu De left, not at all pleased.

Back at his own shop, he explained the situation to Gou Weidong. Although Gou Weidong was reluctant, he didn’t dare cross Wu De and unhappily handed over sixty yuan.

Although business had been decent lately, Wu De’s shop was no match for Chen Huajiang’s.

They had tried to deal with Chen Huajiang several times, but nothing had worked. Chen Huajiang thought, “Since you show no mercy, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

He knew very well that the idea had come from Feng Weizhi, the owner of Gourmet Fresh. Originally, Chen Huajiang had no quarrel with Feng Weizhi, but if this was how she wanted to play, he wouldn’t be courteous either.

Since you had someone report us, I can report you too.

Wu De’s little shop was hardly worth the trouble, but Gourmet Fresh was a major restaurant. Even if there were no violations, a routine inspection would be enough to keep them on their toes—cleaning the kitchen and handling all sorts of procedures.

So, the next morning, Chen Huajiang went to see Zhou Guo'an. He had intended to go directly to Zhang Donglai, but Zhang wasn’t in, so he went to Zhou’s office instead.

Seeing Chen Huajiang, Zhou Guo'an grew uneasy, wondering why this troublesome figure had shown up again. Had his nephew done something else?

"Director Zhou, I’m here today to tell you something," Chen Huajiang said, sitting down unceremoniously in front of Zhou Guo'an.

"Boss Chen, just say the word. If I can help, I will," Zhou replied, smiling. He still couldn’t figure out the relationship between Chen Huajiang and Director Zhang Donglai. Although Zhang claimed they were good friends, Zhou suspected they might be relatives.

"I know Wu De is your nephew, and that your investigation of my shop is connected to him. But as far as I know, this wasn’t his idea—it was instigated by Feng Weizhi, the owner of Gourmet Fresh."

Zhou Guo'an was completely caught off guard. Chen Huajiang seemed to know everything, even that Feng Weizhi was behind it.

He had always wondered why they hadn’t come for him when the snack shop first opened, and why only now. So it was all orchestrated by the Gourmet Fresh owner.

"So, I think you ought to take a look at Gourmet Fresh. Maybe you’ll find something, maybe not. Of course, it all depends on how you want to handle it, Director Zhou."