Chapter Forty-Seven: Childhood Friends

Wu De was struggling to understand. Though his uncle hadn’t been close with Feng Weizhi before, at least they knew each other. Why had he suddenly gone over with people to investigate? Could it have been the president’s orders? The most surprising part was that they actually found something. With these thoughts swirling in his mind, he decided to visit his uncle that evening to get to the bottom of it.

Liang Long arrived in the afternoon. The houses by the textile factory were already built; all simple structures, constructed quickly. “Hua Jiang, the houses are ready. When shall we open?” Liang Long was delighted, feeling that he’d truly taken part. The main issue now was the lack of a store manager. Chen Hua Jiang hadn’t found a suitable candidate, nor did he know if Liang Long was willing to take on the role. The young man disliked being constrained, and having him stay there all day would probably drive him mad.

“We can open any time, just missing a store manager. Do you have anyone in mind?” Chen Hua Jiang himself was too busy to run back and forth, especially since he had his own affairs to attend to, such as recruiting franchisees and negotiating cooperation projects.

“The people I know all love playing cards, none of them would want the job, and they couldn’t handle it anyway. I won’t get involved, I’ll leave it to you,” Liang Long handed the task to Chen Hua Jiang, giving him a headache.

But since he was the major shareholder, the responsibility was his. He needed to find someone reliable and experienced in management. Sitting in his shop, Chen Hua Jiang pondered the matter. Suddenly, a figure flashed in his mind—his childhood friend, Guo Lin, who had always excelled academically. Guo Lin had graduated from university a year ago. In his previous life, Guo Lin had worked mainly in the hotel industry, and was once the deputy manager of a budget hotel, outstanding in his abilities.

Where was Guo Lin now? Chen Hua Jiang carefully counted the time. If he remembered correctly, Guo Lin was currently working in the department store, responsible for finances, assigned there after university. In this era, university graduates were typically assigned jobs that promised steady incomes—good pay and not too taxing. With this in mind, Chen Hua Jiang decided to seek out Guo Lin. If he could bring Guo Lin into his team, their business would surely grow.

After nine o’clock that night, Wu De bought some things and went to his grandmother’s house. He was mainly there to find Zhou Guo An, who wasn’t pleased to see him. Still, his parents were happy, asking about everything.

“Uncle, let me ask you—when you took people to investigate Taste Fresh, what were you thinking?” Wu De suddenly brought up the issue.

“What else? Just decided to check it out,” Zhou Guo An replied curtly.

“But isn’t the owner of Taste Fresh on good terms with you? Why did you suddenly investigate his place?”

“Are you really unaware or just pretending? Don’t think I don’t know it was him who reported Chen Hua Jiang’s snack shop, causing me to get a harsh scolding from the president. Who else would I investigate?” Zhou Guo An snapped.

Wu De’s mind worked quickly. From what Zhou Guo An had said, this seemed connected to Chen Hua Jiang.

“Did Chen Hua Jiang tell you to do it?”

“What do you mean, ‘tell me to do it’? He just mentioned he suspected something about Taste Fresh. Let me tell you: don’t mess with Chen Hua Jiang, he’s not someone you can handle.” Zhou Guo An finished, ignoring his nephew and smoking alone.

Meanwhile, Wu De was secretly pleased. If this was Chen Hua Jiang’s doing, it would work greatly to his advantage. He could partner with Feng Weizhi against Chen Hua Jiang. He planned to find a time to inform Feng Weizhi. After all, even in decline, a camel is bigger than a horse; Feng Weizhi still had more funds than Chen Hua Jiang and his associates.

Da Guang returned late as usual. He’d heard about the investigation at Taste Fresh. When he got home, he found Lu Cheng gloomily drinking alone. With Taste Fresh under investigation, Lu Cheng couldn’t go to work and thus had no wages.

“I told you ages ago that Taste Fresh wasn’t reliable, but you wouldn’t listen. Now you see, it’s been inspected by the Food Bureau,” Da Guang said, sometimes feeling helpless about his father. After all, he was his own father and sometimes couldn’t be too harsh.

“If you ask me, your snack shop isn’t reliable either. Chen Hua Jiang is making money, but how much does he give you? I’m not as foolish as you. Besides, you think Feng Weizhi won’t try to fix things? How much money do they lose every day?” Lu Cheng had a point. Rent and other expenses were ongoing; for a big restaurant like Taste Fresh, every day closed meant another day lost.

“If you really think so, start a small business yourself. Don’t work for him. Or find a small place and sell braised pork; you could make some money.” Da Guang had learned a lot from Chen Hua Jiang. Now that Chen Hua Jiang had opened branches, he thought his father could manage a small shop, too.

“Don’t you need investment to open a shop? I know more about that than you. Besides, working all day is exhausting. At least here, I just work a little and earn a hundred yuan. Isn’t that good enough?” Lu Cheng had his reasoning; at his age, he couldn’t compete with young men like Da Guang.

“Do whatever you want, as long as you’re happy,” Da Guang tossed out, heading back to his room.

Only then did Lu Cheng feel grateful he hadn’t let Da Guang work at Taste Fresh; otherwise, both father and son would be stuck at home now. He had no idea when Feng Weizhi could reopen Taste Fresh; the Food Bureau had ordered them to rectify but hadn’t said for how many days. Feng Weizhi was more anxious than anyone, having visited Zhou Guo An several times, but Zhou avoided him. The matter was proving troublesome.

Early the next morning, Chen Hua Jiang woke up bright and early.

“I’ll take Huan Huan to kindergarten today!” he said, dressing the child.

“Why not sleep a bit more? You came back so late last night,” Lin Jiayin responded. Lately, her attitude toward Chen Hua Jiang had been very good, mostly because she’d seen how much he’d changed and hoped he would continue this way.

“After I drop Huan Huan off, I need to go to the department store to find my childhood friend.”

“Alright, then you go ahead.” Lin Jiayin didn’t ask what he needed his friend for. As long as he was earning money properly, she wouldn’t interfere in other matters.