Chapter 2: Ouyang

Qin Luo's anger came and went quickly.

In Zhao Rong's words, Qin Luo had been Qin Huai's little tail since she was small. When the tail followed the main body and got angry, it would flick twice, comfort itself by saying, "Fine, I guess it's my fault, let's both take a step back, I forgive you." If the siblings only had a small conflict, Qin Luo could quickly adjust herself and then happily stick to him and ask what they were eating today.

"Brother, what are we eating today? I want hotpot, the super spicy kind!" The little tail put down the cola bottle and asked happily.

"Too spicy. How many pimples have you grown on your face these past few days? Eat it in a couple of days."

"Then let's eat barbecue!"

"It's easy to get your clothes dirty. Today is mainly to treat Sister Hong to a meal to thank her for lending us the house to stay in these past few days. I saw on Sister Hong's social media that Huihui is sick and asked for leave today. Huihui might come at noon too, and it's not good to eat anything too greasy when you're sick."

Qin Luo thought seriously for a minute: "Japanese food!"

Qin Huai put down his phone, looked at her helplessly, and asked a soul-searching question: "You want to eat raw food?"

Qin Luo:...

"Then what are we eating? It can't be you cooking, Brother. The dough isn't even kneaded yet; how long would we have to wait for you to make it?"

Qin Huai had just wanted to say that he had found a stir-fry restaurant nearby with a decent rating and an average cost of 200+ per person. One of the guests he was treating, Ouyang, who was theoretically at work at the neighborhood committee, flashed into the convenience store, grabbed the main point directly, and said in a high-pitched voice: "What?! Master Huai, you're going to cook yourself? Did Luo Luo, quick, go home and put away all those pots and pans; you can only leave the steamer and the rolling pin! The food your brother stir-fries is really not fit for human consumption."

"Get lost." Qin Huai made a look of disgust, but his hand moved to pull out a chair to signal Ouyang to sit down, asking, "You ate plenty of it during club activities before, didn't you? Aren't you at work right now?"

Ouyang, Qin Huai's senior and club president from university.

When Qin Huai was a freshman, in order to get extra credit, he was tricked by Ouyang into joining the cycling club, which claimed to be green, healthy, athletic, and environmentally friendly. When he got in, he found that out of the 9 people in the whole club, only Ouyang had a bicycle, and that was only because he was a local and lived across from the school, relying on the bike to get to class on weekdays.

Although the cycling club was a false advertisement and a shell company that didn't add much credit, the daily activities were good. They were either finding a park for a picnic or finding a river beach for a barbecue, and the members didn't have to pay. Ouyang always had ways to get funding, and everyone spent two happy years together. The members and Ouyang had a very good relationship.

After Qin Huai graduated and returned to his hometown, he lost contact with his university friends, and usually, they were just "like" acquaintances on social media. This time, returning to inherit the estate, Qin Huai thought that Ouyang's family seemed quite wealthy and should be very knowledgeable about the law, so he thought he could consult him and contacted Ouyang.

Unexpectedly, his family wasn't just ordinarily wealthy. As soon as Ouyang graduated from university, his parents saw the appreciation potential and school district value of the Yunzhong complex and bought a two-bedroom apartment in Ouyang's name in full. It was in the same building as the house Qin Huai inherited, and the two became neighbors directly.

Even more coincidentally, Ouyang worked at the neighborhood committee, and the Yunzhong Cafeteria that Qin Huai was about to take over was the number one mess facing the neighborhood committee.

"Sister Hong remembered you were moving today and asked me to come over to help. I thought I'd come to the convenience store to buy a drink first, and then I saw you guys." As he spoke, Ouyang handed the phone, which was stopped on the payment code interface, directly to Qin Luo: "Did Luo Luo, help your Brother Yang run an errand and get a bottle of iced black tea. Take whatever you want to eat."

Qin Luo took the phone to pick out snacks.

Once Qin Luo left, Ouyang said with a serious face: "I heard from Sister Hong this morning that you finished the paperwork? Qin Huai, let me tell you, you must not be impulsive. Things that fall from the sky these days aren't necessarily pies; they could be iron plates. Don't stick your head out to catch them and end up with a face full of blood."

"I know you might feel that Sister Hong is enthusiastic, has taken good care of you during this time, and even helped solve the accommodation problems for your uncle, aunt, and Did Luo Luo, so you're embarrassed to refuse Sister Hong. Don't be embarrassed; Sister Hong isn't the kind of person who is petty. Even if you don't take over this community cafeteria, Sister Hong won't blame you."

The "Sister Hong" in Ouyang's mouth was Chen Huihong, the protagonist of the side quest Qin Huai triggered. Chen Huihong, female, 41 years old, wealthy woman, resident of Yunzhong complex, head of the neighborhood committee under the sub-district office, and one of the owners of the Yunzhong complex property management company (the other owner is her younger brother), the legendary enthusiastic neighborhood committee auntie.

Qin Huai didn't know much about Chen Huihong, only that she had divorced a few years ago, had a daughter named Chen Huihui who was in the third grade of experimental primary school, was quite wealthy, held shares in property management companies, large supermarkets, and logistics companies, and could achieve financial freedom just by relying on dividends every year. She was enthusiastic, loved to meddle in other people's business, and couldn't stay idle even though she didn't have to work, so she established the neighborhood committee out of her own pocket. She usually liked to organize group purchases to seek benefits for community residents, was Ouyang's de facto boss, and was a big celebrity in this area.

During the time when the Yunzhong Cafeteria had no one to take over, it had always been Chen Huihong who handled the trivial matters of the cafeteria. After Qin Huai confirmed he would take over, Chen Huihong used her connections to help Qin Huai post recruitment information. Fearing that the money tree in the cafeteria would not be taken care of and that it would be unlucky if it died before opening, Chen Huihong even moved the money tree to the neighborhood committee to water and take care of it every day. Knowing that Qin Huai decided to buy appliances and move in, and that his parents and sister were coming to help, Chen Huihong took the initiative to say that she had an empty apartment in the complex that wasn't rented out, which the Qin family could stay in temporarily to save some hotel money. She was a truly enthusiastic person.

Ouyang's worry that Qin Huai was biting the bullet and taking over the cafeteria because he felt Sister Hong was too nice and that not taking it over would cause trouble for her was not unreasonable.

"It's really not because of Sister Hong," Qin Huai explained. "I really think the community cafeteria has potential, which is why I took it over. It's ready-made and doesn't cost anything anyway, so why not try?"

The look Ouyang gave Qin Huai immediately turned into, "Old Qin, are you okay? Has your brain been kicked by a donkey after not seeing you for a few years?"

"Do you know how much it costs to open such a large cafeteria in this area?" Seeing that Qin Huai seemed determined not to turn back until he hit the south wall, Ouyang started counting on his fingers: "A cafeteria with an actual area of over 700 square meters across two floors—you have to hire at least two chefs, right?"

"I'll count one chef's salary at 15,000 a month; that's 30,000."

"Waiters—five isn't too many, right? Someone has to serve the food, handle the cash register, and clear the plates, right? I'll count 8k a month, no, 7k; that's another 35,000."

"Handymen, those who help in the back kitchen and wash dishes—I'll count two, 6k a month; 12,000."

"And cleaning—find those cheap aunties, at least 4k or 5k. With such a large area, even if you offer 5k, people might not be willing to do it. Even if I assume you can find a cleaner for 5k, you'll be spending over 80,000 a month just on salaries, not to mention water and electricity."

"If you do well, you could lose over 200,000 in three months."

"Of course, I know you also inherited a house, but you can't sell your school district house just for a shop, right?"

Qin Huai watched Ouyang analyze it logically, even calculating exactly how much he would lose in three months. He frowned, suddenly feeling that things weren't that simple.

"You... don't tell me... you've lost money before, have you?"

Ouyang:...

"I was young, frivolous, and ignorant when I graduated from university." Ouyang only felt his eyes filled with tears. "The predecessor of the Yunzhong Cafeteria was actually my fish hotpot restaurant."

"Lost over 200,000 in three months?" Qin Huai asked.

"Including the renovation money, I lost 6.6 million in a year." Ouyang choked up. "My dad thought I took the money to gamble and wouldn't admit it; he almost beat me to death."

Ouyang looked up so the tears in his eyes wouldn't fall: "Qin Huai, doing catering business in this area is really hard!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3 =====