Chapter 312

After washing his hair and finishing his shower, Zheng Tan came out from the poolside, lingered a while under the tree shade, and only when his fur was mostly dry did he return to the private room; this left Jiao Ba's fetched towel useless.

Yuan Zhiyi raised his hand and closed the window; the indoor air conditioner was blowing, and if the window wasn't shut tight you could feel the hot wind blowing in from outside. When he first entered, the window wasn't closed; by the time he was about to shut it, Zheng Tan had already jumped out, so the window had remained ajar, and only now was it truly closed.

"Your cat really has guts, but fortunately Mars and Tofu have been trained, they've been around small animals a lot, normally they hardly bite anyone, and they're fairly friendly toward cats and dogs." Shu Dong said to Jiao Ba.

Jiao Ba neither agreed nor disagreed, just smiled.

Zheng Tan inwardly scoffed at Shu Dong's words; he had only dared to approach after seeing that Mars and Tofu were mild-natured and showed no hostility toward him, otherwise he'd be stupid to provoke those fierce, untrained big guys—does he have a death wish?

Yuan Zhiyi beside them had finally managed to steer the conversation back to the recent changes in the financial market, hoping to hear more of Shu Dong's opinion, but now that Zheng Tan had returned, Shu Dong diverted the topic again; helpless, Yuan Zhiyi coughed, glanced at Jiao Ba, signaling to quickly steer the talk back, lest they drift further off—such a rare chance to learn more shouldn't be wasted.

After chatting a while about the financial market's upheaval, the topic drifted to what had happened not long ago at Guqin She, and they mentioned the perpetrator.

"He has nothing left now, so naturally his actions are more extreme." Yuan Zhiyi said.

"Nothing at all?" Shu Dong chuckled, his tone tinged with mockery, "He isn't truly penniless; at least he still has an illness, and a serious one."

It was clear Shu Dong didn't approve of that person's conduct at all; he looked down on him.

"Someone who's fallen to that point probably can't stay calm, right? The higher you climb, the harder the fall hurts." Yuan Zhiyi said.

Zheng Tan glanced at Shu Dong, thinking this person seemed more interested in cats than in people, probably because he'd run into some unpleasant experiences. Not long ago Zheng Tan had overheard someone say while strolling, "The more people you know, the more you feel pets are better," and stories of giving one's all to people only to be stabbed in the back are all too common, which is why some people's views have become increasingly extreme.

However, Zheng Tan felt Shu Dong wasn't as simple as he appeared. Just like Fang Shaokang, who usually seems unreliable but is indeed capable of shouldering a big company and achieving great things; someone so easy to read wouldn't be a person who has fought in smokeless battlefields for over twenty years.

The conversation then turned to Chu Hua Shi. Shu Dong sighed, "Chu Hua Shi is a great place; a friend of mine is even planning to open a shop there."

Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi felt a stir inside—here we go!

Yuan Zhiyi's company basically had no business dealings with Shu Dong's side; earlier they had thought that someone like Shu Dong inviting them here for tea and chat wasn't necessarily all about the cat matter, and indeed there was another reason.

The friend Shu Dong mentioned is precisely the owner of this shop; although the place looks upscale, the owner is truly a grassroots figure, hadn't studied much, didn't even finish junior high, traveled south and north alone learning regional cuisines, devised many dishes; when Nan Cheng began rapid development, he came to this city to open a shop, happened to meet Shu Dong and others, and with their help launched this relatively high-end establishment—though his first shop has never closed and is now well known among Nan Cheng residents. These years he's focused on perfecting dishes, not managing the shop; now with some free time and no financial worries, he wants to start opening branches elsewhere in the country.

Coincidentally, while discussing with Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi how his dog had scared away the other's cat, Shu Dong learned these two were from Chu Hua Shi, and he took the chance to inquire further; most of his business is actually overseas, domestically he only knows a bit about the capital, Ming Zhu Shi, and this Nan Cheng area, other places he's not familiar with.

Yuan Zhiyi and Jiao Ba chatted with Shu Dong about Chu Hua Shi's recent developments, and discovered Shu Dong wasn't completely ignorant of the city—he could offer a couple of sentences on its well-known enterprises and local figures.

Just then the private room door opened, and a man in his mid-forties to near fifty walked in, dressed casually in a vest and shorts, with a faint smell of food about him. Seeing how casually he greeted Shu Dong, and how Tofu and Mars were friendly toward him, Zheng Tan guessed this man was the shop owner Shu Dong had mentioned.

This man entered leading Mars and Tofu together; the dogs' fur was already dry, suggesting they had been led away from the pool not long after Zheng Tan returned to the private room.

Great Danes have short fur, so compared to long-haired breeds they're more cold‑averse than heat‑averse, but in midsummer with scorching sun and high temperatures they still feel overheated, some even risking heatstroke; thus in summer Tofu often stays in the air‑conditioned room, only going to the pool to play when his owner is busy.

As soon as they entered the room, the two large dogs, who had been panting heavily with mouths wide open, became much quieter; the indoor coolness made them feel very comfortable.

Tofu even came over to sniff the chair where Zheng Tan was crouching; seeing Zheng Tan ignore him, he went back to sit beside the man who had just entered. As for Mars, he had already run to Shu Dong's side and lain down.

Zheng Tan had no interest in the conversation between Jiao Ba and Shu Dong; he stared at Tofu's ears, glanced at Mars' floppy ears, then looked at the four people who had begun introducing themselves and chatting, and jumped off the chair to walk over to Tofu—no one was watching him, and sitting there bored him anyway.

Tofu, a bit tired from playing in the water, lay on the floor, licked his nose in the indoor coolness, then closed his eyes and began to doze; when Zheng Tan jumped down from the chair, Tofu's ears twitched but he didn't open his eyes. Only when Zheng Tan walked up to him did the big fellow slowly open a slit, see Zheng Tan, not lift his head, merely raise his eyelids to look at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan looked into Tofu's eyes, felt the dog's mood seemed okay, showed no aloofness or warning, so he leaned in further, gazing at Tofu's upright ears, wondering how the ear‑cropping was done; he was a bit curious.

As Zheng Tan approached, Tofu lifted his head, opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and panted, looking at Zheng Tan as if unsure what the cat wanted. When Zheng Tan raised his hand to touch Tofu's ear, Tofu shook his head and lifted a paw to rub the ear base; probably Zheng Tan's earlier motion made him feel a bit itchy, but he didn't get angry or emit a warning growl.

What a fine dog. Zheng Tan thought.

The four people at the table were discussing Cai Lao Ban's newly devised dish. Before this man appeared, Zheng Tan had wondered whether he'd be the typical big‑headed, thick‑necked type, but that wasn't the case. Though nearing fifty, he's still quite healthy, no beer belly, very easygoing; he doesn't interject much on other topics and doesn't talk much, but when the conversation turns to food he seems to come alive.

Shu Dong jokingly recounted some of Cai Lao Ban's pre‑success days: back then, a rural grassroots fellow from a farming family who often went hungry, when he left the countryside for the city to learn a trade he encountered many who belittled him; once a landlord said that the Cai Lao Ban renting cheap housing there was just a country fly—born in a latrine, dead on the dinner table. Put bluntly: poor background, low education, only knows how to eat, eat yourself to death.

"Thirty years east, thirty years west—don't bully the poor youth." This pretentious saying has been uttered by many, but only a few can actually live by it. So whenever the topic comes up, Shu Dong and some of Cai Lao Ban's friends tease him, saying, "When you're driving a multi‑million‑yuan luxury car and carrying several million in cash, come smash him to death."

Not letting Shu Dong bring up the past, Cai Lao Ban spoke about the new dishes he had devised over the past few months.

Yuan Zhiyi listened to him describe those dishes, constantly swallowing saliva; he too is a foodie, hearing that Nan Cheng's Shi Wei is Cai Lao Ban's shop, his favor toward Cai Lao Ban rose straight away. When his father, the late Yuan Lao Ye, was still alive he already loved the dishes at Shi Wei; the old man said the food there wasn't frivolous, Yuan Zhiyi couldn't grasp what "frivolous or not frivolous" meant for a dish—he just knows to eat, if it's tasty that's enough; as for critiquing food, that's for gourmet experts.

Leaving taste aside, because of that connection with Yuan Lao Ye, Yuan Zhiyi also intends to give Cai Lao Ban more counsel.

Don't think opening a shop is simple—just look at how many troubles Jiao Wei's family had when they opened a small eatery at Chu Hua Da Xue, let alone Shi Wei, which in Yuan Zhiyi's view is bound to boom and is already quite sizable.

As the saying goes, a strong Dragon does not crush the local snake; Chu Hua Shi has plenty of local snakes, so to expand the shop one must still weigh many factors. This is also one reason Shu Dong invited Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi after learning their backgrounds: one is a longtime professor at Chu Hua Da Xue, the other is a boss who runs a company in Chu Hua Shi; even if we can't get much useful info from them, it's still good to listen, since the data he's had people gather isn't exhaustive.

Yuan Zhiyi doesn't think Cai Lao Ban will encounter major obstacles in Chu Hua Shi; a little greasing of palms here and there should suffice, and whether the branch can launch depends on whether it can retain customers—as long as the food quality doesn't drop.

"Don't worry, it's fine—I have faith in Shi Wei's ability; once Shi Wei opens, I'll be able to eat its dishes often, and even if it's far I'll drive there." Yuan Zhiyi said with a laugh.

"Not far—Jiao Ba isn't at Chu Hua Da Xue? The shop I've taken over is right nearby." Cai Lao Ban said, "It's that… uh… Hengwu Guangchang area; I looked around for a while, thought the newly built Hengwu Guangchang was pretty good, so I snapped it up."

Seeing the expressions of Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi suddenly turn subtle, Shu Dong asked, "What's wrong? Is something off?"

"Hengwu Guangchang? That isn't Ye Hao's turf, is it?" Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi simultaneously glanced toward Zheng Tan.

Shu Dong and Cai Lao Ban followed their gaze and saw that the black cat had one paw pressing down on Tofu's head, the other paw flipping Tofu's ear to look at something.

There's a saying: kind people are taken advantage of, kind dogs are bullied by cats.

Jiao Ba once again helplessly covered his face. (To be continued…)