Chapter 971: A Small Trouble

In 1990s Shanghai, and not just Shanghai; even after the severe crackdowns of the 1980s, a few years were enough for some evils to sprout once again.

Wang Yan had already set up his small barbecue stall on Huanghe Road for five days; on the first day he sold three hundred skewers, then five hundred, then six hundred, until reaching a peak of one thousand skewers.

Selling more was impossible, because those one thousand skewers were the limit that Wang Yan, Baby Jin's mother, and Teacher Ge could prepare together in half a day, and selling the finished barbecue also took three hours; while this was not the absolute limit of Wang Yan's stall, Wang Yan had already grown impatient.

Even selling one thousand skewers earned him a net profit of seven hundred yuan a day; after deducting food and drink for the three of them plus the little chubby kid, as well as his own cigarettes and alcohol, he still had six hundred yuan left, yet he was unwilling to do more, because the chattering of the waitresses waiting in line to get skewers and the constant repetition of making barbecue made him feel uneasy.

"Manager Wang has arrived," Liu Liu Jingxiu greeted Wang Yan familiarly, actively coming over to help unload the cart, "How many skewers did you bring today?"

"Still one thousand; my manpower is limited, so that's all there is."

"That's truly a pity; don't say one thousand skewers, even two thousand wouldn't be enough to fill Huanghe Road."

Wang Yan smiled and asked, "Has anyone been asking about the seasoning?"

"How could they not? The proprietresses of every shop on Huanghe Road have sent people over, and I told them the truth," Liu Liu Jingxiu said, looking at the queue and leaning closer, "But I think your trouble is coming soon; today is the sixth day, everyone who wanted to taste has tasted, and I'm afraid some people can no longer hold back. With this recipe in your hands, you work yourself to death for a month earning twenty thousand; if it gets into a big restaurant, who knows what could happen."

Liu Liu Jingxiu's meaning was clear: if a restaurant had a signature dish, it would be even more attractive, and the associated spending was incalculable; if only one family on Huanghe Road possessed Wang Yan's seasoning formula, their business would surely reach a higher level; if it were Jin Jin Meilin, Red Egret, or others, they could completely rely on this point to firmly sit in the number one spot on Huanghe Road.

Similarly, in recent days, Teacher Ge, who was tired enough for his back and waist to ache, had spoken in much the same way, nagging every day and hoping Wang Yan would be careful.

"In my hands, it could never be worth only twenty thousand," Wang Yan said, shaking his head with a light laugh.

Seeing that Wang Yan did not take it seriously, Liu Liu Jingxiu said no more; he felt that Wang Yan possessed a certain confidence, but a street vendor grilling lamb skewers, who merely had a seasoning formula, where did such confidence come from?

Wang Yan's current behavior was no different from a child carrying gold through a bustling market, which was naturally dangerous; after all, the social truth is that what belongs to oneself does not truly belong to oneself; he could not understand what Wang Yan's reliance was, but he did not have to wait long before witnessing exactly what Wang Yan's reliance was...

It was already past nine o'clock; at the entrance of Huanghe Road, the long grill was still filled with lamb skewers, wisps of light smoke curling upward, the aroma permeating the air and drifting far away with the late spring breeze.

Wang Laoban worked diligently, constantly turning the skewers, occasionally brushing on oil and sprinkling seasoning, walking from one end to the other and back again, busy without cease.

It was precisely at this moment that a group of people pushed through the crowd and approached; the previously peaceful atmosphere instantly became tense, and the chattering waitresses gathered here scattered, quickly clearing a space in the middle, both to allow the newcomers room to act and to give themselves a better view of the spectacle.

Further away, seeing there was a spectacle to watch, people who had come to eat also crowded over, and in just a short while, they were surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside.

Watching Wang Yan, who remained unhurried, using a small shovel to gather the charcoal in the grill to one side and moving all the lamb skewers to the other side to prevent them from overcooking.

Among the dozen or so people who had come to cause trouble, a young man wearing an oversized suit that failed to convey any sense of steadiness stepped in front of Wang Yan: "You little bastard, you've got some nerve; selling lamb skewers here, did you greet anyone? My brother ate your lamb skewers yesterday and had diarrhea all day; what do you say to that? Let me tell you, if I'm not satisfied with how this is handled today, don't blame me for overturning your stall, and if I accidentally hurt you, that would be unfortunate."

Wang Yan finally separated the charcoal and meat to opposite sides, turned his head to look at Liu Liu Jingxiu cowering in the back, and smiled: "You really are a jinx."

Liu Liu Jingxiu returned an awkward, apologetic smile.

"I'm talking to you; didn't you hear me? Want to die, is that it?"

Wang Yan walked around the long grill and stood before this man.

"I'll say it one more time, you..."

His words never finished; the young girls watching the spectacle screamed in panic, because no one had expected that Wang Yan would waste no words, delivering a single huge slap that knocked the man to the ground, causing him to roll twice.

A young girl wearing a waitress uniform felt something splash onto her face; she reached up to touch it and looked, seeing a spot of scarlet red.

"Blood!" she cried out even louder, the sound particularly piercing amidst the crowd.

But this did not affect Wang Yan; he did not even wait for the remaining hooligans to shout things like "Fuck, get him," as his entire body had already launched an attack.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, beyond everyone's expectations; by the time the onlookers came to their senses, all those who had clearly come to cause trouble were lying on the ground groaning.

People looked at Wang Yan as his gaze swept over them, subconsciously stepping back two paces, while a buzz of murmuring erupted within the crowd; inevitably some feet were stepped on, and those at the back, not knowing what was happening, inevitably started cursing, creating a noisy and unsightly scene.

Wang Yan walked up to the young man in the suit who sat dazed on the ground, clutching his face and groaning "Ouch," gently kicked him down, and then stepped on his ankle.

"Dare to shout, and I'll break your legs."

"Ah... uh..." The young man in the suit seemed as if the throat of fate had been choked; just as he was about to scream loudly, his voice changed into a painful, stifled groan.

"Tell me, who sent you."

"Big Brother, it's all a misunderstanding; he said that here at your place... ah..."

Wang Yan increased the pressure under his foot: "Last chance."

"Du Du Honggen; it was Du Du Honggen; he paid one thousand yuan for us to cause trouble for you."

"Who is Du Du Honggen? Did he come?" Wang Yan lifted his foot and looked around.

A buzz of discussion began to rise within the crowd, but no one answered Wang Yan.

Seeing Wang Yan's gaze turn toward him, Liu Liu Jingxiu shook his head and waved his hands repeatedly, indicating he did not want to get involved in trouble.

Wang Yan stepped on the young man in the suit's ankle again: "You tell me; who is Du Du Honggen, and what is his connection to this place?"

"He... he has some relationship with the proprietress of Jin Jin Meilin; I suspect he cannot be separated from her."

Wang Yan nodded satisfactorily and walked straight toward a location less than twenty meters away; that was Jin Jin Meilin, bearing a large sign; the restaurant's proprietress, the plump Lu Jin Meilin, with her permed hair tied high, wearing a fur coat and adorned with jewels from head to toe, was standing at the restaurant entrance watching the spectacle.

She was far away, and the crowd was tightly packed, so she had not seen how things developed; but as Wang Yan moved, the onlooking crowd parted, allowing her to see the dozen or more people lying on the ground; she also saw that Wang Yan was heading straight for her.

She felt somewhat timid and subconsciously took a step back, but not wanting to appear inferior, she stepped forward again, staring defiantly at Wang Yan who had already arrived before her.

"What, looking for trouble with me? Let me tell you, I, Lu Jin Meilin, was not raised to be scared; whatever you want to do, I'll take it on," she shouted at the top of her lungs, speaking very loudly.

Looking back over his long life, excluding those he had killed, Wang Yan realized he had never hit a woman; if one must say he had, it was probably just patting a bottom during flirting and the like...

"No need to put on airs with me; I won't hit you; hitting women is meaningless; this is the only time, there won't be a next," Wang Yan waved his hand, pulled a Huazi cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and blew a mouthful of smoke into Lu Jin Meilin's face.

He said, "This is a market economy, not a bandit economy; if you want my formula, you can just say it; there's no need to hire hooligans to disgust people and force me to sell the formula; that's too despicable; fortunately, I am broad-minded; let me say it clearly: I will not sell the formula, but I have long planned to sell the pre-mixed seasoning; setting up this barbecue stall these past few days was just to show you all."

"My seasoning is quite good; otherwise, you wouldn't have done this; it can basically be used for grilling beef, mutton, pork, and any kind of meat, without overpowering the original flavor; I sell one packet for ten yuan, which can grill about one hundred lamb skewers; your restaurants are all quite large, so hiring an extra barbecue chef is no problem; are you buying or not?"

Lu Jin Meilin looked at the smiling Wang Yan, her brain processing Wang Yan's calculations.

First, set up a stall on Huanghe Road to sell lamb skewers, using the delicious taste of the skewers to attract people; then, provoke others to covet the formula, and take the opportunity to propose selling the finished seasoning; thus, transitioning from selling barbecue at a stall to supplying seasoning.

The most critical point is that among the restaurants on this entire street, as long as one buys it, within three days, all hundred-plus restaurants will have to buy; at least for now, because Wang Yan has sparked a trend for barbecue flavor, customers coming here tend to eat barbecue while drinking alcohol; as long as Wang Yan no longer sets up a stall here, whichever restaurant has barbecue made with Wang Yan's seasoning will have the better business.

If they do not buy Wang Yan's seasoning and do not add barbecue to their menus, they can only wait until this wave of barbecue fever passes before gradually returning to how things were before; by that time, among the hundred-plus restaurants on this street, who knows how many will go bankrupt.

On the other hand, once selling materials to these restaurants begins and Huanghe Road starts accepting it, little by little, every larger restaurant will have to accept it; there is no choice but to accept.

And all of this relies solely on the irreplaceable, explosively delicious dry barbecue seasoning formula held in Wang Yan's hands; this is the advantage of mastering core technology; a damn seasoning sold for ten yuan a packet, with at least one packet used daily, is simply robbing money; after all, wages are only so much nowadays, yet Wang Yan dares to sell one packet of barbecue seasoning for more than many people earn in a day; if that isn't robbery, what is?

Lu Jin Meilin still stared wide-eyed, but her voice ultimately became much quieter: "Bring ten packets first."

"Pay up."

Looking at the crowd gathered to watch the spectacle, Lu Jin Meilin let out a long breath, turned around, and ordered a waitress to bring one hundred yuan.

"I'll deliver it to you tomorrow morning." Wang Yan waved the money in his hand, stuffed it into his pocket, and said, "Also, tell that Du Du Honggen that if I see him, I'll make him search for his teeth all over the ground."

"I told him to do it; it was wrong of me to cause you trouble, and I apologize. You've already beaten those people; none of them have gotten up yet, and I accept that. I'll be the first to buy your seasoning. No need to wait until tomorrow; go back shortly and continue your barbecue, and the bosses from every establishment will come to buy from you. We are all out here trying to make a living; there's no need to fight to the death. Making money together is the real business. Tell me, how can this matter be settled?"

"No wonder you could open such a large shop here." Wang Yan nodded with a smile, raised only his ring finger, and said, "Ten thousand."

"Reasonable. I'll have someone deliver it to you shortly."

"Then let's drop it. Pleasant cooperation, boss lady."

Wang Yan patted Lu Jin Meilin's arm, smiled, turned, and left.

Lu Jin Meilin watched his retreating figure and couldn't help but exhale a long breath of stifled anger. Wanting to bully someone only to be bullied in return—this feeling was not pleasant.

Wang Yan's combat prowess was evident; he had single-handedly taken down more than ten men. If he said he would make Du Du Honggen search for his teeth on the ground, then Du Du Honggen truly would have no escape. Although Du Du Honggen possessed some strength, he could not withstand the attention of someone like Wang Yan. Moreover, even if Du Du Honggen truly intended to kill Wang Yan, it was not certain who would end up dead.

Du Du Honggen operated based on his reputation; if Wang Yan beat him until he was searching for his teeth on the ground, then as long as Du Du Honggen cared even slightly about his face, he would no longer be able to operate in Shanghai Tan—there would be no place for him. Since Du Du Honggen had stepped forward on her, Lu Jin Meilin's behalf, and since her restaurant here existed only because Du Du Honggen supported her, she naturally had to protect Du Du Honggen's reputation.

Therefore, relatively speaking, Wang Yan had been very polite, demanding only ten thousand yuan. For Lu Jin Meilin, this was merely a slight pang of regret, nothing painful or critical.

"Disperse, everyone disperse! You few, stop lying on the ground groaning; scram immediately. Form a new queue. These are the last one thousand skewers; I won't be coming back tomorrow."

Shouting this, Wang Yan returned to the oven, laid out the charcoal, and continued barbecuing.

Many people wanted to ask him exactly how he had managed it, but none dared. It was Liu Liu Jingxiu who approached: "Wang Dage, have you practiced martial arts?"

He no longer called him Wang Laoban; he had reverted to calling him Wang Dage.

"It's not quite that; I just know a few moves."

"It's not that I lack loyalty, it's just..."

"You still need to operate here; I know that. Besides, we've only known each other for six days today; even if you were loyal, there's no reason for that loyalty to extend to me. Meeting by chance, you letting me set up my stall beside your small shop and helping me clean up every day is already quite good. If I held a grudge against you, that would be utterly heartless; how could I continue to operate in the future?"

Liu Liu Jingxiu nodded, then asked, "Wang Dage, I saw Lu Jin Meilin give you money earlier. Can you tell me how it was finally resolved?"

"Can't the Huanghe Road gossipmonger hold back anymore?"

"Truly curious." Liu Liu Jingxiu smiled embarrassedly.

"Just now, Jin Jin Meilin gave me one hundred yuan to buy ten packs of barbecue seasoning. Additionally, regarding the matter with Du Du Honggen, she gave me ten thousand yuan as an apology gift. See, here it comes. Although Lu Jin Meilin uses dirty tactics, she knows how to take a beating with proper form."

"Wang Laoban, our boss lady asked me to bring this over to you." A waiter from Jin Jin Meilin approached, holding a slightly thick envelope.

"Thank the boss lady for me."

Wang Yan took the envelope, waved it at Liu Liu Jingxiu, and then cheerfully stuffed it into his pocket.

"Really formidable." Liu Liu Jingxiu gave a thumbs-up, saying Wang Yan was truly damn impressive.

He asked again, "Wang Dage, you said earlier you wouldn't be coming tomorrow; where do you plan to expand to?"

"Only the people on these three roads have money: Huanghe Road, Zhapu Road, and Yunnan South Road. Naturally, I will develop all three roads, getting them to sell barbecue using my seasoning. Three hundred shops, ten yuan per shop, that's three thousand yuan a day."

"Every trend has its end, Wang Dage; eventually, people will stop doing it."

"My barbecue seasoning isn't expensive, but no one makes it taste better than I do. If some stop, others will do it well; back and forth, it always balances out. Moreover, the people are getting richer day by day; if I lower prices to increase sales volume, the result is the same."

"It's not a big problem. Now that Huanghe Road is opened up and I have the money to open my own shop, in another ten days or half a month, I will truly become Wang Laoban. I haven't come to Shanghai Tan in vain. You say every trend has its end; I say one wave follows another. Liu Jingxiu, do you think I can catch the next wave?"

"Oh my, Wang Dage, doesn't that mean you'll go from Wang Laoban to Wang Zong? Wang Zong, have a Zhonghua cigarette." Liu Liu Jingxiu used three different titles in one sentence, which was quite clever.

Wang Yan smiled, turned his head, let Liu Liu Jingxiu light his cigarette, and continued working diligently, constantly turning the mutton skewers. The aroma spread once more, filling the seven hundred and fifty-five meters of Huanghe Road...

"Why did you buy only this much meat today?"

Teacher Ge, who had gotten up early as usual, looked at the mutton Wang Yan had bought downstairs and noticed the portion was much smaller.

"Changing locations; going to Zhapu Road. Three hundred skewers will suffice."

"Oh my, you were doing so well on Huanghe Road, earning seven hundred a day—something one wouldn't even dare to imagine. How could you..." Teacher Ge stopped mid-sentence, suddenly startled, "Wait, did you get into trouble? Were you forbidden from going there?"

"I heard there's a secret to health and longevity."

"What secret?"

"Mind your own business."

"Little Northeast, do you have any conscience saying that? Oh my, I helped you thread skewers for the past two days until my back and waist were aching. If I hadn't helped you, could you have earned seven hundred?"

"Stop it. Two taels of Moutai a day; at that price, I could hire someone to do the work who would be much more efficient than you, old boy."

Teacher Ge felt terribly aggrieved: "Little Northeast, I truly misjudged you; I didn't expect you to speak like this. Do you remember seven days ago? At that time, I..."

"Hold on." Wang Yan waved his hand. "You have many houses; do you have any commercial shops?"

"Commercial shops? Well... even if I did, I wouldn't rent one to you. No conscience."

"Now you're throwing a tantrum. Let me explain." Wang Yan told the old boy about yesterday's events on Huanghe Road, then pulled the envelope given by Lu Jin Meilin from his pocket. "This is the settlement fee from the boss lady of Jin Jin Meilin. From now on, on Huanghe Road, I will only sell barbecue seasoning. Didn't you see so many condiments in my cart? I need to register as an individual household with proper procedures. Once I open up sales channels in Zhapu Road and Yunnan South Road, I'll just sell seasonings, making three thousand yuan a day."

"You need a life to earn it and a life to spend it. What kind of people are those? How dare you provoke them? When you're out in the world, avoiding trouble is better than inviting it; suffering losses is a blessing."

"I believe that avoiding one trouble invites three more. Once you start accepting losses, you'll be eating them for the rest of your life until they choke you, you old boy. I have nothing but this worthless life; whoever schemes against me, I'll dig up their ancestral graves. That is the code of the Jianghu, Teacher Ge."

"Sooner or later, you'll be thrown into the Huangpu River to feed the fish."

"Even if Du Yuesheng were here, I'd be the one throwing him in."

"Young and impulsive, unaware of the depths." Teacher Ge waved his hand. "I do have commercial shops. There's one opposite Night Tokyo, with the lease expiring next month. There's also a small shop at the intersection, twenty square meters, for which I haven't found a tenant yet. It's sufficient for you to mix your barbecue seasoning. I'll rent it to you cheaply; fifty yuan a month, same as the other."

Wang Yan opened the envelope, counted the money, and slapped it into Teacher Ge's hand: "This is eleven hundred. It covers the storefront and one year's rent for the room where I live."

"Then I'll accept it; if you can't continue, I'll refund it to you." Glancing at the thick envelope, Teacher Ge became decisive at this moment, without a single word of nonsense, stuffing the money into his pocket.

"Now you're being decisive." Wang Yan shook his head amusingly, turned, and began taking various condiments out of the cart. "Here, you don't need to thread skewers today; take the medicine grinder and grind them into powder. We'll grind together; all the seasoning must be delivered to Huanghe Road before dinner."

"Oh my, this is more tiring than threading skewers. Where did you earn this money? I think you earned it off the labor of my old bones."

"See, you're back to that again? Which laborer gets two taels of Moutai a day? Hurry up; as soon as work starts, there's a pile of complaints."

"I'm raising your rent."

"Just kidding; I'm a ten-thousand-yuan household now, don't you know?"

"Little Northeast, you have no conscience. When you first arrived, you were alone; have you forgotten how I..."

To be honest, when Wang Yan started, he had not intended to sell barbecue. It was only after hearing Teacher Ge nag that he remembered this idea. With low costs, a money-making activity, and a formula in his possession, he simply decided to go into the barbecue business.

Things are quite good now; although the barbecue itself didn't earn much, the settlement fee brought in ten thousand, suddenly opening up his career.

Just as Jin Jin Meilin had said, since she had bought the barbecue seasoning, more than half the merchants on Huanghe Road would have to buy it too. Master chefs who could barbecue became the hot commodity on Huanghe Road. Everyone fought to grab them, just to be the first to roll out barbecue dishes.

Wang Yan had made a name for himself on Huanghe Road with a single battle, and it was truly a single battle. After all, one man fighting more than ten, single-handedly forcing Jin Jin Meilin to bow her head, pay up, and admit defeat; regardless of whether Du Du Honggen sought revenge later, at least for now he hadn't made a peep, which meant Wang Yan was a figure, and a ruthless one at that.

This led to the next day, while Wang Yan was setting up his stall on Zhapu Road, being approached by the police.

"Are you Wang Yan?"

"I am. Officer, is there something you need from me?"

Two people had come; the older of the two said, "We're from the Huangpu Branch Bureau, here to understand the situation with you."

"This is about the fight I got into on Huanghe Road the day before yesterday, right?" Wang Yan asked with a chuckle, looking completely unsurprised, as he took out ten lamb skewers, handing over five in each hand. "To understand the situation, you first have to understand my lamb skewers. Officers, please taste them; no charge, they're free."

"That won't do; so many people are watching. Later, I won't be able to explain myself. One yuan per skewer, right? Here's ten yuan; take it."

"No need for that much; to be honest, my cost per skewer is only twenty-five cents."

"You're quite the profiteer." Yet the officer insisted, "If everyone else sells them for one yuan, it wouldn't be right for me to pay you two fifty. Let's leave it at this; aren't we delaying your earnings?"

Wang Yan said nothing more; he walked aside with the two officers, took out a pack of Huazi cigarettes, but they refused, so he lit one for himself and watched with a chuckle as the two ate skewers.

"Tastes good, right? The other seventy-five cents is for selling this taste. I'm the only one; there's no other branch."

Without waiting for them to ask, Wang Yan started rambling on his own, "To put it plainly, they coveted my formula, wanted to scare me into handing it over. Fortunately, I learned a few tricks from someone when I was young, and with my height and strength, I took them all down. Here's my ID card; now that we have a market economy, things are booming here, but back in my hometown, everyone is being laid off collectively, unable to make big money.

My parents passed away early, I have no relatives or friends, haven't found a wife, let alone children. So I steeled my resolve and came south to make a fortune. I'm completely clean; I didn't flee here after committing a crime back home. You can verify that later. Also, Jin Jin Meilin gave me ten thousand as a settlement fee—no, it should be called compensation for mental distress. She hired people to smash my stall and scheme for my formula, so paying a little money is only proper."

"You understand things quite well." The officer laughed while looking at the ID card; after eating one lamb skewer, he had already understood the issue.

"You have self-awareness."

"We're just understanding the situation; nothing else. Since you've come to Shanghai, just do business properly. If you know a few tricks, you need to be even more cautious; don't easily resort to force to solve problems. The consequences are something you can't bear, and we don't want to see that either, understand?"

"Crystal clear. I'm here to make a fortune, not waiting to be executed. Rest assured, Officer, I will absolutely keep within the law."

Afterwards, the officers recorded Wang Yan's ID card and current address, then left while eating skewers. Whether the two felt bad about the cost was unknown, but they probably did; after all, one yuan per skewer was truly expensive.

This counted as Wang Yan filing a record, mainly because the incident had caused quite a stir. Although no one called the police at the time, everyone on Huanghe Road and the surrounding areas knew about it, so some understanding was necessary. If it were just an ordinary brawl between a few people, if no one reported it, it wouldn't be investigated. Of course, in his case too, there was no investigation, just as they said, understanding the situation. It probably had something to do with Du Du Honggen as well; that kid looked improper from the start.

"Come, come, come, only the last fifty skewers left; once these are sold, we're closing up."

This was just a small interlude; Wang Yan continued his diligent entrepreneurship. He hadn't set up stalls on Zhapu Road and Yunnan South Road for many days; combined, it was only a week. Because he had become famous on Huanghe Road, where barbecue dishes were now served on tables with generally excellent feedback, the number of diners on Huanghe Road had even increased somewhat.

Therefore, the people on these two roads were already quite familiar with Wang Yan, and his business operations there proceeded very smoothly. It was precisely for this reason that he had stopped selling barbecue skewers.

In recent days, he had visited the Administration for Industry and Commerce, registered as an individual household, and set up a storefront. The name was certainly nothing innovative, called 'Long Teng Condiments'. Due to the massive volume of order demands, even if Teacher Ge worked himself to death, he couldn't keep up. Introduced by Teacher Ge, two more employees, one man and one woman, joined the team. Wang Yan processed the raw materials together with them, while the other male employee used Wang Yan's tricycle to make deliveries, processing raw materials during his idle time as well.

The formula certainly could not be revealed, so Wang Yan mixed it all himself, after all, this was how he made money. As for the future, he could even make the formula public.

Wang Yan also received a phone call; restaurants called directly to place orders for delivery, with payment settled immediately upon delivery.

Business performance was still quite good; although not every restaurant on the three roads had placed orders, there were some relatively good restaurants in other places as well, totaling two hundred and forty establishments, large and small. They discovered that even if the barbecue master wasn't exceptional, as long as they were passable, pairing the food with this barbecue seasoning made it impossible to be unpalatable. It merely required setting up a barbecue oven, preparing some charcoal, and clearing out a space; nothing else was affected. Diners could choose not to eat it, but the restaurants couldn't afford to be without it.

Some restaurants merely had it but weren't skilled, so they might stop ordering after a little while. But some restaurants pursued premium quality and prepared things very meticulously, so diners would order some more or less; added together, it was no longer a matter of just one packet of seasoning. Calculated overall, daily income still exceeded three thousand, making a monthly income of one hundred thousand easily achievable, and this was March of 1990.

He hadn't even unleashed the Great Strength Pill yet; at this time, people hadn't been worn down yet, so a little bluffing would definitely cause sales to explode, and crucially, it actually worked. The life of a hanging-off-the-edge loser was just this easy...

Wang Yan saw Seeing Seeing Lingzi rarely; one was a landlady idly waiting for her opening, the other was an entrepreneur working himself to death; they were two parallel lines. Since coming here, Wang Yan had seen her a total of four times. This time was the fifth.

"Oh my, I really didn't expect that; in less than half a month, you've truly become Wang Laoban. It seems your gimmick succeeded."

Seeing Seeing Lingzi, with her short hair, wore a black coat today, stepped in high heels, and had applied makeup, still looking as glittering and jeweled as ever. She leaned against the shop entrance, swinging the umbrella in her hand, blocking the scant light of the overcast day.

"Seeing Seeing Lingzi, you've come." Teacher Ge straightened up, pounding his lower back.

"You're blocking the light, Landlady." These were Wang Yan's words.

"It's overcast; we need to turn on the lights."

"Teacher Ge is trying to save me money, saying we can still see."

"Go on, go on, did I give you a discount on the rent?" Teacher Ge turned around and switched on the light bulb inside the shop.

The dim yellow light illuminated the overcast gloom inside the shop, revealing the figures of everyone busy working, each with a medicine grinder. The light fell on Seeing Seeing Lingzi's face, creating a kind of hazy clarity.

Wang Yan said, "Hey, Teacher Ge, see that? How beautiful Seeing Seeing Lingzi looks standing there."

"Nonsense, Seeing Seeing Lingzi has always been good-looking. In her thirties, she looks like she's in her twenties."

Seeing the sudden displeasure on Seeing Seeing Lingzi's face and Wang Yan grinning broadly, Teacher Ge waved his hands repeatedly, "Seeing Seeing Lingzi, I didn't mean you're old, I was..."

"I told you, that mouth of yours will bring disaster sooner or later." Wang Yan laughed heartily, then asked, "Seeing Seeing Lingzi, when is Night Tokyo opening?"

"Ah, right, Seeing Seeing Lingzi, hurry up and open already. His food isn't tasty; every day my back aches and my body hurts; he's going to tire me to death." Teacher Ge's desire to escape from Wang Yan was intense.

"The day after tomorrow; everyone come to show your support."

"We definitely will." Teacher Ge nodded repeatedly.

Wang Yan also nodded and agreed with a smile from the side.

"Wang Laoban, how is your business doing now?"

"Not bad."

"Oh my, you don't know, Seeing Seeing Lingzi. He's made a fortune now..." Teacher Ge was a chatterbox with a big mouth, and he told Seeing Seeing Lingzi everything about Wang Yan's affairs.

But Seeing Seeing Lingzi's focus was not on Wang Yan fighting thugs; although one man fighting more than ten was indeed impressive. Compared to that, she was more concerned about income.

Holding a bag of packaged barbecue seasoning, she asked in surprise, "You sell one bag for ten yuan, and earn three thousand a day?"

"About that much." Wang Yan nodded with a smile.

"Is the cost one yuan?"

"Seventy-five cents."

"A tenfold markup? Are you robbing people?"

"Selling barbecue seasoning is still safer."

Wang Yan answered humorously, but Seeing Seeing Lingzi did not laugh. She said, "It seems you really can become Wang Zong."

"Borrowing your auspicious words; let's make a fortune together."

"For the Night Tokyo opening, get me some stock. When the weather warms up, it's quite comfortable for everyone to eat barbecue together outside."

"Just take it and use it; why be so polite?"

Seeing Seeing Lingzi nodded, let out an "Ai," and said, "Teacher Ge, the shop across from Night Tokyo isn't booked, is it?"

"No, what are you planning?"

"I have a friend in Japan who is also returning. She wrote to me saying she wants to open a jewelry store and a cosmetics shop. I thought since there's a space right across, she might as well open it there. We also need to reserve a room for her housing; I'll pay you whatever the cost is upfront."

"Let's wait until she arrives; what if she doesn't like it? There's no rush."

"Then find a room for her; she needs somewhere to live after all. I'll get it ready for her first. Come on, let's go see the place."

"Then I'll be off first. Little Northeast, help Seeing Seeing Lingzi tidy up. I'll come back for lunch, and there better be meat..."

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement and waved his hand, urging the old rascal to hurry up and leave...