Chapter 2755: Man Laoyezi's Tea House

The Qing Tea House, said to have a history of seventy or eighty years, is an old establishment that, besides selling tea, also offers some delicate pastries. Its clientele mainly consists of ordinary citizens and remnants of the Qing dynasty, as well as elderly people, hence its nickname, Man Laoyezi's Tea House.

During those ten unspeakable years, the tea house was forced to close, reopening only in 1982. However, many of the old regulars never returned, and some familiar faces were never seen again.

Next to the Qing Tea House is another tea house called the Spring Bright House. Unlike the Qing Tea House, the Spring Bright House mainly serves black-and-white melon seeds, rose dates, and small candied fruits on its tray tables, and it also has some simple reading materials inside.

The Spring Bright House has a history comparable to that of the Qing Tea House, and its main patrons are teachers, white-collar workers, and businessmen. Every day around two or three in the afternoon, these people come with their briefcases and cigarettes to drink tea and chat.

By four or five in the afternoon, customer traffic peaks, as off-duty teachers and white-collar workers from enterprises and institutions steadily stream into the tea house. They sip tea, chat, comment on current affairs, and at the same time, they gave the Spring Bright House the nickname "Son's Tea House."

In the late 1970s, another tea house called Bo Si Xin opened next to the Spring Bright House, and no one could figure out what the name meant. Besides selling tea, Bo Si Xin offered nothing else in the way of tray snacks or pastries.

Instead, it added lemon water, orange water, ice cream, ham sandwiches, and other drinks, and most of its customers were fashionable young people and students.

Their topics of conversation were breakdancing, movies, and celebrity gossip. For this reason, Bo Si Xin prepared literary magazines such as People's Literature and Reader's Digest for these trendy youths, and people naturally gave it the nickname "Grandson's Tea House."

These three tea houses coexisted peacefully, and customers would naturally seat themselves according to whether they considered themselves grandfather, father, or son. Occasionally, a son or grandson would want to play the role of father or grandfather for a change and walk into the Qing Tea House.

Zhou Andong's car was parked about a hundred meters from the tea house, and after putting on his flat cap and plain glasses, he leisurely walked toward the tea house.

It was exactly the time when people were getting off work, and the streets were full of figures on bicycles hurrying home, like a flock of returning birds noisily and orderly weaving through the bustling crowd. The clear, pleasant sound of bicycle bells rang out one after another, like a lively and delightful symphony, accompanying waves of laughter and joy echoing in the air.

Zhou Andong enjoyed this feeling greatly, so he walked slowly, taking over ten minutes to cover the hundred-plus meters. When he reached the entrance of the Qing Tea House, he looked up at the plaque hanging above the door.

"Young man!" an old man in a mandarin jacket, his hair already streaked with white but his face glowing with health, walked up from behind, tilted his head to glance at Zhou Andong, and asked: "You want to come in for tea?"

Zhou Andong glanced at the old man and nodded slightly: "Yes!"

The old man pointed to the Spring Bright House next door: "You should go to the Spring Bright House."

"Why?" Zhou Andong raised his eyebrows: "Is the Qing Tea House not letting me in?"

"No!" the old man said with a laugh: "Those who come to drink tea at the Qing Tea House are all old fogeys like me, while the Spring Bright House is where you young people like to gather."

Zhou Andong suddenly understood, then laughed as well: "I heard the Qing Tea House is called Man Laoyezi's Tea House, right?"

The old man stared for a moment, then burst into loud laughter: "Ah, so you brat want to go in and play grandfather for a while."

Zhou Andong also chuckled: "Who wouldn't want to be a grandfather if they could?"

"Mm!" the old man nodded in agreement: "When I was young, I often came to the Qing Tea House with my elders, but I never went to the Spring Bright House, because I also didn't want to be a son."

"Old sir, meeting you is fate." Zhou Andong made a gesture of invitation: "Please go ahead, and I'll treat you to tea later."

"Good!" the old man said without hesitation, reached out, pushed open the door, and walked in.

Zhou Andong followed him inside; at this time, there were already eight or more customers inside, most of them elderly. Of course, there were also some young people, presumably those who didn't want to play the role of son or grandson.

"Old sir!" Zhou Andong said: "I have an appointment upstairs; I'll go up first to check things out, and after we finish talking, I'll come down to treat you to tea."

"You go about your business!" the old man waved his hand casually: "I'm at table sixteen; if you have time to treat me to tea, I'll treat you to pastries. The candied fruits here are excellent—I've eaten them for most of my life and still can't get enough. You can try some too."

"No problem!" Zhou Andong replied, stepped toward the staircase, then stepped onto the wooden stairs, which emitted a slight creaking sound, also proving that the stairs are quite old.

On the second floor, all were private rooms. Zhou Andong glanced around, walked forward, and stopped in front of Room Eight, raised his hand and knocked, and immediately the door was pulled open from inside, revealing a man standing before him.

This man was not tall, his hair neatly combed, and he appeared to be around fifty years old. While Zhou Andong was observing him, he was also observing Zhou Andong.

"Uncle Ma, hello!" Zhou Andong smiled and shook hands with Ma Minyuan.

Zhou Andong's address of "uncle" made Ma Minyuan startled for a moment, then he laughed: "Andong, please come in quickly."

Zhou Andong and Ma Xiaotong are business partners, and their relationship is very good. By calling Ma Minyuan "uncle," Zhou Andong has, without saying much, brought their relationship much closer.

Zhou Andong sat down: "Uncle Ma, as a junior, I've always wanted to find a time to visit you. But I've never been able to free up my schedule, so I hope you won't take offense."

"Although this is our first meeting, I've heard your name so often my ears are practically calloused." Ma Minyuan laughed: "Besides the news, it's Xiaotong—whenever I talk about company matters with her, your name comes up very frequently."

Zhou Andong picked up the teapot and filled Ma Minyuan's teacup, then poured himself a cup: "Xiaotong's management skills are strong; without her, Wenhua Culture wouldn't have reached its current scale."

Ma Minyuan waved his hand, wearing an expression of hard-to-describe feelings: "I know my daughter—she does have ability, but if she were any stronger, it wouldn't be realistic. Wenhua Culture has reached its current scale mainly because you've been steering things from behind the scenes."

Zhou Andong and Ma Minyuan talked for about an hour, after which Ma Minyuan left, giving Zhou Andong a brown paper file bag. He opened it and saw that, if he followed normal procedures, these materials would offer no chance at all of overthrowing Cao Peng and Sun Zhengua. But in Zhou Andong's hands, they were more than enough.

Zhou Andong checked the time—it was already past seven, still early. He took the documents downstairs, found table sixteen, where five people were already seated. To his surprise, there was even an old acquaintance among them.