That day when he went to Fushui to cook a pot, Qin Keqing told Jia Lian:
"When the Second Master is free, you might as well go to Dongfeng Tower to see if anything happened. They haven't asked for our wine for a long time."
So Jia Lian took the time to visit Dongfeng Tower.
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When he arrived at the door of Dongfeng Tower, Jia Lian was startled.
In just over half a year, how did the once prosperous Dongfeng Tower fall into such a state of ruin?
Dongfeng Tower is still open, but it is a deserted place. There is not even a waiter at the door to greet guests.
Jia Lian walked into the restaurant, and there was not a single customer inside. There was only a young waiter, leaning listlessly against the counter and taking a nap.
The tables, chairs and benches also look quite worn out. It seems that they have not been painted or repaired in the past six months. Many tables have dust on them. It can be seen that they have not been properly cleaned for a long time.
Jia Lian coughed and woke up the little boy who was taking a nap.
When the boy saw Jia Lian, he felt as if he had seen the great savior. He jumped up and ran back, shouting loudly:
"Oh, Mr. Nei, the shopkeeper! This is incredible! The second master is back! We can be saved!"
Jia Lian was confused after hearing this.
What's the situation?
Why did an "internal shopkeeper" pop up?
Where did Shopkeeper Chun go?
Did this restaurant suffer some kind of disaster?
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Not long after, a woman in her forties rushed out in a hurry.
The guy was pretty smart, so he rushed over and introduced him to Jia Lian:
"This is our shopkeeper Chun's wife."
Then he said to the woman:
"This is the second master Lian we have been waiting for so long."
As soon as the woman heard the words "Second Master Lian", she burst into tears:
"Oh, Second Master Lian... Second Master Lian is looking forward to death..."
"Don't cry first, let's talk first."
Good guy, who can bear to mourn first when we meet?
The guy also quickly advised:
"My boss, the second master is back, so it will be easier. You should talk to the second master quickly."
The woman patted her thigh and cried:
"My second master, I finally heard that your old man has returned to Beijing. Our Lao Chun quickly sent a man to your house to look for you, but the person at the door refused to let you in and did not inform you.
Our Lao Chun has been seriously ill in the past two days, and he is not worried about this restaurant. He told me not to worry about him, but to watch this restaurant here no matter what.
Our Lao Chun really values this restaurant more than his life."
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When women talk, they always express their emotions first and talk about things later. It’s really annoying to grandma.
But the woman is still nagging:
"They come here every day asking for money. In order to support this restaurant, our family, Lao Chun, has tried his best in the past few months. He even sold our land in his hometown, just to keep this restaurant.
The restaurant will not collapse.
Our Lao Chun said that no matter what, we would have to grit our teeth until Master Lian came back, and we would not be able to sell the restaurant to them no matter what. As long as Master Lian came back, we would be saved.
But the second master is back, and we can’t get into the house. This makes Laochun of our family very anxious. He won’t be able to get up from the bed when he comes back.”
"What happened?"
The woman was still crying, but the waiter had noticed Jia Lian's impatience and quickly took over the conversation:
"Second Master Lian, that's what happened. Ever since Second Master Lian went to Yangzhou, a group of people have been making trouble in our Dongfeng Building.
Each of them occupied a table and only needed a plate of peanuts, and they sat there from early in the morning to midnight.
When a customer finally came in, they would pick fights, curse, and deceive others. Not only would the guest not be able to eat, they would also have to give them a hard time. After a while, no guests dared to come to our Dongfeng Building for dinner.
But those people didn't seem to be ordinary hooligans. Whenever Er Ye's friends came, they behaved and remained silent, and seemed to recognize them all.
In addition to interfering with our business, they also came around to demand money from Shopkeeper Chun. If he didn't give it, they would beat him up. Shopkeeper Chun wanted to sue the officials, but before he even left the store, they threatened to burn down the Dongfeng Building." "Who is so bold?"
"We really don't know this. But we know that it must be someone we can't afford to offend."
“Who is the ‘they’ that your inner shopkeeper refers to when he said ‘sell the restaurant to them’ just now?”
"Oh, I know this. It's shopkeeper Yu from Jixian House. He said he wanted to buy Dongfeng House, but he gave a very low price. Shopkeeper Chun said he wouldn't sell it."
Shopkeeper Chun’s wife immediately took advantage of it and said:
"Of course we can't sell it. They came several times and gave the price several times. Our Lao Chun said that half of the shares in Dongfeng Tower belong to Mr. Lian, and he can't make the decision by himself.
They told our Lao Chun to sell the restaurant and take the money and leave.
Our Lao Chun said: If I, Chun Changshou, do this kind of unscrupulous thing, it will be called "Spring Shortsevity".
Our Lao Chun had no choice but to fire all the waiters one by one. Later, when he failed, he reduced the number of people in the kitchen by half. Now, there are only two people left in the kitchen, and only this number of waiters in the front are left.
Only one. Even he can only get half of his salary."
Jia Lian looked around at the deserted Dongfeng Tower and said to the woman:
"Let's go and see your old lady."
"Hey!" The woman laughed while wiping her tears, "Now we, Laochun, are saved."
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Jia Lian didn't expect that Chun Changshou, the owner of a restaurant as big as Dongfeng Tower, would actually live in a large courtyard!
There are four families living in this courtyard. The Chun family lives in the east wing, and the person living in the west wing opposite the door is probably a string player. The sound of the squeaking strings makes one's teeth ache.
The woman was a little embarrassed and said with a smile:
"Tou Qian'er also rented a courtyard to live in. Isn't this to save money? It's only been two months since we moved here and we haven't cleaned up much yet. Second Master Lian, don't laugh at us."
When I opened the door, I heard the voice of shopkeeper Chun coming from the kang in the back room:
"Old lady, why did I hear you say 'Second Master Lian'? Have you found Second Master Lian?"
The woman lifted the cloth curtain, Jia Lian lowered his head and entered the house, smiling:
"Lao Chun, it's not me. When I went to Dongfeng Tower today, I realized how difficult it was for you."
Shopkeeper Chun stood up from the kang and burst into tears when he saw Jia Lian:
"My Second Master Lian, I have been waiting for you to come back! If you don't come back, I really can't hold on anymore."
Jia Lian rushed over and took Shopkeeper Chun's hand:
"Am I back now? Get well quickly and call our cooks and waiters back. I'm going to entertain guests at Dongfeng Tower tomorrow. I want to see who dares to make trouble again."
Shopkeeper Chun slapped the bed board, trembling with anger:
"Second Master, if you come back a month early, I can't say anything to let the head of Dongfeng Tower go home first. As soon as he returned, he was hired by Jixian Tower.
I'm trying to protect Master Bai An and Hong An, who are the back cooks of Dongfeng Building, at all costs. I know that as soon as I let go, they will immediately call Jixian Building to take care of them!"
Without saying a word, Jia Lian took out a two hundred taels of silver note from his arms:
"Take this first, and get the accountant, the waiter, the waiter, Li Gao'er, and the original team of the kitchen back quickly."
"Hey!" Shopkeeper Chun immediately became energetic and struggled to get up. As a result, he became dizzy and fell onto the kang again.
Jia Lian supported him:
"Don't worry, I'll treat you when you finish it.
I want to see who dares to come..."
Just as he was talking, he heard the smart boy shouting outside:
"Hey, isn't this Shopkeeper Yu from Jixian Building? Are you here to see our Shopkeeper Chun?"