It is really a Chinese-style courtyard building named Humble House. However, a high wall was built outside this courtyard to surround it inside.
Otherwise, if this humble house is completely exposed, it will seem incompatible with the architectural style of this ancient city... This beautiful ancient harbor city, Cartagena.
In the humble house, not only the outside is completely in accordance with the courtyards of the old capital, but even the furnishings inside are antique.
At this time, a red sports car stopped in front of the tall walled door outside the humble house. After waiting for the door to be opened, it slowly drove into the humble house.
A slender girl, about twenty-two or three years old, wearing a black short coat and with pink-purple hair, stepped out of the sports car.
The entrance to the humble house was named 'Dragon Hall'. At this time, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties slowly walked out of the dragon hall. His hand was followed by two people in their thirties wearing servant uniforms.
woman.
"Miss Sakura, welcome back."
"Uncle Fifth, where is grandpa?" The girl named Miss Ying handed the car key to one of the maids behind Uncle Fifth, and walked directly into the Dragon Hall.
"The master is in the kitchen now." Uncle Wu replied.
Miss Ying suddenly stopped and said in astonishment: "Didn't he just come out of the village? Why didn't he take a break and go to the kitchen when he got to the humble house?"
Uncle Wu smiled and said, "That's it. When the master was in the village, he had soaked the best dried abalone and brought it out all the way. Now he is preparing to stew other ingredients. He is going to make a pot of Buddha Jumping Over the Wall for guests.
of."
"A treat?" Miss Ying was stunned, "Who has such a big background? Grandpa hasn't cooked in person for a long time, and this time he actually made a super troublesome dish like Buddha Jumping Over the Wall? Is it the 'Fire King' or the President?"
"I heard it's a young man." The fifth uncle also showed a puzzled expression, "It seems that the young master brought it back personally. He just got off the plane. It is estimated that it will be an hour's drive to the humble residence."
"Uncle is back?" Miss Ying blinked, "Didn't he go to Brazil? Has the work been completed?"
"It should be no problem." Uncle Wu smiled and said, "The young master took action himself, what else can happen? Miss Ying, can I have someone prepare hot water for you?"
Miss Ying shook her head, then put her hand on the back of her waist, pulled out a palm-sized pistol, and handed it to Uncle Wu, "No need for now, I went to the kitchen to see my grandpa, I haven't seen him for a few months.
"
When Miss Sakura came to the kitchen, she found several servants standing outside the kitchen. She came to the door and asked curiously: "What are you all standing here for?"
A servant quickly said: "Miss Ying, the master ordered us not to go in. He only left the fourth uncle inside, saying that he would try his best to do it himself."
The fourth uncle is the chef of the humble house, and he and the fifth uncle are brothers. They have served the Song family for decades. At this time, Miss Ying was even more surprised.
She had never seen her grandfather pay so much attention to a guest, not only cooking the most troublesome dishes, but also just leaving his seventh uncle to help.
Miss Sakura frowned and stepped into the kitchen.
"Ah Si, have the sea cucumbers been cooked?"
"It's ready, sir."
"Well, put it here and I'll cut it later."
In front of the table, Song Tianyou, who had gray hair on his temples and was wearing an apron, was slicing dried bamboo shoots. He looked so focused and serious that he didn't seem to notice anyone walking in quietly.
Miss Ying made a silent gesture towards her fourth uncle, asked someone to take the prepared sea cucumber from his hand, and walked behind Song Tianyou.
From the end of his eyes, Song Tianyou saw a pair of white hands quietly putting the utensil down, then retracting it, and then continued cutting the dried bamboo shoots on the chopping board.
Miss Sakura blinked... This grandpa was totally planning on playing tricks on her... He had obviously noticed it, right?
She quietly reached out her hand and touched the processed quail eggs placed next to Song Tianyou. But before she touched them, Song Tianyou quickly waved her hand and put a kitchen knife on Miss Ying's head.
A tap on the back of my hand.
"Grandpa! You want to chop me up!" Miss Ying said in pain.
"Who asked you to steal food?" Song Tianyou pretended to come over and gently tapped Miss Ying on the forehead: "Gui Lingjing, when did you come back?"
"Just now." Miss Ying still picked up a quail egg quickly and put it into her mouth quickly. "It's almost the Chinese New Year, so I'm busy settling the accounts and then collecting some foreign debts. I heard you were coming, so I rushed
came back."
"Is everything going well?" Song Tianyou put down the kitchen knife, began to wipe his hands, and walked to the stove nearby.
This is the kind of stove that was common in rural areas in the old days. It burns firewood and has strong firepower. There is a steamer on the big pot, and the steam is erupting, and the fragrance is everywhere.
"Don't worry, grandpa, everyone's business is doing well this year. There are no credit accounts." Miss Ying smiled and said, "Several bosses even paid off last year's debts. They also said they were very grateful to you.
When can I see you?"
"I don't need to meet you, and ask them not to give me anything." Song Tianyou said with anger: "We are all descendants of Yan and Huang, and we are all living in a foreign country. It is not easy. Please help if you can, and we will have a happy relationship.
"
"Well...but if everyone is like this, wouldn't it mean that they become dependent?" Miss Sakura shook her head.
"Our ancestors have a saying, don't expect repayment if you show kindness." Song Tianyou stood up, "Besides, if we are in a foreign country, if we don't help each other, there will be no one to help us."
"Yeah... I understand, but I can't do it for the time being." Miss Sakura shrugged.
Song Tianyou said with a smile: "Then what can you do?"
Miss Ying turned her eyes and suddenly hugged Song Tianyou's arm and said coquettishly: "Of course I can eat what you made, Grandpa, and jump over the wall!"
Song Tianyou patted Miss Ying's forehead and said funnyly: "This meal of Buddha Jumping Over the Wall is not for you, you have already eaten it."
Miss Ying pursed her lips and said, "Did you eat that meal when you were ten years old? How many years ago... Grandpa!"
"The elder Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, the Song family, one meal is enough for a lifetime." Song Tianyou suddenly said softly, "When your uncle was ten years old, I personally cooked a meal for him, and when you were ten years old, I also personally cooked it for him.
You made a meal. Now...it should be his turn."
"he?"
"You'll know when we meet in person." Song Tianyou smiled and said, "Okay, stop standing around. Now that you're here, help me pick those vegetables."
"Ah? No need... I'm going to take a bath~"
…
…
"Niece?"
The car drove slowly through the streets that preserved a lot of ancient buildings. While Luo Qiu looked at it with interest, Song Haoran was explaining something.
The car should have undergone special bulletproof treatment, and the front and rear seats are separated. Conversations in the back seat will not be heard by the people in the front seat, so the privacy is quite good.
"She is the orphan of my sister." Song Haoran sighed and said: "My father married my mother and gave birth to me when he was middle-aged. Before that, there was another wife. But my sister and brother-in-law were fifteen years old.
He passed away in an accident before, leaving behind Song Ying, who was only eight years old at the time. Oh... By the way, my brother-in-law is the daughter-in-law, so Song Ying takes our surname."
"Want to meet?" Luo Qiu nodded.
"Of course." Song Haoran said matter-of-factly: "Including you, there are only three young people in our family. Sooner or later we have to get to know each other. Moreover, after Song Ying graduated, she started to manage our business in Cartagena.
My business is doing pretty well, but sometimes I am not calm enough. You are almost the same age and are of the same generation, so let’s get close to each other."
Boss Luo was noncommittal.
"Is there a Chinatown here too?"
As the car drove through a street, Luo Qiu suddenly asked.
"Well, dad helped build this." Song Haoran smiled and said: "Dad is also the honorary president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce here. He said, we don't want our people to be bullied by foreigners when doing business outside, so we
I worked hard to build this street. It’s not called Chinatown, it’s called ‘Chinatown’.”
"Can I get off the car?" Luo Qiu suddenly asked.
"That's no problem." Song Haoran shrugged, and without asking why, he asked Oni to park the car at the entrance of China Street, "You guys wait here, I'll just go in with Luo Qiu."
"Okay!" Oni nodded and watched the two of them walk into 'China Street'.
At this time, Lluvia frowned, and Oni asked curiously: "What's going on?"
Lluvia said: "Do you feel that this street... seems a bit deserted?"
Oni was startled and looked up, "Speaking of which, I remember there seems to be a shop selling Chinese dim sum here. It tastes pretty good... It doesn't seem to be open today?"
Lluvia looked over and saw that the door of the store that Oni was talking about was closed, and there was some garbage accumulated in front of the door... It seemed that it had not been opened for business for a while.
…
“There are quite a lot of people here.”
Relatively speaking, it is a place with a relatively large number of Chinese people. Of course, there may be some oriental faces, but the origins are from several other Asian countries.
But for Luo Qiu, it felt like returning to China - at least many of the signs he saw were in Chinese characters.
"Today is Saturday, so relatively speaking there are a lot of people." Song Haoran looked around, "I haven't been to this street for a long time. I feel like there are not as many people as before."
"It's probably because it's hard to do physical business now." Luo Qiu responded casually.
"What, do you want to buy something or just want to take a walk and visit?" Song Haoran suddenly asked.
Luo Qiu looked at Song Haoran, "I plan to buy some fruit."
"buy fruits?"
Luo Qiu nodded and said, "Is it weird? If you go to visit your elders, you should buy something, right? Doesn't Mr. Song like to eat fruits?"
"Hahahaha!" Song Haoran suddenly laughed, "Buy fruit...Buy fruit. No wonder, no wonder! The fruit is good, dad loves to eat it, especially persimmons! Come on, I remember there is a fruit shop in front of you.
This store sells the best fruits in the whole street! I’ll take you there!”
Under Song Haoran's guidance, the two soon arrived at a fruit stall in the middle of the street. A young man in his twenties was playing with his mobile phone in front of the stall.
"Is the boss here?" Song Haoran said hello in front of the door. The young man seemed to be indifferent, but Song Haoran didn't mind and shouted again: "Is the boss You here?"
"Who are you?" The young man reacted and looked up, "Our boss is not here, what do you want to see him for?"
"Nothing, old friend, just chatting with him." Song Haoran shrugged, "Since he's not here, forget it, let's just buy something... Do you have any persimmons for sale here?"
"No, they're all here, you can see for yourself." The young man looked down at his phone again, looking absent-minded.
Song Haoran looked around the store, then glanced at Luo Qiu, then picked up an apple, "But what I want to buy is persimmons."
"Then there's nothing we can do. Persimmons are hard to store, and there are few people buying them. We haven't bought any for a long time." The young man pointed to the front and said, "There is a new large supermarket in front. It has everything. If you want to buy it, go there.
You can buy it somewhere. But if you don’t want to go there, you can take a look here and pick up what you like. Everything is half price.”
"Half price for everything? So good?" Song Haoran was stunned.
"Sold at a loss, this place is closing down, so we are clearing it out." The young man said helplessly.
Song Haoran nodded and said: "Graduation? Why, I remember that Boss You has been running this fruit stall for more than ten years, and the business has always been good... Is he making money and planning to enjoy a happy life?"
"Enjoying happiness? In the next life?" The young man shook his head and said, "He can't even pay me this month's salary, and he is still helping wash dishes in the restaurant in front!"
"This is wrong, what happened?" Song Haoran asked curiously: "Is Boss You's business so bad? Also, I remember that the store next to you last year should also be owned by Boss You, right? Why has it been changed to a clothing store now?"
The young man sighed and said: "Last year, you didn't know. Starting from the first half of this year, the rent of shops on this street has increased several times! Then a new large supermarket was opened with everything in it.
Yes, it’s cheaper than ours, and it’s sold out all the customers. The boss couldn’t pay the rent, so he could only downsize the store. But after holding on for more than half a year, the business got worse and worse, and now he’s losing money.”
"This is impossible." Song Haoran frowned and said: "I remember that the Chamber of Commerce in China Street has regulations. The rent here will only increase once every five years, and it will be increased according to the minimum standard. Each increase shall not exceed 5%.
.”
"It has been changed a long time ago!" The young man said, looked around, and then lowered his voice and said: "The Chamber of Commerce has changed a new speaker, and everything has been changed. Let me tell you, the newly opened supermarket
The boss behind this is supported by this talker, and his purpose is to force us out!"
"Forcing you to leave? What's the point?"
"Don't you understand this?" The young man shrugged and said, "I heard that this place is planning a new project in cooperation with the government. So they want to drive us away. If we don't leave, then we will increase the rent and open a supermarket.
Stealing our business. If we can't hold on, we can only resign ourselves to fate. In the past few months, many businesses have been closed. In two days, our place will also be closed."
Song Haoran nodded, "Well... the things here are pretty good, I'll come back later."
With that said, Song Haoran patted Luo Qiu on the shoulder and walked away from the fruit stall.
Luo Qiu didn't see any expression of displeasure on Song Haoran's face, but his smile gave people a dangerous feeling. He suddenly looked at Luo Qiu and said, "Where do you think I want to go now?"
"The Chamber of Commerce." Luo Qiu thought for a while and said.
Song Haoran smiled and said, "Why not go to that supermarket to have a look?"
"Isn't the Chamber of Commerce closer to the answer?" Luo Qiu asked.
Song Haoran looked at the time, then nodded and said: "There is still some time, let's go."
