Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 141 Chen Xiao's Phone Call

Finally, Xiaowei led Chen Hui to Jubinge Restaurant instead of the bone restaurant. He felt that Chen Hui wasn't in a good state to discuss business, and wouldn't be able to do so anyway. He didn't care about losing face; what mattered was how Chen Hui's father and Chen Xiao would view him afterward. He didn't want to gamble. Chen Hui was his first friend since he came from the mountains, and he didn't want to lose him over anything.

Upon entering the restaurant, Xia Maosheng was chatting and laughing with Sister Zhang, Chef Zhai, and a few others. Seeing Chen Hui, Xia Maosheng stood up to welcome him and pulled him over to sit down. Xiao Wei greeted everyone and then went into the guardhouse alone. Sitting on the bed, he tried to compose himself, but the sense of loss grew stronger and stronger, making him very uncomfortable.

Outside, Xia Maosheng and Chen Hui exchanged a few words, then Xia Maosheng turned around and realized Xiaowei was gone. He asked, "Where's Xiaowei?"

Chen Hui pointed to the guardhouse and said, "I saw him go into that room, and he seemed a little unhappy. I don't know why. He said he would take me to that bone restaurant, but we didn't go."

Xia Maosheng stood up, craned his neck to look into the guardhouse, and asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Chen Hui said, "Nothing much. We went to your training center and he seemed quite happy. He even offered to take me to a bone restaurant. On the way, we chatted, and I told him what to name the restaurant. I wanted a cool name, what's wrong with that? Then he said it could only be called Anji Bone Restaurant because they only wanted 30% of the shares, so it had to be that name. I said, 'Then let's give them more shares and change the name,' and he got upset. Then he asked me how much money I was investing and how much profit I wanted, and I thought, what's the point of all that? It's just opening a restaurant, just open it.' Then he got angry, and we came here without even going to the bone restaurant."

After Chen Hui finished speaking, there was an awkward silence. The group of people sitting there looked at each other, and after a while, Sister Zhang asked, "Chen Hui, what were you doing before?"

Chen Hui said, "Me? I work at the power bureau. I just travel around all the time, going wherever it's fun. What's wrong with that?"

Sister Zhang glanced at Xia Maosheng, then at Sister Shang, forced a smile, and said, "Never done any business before? You'll have to think about it more."

Chen Hui said, "What are you thinking about? What's there to think about? Opening a restaurant is just about getting a place, setting up tables and chairs, and then opening for business and waiting for people to come and eat. What else is there to think about?"

Master Zhai stood up and said, "I'll go check on the boiler."

Xie Na stood up and said, "I'll go too, I'll go too. I'll check if the things I hung out to dry are dry. Li Bing, come with me." Li Bing stood up and walked to the back. Li Wen thought for a moment, then followed without saying a word. Suddenly, only Sister Zhang, Sister Shang, and Xia Maosheng were still sitting at the table.

Sister Shang sighed, lit a cigarette, and said, "The young boss is worrying about the ancients."

Sister Zhang said, "This was brought up by the young boss. If it's true, what a mess this is! It's a bit worrying."

Chen Hui asked, "What's going on? You've completely baffled me."

Xia Maosheng patted him on the shoulder and said, "I know what happened to Xiaowei. I'm almost there too."

Before Chen Hui could speak, the guardhouse door opened, and Xiao Wei stood there asking, "Chen Hui, is your dad home right now?"

Chen Hui checked the time and said, "He's definitely not here right now, what's wrong? My dad usually gets home around 5:30."

Xiao Wei said, "Then give me Chen Xiao's phone number."

Chen Hui gave him a phone number, and Xiao Wei closed the door, sat down, and made the call.

I dialed the number, it rang a few times, and then a man answered: "Hey? Who's looking for?"

Xiao Wei said, "I'm looking for Chen Xiao. My name is Zhang Wei. Could you please call out to me?"

The person on the other end said, "Wait a minute." Then the phone clicked and went silent.

Three or four minutes later, there was a response on the phone: "Hey? Who's calling me?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's me, Zhang Wei. Do you have time now?"

Chen Xiao asked, "What's up? Has Chen Hui arrived yet?"

Xiao Wei said, "We're here. I'm sitting and talking with Lao Xia. Do you have time to talk to you about something?"

Then I heard Chen Xiao say to someone else, "Go watch the phone for me for a bit, I need to take this call." Then she said to Xiao Wei, "Okay, go ahead, I'll have someone else watch it for me."

Xiao Wei said, "Chen Hui told you about the restaurant thing, right? The one about opening a restaurant in Fengtian."

Chen Xiao said, "Yes, I told him. I also told his dad, and he was quite happy and said he would strongly support it. Why?"

Xiao Wei asked, "Didn't you talk to him about the sale? Didn't you discuss it with him?"

Chen Xiao said, "Oh, you're so impatient! Just say what you mean, can't you just get it over with?"

Xiao Wei said, "Then tell me, where are you planning to open the restaurant? How big will it be? How much investment will you make? What level of establishment are you aiming for? What will you mainly operate? Will you serve Chinese food? Will you serve steamed buns and dumplings? How will you allocate staff? How many chefs will you need and where will you find them? Where will you buy the ingredients? Will you be using a third-party service? Who will be your main target customers? How long do you expect to recoup your investment? How much will you spend on utilities and taxes each year? How much will you spend on staff salaries and rent? Tell me, I'm listening."

Chen Xiao was stunned for a long time before saying, "There are so many things involved in opening a restaurant? I didn't think about it that much. Are you angry because of this? I can tell you're angry. I'm sorry, Xiao Wei, don't be angry. I've never been involved in this before, and I really didn't know there were so many things involved. I thought it was just a matter of setting up a house, tables, and chairs. I was even thinking of opening one downstairs from here so it would be closer to eat."

Xiao Wei sighed and said, "This is my fault. I should have talked to you guys first and then to them. Let's just forget about it. You go ahead with your business, and Xiao Hui can go to his job. Whether this restaurant stays open or not doesn't really matter if you two get married. I don't know when he'll grow up. His dad is too strict with him; he's always like a child. Okay, that's settled then. I'll let him go back after he's been here for a couple of days. Bye."

Chen Xiao said, "Hey, don't hang up. Xiao Wei, I'm so sorry, what's your phone number? Can I call you back tonight? I can't get away right now, but I'll go see Uncle Chen tonight and he can call you then, okay? Don't be angry, okay?"

Xiao Wei let out a long sigh and said, "Alright, I'll wait. Write down the phone number, but don't stay out too late; no one can live here."

Chen Xiao agreed, wrote down the number, and hung up the phone.

After leaving the guardhouse, Xia Maosheng and Chen Hui sat at the table talking, while Sister Zhang and the others all ran to the back.

Seeing Xiaowei come out, Chen Hui said, "Wow, that's impressive! You're really generous. I also went to see that house in the back, and it really is that big. It's such a waste to leave it there. You could open a karaoke bar there, or even a billiards room. You could make money from those, right?"

Xia Maosheng said, "I think Hui Zi's suggestion is good. How about we set up a karaoke bar in the back? And a billiards hall? We can rent out the remaining rooms if we don't do anything with them, and that will bring in some money."