Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Ta. Ta. Ta. Yuan Zhou walked, his footsteps crisp and clear with the leather shoes he was wearing, giving off a professional look.
This place was, in fact, a village within the city of Chengdu. The environment was rather poor, and the buildings along the street were in worse condition compared to the buildings at Taoxi Road. The buildings were comparatively shorter as well.
At Taoxi Road, there were still seven-floor old-style residential buildings. Yet here, most of the buildings were old-style brick and tile buildings, with the doors facing each other. As for the unit number, only dark spots were left and the numbers could no longer be seen clearly.
But Yuan Zhou seemed familiar with this place. Without checking the unit numbers, he directly headed toward a certain direction.
When he reached a crossing, a tiny house laid before him. The door of this house was an old wooden door. A padlock hung on it.
At present, the padlock was unlocked, showing that someone was inside the house.
“Luckily, I arrived in time,” Yuan Zhou muttered before he knocked on the door.
Thud. Thud. Yuan Zhou knocked in a tempo that was slow yet clear.
“Who is it?” asked an old voice from inside the house.
“Yuan Zhou,” Yuan Zhou said.
“Boss Yuan?” the voice replied before the door was opened, revealing the granny that always set up a stall in front of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
That was the same granny that would always help Yuan Zhou swept the floor every morning, also the same granny that had gone to Mount Qingcheng to pray for Yuan Zhou when she heard about the Exemplary Restaurant Selection.
“Yes granny, it’s me,” said Yuan Zhou with a nod.
“Why are you here, Boss Yuan? Come, have a seat,” said the granny cheerfully.
“It’s fine. I’m only here to tell you something,” said Yuan Zhou gently.
“What can I help you with? Just tell me,” said the granny with a nod.
“You see, thanks to your good luck charm, my restaurant won the award,” said Yuan Zhou.
“You won? That’s good news! Boss Yuan, with how amazing you are, the win is only natural,” said the granny while waving her hands repeatedly.
“That’s all thanks to your good luck charm. One particular restaurant had really close grades with me, but I eventually won. Thank you,” said Yuan Zhou seriously.
In truth, Yuan Zhou was making that up. He got 39.5 points in total, only 0.5 away from full marks. And the 0.5 was only deducted because Hu Yue was still hungry after the meal.
As for the restaurant in the second place, it only got 37 points. A difference of two points caused Yuan Zhou’s victory to be a firm one.
Yuan Zhou rarely lied, but he was able to lie with a deadly earnest face.
“We really need to thank the heavens for the blessing then. Thank the heavens, thank the heavens,” the granny immediately put her palms together in a pious manner and thanked the sky when she heard Yuan Zhou’s words.
“Therefore, I am thinking of hanging this thing here,” said Yuan Zhou as he handed over the wooden case to her.
“What is this?” asked the granny, confused.
“Open it and take a look,” said Yuan Zhou.
Whoosh. The granny nodded and opened the case.
The pennant was neatly folded, with the words “Exemplary Restaurant” on top. The granny immediately understood and shut the case and tried returning it to Yuan Zhou but was rejected.
“Don’t be in a hurry. This award is given once per year. I am a greedy person and want to get another one next year. Therefore, I will keep this one here so you can take care of it for me,” said Yuan Zhou.
“No way, no way. How can you give this to me? No way,” the granny shook her head repeatedly and resolutely refused.
“But I only won because of your good luck charm. See, I have it on me at all times,” said Yuan Zhou as he opened a button and revealed the good luck charm hanging on his neck.
That was the charm the granny had obtained from praying at Mount Qingcheng.
When the granny saw Yuan Zhou wearing the charm, a smile immediately covered her face. But she was still unwilling to accept the pennant.
“Boss Yuan, you can’t give this to me. This is a glory you have won yourself,” said the granny solemnly.
“Yes, this is a glory. Therefore, I hope you can hold it for me for a year. Next year when I win another award, you can return it to me. With this, I can extend the good luck until next year,” said Yuan Zhou seriously.
When Yuan Zhou kept repeating about honor, next year, and continuation of good luck, the granny started hesitating.
After all, from what Yuan Zhou told her, his victory had been a close one. It was definitely better if he could maintain his good luck until next year.
When Yuan Zhou saw the granny in contemplation, he heaved a sigh of relief. After all, he was already out of words to say and was merely blabbering random things he could think of. If this continued, he wouldn’t know what to say anymore.
That’s right. From the moment Yuan Zhou received the good luck charm, he had been planning to do this.
Yuan Zhou was aware of how hard it was to climb Mount Qingcheng. Even someone like him would pant when climbing it, not to mention the granny who wasn’t in as good a shape anymore. Yet, she was willing to go pray for something as vague as good luck for his sake.
She did that even though they were unrelated and merely because her life had improved after she started setting up a stall in front of his restaurant.
Thus, Yuan Zhou believed that the glory should belong to the granny.
“This award will still be given next year?” asked the granny in hesitation.
“Yes,” Yuan Zhou nodded. “The event will be held every year.”
“Then I’ll keep it for you. The organizers won’t have any issues, right?” the granny asked.
“Of course not. This pennant is merely a symbolic item. I still have the certificate for it, and the certificate alone is sufficient,” said Yuan Zhou. This time, he wasn’t lying.
After thinking in silence for a bit, the granny finally nodded.
“Fine, I’ll keep it for you. Next year, I will go pray for another good luck charm,” said the granny.
“It’s fine. See, I still have this good luck charm on me. If you keep praying, Buddha will think we are greedy. This is enough,” said Yuan Zhou.
“True,” the granny nodded pensively.
“Definitely. So you have to take care of this pennant. The good luck will extend until next year even without your prayers. Just you watch as I win another pennant,” said Yuan Zhou.
“Ok, I’ll listen to you,” said the granny.
“You can call me Little Yuan, granny,” Yuan Zhou suddenly said.
“Oh, sure. Little Yuan,” said the granny, a smile blooming across her face, the wrinkles on her face rolling out.
“Um,” Yuan Zhou nodded.
After a while, Yuan Zhou spoke, “I’ll be leaving. Dinnertime is almost here.”
“Sure. That can’t be delayed. Be careful on your way back,” said the granny the moment she heard about dinnertime.
“Um, see you,” Yuan Zhou nodded and turned.
“Walk slowly, Little Yuan,” said the granny behind him.
“Goodbye,” Yuan Zhou waved his hand and started rushing away. After all, dinnertime was really approaching soon.
This was a place where the two alleys crossed. Therefore, Yuan Zhou did not need to retake the same route he came from. He only needed to take a turn at the alley in front as the distance wasn’t that great.
When turning, from the corner of his eye, Yuan Zhou could see the granny carefully hugging the case while looking at him.
Due to his sharp senses, Yuan Zhou could even sense the joy and warmth in the granny’s eyes, the same joy and warmth when an elderly person looked at the young of their own family…
