Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Yuan Zhou started doing this after that one time when he encountered an old man at the trash dump station at the end of the street.
One ought to know that in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, only the most tender and freshest part of many ingredients would be used, resulting in a large number of leftover ingredients. For example, only the middle part of the watermelon would be used for the Watermelon Juice and all the other parts would be disposed of by the system.
In order to stop the system from disposing of the leftover ingredients and obtain permission to take these ingredients out of the restaurant, Yuan Zhou had paid a large price in the form of an extremely difficult side mission.
The difficult side mission would be mentioned at another time. Presently, Yuan Zhou carried the bag of trash and placed it on the rubbish bin.
“This spot should do it,” muttered Yuan Zhou after looking at the spot he had chosen before turning and leaving.
With wide strides, he returned to the restaurant. When leaving, Yuan Zhou would usually not close the door. With the security provided by the system, nobody would be able to steal anything from the restaurant.
Moreover, there were many neighbors and stalls around. When Yuan Zhou was not around, strangers would not have the chance to even enter the restaurant.
As the saying goes, a relative afar is less useful than a close neighbor. Of course, this saying would have to exclude the neighbor who had the habit of sleeping with their neighbor’s wife.
Dinnertime.
This was a special evening at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Zhuang Xinmu and Wu Zhou who hadn’t been here for a very long time had arrived.
It had been a very long time since the two came. And this was a special evening because Zhuang Xinmu had gotten pregnant. Wu Zhou was going to be a father soon.
That’s right. This couple that enjoyed showing off their affection at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant had gotten married and created a new life.
And perhaps due to coincidence, Ling Hong, the Wei Wei father and daughter pair, Sister Wan, the rickshaw grandpa, and Chen Wei were all there.
“Wu Zhou, you have been working hard,” said Chen Wei as he gave Wu Zhou a thumbs up.
“Not only is he hardworking, he has good marksmanship as well. That is a fatal combination,” said Ling Hong. At times, he would trash talk as well.
The other customers started joining in as well. This was one of the good parts of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Even for people who were not familiar with the others, it was very easy for one to blend in with the others and join in on the fun.
Zhuang Xinmu was feeling embarrassed, her face flushed red. When Wu Zhou saw the blushing face, he immediately understood what to do.
Wu Zhou spoke loudly, “Alright, alright. That’s enough. There are women here. Please, mind your manners.”
“Women? Mind our manners? Wu Zhou, you have to be grateful that Jiang Changxi is not here. She would not be as pure as us,” said Ling Hong.
When Wu Zhou pictured what Ling Hong said, he immediately shivered. Nobody was Queen Jiang’s match when it came to teasing.
“Speaking of which, why is Sister Jiang not here today?” Wu Zhou quickly spoke, trying to shift the topic.
“How will I know the whereabouts of Jiang Changxi. You need to ask Boss Yuan,” Ling Hong tossed the ball at the court of Yuan Zhou who was eavesdropping while cooking.
“She went to the award ceremony of Top Ten Chinese Young Entrepreneurs,” Yuan Zhou easily gave an answer.
Zhuang Xinmu was unsure of what award that was. When he saw Wu Zhou’s eyes lit up, she asked him in whispers.
“The Top Ten Chinese Young Entrepreneur is a very distinguished award,” Wu Zhou explained. “I once paid attention to this award. Those nominated are all people who are greatly successful in life.”
Alas, Wu Zhou wasn’t too good at narrating. He used a lot of words to expound upon Zhuang Xinmu the significance of this award.
“Sister Jiang is one of the top 10?” Wu Zhou asked and answered the question himself, “Then again, that’s understandable. We are in the same age bracket yet Sister Jiang is really very accomplished.”
Listening to Wu Zhou’s explanation, Jiang Changxi was indeed quite accomplished. Zhuang Xinmu nodded in agreement.
“She is the chairperson of the selection committee. She’s there to present the award,” Yuan Zhou added leisurely.
“Chairperson of the selection committee?” Wu Zhou blanked out.
Ling Hong roared with laughter, “Don’t you know that Jiang Changxi is the vice-chairman of China Young Entrepreneurs Association?”
Not to mention Wu Zhou, a vast majority of the customers here were not aware of that. Everyone knew that Jiang Changxi was a female chairman of a company, yet they were unaware that she was actually capable to that extent.
“Don’t try to change the topic. Wu Zhou, you’re very capable, eh? You’re becoming a father in 10 months,” said Chen Wei, his words smashing straight into Wu Zhou’s heart.
The words came smashing so abruptly Wu Zhou was nearly out of breath. After taking a while to catch his breath, he replied, “To be precise, there are eight more months. Mu Mu has already been pregnant for two months.”
“Two months? No wonder you haven’t been coming to the restaurant recently,” said Chen Wei in realization.
“You haven’t been coming to the restaurant much recently as well. Wu Zhou had to save up for baby expenses. How about you? After all, you’re single,” asked Wu Hai.
Wu Hai would normally be low profiled, and the moment he spoke, his words could be described with the depiction “world-shattering”. Chen Wei was instantly furious.
Why was Wu Hai still alive after all these years with how he behaved?
Apart from his sturdy body, it was all thanks to his speed. Before Chen Wei could erupt in anger, Wu Hai already stood up.
“I’m done eating. See you tomorrow, everyone,” Wu Hai spoke quickly.
Only after hearing that did everyone noticed that the table before Wu Hai was already completely empty. Without anyone realizing it, he had already finished a full table of dishes. This was a speed so fast the others couldn’t even react to it.
By the time Chen Wei reacted, Wu Hai had already reached his home. Thus, Chen Wei had no avenue to vent his anger.
“Then again, I am quite curious. Chen Wei, you haven’t been coming for the liquor as well. What have you been busy with?” Ling Hong asked.
“I received a training job recently so I have been quite busy,” said Chen Wei. As the head of security of a company, he reached that position relying on his capabilities in terms of training new security members.
The jobs he accepted entailed him training the security members of other companies. He earned a considerable sum of income from that.
“Working in the security department, you are already staying back late at the company. Yet you still have the time to accept extra jobs. You sure are hardworking,” said Mr. Wei.
He once chatted with Chen Wei while drinking liquor. Thus, he knew about Chen Wei’s job nature.
Chen Wei smiled and did not say anything.
“You have to take note of your health,” Sister Wan said.
“Yes, I know. Of course, health is important,” Chen Wei replied. He then changed the topic and asked Wu Zhou, “Wu Zhou, have you thought of the kid’s name?”
“We don’t even know the gender yet. How are we supposed to name the baby?” Wu Zhou replied.
“Just think of two names, one for each gender. Your baby will definitely be growing up under our watch. Therefore, your baby is very special,” said Chen Wei in excitement.
“Do you want us to gather our opinions as your point of reference?” Chen Wei asked. This question was like the fuse for an explosive that instantly ignited the atmosphere in the restaurant.
“I think if the baby is a boy, the name can be Wu Tangdi. There’s a poem that goes ‘Why is it so gorgeous, the cherry blossom.’ And if the baby is a girl, the name can be Wu Caifan,” Ling Hong was the first to voice his opinion. [1. Tangdi is the cherry blossom part of the poem, accurate translation is Nanking cherry but I thought cherry blossom sounds nicer. Caifan means flower plucker.]
“It is acceptable for a boy to be named Wu Tangdi, but for a girl to be named Caifan, that is not a good meaning to have in one’s name. A name needs to sound nice and have a good meaning attached to it as well,” Sister Wan said. “I think for a girl, Wu Yue will be a good name. And for a boy, Wu Qingzhang is good. A chapter of Qinghua.” [2. Wordplay. Zhang is chapter, and Qing is the character from Qinghua University, one of the top universities in China.]
“Wu Qingzhang is a nice name. But what’s the meaning behind Wu Yue?” Wang Hong asked. He was always one to get to the bottom of things.
“Yue is the most beautiful of all pearls during the ancient times,” Sister Wan explained.
“I think we need to wait for the baby to be born first. We can look for an auspicious name based on the date of birth,” suggested the rickshaw grandpa.
“There are too many good ideas. I can’t even remember them all. Go, get a pen and paper,” said Zhuang Xinmu. At first, she was still trying to memorize everything but toward the end, she got Wu Zhou to go get pen and paper instead.
Due to the large number of suggestions from the various customers, they would not be able to remember everything.
