Before long, Xian and others also came out and helped Ye Xiaoxian. They had got many hands though, there were also a lot of vegetables to handle, so of course they needed that many of hands to cover the work.
No one gave heed to Old Mr. Xiao.
Old Mr. Xiao was not bothered. Anyways he did not want to work, so it was ideal that they all paid no attention to him.
After they washed the vegetables and got them chopped, the restaurant was opened up to welcome the customers.
Old Mr. Xiao knew that there were goodies in the restaurant, so he went to the middle of the restaurant and sat himself down, then asking Li Hongmei to come over. “Hongmei, go and ask little Ye to wok roast some peanuts for me. Make them really crunchy and give me a pot of wine also.”
Li Hongmei’s fury was surging up.
This old man happened to choose the table in the very middle of the hall. He looked really untidy and nasty and who knew when the last time he ever showered. After he sat down, he started scratching and rubbing all over his body from time to time which looked very disgusting.
“Pa, you can have the wine and the peanuts as you please, but you have to go back to your room to have them.”
“Why? I’m your pa, the grandpa of Baoshan and Baofeng. Others can sit here but why can’t I?” asked Old Mr. Xiao.
“Others pay for their food. Have you?” asked Li Hongmei.
“Do I have to pay for my food?” Old Mr. Xiao started to be headstrong.
“We don’t ask you to pay for them and never say you can’t eat. I just ask you to eat back in your room. If do it, I’ll ask little Ye to roast some peanuts for you, or you might as well sit here for nothing!” said Li Hongmei determined.
Old Mr. Xiao then scolded Li Hongmei, pointing at her. “No wonder Tieshu and Tongshu said that ever since you came to town you have already abandoned your own relatives. It turns out to be true. Your pa comes here to eat, you even want to charge me for it and kick me to the back to eat. I won’t go. I will sit here and eat. Let’s see what are you going to do with me?”
“You…” Li Hongmei was infuriated. She then went to the kitchen to complain about it to Ye Xiaoxian. “So I wonder why Pa comes here all of a sudden which turns out that your two uncles told him that we’ve abandoned our own relatives. It really kills me. He just sits here and is not willing to leave. Little Ye, what should we do?”
Ye Xiaoxian then asked, “Has he drank back home? How’s his intolerance of alcohol?”
“Sometimes he’d drink some maybe. He’s such a stingy man and how could he drink every single day? I don’t know his tolerance of alcohol. He doesn’t drink much after all.”
“Ma, then give him the wine, that Tipsy Princess. Let him feel free to drink, as much as he wants,” said Ye Xiaoxian.
“But…” Ye Xiaoxian felt a bit reluctant at the beginning but after a while she had realized what Ye Xiaoxian meant to do.
The Tipsy Princess was the strongest wine, much stronger than the famous fictional liquor which had intoxicated Wusong (Referring to the classical Chinese literature Water Margins). Old Mr. Xiao had obviously been incited by the elder and third uncle to cause trouble here. He could not do it when he got drunk.
In the dining hall, Li Hongmei took a plate of roasted peanuts and a pot of wine. She was not only very polite to Old Mr. Xiao but also filled his cup with the wine for him. “Pa, I’ve just talked to little Ye. She said that it’s so rare for you to come by, we surely need to serve you well and make you happy. See, little Ye has roasted the peanuts for you and here is the best wine in our restaurant. One jar of this usually costs five hundred coins.”
“Five hundred per jar?” asked Old Mr. Xiao. “You’ve made a fortune out of this, haven’t you?”
“How could this be true? We bought them from the wine factory. They sold us for four hundred and fifty coins per jar and we sell one jar for five hundred coins. You be the judge, Pa. Do we make a fortune?”
Old Mr. Xiao thought about it and it did not seem to be very profitable indeed.
He had taken advantage of it but began to be worried about Ye Xiaoxian. “So isn’t this pot fifty coins?”
“Little Ye have said that it is rare for you to drop by so don’t worry about the cost. Just feel free to drink.” While talking to him Li Hongmei refilled his cup.
Old Mr. Xiao took a sip and his milky eyes suddenly shined. “This, this is the best drink I’ve ever had.”
“Surely it is, or why does it cost five hundred per jar, right?” Li Hongmei filled his cup again.
Old Mr. Xiao drank the wine as if he drank water. He downed another cup right away.
Li Hongmei refilled his cup while saying, “Pa, though our restaurant looks as if it has made some profits like a table of dishes cost four or five hundred coins, but the ingredients are expensive too. Do you know how much does the pork cost these days? Also, the flour, rice and vegetables, they all cost a fortune, and about those hands in our restaurant, don’t we have to pay for hiring them? And we also have to pay the rent of the house.”
Old Mr. Xiao gave it some thought and found it actually very true.
Before he realized the whole pot was gone. Old Mr. Xiao felt all dizzy and unsteady, so Li Hongmei quickly asked Little Five and Six to come over, helping him to rest in the backyard.
Li Hongmei thought, Humph, let’s see how will you stand in my way of doing business now!
Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had specially changed their shift of patrolling with other colleagues, so they were coming to patrol the street where “The Xiao’s Cuisine” was located.
When they sent Old Mr. Xiao here in the morning they had told him what to do. They asked him to sit right in the middle, asking for a spot of nice wine and a plate of tasty dish and sit here for a whole day.
They knew that Li Hongmei would argue with Old Mr. Xiao and Old Mr. Xiao, as expected, must get angry. When a fight was started in the restaurant they would love to know how would they still do their business!
However, when they passed the restaurant everything was normal as usual. Old Mr. Xiao was not sitting in the hall and no one was causing any trouble.
How strange! Judging from Old Mr. Xiao’s nature, could him hide in the back kitchen?
If he was not in the back kitchen he must go somewhere to have fun.
Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu felt so disappointed to their pa. Old Mr. Xiao was such a lame team member.
Old Mr. Xiao did not wake up until dusk. When he woke up his head was still drowsy and his stomach felt sick. It took him a long while to realize that he had drunk too much today.
He did not expect the wine to be so strong that his head still hurt.
From tomorrow on he would never drink this wine. What the hell was that!
The backyards was quiet and no one was around. All the people were busy in the front and Old Mr. Xiao could not fine a soul to pass him some water. He tries to get up himself, he felt rather dizzy. His throat was on fire. He wanted to call someone but nobody was around.
After a long while, XS came back.
Xiao Baofeng met Xiao Baozhu when he just came back. Xiao Baozhu had told him all the story of today, so Xiao Baofeng was not very enthusiastic about his grandpa either.
He just greeted Old Mr. Xiao. “Grandpa, you’ve come.”
“Baofeng, Grandpa is dizzy. You…you fetch me a bowl of water for me, will you?” asked Old Mr. Xiao.
“Sure, Grandpa, just a minute,” said Xiao Baofeng.
Xiao Baofeng then went to pour some water. After he gave the water to Old Mr. Xiao he was going to do his homework. As he was afraid that Old Mr. Xiao would bother him he then said to Old Mr. Xiao. “Grandpa, I’ll do my homework for now. Why don’t you lie down and have a rest?”
