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  Chapter 196: No ce to Call You “Big Brother”!

  TL: Etude

  There was no eldest grandson, nor a daughter-in-w.

  In such circumstances, how long could a mother’s fondness for her returning son st? Iy, it wouldn’t take many days. A few instances of sleeping in and tossing clothes around carelessly, and maternal love would diminish at an uedly rapid pace.

  sequently, the eborate six-dish-one-soup meals of the first day would soon be reduced to two dishes sting the entire day.

  Then it would dwio no dishes at all, with just twenty yuan handed over.

  Eventually, evewenty yuan would be fotten, and one would have to rummage through ets for instant noodles.

  But Jiang Qin was no ordinary person; he never gave his mother the ce to resent him.

  The m, at seven o’clock, when the day was just dawning, Jiang Qin had already finished washing up. His early risi his parents, who were preparing for work, both suspicious and puzzled, w what had gotten into their son.

  “Aren’t you going to sleep in now that you’re back?”

  “No, the m hours are the most precious.”

  “Where are you going without eveing breakfast?”

  “To the Jizhou Library.”

  Watg Jiang Qin hurry out the door, his parents exged a look.

  On the first day of the winter break, leaving at 7:30 in the m without breakfast to go to the library? Yuan Youqi uneasy: “Old Jiang, do you think we’ve been too harsh, always anding him to study whenever we call?”

  “What else we do? Do you think winning uy awards, especially those with trophies, is easy?” Jiang Zhenghong poi the trophy already dispyed in the living room.

  “We should talk to him tonight. It’s frightening to see him study so hard,” she said.

  “Don’t worry too much. He’s probably just struggling to adjust his routier ing back. Let’s observe for a couple more days.”

  Unaware of his parents’ imaginations, Jiang Qin swiftly left the residential area, heading towards the library.

  It was a winter m in Jizhou City, with few people oreets and a yer of fine mist hanging in the sky, spreading in all dires.

  Feng Nanshu, dressed in a white down jacket, stood in front of the yet-to-open library, eagerly looking in his dire. Only when he emerged from the mist did she dash to the roadside to wait for him, her usually aloof expression instantly turning foolishly cute.

  “Jiang Qin, hold hands.”

  Jiang Qin took her delicate, slightly cold hand, warming it with his breath before tug it into his pocket: “You thought I’d refuse, right? Haha, if I said no, you’d definitely start calling me ‘big brain. I’ve seen right through you.”

  The little rich dy looked up at him bnkly, finding the handsome man both smart and somewhat silly.

  “Why are you drooling at me?” Jiang Qin narrowed his eyes.

  “Jiang Qin, I’m hungry. Take me to breakfast,” Feng Nanshu rummaged in his pocket.

  Jiang Qin rubbed his stomach, feeliy too: “I’m hungry as well. Let’s go have some mb soup.”

  “Okay.”

  The two walked hand in hand along the misty, deserted streets. This was, in fact, their first time holding hands oreets of Jizhou.

  Passing by the gate of gnan High School, Jiang Qi an inexplicable flutter in his heart.

  Standing outside the high school where you spent three years, holding hands with the most beautiful girl from those days…

  Damn, this feels eveer than pying tricks on people.

  If he were to rank it, this joy would be sed only in his life.

  Suddenly, Jiang Qi go of her hand, pretending not to hold it anymore, which caused the little rich dy to hum and stuff her hand bato his.

  See, this could be the top joy of his life.

  About ten mier, Jiang Qin brought the little rich dy to Heping Road, where he had ied in a Yang’s Lamb Soup House during the summer break to test the waters.

  “Uncle, long time no see.”

  “And, aunt… auntie, hello.”

  Yang Shu’an had just returned home for the holidays, so his father had roused him early in the m to help out at the mb soup shop. The shop articurly busy on winter ms, and with the opening of the fourth branch, they were short-staffed, so he was drafted to assist.

  However, he never dreamt that his first er of the m would be Jiang Qin, the devil-like man, his fh school cssmate, and now his father’s sworn brother.

  Holy, when Yang Shu’an called Jiang Qin ‘uncle’, he no longer felt much of a psychological barrier.

  Why? Because Jiang Qin had ied over a huhousand in his family’s business. He ook his share of the quarterly dividends, instead using them to support his father in opening more brahanks to this, their family was thriving, and he was living fortably at uy.

  Hearing that Guo Zihang shamelessly addressed someone as ‘godfather’, why couldn’t he call someone ‘uncle’? But now…

  Now he had to call Feng Nanshu ‘auntie’, which really made him want to die.

  She was the unattainable dream of all the boys at gnan High School, a pure white memory in many a youth, and now she was his aunt. Damn it, who could he even pin to about this?

  “Shu’an, back for the holidays? How did your exams go?”

  Jiang Qin asked with the benevolent attitude of an elder, thinking how great it felt to finally be the one asking this question.

  “Pretty good…”

  “Did you wiar of Learning’ award?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Cut it out, you didn’t win any awards? I was going to give you a red envelope, but never mind now.”

  Jiang Qin, feeling smug, led Feng Nanshu into the shop.

  After a while, steaming bowls of mb soup were served, apanied by two ftbread pancakes and a pot of beef and gss noodle stew. It seemed Yang Jianguo had taken his advice to diversify beyond just mb soup.

  That’s how it is iering business. Only by ers more choices you ensure a stable and sting tele. Relying on a single produo matter how delicious, is not a sustairategy. The key to a successful restaurant brand is repeat ers, but eveastiest single product bee tiresome.

  In other words, a signature dish attracts ers, but a restaurant ’t rely solely on that.

  Jiang Qin tore the ftbread into pieces, adding them to the mb soup, and fed Feng Nanshu, who looked utterly tent with every bite.

  While eating, Jiang Qin suddenly remembered the previous night’s topid became curious about the ‘worth’ of red envelopes ihy families.

  “Do you get red envelopes during the New Year, little rich dy?”

  Feng Nanshu shook her head: “No red envelopes.”

  “Right, you’re not short on money,” Jiang Qin shrugged.

  “Do you get red envelopes, Jiang Qin?”

  “Yeah, the elders usually give them. Uncles, aunts, they all give every year. You have to pretend like you’re too grown-up to accept them while eagerly waiting for them to slip it into your pocket. It’s quite amusing.”

  After thinking for a moment, Feng Nanshu took out her wallet, pulled out a hundred yuan, and ha to Yang Shu’an, who was sittio her, her expression as aloof as an elder’s.

  Yang Shu’an: “?”

  Jiang Qin: “?”

  “…”

  After a while, Yang Jianguo arrived, warmly embrag Jiang Qin, calling him ‘big brother’.

  After the pleasantries, he pulled out a tract from his bag and ha to Jiang Qin.

  “A few days ago, someone approached me about a franchise partnership, but I don’t really uand it, so I waited for you to e bad take a look.”

  “A franchise?”

  Jiang Qin skimmed through the tract: “Franchising is an option, but nht now. My suggestion is to first establish ourselves in the Jizhou market, build our reputation, and then sider franchising ourselves. It’s better than sharing profits with others.”

  Yang Jianguo had blind trust in Jiang Qin and immediately dismissed the tract: “I’ll follow your advio partnership for now, we’ll tio open more branches.”

  “Don’t rush with opening new branches either. We should focus on developing new menu items. Oh, I have two recipes here, one for dumplings and the other for spicy chi. See if they work for you.”

  Jiang Qin took out his phone and forwarded two recipes to Yang Jianguo.

  The spicy chi recipe was given by Dong Wenhao, which they had tried during a trip to a rural resort. Jiang Qin thought the taste was excellent.

  The dumpling recipe was from Song Qingqing’s mother. He hadn’t tasted it himself, but judging by the reas of Old Lu, Zhu Feng, and Principal Zhang, the filling must be exceptionally good.

  “This recipe isn’t mine. If it works, sider it a teical iment. Each year, take a portion of the revenue and give them a small share of the profits.”

  “Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

  Jiang Qin nodded, feeding Feng Nanshu a spoonful of mb soup and using his little fio wipe away the soup that spilled from the er of her mouth.

  However, this ‘act’ happened a few more times, with soup ‘iently’ spilling each time.

  “?”

  Notig Jiang Qin’s realization, Feng Nanshu pursed her lips and looked away, feigning innoce.

  After they finished eating, Jiang Qin got up to leave. Yang Jianguo immediately asked his son to see ‘uncle and auntie’ out. Yang Shu’an, still dazed with the hundred yuan in his hand, felt his scalp ti the mention of these words.

  “Uncle, have a safe trip home. Please don’t e again.”

  “This nephew of mine, what are you saying? Be good at home, don’t be naughty, and don’t spend that red envelope frivolously. Save it for school supplies when school starts!”

  “…”

  In the following days, Jiang Qin tio leave early aurn te, usually leaving at seven in the m aurning at five in the evening, always saying he was going to the library.

  He had no choice; the little rich dy was waiting for him at the library. Where else could they meet?

  But to Yuan Youqin, this was a cause for . She wondered why her son was studying so hard. It wasn’t high school anymore, and there was o be so serious about studying.

  He was in uy and not even dating, only fog on his studies. How could this be right?

  After much thought, she decided to put away the trophy in the living room, aiming to reduce the pressure on Jiang Qin.

  “Eh, where’s my trophy?”

  Jiang Qin came out of his room to drink water and immediately noticed his trophy was missing.

  “I put it away. Study less and watch more TV. Your dad paid the cable bill today, and we’ve got twenty more els now.”

  “??????”

  Jiang Qin was momentarily stuhen realized his parents had misuood, thinking he was actually studying at the library.

  But this wasn’t something he could easily expin, as he wasn’t out dating, just hanging out with a friend. Such a modern cept would probably be hard for them to uand.

  Maybe he should sck off for the couple of days, just to stop his parents from w.

  EtudeTranstions