A man with a sharp voice and a smiling face walked over. “Miss Jiang, I’m afraid your family has suffered quite a disaster.”
Jiang Zhiyu frowned slightly and looked up. The man was plump and well fed, dressed in fine silk robes. A faint golden shimmer could be seen along the embroidered patterns on his clothes, suggesting that they had been stitched with gold thread. He held an account book in one hand and an abacus in the other.
What made Jiang Zhiyu most uncomfortable was the way his eyes traveled up and down her body. His gaze was especially greasy and lecherous.
【System Message: User has unlocked character: Zhang Yazi, owner of Yahang, landlord of the Old Jiang family, shrewd and calculating, unwilling to part with even a single coin.】
Zhang Yazi’s triangular eyes darted around as his fingers flew across the abacus. Suddenly, the beads struck against one another with a loud snap.
He gave a sly grin. “The rain has been outrageously heavy, and quite a few shops along the street have suffered damage. But I, Zhang Yazi, am a kindhearted man. Your family runs only a small business, so I won’t make things difficult for you. After a rough calculation, you can compensate me with fifty taels.”
When Old Jiang and his wife heard that amount, their faces immediately filled with difficulty.
“Could you perhaps calculate a little less? You said to yourself that we are only running a small business…”
Before they could finish, Zhang Yazi interrupted them. “You may run a small business, but the workers at my Yahang need to eat too. A rainstorm like this is a natural disaster to begin with, so you can only accept your bad luck. Or perhaps, Miss Jiang…”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhiyu frowned slightly. This man had clearly come with bad intentions.
【System Message: Mission updated. Protect the shop from Zhang Yazi.】
Jiang Zhiyu understood immediately. Zhang Yazi had seen that her parents were honest and straightforward people, so he was taking advantage of the situation to squeeze some money out of them. On top of that, he had ulterior motives toward her.
If the Jiang family could afford the fifty taels, Zhang Yazi would make a tidy profit. If they could not afford the compensation, there was a ninety nine percent chance that they would have to surrender the shop instead, and Jiang Zhiyu herself might suffer as well.
Jiang Zhiyu walked over to the water soaked cabinet and began rummaging through it as if searching for something. At that moment, a red exclamation mark flashed above the slightly taller chest of drawers beside it.
There was something here.
She found a low stool and climbed onto it.
With a little force, she pulled open the drawer. Inside was a rental contract wrapped in oiled paper.
Jiang Zhiyu spread out the contract and carefully read it. After going over it repeatedly, she finally discovered an important clue.
She then calmly walked forward and put on a bright smile.
Zhang Yazi was startled by her overly friendly smile, and even his lecherous thoughts vanished from his mind. He patted his chest several times to steady himself before raising his chin arrogantly.
“Smiling at me won’t help. Fifty taels, not a single coin less.”
“Shopkeeper Zhang, did you bring our rental contract with you? If the responsibility lies with us, then we will certainly compensate you for the loss.”
As soon as Zhang Yazi heard this, he instinctively felt that the fifty taels were already within his grasp. He forcibly controlled the muscles of his face and throat to keep himself from laughing with excitement.
The servant beside him quickly took out the rental contract.
“It’s right here. Take a good look. Doesn’t it clearly say, in black and white, ‘For any damage inside the shop, the tenant shall compensate according to the value of the property’?”
Jiang Zhiyu nodded at first. Then she raised her hand, pointed to a particular section of the contract with her index finger, and said, “The rental contract also clearly states, ‘Natural disasters are the responsibility of Yahang, while damages caused by people are the responsibility of the individual.’”
It was a tiny line hidden at the very end of the rental contract. Under normal circumstances, it would have been extremely difficult to notice.
Zhang Yazi immediately panicked and denied it guiltily. “Don’t make things up!”
That line was part of the standard rental regulations for Yahang’s cooperative leases and was required to be included according to their rules. However, in order to reduce their own liability, they had deliberately made the line extremely small. It was an unspoken trick in the industry, and so far, hardly anyone had ever noticed it.
That was why so many of their deals were guaranteed profits with no losses.
Looking at Zhang Yazi’s face changing from pale to green and then back again, Jiang Zhiyu turned the tables on him.
“Shopkeeper Zhang just admitted that this was a natural disaster. Fifty taels are indeed not enough. Once my parents finish calculating the losses suffered by our shop, we will send the bill to Yahang.”
Zhang Yazi’s eyes widened as he sucked in a deep breath, as if he wanted to blow away an imaginary beard in his fury.
“You, you, you!”
Jiang Zhiyu looked toward her parents, who were still staring in astonishment at how the situation had been turned around, and continued, “The location here isn’t particularly good, yet the rent isn’t cheap. When you rented it to my parents, you must have praised the place to the heavens, right? How about I discuss this matter with the authorities?”
The moment he heard this, Zhang Yazi’s arrogance disappeared completely.
“No, no, no. Please, let’s talk this over.”
A thin layer of sweat appeared on his plump forehead, and an inexplicable chill ran down his back.
“My father just paid this year’s rent, and then this natural disaster happened. Does Shopkeeper Zhang sincerely intend to help us reopen the shop?” Jiang Zhiyu paused. “Or would you be willing to refund part of our rent so that we can find somewhere else to do business?”
Sweat continued to bead on Zhang Yazi’s forehead. His face crumpled as though he were about to cry.
“Miss, aren’t you making things difficult for me…?”
Jiang Zhiyu put on an innocent expression. “You were the one who made things difficult for me first.”
Just as the negotiations reached an impasse and it seemed that the two sides were about to fall out completely, Jiang Zhiyu suddenly smiled sweetly.
“I’m only joking, Shopkeeper Zhang. Just replace everything that was damaged and repair the broken parts according to their value. How about that?”
Zhang Yazi immediately felt as though he had survived a disaster. Although this deal had earned him nothing and he had actually suffered a loss, at least he would not have to go to the authorities and answer questions.
He gritted his teeth.
“Fine.”
【System Message: Congratulations, user has completed “Zhang Yazi’s Rental Contract.”】
This time, everything was settled. After Old Jiang and his wife returned home, they handed the shop over to Jiang Zhiyu with solemn words and hopeful expectations.
The familiar electronic voice of the system sounded, accompanied by subtitles.
【System Message: User has inherited the Old Jiang Guduo Shop.】
The days since reopening the shop had been filled with one problem after another.
Although the pots, bowls, and other kitchenware purchased by Zhang Yazi had already been delivered, the shop still had a leaking roof. Outside, the rain had soaked the walls until the plaster had swollen and peeled away.
They would have to wait until the masons had some free time before they could come and repair everything.
With its appearance and decorations in such a state, the shop looked like a bare unfinished house that had been forced into business. Not a single customer had come in for several days.
After adding and subtracting everything, they had not made a single coin.
Instead, they still owed Auntie Sun from the vegetable market for the vegetables and Rong the Pork Seller for the meat.
All in all, the Old Jiang family’s pockets were now cleaner than their faces.
It truly was a case of trouble piling onto trouble.
“Sigh.”
Jiang Zhiyu sat inside the shop with a piece of foxtail grass between her lips. Supporting her chin with one hand, she looked toward the other shops, which were brightly lit and bustling with customers at night, and felt deeply troubled.
After night fell, the temperature dropped sharply. Jiang Zhiyu stayed at the shop with her parents for most of the night. They did not wait for many customers, but they did manage to wait until she became hungry. Her stomach began to growl loudly without the slightest consideration for her dignity.
“Your father will make you a bowl of guduo,” Old Jiang said as he stood up and began preparing the guduo. Jiang’s Mother also hurriedly heated the pot again.
Jiang Zhiyu stared absentmindedly at Old Jiang’s movements as he wrapped the guduo. Wasn’t this guduo essentially the same thing as wontons in the real world?
She remembered a wonton shop she used to visit often. It had been open for more than thirty years, and customers had always flocked there. Whenever she did not know what to eat, she would go there.
“Dad, can we mix the vegetables and meat together for the filling? I want that kind of filling.” Jiang Zhiyu recalled the taste from her memories. “Add some mushrooms too.”
“Old Jiang, if our daughter wants it, just make it for her,” Jiang’s Mother added.
Thus, relying on the taste she remembered, Jiang Zhiyu roughly worked out the proportions for the guduo filling. She then added some finely chopped mushrooms that had already been fried. The three ingredients were mixed in a ratio of seven to two to one before Old Jiang prepared the filling.
The plump white guduo floated and stretched like a school of fish entering the water, rising and sinking in the boiling clear broth. Their thin, translucent wrappers gradually took on a glossy sheen as they cooked in the hot water, faintly revealing the green of the vegetable filling and the pink of the fresh meat.
Jiang’s Mother stirred them with a spatula to keep the guduo from sticking together or scorching the bottom of the pot. Amid the rising steam, their fresh and savory fragrance had already begun to spread through the air.
Jiang’s Father and Jiang’s Mother worked together to ladle the cooked guduo into bowls. Jiang Zhiyu chose some sesame oil from the seasoning jars, then sprinkled on fragrant green onions and cilantro, instantly filling the air with an irresistible aroma.
“Daughter, where did you learn this?” Jiang’s Mother looked at the sesame oil. It had been given to them by the owner of the sesame oil shop some time ago and was later forgotten in the cabinet when they became busy.
She had never expected it to finally come in handy today.
“A book taught me, Mother.” Jiang Zhiyu casually made up an excuse. There was no way she could tell them that she used to eat it this way quite often in the real world.
The three of them had just sat down together when there was a dull thud.
Something had crashed against the entrance of the shop.
Jiang Zhiyu was thoroughly exasperated. She thought another signboard had fallen down or that something else had not been properly repaired.
When she walked closer, however, she discovered that it was a living person.
The man had collapsed in front of the guduo shop. His pale, slender fingers were futilely clutching his stomach, while the back of his hand protruded with frightening blue veins from beneath the sleeves of his moon white robe.
His eyes were closed and his brows were slightly furrowed. His thin lips had lost all color, while fine beads of cold sweat dampened his raven black sideburns. His face, originally as gentle and refined as jade, was now covered in pain, leaving only faint groans escaping from him.
His elegant features appeared even more aloof and noble against his pallor.
“Dad, his stomach must be hurting terribly.”
Jiang Zhiyu noticed that although his hands were stiff, he was still clutching his stomach tightly. He was probably suffering from a severe stomachache, but had collapsed at the entrance of the guduo shop before he could find a restaurant to eat at.
Jiang’s Father and Jiang’s Mother helped the man inside and seated him.
He struggled to open his mouth, his voice even fainter than his breathing as he spoke intermittently.
“Sorry to trouble you…”
Jiang Zhiyu quickly pushed the untouched bowl of guduo in front of her toward him.
“Eat it while it’s hot.”
After finishing the steaming bowl of guduo, the cold and pain churning inside him gradually dissipated. His slightly furrowed brows finally relaxed, and the warmth and gentleness that originally belonged to his face slowly returned.
Xia Linchuan gently placed the coarse porcelain bowl back on the table.
The bottom of the bowl touched the wooden surface without making the slightest sound. He straightened his body with some difficulty, gathered his robes over his knees with both hands, and had already regained seventy percent of his usual composure.
He rose and bowed deeply toward Jiang’s Father and Jiang’s Mother.
“Thank you, Shopkeeper.”
Then his gaze fell upon Jiang Zhiyu. His lashes lowered slightly before he gave another solemn bow.
“Thank you, Miss, for taking care of me.”
The candlelight inside the room spilled across his shoulders, bathing his gentle and noble bearing in warmth. He took a small silver ingot from his sleeve and placed it beside the bowl.
Old Jiang and his wife were slightly astonished. That silver ingot alone could buy more than a dozen bowls of guduo. After exchanging glances, they both looked toward their daughter.
Jiang Zhiyu had not expected this man to be so generous. Had a wealthy female customer, no, a wealthy male customer, just dropped straight out of the game?
【System Message: User has unlocked character: ?】
Jiang Zhiyu: ???
“What does ‘?’ mean? System, did you arrange a cheat for me, or is he the male lead?”
Is this really a proper shop management simulation game?