Chapter 114: The Reckless Brother-in-Law

Lu Daguang’s face quivered with anger; he had actually been made a fool of, played for an idiot, and his heart seethed with resentment.

“Go and ask the guests if they’re willing to forgive you. This is no longer just a matter for our restaurant.”

Suppressing his rage, Lu Daguang spoke in a hoarse voice.

Receiving his cue, Wang Lianhua hurried over to Chen Huajiang and the others, apologizing profusely.

“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that. I was petty and failed to recognize greatness.”

“I beg you to forgive me—please, don’t hold a grudge against someone so insignificant.”

Wang Lianhua spoke in agitation and knocked her head again and again before Chen Huajiang.

Chen Huajiang felt nothing but disgust for such petty people, but he also didn’t wish to escalate matters.

He sensed the woman was emotionally unstable; if this small incident led to her being pushed too far, he wouldn’t feel right about it.

He looked to Liang Long and the others; Liang Long nodded slightly, and Zhang Bao and the rest nodded as well, clearly willing to let Wang Lianhua off.

“We forgive you. Boss Lu, let’s settle the bill,” Chen Huajiang said calmly. With things so tense, it was impossible to continue the meal.

Besides, they’d eaten their fill; it was time to pay and leave.

“Chef Chen, you must be joking. After such an incident, how could I have the face to ask for your money?”

“How about this: this meal is on me, as an apology to you and your friends,” said Lu Daguang, seeing how reasonable Chen Huajiang and the others were, and not daring to take their money. He smiled as he pulled Chen Huajiang’s arm.

Chen Huajiang nodded, waved his hand, and called Liang Long and the others to leave.

Lu Daguang personally escorted them to the door, and as they parted, even tried to recruit Chen Huajiang to help out at his restaurant.

Chen Huajiang couldn’t help but laugh inwardly; Lu Daguang was taking himself far too seriously. He politely declined.

In his previous life, Chen Huajiang had considered recruiting Lu Daguang, but it was pointless. Lu’s skills were entirely his own, unfit for mass production or process standardization, so he could never bring profit to Kunlun Catering.

And so, the group left Lu’s Family Restaurant, full and satisfied. On the way back, Liang Long looked as though he wanted to say something several times.

“What is it?” Chen Huajiang noticed the oddness and had a few guesses.

“Chen, your cooking… your knife work back at the restaurant was absolutely incredible. Where did you learn it? I never saw you cook like that before, back at the factory.”

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With Chen Huajiang’s prompt, Liang Long finally couldn’t hold back, his face filled with excitement and curiosity.

“Haha, I knew you’d ask sooner or later.”

“‘A scholar who’s been away for three days must be seen anew’—don’t you know the saying? After leaving the factory, I chose to enter the restaurant business, so naturally I had to learn and improve. Love what you do, and study what you do! You don’t think I’ve been standing still all this time, do you?”

Chen Huajiang laughed heartily. He wasn’t lying to Liang Long, though the timeline was somewhat different.

Most restaurants grow with their chef-owner at the helm, cooking and running the shop themselves, building a reputation step by step.

Just like that future, legendary hot pot chain—the biggest in the nation, even the world—which started as a husband-and-wife shop: the boss was the chef, his wife the server, and they grew their reputation and business from there.

They went from one shop to ten, from ten to a hundred, until they became number one nationally and globally.

Chen Huajiang was the same; in his past life, he started with a barbecue stall and, through learning his craft, grew it step by step into a listed restaurant group.

“Incredible!”

Liang Long looked at Chen Huajiang for a long moment and then raised his thumb in admiration.

They were old friends, very familiar with each other, and Liang Long knew Chen Huajiang wasn’t just talking—otherwise he wouldn’t laugh so freely.

Zhang Bao and the others exchanged looks, all seeing the same admiration in each other’s faces.

They knew Chen Huajiang had left the Hongqi Factory not long ago—less than half a year—and he’d already mastered such impressive culinary skills.

That attitude, that ability to learn, and the seriousness of loving his work—they couldn’t help but respect him.

No wonder he could make money and succeed, thought Zhang Bao and the others.

“Hey, who’s that?”

Suddenly, Chen Huajiang stopped walking, squinting at a bicycle approaching from the distance, realizing the rider looked familiar.

As the cyclist drew nearer, Chen Huajiang finally recognized him—it was Ermao.

“Chen, something’s happened—something’s happened!”

Ermao, still a hundred meters away, pedaled furiously and shouted loudly.

“Calm down, what happened?”

Chen Huajiang’s heart skipped a beat. For Ermao to be so anxious, it had to be serious.

“Your brother-in-law—he, he, he’s been beaten again. It’s bad—someone could die.”

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Ermao gasped for breath, giving a hurried and fragmented account of the urgent situation.

His face was drenched in sweat; after riding all the way from the textile factory, he had crossed most of Nanming City.

“What?!”

“Come on, let’s get a tricycle. Wait, there’s a truck from the Grain Bureau.”

Chen Huajiang, anxious, spotted a Liberation-brand truck driving by and quickly waved it down.

The driver stopped, and Chen Huajiang asked for a lift to the textile factory, handing over ten yuan.

Ten yuan was a considerable sum; the driver took it without hesitation and let them climb into the back.

Liang Long, Zhang Bao, and the others scrambled aboard as well.

As the truck got moving, Chen Huajiang tried to calm his nerves and questioned Ermao in detail.

But as Ermao explained, Chen Huajiang’s face twitched.

Disaster—Lin Guoshan was a master at courting trouble.

Last time, Lin Guoshan pretended to be Chen Yan’s boyfriend to confront Chen Yan’s ex, who brought friends and beat up Lin Guoshan, also trashing his shop.

That should have been the end of it; afterward, Chen Yan’s ex didn’t trouble Lin Guoshan again.

But Lin Guoshan couldn’t help himself—he gathered colleagues from the matchstick factory and some friends, had a meal and some drinks, then went to beat up Chen Yan’s ex, reclaiming face for the previous incident.

What had been over was stirred up again, and now today, Chen Yan’s ex brought friends to retaliate, trashing Lin Guoshan’s little shop once more.

This time, knives were drawn; the father-in-law was terrified and quickly informed his daughter, Lin Jiayin, who called Ermao, and Ermao rushed to find Chen Huajiang.

After all that, the problem circled back to him.

Chen Huajiang was speechless. He truly wanted to crack open his brother-in-law’s head to see what was inside.

Why stir up trouble that had already ended? And even if you do, after beating someone, wouldn’t you expect retaliation?

Where did Lin Guoshan get the courage to act so recklessly?

Chen Huajiang pinched his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

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