TA •Chapter 96

When Jiang Yuduo had gotten in touch with Xu Ding, and what exactly he had said, Cheng Ke had no idea. Jiang Yuduo hadn’t told him, and he didn’t plan to ask.

All he knew was that Jiang Yuduo had dragged Chen Qing around for more than a month, and was already starting to prepare for the renovation.

He could feel that this was probably the first time in Jiang Yuduo’s life that he had taken charge of something he himself had once thought impossible to do. To Jiang Yuduo, this was very important.

It was also very important, and full of anticipation, in the eyes of his friends.

Cheng Ke hoped Jiang Yuduo could open this shop exactly the way he wanted, in his own style.

As for Cheng Ke himself, he was pretty busy.

Business at the themed restaurant had started to get a little hot this month, and Xu Ding kept pushing him to find a new location, make a new plan, add and cut projects, all kinds of things.

There were plenty of personal matters too.

For reasons known only to himself, Jiang Yuduo had drawn up a three-year birthday gift list for him, and two more years’ worth that he still hadn’t figured out yet. Just those three alone were already giving him a headache.

He had no idea how to make sorghum liquor, what the hell a Meow-fur scarf was supposed to be, or how he was even supposed to make a handmade vase.

Cheng Ke had no clue, but he still started with the parts he could do.

Every day, he brushed Meow’s fur.

Meow was a mixed-breed cat, probably carrying the long-haired gene. Every time Cheng Ke brushed him, he could sweep out a fluffy little ball of fur, but nowhere near enough for a scarf’s worth of yarn… Cheng Ke looked closely at Meow’s coat, and felt relieved that although Meow had a little mixed-color fluff, he was overall a white cat. White wool yarn of some kind should be about right.

After brushing for a long time, Meow had fallen asleep. Cheng Ke stopped, feeling like he was farming or something. You couldn’t harvest too hard. You always had to leave some room for growth.

"I’m going out for a bit," Cheng Ke said, rubbing Meow’s head. "Your Third Brother’s shop is getting renovation materials today. I’m going to take a look."

Meow twitched his ears.

Cheng Ke called Huihui to ask whether anything was going on over there, then changed clothes and headed out.

He was off today, and had originally planned to stay home and sleep, but he also wanted to give Jiang Yuduo a surprise.

Even though Jiang Yuduo didn’t seem to have any special love for surprises.

He hailed a cab. Jiang Yuduo’s shop was a little far away, in a commercial plaza in the city center. The front faced the street, the back faced a newly opened mall. The location was excellent. Without Xu Ding’s connections, there was no way they would have gotten this place.

But in order to make Jiang Yuduo feel that this shop had been built entirely by his own hands, Cheng Ke hadn’t come by even once.

Not only had he not come to see Jiang Yuduo’s shop, he hadn’t even been to the city center in a long time. Ever since he moved out, he’d only been here once or twice.

Even when he got out of the car, it all felt a little unfamiliar.

Jiang Yuduo’s shop was easy to find. The street along the side of the mall was lined with small storefronts, all food places. Quite a few were still under renovation, but within twenty meters, several milk tea shops had already opened, along with all kinds of grilled chicken wings and the like.

The foot traffic was pretty heavy, with people coming and going to eat or rest their feet. Even if three neighboring stores were all milk tea shops, every seat under the parasols at the entrances was still full.

Cheng Ke walked slowly past each storefront.

The shops were all small. After accounting for the counter and prep area, there was basically room for four little tables, so the entrance area was all covered by parasols. They were mostly full. Toward the back, facing the mall side, there was room for two or three more tables, but for now a lot of customers still preferred to sit under the parasols.

Milk tea, grilled wings, milk tea, renovation, milk tea, skewer hotpot, renovation, milk tea, burgers, milk tea, renovation… there seemed to be a lot of renovation work here?

When Cheng Ke stopped, he saw Chen Qing sitting under the parasol at the entrance with a dark face.

When Chen Qing saw him, he was very surprised. He stood up, then looked back into the shop. In a loud voice, he greeted him, "Brother Ke? Why are you here?"

As soon as Cheng Ke heard that address, he immediately realized the few people standing inside probably had nothing to do with renovation.

Chen Qing’s call of "Brother Ke" was mainly for show, to make it seem like this shop had an older brother type backing it up. No matter what kind of background that older brother had, it would still be enough to confuse people a little.

"What’s going on?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Debt collectors," Chen Qing said with a cold laugh, arms folded. "The previous owner ran before the shop even opened. These guys couldn’t find the real owner, so they took it out on us."

"He ran off first, and you guys started moving in right after," said a man who came out from inside. He looked extremely unfriendly, as if every wrinkle on his face had the word fuck written in it. "If you didn’t have some kind of connection, could you have taken over this fast?"

"What kind of location do you think this is? Believe me, the second we leave, someone else will already have taken over before our feet are even off the ground," Chen Qing said. "Stop saying this bullshit like you’ve got no common sense. Anyone can tell you haven’t been in the game long. If you want to stand here, then stand here. I just happen to take a break."

"Then let’s try it," the Fuck-faced man said.

"Suit yourself," Chen Qing said, waving a hand. "Just don’t run later."

"Where’s Third Brother?" Cheng Ke glanced around and realized that there was only Chen Qing here at the moment. The renovation materials had been brought in, but he didn’t see any workers. They probably got chased off by these people too.

"Went to eat," Chen Qing said. "Sit for a bit. Big Bin and the others are bringing people over soon."

"…You haven’t even started renovating yet, and you’re already planning to solve this with force?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Not force," Chen Qing said. "By your logic, then, nonviolent noncooperation. These guys aren’t from the streets. They’re not good at playing hardball. They’re just annoying. They’ve been here for two days."

"He didn’t tell me either," Cheng Ke said with a sigh.

"We can handle this. Telling you would just give you more trouble," Chen Qing said as he handed him a cigarette. "This is way easier to deal with than collection crews for protection money."

"There are still people collecting protection money here?" Cheng Ke was a little surprised.

"No," Chen Qing glanced at him. "I was making an analogy. Are you stupid?"

"…Probably," Cheng Ke said.

The few people in the shop just stood there, occasionally kicking at the renovation materials. A sack of cement got kicked open, spilling all over the floor.

Cheng Ke lit a cigarette. Feeling that these guys weren’t going to cause much trouble for the moment, he sat under the parasol and looked carefully at Jiang Yuduo’s shop.

He’d heard that someone had been brought in to design it specially, but at this point you couldn’t see any design at all. The only thing visible was the signboard that had already gone up, in a very simple black-and-white color scheme. It looked pretty cool.

There was red cloth hanging over the signboard, and the shop’s name was faintly visible beneath it.

Just one character.

Meow.

"Qing’er," Cheng Ke thought he must have seen wrong. He pointed at the signboard. "There’s only one character up there?"

"Yeah, just one character," Chen Qing said, nodding. He took out his phone and opened the photo album. "Let me find it for you. I took a picture the day they hung it up."

"Who came up with it?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Who else could it be, Third Brother of course," Chen Qing said, holding his phone out to him. "Look, cool, right?"

On the black-and-white background, there really was just one black-and-white character for Meow, with a very cute cartoon cat next to it. It only had a head and a tail, and at first glance it looked kind of like a garlic clove.

"Very cool," Cheng Ke said, nodding.

"I think Third Brother wanted to commemorate you two… that thing… where it all started," Chen Qing said, then rubbed his arms and clicked his tongue several times. "Ugh… I can’t take it."

Cheng Ke smiled but said nothing.

It kind of was, if they were counting meeting because of Meow?

Jiang Yuduo had been waiting for Chen Qing to come help him fish out the cat, and then he’d gone over and kicked the trash can, and that was how they met.

Pretty much. It was still better than saying they met because of a fight over a trash can.

Thinking about it that way, he suddenly realized that what had happened that day seemed to have been over for a long time already. The mood at the time, the feeling when he had seen Jiang Yuduo, had all become a little blurry.

Maybe the more profound something was in the moment, the more it would fade in memory.

Maybe one day, when everything had finally stabilized and they were living calm, uneventful days, the past would slowly return to memory. Every detail would feel like prophecy, and once it matched one by one, it would all become intense again.

A Range Rover drove up and stopped in the parking space next to the parasol where Cheng Ke and Chen Qing were sitting.

"Why don’t you just talk to the guy and buy this car secondhand?" Cheng Ke said, seeing Jiang Yuduo in the driver’s seat, his face already split open in surprised delight. "You’re here at least one week out of every month."

"He’s not my client anymore, he’s my friend now," Chen Qing said. "He’s thinking about changing cars, too. I’m really going to suggest Third Brother consider just buying this one."

"What are you doing here?" Jiang Yuduo got out of the car and called over.

"Checking things out," Cheng Ke said.

More people got out of the car. Big Bin led the way as they went around from the side and came up onto the sidewalk.

A few of them bowed toward Cheng Ke together. "Hello, Brother Ke!"

"…Oh, hi," Cheng Ke said, a little stunned by the synchronized display. "What’s with this? Yesterday Big Bin ran into me and just grinned like an idiot…"

"You’ve got to have this kind of presence right now. We’re all like this. Perfect coordination," Chen Qing said, standing up.

The people inside who had been kicking around the renovation materials immediately sensed that something was off when they saw Big Bin and the others. The atmosphere tensed up at once.

The Fuck-faced man took his people and tried to head for the shop entrance. He probably thought that if a fight started, there wouldn’t be enough room to make moves inside.

But before they could get out, Big Bin and the others were already over there blocking the doorway.

The younger brothers Big Bin had brought were probably carefully selected. Broad-shouldered and thick-bodied, they were all dressed like delinquent fitness trainers. Together, they shoved and crowded the Fuck-faced man back into the shop.

Then Jiang Yuduo went over and pulled the rolling shutter door halfway down.

"What are you doing!" the Fuck-faced man shouted. "You want to fight, is that it!"

Jiang Yuduo bent down and entered the shop.

Cheng Ke hurriedly stood and followed, but Chen Qing grabbed him. "It’s fine, they won’t fight. You stay outside."

Cheng Ke could only stand outside the half-lowered shutter door and listen to the sounds coming from inside.

"I already said yesterday, if you want to stir up trouble, don’t be afraid of trouble," Jiang Yuduo’s voice came through from under the shutter. "If you’d just come out and said you wanted to shake us down for money, I might even praise you for having the guts to own it. But you had to come up with this pathetic excuse, so don’t blame me for looking down on you. When I was out fighting people, you were still in your daddy’s crotch, wagging your tail and searching for the light…"

Cheng Ke hadn’t heard Jiang Yuduo talk this crudely, in a way that was so very Third Brother, for a long time. Right then, he almost laughed.

Seeing Chen Qing’s serious face, he held it back.

"I’m going to count to three." Jiang Yuduo lifted the rolling shutter door in one motion.

Cheng Ke could clearly see what was happening inside, and found that Big Bin and the others all had knives in their hands. He immediately tensed up, waiting to hear what challenge everyone would have to face after Jiang Yuduo counted to three.

Jiang Yuduo always said that he took medicine every day and often felt like his brain didn’t turn very well. Cheng Ke had never really noticed much difference, but only when Jiang Yuduo started speaking now did he feel that maybe there really was such a symptom.

"One, two, three." Jiang Yuduo very neatly counted off the three numbers in his usual style, completely skipping the challenge content.

This sudden count left everyone stunned for a moment.

Big Bin was the first to react. He tossed the knife in his hand up and down. "What, not moving?"

The Fuck-faced man looked at Jiang Yuduo, then exchanged glances with his accomplices. He walked out of the shop, then after a few steps turned back.

"One, two, three," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Just wait," the Fuck-faced man said.

"Wait for your ass," Jiang Yuduo said, raising an eyebrow. "If you’re going to leave, then leave. If you’re staying, then stay here. I don’t have time to play never say goodbye with you."

The Fuck-faced man glared at him, then turned and left.

Cheng Ke let out a breath. Then he swept his gaze over Big Bin and the others, and found that at some point all the knives in their hands had already been put away.

"Call the renovators over," Jiang Yuduo said. "You guys help out too. Go move the tables I ordered. It costs money to have people deliver stuff."

"Okay," Big Bin replied.

Jiang Yuduo pulled some money out of his wallet and handed it to Big Bin. "You guys should eat something first before going. Didn’t you say you hadn’t had lunch yet?"

"Third Brother, you’re kind of being distant right now," Big Bin said.

"Get lost," Jiang Yuduo said. "Every time I give you money to buy food, you take it. What are you pretending to be now, martial heroes?"

Big Bin said nothing. He smiled a little awkwardly, took the money, and led the others off in the car.

"Aren’t you supposed to be resting?" Jiang Yuduo only now came up to Cheng Ke. "I thought you’d sleep until the afternoon."

"Hey," Chen Qing quickly turned his head away, drew out the word as he let out a sigh, and went into the shop.

"It’s about to start getting renovated. I should come by to take a look," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "What kind of constitution do you have? Your shop has barely even started and you already ran into people like this."

"This doesn’t count for much. I’m just too lazy to make trouble for the police uncles. Scare them off and that’s good enough," Jiang Yuduo said. Then he folded his arms and lifted his chin toward the storefront. "So, what do you think!"

"…What do you mean what do I think? It’s an empty shop, and a signboard you can’t even read," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "What’s there to think?"

"I put a lot of thought into this signboard!" Jiang Yuduo took out his phone. "I’ll show you the full look."

"I saw it already," Cheng Ke said, catching his hand and squeezing it. "Meow~"

Jiang Yuduo immediately grinned smugly. "Isn’t it really creative? Then when we put in the lucky-cat girl, and bring Meow into the shop too…"

Watching Jiang Yuduo talk with obvious excitement, Cheng Ke suddenly felt his nose sting a little.

"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yuduo glanced at him and lowered his voice. "Fuck, are you okay? Are you about to cry?"

"Just a little moved," Cheng Ke said. "I’m not about to cry. I’m not you."

"Watch yourself. I’m a boss now too, same as you," Jiang Yuduo said.

"You’re more impressive than I am. My big boss is Xu Ding," Cheng Ke said with a laugh.

Jiang Yuduo said nothing. He stared at the signboard for a while, rubbed his hands together, then gave a couple of heh-heh laughs.

"Are you still planning to hire people here?" Cheng Ke asked. "The general protector probably can’t make milk tea and snacks and stuff, right?"

"There is someone. I found one of Big Bin’s cousin’s high school classmates," Jiang Yuduo said. "That girl used to work at a milk tea shop all the time. She can make every kind of milk tea, and all those fried-this, boiled-that things the shops around here make, she knows exactly how to do them."

"A skilled hand, huh. You poached her with a high salary?" Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. After thinking it over, he sighed too. "Big Bin talked to her. She didn’t want to come. Chen Qing said I should go meet her… and then she agreed."

"…Fuck?" Cheng Ke felt like he was suddenly understanding something.

"I didn’t do anything, don’t come at me!" Jiang Yuduo immediately shouted in a low voice.

"I’m not coming at you. It’s the little girl coming at you, Third Brother," Cheng Ke stepped back and looked him over from head to toe. "Nice, Third Brother."

"Your ass," Jiang Yuduo glared at him.

Cheng Ke was smiling, about to say something, when his phone rang in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it. It was Huihui calling. "I’ll take this first, then we can keep talking about that little girl."

"Talk my ass," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Hello, Huihui?" Cheng Ke answered.

"Brother Cheng, let me tell you something," Huihui said in a very low voice. "Brother Xu brought an old gentleman over. He’s gone up to the third floor now."

"What old gentleman?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Brother Xu didn’t introduce him to us. I heard him call that man President Cheng, and when I looked… he looked a lot like you…" Huihui said. "I don’t know whether Brother Xu told you anything, so I’m just letting you know. That’s what happened."

Cheng Ke froze.

Huihui had been working at the shop for quite a long time and was very sharp. She knew a little about him and his dad. The fact that she’d called meant she was basically confirming that the person Xu Ding had brought over was his dad.

What was Dad doing at his shop?