Chapter 182: Membership System

Boss He took his secretary and went to Wanzhou. Not long after he set off, a convoy drove from Pingjiang City to Dongchang, happening to brush past him.

Master He was exhausted from the long journey. After returning, he was first supported by Bai Zimu to his room to rest.

He was advanced in age, and such an itinerary was overly tiring for him.

Lu Ping led a few people to sweep and tidy up the courtyard outside, and moved many things down from the cars, placing them in the various rooms and the small hall.

Master He’s return to Pingjiang City this time greatly encouraged everyone at Baohua Silver Building. Besides Cao Shanwu, whom Master He specifically named to bring back, the remaining disciples stubbornly brought their own cars and followed all the way. At first, they said they would only escort them to the provincial border, but later they simply grew thick-skinned and refused to drive back no matter what was said.

The group of people returned to Dongchang small city just like this.

Master He’s courtyard here usually looked spacious, but with so many people suddenly arriving, it obviously couldn’t accommodate them.

The youngest junior brother Cang Tian couldn’t out-argue his several senior brothers, but he still had considerable prestige in front of the apprentices in the courtyard. He immediately dismissed them:

“You guys don’t need to stay here these few days, go find a guesthouse or something yourselves. After staying, get proper receipts. Stay for a while longer, and you’ll be reimbursed when we go back.”

The apprentices nodded in agreement one after another, not daring to provoke their little martial uncle.

Cang Tian returned wonderfully pleased, snatched a lower bunk in the apprentices’ room, and threw the backpack he brought onto the bed while saying to Ma Jie, who was sharing the room:

“Second Senior Brother, I remember in the past we also slept in lower bunks like this. At that time, it was a wooden bunk bed. Master saw I was young and let me sleep on the lower bunk. One time when you got down in the middle of the night, you almost stepped on my head.”

Ma Jie was sitting there holding a teacup and drinking water. Hearing this, he let out a laugh, nodded and said: “There was indeed such a thing.”

Cang Tian:

“Now you are older, so I’ll let you have it. Second Senior Brother, you sleep on the lower bunk. I guarantee that even if I get up in the middle of the night, I won’t step on you.”

Ma Jie: “…”

In the courtyard.

Cao Shanwu was sweeping the courtyard. Lu Ping lived here year-round and packed his things the fastest. When he came out and saw Cao Shanwu busy, he hurriedly stepped forward:

“Senior Brother, let me do it, let me do it!”

Cao Shanwu smiled:

“I’m used to doing it. Suddenly not working for a few days feels quite uncomfortable.”

Lu Ping also smiled: “What are you saying? Senior Brother, you take care of Master, and we can also work with peace of mind. To each his own duty.”

After Cao Shanwu resigned from the Soochow University cafeteria, he had been staying by Master He’s side. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Back then, one of his hands was ruined. Not wanting to burden his fellow apprentices and not wanting his master to know and feel sad, he didn’t return to Baohua Silver Building. For so many years, he had been wandering alone, and never started a family.

Now he could finally be considered reunited with his family.

Seeing there was nothing left to do in the courtyard, Cao Shanwu went into the kitchen, washing and chopping, planning to stew some soup.

Ma Jie and the others came out. As soon as they entered the door, they smelled the fragrance and repeatedly praised:

“So fragrant! Senior Brother Cao, are you stewing crucian carp soup? I could smell the umami flavor from outside!”

Cao Shanwu wore an apron and said with a smile: “Yes.”

Ma Jie came over, rolled up his sleeves to help him out, and said with exuberant interest:

“That’s perfect, I’ll follow and learn too. When we were in Pingjiang, Zimu went to Soochow University several times. He didn’t look at the school’s computer labs, teaching buildings, or libraries, but went to the cafeteria several times! Aiyo, it made me so greedy back then. Senior Brother Cao, you must teach me this signature specialty of the university cafeteria—”

He got a bit closer, pointed toward the main house, and said in a low voice, “Zimu is the apple of our old man’s eye, pampered since childhood. If Zimu eats a few more bites of food, our Master will be happy and can also eat half a bowl more!”

Cang Tian, who followed behind, came slower and only had the chance to nod and echo, “Right, right, Senior Brother Cao, the school’s dishes must be delicious, let me learn too!”

Having obtained this important intelligence, Cao Shanwu pondered for a moment:

“The cafeteria does have a few signature dishes, but this isn’t something that can be learned overnight. I’ll teach slowly, and you guys learn slowly.”

“Alright, thank you Senior Brother Cao!”

Because Ma Jie entered the kitchen a step faster, he seized a favorable position on the side, firmly planting himself to stare and learn.

If their Baohua Silver Building were to rank their skills, gold and silver jewelry was number one, and this culinary art was absolutely number two. There wasn’t a master craftsman who didn’t know how to cook.

Winning a jewelry competition grand prize outside was nothing. Inside their building, the secret culinary competitions were truly fierce.

In the bedroom.

After resting for a moment, Master He felt slightly better. He took the tea Bai Zimu handed over and let him sit down to rest.

The room was too quiet, and Master He couldn’t help but look outside:

“What are Lu Ping and the others tossing about again?”

Bai Zimu said: “Stewing fish.”

Master He laughed in spite of himself: “Little greedy cat, you smelled it from this far away?”

Bai Zimu rubbed the tip of his nose and said:

“Hmm, on the way just now, I heard Uncle Lu call someone to buy fish at the morning market. When we entered the door, I also saw crucian carp in the kitchen. Crucian carp stewed into soup is the most delicious.” And it was also Grandpa’s favorite soup to drink.

Master He raised his hand and rubbed his head, saying to him:

“What ‘your Uncle Lu called’, do you think I didn’t see? You were the one who made that call.”

Bai Zimu just smiled and didn’t answer.

Master He patted his hand and sighed:

“Good child, I know you want to make Grandpa happy, but Grandpa also feels heartache for you. Eating a fish is nothing, but if it’s something else, you cannot be soft-hearted…”

The old man frowned slightly, his tone becoming a bit firmer when he spoke again, “Zimu, your academic performance is good, you can test into anywhere. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I don’t worry about you. I just hope you won’t have misgivings about these family matters in the future, and you don’t need to consider things for me.”

Bai Zimu massaged the old man’s shoulders and said with a smile:

“Okay, when the time comes, I’ll take Grandpa away and give Uncle Lu and the others a scare.”

Master He was amused by him, and patted his hand:

“Right, you should scare them like this, let him scheme against a child all day long!”

After a while, the fish soup was done stewing.

Lu Ping originally wanted to keep Bai Zimu here to eat, but Bai Zimu shook his head and said:

“No, I have to go home, there’s someone waiting at home.”

Lu Ping: “Right, right, go back and take a look, you’ve been out for too long this time.”

Master He smiled and said:

“Lu Ping, go get a thermos and pack a portion of fish soup for Zimu to take. He smelled it just now, give this little greedy cat a fragrant mouth.”

Lu Ping agreed and praised:

“We were just saying it was fragrant too. Senior Brother Cao’s craftsmanship goes without saying, it’s the best in our Baohua Silver Building!”

Cao Shanwu’s face flushed red, wanting to say something, but was quickly overwhelmed by the praises of the other senior brothers.

Bai Zimu drank a bowl of milky-white crucian carp soup, and took a thermos full of fish soup, completely satisfied.

Dong Yuxiu had been calling to inquire since morning. Now that the person had returned, she couldn’t wait to have the driver make a trip to pick up her son to the garment factory.

When Bai Zimu arrived, there were other people in the office. They weren’t outsiders either. Upon seeing him, one of them suddenly stood up, took two steps, and then nailed himself in place.

Mother Lei was much more enthusiastic than Lei Dongchuan. Upon stepping forward, she first hugged Bai Zimu, closely followed by pinching his small face, acting as if she couldn’t kiss him enough, and playfully scolded:

“You child, leaving for over ten days at once. My heart practically followed you to Pingjiang City. Every night watching the weather forecast, I had to wait to see there was no temperature drop or rain over there before I could rest assured… Let me see, aiyo, lost weight again!”

Bai Zimu raised the thermos bucket in his hand and said with a smile:

“Not at all, Mother Lei. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I brought soup back, let’s drink it together.”

Dong Yuxiu had the secretary divide the soup, and the few of them sat on the small sofa talking.

Dong Yuxiu took Bai Zimu’s hand and let him sit beside her:

“Are you used to the food over there? Did you eat properly?”

Bai Zimu nodded and said:

“Ate very well, Uncle Lu looked for all kinds of delicious food to bring back every day. Oh right, I also brought a lot of drunken crabs, they are in the car, we’ll try them when we go home later.”

Mother Lei was just about to sit on the other side when she was preempted by Lei Dongchuan, who forcefully squeezed over.

Mother Lei raised an eyebrow: “Third Child?”

Lei Dongchuan lowered his head, picked a walnut from the dried fruit plate in front of him, pretended not to hear, and cracked it open barehanded. Crack, crack, he shelled the walnut there. Any complete ones were placed on a relatively large piece of walnut shell, and the shelled meat was all pushed in front of Bai Zimu.

Bai Zimu blinked, looked at him and smiled: “Thank you, Brother.”

Lei Dongchuan wasn’t paying attention with his hand, accidentally used too much force and crushed that small half of a walnut. Acting as if nothing happened, he clapped his hands clean, took another one, and said vaguely:

“You eat.”

The fish soup was quickly divided and brought over.

Lei Dongchuan took it and habitually handed it to Bai Zimu first. Bai Zimu shook his head and said:

“Brother, you drink it, I already drank enough at Grandpa’s place just now.”

Mother Lei teased:

“Zimu, hurry and take a sip. Your brother probably can’t change this habit. When you weren’t home, with no one to eat the first bite from his bowl, his own food didn’t even taste good!”

When Bai Zimu was young, he ate very little. The brothers in the family all doted on him, scrambling to give him the things they liked to eat. Among them, Lei Dongchuan doted on him the most. Every time, no matter what was in his own bowl or how much he liked it, the first bite would be fed into Bai Zimu’s mouth.

Bai Zimu lowered his head slightly, leaned over and drank the first sip.

Lei Dongchuan held that bowl of fish soup steadily without moving, his gaze falling on him. Only after Bai Zimu got up and left for a moment did he slowly drink the soup.

Bai Zimu brought a business proposal back. He originally wanted to find Mother Lei, and since they bumped into each other here, he simply took it out and discussed it with her here.

“Mother Lei, when I was living in Pingjiang City, Uncle Lu took me to see a university. The school cafeteria over there doesn’t use meal tickets, but meal cards.”

Bai Zimu took out a thin card from his pocket, placed it on the table for them to see, “I think this is very interesting. It’s an unregistered stored-value card that can be swiped to shop on specific machines…”

As Bai Zimu spoke, he also opened his own business proposal, having Lei Dongchuan help him support it while flipping the pages to point things out to the two mothers. When flipping the page, the tip of Bai Zimu’s finger brushed against the back of Lei Dongchuan’s hand. With a light touch, he didn’t notice it himself, still talking with great interest about the shopping card.

Lei Dongchuan’s gaze shifted from the text on the page to the slender fingers in front of his eyes, staring for a long time.

Whatever Bai Zimu asked him, he didn’t even know how he answered.

After the document was drawn away, Lei Dongchuan continued to stare at the person. Only when Bai Zimu reached out and waved his hand twice in front of him did he snap back to his senses.

Bai Zimu asked doubtfully: “Brother, what’s wrong? Was there something wrong with what I just said?”

Lei Dongchuan shifted his gaze away for a moment, then tried hard to control himself to turn back. He didn’t dare look into Bai Zimu’s eyes, only looking at the tip of his nose, and said in a low voice:

“Nothing, just seeing it for the first time, didn’t quite understand…”

Mother Lei beside him slapped her thigh and said excitedly:

“What’s there not to understand? This idea is simply too great!”

Dong Yuxiu also smiled and said:

“Yes, I’m even a bit tempted hearing it. The other stores have too many entanglements to issue stored-value cards, but this kind of membership system is worth introducing. It will definitely attract more repeat customers. If the customer base is stabilized, then we won’t have to worry about future business.”

“Right, right, what you said Yuxiu is also good! Last time someone complained that the given discount coupons were inconvenient to use. In the future, putting them on a card and displaying them like a balance will be quick to check.”

The few of them talked heatedly, only Lei Dongchuan kept spacing out.

After coming out of the office, on the way home, Lei Dongchuan was also more silent than usual, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, walking shoulder to shoulder with Bai Zimu.

Bai Zimu looked at him twice, and suddenly asked:

“Brother, are you hiding something from me?”

Lei Dongchuan’s heartbeat quickened a bit, but he still said calmly:

“No.”

Bai Zimu stared at him for a good while, before imitating his manner, raising an eyebrow and saying:

“Alright, I’ll believe you this once.”