The fat man said to Liu Jing, "Alright, stop trying to intimidate Yu Li here. With me here, why would I need you to order the food?"

Liu Jing then stuck out her tongue and ran away.

Lou Xiao'e belatedly realized what was happening: "Oh! Yu Li dares to give my mommy a hard time?"

Tan Yali scolded her impatiently, "Don't drag me into this. Yu Li just wants to give you a hard time!"

The fat man was kind to Lou Xiao'e and the Lou family.

After all, it was he who begged the Great Spiritual Guide to rescue Lou Bancheng and Tan Yali back then; it was also he who tipped them off in advance, allowing the Lou family to escape a calamity.

But when it came to Yu Li, the relationship with her and her mother wasn't so close.

She only came in briefly to offer a toast, fulfilling her courtesy before heading off to her next task.

Tan Yali saw this and couldn't help but feel a little distressed.

Yu Li isn't even willing to put on a show; there's absolutely no way she'd let the fat man go to Lou Xiao'e.

After lunch, Fatty drove them to the Peace Hotel, but didn't go upstairs with them. He just said, "Aunt Tan must be tired today. Get some rest first. I'll come back tomorrow and show you around."

As soon as the mother and daughter entered the room, Lou Xiao'e rushed to the sofa and pointed to the "Robust" mineral water and the beautifully packaged phone book on the coffee table, saying to Tan Yali, "Mom, look at our things!"

Tan Yali mustered her spirits and forced a smile, saying, "Our business owes a lot to the Chen family."

Lou Xiao'e, her excitement worn off, finally noticed her mother's unease and asked, "Mommy, you don't look well? Are you still worried about that bracelet? Didn't I tell you? It's locked in the bank's safe. Chen Kang returned it to me in 1984!"

Upon realizing her daughter had misunderstood, Tan Yali quickly explained, "I'm not worried about that. No matter how valuable the bracelet is, it's still just an external possession. I'm really worried about you, Xiao'e. You know, with the relationship between the two of you..."

Lou Xiao'e understood; Tan Yali's visit this time might have been motivated by a desire to fight for her.

Lou Xiao'e sighed, walked over to Tan Yali, and instead of sitting on the sofa, she plopped down on the carpet and rested her head on Tan Yali's lap.

Just like when he was a child, he said, "Mommy, how could I not know? Before I came back last time, I sent someone to find out. At that time, I thought that if Fatty was not doing well, I would do anything to bring him to Hong Kong; but when I actually arrived at Qili Pavilion, I knew that his home was here, his roots were here, and he would not come with me."

Tan Yali stroked her daughter's hair and said, "I knew 20 years ago that Fatty was capable, but I never expected that he would build such a big business so quietly."

Lou Xiao'e stared blankly into the distance, saying absentmindedly, "That's fine, anyway, he's the father of my child."

"..."

Today is Monday, and it's the quietest time of day for the restaurant.

The fat man went straight back to the courtyard house after leaving the Peace Hotel in the afternoon, without even going to the shop.

Now that the chefs are all capable of handling things, and with his senior sister helping him out, he no longer has to spend all his time around the stove.

As soon as he got home, Fatty went straight to the refrigerator, took out a can of "Arctic Ocean" soda, opened it, and chug down half of it...

Just as he was happily burping, Yu Li silently came out of the bedroom, glaring at the fat man: "You didn't close the refrigerator door again!"

The fat man felt a moment of dizziness, as if he remembered his mother from a past life.

She would scold him like this every time he took a drink, popsicle, or something to eat from the refrigerator and she saw him doing so.

By the way, Fatty's refrigerator was bought in 1986, a Haier, a big 150-liter refrigerator! It cost a full 765 yuan!

Don't complain about the price; this is the benchmark retail price set by the government. It's 605 yuan for 100 liters and 635 yuan for 110 liters...

Fatty's family is now the bellwether of this courtyard house.

As soon as his family bought a refrigerator, Chen Yan and Xu Damao in the backyard, Sha Zhu and Xiaomianhu in the middle yard, and Yan Jiecheng and Li Xianying in the front yard all followed suit and bought one too.

After they bought them, not long after, Liu Haizhong, who couldn't swallow his anger, also bought one for his family!

Yan Fugui couldn't sit still anymore. So, he was the only one in the whole yard who didn't have a refrigerator?

That won't do! He did buy one, but he only bought a 100-liter one, and then he went around calculating the cost for everyone.

"From a cost-performance perspective, the 100-liter model is the most cost-effective. Although it seems to have 50 liters less capacity, it is a full 160 yuan cheaper! I think this refrigerator is for storing important things, such as frozen crabs, ribbonfish, shrimp, or two bottles of beer. It's perfect for keeping them cool after drinking in the summer! There's no need to put leftovers in there. They take up space and cause the smells to mix."

So here's the question: Second Uncle and Third Uncle both have refrigerators, but what about First Uncle?

The old man's family doesn't need a refrigerator, but Sha Zhu's family has one.

This old man has been up to something big lately!

He's been going to three places a lot lately: Dongzhimen, Yongdingmen, and Guang'anmen.

Go out, without anyone following you.

He would carry a small stool and a teacup made from recycled sugar water cans, going out in the morning and not returning until it was almost dark at night.

After several days of leaving early and returning late, Sha Zhu finally noticed something was wrong and hurriedly brought Xiao Dang to find Fatty.

I asked him, "Do you think the old man has some kind of problem with me?"

"Opinion?" The fat man was very puzzled.

Sha Zhu slapped his thigh: "Oh no! It must be because the restaurant has been so busy lately that I've neglected this old man. I haven't paid any attention to him!"

The fat man was completely confused: "What exactly is going on?"

Sha Zhu then told him about how the old man had been going to those three places recently.

When the fat man first heard that there were Yongdingmen and Guang'anmen outside Dongzhimen, he felt as if he had heard of them somewhere before.

Of course, I'm not talking about place names, but rather an event related to these three places.

Suddenly, the fat man slammed his hand on the table!

I remember now, it was 1989! February 15, 1989! The second batch of commercial housing in Beijing went on public sale!

There are only three residential areas in total, with 350 units.

The most expensive is at Shizipo outside Dongzhimen, at 1900 yuan/square meter;

The second most expensive is Luo Xiyuan's house outside Yongdingmen, priced at 1700 yuan per square meter.

The cheapest is in Honglianli outside Guang'anmen, at 1600 yuan per square meter!

The fat man jumped up and then plopped back down.

Of course, his immediate thought was to go up there and buy out an entire neighborhood.

Anyway, Lou Xiao'e is back, so she's not short of money.

But the reality is, it's just a dream!

The fat man read the newspaper in the future, which reported in detail the whole story of this house purchase.

There are two versions circulating among the people.