Chapter 21 Meeting That Person

After Yue Ning and Qiao Junxian accompanied Yue Baohua to make a long-distance call, they went out to the Forbidden City together. Yue Baohua talked about the situation in Hong Kong City, and Asong watched the TV stations broadcast the news of eating tape in Baohua Building one after another, and he was so anxious that he almost cried.

"Uncle Hua, I'll make a phone call and ask them to stop broadcasting this news."

"Wow!" Yue Ning exclaimed, "Can a phone call stop the news broadcast?"

In his previous life, Qiao Junxian would have been a fictional boss who could top the trending searches and have his posts deleted online in a matter of minutes! Unlike her, the "boss" in reality, who is so low-class and can only rant against those haters online.

"The eldest aunt of the Qiao family is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Cai family, a Hong Kong television and newspaper tycoon." Yue Baohua said, "But this matter is still..."

"It's quite troublesome." Yue Ning immediately interrupted his grandfather and turned to Qiao Junxian and said, "I'm really sleepy. Please hand me a pillow. There's no need to stop the show. Just let it go. I've already laid the groundwork..."

Hearing that Yue Baohua was going to accuse and destroy Shenghua Building, Qiao Junxian looked at Yue Baohua with some worry: "Uncle Hua can't do it, right?"

Yue Ning looked at her grandfather. He didn't look like someone who could do such a thing. She said, "That's right! Then I'll do it! I'm good at quarreling and fighting."

Being good at quarreling and fighting, is that a glorious thing?

When I arrived at the gate of the Forbidden City, I realized that I came at an unlucky time today. The Forbidden City was having an important foreign affairs event and was not open to the public at this time. What a pity!

They were about to go back in disappointment, when an old man passing by enthusiastically said, "Why don't we go to Jingshan Park in the back? It used to be the emperor's imperial garden, and you can see the crooked tree where Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself. From the top, you can have a panoramic view of the entire city of Beijing."

The old man pointed them in the direction, Yue Ning thanked him, and the three of them went to Jingshan Park together.

Qiao Junxian brought a camera, and Yue Ning took a check-in photo under the crooked tree.

The weather today is not too hot, and Jingshan is not high at all for Yue Ning, but Yue Baohua has varicose veins in his legs, so climbing this height is very tiring.

Yue Ning accompanied his grandfather for a while, rested for a while, and finally arrived at Wanchun Pavilion. Standing at this position, the red walls and yellow tiles of the Forbidden City, which showed the royal style, were in full view, and Yue Baohua's sweat was not in vain.

Yue Baohua was indeed exhausted, so he found a bench to sit down and rest his feet.

"Yuening, come here!"

Qiao Junxian waved, and Yue Ning ran over. Qiao Junxian pointed at the white tower in front and asked, "How about this angle?"

In the distance, there were mountains lying across the sky, with a white pagoda standing in the middle. Yue Ning praised, "It's beautiful."

A camera was stuffed into her hand. She always thought that photography enthusiasts would treat their cameras as treasures and would not let others touch them, but Qiao Junxian was an exception. He was very generous and directly handed the camera to her to play with.

At first, he would help her adjust the parameters, but now he just let her adjust them herself. Yue Ning adjusted them and asked him to look at them: "Is this okay?"

"Can."

Yue Baohua, sitting on the bench, looked at the two heads put together, and hesitated to speak several times. He really wanted to say something to Ningning, and if he didn't say it, he was afraid that he would not be able to sleep tonight.

Boss Qiao has a good reputation in Hong Kong for making friends and being courteous to others. This is not an empty reputation. Just like when he extended a helping hand to me this time, he did his best.

But think about it, not to mention that the wealthy sons of Hong Kong City are unwilling to get married too early, Qiao Junxian's elder brother Qiao Junshen is almost 30 years old, right? He has changed four or five girlfriends, but there is no sign of marriage. Even if Qiao Junxian is willing to get married, the one who will marry into the Qiao family is either a wealthy family in this city or a wealthy businessman from Southeast Asia. A small wealthy family like them can't afford it.

"Grandpa." Yue Ning shouted.

Yue Baohua came back to his senses, and Yue Ning waved and said, "Let's take a photo of the two of us, grandparents and grandchildren."

Yue Baohua walked over and was held by his granddaughter's arm. The two of them snuggled together and Qiao Junxian pressed the shutter.

Qiao Junxian put away the camera and said, "It's almost time. My grandfather's train will arrive at around 3pm. He should be arriving at the hotel soon. Shall we go back?"

"Walk."

At the foot of the mountain, there was a small store. Qiao Junxian asked, "Are you thirsty? Want some soda?"

Yue Ning, however, was attracted by the sour plum soup in glass cups placed on the small dining table. Probably to prevent flies from hovering around, the cups were covered with square pieces of glass. She said, "We have iced sour plum soup. Let's drink this. We drink herbal tea to cool off in the south, and sour plum soup in the north."

"Okay! Uncle Hua, what about you?"

"I drink sour plum soup, too."

The three of them ordered a cup of sour plum soup. Yue Ning took a sip and said, "It tastes good."

"Of course it tastes good. Sour plum soup is the royal drink of the Qing Palace. Empress Dowager Cixi loved to drink sour plum soup, and people also liked it. There is a saying that 'the sound of copper bowls is calling out in the streets, with a bowl of ice water and plum soup.' What is Jingshan Park? It is the back garden of the imperial palace..." The salesman in the canteen was a man in his thirties who was very talkative.

Yue Ning drank a cup of sour plum soup, and the elder brother was still talking about history. She put down the glass and said, "Brother, let me correct you. Sour plum soup appeared much earlier than Empress Dowager Cixi. It is said that after the Manchus entered the pass, they still loved to eat meat, and there were a lot of fat people. Emperor Qianlong saw that this was not good, so he asked people to develop such a recipe. Black plums remove oil and relieve greasiness, osmanthus warms the lungs and eliminates phlegm, licorice clears fire and detoxifies, moistens the lungs and eliminates phlegm, hawthorn helps digestion and eliminates accumulation, promotes qi and disperses blood stasis, and when boiled together with rock sugar, it becomes your sour plum soup. The poem you mentioned was written by Hao Yixing, a Jinshi in the Jiaqing period."

"Girl, you are really knowledgeable. Have I met a master?"

Yue Ning smiled and said, "I just like to eat, and I also like to study eating. Goodbye, brother!"

"Come often!" said the eldest brother.

"I'll come back if I have a chance."

Seeing Yue Ning turning around, Qiao Junxian said, "You even know who wrote that poem?"

Qiao Junxian expressed Yue Baohua’s thoughts: How could this kid know so much?

"Do you know what I want to do in the future?" Yue Ning asked Qiao Junxian.

Qiao Junxian thought about it carefully and said, "Given your research on cooking, and Uncle Hua happens to own a restaurant, you must be the restaurant owner."

"Yes! Then what kind of restaurant would I open?" Yue Ning asked again, "Should I open a restaurant like my grandfather's that follows tradition and makes the alley famous? Or should I open a high-end restaurant in a high-rise building like the one in the hotel where we live?"

Qiao Junxian said seriously: "With your age and talent, it will be no problem for you to run a high-end restaurant. My grandfather originally suggested that Uncle Hua open a store in Causeway Bay. If you really want to, you can consider it after returning to Hong Kong City. This way it will be convenient for me to eat in the future."

Yue Ning chuckled, "You've fallen into my trap of choosing between two options! It's neither. When I go to Gangcheng, I have to be a good granddaughter to my grandfather and help him run the business. I will focus on studying and go to university. My uncle Mo is a doctor, and universities in Gangcheng also have doctoral degrees, right?"

She jumped from the topic of opening a restaurant to studying. Qiao Junxian didn't react for a moment and could only follow her words: "You can get a bachelor's degree after graduating from university, and then a master's degree, and then a doctorate. The Uncle Mo you mentioned, is he the one who taught you to study?"

"Yes. He was sent down to the countryside for reform and lived with my daughter and I." Yue Ning continued to ask, "Do people in Hong Kong study for a doctorate?"

After these few days of contact, Qiao Junxian always felt that Yue Ning's thinking was no different from that of their group of people who had received a good education overseas. But this question made him realize that she really had no idea about some aspects.

"How is that possible? Not to mention the older generation, even the younger generation of ordinary families, most of them go out to work to earn money to support their families after high school. Not to mention PhDs, even associate degrees are rare."

Yue Ning nodded thoughtfully: "What about you? How far do children from wealthy families like you usually go in school? Also, what majors in Hong Kong City can earn more money and have a higher status?"

"Children from wealthy families usually go to study in the UK and the US. A bachelor's degree is enough. For better ones, like me, I get a master's degree in business. The most profitable majors? Economics, business, law and medicine." Qiao Junxian replied.

"If I study economics, will it be easy to find a job? Will the salary be high? Will the future development prospects be good?" Yue Ning asked a series of questions.

Yue Baohua was just happy that her child was going to school, but now she was a little confused. Could it be that after interacting with Qiao Junxian, she felt that being a chef was not worthy of Qiao Junxian, so she had the idea of ​​studying to improve her status?

He asked, "Ningning, don't you want to be a chef?"

Qiao Junxian was happy: "If you study economics, come and work with me! I'll open a factory and you'll help me manage it. I'll pay you enough and there will be dividends at the end of the year."

"I will definitely become a chef and a restaurant owner, and of course I will work with my grandfather. I just want to ask you, what is the average income of people who graduate from majors such as economics and business? What is their social status?"

Qiao Junxian nodded and said, "The income is high. Even graduates from local universities in Hong Kong City have good salaries, and there are bonuses at the end of the year. Ordinary people earn one or two thousand a month, but these people can earn hundreds of thousands or even two hundred thousand a year if they can get a certain position after graduating for a few years. If they can work in a foreign company, the salary will be even higher. Hong Kong City is now developing into a financial center, and the financial industry is even more popular. With high salaries, the status will naturally be high."

Yue Ning clapped his hands and said, "That's all. I'll study economics and business and get a master's degree. When I get my master's degree, I'm going to find a place with beautiful scenery and open a restaurant. I want everyone to know that the chef of the restaurant is a scholar. I didn't open a restaurant just to make money. Chinese food culture is broad and profound. I make friends with food and taste food with everyone. This is for sentiment. As the saying goes, there are great scholars talking and laughing, and there is no unlearned person among us."

In her previous life, she did it for sentimental reasons. After all, a billionaire with a net worth of tens of billions cooks for himself. Is it for the sake of making money?

"Is that your plan?" Qiao Junxian felt that what she said made sense, but also seemed a little far-fetched. "You want to make friends, not make money?"

"Of course I do it to make money. Besides! Once people have this deep impression, I will cut carrots, white radishes, water radishes, and green radishes into thin strips and mix them together. I will call it 'Gathering of Heroes' and sell it to you for 180 yuan a plate. You will not think it is expensive at all."

"What?" Qiao Junxian took a breath and couldn't help laughing, "A gathering of heroes. Yue Ning...you..."

Yue Ning smiled slyly: "We don't make money from the poor, we only make money from the rich."

Qiao Junxian, who had just put away his smile, was amused by her funny expression. He finally stopped and asked, "You told me everything, aren't you afraid that I will expose you?"

"Brother, let's make money together! By the time I finish school, you must have made a lot of money in the past few years, right? You won't invest in me? You will be my living signboard! Then you can treat my place as your dining hall and come here every now and then, so that those young masters and young ladies from wealthy families will feel embarrassed to say that they are rich if they don't come to eat here." Yue Ning nudged Qiao Junxian with his elbow and winked at him, "My business is booming, let's share the money at the end of the year."

Qiao Junxian's mind flashed with the image of himself standing in front of her shop to attract customers for her. This image was too funny, but he couldn't laugh anymore. He suppressed his smile and said, "This sounds like a good business."

Yue Ning stretched out his hand: "Come on, partners, let's shake hands."

Qiao Junxian held back his laughter and reached out to shake her hand: "Then it's settled. I'll invest in you."

Yue Ning said proudly: "Okay, I'll give you a 30% discount on the radish meeting."

"Carrot meeting?"

“It’s just a gathering of the best.”

Qiao Junxian was almost hurt from holding it in, and could only turn his body to the side to smile. He couldn't take it anymore, if he listened to her talk any more, he would go crazy.

Yue Ning ignored the young man who was laughing so hard that he was bent over, and said to his grandfather: "Grandpa, my father once asked me, which one makes more money, a wonton stand or a high-end restaurant?"

Yue Baohua seemed to understand something, but couldn't put it into words.

"He said wonton stalls rely on volume, and high-end restaurants rely on high prices." Yue Ning blinked, "Do you know what I said?"

Yue Baohua shook his head, and Yue Ning said, "I'm going to open both a high-priced restaurant and a wonton stand. I want rich people to be willing to pay for my cooking skills, and I also want ordinary people to be able to afford my cooking skills."

Yue Baohua laughed, secretly laughing at himself for thinking useless things. Ningning's idea was really hard to implement, but the child had an idea, and the direction was right, especially studying, which was the right way.

"Let's talk about a problem you are about to encounter." said Qiao Junxian.

Yue Ning looked at him: "What's the problem?"

"Not to mention the huge difference in teaching content between the two sides, HKU's Advanced Level Examination is in English, while CUHK's entrance examination is in Chinese, and in traditional Chinese. What do you do?"

When Qiao Junxian asked this question, he couldn't help laughing.

Yue Ning asked angrily, "Qiao Junxian, what are you laughing at? Are you gloating over the fact that I can't take the exam because I don't know English or traditional Chinese characters?"

Did I say something wrong? Was Yue Ning angry? Why did Yue Ning leave alone?

"That's not what I meant, I..." Qiao Junxian hurriedly chased after him, wanting to explain, but he found that his rash words could easily lead to misunderstandings in others.

Yue Ning stopped in front of an old man who was practicing calligraphy at a stone table and said, "Uncle, can you lend me your paper and pen?"

The old man finished writing the last stroke and straightened up. Yue Ning turned around and pointed at Qiao Junxian who was chasing after him and said, "My cousin came from Hong Kong. He just laughed at me, saying that our ancestors all wrote in traditional Chinese characters. He also said that I can't write and I'm uneducated. I want to write for him to see."

"I didn't..." Qiao Junxian explained anxiously.

The old man's face darkened, and he spread a piece of paper for her and made room for her: "You write it."

Yue Ning picked up the brush, dipped the tip of the brush into the inkstone, and wrote "One..."

“What a nice handwriting!”

The old man just exclaimed in admiration, but found that Yue Ning wrote "a melancholy turtle" next. He read it in confusion: "A melancholy turtle? What does this mean?"

Yue Ning put down his pen and said, "I told my cousin that I can write traditional Chinese characters, so he asked me to write these characters. These characters are difficult to write!"

The old man looked at Qiao Junxian and said, "The young man is handsome, but he is not generous enough."

It's unfair... It's really unfair! Qiao Junxian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"It's okay, it's okay. This is caused by cultural differences. We respect and understand each other. Uncle, thank you, we are leaving now."

Yue Ning turned around and shouted, "Grandpa, let's go."

After leaving the park gate, Qiao Junxian said, "Yue Ning, when did I tell you to write 'a melancholy turtle'? When did I say that traditional Chinese characters were passed down from our ancestors? I just said that you might not know traditional Chinese characters, and it would be difficult for you to take the exam in Hong Kong. If you know how to write traditional Chinese characters, why don't you just tell me that you know how to write it?"

"You're not my cousin, are you?" Yue Ning winked at him, "Do you know why I have to write such difficult traditional Chinese characters?"

Qiao Junxian reacted and asked anxiously, "You're not calling me a turtle, are you?"

"What are you imagining? You are my partner, how could I scold you?" Yue Ning said with disdain, "I have no money, so I can only rely on my strength to cooperate. Of course, I choose difficult words to write, just to let you know that I can definitely pretend to be a cultured person. When the time comes, the restaurant will display traditional Chinese culture, calligraphy and painting, garden decoration, and I will use a plate as blue as the sky after rain to serve radishes for the meeting."

"Really?" Qiao Junxian still didn't quite believe it.

Yue Ning said helplessly: "Brother, although you are a rich man, I think you don't have much money to use now, right? After these few days of contact, I have recognized you. You will definitely be able to become rich with your own strength in a few years. I believe in you so much, but you still don't believe me after I showed my strength? It's so sad."

Are they talking about the same thing? It seems like she really has no reason to call him a turtle?

"That's not what I meant." Qiao Junxian thought about it and asked happily, "Do you really believe that I can make a career on my own?"

Yue Ning tilted his head and looked at him: "What else?"

"That's right! Otherwise, who would I sell my carrots to?" Qiao Junxian said self-deprecatingly, "How did you come up with the idea of ​​writing 'A Melancholy Turtle'?"

Yue Ning looked him straight in the eye and said, "You must be thinking: 'I have been learning traditional Chinese characters since elementary school, why have I never thought of writing these words?'"

Being guessed at what he was thinking, Qiao Junxian avoided her gaze embarrassedly.

Yue Baohua didn't know how his granddaughter could have the upper hand over Qiao Junxian, a child who was carefully nurtured. He felt completely at ease, thinking that Ningning would definitely not suffer any loss given her cleverness.

"Don't feel inferior! Only my genius dad can come up with such a genius idea. When I was a kid, I was very naughty. Uncle Mo said that practicing calligraphy could train my patience, so my dad forced me to practice calligraphy. Whenever I got into trouble, he would ask me to write these words. I wiped my tears while writing. Don't you think it was miserable?"

"How miserable. I thought it was miserable enough that I had to learn everything when I was a kid, but I didn't expect you to be even worse off than me."

"What's worse is that I didn't have enough to eat and I had to study." Yue Ning walked to his grandfather. "At that time, I thought, if only my grandfather was here, I would let him spank my father."

Yue Baohua couldn't smile at all because his son had brought up such a smart, lively and capable child under such difficult conditions. If only Zhirong was here.

"I understand. You were very depressed at that time and wanted to turn into a turtle and hide in your shell." After saying that, Qiao Junxian ran away.

"Qiao Junxian, just wait!"

There was no way Qiao Junxian could run faster than the shepherdess Yue Ning. He was caught up after only a few steps and his arm was grabbed.

He exercises regularly and is quite strong, but Yue Ning is too strong and he can't break free.

Thinking of the scene where she lifted a man up and threw him down the mountain in Xiaoyanggou, Qiao Junxian was really worried that she would do the same to him. He quickly shouted, "Lady, spare my life!"

Yue Ning let go of his hand and said with a smile: "Since we are partners, I will spare you this time."

"Thank you for sparing my life, lady."

"Can you tell me in detail the rules for the university entrance exam in Gangcheng?"

"I went to the United States after Form 3. I had a good friend who was admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, so I have a general understanding of it, but not a complete one. As a colony, Hong Kong has been promoting English education since its founding. English education is conducive to colonial rule, and the job market also prefers people who are fluent in English. Therefore, the number of English secondary schools has always been greater than that of Chinese secondary schools, and Chinese secondary schools established with private funding have always been in a disadvantaged position. Not to mention studying abroad in the United Kingdom and the United States, even in Hong Kong, students from English secondary schools have a great advantage..."

Qiao Junxian explained everything to Yue Ning along the way. Yue Ning caught the most crucial point and asked, "So self-study students can also take the secondary school examination and the advanced level examination?"

"There are two types of exams, the Advanced Level Exam for English secondary schools and the Higher Level Exam for secondary schools. There are differences between the two. English secondary schools take the exam in Form 7, while secondary schools take the exam in Form 6. The university system is also different..."

Yue Baohua followed the two of them and listened to them talking about the exam. He thought to himself, why should he worry about Ningning?

They chatted all the way to the hotel entrance. Qiao Junxian was so engrossed in his conversation that he didn't pay attention to what was happening behind him. Yue Ning was quick to grab him and said, "Be careful!"

Qiao Junxian suddenly bumped into Yue Ning, and the black Crown sedan had already passed them and arrived at the entrance of the hotel.

A short-haired beauty got out of the passenger seat of the car, looked over at them, waved and called out, "Jun Xian."

Qiao Junxian happily walked over to her: "Sister Huiyi."

At this time, two more people got out of the back seat of the car, a pot-bellied man and a beautiful woman with exquisite makeup.

Yue Ning was originally still marveling at the short-haired beauty's extraordinary temperament, but when she saw the noble lady coming out from behind, her body shook involuntarily. She clenched her fists and secretly told herself that this person had nothing to do with her.

She had only seen this woman in photos. Even though she had permed hair, red lipstick, and was wearing a Chanel suit, Yue Ning recognized her at first sight.

This is the woman who would rather leave her two-year-old self behind in order to go to Hong Kong City.

When she was little, she didn't understand why other people had mothers but she didn't. She asked her father for her mother, and her father showed her a photo of a woman holding her chubby self.

She kept calling "Mom" to the photo until one day, she saw the body of a baby that had been eaten by wild animals and was badly damaged. She was so scared that she ran down the mountain and went to the fields to find her father. Her father took a shovel and asked her to take it up the mountain to bury the little body.

During dinner in the evening, Dad and Uncle Mo talked about this matter and talked about this bad habit that existed all over the country at that time. Only then did she understand what her mother's decision meant to her.

If her father had gone with her at that time, it would be hard to say whether a two-year-old girl like her could survive. Fortunately, her father stayed and took care of her by his side despite all the hardships.

That day, she poked a hole through the face of the woman in the photo with the tip of a pen. When her father saw it, he scolded her. She stubbornly shouted, "This bad woman is not my mother. She is not my mother! She will never be my mother!"

Dad took the photo and held her in his arms. She said in his arms: "Ningning has Dad, Uncle Mo, and Aunt Chunmei. Ningning doesn't want Mom."

Since then, she tried desperately to forget this woman, but the more she tried, the more she dreamed of her mother throwing her on the hillside or the riverbank...

Until she recovered her memories of her past life, she realized that her parents were both alive in her past life, but they favored boys over girls, and all their training for her was to make her devote everything to her brother. She was relieved. In this life, she could get her father's wholehearted love, which was much better than in her past life. That woman had the right to choose her own life. She didn't need to hate her, nor did she force herself to forget completely. She just needed to downplay her existence. She finally walked out of this nightmare.

Now that you've met a real person, there's no need to get excited, just treat him as a stranger.