Seeing her expression, Zong Jiayu knew that she had her eye on the house.

He turned to talk to someone about the price, "Sister Zhou, we really want to rent this house, could you please lower the rent a little?"

Sister Zhou crossed her arms and said, "I see you're all young people, so I won't waste time with you. The minimum monthly rent is 280, but if you pay annually, it can be reduced to 260. If that's okay, let's sign the contract today. I usually have to work and don't have time."

Zong Jia flashed her signature smile, "No problem, Sister Zhou. We've brought the contracts with us, we can sign them right now. It's just... could we pay three months' rent upfront, and then pay you the annual rent afterwards? Several thousand yuan in rent isn't a small amount, can you give us some breathing room?"

Sister Zhou glanced at him and nodded slightly, "Alright, but it's a deal: pay annually after three months, or I'll raise the rent!"

Don't worry!

After saying that, he winked at Pumpkin, who immediately took out two written rental contracts from her bag and gave them to him.

Zong Jia filled in information such as the house address, rent, and payment time on the contract.

Pumpkin and Sister Zhou signed their names and pressed their fingerprints on the two contracts, and the rental agreement was completed.

Zong Jia immediately counted out 780 yuan from his bag and handed it to Sister Zhou. Sister Zhou accepted the money and readily gave him the key, saying, "This is the only key left. You can either make a copy or change the lock."

Zong Jia and his companion went to see Sister Zhou off. Jiang Xiaoli picked up the rental contract, looked at it, and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Gua, your full name is Pumpkin?"

Pumpkin nodded with a smile, "Don't you think it's a nickname?"

"Yeah! Brother Gua, with your name, you must have easily been called on by the teacher to answer questions when you were in school, right?" If she were the teacher, she would definitely be curious about what this "vegetable classmate" looked like when she got the class list.

“That’s right!” Zong Jiayu said after seeing Sister Zhou off. “Nangua has always been one of the people teachers love to call on when they take attendance since she was a child.”

Now she was curious, "What's Brother Dafu's real name?"

Pumpkin folded the rental contract and put it away. "Dafu is called Fuyunliang."

Surname Fu? She suddenly remembered an interview and burst out laughing.

Zong Jia and Nan Gua both looked at her. "Is this name funny?"

"No, no, no!" she said, rubbing her aching stomach from laughing and waving her hands.

She paused for a moment, then held her hand up to Zong Jiayu's mouth as if it were a microphone, and asked, "Comrade, may I interview you? Are you happy?"

The two who understood her meaning burst into laughter, with Pumpkin laughing so hard she cried. "That kid Dafu probably never imagined that not only would he have the surname Fu, but he'd also be happy for the rest of his life!"

After laughing and joking around for a while, the three of them started discussing changes to the house.

Zong Jia pointed to the stove and said, "We need to add two more burners."

Pumpkin took out her notebook and wrote down her thoughts while suggesting, "We won't have dine-in service. We can put these tables together outside for the auntie to make steamed buns, and we can just use a counter to block the entrance like we did at Shop No. 2."

"Shop number two? Is that Uncle Zhang's place?" Jiang Xiaoli asked.

"Yes, it's based on the order of signing the contracts. This is shop number three. We'll go sign the rental contracts for shops number four and five later," Zong Jiayu replied.

Pumpkin closed his pen. "Little Pear, I'm just here today as a tool to sign contracts."

Jiang Xiaoli shook her head, "Brother Gua, you're not a tool. Without you, we'd both be out of commission!"

Next, the three of them went together to sign the contracts for the remaining two houses, and after planning the houses, they returned together to their old haunt, Store No. 1.

As soon as Jiang Xiaoli entered the courtyard, she was shocked by the crowd of people there.

She looked at Zong Jiayu, "Are all these people here to apply for jobs?"

Zong Jiayu was also surprised by the large number of people who came. "It should be."

The three walked to the middle of the courtyard, where Zhong Yuan, covered in sweat, said to an auntie, "Auntie, we need to assign you to your work location based on the actual situation. We'll try our best to assign you to a location close to home, but if the stores near you have enough staff, then you'll have to be assigned to other stores. Do you understand?"

The auntie on the side nodded, "Okay, then try to give me some that's close by!"

"No problem, Auntie, don't worry." After saying that, he put his pen on the table and stretched, only to see the three of them looking at him with smiles.

He looked at him like a savior and pressed the pumpkin down on his seat. "Brother Pumpkin, could you register the information for the auntie behind me with the 'passed the test' sign? I need to go to the restroom, I really can't hold it in anymore!"

Pumpkin couldn't help but laugh at his anxious, stamping-footed look. "Alright, alright, go on!"

Watching him start registering the women behind him, Jiang Xiaoli turned to Zong Jiayu and asked, "Is this what you wanted?"

Zong Jia nodded and pointed to her, "Come on, let's talk over here."

He pushed open the door to a room, which was a bedroom where they occasionally rested.

He pulled up a chair for Jiang Xiaoli and explained, "I plan to temporarily hire six people for one store: a store manager to oversee the whole operation, a cashier, and four housekeepers."

Jiang Xiaoli frowned. "What about procurement and the formula?"

He looked at her meaningfully. “The pumpkins will be purchased in bulk, and the meat and vegetables will be delivered to the store in advance every day. As for the recipes… Zhong Yuan has been busy with this lately. He learned it from you. He has made all the filling recipes into seasoning packets, so you can just add them directly when mixing the fillings.”

Jiang Xiaoli touched her nose guiltily, "Brother Yuan is pretty amazing, haha..."

Seeing her action, Zong Jia chuckled, "It's right to be on guard, isn't that what we're doing now?"

She relaxed a little then, "When will the other shops be ready?"

“How about a week? The four stores will open together next Sunday. What do you think?” Zong Jia asked for her opinion.

“Sure, I’m fine with it.” Sunday is her only day off.

After finishing their business, her eyes darted around. "Comrade Xiao Zong, where do you plan to apply for the college entrance exam next year?"

Zong Jia raised an eyebrow. "Little Pear, are you concerned about me?"

Jiang Xiaoli snorted twice, "I'm concerned about my business. What will happen to such a big stall if you go to another place?"

Zong Jia crossed his hands and touched his two index fingers together a few times before speaking, "If nothing unexpected happens, I should go to Kyoto to study, and I will hand over the business here to Dafu and the others."

"So you mean you're planning to withdraw then?" Her brows furrowed deeply.

Zong Jia sighed, "The current business is not replicable and can only be used to make money as the first pot of gold. I care a lot about my three brothers, but I also care about my future. Leaving Xijing to go to Kyoto to study at university is almost inevitable."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaoli laughed, "Didn't you ever think about making it replicable?"

"Oh? Little Pear has another great idea? Tell me about it."