The next day, Chen Xu told Secretary Guo in advance and left work at the normal time.

When she got home, Chen Ziqi was watching TV with a tablet computer and complained, "Your internet speed is too slow. The videos are laggy."

Chen Xu put down his briefcase and was quite satisfied to see that the room was clean. He asked casually, "What do you want to eat for dinner?"

"I want to eat braised pork."

Chen Xu walked into the kitchen, put on an apron, and said, "Then let's cook some noodles."

"Then what are you asking?" Chen Ziqi rolled his eyes.

After a while, Chen Xu came out with two bowls of noodles.

Chen Ziqi looked at the bowl of noodles with watery soup and stared at him with wide eyes, "Chen Xu, you are too stingy. Isn't this just boiled noodles? Is this what you are treating me with?"

"Do you want to eat?"

"snort."

Chen Ziqi wrinkled her nose at him, picked up the chopsticks, and muttered, "It's the truth, why don't you let me talk about it? I must go out and buy some snacks tomorrow."

Having said that, she still picked up the noodles with chopsticks and took a bite.

Hmm? He took another bite and ate it.

Um.

In just a few bites, he finished the bowl of noodles.

She drank the last mouthful of soup, and seeing Chen Xu staring at her, she said, "What are you looking at? I'm just hungry. Who told you to come back so late?"

Chen Xu pointed at the two empty bowls and then pointed to the kitchen.

"Can't you let me take a break?" Chen Ziqi's shoulders slumped and he pouted.

"Hurry up."

"You'll lose this baby."

Chen Xu couldn't stand it anymore and tapped her forehead, "You're the only one who talks too much, hurry up."

"Don't hit my head." Chen Ziqi was furious.

At this time, the phone on the table rang. Chen Xu went over to answer it and turned back to say to her, "I have to go out for something. I will be back soon. Don't go out."

Having said that, he left in a hurry.

He went downstairs and walked to the side of the road. A black Audi stopped in front of him with the window rolled down. It was his uncle.

"Uncle San, Ziqi is upstairs. I'll take you upstairs."

Uncle San looked a little tired and said, "Thanks to you this time."

Chen Xu didn't say much. After Chen Ziqi parked the car, he took him upstairs, opened the door, and said to Chen Ziqi who was washing dishes in the kitchen, "Your dad is here. You two can have a good chat."

After saying that, he closed the door and left.

This was a family affair between father and daughter, and he didn't want to get involved. He took this opportunity to find the owner of the late-night snack stall and sign the contract.

The boss and his wife were already waiting there and took out the draft contract for him to review.

The contract was very simple, with only a few clauses and a small amount of money involved. It was not very formal and was handwritten.

Chen Xu took a look and thought there was no problem, so he handed them 20,000 yuan and signed the contract.

The boss took the money, wrote him a receipt and the key, and said they had already bought tickets for tomorrow morning and had to go back to pack up, and then left.

Chen Xu watched them leave, then turned around and looked at the small shop with some confidence. In the next three months, this shop would belong to him.

Of course, he didn't expect to make much money in these three months. His main purpose was to accumulate some experience.

Three months later, the Spring Festival was over. By then, he could go to the dart competition in Nenga, and that would be his chance to earn his first pot of gold.

He had already planned all of this.

Chen Xu rolled up his sleeves and started cleaning. He first moved all the barbecue tools aside as he would not need them.

Halfway through the cleaning, Uncle San called and said he had to leave first because of something. Ziqi would stay here and asked him to help take care of the baby for a few days.

He didn't say it explicitly, but Chen Xu knew that the negotiation must have failed. So he closed the shop and went back to his rented house.

Chen Ziqi was watching TV with a tablet in her arms, as if nothing had happened.

He walked over and asked, "How did the talk go?"

"Not so good." She said without even looking up, "Anyway, I won't go back until he breaks up with that woman."

Chen Xu didn't want to ask about the relationship between father and daughter. Seeing that she was calm and nothing was wrong, he went to take a shower. Then, he gave her a few instructions as usual and left, leaving her alone to spend the night.

This time, he did not go to the company. Just now when he was cleaning the shop, he found that there was a loft above, which could be reached by a stepladder. There was a folding bed inside, which could be used for sleeping.

He went to a nearby supermarket, bought the cheapest quilt and pillow, and slept in the attic of the store for the night.

…………

After a night, the next day was the weekend.

Chen Xu got up early in the morning, went to the nearest market, and started shopping.

After paying the deposit, he only had 500 yuan left. However, he still had 2,000 yuan in his Huabei account, which was enough to buy food.

At noon, he pulled Chen Ziqi over to help.

"Hey, I never promised you to do this." Chen Ziqi arrived at the store and looked at the greasy stove, refrigerator, and walls. His scalp felt numb and he was full of rejection.

"I cook for you, and I haven't calculated the food expenses from you yet."

Chen Ziqi argued, "At the beginning, you said that you would cook and I would wash the dishes, and you didn't ask for food expenses. It's too immoral to increase the price afterwards."

"Then you can only eat takeout from now on."

"No." Her face immediately fell, "Takeout is so unhealthy."

"Do you want to do it?"

Chen Ziqi reluctantly put on the rubber gloves and said angrily, "You are using child labor, which is illegal, you know."

The two of them were busy for nearly an entire afternoon and finally cleaned the entire store, inside and out.

Chen Xu finally praised her and said, "Well done, I'll give you an extra chicken drumstick tonight."

Chen Ziqi threw his gloves into the basin and said, "You want to get rid of me with just a chicken drumstick?"

"Add at most one more sausage."

"I've seen people who are stingy, but I've never seen anyone as stingy as this one." Chen Ziqi slumped in a chair. After working for the entire afternoon, she was extremely tired and didn't want to move at all.

For the next few hours, she watched Chen Xu busying himself in front of the stove, constantly adding various ingredients to a large pot of boiling water.

"Are you still not done?" She was sitting there, her phone running out of battery. Seeing him still busy, she couldn't help but ask, "I'm starving."

"immediately."

Chen Xu scooped up a little with a spoon, tried a sip, and nodded with satisfaction. The pot of soup was finally ready.

The recipe I gave him in 2003 did not focus on the cooking time, but on freshness. This time, the amount was larger, so it took a little longer.

He asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Chen Ziqi said without even thinking, "Noodles."

"Okay." Chen Xu made her a bowl of noodles, brought it to her, took out a piece of red paper, wrote the four words "Good luck in opening the business" with a big marker, and pasted it on the door.

Although it only lasts three months, a sense of ritual is needed.

(End of this chapter)