The clams I stir-fried last night were just average, nothing special. Restaurants have much more variety.
"I'll treat you. Go and call my brother; he's here anyway."
Xiao Hu was about to offer to treat, but Ye Cheng flicked his forehead with a slap, saying, "You only have a few coins. Hurry up and go call my brother, or he'll have to go to work again soon."
Ye Guowei worked as a laborer at the dock. His hours were unpredictable; when there was cargo, he had to unload and load it, and when there was no cargo, he would just sit and wait.
Seeing Ye Cheng arrive, Ye Guowei was a little surprised and quickly came over, "Why are you here?"
"Brother Guowei, Brother Cheng said he wants to invite you to dinner."
"Yeah, bro, let's go eat out," Ye Cheng said happily. Having money really puts him in a good mood.
Ye Guowei frowned. "Why go out to eat? Where would you get so much money? How about we get a boxed lunch here? It's cheap and delicious for 3 yuan. If that doesn't work, we'll get the 5-yuan one, with an extra meat dish and a vegetable dish."
Boxed lunches—another distant concept.
Ye Cheng remembers that when he was a child, boxed lunches were quite popular. They were sold at construction sites and markets, ranging from 2 yuan to 6 yuan, and included things like fried fish, meatballs, and stir-fried pork with chili peppers. The taste was really good.
However, most of the boxed meals are for manual laborers like Ye Guowei. They are heavy on oil and salt, and the fish and meat used are generally not good. Forget about using live fish; they are usually dead fish, and the taste of dead fish is masked with heavy seasoning.
"Brother, let's go. I made some money from beachcombing with Xiao Hu today. It's okay to eat out once in a while." Ye Cheng pulled Ye Guowei over and opened his pocket to show him.
"So much?" Ye Guowei's eyes lit up. How could his good-for-nothing brother suddenly be making money?
"You guys? Beachcombing?" Ye Guowei still couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, a friend just had a bunch of sea cucumbers and sandworms this morning, so we sold quite a few. Let's go."
"Okay, here's my coat, it's the kind of coat you wear for carrying heavy loads."
"You're being so particular about a meal," Ye Cheng said with a laugh.
Ye Guowei came out after changing his clothes; he was wearing an ordinary short-sleeved shirt, but it looked cleaner.
"Brother, where should we eat?" Xiao Hu asked.
Ye Cheng searched through the original owner's memories and found that he frequented a restaurant called "Fatty's Restaurant".
The owner's surname is Wu, and he's chubby, so the restaurant is called Fatty's Restaurant, and it's located in town.
Upon entering, Ye Cheng saw a chubby middle-aged man sitting behind the counter, with a fat head and big ears, who was definitely a symbol of wealth in this era.
"Hey, Second Brother's here." Fatty Wu greeted Ye Cheng warmly as he entered, it seemed the original owner of this body had indeed visited quite often.
"Okay, there are three of us. Let's order." Ye Cheng casually found a table and sat down.
"Xiao Chen, let's order." Fatty Wu called out, and a pretty young girl came out from the kitchen. She was Fatty Wu's waitress.
When Xiao Chen saw Ye Cheng, his eyes immediately turned fearful, and he stood as far away from Ye Cheng as possible while holding the menu.
Ye Cheng was wondering when Fatty Wu spoke up, "Little Chen, it's Brother Cheng who's ordering the food. Why are you standing so far away? He was drunk last time, it's not like he is every time."
Hmm...it seems the original owner didn't do anything good before.
Ye Cheng looked at her. This girl, Chen, was dressed very plainly in coarse cloth clothes, but she was indeed pretty and had the unique beauty of a fishing village girl.
He coughed. "Well, standing there is fine too, I'm familiar with it."
"Give me a braised duck, a kidney, a stir-fried pork intestine, a cucumber salad, and six bottles of beer."
Ye Cheng casually ordered the dishes; there wasn't a single vegetarian dish, only hearty dishes, plus a cucumber to go with the drinks.
"Duck 14, kidney 12, pork intestines 12, cucumber 3 pieces, beer 18, plus 3 servings of rice, that's 62 yuan in total." Xiao Chen quickly quoted the prices and then stood there without moving.
Before Ye Cheng could react, Xiao Hu slammed his hand on the table. "What do you mean? We have to pay for our meal first?"
Startled, Xiao Chen quickly took two steps back and moved away from Xiao Hu.
Ye Cheng looked at Fatty Wu, who quickly explained, "Second brother, you still have a lot of debts to pay off, why don't you pay them off together?"
Damn, so it turns out I ended up on credit. No wonder they didn't go in to prepare the food; they were afraid I'd run up another bill.
Ye Guowei blushed, a little embarrassed. "Acheng, how about we have a bowl of noodles? I'll pay off your debt for you."
Ye Cheng waved his hand, "Fatty, how much do I still owe?"
Upon hearing that Ye Cheng intended to return the money, the fat man hunched over and slipped out from behind the counter, holding several handwritten menus in his hand.
"Well, this is what you ate by yourself last time."
"This is for both you and Xiaohu."
"And also, this is..."
Ye Cheng said impatiently, "Just give me a round number, you don't need to read it out to me one by one."
"Okay, that's 122 yuan in total. Adding today's 62, it's 184 yuan in total."
"So much?" Ye Guowei exclaimed in surprise. 200 yuan! His younger brother was really generous.
Ye Cheng was initially indifferent, but after hearing his brother call him that, he felt a little embarrassed and quickly pulled out two large bills. "Here, is that enough? Hurry up and serve the food. My brother has to go back to work later."
Fatty Wu took the money, rubbed it in his hands, and confirmed it was real.
He immediately smiled and said, "Okay, coming right away."
"Xiao Chen, hurry up and stir-fry it up from the back kitchen."
Xiao Chen then took the order and went to the kitchen.
"Acheng, you..." Ye Guowei was about to say something when Ye Cheng took out the rest of his money, took out a 100-yuan note, and gave it all to Ye Guowei.
"Brother, take these to pay back the money."
Looking at the stack of money on the table, Ye Guowei was a little at a loss. He had only glanced at it and hadn't expected there to be so much.
He carefully counted the money and said happily, "It's 1400 in total, which is almost my monthly salary. I'll remember it for you when you get back, so you can use it when you're looking for a wife."
"Brother Wei, be generous. Brother Cheng can earn this much money in two days," Xiao Hu said smugly.
Fatty Wu's expression changed as he looked at Ye Cheng. How did Ye Cheng suddenly become so rich?
He always got a little money from his brother to spend.
"Yes, Xiaohu is right, brother. This is to pay back the money. You can give it to your wife so she won't worry."
Don't worry, I said I'd pay it back. I'll find a way.
Ye Guowei looked at Ye Cheng with a loving father's expression, chuckled twice, and said, "Good, good, Cheng has made something of himself."
He was eight years older than Ye Cheng, so there was no doubt that he was like a father to Ye Cheng.
Over the years, Jiang Yunxiang had given him a lot of hardship because of Ye Cheng, but he couldn't do anything about it; Ye Cheng was his own brother.
Unexpectedly, my younger brother has become quite successful and has given me 1,400 yuan.
Ye Guowei became more and more excited as he thought about it, and a few tears even welled up in his eyes.
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