Chapter 26

After being busy for a few days, Song Shu finally had some free time and remembered that Liang Sao and the others had helped her to run the place and drive away the thugs, but she hadn't treated them to a dinner yet, so she asked Chen Zonghao to book a restaurant.

We booked a meal at Tang Kee Restaurant. It is not a big restaurant, but it is a time-honored brand. The current chef, Mr. Zeng, was once a cook. After coming to Hong Kong, he resumed his old business. It was originally a small street stall, but after several decades, it developed into a two-story restaurant.

Three generations of the family are chefs. Several of their signature dishes, such as roast suckling pig, white-chopped chicken, fried crab in typhoon shelter, and braised abalone with tender tenderloin, are well-known in Hong Kong. Therefore, even though the restaurant is not big, it is always packed with customers every day.

In the evening, Song Shu and Chen Zonghao took Jiahui to the restaurant first. It was the dinner peak time and the restaurant was full of people.

Either a family goes out to eat, or a few colleagues and friends have a meal together. The restaurant is filled with the sound of conversations, accompanied by the aroma of dishes coming from the kitchen, and is full of the lively atmosphere.

A waiter in the restaurant nimbly dodged the customers and placed the dishes on the table. "Here they are. Sweet and sour spare ribs No. 18, roast suckling pig..."

After putting the dishes away, he turned around and put the remaining dishes on the tray to another table. "No. 19 white-chopped chicken..."

After serving the dishes, he turned around and saw Song Shu and the other two people coming in. He said enthusiastically: "Handsome boys and girls, come and eat. Have you reserved a table? If not, you will need to wait in line for a while."

Chen Zonghao held Jiahui in his arms and said, "We booked a private room."

"Okay." The waiter said loudly, turning around and calling, "Xiao Mei, take the guest to the private room on the second floor."

"Coming." Along with the voice, a young waitress came over, asked for the reservation information, and then took Song Shu and the other two to the second floor and pushed open the door of a private room. "Please sit here. Here is the menu. Take a look at what you want to eat. Our signature dishes here are white-cut chicken, fried crab in typhoon shelter, and roasted suckling pig..."

The waiter saw Song Shu sitting down and handed them the menu. Then he stood aside with a notebook and started to introduce the food to them.

Song Shu sat down, took the menu and looked at it, then turned to discuss with Chen Zonghao who was sitting next to her: "Why don't we let her serve a few signature dishes first, and then let them order more dishes after Liang Sao and the others come over."

After all, she doesn't know what everyone likes to eat and what they avoid eating.

Chen Zonghao put Jiahui on the chair on the other side of him, and nodded when he heard her words, "Okay."

Song Shu looked up and said to the waiter, "Please serve your signature dishes first, and then we can order other dishes when other people come over."

The waiter wrote it down and nodded, "Okay, then I'll ask the chef to cook a few signature dishes first."

After saying that, he left the box, and suddenly only Song Shu, Chen Zonghao and Jiahui were left in the box.

Song Shu put the menu aside, turned around and saw Jia Hui sitting next to Chen Zong Hao, and said, "Do you want to put Jia Hui between us?"

Chen Zonghao sat on the chair and said, "No need, I'll take care of her later."

Although Jiahui really wanted to sit next to her sister, she tilted her head after hearing what her second uncle said, "Jiahui can eat by herself and not bother her sister."

After hearing what the little girl said, Song Shu couldn't help but reach out and pinch her little face through Chen Zonghao, "Jiahui is so good."

＊

The three of them didn't have to wait in the box for long before Liang Sao and the others came one by one, even Haozi came.

As soon as the door opened, Shitou's voice was heard, "Brother Hao, Second Sister-in-law, we are here."

Song Shu and the others stood up and smiled, "Come on, come sit down."

The visitors included Mrs. Liang, Uncle Liang, Liang Shuyi and their family of three, Uncle Fu, Shitou Awenhaozi, and Uncle Rong. Song Shu knew all of them, except for a young girl next to Uncle Rong, who was about the same height as Song Shu and slightly plump.

Seeing Song Shu's gaze, the girl smiled widely and called out to Song Shu, "Boss lady, my name is Rong Xiaohua."

The name "boss lady" made Song Shu embarrassed, but everyone else laughed. Uncle Rong said sheepishly, "This is my daughter, Rong Xiaohua."

After hearing what Uncle Rong said, Song Shu remembered that this was Uncle Rong's daughter, the store assistant that Chen Zonghao had told her about.

Song Shu said to the girl, "Hello, Xiaohua, don't call me the boss lady, just call me Sister Shu."

Rong Xiaohua listened and nodded sincerely, "Okay, Sister Shu."

Uncle Rong saw his daughter's silly look and tried to save her impression. "Although Xiaohua doesn't look very smart, she works hard and is very strong. Ah Shu, please don't be polite to call her."

Song Shu didn't think much of Xiaohua. After a few words, she felt that she was a stubborn person who would complete any order without compromise. Song Shu was quite satisfied, "Uncle Rong, you are too polite. I think Xiaohua is fine."

After Song Shu greeted them, she discovered that Shitou was holding a big watermelon in his arms. She came in and put the watermelon on the table.

Song Shu saw this and felt helpless, "Why did you buy something here?"

Shitou nodded, "Second sister-in-law, it's just a watermelon. We bought it by chance."

Liang's wife also said, "It's not expensive for just one watermelon. We thought we could have it as a fruit after dinner."

Uncle Fu also joked: "You guys have treated us to a big meal, so we can't come empty-handed."

After she finished speaking, everyone laughed. Song Shu didn't say anything. She asked everyone to sit down and passed the menu over. "I only ordered a few signature dishes. You can order whatever you want. You're welcome."

Chen Zonghao leaned back in his chair and added lazily, "Listen to Ah Shu and order whatever you want."

"Oh no." Shitou was the first to start making a noise, frowning and saying, "After hearing what you said, Hao, we won't be polite anymore."

Mrs. Liang laughed heartily, "Then we won't be polite. I just happened to come here on an empty stomach."

Song Shu watched them joking, and her ears felt hot after hearing Chen Zonghao's words. She didn't dare to move her eyes away, and just smiled and watched them order food.

Several people did not hesitate to be polite, knowing that Ah Shu really wanted to thank them, and it would be unpleasant to be polite, so everyone added some of their favorite dishes.

Song Shu finally added a few desserts and sweet soups and asked the waiter to serve the dishes.

Although there were many customers in this restaurant, they didn't have to wait too long and the dishes were served one by one after more than ten minutes.

Seeing that the dishes were almost served, Song Shu picked up a glass of sake beside her. This sake was also the signature wine of this restaurant. It was a secret recipe passed down by the boss's great-grandfather. Many customers would come to the restaurant to buy a few pounds of sake even if they did not eat.

Song Shu held up the wine and said, "Let's start drinking. Don't be shy. I'd like to thank you all for your help recently. I'd like to toast you all."

Others raised their glasses and said, "This glass of wine is a thank you to Ah Shu."

"You're too polite, sister-in-law."

Everyone raised their glasses and clinked them.

Even the two underage children, Liang Shuyi and Jiahui, held up their glasses of juice and clinked glasses with everyone, creating a lively atmosphere at the table.

After putting down their cups, everyone relaxed and started eating while chatting.

Liang Shuyi raised her head to pick up a crab, and inadvertently looked up at the opposite side, only to see Hao Ge, who was usually cold and unenthusiastic towards everyone. At this time, he fed Jiahui a mouthful of rice with a spoon, and at the same time, he saw Sister Shu struggling to peel the crab in her hand, so he reached out and took the crab, cleaned it in a few seconds, and put it back in front of Sister Shu.

Then Liang Shuyi saw Sister Shu turned her head and said thank you to Brother Hao. She also saw Brother Hao said with a serious expression, "You're welcome." However, where Sister Shu couldn't see because she lowered her head, Brother Hao looked at Sister Shu and smiled. Liang Shuyi felt that smile was inexplicably gentle.

Liang Shuyi couldn't help but shook her head. She felt that she must be hallucinating. How could Brother Hao smile so gently and peel crabs for others?

But after taking one look at the peeled crab meat on Sister Shu's plate, and then looking down at the tough crab in his own bowl, he sighed.

Liang's wife beside her heard her sigh and turned to look at her strangely, "We are eating, why are you sighing?"

Liang Shuyi glanced at her mother and said solemnly, "Same person, different fate."

Liang's wife's face twitched when she heard this, and she said unhappily, "Just eat your meal. You have enough to eat, but you still have the time to think about so much."

Liang Shuyi poked the crab in the bowl angrily and said, "Okay."

＊

The dinner took more than two hours. In the end, the watermelon that Shitou and his friends brought was eaten by everyone. After the dinner, everyone enjoyed it very much.

Chen Zonghao sent them off one by one. When Shitou left, he didn't want to leave. He grabbed the stool and shouted, "I won't leave, second sister-in-law, let's continue drinking. We won't go home until we are drunk tonight."

Awen and Ahao, who were not so drunk, looked at Brother Hao who was looking at the stone dimly, and the drunk second sister-in-law who was sitting on the chair, and hurriedly left, each holding the stone.

Awen and Ahao felt that if they didn't leave now and stayed behind to drink with his second sister-in-law, Shitou might not see the sun tomorrow.

When Liang Sao left, she glanced at Song Shu, who was sitting on a chair with her head down and not moving, and said, "Is Shu drunk? I just saw her drink a few glasses of wine at the table. Do you need my help to help her back?"

Chen Zonghao glanced at the drunk woman who was sleeping soundly on the chair and smiled helplessly. She might be too happy tonight and accepted all the toasts from others. He didn't keep an eye on her and she got drunk.

Chen Zonghao pinched his forehead and said, "Don't bother you, Sister Liang, I can handle it."

Seeing him say this, Liang's wife no longer insisted, "Okay, then we'll go."

She was quite confident in Haozi. Seeing that he was tall and strong, she knew that taking care of Ah Shu would be a piece of cake, so she was not worried anymore.

Seeing that everyone had left, Chen Zonghao walked towards Song Shu. At this time, Jiahui was so sleepy that she leaned against her and fell asleep. The two of them slept soundly with their heads leaning against each other.

Chen Zonghao looked at her for a while before squatting in front of her and gently shaking Song Shu's shoulders, "Ah Shu, get up, we're going home."

Song Shu didn't sleep that soundly, but she was dizzy and unconscious. She opened her eyes dazedly and looked down at the person in front of her. She felt that she saw only an illusion. It took her a long time to recognize the person in front of her. She tilted her head and asked, "Chen Zonghao?"

Chen Zonghao looked at the woman in front of him with a flushed face. He didn't know if it was because of drinking or something else, but her eyes were moist and her voice was filled with the scent of intoxication from sake.

Chen Zonghao looked into her eyes, his throat throbbing, "It's me."

Song Shu did not answer him, but just stared at him blankly with her watery eyes.

Chen Zonghao met the woman's straight gaze, which seemed to be able to see into people's hearts, so he wanted to turn his head away.

Unexpectedly, Song Shu stretched out her hands and held his face with both hands to prevent him from moving. She lowered her head and looked at him closely, and the two of them were so close that their noses were almost touching.

Chen Zonghao was stunned by her sudden action and forgot to resist. His head was slightly tilted up by her and the hot breath she exhaled wrapped around him tightly, and he felt dizzy for a moment.

Song Shu was so drunk that she didn't care about his reaction. She held his face, looked at him closely, and muttered, "Chen Zonghao, these are eyes."

Song Shu put her hand on his eyes, and Chen Zonghao's eyelashes trembled.

"This is a nose." Her hand slid down to his nose, and Chen Zonghao's nose couldn't help but twitch.

"This is the mouth." Her hand did not stop, and moved all the way down to his mouth. Perhaps she felt that this place was softer than other places just now. Her hand rubbed on his lips a few times. Chen Zonghao held his breath all of a sudden, his body stiffened, and he felt that the hand on his mouth was like a time bomb, making him anxious and uneasy.

The soft little hand rested on Chen Zonghao's lips, and her vague voice came to his ears, "Yeah, he's a handsome guy."

She was so drunk that she didn't realize that after she said this, the man's ears in her hands suddenly turned red. If Shi Tou was there, he would definitely be amazed. He couldn't imagine that Brother Hao would be shy and blush one day.

After saying this, the hand was about to move down, but Chen Zonghao grabbed her hand, stopped her movement, tilted his head and exhaled.

Maybe his force was a little too strong, the person whose hand was grabbed pursed his lips, "It hurts."

Chen Zonghao stood up suddenly, let go of her hand, and after a while, he spoke in a hoarse voice: "Let's go home."

Song Shu rubbed her hands and said, "Oh, go home."

Seeing that she didn't move, Chen Zonghao wanted to say something, but the woman slapped her forehead and stood up suddenly, "Yes, go home, I want to go home."

Chen Zonghao quickly picked up Jiahui, who was sleeping next to her, and stood up to see the woman staggering out. He quickly followed her and grabbed her arm, "Slow down."

Fortunately, Song Shu did not resist. She let him hold her arm and followed him. "Oh."

Chen Zonghao held the child in one hand and held Song Shu with the other, leading her out.

As they walked out of the restaurant, an evening breeze blew, and Chen Zonghao saw the woman in the sleeveless dress shivering her shoulders. The hand that was holding her arm could feel the cool temperature of her body.

Chen Zonghao handed her his coat and said, "Put it on."

The woman may have felt cold, so she opened her hands and tried to put on his coat, but a drunk person's movements were not very agile, and she couldn't put it on properly.

Seeing that she was so anxious that her mouth was pouting, like an unhappy child who couldn't get any candy, Chen Zonghao helplessly spread out her coat with one hand and helped her put it on one by one.

After putting on the coat, the woman felt warm and became happy again. Her face was smiling, and her thin body was completely covered by his large coat.

Song Shu probably thought the wide jacket was interesting, so she put her hands in the sleeves and shook her sleeves.

Chen Zonghao saw that she was playing happily like a child with a new toy, so he reached out and pulled her over, "Let's go."

Song Shu followed him while playing with her sleeves. On the way, Chen Zonghao just loosened his hand for a moment, and she staggered to the side.

Seeing her drunken and annoying appearance, Chen Zonghao couldn't help but put his hands around her waist and half-fixed her in his arms.

The woman might be tired after walking for a while, and was dizzy from being drunk, so she leaned on him and walked with his support.

Along the way, the woman looked up and pointed at the neon lights and said, "Wow, Chen Zonghao, those lights look like rainbows."

Chen Zonghao looked in the direction of her finger and nodded, "Yeah."

After a while, he looked up and pointed at the stars in the sky, "The stars are so bright."

Chen Zonghao raised his head and replied to her in a low voice, "Yeah."

"Bus."

"Um."

…

The sounds of questions and answers disappeared in the evening breeze of Hong Kong as people walked away.

＊

In the morning, Song Shu woke up and stared at the ceiling. Her head felt like it was being pricked by needles. The memories of last night flashed through her mind.

Thinking about what she did last night when she was drunk, Song Shu couldn't help but turn over and bury her head in the pillow, "It's so embarrassing."

After wailing a few times to vent her shame, Song Shu looked down and saw that she was still wearing the same clothes as last night. She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least she wouldn't be even more embarrassed.

She got up after a while, took her clothes, took a breath, opened the door and walked out.

The living room was extremely quiet. Song Shu didn't hear Jiahui's voice. She thought the little girl must have gone to school. She also didn't hear Chen Zonghao's voice. She thought that he might not be there either. She was about to breathe a sigh of relief.

The man came out of the kitchen with a bowl in his hand. When he saw her, he just said, "Are you awake?"

Song Shu saw that he had no strange expression on his face. He did not mention what happened last night at all and kept a serious expression on his face. "Well, I'll go wash up."

After saying that, he walked towards the bathroom with steady steps, closed the bathroom door, looked in the mirror at the messy-haired girl with a hangover, and muttered, "Song Shu, Song Shu, you are really amazing, you are possessed by a ghost, you even dare to tease me."

Chen Zonghao sat on a chair, listening to the sound of water flowing in the bathroom. For the first time, he felt that the sound insulation of this room was really poor.

Song Shu came out after washing up. The man was still sitting on the chair next to the dining table. She paused, then walked over and sat opposite him naturally. She said, "Good morning."

Chen Zonghao raised his eyes and glanced at her, "Morning, this is breakfast."

Song Shu opened the breakfast that was pushed over to her and looked down at it. "Oh, thank you."

At this time, a bowl of something was pushed in front of her, and a man's voice was heard in her ears, "This is hangover soup."

Song Shu paused with her hand holding breakfast and took a look at the hangover soup. It was obviously cooked by him. She didn't expect that this person was so thoughtful to cook sobering soup for her. This was the second person who cooked sobering soup for her. The first person was her mother.

Song Shu felt something hit her heart. She reached out and took the bowl of hangover soup. It was still warm. The temperature warmed her heart. She rubbed the bowl in her hand and looked up at him, "Thank you."

The man acted as if it was just something he did casually, and stood up, "I'm going out first."

Song Shu asked for the first time and couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going?"

Chen Zonghao paused, looking at her in shock. This was the first time she asked him where he was going. He didn't ask her when he left before.

The two looked at each other in silence. Song Shu only saw the man raise his eyebrows and say, "Go to Kowloon Walled City to deliver goods."

Song Shu was confused after hearing this. What kind of person is this? Thinking of his identity, she became a little hesitant. It couldn't be...

The man knew what she was thinking by looking at her expression. She was very easy to understand. Her emotions were all expressed on her face. He said with a smile, "Don't worry, it's not illegal. These are some video cameras that I assembled myself."

Song Shu breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a little embarrassed and whispered, "I didn't say you did anything illegal."

When Song Shu heard him talking about assembling a VCR, she believed him. He studied electronic information engineering before dropping out of college, so it wasn't difficult for him to do this. Moreover, his business development in the novel was also in this area.

Chen Zonghao raised his eyebrows and looked at him, "Is there anything else you need to ask?"

Song Shu felt embarrassed when she heard his words. The two of them were just like a wife asking her husband about his schedule. She waved her hand quickly and said, "That's all."

Chen Zonghao looked at her for a while and said nothing more, "Okay, I'm leaving."

Song Shu nodded, "Okay."

After watching the man's back go away, Song Shu lowered her head and continued to eat her breakfast. She reached out to pick up the hangover soup and drank it in two or three sips. After finishing it, she curled the corners of her mouth.

＊

After breakfast, Song Shu opened the store. Soon, Rong Xiaohua came and walked into the store and looked at her, "Sister Shu, I'm here."

Song Shu nodded. "I'm here. I'll tell you what you need to do. I'll give you a key to the store. You'll just have to look after the store and take down orders from the factory... The monthly salary is HK$1,000 plus commission... Do you think that's okay?"

Rong Xiaohua nodded vigorously after hearing this, "Okay, that's great."

This salary is not low, much higher than her usual salary as a waitress in a hotel, and she also gets commission.

Song Shu smiled and nodded, "It's settled then, can we start working today?"

Rong Xiaohua looked at her gentle smile and couldn't help but pat her chest and promised, "Okay, Sister Shu, I will definitely do it well."

Thinking of what her father said that if she didn't do a good job, she could go back and kill pigs with him, Rong Xiaohua shuddered. It was impossible for her to kill pigs. She didn't want to go back and kill pigs. She would definitely do her best, even until retirement.

Song Shu looked at her solemn expression and was a little puzzled. "Okay, let's start work today."

＊

At the end of the day, Song Shu discovered the advantages of finding an employee. She no longer had to stay in the store all day. She could stay in her own room and immerse herself in design without being disturbed.

She sat at the table and sketched in a notebook. Her preliminary plan was basically completed. The clothing store was on the right track. She had invested in a clothing factory and had a stable and sufficient supply of goods. She had also submitted the design draft for the clothing design competition. Now she was just waiting to see if she would be selected.

I felt relieved all of a sudden. Apart from designing a few new clothes for the clothing store, I could decide on other clothing designs after the results of the design competition came out.

After all, her clothing store is now taking the low-end route. This is because she had to go low-end in the early stage in order to accumulate capital, but she does not intend to let her clothing brand always go the low-end route. The mid-to-high-end route is also her focus.

This mid-to-high-end route depends a lot on her fame in clothing design and the recognition she gets, such as participating in some clothing design competitions. This cannot be rushed and needs to be done step by step.

Song Shu was planning her future route, and her mind was becoming clearer and clearer.