Strong walls and clear fields
Since the fact that the restaurant had to move to a new address was already a foregone conclusion, the family members each had their own tasks and were busy with this matter.
The first thing the two adults had to do was to follow their daughter's instructions and sign a rental contract with the shop owner. Trusting their daughter, they both made adequate preparations, bringing money and necessary documents.
Jian Jianan happily handed the bargaining skills he had summarized to his mother. A piece of A4 paper with obvious folding marks was filled with notes written in pen. Jian Jianan racked his brains and wrote them using both pinyin and Chinese characters.
Who knew that Su Qinxuan took the paper and put it in his pocket, ignored Jian Jianan, and was about to go out with Jian Yangping.
Jian Jianan was horrified. Only then did she realize her parents weren't planning on taking her with them. "Mom, did you forget to bring your beloved daughter with you?"
Su Qinxuan said coldly: "I haven't forgotten. I won't take you out this time. You should reflect on why I didn't take you with you at home." I don't know why there are so many kidnappers nowadays. Not to mention those far away, there is Shan Jiqing who almost couldn't go home.
Jian Jianan almost collapsed when he saw his mother taking away the schedule he had worked so hard on. He was like a chipmunk that was forced to take food out of its mouth, with frustration all over his face.
But she also knew why her mother punished her like this.
Jian Jianan changed her strategy and looked at Jian Yangping for help. Jian Yangping looked at her daughter's dark and moist eyes and gave her a helpless look, indicating that there was nothing she could do and she had to listen to her mother.
As their eyes exchanged, Su Qinxuan seemed to notice a small movement behind him and turned back suspiciously. The two of them quickly stopped eye contact and looked at each other's hearts.
With a "bang", the door closed. Jian Jianan's heart was filled with grief and indignation. This was the lesson the adults taught her called "Don't trust anyone", and she learned it.
Jian Jiabei had just been worried about being scolded for not taking good care of his sister, and had not participated in family activities. Now he stood up and expressed his opinion: "Just stay at home peacefully. After this incident, mom and dad will definitely not let you go out to play alone again." Jian Jiabei's tone was full of schadenfreude.
Jian Jianan was so sad that he didn't say a word, and he didn't have the heart to argue with his brother. He could only look at the door eagerly, hoping that his parents would come back soon.
With his parents away, Jian Jiabei took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger sister. He simply made some shrimp dumplings and wonton noodles, and then sent Jian Jianan to take a nap.
For some reason, the adults took a long time to come back after going out. In Jian Jianan's imagination, renting a shop should be possible in less than a morning.
However, when it was almost dinner time, Su Qinxuan came back alone.
Her face was serious, without any joy on her face. Jian Jianan was afraid that his guess would come true, and when this thing didn't happen, he heard his mother speak.
Su Qinxuan announced their result: "We didn't rent that shop."
Then she changed the subject: "But we bought it!"
I didn’t rent it, I bought it!
Under the ups and downs, Jian Jianan's heart was stimulated and beat non-stop. After calming down, Jian Jianan began to think divergently.
The shop rent is eight yuan a month, so how much did it cost to buy it? But no matter how much it is, buying it means that this shop will belong to our family from now on!
When Jian Jianan heard the word "buy", she suddenly had a complicated feeling in her heart. If she bought it, it would mean that the shop belonged to their family, and they would no longer have to worry about being evicted by the landlord who wanted to raise the price or someone else who suddenly changed his mind!
Su Qinxuan knew what they were most concerned about, so he didn't keep them in suspense. "We spent two thousand eight hundred, and from now on, this shop is ours!"
Jian Jianan and her brother's faces were filled with joy. She gave her mother a thumbs-up and joked like the others, "As expected of Boss Su, he's so wealthy! So generous!"
Su Qinxuan smiled and replied, "Where did you learn that? Why are you teasing your parents like that? You, Boss Jian, are the truly generous and magnanimous one. The adults don't even know you traveled so far and visited so many places all by yourself. I should be teasing you!"
Jian Jianan knew that he was guilty, so why did his mother bring this up again? Isn’t it enough that she knew she was wrong?
Jian Jianan hurriedly changed the subject, "Mom, mom, please stop talking! Then we can move into the new store."
Su Qinxuan found it amusing: "Hey, are you still shy?" Then he responded seriously: "It's almost done. The contract over there has been signed today. We are just waiting for the decoration. Your father didn't come back with me because he wanted to find the decoration team. Do you remember the decoration team of our Nanbei Restaurant? We decided to use them for the new Nanbei Hotel as well!"
North-South Hotel?
It seems this is the name of the new store.
Jian Jianan seemed to be lost in thought. From the Nanbei Restaurant to the Nanbei Hotel, five words became four words. Although on the surface there was not much difference, their actual lives had undergone earth-shaking changes.
In the past, they were just a small vendor who traveled around and prepared food on a small cart, but now, they have a house and now they have their own restaurant. It’s really a magical experience!
Jian Jianan sighed with difficulty, saying that it was fate and time, and seizing the opportunities of the times was the best arrangement.
Jian Jianan looked up at her mother: "Mom, when are we going to move there?"
Su Qinxuan thought for a moment and said, "The earliest it will be is probably a week from now."
Their family is a group of people who take action. Since they went to see and sign the sales contract today, Jian Yangping is already looking for decoration. The decoration team will arrive as early as tomorrow. Su Qinxuan has seen the store and the layout is very good. They will not make any major changes, just some soft furnishings, which will not take long.
Jian Jianan nodded. She knew her parents' drive. A week would be more than enough for renovations and everything. Efficiency was paramount now. In her estimation, the new store could be opened as early as next week.
Jian Jianan was pinching her five fingers and calculating something. Su Qinxuan saw that her daughter was very cute, rubbed her hair, then smiled without saying anything, looking into the distance, as if looking through the wall that blocked her view, at the store where there were few people because it was not yet dinner time.
Although the Nanbei Restaurant is now cramped, and some of the decorations that were made to save money half a year ago are now falling off, it is their first store after all, and carries many memories.
From a practical point of view, if it weren't for the income from this store, she wouldn't be able to buy the store she wanted so lavishly today.
"Mom?" Jian Jianan noticed the nostalgic look on Su Qinxuan's face and called out to her, "Mom, don't be sad. Although we are moving away from the old store and to a new one, this is far from the end. On the contrary, this is a good beginning!"
As if worried that Su Qinxuan would be reminded of the past, Jian Jianan comforted her carefully.
Su Qinxuan burst into laughter and touched her daughter's little face. "Mom is not sad, Mom just has a lot of thoughts. Okay, enough talking. Time is running out, and there are still many things to do next. Mom has to go and announce this great news to Sister Xiaotao and Uncle Zhang."
People always get used to their previous lives, so it seems hard to accept a sudden change. Su Qinxuan has to come forward in person to tell his employees this kind of important news, and it's better to explain it bit by bit, otherwise it will be bad for the people below to have wild thoughts.
She looked at the two children: "Then you..."
Jian Jianan had already made plans and quickly said, "I'll write something big and stick it on the wall to announce the good news that we're moving to a new store!"
Su Qinxuan nodded. She was always at ease with her daughter, let alone her son. "What about you, Beibei..."
Who knew that before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Jian Jiabei: "I follow my sister! I will do whatever she does!"
Jian Jianan nodded and said, "Brother's handwriting is beautiful. I need your help!"
Su Qinxuan smiled. Almost a year had passed, and the two children had become much more sensible.
"Okay, let's settle it like this. If there are any mistakes, you can tell me. Anyway, no matter what, our family always has to sit down and have a good meal in the evening, right?" Su Qinxuan laughed heartily.
Jian Jianan looked at her mother worriedly. She had a feeling that in the next seven days, the family would be so busy that they wouldn't even be able to see each other.
The family of four has a clear division of labor and each has his or her own tasks, which they then do after deciding on them.
As Jian Jianan expected, in the following week, the four of them were so busy that the number of times they could sit down and eat together was pitifully few and could be counted on one hand.
It's not that they don't want to sit down and have a good meal with their family, there's really no other way. Time passes by minute by minute, and they have a lot of things to do, but time is limited. They can't afford to be kicked out in disgrace!
Fortunately, after seven days, most of the things were almost done. The construction team came in and the store decoration changed, which was very grand. The most important thing was done, and the family could finally sit down and have a good meal.
After eating until he was about 80% full, Su Qinxuan wiped his mouth and asked his daughter, "How is it, Nannan? Have the guests heard the news?"
Jian Jianan answered cheerfully, "Don't worry, Mom! My brother and I posted a notice outside the door with black text on a red background. Every word is written in big letters. We'll make sure everyone can see it!"
Jian Jiabei added: "We told Sister Xiaotao to let every employee bring up this news when chatting with customers, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Now many people know that we are moving to a new store!"
Jian Jianan bit his chopsticks and asked his mother, "Mom, how is our old store? From Cheng Ling's tone, she thinks our current decorations are her own property!"
Mom and Dad are not the kind of people who would not fight back when bullied. Jian Jianan is very curious about their next move.
"Hmph!" Jian Yangping only smiled faintly. "I've already contacted a painter to give it a fresh coat of paint. Your uncle Li next door has been eyeing our chairs for a long time. I plan to give him a few!"
Jian Jianan understood what his parents meant. They wanted to fortify the city and clear the countryside, and not leave a single shot for the enemy. This was exactly what I wanted!
Nanbei Restaurant continued to operate until the last day on the contract. On the night before the date agreed with Li Zheng, Jian Jianan sent the last customer out and closed the door with his parents.
Everything was ready, and they had only two days left to pack up.
Jian Yangping saw his wife and daughter looking back at him reluctantly, and thought that the scene might have brought back memories for them. He quickly comforted them, "Don't be sad. Although we won't be in this small restaurant anymore, we've moved to a bigger place and have better prospects. We should look forward to everything!"
By the end, Jian Yangping was almost moved by himself. He quickly sniffed and touched his red eyes.
Unexpectedly, Su Qinxuan glanced at him, and for no reason, she revealed a murderous aura like someone bargaining in the market: "No! Painting it once is still not safe. We have to tear down the wallpaper in advance. The wallpaper that my daughter and son carefully selected cannot fall into the hands of those people!"
Jian Jianan immediately followed up: "In addition to the furniture, the paintings must also be taken away. They were given to our family by Aunt Xu Jing. We can't let this thoughtful gift be tainted with bad luck!"
Jian Yangping: "..." Full of affection, but it was all misplaced after all! So you two, mother and daughter, were discussing these things!
***
Two days later, on Monday, Liang Kang and Cheng Ling came to Jian's Restaurant empty-handed to inspect the property. Before leaving, her sister asked her why she didn't buy some furniture to take with her.
Liang Kang waved his hand: "Hey! Why waste that money! We can just use the leftovers from the previous store!"
Unexpectedly, when the couple, full of pride and confidence, arrived at the Nanbei Restaurant, they happened to run into the four members of the Jian family sitting in a large truck about to leave.
Cheng Ling didn't bother to roll her eyes at them. She just felt that this place was very different from before. She looked inside the shop and found that it was empty.
The walls and the interior were bare. Not even a table or a chair, not even a piece of trash! It was no exaggeration to say the house was completely bare!
Cheng Ling became anxious as soon as she saw it. She yelled at the child, "What's going on? What's going on? Why did you take out all the things?"
Jian Jianan smiled and said, "That's right, Auntie. We are all doing things according to the contract. The contract says that we have to restore it to its original state. Isn't this the original state?"
Cheng Ling and Liang Kang were about to faint. This wasn't the right way to recover!
But Jian Jianan and his three companions didn't give them a chance to continue arguing. They got in the car and left.
The Jian family left, leaving Liang Kang and his group looking at each other in bewilderment at the empty store.
After a while, Liang Kang spoke up: "The decoration of their store is quite nice. Where did they buy these wallpapers?" The Jian family was vindictive and even repainted the walls white before leaving the store. The elegant and simple wallpapers were covered up. Liang Kang felt a little regretful and wanted to buy them back.
"I don't know." Cheng Ling answered unhappily.
"Where did you buy those matching tables and chairs? They're really nice, and I've never seen many of them before." Cheng Su stared at the direction the truck left, her face full of reluctance and nostalgia. If only the Jian family hadn't moved them away, and left them to them, they wouldn't have to waste money buying new ones.
"have no idea."
Who knows where the Jian family got all these fancy and messy things from? If this is the secret to their booming business, he will go back and learn it.
"The first thing we need to do now is..." Liang Kang strode forward and fiercely tore off the red paper notice. He had originally intended to tear it all off, leaving no gaps, but the notice had been glued tightly with too much glue, leaving a lot of it on the wall.
Liang Kang could only tear it off piece by piece, looking very embarrassed.
Not to mention how miserable Liang Kang and his group were, Jian Jianan was extremely happy. They hired a big truck and took away all the decorative furniture that Liang Kang and his group had dreamed of. However, they did not throw them away. Instead, they went straight to the scrap station near their home and sold them directly to the scrap collector.
Auntie looked at such a large cart of things and was very surprised: "Are all these for sale?"
Jian Jianan nodded: "Yes, sell them all!"
They had all planned it out. They would first let the store employees and the nearby store owners who had a good relationship with them take away some of the items. In the end, the items that no one wanted were all dragged to the scrap yard and sold. You know, in their Nanbei Restaurant, Su Qinxuan even had the walls painted white, just to not leave any benefits for Liang Kang and Cheng Ling in the future.
Jian Jianan still remembered that when Li Zheng came to inspect the store, his face turned pale. He asked in disbelief, "You...why is your store like this?"
Jian Jianan knew what he was thinking and deliberately asked, "What's wrong, Uncle Li? Our store is like this. Otherwise, what else do you think it looks like?"
Li Zheng became anxious: "Where are your murals and wallpapers? Aren't they already painted and look great? How come they are all gone?" How could this be possible? One of the main reasons why Cheng Ling was willing to rent this small restaurant was because of the interior decoration. Cheng Ling liked it very much and felt that there was no need to make major changes. Just a little bit would be enough to save time and effort.
But now, these warm and pleasing decorations are gone, not to mention the tables and chairs, even the warm walls have all turned blank. Li Zheng knew that this must be the idea of the Jian family!
They... they actually repainted the entire shop, and now it's all white and it's so clean!
Jian Jianan asked innocently, "What's wrong, Uncle Li? Is there something wrong? Didn't the contract we signed previously state that when the lease expires, the house should be returned clean and tidy, exactly the same as before?"
"My parents are both well-educated and contract-minded people." Jian Jianan emphasized the four words "contractual spirit" with a heavier accent. Li Zheng met Jian Jianan's gaze, and it was obvious that she was referring to something.
Li Zheng was suddenly at a loss for words. In fact, he felt very insecure. He knew that it was not very kind of him to ask the Jian family to move out. What others said was actually not wrong. So his arrogant attitude just now suddenly dropped.
He made a few more promises, "But...but we can't do this! Even if..."
"Even if it's nothing?" Jian Yangping heard his daughter and Li Zheng arguing and came out to see what was going on. "Let's take a step back and say, if we really want to abide by the contract, we don't even need to move out!"
He was tall and strong, and it was obvious that he was more than a head taller than Li Zheng when they stood together. When Li Zheng saw such a tall, mighty and not-to-be-triggered man, he felt his arrogance shrink before he even opened his mouth to refute.
Especially since Jian Yangping had such a ferocious expression on his face, Li Zheng was afraid that he would punch him if he got upset, so he had no choice but to bow his head and admit defeat: "Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, I think you have abided by the contract. Go away! I still have to wait for the new tenant to come and see us. If they are not satisfied, I guarantee that you will be in big trouble!"
After hearing this, Jian Jianan said lightly, "Even if the new tenant is not satisfied, there is nothing you can do. After all, we have already left!"
The family left, leaving the place where they had stayed for half a year and accumulated their first wealth.
Let’s not talk about Li Zheng’s bad luck, and let’s talk about the Jian family. In a short while, the four of them were already waiting in the new store.
Although Jian Jianan had been here many times, she was the first person in the family to come here, but after not seeing it for seven days, the place had changed so much that she couldn't even recognize it.
Jian Jianan still remembers that in her impression, the store was still gray and unremarkable, and the decoration inside was even uglier. It’s not that it was ugly, but it just made people not want to go in and take a look.
But now, everything looks brand new and eye-catching.
The new North-South Hotel is located at the intersection of two streets, occupying the entire corner of the intersection, with an excellent geographical location.
With the skillful hands of the decoration team and the meticulous design of Jian Yangping, the exterior wall of the store was painted white and a huge sign was hung with the four big characters "Nanbei Restaurant" inscribed on it, which looked quite like a calligrapher's style.
Jian Jianan also saw that some places were covered with white cloth intentionally, as they didn't want others to see their true appearance.
Su Qinxuan lowered her head and explained to her, "This is our new menu. Dad is still hiring someone to draw it. When the time comes, we'll hang it up. It's very conspicuous, and everyone can see our signature dishes from afar. This is also a way to attract customers."
Jian Jianan nodded in agreement, saying that this was indeed the case.
The family entered the restaurant again and saw that the space inside was about 500 to 800 square meters. Part of it was used as a kitchen, and the rest was furnished with a round dining table and matching chairs, all in a square shape.
Jian Yangping's aesthetic taste is really good. He selected many small soft furnishings for the interior that are suitable for the restaurant's positioning, such as coconut trees, coconuts, and tropical fish, which are very Hainan-style. People can know at a glance what the restaurant's positioning is and what specific dishes it sells.
In addition, there are small ornaments from Guangdong on the walls. After all, Shenzhen is located in Guangdong and has the largest population of locals.
Jian Jianan walked across each tile one by one as if she were a king inspecting her territory. She looked at the smooth floor and the brand new tables and chairs in disbelief, muttering to herself, "Is this... ours?"
Su Qinxuan laughed and said, "That's right! This is ours!"
Jian Jiabei was also very touched. "I still remember the night we first came to Shenzhen. We were just pushing a cart around and making a little money. In less than a year, we've grown so big!"
Su Qinxuan and Jian Yangping stood behind the two children and looked at each other. "Yeah, who could have imagined that?"
But unlike the fear and anxiety he felt at that time, Su Qinxuan is now full of ambition, and his heart and eyes are filled with the ambition to do something big.
She stepped forward and said, "Okay, we've seen it all. Next, we need to discuss the first day of opening. It's getting late, and we have to get the restaurant up and running before Liang Kang and the others do!"
Jian Jianan nodded heavily: "Yes!"
She patted her shoulder to show her loyalty: "Don't worry, Mom! I will definitely give you some good advice!"
Jian Jiabei immediately followed up: "Don't worry, Mom and Dad! I will definitely... I'll do whatever you say!"
"Hahaha!" This was the sound of the couple laughing together.
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