After shopping, they came out of the mall. The sun was already high in the sky. Cheng Bodong glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost 11:30. He then said, "Don't go back for lunch. Let's find somewhere to eat."
He asked, "Honey, what would you like to eat? I'll take you there."
"Let's eat at Quanjude. Quanjude is very famous. We haven't eaten there since we came to Beijing. It's not far from here, just a few minutes' drive away," Fang Qiao said after thinking for a moment.
“Okay.” Cheng Baidong nodded without hesitation.
Quanjude is a century-old brand. Although the prices are not cheap, it is still packed with people. In addition, it is lunchtime, and Fang Qiao and his group had to wait in line for a long time before they could get a seat.
Fang Qiao's family wasn't wealthy, but thanks to his father, who was a cook at a state-run restaurant, they had visited twice before.
When you come to Quanjude, you naturally have to try their signature duck.
Fang Qiao ordered a duck and several plates of braised and cold dishes. The duck bones were removed to make duck bone soup. Finally, they each ordered a bottle of soda.
The sliced duck was served quickly. Fang Qiao was holding An An and it was inconvenient for her to roll up the meat, so Cheng Bodong took the lead and rolled a piece of duck meat in a thin pancake for Fang Qiao, handed it to her, and asked, "After dinner, shall we go home, or play some more?"
In the past, Fang Qiao would have definitely said she wanted to go for a stroll around the capital, but today she was inexplicably feeling lazy and lost her energy after walking around for a while.
She guessed it might be because she was newly pregnant, so she said, "It's okay to go for a walk, but I'm a little tired. You guys go ahead and do your shopping, I'll wait for you in the car."
Xiao Jing shook her head upon hearing this: "Then forget it, let's just go home. Sister-in-law, my brother is a quiet type, it's not very interesting if it's just the three of us shopping if you don't come."
While eating roast duck, Tian Tian said, "If Auntie isn't going, then Tian Tian isn't going either."
Fang Qiao nodded: "Okay, then let's do it next time. Let's go out and play again next time."
After the meal, Cheng Baidong went to pay the bill first, then came back and held An'an in his arms. The group walked out against the flow of customers, one after the other.
Fang Qiao had just come out of Quanjude and hadn't even left yet when he ran into his underling, Fang Lu.
Fang Lu was also there to eat at Quanjude. He was accompanied by a woman with two braids. The two were sitting side by side, chatting and laughing, and looked very close.
Upon seeing Fang Qiao, Fang Lu panicked for a moment and almost instinctively distanced himself from the woman beside him.
"Second sister, you, you've come to eat." At the same time, she greeted Cheng Baidong, "Brother-in-law, you, you're here too."
Cheng Baidong nodded slightly.
His guilty conscience made Fang Qiao squint.
The woman next to Fang Lu looked unfamiliar; she wasn't the wife he married in his past life. But that was normal. In his past life, Fang Lu was a playboy who went on over a dozen blind dates and dated several girls for a while. In the end, he didn't settle down and get married until he was almost thirty. It was quite a rare thing that he didn't have any major mishaps in between.
Later, as social attitudes improved, he became arrogant after making a small fortune. He looked down on everyone and even kept a mistress, which led to him having an illegitimate child.
Fang Qiao looked down on his character, and he looked down on Fang Qiao's poverty. Although they were siblings, they ended up not getting along well as they reached middle age.
“Yes, I haven’t eaten at Quanjude since I returned to Beijing. Your brother-in-law has the May Day holiday, so let’s have a meal here.” Fang Qiao smiled and politely replied, then asked him, “What about you? Are you bringing a lady to eat?”
As he spoke, Fang Qiao's gaze fell on the female comrade behind him, and he smiled and nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
The woman nodded, her pretty face blushing.
Fang Lu nodded reluctantly, "Yes, yes, come and eat."
Quanjude is not cheap; a single meal there can cost Fang Lu a month's salary. As far as Fang Qiao knows, Fang Lu's salary is all handed over to her mother, Yang Fengxia, for safekeeping, and she only keeps one or two yuan for pocket money at most.
A simple meal at Quanjude costs five or six yuan. Where does he get the money to eat at Quanjude?
Because there was a woman standing next to Fang Lu, Fang Qiao gave him face and didn't expose him. She nodded and said, "Okay, you guys go eat, we'll go back now."
"Okay, goodbye, Second Sister."
After parting ways with Fang Lu, Fang Qiao and Cheng Baidong walked towards the parking lot.
Cheng Baidong asked, "What did you talk about with your younger brother?"
Fang Qiao casually replied, "It's nothing, just a few polite words."
In the short time it took to say those two sentences, Fang Lu caught up again, calling out, "Sister, sister, wait for me."
Fang Qiao stopped and turned around, asking succinctly, "Is there anything else?"
"There's something I need to talk about." He glanced at Cheng Baidong somewhat awkwardly. "Can we talk alone?"
“Okay.” Fang Qiao nodded, then turned to Cheng Baidong and said, “You take them back to the car first, I’ll be there in a bit.”
Cheng Baidong hummed in agreement, picked up An'an, and led Xiao Jing and Tian Tian into the jeep parked not far ahead.
Fang Lu stared in disbelief: "Sis, what kind of job does my brother-in-law do? He even has a car to drive!"
"I borrowed it from the factory," Fang Qiao said, making up an excuse. "I'm pregnant again and can't walk around too much, so my brother-in-law felt sorry for me and specially asked the manager to lend it to me."
"oh oh."
Fang Lu was a loader. The factory also had large and small trucks. Sometimes, the factory drivers would take advantage of their positions to drive the factory's vehicles home, so Fang Lu didn't think much of it.
Fang Lu didn't ask any more questions or inquire about Fang Qiao's health. Instead, he rubbed his hands together and asked with a somewhat fawning smile, "Second Sister, do you have any money on hand right now? Could you lend me five yuan? I'm going out to eat and I didn't bring enough money with me."
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