Li Hehua took a deep breath, closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, and said, "Zhang Tieshan, I won't marry you because I already have someone I like."
This sentence made Zhang Tieshan's heart sink rapidly, his face darkened, and his fists clenched tightly under his sleeves. He looked at Li Hehua for a long time before trying to speak calmly, "You... do you really have someone you like?"
Li Hehua didn't dare to look into his dark eyes. She looked at her hands and said naturally, "Yes, I already have someone I like, so I can't accept you. Don't come here again."
After he finished speaking, the person on the other side was silent for a long while.
Li Hehua couldn't help but look up and saw Zhang Tieshan staring at her with his lips pursed, as if he was examining something.
Li Hehua quickly looked away and said, "You go back. I have to get busy."
Zhang Tieshan did not move. He looked at Li Hehua and said, "I don't believe what you said. You don't have anyone else you like." For so many days, she had been doing business and taking care of Shulin. She had not had much contact with other men. So, he didn't believe what she said was true. Maybe she was just looking for this excuse to reject him.
Seeing that Zhang Tieshan didn't believe him, Li Hehua frowned secretly and emphasized: "I really have someone I like, why would I lie to you?"
Zhang Tieshan pressed on, "Who do you like? If you don't tell me, I'll think you're lying to me on purpose."
Li Hehua was a little anxious. Why was this man so difficult to deal with? Wouldn't most people leave when faced with such a situation? Why did he keep asking questions? The key point was that she had indeed lied to him. How could she know who the man she liked was? How could she tell him?
Li Hehua had no choice but to say, "Zhang Tieshan, who I like is my own business, why should I tell you?"
Zhang Tieshan pursed his lips and insisted, "But I don't believe it unless you say it out loud."
Li Hehua: “!!!”
Judging from Zhang Tieshan's expression, if she didn't tell him who it was today, he would definitely not believe her, and today's conversation would be a waste of effort. It seemed that in order to make him believe and give up, she had to tell him a name.
But who should she mention? The men she met here were basically customers who came to eat at the stall. She couldn't just say the name of a customer, right? This was not reliable at all. After all, she didn't have much contact with the customers, and Zhang Tieshan could tell at a glance. If she wanted to name a person she liked, she had to be reliable, someone she had frequent contact with, and someone Zhang Tieshan wouldn't suspect.
Where can I find this?
Li Hehua quickly thought about all the people he knew in his mind, and found that there was only one person he could deceive: Master Gu.
Because of Shulin, she often came into contact with Master Gu. The two of them were very familiar with each other. Moreover, Master Gu was outstanding enough and was indeed the type that people would like. If she said that she liked Master Gu, Zhang Tieshan would definitely not be able to question it.
But this doesn't seem good. It feels quite blasphemous to Master Gu. He is her son's teacher. It's not good to use him as a shield now, right? If Master Gu accidentally hears about this, it will be embarrassing.
So should we use Master Gu to deceive Zhang Tieshan?
Li Hehua struggled with her conscience for a while, and finally decided to use Master Gu as a shield. She would tell Zhang Tieshan about it. According to Zhang Tieshan's personality, he would not tell anyone else, and Master Gu would not hear about it. If Master Gu did find out, she would explain and apologize.
After thinking about it, Li Hehua looked directly at Zhang Tieshan and said, "Okay, since you don't believe it, I'll tell you. I hope you don't tell anyone else. You also know the person I like, it's Master Gu."
After saying the beginning, the rest of the story was easy to write. Li Hehua pretended to be sweet and shy and said, "I have liked Mr. Gu since I first came to town. At that time, he often came to my place to buy food. He was a very nice person."
After saying this, Li Hehua showed a slightly embarrassed expression, "But I know that Master Gu is too good, not worthy of me, so I have always kept my love in my heart. However, although Master Gu and I are unlikely to be together, I will silently like him in my heart and will not marry anyone else, so this is why I rejected you. Now that you know, don't come here in the future. You are a good man, find a woman who loves you and live a good life."
Li Hehua almost believed what she said. She completely expressed the sweetness and distress of a secret admirer. She almost won an Oscar. Zhang Tieshan would definitely not disbelieve it now.
Zhang Tieshan really believed it, so his heart sank to the ground. At the same time, it felt like a needle was pricking him again and again, causing pain that could not be stopped. It felt like his throat was blocked by something and he could not utter a word.
If Li Hehua had mentioned anyone else, Zhang Tieshan might not have believed it, but when it came to Master Gu, Zhang Tieshan had nothing to say, so his heart sank and his face quickly darkened.
She really had someone she liked. He thought she was lying to him, but it turned out not to be the case. She fell in love with the teacher in the library. That teacher, Gu, was a model teacher, gentle and kind, and had a very wealthy family. He was indeed very likable, and was countless times better than him, a farmer. If women were given a choice, probably all of them would choose Gu.
I really didn't expect it to be Mr. Gu...
Li Hehua knew that Zhang Tieshan had believed what she said about Master Gu being useful, but seeing the expression on his face, she felt uncomfortable and inexplicably upset. However, what she did was right. Wouldn't it be better for everyone if she could get him to give up sooner?
"Zhang Tieshan, go back now. Don't come here anymore. When Shulin is on vacation, you can come and pick him up. If...if you don't want to leave Shulin with me anymore, you...just tell me..." Li Hehua couldn't continue. She rubbed her eyes and turned to go into the house. She should go first.
But when she turned to leave, Zhang Tieshan spoke with a hoarse voice, "Since... since you haven't thought about being with him, can you consider someone else?" Such as him?
Li Hehua paused, shook his head with all his might, and then quickly walked into the house, leaving Zhang Tieshan, with a gloomy face, standing alone in the yard for a long time before turning around and leaving.
Li Hehua looked at his back as he left and took a deep breath.
There will probably be no more disputes in the future, which is good. Emotional matters are really not suitable for her, she should work hard to make money, at least to make sure that others dare not bully her, even if she is just a single weak woman, others dare not bully her.
.................................
The next day, Zhang Tieshan did not show up again. Li Hehua smiled, put everything behind her, and concentrated on running her stall.
Judging from what happened yesterday, setting up stalls is really not a long-term solution. The two families didn't cause trouble yesterday because Zhang Tieshan was there, but they must have become even more disgusted with her, because her business is so good. This will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the people setting up stalls around her, and this is not something she can solve.
Without Zhang Tieshan's protection, who knows if they will secretly cause trouble again, and conflicts will inevitably occur. Moreover, there are still too few tables now, and many customers complain that there are no seats. It is impossible for her to add more tables unless she can find a bigger and better place to set up the stall. But even if she can move to another place, there is no guarantee that the new place will not have the problem of jealousy and trouble from neighboring stall owners. Therefore, there are too many problems in setting up a stall.
Li Hehua felt that the best way was to open a shop.
Her ultimate goal was indeed to open a shop, but a store is not so easy to find. Even if you find one, you need money to buy it or rent it. She didn't have much savings before, so she thought about setting up the stall for a while, and it didn't matter if she opened the store later, so this matter was never put on the agenda.
But now, the conflicts with the surrounding stalls are irreconcilable, and the scale of the stalls can no longer meet the existing customer flow, so it is indeed necessary to put opening a store on the agenda.
If you want to open a store, the first thing you need to do is to find out if there is a suitable store. Finding a store is the most important thing.
After closing his stall, Li Hehua went to the town to look for a store, looking at every store along the main street, not missing a single one. Unfortunately, by the time it got dark, he still hadn't found a single vacant store for rent. Li Hehua had no choice but to look for another store on another main street after closing his stall the next day.
After searching for several days, I didn't find any suitable shops. Some of the empty shops were not rented out at all, or some had already been reserved in advance. In short, no one was willing to talk.
Li Hehua was very frustrated. It was really not easy to find a suitable shop in this town. She kept running around, but not only was there no result, it also delayed her business. These days, she had to prepare ingredients until late at night every night, and she could hardly get up in the morning.
Li Hehua felt that this was not going to work and she had to think of a new way. Later, she thought that many of her regular customers who came to her stall to eat were from well-off families, many of whom were in business, and some of whose relatives were in business, so maybe they had relevant information.
You can ask the guests who come to eat at her restaurant.
At night, Li Hehua took out a large white paper that Shulin used for drawing, and wrote on it with a brush a message asking for a shop for rent, and stated that anyone who successfully introduced a shop would be handsomely rewarded.
After writing, Li Hehua fixed the paper in the most conspicuous place in the shop the next day, so that all customers who came to eat could see it. Some customers were illiterate, so Li Hehua told them the content verbally over and over again, and asked familiar old customers to pay attention to it.
The customers were all very easy to talk to and said they would tell her if they saw a suitable shop.
Li Hehua prayed secretly, hoping that her guests would bring her good news.
She needs to take advantage of this period of time to make more money, as she will need money to renovate the shop and expand its scale.
However, there was no news for several days, and Li Hehua was extremely disappointed.
On this day, when the stall was about to close, the old man who often came to eat came again.
Li Hehua quickly put down what he was holding and said, "Grandpa, you're quite late today. If you were any later, I would have closed the stall. Grandpa, what would you like to eat today? I'll make it for you."
The old man found a seat and sat down, saying, "Give me some noodles."
Li Hehua agreed, and quickly made a bowl of noodles with his nimble hands and feet, and personally brought it to the old man, "Grandpa, your noodles are ready, enjoy them slowly, and call me if you need anything."
Li Hehua was about to continue packing up when the old man stopped him.
The old man asked Li Hehua, "Are you looking for a shop to open?"
Li Hehua was moved and stopped packing up. Instead, he sat down next to the old man and said, "Yes, to be honest, my current stall is too small. I don't have room to put more tables and chairs if I want to expand it, so I thought about opening a store. Then I can receive more customers and serve more dishes." Li Hehua sighed and said, "But I can't find a suitable store in this town. Old man, if you have a suitable one, please keep an eye out for it. I will thank you very much then."
The old man stroked his beard and said with a smile, "I am here to give you a message. I have a good shop here. Do you want it?"
Li Hehua's eyes lit up and he said hurriedly, "Old man, please tell me quickly. I'm in a hurry now."
Seeing how anxious Li Hehua was, the old man didn't beat around the bush and said, "My cousin's family originally opened a small restaurant in town. It wasn't big, but the location was good. However, he couldn't hire a good chef, and the dishes he made weren't tasty. He didn't care, so the business wasn't doing well. He couldn't sustain it for two years, and now he plans to go to the city to join his brother and start a new business, so he plans to sell the current restaurant to save money for his business. I remembered that you wanted a shop, so I came to ask if you wanted one."
Li Hehua's initially enthusiastic heart had cooled down.
To be honest, when she heard that it was a small restaurant, Li Hehua was very tempted. It would be much easier for her to expand her business if she had a restaurant. However, no matter how tempted she was, the reality did not allow it. The money she had was only enough to rent a shop, which was far from enough to buy a store, let alone a restaurant. Even if it was a small restaurant, she could not afford it.
Li Hehua was extremely helpless. "Grandpa, thank you for providing me with this information, but to be honest with you, the money I have is only enough to rent, not to buy. Does your relative really only sell and not rent?"
The old man frowned slightly and shook his head, saying, "He only sells, not rents. He wants to save money now, so renting is not an option."
Li Hehua was completely disappointed. "No, I really can't afford it."
Seeing Li Hehua's disappointed look, the old man also became disappointed. In fact, he really wanted Li Hehua to open a restaurant on her own. By then, the environment would be better and paired with delicious food, it would be a great enjoyment. The current stall was really not worthy of her good skills.
The old man said, "We are all acquaintances. I won't lie to you. If you can buy it, you'd better not miss it. My cousin's restaurant is really good. It has two floors and a backyard. It has everything. The location is especially good. It is right on the main street. There will be no shortage of customers. If my nephew couldn't hire a good chef and didn't know how to manage the business, it would not have failed."
The old man continued, "And this price is really good. This restaurant is not very big, not as big as other restaurants. Plus, my cousin is in a hurry to sell it, so this price is really cheap. The whole restaurant only costs two hundred and forty taels."
Two hundred and forty taels! This price is indeed not expensive, but for her, it is out of reach. Now she can't even take out a hundred taels, let alone two hundred and forty taels.
To be honest, after hearing the old man's introduction to the restaurant, Li Hehua really liked it. If possible, she would really like to buy it. After all, two hundred and forty taels of silver for a small restaurant was really a good deal. If she missed this opportunity, she would miss it. It would probably be impossible to buy such a good restaurant in the future.
Moreover, deep down in her heart, Li Hehua actually wanted to buy a shop of her own rather than rent one, but because she did not have enough money, she had to rent a shop.
Now, the old man brought her such an attractive shop, but she was going to miss it because she had no money.
She wanted to cry, but when she counted the money she had, it was far from enough and she couldn't earn enough money in a short time. There was no one around her who could borrow so much money, so it was futile to think about it.
Li Hehua sighed deeply and said weakly, "Grandpa, I really want to buy it, but I really don't have any money, so I can only regret it."
The old man also felt very sorry. He believed that if Li Hehua took over the business, the business would be very good. If he was still in charge of his family's business, he would definitely lend some money to this girl. Unfortunately, his son and daughter-in-law were in charge of the family's business now. They were stockpiling goods recently and needed money. Such a large sum of money would definitely not be willing to be taken out by his son and daughter-in-law, so he couldn't help this girl. He could only say, "Then think about it again. If it really doesn't work, there's no way to force it. It just means that you and this restaurant are not destined to be together."
Li Hehua curled the corners of his mouth.
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