Just as Yuan Jue said this, Yuan Tiantian happened to come out to pour herself a glass of water. Instantly, she rolled her eyes inwardly. This old man sure has a lot of little tricks up his sleeve!
His student was also shocked by Yuan Jue's somewhat cheeky words. Then, looking at him helplessly, he said earnestly, "Master, if you don't control yourself, I'll tell Mistress when we get back. Be careful or she won't let you go out for meals in the future."
Hearing this, Yuan Jue immediately glared at his student, but he also behaved himself. He removed half of the rice from the heaped-up fried rice in his bowl.
"Is this okay?"
After saying that, he mumbled discontentedly like a naughty old child, which made his student laugh and cry. Finally, after both tables had finished their meals, Yuan Jue and his group packed up the spicy stir-fry, stir-fried eel with leeks, and whitebait and eel soup.
"The whitebait and eel soup is so soft and delicious. Your mistress loves this dish. I have to bring some back for her," Yuan Jue said.
After Yuan Jue and his group left, several more groups from passing motorcades came in. However, their orders were relatively simple: white rice and stir-fried eel with leeks. Everyone was satisfied with their meals. Two of them were regular customers. After finishing their meals, they even joked merrily with Sheng Jing and the others.
"After dining at Tiantian's Food Store, I find every other meal tasteless. Every time I wish I could be on this route. You have no idea that now our company has to draw lots just to compete for this route!"
The speaker was a burly middle-aged man with a dark complexion. Hearing this, Bai Ying and Sheng Jing smiled politely, while Bai Jingyang nodded in agreement.
"You're right. Such a delicious food store. If I'm on this route, I definitely have to stop by and satisfy my taste buds. If it were me, I'd also compete for this route!"
The burly middle-aged man burst into laughter and started chatting with Bai Jingyang. Learning that Bai Jingyang had come here specifically for the food, he then gave Bai Jingyang a very constructive suggestion.
"Hey, since you're here, why not stay for a few more days? The food store offers different dishes every day. You should try them all!"
Right! Why not stay for a few more days? He had nothing to do back home anyway!
"Brother, your words have really woken me up from my dream!"
Bai Jingyang immediately made up his mind to stay for a few more days. Thinking of this, he cancelled his afternoon flight back and then planned to book a hotel in the city. But then he thought it would be too troublesome to go back and forth.
"Do you provide homestays here?"
Bai Jingyang was thinking that maybe he could just stay in the store, which would be convenient for him to come for meals every day. Regarding the homestay, Bai Ying and Sheng Jing didn't know, so they called Yuan Tiantian out. Seeing Bai Jingyang's expectant look, Yuan Tiantian felt a bit helpless. Was he addicted to the food?
"There's no homestay here. We only serve lunch and dinner."
After saying that, Yuan Tiantian ignored Bai Jingyang's disappointed look and went back to the kitchen directly. Just then, another group of long-distance truck drivers came in. As soon as their orders were taken, she got really busy. This busy period lasted until 1:30 p.m. There were quite a few diners coming in one after another at noon today, but most of them were from long-distance motorcades. So, there wasn't much income.
Apart from the two servings of spicy stir-fry ordered by Yuan Jue and one by Bai Jingyang, only two more servings were sold later, and they were shared by several people. There was still a lot of flower crab ingredients left. Yuan Tiantian kept half of them in the fresh-keeping compartment and put the rest in the freezer. She was also worried that not many people would order them in the evening.
After Yuan Tiantian finished her work and came out, she saw that Bai Jingyang was still there, looking at her pitifully. Yuan Tiantian instantly felt a headache.
"Really, there's no homestay. Why don't you go to the town or the city to see if there are any hotels?"
Just as Yuan Tiantian finished speaking and before Bai Jingyang could reply, a loud female voice came from outside. It was Aunt Qianhua.
"Who's going to stay in a hotel? Why stay in a hotel? Stay at my place!"
Aunt Qianhua thought that Yuan Tiantian had some friends coming who needed to stay in a hotel, so she made this suggestion. Yuan Tiantian was just about to decline when Bai Jingyang's eyes lit up. Right! Since he couldn't stay at Tiantian's Food Store, why not see if there were any places to stay in the nearby village? Anyway, he was willing to pay.
Bai Jingyang immediately pestered Aunt Qianhua. At first, she was a bit hesitant, but later, unable to resist his coaxing, she finally nodded in agreement.
"However, the village is not as good as the city. Don't look down on it."
Aunt Qianhua gave Bai Jingyang a heads-up in advance, warning him not to complain about everything when he got there, or she wouldn't give him a good look. Of course, Bai Jingyang wasn't that kind of person without any manners. He immediately patted his chest and promised.
"Don't worry, Auntie. I'm a well-mannered person!"
Aunt Qianhua immediately smiled, and the deal was made. It would cost 100 yuan per night, and breakfast would be provided. Bai Jingyang was happy that he could stay near Tiantian's Food Store and come to taste the food every day. He immediately sat down and sent a message in his WeChat group, while Aunt Qianhua walked over to Yuan Tiantian a bit sheepishly.
Yuan Tiantian noticed that Aunt Qianhua seemed to have something to say. She put down her chopsticks and asked.
"I heard from the villagers that you've rented out Liu Xiaoqing's shop?"
Yuan Tiantian nodded. She seemed to have guessed what Aunt Qianhua was going to say. Then she said with a smile, "Actually, even if you hadn't come to me today, I was going to look for you. Are you still going to run your shop? If not, would you rent it to me?"
Hearing this, Aunt Qianhua was overjoyed. It turned out that Yuan Tiantian also had the intention of buying her shop. Then she immediately said, "I'll sell my shop. I've thought about it. I'll sell the shop and then help you and Uncle Li manage the contracted back mountain. I can earn some money every month and it'll be worry-free!"
Yuan Tiantian wasn't surprised. Finally, she negotiated a price with Aunt Qianhua, which was 300 yuan higher than what she had paid for Liu Xiaoqing's shop. Hearing this, Aunt Qianhua immediately waved her hand and shook her head.
"This won't do. The price you're offering is too high. You'll lose money!"
Aunt Qianhua's family was really different from Liu Xiaoqing's. They didn't take advantage of others. However, Yuan Tiantian explained it to her. The general idea was that the housing prices were rising currently. Although the price here hadn't reached the offered level yet, it would only be a matter of one or two years. Of course, Yuan Tiantian didn't say it explicitly because of her special food store and the high-quality vegetables that would be grown on the back mountain in the future. She guessed that this place would really become popular, and the housing prices would surely rise. She couldn't say these things directly, so she could only talk about the general trend of housing prices.
"Just this price. Aunt Qianhua, don't think it's too little. In the future, I'll have to trouble you and Uncle Li to take good care of the back mountain."
Seeing that Aunt Qianhua was still a bit hesitant, Yuan Tiantian quickly persuaded her. Finally, seeing Yuan Tiantian's insistence, Aunt Qianhua agreed. However, she thought to herself that she must take good care of the back mountain for Yuan Tiantian to repay her for her kindness.
Sometimes, the relationship between people is just that simple. If you're good to me, I'll surely repay you.
At the end of the day, Yuan Tiantian was doing the accounts when suddenly she heard a faint sobbing sound coming from outside the balcony.
"A new visitor from a different plane has arrived. Please go and receive the host."
Yuan Tiantian walked to the balcony. Bai Ying and Sheng Jing also heard the sobbing sound and came out to check. A half-human-sized mermaid was lying on the balcony floor, sobbing softly. Her fair little face was covered with tears. She looked so pitiful.
"Wu-wu, Xiaojiu wants Mommy..."