The Game of Life

Chapter 565: Chapter 563: Verbal Sparring

On the other side, Zheng Siyuan was following the travel guide Ling Guangzhao had given him, happily taking his father and master around Beiping City.

Zheng Siyuan thought that the travel guide from Ling Guangzhao was obtained from a friend, but in reality, Ling Guangzhao had bought it from a travel agency. When the travel agency received the order a few days ago, they found it odd. They had taken many orders for high-priced custom private tours, but this was the first time they had taken an order for a high-priced private travel guide.

One could only say, having money really lets you do as you please.

Out of the three who were out and about, Zheng Siyuan was the one who enjoyed himself the most.

“Dad, hurry up! Don’t dawdle. The guide says that the fourth batch of pastries from the Court pastry shop comes out exactly at 3 PM, we’ll miss it if we’re late, hurry!” Zheng Siyuan urged his dad, who reeked of money and was trying to stop by the roadside to buy a 5-yuan tanghulu.

“What’s the rush? I’m still scanning the code.” Zheng Da, urged by Zheng Siyuan, didn’t bother choosing and just grabbed a tanghulu, scanning the code to pay.

The tanghulu, with a thin layer of crystallized sugar coating the hollow hawthorns, was nibbled by Zheng Da as he walked, completely oblivious to the few drops of sugar that had already stained his new Valentino coat.

“Siyuan, you’ve been in Beiping for almost half a year now, have you started dating anyone?” Zheng Da’s biggest concern was Zheng Siyuan’s love life.

Zheng Da had only two children, a son, and a daughter. Zheng Siyuan’s sister had entered the wedding hall early and now had a daughter in middle school, while Zheng Siyuan, over thirty, remained a happily single bachelor, making Zheng Da so worried he could hardly muster enthusiasm for earning money.

That’s why Zheng Da fully supported Zheng Siyuan closing his confectionary shop in Gusu to come work in Beiping. He figured that if his son had not met anyone after so many years in Gusu, he probably never would. Moving to a new place, maybe a girl with no foresight would take a fancy to his son.

“Not yet, Dad, don’t worry about it. I’m busy with work now, when do I have time for dating?” Zheng Siyuan said, his eyes fixed on the navigation on his phone, “Turn left past this intersection.”

“How can I not worry? How old are you and still busy with work? Is this the time for work? Who have I been working so hard for all these years? Doesn’t Eight-treasure House, a pretty big restaurant, have any single female coworkers suitable for you? Even if there aren’t any female chefs in the kitchen, there should be plenty of suitable girls in the lobby. I’ve heard that the high-end restaurants in Beiping have strict requirements for hiring waitstaff now, they have to be both good-looking and well-educated. How great is that? Try dating one,” Zheng Da tried to persuade Zheng Siyuan to put aside work and focus on finding a relationship.

Zheng Siyuan chose to concentrate on the map ignoring his dad.

“Alright, stop trying to persuade him. Siyuan will date when he feels like it. You’re thinking it’s still like our time, when you’d introduce someone, meet a few times, have a couple of meals, and if it felt right, get married. Young people nowadays have their own big ideas,” Master Huang chimed in from the sidelines, hands in his pockets enjoying the spectacle, “Besides, we know your flaws all too well, you miser. All you love is making money. I bet when you look at the financial statements at the end of each month, your eyes light up. Don’t try to pin everything on Siyuan.”

“Siyuan, don’t listen to your dad. Date whenever you want, your master’s got your back. By the way, when are we going to the Great Wall? I want to snap a couple of photos at the top and show off on my social media,” Master Huang stated, indicating he was there to support Zheng Siyuan.

“We’ll go tomorrow,” Zheng Siyuan said, “Let’s just wander around the city today; we’ll go further out tomorrow.”

“You old bones still think of climbing the Great Wall? I’m afraid you won’t make it many steps before you fall apart. I heard you had to be helped off the plane when you landed and these past few days you’ve been showing off in front of your fellow masters, insisting on cooking every day. At your age, you need to accept your limits. Huang Ji Restaurant should have been sold long ago. If you had rested comfortably at home a few years back, your health would definitely be better than now,” Zheng Da taunted Master Huang.

“Who said I’m climbing the Great Wall? Don’t they have cable cars?” Master Huang glanced at Zheng Da, “Selling my Huang Ji Restaurant didn’t mean I earned less money. I definitely made more than you these past years. You’ve been busying yourself here and there, running all over the place and that’s all you’ve earned, not as good as me staying comfortably at home and even being able to look after the grandson when I’m off work.”

“If I had a grandson, I would go home after work to take care of him too, but I don’t, so there’s nobody for me to take care of when I get home. Besides, I’ve taken care of my granddaughter when she was little. I used to buy her toys and snacks by the boxful for holidays, and my granddaughter really liked me!” As he spoke, Zheng Da glanced at Zheng Siyuan, who continued to study the map, unmoved.

“Earning money is my hobby, what do you know?”

“Running a restaurant is my hobby too, what do you know?”

The two old men bickered all the way to the Court pastry shop mentioned in the strategy guide. Zheng Siyuan checked the time and saw it was just a few minutes shy of 3 pm.

“Dad, Master, what do you want to eat?” Zheng Siyuan asked.

He had already planned out several kinds of pastries in his mind that he was determined to buy.

“Not eating,” Zheng Da and Master Huang said in unison.

“Oh, then I’ll go in first. If you two decide to come in, you can continue arguing inside, or if you don’t want to, you can keep arguing out here,” Zheng Siyuan said, unfazed, and went to line up.

Once Zheng Siyuan was gone, the two men stopped arguing and simultaneously turned their attention to his retreating figure, falling into thought.

“Junior brother, I’ve realized there might be something off with Siyuan; he’s probably going to have a hard time finding a girlfriend with the way he is,” Master Huang pondered. “He hasn’t made much progress since coming to Beiping. I thought he did rather well yesterday, and thought maybe he had developed his character a bit after interacting with people in Beiping so often. Whose temperament did he inherit anyway?”

“How would I know whose temperament he’s taken after, probably a bit of heart.” Zheng Da spoke with frustrated concern, “When I first started doing business and made some money, I was worried that the kid might go bad if he got rich, turning into an unkind second-generation rich kid. But now, I’d rather he was a bit worse for all I care; I see those second-generation rich kids have no trouble finding girlfriends, and they switch them out all the time.”

“I was initially quite pleased to hear that the owner of Eight-treasure House was a rich second-generation. I thought Siyuan might learn from him and quickly get a girlfriend in Beiping. Now it seems, alas, it’s hopeless,” Zheng Da sighed.

“Arranged dates then,” suggested Master Huang.

“Already tried it, no use. I even set him up with the daughter of the Taste House owner—it was a good match since both are pastry chefs, and the girl is pretty too. I thought given their matching professions, it would work out. But do you know what that boy did? He criticized her pastries as not authentic, called her thinking rigid and outdated, and said her fundamentals weren’t solid. He angered the girl so much that I almost lost the Taste House’s order,” Zheng Da was so angry that he couldn’t be bothered to scold Zheng Siyuan.

“Your business sure is big,” said Master Huang.

“Of course, it is. Back when I was still at the state-run restaurant, I had some connections, okay. I came to Beiping on serious business this time. Siyuan is working at Eight-treasure House now, and I’ve looked into their boss; a young fellow full of ideas and likes to innovate. Despite the shop’s recent reputation, it still has its heritage. I’m thinking of visiting in the next few days to talk about a partnership. If we can strike a deal, I’ll have opened up the market in Beiping,” Zheng Da bragged. “At the same time, I’ll also ask if Mr. Ling knows any suitable girls to introduce to Siyuan. If Siyuan can settle down in Beiping, whether he starts a family or a business, I don’t mind. Worst case, I’ll move to Beiping too. It’s not a bad idea since both of my uncles are there too; I can take better care of them with the short distance.”

“Morality, you’re a crafty miser,” Master Huang teased with a laugh.