Chapter 57: Chapter 52.5

Time passed like water, and Jiang Zhou’s restaurant became more and more prosperous.

Although everyone was a little sad that Jingjia restaurant no longer sold sponge cakes, and even oden was missing.

Fortunately, Lu Xiangxi, the good disciple, was selling sponge cakes, so the taste was not much different.

.

Jiang Zhou went to Fengtai Tea House to meet Lu Dexing, after the man asked for him.

He walked up to the tea house. Jiang Zhou smiled and said: “Why are you so free today?”

“You’re here.” He was still sitting on the small chair at the door of the tea house, basking in the sun with his hands folded.

After not seeing each other for a few days, Lu Dexing seemed to have aged many years.

He had something on his mind and couldn’t find the answer, so he wanted to hear Jiang Zhou’s opinion: “Do you think it is worth opening my tea house?”

Jiang Zhou was surprised: “This… I can’t say. Whether something is worth it depends on whether it has meaning to you. If it does, then it is worth it.”

“Is it worth it?” Lu Dexing put these two words between his lips and teeth and chewed them repeatedly, as if asking himself, was it worth it?

Jiang Zhou nodded: “Well, although I’m a little tired, but for me, my restaurant is worth it.”

Lu Dexing glanced at him. Jiang Zhou, who had opened a new restaurant, could be said to be very high-spirited and full of energy, which made him, an old man, quite envious: “You have been doing well recently.”

Jiang Zhou then laughed: “You have too many things to worry about this year, so you feel tired.”

“To tell you the truth, I sighed more this year than I did in the entire previous half of my life.” Lu Dexing himself was stunned, and sighed for a while: “I’m old, I’m too old, I can’t even make tea.”

Jiang Zhou seemed to sense Lu Dexing’s depression from the trembling voice, so he said nothing.

Lu Dexing slowly went in and made a pot of tea. He used tea leaves that had been stored for a long time. Green tea was cool in nature, and the tall leaf tips rotated and trembled in the cup.

Jiang Zhou paused for a moment and said, “I don’t know what you think, let alone whether it’s worth it. You ask me as an outsider, and I can’t tell you.”

Lu Dexing thoughtfully said, “It’s actually worth it.”

“Huh?”

“When I was twenty years old, I inherited this tea house from my father. At that time, my father told me that Fengtai Tea House was the foundation of the Lu family and the life of the Lu family. I kept this sentence in my heart. Since then, I have started to study how to make tea, how to make various kinds of tea to get the best taste, and I am committed to continuing this tea house.”

But his business being slow and tepid, and he was obviously reminiscing about something: “I have learned a lot of things, and I have been working hard on them over the years, but I was a little confused a few days ago. You may not believe it, but at my age, it was easy to be confused.”

Jiang Zhou shook his head. Everyone was confused sometimes, just like him; he was confused countless times.

Lu Dexing continued: “I used to think that running the tea house was my mission in this life, but recently I suddenly became confused. Is this my own mission or the mission given to me by my father?”

He had seen so many delicious and unique things in Jiang Zhou’s restaurant a few days ago, and those novel ideas seemed to him full of incredible feelings.

Jiang Zhou decisively gave up sponge cakes and oden then opened such a small restaurant. In his opinion, such courage was beyond his reach, but Jiang Zhou did it.

He inevitably had doubts about himself.

Jiang Zhou remained silent and listened to Lu Dexing’s confession: “I thought of my idea was to open a good tea house and then pass it on to my son – just like what my father did before, but I think I might be wrong.”

If time went back to when he was twenty years old, he saw the colorful world outside, saw so many novel things, and infinite possibilities, he might become a carpenter – he liked wood carving very much, and he might also become a cook – he had a unique perspective on food. If he had not accepted the mission given to him by his father, would he still be confined to this tea house his whole life? would he still be confined in a small tea room?

He did not know.

But he saw such a possibility from Jiang Zhou.

He felt a little envious of Jiang Zhou for being so free and easy, having a clear plan for his life, having clear goals, and knowing how to make choices.

It was a pity; he was old and could no longer make such entanglements and choices.

As if he had reviewed his life and re-examined his past, the aura of decadence in Lu Dexing’s body had undergone some subtle changes.

Although it was very subtle, Jiang Zhou still felt it. He could only say that he was surprised: “You…”

Lu Dexing solemnly took out a small wooden box.

The box was locked. It could be seen that it was old, and the paint on it was mottled. However, the lock was very new and should have been changed frequently.

Lu Dexing opened the lock tremblingly, took out a roll of paper, and spread it out one by one.

Jiang Zhou took a look and saw that most of them were deeds, some were for sale, some were sold, and some were mortgaged.

“In order to maintain this tea house over the years, I have sold many restaurants and tea houses. The hilltop to the west of the town originally belonged to my family, but in the past few years, the tea house could not survive, so I sold it to a lumber restaurant, and some others. Most of them are gone, and now all that’s left is this tea house, a small village, and a few acres of fertile farmland.”@@novelbin@@

He pushed the tea house’s land deed in front of Jiang Zhou.

Jiang Zhou’s face looked strange: “What are you doing?”

Lu Dexing sighed: “I’m going to go bankrupt if this shabby tea house continues to operate. It’s better to sell it in time and get a better price.”

Looking at Jiang Zhou’s wide eyes, he was a little happy: “Your little restaurant is too incredible. I want to sell these properties and invest in your business. I believe it will be more promising than keeping this old tea house.”

Seeing Jiang Zhou nod, he narrowed his eyes and smiled: “Do you think my tea house is big enough?”

It was big, of course, it was big. Jiang Zhou had observed it when he first arrived. The tea house occupied a large area, not to mention the second floor.

But Lu Dexing’s statement made him a little unbelievable: “You want to sell the tea house to me?”

Lu Dexing pushed the land deed forward so that Jiang Zhou could see it more clearly: “What do you think?”

Jiang Zhou thought carefully and shook his head: “I… can’t afford it.”

Although he had earned a lot of money, it was still a bit difficult to buy such a big teahouse.

Lu Dexing was not discouraged and still smiled: “Think again whether you want to buy it or not. Anyway, I will give you a base first. My psychological price is not high.”

‘It’s about the price, but I really can’t afford it!’ Jiang Zhou choked, suddenly feeling that he was still so poor.

But he still wanted to buy this tea house.

Lu Dexing continued to lie: “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter what you do here from now on. Just sell what you want to sell.”

Jiang Zhou swallowed his saliva and spoke with difficulty: “Let me think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you to think it through.