Chapter 174

Xu Ran said to Qin Shuwu, “Brother Qin, since Zhuo Yun mentioned to you that I wanted to buy hills, then I will just put everything on the table. I buy these hills just to grow fruits, and only fruits. I have selected the right place, and will go to the Yamen to go through the formalities in a few days.”

“What kinds of fruits do you want to grow? It will take you several years to produce fruits. If you invested all your money in it, what would you do if you have to use money somewhere else?” Qin Shuwu asked, frowning.

“I also know that. It will take three to fives years for many kinds of fruits to produce, so my family can only live on the strawberries and the deli, as well as you, Brother Qin.”

Qin Shuwu asked, “You’ve been mentioning the deli, but never told me how exactly you would like to do it. Tell me, what would you like to sell and how?”

As to what to sell, Xu Ran told Qin Shuwu about what the deli was selling in He Shui Town, and the items he sold would basically be the same as theirs, no additional ones. As to how to sell it, Xu Ran said, “It’s simple. We will just cook and season the food. Then put it in containers, and charge by catty. If someone wants to buy it, we will just weigh whatever he wants.”

“This is convenient, but what about the price?” Qin Shuwu asked.

“The price will naturally be higher than that of the vegetables sold on the street. After all, we put time and energy to process the food. Let’s not talk about anything else, but our taste. As long as it tastes good, not only people may buy it and eat it at home, but even some restaurants may also buy from us. Therefore, the choice of chef is crucial.”

Qin Shuwu thought for a moment and said, “Then, how about my spouse? You know his cooking skills well. You just have to write down the recipe, and I will tell him how to do it. He should be familiar with it after trying a few times at home.”

Xu Ran thought of Qin Shuwu’s spouse’s cooking skills and nodded, “Sure! Not only his cooking skills are great, he is also family, so I can rest assured. But he alone must be too busy to do everything. Brother Qin, you have to find another one to help him.”

Qin Shuwu chuckled, “Don’t forget that there are so many Ge’ers in our family. Whoever has time could come over to help him.”

Xu Ran clapped his hands, “That is a great idea. Well then, Brother Qin, give me a writing brush and paper, and I will write down all the recipes for you. Now, you have to rent a shop front and renovate it as soon as possible. You are going to pay for everything for now, and I will give you my share when it’s done.”

“No problem. I’ve almost done renting the shop. You just have to write down what we need to buy, and leave the rest to me.” Qin Shuwu said.

“Thank you, Brother Qin. I have been bothering you.”

Qin Shuwu waved his hands, “You’re too courteous. We are family and you still say such things. Once you finish writing, let’s talk about buying the hills to grow fruits.” Qin Shuwu got up and fetch a writing brush and a stack of paper for Xu Ran as he spoke.

Xu Ran wrote carefully the dish names, recipes and the ingredients down on the paper. He had filled up more than ten sheets of paper, and it became a thick stack.

Qin Shuwu took it over and had a look, only to find that those were only some common vegetables, and the only thing novel was braised meat. He asked Xu Ran, “Will it taste good if the meat is cooked this way?”

Xu Ran nodded, “Don’t worry about this! There must be no problem. But about the meat! We can’t cook too much every day. When it gets warmer, the meat will definitely go bad if we can’t sell it all the same day. We need to take advantage of the coolness now and make our name. Once the customer source is stable later, we will take reservations, and cook as much as people order. We will cook a little more at most, and sell it to individual customers.”

Qin Shuwu nodded, “Well, let’s just do as you say! I will take these back today and let my spouse try it out. Now, tell me about buying hills and growing fruits. What are you planning to do?”

Xu Ran said, “I’ve been thinking about growing fruits for a long time. You also know that although I have the title of Xiucai, I do have no talent for being an official, nor am I good at farming, but mainly because it takes a lot of time to gain profit by farming. I’ve thought it over and over again and finally could come up with this idea.”

“Aren’t I growing strawberries at home? This is just the beginning. Later, I will gradually grow whatever fruits that can be grown. Then I will live on these. Zhuo Yun and I are both agreed that he will give up traveling on business once he finishes his trip this time. After all, he is gone for several months and has no idea what happened at home, and the family also doesn’t know what happened to him, so we are worried. I just asked him to join me. Later, I thought about it. Neither of us know anything, but Brother Qin, you run fruit business, so I also want you to join us. What about your opinion?”

Xu Ran was being straightforward. It was just because he and Zhuo Yun knew nothing about fruits that they thought of asking Qin Shuwu to join them. If they could do it themselves, they would definitely not let him have a finger in the pie.

Qin Shuwu smiled after listening to him, “You guys are still so green. I don’t care whether I will gain profit or not, because my family can live on this fruit shop. Shuwen is my younger brother and you are my sworn brother, so I’ll just get involved in it! If you want me to do anything, just say it. I will do whatever I can. If I can’t, you need to sort it out yourselves!”

Xu Ran kept nodding, “Brother Qin, don’t worry about this. What Zhuo Yun and I are thinking is that you could help us find the fruit trees. You have been selling fruits for so many years, so you must have the connections and know where to get those trees. Zhuo Yun and I will think of ways to solve other problems. We can’t let you do everything, while we two just sit back and reap the rewards, right?”

“You get to the point. I like it.” Qin Shuwu smiled.

Then he continued, “Tell me what kinds of fruit trees you want! I’ll look out for them for you. You have to buy the hills and finish hoeing as soon as possible, so that when I get those fruit trees, you could take them back and grow them. The timing now is perfect, and many trees can survive.”

“Alright.” Xu Ran nodded, “I think so too, so I came to you now. Then, Brother Qin, please help me look out for them. I will go to the Yamen to go through the formalities in the next few days, and then I can rest assured.”

“Sure.”

Qin Shuwu thought for a while and added, “You have to take good care of Shuwen at your home! I also knew the relationship between him and Zhuo Yun, and I won’t ask him to stay at our home. After all, he is a married Ge’er. Even if my family members don’t talk about him, the neighbors will gossip about it. Sorry to trouble you.”

“Brother Qin, you told me not to be too courteous, but aren’t you being courteous by saying these? Not to mention that Shuwen is my sworn brother, I won’t treat him poorly in terms of my relationship with Zhuo Yun. Just rest assured! I realized that as long as you mentioned Shuwen, you would keep nagging like Zhuo Yun.”

The last remark was somewhat joking.

Qin Shuwu heard him and got a little shy. Even though Qin Shuwen already had a baby, he still regarded him as that child.

After they finished talking about business, the two started to make some idle talk. About noon, the clerk came back with Tangtang and Guoguo. Their cheeks were flushed, probably because they had got blown by the wind outside.

Xu Ran pulled the two children over to him and rubbed their cheeks one by one, “Did you have a great time? What did you see? Did you buy anything?”

The two children nodded at the same time, and the spokesman of the twins, Tangtang, said, “We went to many places. We haven’t seen them before. Well, we bought things for our younger brothers and Daddy.”

“Nothing for me?” Xu Ran looked bitter.

“Well…” Tangtang lowered his head and remained silent. Xu Ran looked at Guoguo, and Guoguo copied what Tangtang was doing.

Xu Ran threw up his hands, “Alright! I’ll forgive you this time. You must remember Dad next time!”

Tangtang and Guoguo raised their heads and smiled, “Dad, we will remember you from now on.”

Xu Ran smiled and said, “Okay, then I’ll keep this in mind.”

“Yeah.” The two children kept nodding.

Xu Ran said, “We are going back now. Say goodbye to Uncle Qin.”

Before the two children could speak, Qin Shuwu said, “It’s already noon. Have lunch here before go back! A lunch won’t cost you too much time.”

Xu Ran thought that the two children had hung out for the whole morning and they must be hungry, so he nodded, “Alright, then we will have lunch here before going back!”

“Great! Dad, Guoguo and I are hungry.” Tangtang said to Xu Ran as he touched his stomach.

“Then, Brother Qin, are you going back for lunch or eating with us?” Xu Ran asked.

Qin Shuwu touched his chin and said, “Aren’t you going to my house together with me?”

Xu Ran shook his head, “No, we can just go to Mr. Chen’s restaurant for lunch. If we go to your house, we have to bother your spouse and the others. We’d better not go.”

Qin Shuwu said, “Well then, I will go with you guys!”

“Okay, then let’s go!” Xu Ran led the two children and went out as he spoke.

Hearing that they were going to have lunch at the restaurant, the two children were happy. After all, they had never been to a restaurant before.

If Xu Ran hadn’t come to town, they wouldn’t even have the chance to come to town, let alone go to the restaurant to have lunch. Although they didn’t say anything, the two children actually knew that, so they had been asking Xu Ran about the food in the restaurant all the way.

Looking at the two excited children, Xu Ran said, “When you arrive at the restaurant later, you can order whatever you want to eat. Dad will pay for the bill.”

“Dad, you’re the best.” The two children smiled very happily.

Seeing this, Qin Shuwu, who was following them, couldn’t help but smile. What two adorable children!

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