Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 2 Ouyang

Qin Luo's anger comes and goes quickly.

According to Zhao Rong, Qin Luo has always been Qin Huai's little tail since childhood. When the tail behind the main body gets angry, it flaps a couple of times, comforts itself saying "fine, it's my fault, let's each take a step back," and forgives you. If the siblings have only minor conflicts, Qin Luo can quickly adjust herself and then happily ask Qin Huai what he's eating today.

"Brother, what are we having today? I want hot pot, the super spicy kind!" The little tail put down the Coke bottle and asked cheerfully.

"Too spicy, how many pimples have you got on your face these days? Let's wait a couple of days before eating that."

"Then let's have barbecue!"

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

"Easy to stain clothes. Today, we're mainly treating Sister Hong to thank her for letting us stay at her place these past few days. I saw on Sister Hong's Moments that Huihui has called in sick today, so Huihui might come over for lunch, too. Eating something too greasy isn't good when you're sick."

Qin Luo thought seriously for a minute: "Japanese food!"

Qin Huai put down his phone, looked at her helplessly, and asked with a soul-searching question: "Do you eat raw?"

Qin Luo: ...

"Then what are we going to eat? You can't expect brother to cook, right? The dough hasn't even been kneaded yet. If you cook, how long will we have to wait?"

Just as Qin Huai was about to say he had found a stir-fry restaurant nearby with a decent per person price of 200+, Ouyang, a theoretical invitee who's supposed to be at work in the neighborhood committee, suddenly appeared in the convenience store, catching the main point directly, and exclaimed, "What?! Master Huai, you want to cook personally? Luoluo, hurry, go home and pack up all the pots and pans, only leave the steamer and rolling pin! Your brother's cooking is really inedible."

"Get out of here," Qin Huai said with disdain, yet still pulled out a chair to signal Ouyang to sit, and asked, "Weren't you eating no less during our club activities in the past? Aren't you at work right now?"

Ouyang was Qin Huai's senior and the club president in college.

When Qin Huai was a freshman, Ouyang tricked him into joining a cycling club that promoted itself as green, healthy, and environmentally friendly for extracurricular credits, only to find out upon joining that the entire club's nine members had only Ouyang owning a bicycle, and that was only because he was a local, living across the street from the school, usually biking to class.

Though the cycling club was a scam that couldn't provide much credit, its daily activities were excellent; either picnicking in a park or barbecuing by a riverbank, and members did not have to pay. Ouyang always managed to find funding, making everyone enjoy two years happily, fostering good relations between the club members and Ouyang.

After graduating and moving back home, Qin Huai lost contact with his college friends, only staying connected through likes on social media. Upon returning this time to inherit a legacy, he thought the Ouyang family seemed quite wealthy and might be knowledgeable in law, so he contacted Ouyang for potential advice.

It turned out, indeed, Ouyang's family was exceptionally affluent; they bought a two-bedroom apartment in Yunzhong District, seeing the opportunity for appreciation and educational value, putting it under Ouyang's name right after his graduation, which was in the same building as the house Qin Huai inherited, making them direct neighbors.

Even more coincidentally, Ouyang worked at the neighborhood committee, and the Yunzhong Restaurant, which Qin Huai was about to take over, happened to be the top troublesome issue the committee faced.

"Sister Hong remembered you're moving today and asked me to come and help. I thought I'd drop by the convenience store for a drink first, only to see you here." Saying this, Ouyang handed his phone, showing a payment code, to Qin Luo, "Luoluo, help your Brother Yang get a bottle of iced tea, take whatever you want to eat."

Qin Luo took the phone to pick out snacks.

As soon as Qin Luo left, Ouyang got serious and said, "I heard from Sister Hong this morning that you've finished the paperwork? Qin Huai, I'm telling you, don't act rashly. Nowadays, what falls from the sky might not be pies but iron plates. Don't reach out and get hit until you're bleeding."

"I get that you might find Sister Hong enthusiastic and feel obliged, especially since she's helped solve your uncle, aunt, and Luoluo's accommodation issues, and you're embarrassed to refuse her. Don't be shy; Sister Hong isn't the petty type. Even if you don't take over the community restaurant, she won't blame you."

The "Sister Hong" Ouyang mentioned was Chen Huihong, the protagonist of a side quest Qin Huai had triggered.

Chen Huihong, female, 41 years old, wealthy woman, resident of Yunzhong District, head of the street office's community committee, and one of the owners of the Yunzhong District property company (the other owner is her brother). She's the legendary warm-hearted community committee aunt.

Qin Huai didn't know much about Chen Huihong, only that she got divorced a few years ago and has a third-grade daughter at the Experimental Primary School, Chen Huixi. Possessing a considerable fortune, she owns shares in the property company, large malls, and logistics companies, achieving financial freedom just with dividends alone. Known for her warm-heartedness and love for managing affairs, she couldn't sit idle even without a job, so she self-funded the establishment of the community committee, and usually likes to organize group purchases to benefit the community residents, being effectively Ouyang's boss and a local celebrity.

During the time nobody took over the Yunzhong Restaurant, Chen Huihong managed the restaurant's trivialities. Upon Qin Huai's confirmation of taking over, she used her connections to help Qin Huai publish recruitment information. Worried that the lucky bamboo in the restaurant wouldn't be cared for and wilt before opening, she even moved it to the committee office for daily watering. Knowing that Qin Huai decided to buy appliances and move in, with his parents and sister coming to help, she offered her vacant apartment in the community for the Qin Family to temporarily save hotel costs, showing her warm-heartedness.

Ouyang, worried Qin Huai might feel pressured by the kindness of Chen Huihong and reluctantly take over the restaurant, wasn't entirely unreasonable.

"It's really not because of Sister Hong," Qin Huai explained. "I genuinely think the community restaurant has potential, so I decided to take it on. Anyway, it's ready and doesn't cost anything, so why not try?"

Ouyang's look at Qin Huai turned into one of skepticism, "Old Qin, are you alright? Have you been kicked in the head by a donkey after all these years?"

"Do you know how much it costs to run such a large restaurant nearby?" Ouyang saw Qin Huai seemed determined to proceed regardless and started calculating on his fingers. "A restaurant over two floors with an actual area exceeding 700 square meters, you'll need at least two chefs, right?"

"For one chef, I'll estimate a salary of 15,000 a month, which means 30,000 for two."

"How about 5 waiters? You need someone to serve food, handle cash, clear tables, right? I'll count it as 8,000 a month, no, 7,000, so that's another 35,000."

"Miscellaneous workers, helping in the kitchen, washing dishes, let's say two, costing 1.2 million monthly at 6,000 each."

"Plus, the janitors, even hiring those familiar older ladies for at least 4,000-5,000, for such a large area, finding someone willing to work for 5,000 may still be difficult. I'll even assume you find a 5,000-a-month cleaner, your monthly payroll already exceeds 80,000, and I won't even calculate utilities for you."

"If you do it well, you could lose more than 200,000 in three months."

"Sure, I know you inherited a house too, but you can't possibly sell a school district house just for a restaurant, can you?"

Seeing Ouyang analyze everything in detail, including calculating the specific losses for three months, Qin Huai frowned and suddenly thought things might not be as simple.

"Could it be that... you lost money before?"

Ouyang: ...

"Young and ignorant after college," Ouyang felt tears filling his eyes, "The predecessor of the Yunzhong Restaurant was actually my fish hotpot restaurant."

"Lost over 200,000 in three months?" Qin Huai asked.

"Including renovation costs, lost 6.6 million in a year," Ouyang choked up, "My dad thought I took the money to gamble and wouldn't admit it, almost beat me to death."

Ouyang gazed upward, so tears wouldn't spill, "Qin Huai, running a food business around here is really hard!"