Global Film Emperor

Chapter 330 The Idea of ​​Starting a Business

"Hey...yes...thank you, Master Meng, I'm going home now, bye-bye!"

The suitcase was heavy, but it didn't make much of a sound when it hit the snow. Lu Nan patted the straw that had been scraped off her trench coat and thanked Grandpa Meng, who had pulled the donkey cart to take her home from the village entrance.

There was no one in the yard, only geese honking at her. She gently opened the yard gate and walked to the doorway, peering through the glass inside. In the kitchen, only Li Yumei was busy cooking, while her father was playing mahjong with several elderly villagers.

"Mom, I'm back. Where's my brother? Uncle Wang, Second Uncle, hello."

Lu Nan had already heard that Lu Ze had returned home, and was wondering why she hadn't seen him, so she asked Li Yumei about it.

She should have been on holiday more than ten days ago, but her last paper before the holiday kept her at school, working overtime in the library, and she only managed to rush back a few days before the Lunar New Year.

She was very concerned about Lu Ze's mental state. After all, such a big thing had happened, it was understandable that Lu Ze would be depressed. Even if Lu Ze didn't need it, Lu Nan still wanted to express her concern.

“Your brother went to the city and probably won’t be back today. Come over and help with the work, cut the pork.”

"okay."

She didn't complain about starting work as soon as she got home. After all, she had been doing this for many years. Unlike in the city, the boundaries between who was in charge of the household and who was in charge of external affairs had become blurred in the village.

In the village, this boundary is still clearly defined: men are expected to earn money to support their families, sweating and bleeding outside, while women are expected to wash clothes, cook, take care of children, and manage the household so that men have no worries.

As for someone like her who hasn't started earning money yet... she naturally can't escape the work at home, and should share some of the housework with her mother.

She picked up a broom and swept the snow off her suitcase, put it back in her bedroom, took off her trench coat, changed into some old clothes from home, tied her long hair into a ponytail, and went into the kitchen to wash her hands.

Picking up the old-fashioned, heavy black cleaver, I wiped the blade with a rag and skillfully sliced ​​it twice at the mouth of the water tank. Following the grain of the pork, I cut it into the required size. However, since the meat had only recently thawed, I found it a bit difficult to cut the pork skin. A noticeable mark was left on my left palm as I pressed the back of the knife.

Heat oil, add Pixian chili bean paste, dried chili peppers, scallions, ginger, garlic, and other ingredients. Once the oil turns red, add pork, and the aroma will instantly fill the air. The mother and daughter don't talk much, but they maintain a considerable level of understanding in the kitchen.

While cooking, Lu Nan kept a close eye on his mother's expression. After all, his brother's accident would surely upset his parents. But what puzzled Lu Nan was that Li Yumei didn't have a furrowed brow or a worried look on her face. Instead, she seemed rather happy, which left Lu Nan completely baffled.

"That's enough playing, let's pack up and go. Weiguo, you guys go eat, we're leaving."

When the two card players saw that it was lunchtime, they got up to say goodbye, leaving behind the more than forty yuan they had lost.

No matter how much Lu Weiguo and Li Yumei tried to persuade them, the two refused to stay for dinner. After all, Lu Nan had just returned, and it was indeed inappropriate to eat at this time.

While her mother was busy preparing the last dish, Lu Nan secretly slipped out. Seeing Lu Weiguo packing the mahjong tiles into a box, she went over, picked up a red dragon tile and put it into the box. She turned to look at Li Yumei, then leaned close to Lu Weiguo and asked a question.

"Dad... what's wrong with Mom? Why is she so happy? Is there something good? Put out your cigarette. Look at how much smoke you and Uncle are smoking, the house is all yellowed from the smoke."

As children, they are controlled by their mothers; as adults, they are controlled by their wives; and in their old age, they are controlled by their daughters. It seems that many men's lives are dominated by these three women. Lu Weiguo is no exception. With a somewhat helpless expression, he extinguished his cigarette, fanned the smoke with his palm, and opened the window a little wider.

"Your second uncle introduced your brother to someone."

"Huh? What about my brother? Did he agree? Is he going today?"

"No, he's going to the city to do some business. We've arranged to meet on the eighth day of the lunar new year."

"Oh……"

To be honest, Lu Nan was quite disappointed. It wasn't because she had any morbid fetishes like being a brother-obsessed person, but because she felt that someone like Lu Ze should have found his own happiness instead of going on blind dates.

Her understanding of blind dates is still at a relatively basic level; she believes that blind dates are just about randomly picking someone to settle down with for the rest of her life, and that she will never find love.

In her view, Lu Ze's choice to go on blind dates was actually a kind of compromise, an attempt to integrate into the lives of ordinary people.

She felt that Lu Ze shouldn't try to become ordinary, but should maintain the radiant light that she had cultivated through hard work and dedication, a light that she didn't know when it started.

As she rubbed the last mahjong tile that hadn't been put into the box, she felt a little down. She filled in the last empty tile, closed the lid, and put it away before going into the kitchen to bring out plates of prepared dishes.

Lu Ze was unaware of Lu Nan's complex emotions, or even that she had arrived home. He was currently busy with his own affairs...

……

"Hello, do you recruit franchisees here?"

Excluding the courses in the system space, Lu Ze had no entrepreneurial experience, and while he didn't have a lot of money, it wasn't a small amount either. There were many businesses that could be started with over a million yuan, but the risk of forging his own path was too great. After much consideration, Lu Ze decided it would be better to franchise with a well-known store, so that he wouldn't be completely clueless when he first entered the industry.

After training, and with delivery services provided, it saves a lot of trouble.

The shop he's in now serves dry pot dishes. He just tried some, and the taste was really good. He'd seen the brand in other cities before, so it's clearly a fairly large business. But Lu Hua only has this one store. If they open another one, Lu Hua's market won't be unable to support itself.

This was clearly a very good choice for Lu Ze, but what the waiter said next disappointed him.

"I'm sorry, our stores are all invested in by the head office and belong to the company itself. We do not accept franchises."

"Oh, I see. Thank you. Could I have another beer?"

There was some disappointment, but Lu Ze didn't just stick to this one place. He also considered opening a capsule hotel near the station, although that would require a much larger investment than the dry pot restaurant.

I opened a beer and poured myself a glass. Since I didn't have a car to drive, I picked up a piece of lotus root from the bottom of the pot, stuffed it into my mouth, and then drank the beer in one gulp.

It's been a long time since I've had this kind of big green beer. It's a typical industrial beer, and they all taste pretty much the same. After getting used to craft beer, drinking industrial beer is a bit boring.

Craft beer...

Suddenly, Lu Ze had an idea. He quickly opened his phone's map app, looked up Lu Hua's beer shop, and then grinned.

In larger first- and second-tier cities, as people's understanding of drinking culture gradually increases, they no longer pursue high alcohol content in order to get drunk, but rather seek changes in taste, leading to a surge in the number of craft beer shops.

But Lühua is a small city after all. Lu Ze just checked the beer shops and found that there are only 7 in the whole of Lühua. Moreover, Lu Ze just used a food delivery app to find a nearby beer shop, and its sales are actually quite good.

The price of a single beer... left Lu Ze speechless. They really dared to charge such a high price, basically 30% higher than the prices in craft beer shops in first-tier cities. It's estimated that many people in Lühua still consider craft beer a rare commodity, or it might be due to the inland city and the high transportation costs. In any case, it's definitely expensive.

This gave Lu Ze some ideas. When it came to tea ceremony and coffee, Lu Ze could only be considered a dabbler, following the lead of the wealthy. But when it came to beer, Lu Ze truly understood it.

From stouts and sour beers to triple and quadruple cloudy feverish IPAs, Lu Ze has drunk no less than a thousand kinds of beer. He can even talk about the taste and the production process.

Most importantly, he has excellent sourcing channels; Song Guiyuan's brother is one of the largest beer merchants in the country.

Lu Ze had met him a few times. The beer Lu Ze drank before was brought by him. Not to mention the common beers, the dates were always the latest. Even the beer that customs did not allow to be imported and could only be carried by people, and that one person could only bring one bottle of, still ended up in Lu Ze's hands.

This had little to do with Lu Ze's status at the time; it was simply because Lao Song and Lu Ze were buddies, and for him, this kind of thing was incredibly easy.

Instead of taking his time to consider it, Lu Ze picked up his phone and dialed Song Guiyuan's number.

"Hey? You still know to call me? Let me ask you, Lu Ze, be honest, are you short on money lately? If you are, don't be embarrassed to say so. I have a little bit here, not much, but enough to tide you over. Take it."

Before Lu Ze could even speak, Song Guiyuan launched into a long speech, leaving Lu Ze only able to shake his head with a wry smile and pour himself another beer.

"I still have some money, enough to get by... I just wanted to ask you how much it would cost to open a craft beer bar?"

"What? Want to start your own business?"

"Hmm... I always need to find something to do."

The two fell silent for a while. Perhaps Song Guiyuan shared the same thoughts as Lu Nan and was saddened by Lu Ze's choice. Lu Ze heard a sigh, followed by Old Song's words.

"Leaving aside rent and renovation, just talking about the goods, it depends on how big you want to do it. You can do it with tens of thousands, or even millions. It all depends on you. If you want to open a bigger business, I'll say it again: just tell me how much you need. You don't need to worry about the goods. It's just a matter of saying a word."

"Okay, then I'll look for a place after the New Year. See you later?"

"Wait... never mind, it's nothing. I'll come to see you in Lühua in a while. Take care..."

"Okay, I'll treat you."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Ze put on his hat, paid the bill, and left the dry pot restaurant, leaving only two waiters behind him whispering to each other.

"That person just now... looked like Lu Ze..."

……

(End of this chapter)