Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

The next day, Xu Damao got up early and ran to the front yard.

Li Dagen's family is having dinner.

Li Zhenjiang looked at Xu Damao curiously: "The sun must have risen in the west, how come you got up so early?"

Xu Damao sat down with a smile and said, "What are you talking about? Why can't I get up early?"

Li Zhenjiang bluntly exposed him: "Do you think I don't know that your construction site is being managed by Brother Tiezhu?"

You're such a hands-off boss; you won't get out of bed until the sun is high in the sky.

Xu Damao's face flushed slightly, but the blush quickly disappeared.

What Li Zhenjiang said is true.

He basically handed over all the construction work to Wu Tiezhu. In order to help him with the work, Wu Tiezhu not only got up early and went to bed late, but often didn't go home for several days.

Xu Damao retorted, "I haven't been idle either. I've been the one running around building relationships outside."

I treat people to meals every day.

Li Zhenjiang curled his lip: "You think I don't know? All your projects were given to you by Brother Zhu."

"Those people are the ones who should be treating you to meals; do you really need to treat others to meals?"

Xu Damao said, "Li Zhenjiang, this is unreasonable of you."

Every month, I bring several groups of people to your restaurant for a meal.

"If it weren't for me, your restaurant wouldn't be doing so well."

Li Zhenjiang couldn't refute this point.

Those who invited Xu Damao to dinner were mostly small business owners; they couldn't afford to eat at Chaoyang Restaurant.

Xu Damao then took them to Li Zhenjiang's hot pot restaurant.

Those people also gave Xu Damao face and often came to patronize Li Zhenjiang's business.

One-third of Li Zhenjiang Restaurant's revenue comes from those people.

Yu Li said, "Xu Damao, when are you free? I'd like to treat you to a meal."

These words startled Xu Damao.

Xu Damao wasn't surprised at all that Li Zhenjiang had invited him to dinner.

Xu Damao is usually too lazy to cook at home, so he comes to the Li family's house.

Zhou Sujuan always treated him like her own child.

But the person speaking was Yu Li.

Yu Li has become increasingly stingy in the past two years, almost on par with Yan Bugui.

Yu Li offered to treat him to a meal, but Xu Damao simply couldn't accept it.

"Why did you suddenly decide to invite me to dinner? Are you planning something to trick me?"

Yu Li said, "What do you take me for? Didn't you just say that our shop's business depends on you?"

Zhenjiang and I invited you to dinner to thank you.

"Is that really the case?"

"If it's not that, what else could it be?"

Xu Damao was relieved upon hearing this: "Okay. You guys set the time. I'm available anytime."

Yu Li smiled and said, "There's another thing I need to trouble you with."

Xu Damao said, "I knew it wouldn't be that simple."

Let me make this clear first: if it's too difficult for you, don't blame me for not agreeing.

Yu Li said, "It's no trouble at all. Since you know so many people, please help us attract more customers to our store in the future."

Yu Li had been thinking about this for a long time.

There are too many people opening restaurants now, and the competition is fierce.

The guests that Xu Damao brought were relatively wealthy, and their spending was not low.

Yu Li wanted more guests like that, so she set her sights on Xu Damao.

Upon hearing about this matter, Xu Damao immediately agreed.

Since we're going to eat somewhere anyway, we might as well support the Li family's business.

"That's no problem. But Yu Li, your restaurant also needs to make some changes. The portions should be larger, and you could offer customers some discounts or something."

That way, people will be willing to come.

Yu Li agreed, but whether she could actually do it was another matter.

Xu Damao suddenly remembered Yan Jiecheng and asked curiously, "How's his restaurant doing?"

Li Zhenjiang said, "It's just so-so. They don't have a good chef, and the couple is stingy, so many people go once and never go a second time."

Xu Damao knew immediately that this must be the case.

The absence of Sha Zhu has a comprehensive impact on the courtyard houses. Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu's side are the most affected.

Yan Bugui's side was also significantly affected.

Firstly, there's the aspect of getting a good deal.

At that time, Yi Zhonghai had Sha Zhu under his control. In order to win over Yan Bugui, he often had Sha Zhu cook and invited Yan Bugui to drink.

Sha Zhu has a foul mouth and often makes Yan Bugui lose face.

When Yan Bugui went to Yi Zhonghai for justice, Yi Zhonghai would usually make Sha Zhu pay money and apologize.

Yi Zhonghai's greatest skill is to smooth things over.

He needs to team up with Yan Bugui to control Sha Zhu so that Yan Bugui won't suffer losses.

Sometimes it wasn't even Sha Zhu's fault, but Yi Zhonghai would still make Sha Zhu lose money.

Many times, Yan Bugui deliberately induced Sha Zhu to say disrespectful things, and then Yan Bugui would go to Yi Zhonghai to make amends.

Now that Shazhu is gone, Yan Bugui has no income from this source.

Not only did he not earn any income, but he also lost money multiple times because he helped Yi Zhonghai.

Yan Bugui, that man, if he loses even a penny, he'll try to get a dollar out of his son.

He then turned around and began to scheme against his own child even more ruthlessly.

Under such high pressure, Yan Jiecheng and his associates became even more money-grubbing and disregarded personal relationships.

If the restaurant owner is too stingy, the business won't be successful.

This is just like Yan Bugui.

The Yan family consists of small business owners.

This composition indicates that the Yan family owned the means of production at the time of liberation.

Yan Bugui is a boss, no matter his size.

Logically, with liberation and stability restored in Beijing, business should have been easier, right?

Yan Bugui went from being a small business owner to a schoolteacher, and people genuinely believed it was his own choice.

No.

It was because his shop couldn't keep going and eventually went bankrupt, even losing his ancestral home.

Finally, having no other choice, I rented a place to live in Courtyard No. 95.

Soon after, Jin Youcai arrived, and Xu Damao called him into the Li family's house.

"Brother Jin, wait here for a while. He Yuzhu will send a car to pick us up soon."

Li Zhenjiang asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

Fearing the news would leak, Xu Damao said, "It's nothing, I just need to go out for a bit."

It's not that I don't trust the Li family, but I'd rather avoid trouble altogether.

Although he didn't say it, he couldn't hide it from Yan Bugui's eyes.

When Yan Bugui saw Jin Youcai, he was reminded of the antiques.

So he sat in the front yard and kept staring at the Li family.

If it weren't for his bad relationship with the Li family, he would have joined them long ago.

Soon the sound of a car could be heard outside.

These days, cars are still quite rare. Near No. 95 Courtyard, only He Yuzhu owns a car; Xu Damao doesn't.

As soon as Xu Damao heard the sound of the car, he knew it was there to pick them up.

"The car is here, let's go."

The two had just stepped out when Yan Bugui stopped them.

"Da Mao, are those cars outside here to pick you up? What are you going to do?"

Xu Damao wasn't surprised at all that Yan Bugui stopped him; it would have been strange if he hadn't.

"Nothing much, just checking on a construction site."

Yan Bugui said with some dissatisfaction, "Don't think I don't know, you must have gone to see the antiques."

Xu Damao denied it: "What antique? I don't know anything about these things, why would I look at it?"

Yan Bugui didn't believe Xu Damao's words at all: "You don't understand, but Shazhu does. Wasn't it Jin Youcai's brother who helped him buy this?"
"Silly Zhu has come to the courtyard house, why doesn't he come in?"

As he spoke, Yan Bugui went out the door and came to the car.

He reached out and opened the car door, peering inside.

There was no one else besides the driver.

Yan Bugui was immediately disappointed. He had thought He Yuzhu would come to the courtyard house. (End of Chapter)