Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 68 The Tan Family's Abacus
Tan Li led his family into the restaurant and greeted the diners with a grand gesture, acting like a host. "Thank you all for coming to celebrate the opening of my new restaurant."

Someone asked, "Mr. Tan, is this restaurant also owned by the Tan family?"

Mr. Tan pretended to be regretful and said, "It can't really be considered our Tan family's property, but this shop is indeed my dowry to my daughter. Now that my daughter is the eldest lady of the Shentu Mansion, I'm afraid this property will also follow the Shentu family name."

His words shone with meaning. He said openly that the restaurant had nothing to do with him, but he implied that the shop itself was Tan Huaike's dowry. In the final analysis, it was donated by their Tan family. Even after becoming the owner, Tan Huaike should not forget his roots.

Although the visitors had bad intentions, Tan Huaike did not want to quarrel with them. He approached them and said, "How can my small business be compared with Grandpa's wealth?"

Hearing her praise, Mr. Tan felt proud and called his wife and children inside, and asked Tan Huaike to arrange a private room for her family to have a meal.

Tan Anfu was already suppressing her anger. Last time she tried to find fault but ended up getting humiliated. Today she refused to come at all, but Tan Li insisted on pretending that the family was harmonious. He said that the married girl could bring benefits to the Tan family and asked her, as the "sister", to win him over. This made her very angry.

Why is it that a mere Hu slave, a slut who married a dead widow in his place, can make such a fortune with the property that originally belonged to the Tan family, and he even has to watch her show off!

No wonder Tan Huaike had so sarcastically invited her to "come and enjoy the food" that day; it turned out he'd already set a trap! He'd specially sent invitations to invite her "family" to a banquet, but who knows what she was up to? Perhaps she was trying to extort money from them. I wonder what the old man was thinking. Could he really have accepted this inexplicably "married woman"?

No matter how aggrieved Tan Anfu was, she had to force a smile and say to her, "Good luck in opening the business."

Tan Huaike smiled and said, "Thank you very much, sister. Please feel free to order whatever you want. I was worried that you might be upset and would rather starve to death than honor me. I was overthinking it."

Tan Anfu felt a burning pain on her cheeks, and she glared at her before sitting down.

The waiter handed over the menu and explained the available flavors. Tan Anfeng then began to order dishes with great interest. He had always been a pleasure seeker. Wherever there was something delicious or fun, he would be happy to join in the fun. As for why this "sister" who had no blood relationship with them invited them, and what Grandpa wanted to discuss with her, he didn't care and didn't want to care.

This place is isolated from outside interference, so it is convenient to say many things.

In this false harmony, Tan Li pretended to be kind and asked Tan Huaike: "We are all family. If you want to open a restaurant, why don't you ask Grandpa?"

Hearing him say this, Tan Huaike just wanted to laugh.

The "family" who held her indenture contract and sent her to the Shentu Mansion in exchange for a generous betrothal gift, pretended in front of everyone and behind their backs. Could it be that even they themselves believed it?

But since they wanted to continue pretending, Tan Huaike was happy to join them.

She asked, "What would you do if I told you?"

Tan Li pointed to his side and smiled: "Come, sit down and talk. Anfeng, move over there. I didn't know you had such patience and determination, otherwise we should have had a good chat long ago."

Tan Anfeng subconsciously wanted to give up her seat, but Mrs. Tan said, "Anfeng, don't move. It's not her turn to sit in this position." Tan Li frowned and said, "Xijun, what are you doing?"

Mrs. Tan had never looked at Tan Huaike straight in the eye, and now she was also rude: "Who does she think she is? Where did she come from? As long as I am here, she will never bully my son and daughter."

This was obviously a case of hating everyone in the Tan family. Everyone in the Tan family knew that because Tan Li favored Mo He Hu Ji, Mrs. Tan hated all women of other races.

Being humiliated in public, Tan Li was surprised: "My dear!"

Tan Huaike was too lazy to bother with the couple's arguments. He leisurely sat down at the end of the long table, facing Tan Li directly. "I'll just sit here. The store is busy. If you have anything to say, just say it directly. There's no need to beat around the bush."

Sitting like this, Tan Li suddenly felt like he was negotiating in the business world. Looking at his children, one was ordering food and the other was sulking, he couldn't help but worry about his huge family business. Could it be that he could only rely on this outsider in front of him in the future?

He calmed himself down and said, "I've been busy managing the shop I just bought. If I hadn't received your invitation, I wouldn't have known you had the guts to use the dowry we gave you to open a restaurant. If I'd known you had such a need, you could have discussed it with me. I could have shared the shop space with you, or I could have paid you some money and become co-owner. We could have shared the profits together, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Tan Huaike said, "Master Tan owns so many shops, I'm afraid I misremembered them. The dowry I received was the Zhiyun Cloth Shop and the Baicao Herb Shop, both of which were on the verge of closing due to years of losses. As a widow, I wanted to support myself, so I had no choice but to move the cloth shop elsewhere and turn this into a restaurant. Of course, it was you who had the foresight to choose the right location for the shop, which made this restaurant possible. But isn't it too late for Master Tan to offer to host this restaurant together now?"

"It's not too late. If you don't succeed this time, there's always next time," Tan Li said. "I've just acquired ten shops. They might seem out of the way right now, but they'll all be in prime locations in the future. You can buy one or two and keep them in stock. When your business grows and you want to open branches or new stores, you'll have them handy."

"Mr. Tan is willing to sell me two of them?"

"I won't sell it. There's no point in doing business like this between us. I can just invest money in you and you can pay me a small amount of rent plus dividends."

Tan Huaike had heard of those shops, and even visited them when she was scouting for a new location for the cloth workshop. The location was indeed too remote. Holding onto it was like gambling on the possibility of future county changes, much like the layout of Ringing Street. If the changes were successful, it would be like a win-win bet, and they would profit greatly, with the prosperous shops providing continued income. But if they lost, the losses would be severe.

Tan Li dared to spend a lot of money to stock up ten shops, probably because he had heard some news in advance, but Tan Huaike did not want to take the risk.

So she said, "Mr. Tan thinks very highly of me. The restaurant has just opened, so whether it can make money is still uncertain. Besides, I have invested almost all my wealth in it, and I don't have the spare money to open a new store right now. It's too early for me to spend money and energy to open a branch."

Tan Li continued his persuasion, "I've visited the current Baicao Herb Shop and Zhiyun Cloth Shop. I'm very familiar with their original conditions. The fact that you were able to revitalize them single-handedly and even open this restaurant shows that you have a natural talent for business. I'm telling you this because we're in the same boat. The new shop is being built to prepare for the selection of imperial merchants. Our Tan family wants to leverage this opportunity to soar to new heights. Don't you want to share in this glory?"

"So it's to prepare for the selection of the Imperial Merchant." Tan Huaike understood and said carefully, "This is a serious matter, but I'm really short of money right now. Let me think it over before we make any decisions."

"Tan Huaike, don't think..." Tan Li was slightly dissatisfied.

"Perhaps Master Tan would you be willing to offer a little more?" Tan Huaike made his intention clear. "For example, when will my shameful indenture be returned to me?"
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　Next chapter: I am flattered that my uncle is here today to support us.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)