Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

The owner of Yue Man Lou had worked as a chef in Guangzhou for several years. After accumulating some experience and capital, he returned to this small sixth- or seventh-tier county town and opened this restaurant.

Actually, running a Cantonese restaurant business in the north is very difficult because the regional differences between the north and south mean that local northerners don't like the sweet and salty flavors. However, this owner is very business-minded. He modified the Cantonese dishes at Yue Man Lou according to the local tastes, and he also decorated the restaurant very luxuriously. As a result, Yue Man Lou became a gathering place for the wealthy in this small county.

Wang Pengfei's father was the director of the county education bureau, so after graduating from university, Wang Pengfei naturally entered the education system. In addition to having a secure job, he also managed to control all the extracurricular textbooks for primary and secondary schools in the county, achieving both fame and fortune.

Inside the private room at Yue Man Lou, Cao Hua sipped his tea and said to Wang Pengfei, "We're all old classmates now, so you'd better watch what you say later. Don't bring your bad habits into the room."

Among the classmates, only Cao Hua dared to confront Wang Pengfei to his face, because Cao Hua's uncle was very influential in the local county, and even Wang Pengfei's father, a bureau chief, had to give him some face. It's said that in this area, anyone who dares to do gold business can't last long without some serious skills.

The door to the private room opened, and a tall woman dressed in a fur coat walked in. After she took off her sunglasses, her beautiful face was revealed.

Cao Hua: "Qin Rong? It really is you! I almost didn't recognize you after all these years."

Qin Rong smiled at Cao Hua, then snuggled up to Wang Pengfei and said coquettishly, "Pengfei, didn't you promise to buy me a new bag? It's almost the end of the month, why haven't you done anything yet?"

Qin Rong was originally the prettiest girl in her class. Although her grades weren't great, she never lacked suitors. Li Zhen was one of her suitors, but she never even looked down on a poor guy like him.

A short while later, two more people came in: Fang Zhen, who worked in the used car business, and Li Jie, who worked at a bank.

As soon as Fang Zhen entered, he smiled and explained to the three of them, "I'm really sorry, I didn't expect there to be traffic jams in the county town this afternoon. I picked up Brother Jie and sped all the way here, just in case I kept you waiting."

Cao Hua got up and poured tea for the two of them, smiling as he said, "It's alright. Our county's economy is getting better and better these days, and almost every family has a car. Isn't this traffic jam normal? Besides, there's someone who arrived even later than you, and hasn't arrived yet."

Just then, Li Zhen pushed open the door and walked in.

As soon as he entered, he saw these familiar yet unfamiliar old classmates. In particular, when he saw Qin Rong sitting next to Wang Pengfei, his gaze paused for a moment before he started exchanging pleasantries with the others.

Cao Hua stood up and said, "We're all old classmates, so don't be shy. Sit down first, and I'll have the waiter bring the food. Let's talk as we go."

Li Zhen was pulled to sit next to Cao Hua, and the others also sat down casually.

Li Zhen is the only one who rarely participates in such activities; the others usually get together for a meal every now and then. This is because they all have mutual interests involved.

Fang Zhen is a used car dealer, and he needs a lot of working capital to buy and sell cars. Li Jie, who works at a bank, can solve his problem. Wang Pengfei, on the other hand, supplies extracurricular textbooks for the entire county, which also requires a lot of funds. In addition to getting formal loans from Li Jie, he sometimes takes out private mortgage loans from Cao Hua's gold company.

In order to complete the deposit target set by the bank, Li Jie had to find Cao Hua to solve the funding problem, so the group was entangled with each other, and in addition to their classmate relationship, they also had a relationship based on mutual interests.

Li Zhen was attending a party for the first time. He had bought two packs of soft-pack Zhonghua cigarettes on the way, and then took them out of his pocket and put them on the table.

Soon the waiter quickly placed the food on the table. Putting aside the taste, the color and knife skills of each dish alone showed that the chef had really put his heart into it.

After everyone's glasses were filled, Wang Pengfei took the opportunity to say to Li Zhen, "Old classmate, what have you been up to all these years? If Cao Hua hadn't mentioned you today, we would have almost forgotten about you."

Li Zhen smiled upon hearing this and said dismissively, "I've just been drifting along these past few years, barely managing to stay afloat."

In Li Zhen's view, the friendship between the classmates had long since changed as they grew older. It was more accurate to describe it as a relationship of mutual benefit than a genuine friendship.

If you're doing well and have resources, they'll try every means to get closer to you. Conversely, if you're not doing as well as they are, they'll take the opportunity to satisfy their vanity. That's basically how people are these days.

Li Jie, who works at a bank, adjusted his glasses and asked Li Zhen, "You always did very well in your studies. What kind of work do you do now?"

Li Zhen gently placed his teacup on the table and said with a smile, "I just went to the company this morning to complete my resignation procedures. I was thinking of starting my own trading company, and I'll need your help with funding if I need it."

At this moment, Cao Hua slurred, "You're short of funds, aren't you... oh dear!"

Li Zhen stomped on Cao Hua's foot hard, and Cao Hua immediately understood what was happening. He grinned at Li Zhen.

Li Jie readily agreed: "No problem. As long as you have assets to mortgage and appraise, getting several hundred thousand is not an issue."

Once all the dishes were served, Wang Pengfei invited everyone to eat and chat. Soon, everyone began commenting on the dishes on the table. One dish, Sichuan-style saliva chicken, was particularly delicious, prompting everyone to take a few more bites.

After several rounds of dishes and drinks, Wang Pengfei raised his glass to Li Zhen and said, "Li Zhen, if you ask me, you shouldn't run this trading company anymore. I happen to be short of a business manager. Why don't you come and work for me? The pay will definitely be good."

Li Zhen smiled and said, "Work for you? With your stinginess, you'd only pay me a hundred thousand or so a year at most, and I'd be treated like a dog."

Li Zhen raised his glass to Wang Pengfei and said, "Mr. Wang, thank you for your kind offer, but I've already started planning for the company. We can cooperate in the future if there's an opportunity."

Qin Rong, who had been silent until now, spoke up: "Oh, Pengfei, don't be so kind. They don't even care about your paltry fortune. They want to start a big company."

Cao Hua was displeased upon hearing this and directly confronted Qin Rong: "Miss Qin, Li Zhen is ambitious and driven. He doesn't rely on his family or society; he relies on his own hard work. If he really succeeds in running a company, it might be even bigger than Pengfei's."

Li Zhen was afraid that Cao Hua would reveal too much about himself if he talked too much, so he served him a bowl of silver fish soup: "This soup is good, you should try it."