I'm back in 1990

Chapter 558: Those Born in the Year of the Crab

That evening, Huang Xiaochuan invited Huang Shanqing to Huahong Restaurant to taste authentic local cuisine, including dishes such as Eight Treasure Duck, Braised Three Shreds, Braised Eel in Hot Oil, and Fried Shrimp.

Huang Shanqing nodded repeatedly as he ate, too busy eating to even speak.

He put down his chopsticks when he was about 70% full and commented, "I've always heard people say that Shanghai cuisine is rich in oil and soy sauce and has a sweet taste. I tried it today, and it is indeed rich in oil and soy sauce, but it's not as sweet as I've heard! I ate three pieces of that braised pork just now, it was so delicious!"

Huang Xiaochuan laughed and said, "So sometimes rumors are not necessarily credible. For example, a northerner who is used to salty and savory flavors will definitely find the taste of local cuisine to be too sweet when he first eats it, because northern cuisine uses very little sugar. Except for some sweet and sour dishes, almost no white sugar is used."

Huang Shanqing nodded and said, "Yes! This also shows that the inland area is vast and rich in resources. Different places have different people and characteristics, and the same is true for cooking."

After discussing the dishes, Huang Shanqing explained to Huang Xiaochuan why he had come to see Huang Xiaochuan.

"Xiao Chuan, although we haven't met many times, I know your abilities. Before I came to the mainland this time, your great-uncle repeatedly told me to consult you if I needed anything, so I contacted you as soon as I arrived in the mainland."

"And I have another idea. I'd like to bring you into the business. After all, you understand the mainland better than we do, and as an economics professor, your understanding of mainland policies is far more thorough than ours. With you here, I feel more confident doing business in the mainland!"

Huang Xiaochuan waved his hand: "Uncle Shanqing, you flatter me. There's no need for you to invest. But if you need anything in the future, feel free to come to me. Besides, the mainland is now adhering to the policy of opening up to the outside world, and the WTO accession negotiations are going very smoothly. It won't be long before China can join the WTO. Just you wait and see, China's economy will grow even faster after joining the WTO. Now is the perfect time for you to invest."

Huang Xiaochuan felt that he already controlled several real estate companies, from Hong Kong to the mainland, and that he had his own ideas about real estate development. However, he knew that these ideas would not be accepted by Huang Shanqing, a traditional businessman whose primary goal was to make money. Huang Xiaochuan's ideas differed greatly from Huang Shanqing's, and that conflicts were bound to arise in the future. Therefore, he thought it would be better for them to go their separate ways.

Furthermore, he already has the development trends for the next twenty years in his mind, so making money will be very easy for him. Therefore, there is no need for him to get involved with Huang Shanqing in business. Besides, he always wants to make up the majority of his investment, and Huang Shanqing probably wouldn't agree to that.

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan was unwilling to invest, Huang Shanqing naturally tried to persuade him again and again. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried to convince him, Huang Xiaochuan still refused to agree. Helpless, Huang Shanqing had to propose a compromise.

"Xiao Chuan! How about this? We're relatives, but business is business. I'll hire you as an investment advisor for our real estate company in mainland China. We'll need your help with many things in the future, so I can't let you help for free. At least give you the title of advisor so I can pay you an advisory fee. If you still don't agree, then I'll get angry."

Huang Xiaochuan thought for a moment and finally agreed: "Since that's the case, it would seem pretentious of me to say no again. Let's do as you say, Uncle Shanqing."

Huang Shanqing then smiled and said, "That's more like it!"

Then Huang Shanqing told Huang Xiaochuan about his plans: "Xiaochuan, I still plan to bring in some partners. You know, there's an old saying that goes, 'Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake.' It's the same with doing business. On the surface, it seems like we're just sharing some of the profits, but actually, this is how we can make the biggest profit."

Huang Xiaochuan agreed with this, nodding, "Uncle Shanqing, your idea is correct, I agree, but I think you can investigate further before confirming a partner."

"Yes, that's right. I plan to send an invitation to all the well-known real estate companies in China, inviting them to a business reception in Shanghai. The purpose is twofold: firstly, to get to know each other, and secondly, to identify potential partners for further discussions in the future," Huang Shanqing told Huang Xiaochuan.

It must be said that Huang Shanqing's method is very good. Instead of inspecting each company one by one, it is better to invite all these powerful real estate companies together and let them meet and get to know their leaders.

"Uncle Shanqing, your idea is good."

"Ogawa, you have to come too!"

Huang Xiaochuan also wanted to take this opportunity to meet those pioneers in the domestic real estate industry, so he readily agreed: "Uncle Shanqing, I will definitely go."

On Sunday, Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Xiang took their two children to visit their eldest sister Zeng Hong's home.

Zeng Xia and her family of three had arrived first. Through the chest-high courtyard wall, Huang Xiaochuan saw Huo Xinyuan (Liu Jin) and Tang Ruixuan jumping rope under the shade of a tree in the yard. Because they didn't have enough hands, the two girls brought out two chairs from home to hold the rope in place.

Huang Xiaochuan called out the names of the two girls over the courtyard wall: "Xuanxuan, Liujin, open the door quickly."

Upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan arrive, Tang Ruixuan ran towards the courtyard gate, turning back to shout into the house, "Mom! Uncle and Aunt are here!"

She then opened the courtyard gate to let Huang Xiaochuan and his family in, and Tang Ruixuan didn't forget to greet Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Xiang.

Hello, Uncle and Aunt!

At this moment, Huo Xinyuan also ran over. Her little face was flushed, and her fuzzy face was covered with a layer of fine beads of sweat, which looked like she had been playing jump rope.

"Uncle and Aunt!"

"Sister!" Huang Ruiying and Huo Xinyuan were birds of a feather, and Huang Ruiying went up to Huo Xinyuan as soon as she saw her.

Huo Xinyuan pulled Huang Ruiying away, saying, "Come on, I'll teach you how to jump rope."

Tang Ruixuan then called out to Huang Zeji, "Xiao Dong, why don't you join us for jump rope?"

Huang Zeji was unhappy. He grabbed Yu Xiang's hand and wouldn't let go: "That's for girls. I don't like playing with that."

Yu Xiang smiled and said to Tang Ruixuan, "Xuanxuan, don't worry about him, you two go have fun!"

Tang Ruixuan saw that Huang Zeji was unlikely to play with them, so she stopped insisting.

At this moment, Tang Jianhua came out of the house to greet them.

"Quickly, come inside and sit down. I've already boiled the water and am just waiting for you to make tea. Xiaodong, come in with your uncle."

Huang Zeji called out, "Hello, Uncle!"

"Little Dong, you're such a good boy. Come inside, come inside. Your uncle bought you lots of delicious food. You can take it all with you later."

Huang Zeji politely replied, "Thank you, Uncle!"

Upon entering, Zeng Xia and Huo Miao were already waiting in the lobby to greet us.

The couple greeted Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Xiang.

Huang Ze then called out, "Second Aunt, Second Uncle!"

Zeng Xia hugged Huang Zeji tightly and, whether he wanted to or not, planted several kisses on his face.

Huang Zeji looked unwilling, but he couldn't break free and could only suffer in silence. Moreover, he found that asking anyone for help was useless. Didn't he see that his mother and father didn't even ask him anything?

Huang Xiaochuan didn't see Zeng Hong, so he asked, "Where's my older sister?"

Tang Jianhua handed the tea canister to Huang Xiaochuan and said, "I got a call saying I have some work to take care of, but I should be back soon."

Tang Ruixuan and Huo Xinyuan are already in elementary school, so Huang Xiaochuan casually asked Huo Miao, "Liujin is in elementary school now, how's he doing?"

It would have been better if this matter hadn't been brought up, because once it was, Huo Miao was overwhelmed with problems.

"Performance? Don't even mention performance!"

Judging from Huo Miao's tone, Huang Xiaochuan guessed that Liu Jin must have been mischievous again.

As expected, Huo Miao looked worried and said, "It's been less than a month since school started, and I've already been called in by the teacher seven times."

When Huang Xiaochuan, who was making tea, heard this, his hand trembled involuntarily, and he almost spilled the water.

"What's going on?"

Huo Miao counted on his fingers the good deeds his precious daughter had done at school to his brother-in-law.

"On the second day of school, during recess, while chasing and playing with his classmates, he wasn't looking where he was going and bumped into their headmaster, causing him to fall to the ground and fracture his coccyx. He's still lying in the orthopedic ward of the hospital!"

Huang Xiaochuan gasped. Was this girl going crazy? Being called in seven times in a month couldn't just be about this one thing. He wanted to hear what else was going on.

Huo Miao continued, "She even used her pocket money to buy all the giant bubble gum rolls at their school store and distributed them to everyone in her class. You could say she just chews some bubble gum, but do you know what she did?"

Huang Xiaochuan was also very curious; he wanted to know what his precious niece had done with all those big curls of hair.

Huo Miao said with a wry smile, "She took a big curling iron and braided all the girls in her class into pigtails that were sticking straight up, including herself. If the boys in their class didn't have short hair, they probably would have been ruined by her too. When their homeroom teacher entered the classroom and saw a bunch of pigtails sticking up, she thought she had entered the wrong classroom."

Hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan looked speechlessly at the little girl outside the window who was playing jump rope with Huang Ruiying. Why was she so naughty?

"That's not all. During recess, she led a group of classmates in a game of 'testing the waters,' and one of them threw a stone into their teacher's office. By sheer coincidence, it broke their homeroom teacher's glass, which had just been filled with boiling water! It almost scalded their homeroom teacher."

Even as he spoke of this, Huo Miao still seemed shaken.

Come to think of it, she sent the head of student affairs to the hospital right after the start of the semester, and it hasn't been that long? The homeroom teacher almost got sent to the hospital by her too.

As for keeping a large green caterpillar as a pet in one's pocket, or drawing different flight postures of geese during class, these are nothing compared to those two things.

At this moment, Zeng Xia started scolding Huo Miao: "How dare you tell your little brother these things? Liu Jin was spoiled by you."

Upon hearing this, Huo Miao felt utterly wronged! He was even more wronged than Dou E!

Liu Jin's lawless nature was spoiled by Zeng Xia, and she actually turned around and accused him?

Huo Miao said to Huang Xiaochuan with a worried expression, "I reckon if the teacher calls my parents again, the school will make us transfer Liu Jin to another school."

Yu Xiang comforted him, "No, Liu Jin is just a little naughty. The mistakes he made are not serious. It's not necessary for him to ask to transfer schools."

Zeng Xia retorted arrogantly, "If the school dares to transfer Liu Jin to another school during the nine years of compulsory education, I will report them to the Education Bureau."

Huang Xiaochuan glared at Zeng Xia: "Look at you, so capable?"

After calming Zeng Xia down, Huang Xiaochuan asked Huo Miao, "Have you visited the head of the teaching department?"

Huo Miao immediately said, "I went. I paid all the hospital fees and everything. I even bought a bunch of things. I told Director Hua that I would cover all the lost wages and nutrition expenses so she could focus on recovering."

Huang Xiaochuan recalled something: nowadays, primary and junior high schools have set up two names for the same management team in order to generate revenue. Public schools enroll school-age children within the school district, while private schools allow students to enroll at a negotiated price. The school selection fee for a primary school student can be as high as 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, but even so, countless parents still hold the money to send their children to prestigious schools.

This is all due to the uneven distribution of educational resources. Huang Xiaochuan knows that this kind of thing takes a long time to change and cannot be changed overnight.

Huang Xiaochuan gave Huo Miao an idea: "You own a furniture factory, right? You can tell the school that you're willing to donate a batch of new desks and chairs to improve the students' learning conditions. It won't cost you much, maybe a few hundred thousand yuan at most, which isn't something you can't afford."

Upon hearing this, Huo Miao immediately understood what his brother-in-law meant by asking him to do this.

He slapped his thigh: "That's right!"

Huang Xiaochuan then reminded Huo Miao, "Keep your voice down. You can do this, but don't let Liu Jin know."

"And you, you're the one with the fastest tongue in our family. If you let this slip and Liu Jin finds out, you'll be ruining her life, you know?" Huang Xiaochuan warned Zeng Xia again, as she was the most outspoken person in the family.

Before Zeng Xia could refute, Liu Jin and Huang Ruiying rushed in, went straight to the refrigerator, took out three large ice creams in front of everyone, and then left without any further ado.

Huang Xiaochuan pointed to the two girls who had just left: "Look at them, they're already unruly at home. And this girl is so smart. If she finds out your family donated desks and chairs to the school, she'll be walking all over the place!"

At this moment, Zeng Xia muttered, "The ones that walk sideways are crabs."

Huang Xiaochuan heard these words clearly and said angrily, "That's right, your daughter is born in the year of the crab."

As they were talking, Zeng Hong returned. Seeing that everyone had arrived, she asked Tang Jianhua, "Is everything ready?"

Tang Jianhua stood up, took the bag from Zeng Hong, and said, "We've been waiting for you, the mistress of the house, to come back."

Tonight's dishes were all prepared by the chefs from Tang Jianhua Restaurant. There were seven or eight of them. With many hands, there is strength, and everyone was quick and efficient. In no time, they had prepared a large table of dishes.

Zeng Hong quickly gestured to everyone, "Then please sit down! We're all family, no need for formalities. Little brother, you set an example."

Yu Xiang then went to the courtyard and called all three maids in.

After everyone was seated, Tang Jianhua picked up his glass: "Come on, it's rare for my brothers and sisters to come to my house, welcome, welcome!"