Chapter 161: Giving Someone a Favor with a Small Price
Upon seeing that Tang Xiu recognized him, the plump middle-aged man immediately felt somewhat special as he smiled ear to ear and said, “You’re most welcome! I did what I was supposed to do since it’s my work. Idol, I thought I would never be able to see you again for the rest of my life! So I didn’t expect that today I would come across with you here. Even I didn’t expect that this restaurant belongs to your family. But the news about your family’s restaurant has entered my ears so many times before. Your family’s restaurant is truly great. The meals are sumptuous, the prices are cheap and the tastes are also wonderful.”
"Thanks for the kind words of praise."
Tang Xiu nodded and smiled. And then, he turned again toward the inside.
For a moment, the plump middle-aged man stared blankly as he watched Tang Xiu walk away. He was somewhat quite clueless, and thought that Tang Xiu didn’t like some of the words he said.
“What was that? Trying to worm your way in to get close to a woman by approaching her child? Is she ignoring you? Those warm feelings of yours are clearly meeting with the cold rebukes from them, aren’t they?” The middle-aged woman who talked a moment ago, looked at the plump middle-aged man with a contemptuous expression on her face as she ridiculed him.
In just a split second, the face of the plump middle-aged man turned crimson.
Tang Xiu, who just walked for a few steps, could clearly hear the ridicules from the middle-aged woman behind him. His brows were slightly wrinkled as he stopped walking and looked back slightly. Then, he looked at the familiar attendant and said, “I just recalled that Mom said that she must keep one or two of the most luxurious boxes to entertain the distinguished guests. Do we still have them?”
The attendant said, “Yes, we still have two of them.”
“Is there anyone using the box now?” Tang Xiu asked.
The attendant said, “Yes, one of them is being used by the City Leaders. But the other one is empty!”
“Since there’s still an empty box, I presume it’s fine if I take it! This Fatty Big Brother is my acquaintance. He’s a good man!” Tang Xiu said
“Alright!”
The attendant respectfully nodded.
In this instant, the plump middle-aged man was shocked. Tang Xiu’s praise for him made his anger instantly turn into happiness as he cast a grateful expression toward him.
As for the middle-aged woman, her breathing slightly paused, with an angering expression immediately drawn on her face. She pulled the fierce-looking middle-aged man’s hand, dragging him to leave. However, that middle-aged man sized up the plump middle-aged man with an astonished expression. Then, he turned toward the middle-aged woman and spoke in a low voice, “Don’t incite trouble deliberately. Our family finally can get together today. The others have scheduled us the best room in this restaurant with great difficulty. And this is already giving us a face, greatly.”
"Hmph…"
The middle-aged woman obviously was afraid of this fierce-looking middle aged-man. She snorted coldly and then turned her head with an obvious resentful expression on her face.
Tang Xiu no longer paid attention to these trivial matters anymore and headed straight to his mother’s office. When he saw that his mother was doing some accountings with a calculator and seeing her smiling expression, Tang Xiu also felt warm and comfortable inside.
“Mom, your restaurant is doing great. I think you can afford to hire someone to help you manage the finances.”
Upon seeing Tang Xiu, Su Lingyun’s eyes immediately brightened up. She put down the account book from her hands and said with a smile, “Sonny, don’t be silly! We can’t hand over the accountings to others. What should I do if they report dummy accounts? Your mother might be old, but my brain is still fine in dealing with calculations. So I can still deal with this.”
Tang Xiu said with a laugh, “Who dare say that Mom is old? You are and you will always be forever young and beautiful in my heart. Ah, right, the school is on holiday so I don’t need to go to school for tomorrow and the day after. Four days later I’ll attend the College Entrance Test, and the test itself will be held in our school.”
Su Lingyun said with a deep concern expression, “Xiu’er, you don’t need to feel pressured. Consider it as an ordinary exam. Even if you can’t get the admission to enter a top university, Mom will still feel happy even though you can only enter an ordinary one.”
Tang Xiu said, “I have the confidence that I can give you the provincial top scorer for this test.”
Su Lingyun was amused by his words and said with a tease, “Smelly boy, you do know how to coax you Mom to be happy, don’t you? Ah, right. Have you eaten yet? I’ll go to the kitchen to cook some food for you…”
Tang Xiu promptly replied, “It’s ok, Mom. I had already eaten. Recently, I’ve been tutoring some cla.s.smates of mine for supplementary lessons and they just treated me to dinner this evening.”
Whilst looking at the gray hairs on his mother’s temples, Tang Xiu thought for a moment and decided to not go back to South Gate Town tonight, but to his real home. Spending time and accompanying his mother was, after all, his lifelong greatest wish.
At early hours…
Tang Xiu accompanied Su Lingyun to shut the shutters and close the restaurant. Then, they walked home together. The street lights outside were dim and there was only a handful of pedestrians on the street, while vehicles were still converging on the road as though a dragon and steadily flowing.
“Mom, do you always go home at this time, everyday? Alone?” Tang Xiu’s expression was a bit unsightly. With his Spiritual Sense he had observed the surroundings and he didn’t find Banshou and the others around.
Su Lingyun said with a smile, “Ah, yes! Our home is very near from here, and it only takes ten minutes on foot. Take a look at those street lights. The light is so bright and the ground is well-illuminated, so you don’t need to worry to step on something and sprain your legs.”
Tang Xiu continued, “And, what time the restaurant is open for business everyday?”
“Ah, I can only come over at 9AM every morning. As for buying vegetables and meats, Banshou and the others are doing the job. If not, I could have died due to fatigue.” Said Su Lingyun.
Tang Xiu nodded and no longer said anything. However, he was actually thinking about it inside. His mother went back home at this very late hour every night, that was too unsafe. He must a.s.sign someone to protect her in secret. Nowadays, it was better to be safe than sorry and be prepared just in case. If something unfortunate occurred to her, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
After arriving at home…
Whilst lying on a familiar bed, Tang Xiu looked at the familiar scenes in the room with quite a headache as he felt that he was lacking in manpower. When he was in the Immortal World, he commanded a large number of loyal and devoted subordinates who were always ready to do each and every bidding he threw at them. As long as he issued any orders, some Immortals would carry them out.
But now, he had just only returned back to Earth recently and he must do a lot of things by himself. He lacked abilities and was weak; he wanted to do his own things, wanting to make money for his cultivation practice, going to college to fulfil his mother’s wishes. But then, he wouldn’t be able to protect his own mother.
“Should I train some trusted subordinates?!”
The thought popped inside his mind. However, in this age where wealth was of the most import, he found himself really too poor. Although he got a lot of money recently, but he only had a few millions on him right now. Such as the money he got from Tie Long as well as the compensation from the Rising Dragon Martial School, all of them had been taken by Kang Xia to develop the company. Moreover, the recent purchases of medicinal herbs and ingredients also cost him quite a sum.
“I owe Chen Zhizhong 2.5 billion yuan, and also 100 million to Gu Xiaoxue. What should I do to get my hands on some big money again?”
For a long time, Tang Xiu was thinking. But he finally tossed aside the idea of “training subordinates” inside his heart.
“Bam, bam…”
The dull knocking sounds on the door woke Tang Xiu, who had slowly fallen asleep. When he dressed up and looked at the time, it was at a very late 2 o’clock at night.
“It’s so late. Who’s knocking on the door?”
Tang Xiu’s brows deeply wrinkled. He went out of his room and saw his Mother also had dressed up and came out.
“It’s in the middle of the night. How come someone in knocking our door this late?” Su Lingyun hesitated. She wasn’t sure whether she should open the door or not. After all, there door had no peephole and she didn’t know if it was a good or bad people outside.
Tang Xiu said, “It’s alright, I’ll take a look at it.”
After having said that, he strode to the door. After he opened it, the very first thing that came in was a fluttering pungent smell of liquor, and quickly followed with Su Shangwen with his messy clothes and red eyes who crashed and fell inside.
Seeing that, Tang Xiu quickly moved. He reached out and grabbed Su Shangwen’s collar, throwing him directly out of the door. With a cold and detached expression, he watched him fall heavily and smash on the ground.
“What the h.e.l.l are you doing?”
Su Shangwen struggled and crawled, trying to get up from the ground. After he flung his head and could clearly see that the one standing in front of him was Tang Xiu, he immediately threw a rain of curses, “YOU f.u.c.kING d.a.m.n LITTLE b.a.s.t.a.r.d! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU! Because you want to… if it weren’t for you, do you think I—Your Father, will be so miserable now? You gotta f.u.c.king pay me… compensate for my company, my money…”
"Pa…”
Tang Xiu pulled him up and slapped his face, causing him to sit with his a.s.s down on the concrete floor in front of the door. Then, he spoke with a cold and detached expression, “Did you not hear clearly what I’ve said before? If you drink too much and get drunk, get the h.e.l.l out of my face and go sleep in your house! Don’t act crazy because of liquor here! Otherwise, it won’t be as simply as losing your company, you also won’t be able to guarantee your own safety!”
Su Shangwen covered his face with his palm as he then spurted out a strong and disgusting smell of alcohol and cursed, “You… you d.a.m.n little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You’ve just barely grown up… a-and you even dare to hit… to hit this FATHER? HOW DARE YOU? IF IT WEREN’T FOR I—YOUR FATHER—DO YOU THINK YOUR FAMILY CAN BE BETTER NOW? IF IT WEREN’T FOR ME… Your mother… your mother could’ve been become a beggar and died in the corner of an unknown alley a long time ago!”
Tang Xiu took a deep breath. He turned around and looked at the door. Su Lingyun was there with a miserable expression. Then, with a deepened tone, he said, “Mom, if you trust me, let me solve this problem. You go to rest!”
Su Lingyun hesitated for a moment and then replied in a low voice, “But, Xiu’er, he…”
Tang Xiu said, “My people will do something about this. But you don’t need to worry. I guarantee that there will be no problem with his personal safety.”
“You…"
Su Lingyun stared in a daze at Tang Xiu. She suddenly realized that her son had really grown up and no longer needed to be protected by her. Moreover, she also found that her son was as though he became a lot more mature in the last two months; even becoming somewhat mysterious.
“Alright.”
Su Lingyun had already been disappointed thoroughly by this blood brother. So, shooking her head, she turned around and went back to her room.
Tang Xiu went out of the door and closed it from the outside. His hand grabbed Su Shangwen and dragged him downstairs in big strides. As he arrived at the roadside, he fiercely slapped his face again, making him faint. Then, he stopped a taxi, throwing two hundred yuan to the driver, he gave him Su Shangwen’s home address.
After the taxi had gone quite far, Tang Xiu stopped looking and dialed Chen Zhizhong’s cell number. Although it was very late at 2AM, he had no choice but disturb Chen Zhizhong. His mother must no longer receive any hara.s.sments again whatsoever, and he wanted to solve the problems with Su Shangwen as fast as possible.
He was really glad he went home tonight. Otherwise, judging from Su Shangwen’s character, he would absolutely insult his mother, and likely beat her.
“Master, you’re looking for me?”
Chen Zhizhong’s voice came out of the phone.
“Were you sleeping just now?” Asked Tang Xiu.
“No, I’m still taking care of something at the moment. Anyway, do you have any commands for me, Master?“ Chen Zhizhong said.
Tang Xiu said, “About Su Shangwen’s matters. How’s the progress now?”
Chen Zhizhong said, “We’ve started to pull him into the net. The Shangwen Real Estate company owned by Su Shangwen has a lot of problems and also many black debts. At the most, five days later, he will be arrested. Even if he won’t be imprisoned for life, he will be behind bars for at least ten or twenty years.”
Tang Xiu asked: "What else?"
Notes:
Too many errors in the raws for the last chapter, causing me to ask the author… But only a few for this chapter.