Category: The Big Landlord

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Chapter 153.2 – To Make Amends

An Zi Ran got a ready-made restaurant from Elder Zhuo, and he was very happy about it, because right now, he was really short on money. The revenue from Tian Long Gambling House was no longer enough to meet his needs, so now he urgently needed to earn even more money.

At the end of every month, An Ziran, in addition to looking at several profitable properties under his control, also has three ledgers that continuously exported large amounts of money.

The three ledgers were An Yuan County, Chang Province, and Ali Xiang.

An Yuan County was not bad. The An family owned an industry in An Yuan County. The money earned every month could supplement the wages of the workers and still have surplus leftover. Some time ago, An Zi Ran implemented the same plan as Ali Xiang in An Yuan County. That was, those who have worked for three years could get a piece of land.

But Chang Province and Ali Xiang were different.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

The project in Chang Province required repeat investments of funds. It was impossible to recover these funds until the following year.

As for Ali Xiang, there was income from agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, but Ali Xiang was located in a remote area. This was especially so after Fu Wu Tian blocked the secret passage to and from Gaoze Country. They needed to find a new buyer. As a result, the income from Ali Xiang was not as high as when Xu Wei Ye was around.

Because of these reason, An Zi Ran didn’t have much money in his pocket yet. The only industry that could really make money was Tian Long Gambling House. The others could only be regarded as small projects for the time being. It was going to take some time before those projects would produce any substantial results.

A month ago, An Zi Ran had also opened another Tian Long Gambling House in Feng City*.

[*T/N: Here the author wrote 凤城 fèngchéng, which would translate into “Phoenix City.” But previously the author wrote this as 枫城 fēngchéng, which would translate into “Maple City” instead, and that’s what I had previously translated it as. I’m not sure if the author made a typo here or previously, but I’ll just call it “Feng City” from now on for simplicity’s sake.]

The population flow of Feng City was not as high as that of Jun Zi City, but it was still a big city and the income coming from Feng City was not a small amount. However, the two gambling houses could not meet his current demand for money.

Yesterday, Zhuo Hai Tang showed him the restaurant’s ledger, which recorded the restaurant’s income for that day.

Although Zhuo Hai Tang’s surname was Zhuo, he had nothing to do with the Zhuo family. He was originally a painter for the gambling house, but there was not enough manpower [in the restaurant], and there were not as many people applying for gold cards [in the gambling house] now, so An Zi Ran temporarily transferred him to the restaurant to manage the accounts.

Support the translator. Read this on: vmnovels.com

An Zi Ran had already looked through the ledger, and the profit of the restaurant was more than he had imagined, so he came up with the idea of opening a restaurant. He already had plans to open a third gambling house in another city. So if he opened a few more restaurants, he should be able to make enough money from all the new establishments to temporarily meet his urgent need for money.

The next day, Elder Zhuo brought Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife, Bao Xin Chun, out of the ancestral hall.

The two of them felt deeply ashamed and resentful, but they still had to publicly apologize to An Zi Ran, according to An Zi Ran’s demand, for the sake of the future.

The Zhuo family was a reputable family. As soon as this incident happened, the news immediately spread far and wide.

With the spread of this news, the An Family Restaurant became famous. People also found out that the owner of the restaurant was the wangfei of Prince Fu’s Mansion. Many people were talking about this matter, including several of Emperor Chong Ming’s sons, especially the fifth prince, Fu Yuan Jian, who had always suspected that the person behind Tian Long Gambling House was a member of the imperial family. And now, such news was spreading.

The An Family Restaurant’s reputation became very famous after this drama.

But asides from the restaurant, there was also this novel food item called hamburger, and what made Fu Yuan Jian concerned was that the meat used in these hamburgers was beef.

Just a while ago, they were wondering who was helping the cattle farmer with the surplus fresh meat, so they have been paying particular attention to any information about beef. With the appearance of this hamburger, Fu Yuan Jian could not help but wonder if the helper was Prince Fu’s Mansion.

“Do you guys think it could be Prince Fu’s Mansion?”

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Fu Yuan Jian looked at his two confidants.

Luo Yang was deep in thought and did not say anything.

Jiang Sheng thought for a while and replied, “Wangye, there was tens of thousands of kilograms of fresh meat returned to the cattle farmer’s slaughterhouse. This is a lot of meat. There is only one An Family Restaurant. Even if they bought everything, in such a short amount of time, it is impossible to make food out of such a big quantity of beef and sell it all.”

“What you said does make sense.” Fu Yuan Jian nodded. He thought so too. Then he turned to Luo Yang and asked, “What do you think?”

Luo Yang replied, “Wangye, this subordinate thinks that it would be better to kill a thousand people by mistake than to let go of the one right one. We can look into Prince Fu’s Mansion. Even if it’s not them, it will have no impact on us.”

Fu Yuan Jian made an immediate decision, “Then let’s do this. I’ll leave this matter to you and Jiang Sheng. Remember, I want a definite answer.”

“Understood!”

Jiang Sheng and Luo Yang responded at the same time.

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The Big Landlord

Chapter 157.1
Chapter 156.3
Chapter 156.2
Chapter 156.1
Chapter 155.2
Chapter 155.1
Chapter 154.2
Chapter 154.1
Chapter 153.3

Didn’t Love You Enough

Chapter 120
Chapter 119
Chapter 118
Chapter 117
Chapter 116
Chapter 115
Chapter 114
Chapter 113

This Alpha’s Pheromones Are Exploding

Chapter 144
Chapter 143
Chapter 142
Chapter 141
Chapter 140
Chapter 139
Chapter 138
Chapter 137
Chapter 136

Male Lead 2 and Male Lead 3 Happy Ending!

Chapter 119
Chapter 118
Chapter 117
Chapter 116
Chapter 115
Chapter 114
Chapter 113
Chapter 112
Chapter 111
Chapter 110

Let Me Shoulder this Blame!

Chapter 178
Chapter 177
Chapter 176
Chapter 175
Chapter 174
Chapter 173
Chapter 172
Chapter 171
Chapter 170

As requested by VIP Choice, this bonus update goes to TBL. This one is for you Montanna! Enjoy ^-^

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Chapter 153.1 – To Make Amends

An Zi Ran had foreseen that Elder Zhuo would come to visit.

If the person that Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife had tried to frame was just an ordinary restaurant owner, then it would not be a big problem for the Zhuo family, but since it was the powerful and influential Prince Fu’s Mansion they could not just sweep this matter under the rug.

If Prince Fu’s Mansion became angry and retaliated against the Zhuo family, the Zhuo family might not be completely destroyed, but their strength would still be severely damaged. Elder Zhuo did not dare to take such a risk. For the Zhuo family to become the head of the Chamber of Commerce, he had to experience many things that others could not imagine and suffer through many frustrations, so he would definitely pay Prince Fu’s Mansion a visit.

An Zi Ran did not deliberately put on airs. Instead, he went out to greet Elder Zhuo.

For the sake of the Zhuo family, the great and mighty Elder Zhuo bent his waist and made concessions. Without An Zi Ran saying a single word, Elder Zhuo offered up one of his family’s large restaurants located in the Eastern District as compensation.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

Out of the all the businesses that the Zhuo family had a hand in, the restaurant business was one of their main ones. Their restaurants paid attention to excellence and improvement, so each restaurant was carefully managed. Moreover, due to their established fame, each restaurant brought in a hefty income.

For Elder Zhuo to give over a restaurant like that without the slightest hesitation was equivalent to cutting off a small piece of flesh from his body.

An Zi Ran was a little surprised by Elder Zhuo’s offer, but after thinking about the rumors he had heard about Elder Zhuo he felt relieved. For someone to become the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, it was not strange for him to have this type of thinking.

“Since Elder Zhuo shows such sincerity, I will not pursue the matter regarding Zhuo Gao Ming and Bao Xin Chun, but…”

An Zi Ran did not open a restaurant in the Eastern District, because he could not find a suitable place. The powerful businessmen in Junzi City have already taken all the popular and conspicuous places. He came too late. Now that Elder Zhuo was personally offering up a restaurant, there was no reason why he should not accept it.

Elder Zhou could tell that An Zi Ran was trying to hint at something. He frowned slightly and said, “Junwangfei, please tell me.”

An Zi Ran said, “I want Zhuo Gao Ming and Bao Xin Chun to publicly apologize and explain to everyone that they were the ones who planted the cockroaches in the food to deliberately frame my restaurant.”

Although the incident has subsided, there were still some jealous people who were using this incident to purposely spread rumors in other places about An Zi Ran’s restaurant. Many people who were not present in the Western District to witness the event were grossed out by the rumors. Sooner or later, the truth of the matter would be made clear, but now that Elder Zhuo was presenting him with a ready-made restaurant, An Zi Ran hoped to completely resolve this matter as soon as possible.

Elder Zhuo hesitated for a while before agreeing.

Once this kind of stain is on someone’s reputation, it will be difficult to remove it in the future.

But that’s okay. Elder Zhuo knew long ago that his second son was not suited for doing business. Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife didn’t make much in terms of profits, and the methods that they thought were clever were actually deficits to the business, just like the teahouse they ran.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Elder Zhuo had long noticed this and he was disappointed in them. He’ll just treat this as a heavy lesson for them. If they could change their behavior in the future, as a father, he would not let them go cold and hungry.

Elder Zhuo promised An Zi Ran that he would hand over the title deed to the restaurant to him in two days. After that, he left not long after.

The descendants of the Zhuo family soon learned about this.

The restaurant business was one of the most profitable businesses of the Zhuo family. They were all dissatisfied that the Zhuo family lost a restaurant just like that. More and more they felt like the second son was born under an unlucky star.

Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife did not know about this exchange, and they were still expecting their father to calm down and let them out as soon as possible. They never thought that this incident would become a knot in Elder Zhuo’s heart, causing him to recall this event every time he thought of his second son. The original plan was to release them after one or two months, but it turned into three months. By the time they came out, everything would already be said and done.

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Chapter 152.2 – Punishment

Wan Xi Chuan was pleased by what he saw. He has always heard rumors about Fu Wu Tian that spoke of him as an arrogant jerk who considered everyone else beneath him. Only by seeing Fu Wu Tian with his own eyes did he know that the man was different from the rumors.

A person like Fu Wu Tian who has been fighting on the borders for years could actually have such good calligraphy. His talent must be extraordinary. It was just a shame that he was Fu Feng Zheng’s grandson. Fu Feng Zheng and he were rivals back in the day.

Pang Zhong greeted Fu Wu Tian and An Zi Ran. When he looked at Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife, his gaze was much colder.

“This old man has interacted with Elder Zhuo several times before, but I never thought that his son would be such a despicable and shameless person. You say that the junwangfei wrongly accused you. Well, this old man and Elder Wan both saw with our own eyes that you two were the ones who put the cockroach in the hamburger. This old man hates despicable scum like you the most. Don’t show up in front of this old man ever again!”

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

When Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife learned the identities of An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian, they knew it was over for them. After hearing Pang Zhong’s words, their faces turned as pale as paper. Their eyes rolled to the backs of their heads and they nearly fainted on the spot.

Both Elder Pang and Elder Wan were respected people of good moral standing and reputation. No one would doubt their words. If they said they saw it with their own eyes, then that must be the truth.

Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife’s faces were ashen.

It was too late to say anything now. The people they tried to frame turned out to be the junwang and junwangfei. If Elder Zhuo found out, he would definitely beat them to death.

In the end, An Zi Ran ordered some people to drive the two of them out of the restaurant, but the matter of them trying to frame the restaurant would not be swept under the rug so easily.

This matter soon spread to Elder Zhuo’s ears.

In the Zhuo family manor, Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife were kneeling in the middle of the main lobby. In front of them was Zhuo Tian Qi, the head of the Zhuo family, the one that everyone addressed as Elder Zhuo. Sitting to his right was his wife, Hong-shi. She birthed four sons and three daughters for him, which was a great accomplishment in his eyes, so he has always respected her, but when it came to important matters, he generally would not give in.

At this time, the fours sons and one unmarried daughter of the Zhuo were gathered here. They also heard the news that Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife had offended the junwang in the West District, so they hurried back.

But they didn’t come back to help the pair plead for mercy. Instead, they came back to watch the drama unfold and to gloat.

The Zhuo family had four sons. Except for the fourth son, the rest were already married and had children, and the oldest child was already twenty years old. So these people all had their own little schemes.

The Zhuo family was not some family with centuries of lineage. The fact that they were able to develop and grow to today’s extent and to also become the leader of the Chamber of Commerce was all thanks to Elder Zhuo’s singular efforts. And precisely because he has been holding on to power for so long, he did not feel at ease letting it go, which was why it was only now that he was considering which son should inherit his legacy.

Nowadays, he could feel his body getting old, which was why he announced that he would delegate power.

Support the translator. Read this on: vmnovels.com

His four sons were all very motivated. In just a short month, they have already made some achievements.

Elder Zhuo has been paying attention to the situation of his four sons, so he knew what methods his second son had used to force Boss Sun to close his teahouse. Although it hurt his own interests, this method was still a conservative and successful plan, so he actually felt quite good about his second son.

But what happened after?

The son that he felt the most assured about actually caused such a big incident!

Elder Zhuo knew that his second son was not a smart person, but he didn’t expect him to be so stupid. He didn’t mean that their method was stupid, but that they were stupid for not finding out the identity of the other party before they tried to frame the other side. Could a person who was able to afford to buy such a big teahouse be an ordinary person?

When Elder Zhuo found out what had happened, he was so incensed that his entire body shook with anger. It was only thanks to his wife’s appeasement that he was able to calm down.

Elder Zhuo looked coldly at his second son, “From today onwards, you and your wife will go kneel in the ancestral hall. Don’t come out without my permission. And also, you should close your teahouse.”

“Father!”

Zhuo Gao Ming became anxious when he heard this.

If they close the teahouse now, they could still reopen it later. After this incident he didn’t dare to keep the teahouse open either, otherwise it would just be an embarrassment to themselves. But his father was making them kneel in the ancestral hall; moreover, there was no time limit to the punishment. If his father made them kneel for a entire month, it meant that he was directly taking them out of the running for future head of the household.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Bao Xin Chun was also anxious, but she didn’t dare to say anything because her father-in-law was still in a rage. If they spoke about such things at this time it would only make him angrier. Worst-case scenario, it would be completely over for them.

Elder Zhuo left after he finished speaking.

Hong-shi hurried to chase after her husband. When she passed by Zhuo Gao Ming, he lightly grabbed her hand, raised his head, and looked at her pleadingly. Hong-shi shook her head helplessly. She wanted to help him, but Elder Zhuo was really angry. There was nothing she could do.

After the two elders of the family left, the eldest couple walked up to Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife. The first son patted the second son o the shoulder hypocritically and said with a sigh, “Father is really mad at you this time. You should take care of yourself.”

The third eldest couple then said a word of consolation that was actually gloating. Only the fourth son did not say anything and he even walked out without giving them a single look.

They could tell that the second son has already lost the competition. Even if he were let out of the ancestral hall within the one-month time limit, there would not be much time left to achieve anything significant. Thus, he was not a threat anymore. Besides, the second son and his wife had dug such a huge pit for the Zhuo family, so how could Elder Zhuo be at ease leaving the family in their hands.

The next day, Elder Zhuo personally went to Prince Fu’s Mansion to make amends.

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Chapter 152.1 – Punishment

“Are you guys the owner of this restaurant?”

It wasn’t until An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian walked right in front of them did Bao Xin Chun and her husband came back to their sense. Wanting to gain the upper hand by a show of strength, Bao Xin Chun immediately spoke before them, hoping to gain the initiative by striking first.

The husband and wife pair was mainly active in the West District, so they’ve never seen Fu Wu Tian before. They could feel that the two men’s temperaments were different from ordinary people, but they didn’t take it seriously. Their reasoning was that since these two were running a restaurant and was also showing their faces inside the establishment, then they must be lowly businessmen.

The Zhuo family was the leader of the Chamber of Commerce. There wasn’t a single businessman with enough strength to compete against the Zhuo family, so everyone had to give the Zhuo family some face.

An Zi Ran looked at the husband and wife pair. After a long while, he said, “I am. I heard that you two found cockroaches in my restaurant’s food.”

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Bao Xin Chun puffed up with false bravado and sneered. Then she threw the hamburger with a cockroach in it in front of An Zi Ran. “Look, this the hamburger from your restaurant. You see the cockroach on it? How do you explain it?”

An Zi Ran looked down at the dead cockroach.

Without him opening his mouth, Fu Wu Tian knew what he was thinking, so he picked up the cockroach.

An Zi Ran glanced at it, and suddenly said something inexplicable, “This cockroach is really big.”

Everyone heard this and was confused.

Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife didn’t know what he meant.

An Zi Ran was not afraid of getting dirty. He picked up the cockroach by the antenna and swung it back and forth in front of the husband and wife pair. He added, “Moreover, it’s a cockroach that was trampled on purpose.”

The expressions on Zhuo Gao Ming and Bao Xin Chun’s faces changed. They finally realized what An Zi Ran wanted to say.

Zhuo Gao Ming immediately shouted in a stern voice, “What do you mean? Are you trying to say that we deliberately trampled on this cockroach to death and then put it in the food?”

An Zi Ran ignored his rebuttal. With a calm expression, he continued to speak, “You may not be very clear about the process of making hamburgers. Two slices of steamed buns are baked in the oven. Then a beef patty is placed between the two slices of bread and paired with other ingredients. If a cockroach really ran in, the cockroach should not have been trampled. Moreover, it’s such a big cockroach that even an old man in his sixties or seventies would not miss it.”

Upon hearing his explanation, everyone felt that it made sense.

This cockroach was twice as big as what they usually saw. It was impossible for an old man to overlook it, let along a young and healthy young man working in the kitchen.

Furthermore, the kitchen was a place that needed to be kept the cleanest. Today was the An Family Restaurant’s grand opening day. How could they be so stupid that they would miss a cockroach of this size? And who could be so stupid as to put a squashed cockroach in a hamburger?

Support the translator. Read this on: vmnovels.com

Everyone couldn’t help but recall what Shopkeeper Liu had said before, and then they thought about how picky the couple was being as soon as they sat down, and suddenly they felt like they knew the truth. The gazes looking at Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife began to change one by one.

Ugh, the couple was obviously envious of this restaurant, but why did they have to come here and make everyone feel disgusted with their farce? The other customers almost lost their appetite because of them.

Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife were annoyed to find that the situation had been reversed by just a few words from An Zi Ran.

The two became angry and Bao Xin Chun even scolded, “What evidence do you have to prove that we did it? If you don’t have evidence, don’t frame us. Our Zhuo family is not easily bullied.”

Zhuo family?

Are they trying to tell him that he couldn’t afford to offend them because they have such a big backer?

An Zi Ran looked at them with ridicule in his eyes.

“Ha ha, you are indeed not an ordinary person.”

Pang Zhong’s energetic voice suddenly rang out, breaking the increasingly quiet atmosphere of the main lobby. Some people were even startled by his interjection.

Only then did An Zi Ran recall that there were two lively old men sitting in the corner. When he turned his head to look, the two old men had already walked over.

“The elder who laughed is Pang Zhong, the minister of the Ministry of Officials, and the one behind him is Wan Xi Chuan, a great calligrapher. His level of mastery in literature is comparable to Grandfather.” Fu Wu Tian told An Zi Ran.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

Contrarily, An Zi Ran’s attention was on the last sentence, but at the moment there was obviously no chance for him to ask about it, because the two old men had already arrived in front of them.

Pang Zhong looked him up and down, nodded with a smile, and then shifted his gaze to Fu Wu Tian. He cupped his hands in salute and said to the two: “Pang Zhong greats junwang and junwangfei.”

A single stone stirs up a thousand waves.

The crowd became noisy right away.

These two outstanding-looking men were actually the rumored junwang and junwangfei?

The people in the West District have only ever heard of the junwang and junwangfei, but they’ve never actually seen the two in person. Suddenly seeing these two lordly figures in front of them, the people were obviously shocked to their core.

“It has been a long time. Elder Pang and Mr. Wan are both hale and hearty despite your golden years. You’re still as lively as ever.” Fu Wu Tian nodded at the two elders with his hands behind his back. Both elders were friends with his grandfather. It wasn’t to the point where they opened their hearts and poured their guts out to each other, but their relationship was still good.

Wan Xi Chuan was pleased by what he saw. He has always heard rumors about Fu Wu Tian that spoke of him as an arrogant jerk who considered everyone else beneath him. Only by seeing Fu Wu Tian with his own eyes did he know that the man was different from the rumors.

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Chapter 151.3 – Nitpicking

“Call your boss out for me. If your boss doesn’t give me an explanation for this, I’m not going to let this go!” Bao Xin Chun put her hands on her hips in a very imposing manner as if she was the victim in all of this.

Shopkeeper Liu wanted to sneer at them, but he didn’t show it on his face. “Mrs. Zhuo, people who have nothing to hide do not have to beat around the bush, so I will speak frankly, I know that you two have always held a grudge over the fact that Boss Sun sold this teahouse to the owner of the An Family Restaurant and not to you, but there is no need for you to resort to such lame tricks, right? Just now, I clearly saw you put the cockroach in the food yourself.”

His words were quite brilliant. First, he brought up the old grievances between these two and the previous owner of the restaurant, and then he told the truth of what he saw. Although there were still some people who doubted his words, there were also some people who wore an expression of sudden realization.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Bao Xin Chun was not anxious. Instead, she sneered and said, “What a joke. What proof do you have that we were the ones who put the cockroach in the food? Not to mention that you are the shopkeeper of the An Family Restaurant, of course you would say that in order to protect the restaurant. In short, if you do not give us a satisfactory answer to this matter, we will not let it go!”

Shopkeeper Liu frowned deeply. In fact, he should’ve said something as soon as he saw Zhuo Gao Ming put the cockroach in the food, but he didn’t expect the two troublemakers to move so fast. Before he could act, they already started yelling, so he really didn’t have any proof.

The waiter walked up to Shopkeeper Liu and whispered, “Shopkeeper Liu, some people already believe them. If this matter cannot be resolved, it will affect the restaurant’s reputation. How about I go and get the boss?”

“That’s the only thing we can do.”

Shopkeeper Liu nodded helplessly.

The waiter immediately turned around and ran up to the second floor.

This was the grand opening day of the restaurant. An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian sat in a private room on the second floor, but the private rooms were soundproof, so they didn’t hear what happened downstairs.

After a while, the two of them appeared at the top of the stairs.

When the customers heard the sound, they subconsciously turned around and looked towards the stairs. At a glance they saw two people with temperaments like a dragon and a phoenix, one was tanned and handsome, and one was fair and elegant. Standing together, they did not look out of sorts at all. People with temperaments like them were usually not some ordinary people.

Amidst all the people in the lobby, there was one person who showed a surprised expression when he saw the two men at the stairs.

This person was Pang Zhong.

Pang Zhong was the Minister of Ministry of Officials. He has met Fu Wu Tian before a long time ago. For an outstanding man like Fu Wu Tian, even if you’ve only met him once, you would still remember him long after.

Support the translator. Read this on: vmnovels.com

Wan Xi Chuan seldom appeared in public, so he has never met Fu Wu Tian or An Zi Ran before, but he soon noticed something strange about his old friend.

“You know them?”

Pang Zhong nodded, “I should have realized this sooner, such sharp and majestic handwriting can only belong to him. I didn’t expect him to be the owner of this restaurant.”

When Wan Xi Chuan saw his old friend keeping him on tenterhooks, he immediately felt anxious, “Exactly who are they?”

“The youngster next to him is his wife.” Pang Zhong gave his friend a meaningful look.

Wan Xi Chuan was stumped for a moment, but then he quickly realized what his old friend was getting at. After all, who didn’t know about the God of War’s marriage? He actually dared to openly take a man as his wife. So this person must be the God of War, right?

“This…”

Wan Xi Chuan was suddenly speechless.

Pan Zong stroked his white-streaked beard and sighed, “If my guess is correct, the characters on the restaurant’s name plaque and the furniture screen must be the junwang’s calligraphy. Only he can write such characters.”

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

Wan Xi Chuan didn’t speak any more, but looked thoughtfully at the two men who came down from upstairs.

Pang Zhong has been with his old friend for many years, and he could see through his mind at a glance. He said with a smile, “You can stop what you’re thinking right now. The junwang is not someone you can easily take as a disciple.”

Wan Xi Chuang sighed, “I know, that person’s ability is comparable to mine. He must have his own personal teacher, there’s no place for me, but… you’re not planning to help them out and have them owe you a favor?”

Pang Zhong smiled.

“Let’s sit back and watch first.”

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As chosen by VIP Choice, today’s bonus update goes to TBL. This one is for you Farrah13!

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Chapter 151.2 – Nitpicking

“This little waiter’s temperament is too impatient. My husband is just trying to test you, and yet you’re so impatient? It seems that the quality of service of this An Family Restaurant is not very good!”

The waiter really wanted to ask her how was he being impatient. He has kept a smile on his face from beginning to end, so at which point did he seem impatient? Bao Xin Chun didn’t give him a chance to say anything. She picked up the menu, flipped to the back, and ordered a hamburger.

“This thing is really expensive. It’s just two slices of steamed buns plus a piece of meat, and it costs fifteen copper coins. You should know that twenty-five copper coins can buy a catty of beef.”

Bao Xin Chun did not keep her voice down. No matter how one parsed her words she was clearly nitpicking at any fault that she could find. She was also hinting to everyone present that the hamburger was not worth this price, especially her last sentence. Upon hearing her words, some people would immediately start to clack away at the abacus within their hearts and think that instead of buying a single hamburger for fifteen copper coins, it would be more worth it to buy a catty of beef for another ten copper coins and share that meat with their entire family.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

The waiter could see the customers’ shifting expressions, but he was not anxious.

It’s true that if you compared the two, buying a catty of beef was more cost-effective than buying a single hamburger, but anyone who has eaten a hamburger knew that the taste was definitely one in a million. Even if you bought the beef yourself and tried to recreate the dish at home, the taste would not be the same.

That’s because the beef used in this restaurant’s hamburgers were flavored with Jiang Yu’s unique secret recipe handed down from her ancestors. It was a unique secret recipe that one never tired of eating and it was a recipe that no one else could imitate.

The waiter did not bother to explain this.

Bao Xin Chun thought that the waiter was struck speechless by her words and was secretly feeling very proud of herself.

The two of them were not short on money, so they ordered five dishes.

The waiter was worried that the two of them would find fault again if the food arrived late, so he explained the situation to the two chefs in the kitchen, namely Jiang Yu and Chef Wang. This was the restaurant’s big opening day. In order to get the customers to return, the two chefs were in the kitchen personally making everything themselves and the other people in the kitchen were just assisting.

“Understood. No need to worry. Just do things according to order. If they find fault on purpose, you just need to answer them truthfully.”

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Chef Wang’s expression was as steady as usual. Back in An Yuan County, he had met many picky customers like this, and among them a lot of them were envious of their restaurant.

The waiter agreed happily before running out the kitchen.

Due to the large number of customers in the restaurant, by the time it was Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife’s turn it was already half an hour later. Zhuo Gao Ming wanted to throw a fit at first, but his wife held him back.

If they wanted to ruin the reputation of the restaurant, they needed a reasonable situation, and not such a petty thing.

In addition to ordering a hamburger, the two ordered four other home-styled dishes, such as broccoli with mushrooms and fried pig ears with green peppers. The dishes didn’t look particularly special, but the aroma was very alluring.

The husband and wife pair looked at each other. Then they began to polish off the food on the table. Their lips were soon greasy with oil and sauces.

The waiter observed the husband and wife pair for a long while, seeing that they weren’t making any more unreasonable demands, he thought that they had given up for now, so he stopped paying particular attention to them. That was until a loud screech sounded in the restaurant lobby and the waiter quickly came back. When he saw that the screeching had come from Bao Xin Chun, unease stirred in his stomach. He was so busy running back and forth that he had put these two out of his mind.

In the crowded lobby full of people, Bao Xin Chun’s scream immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

“It’s disgusting, how could there be cockroaches in this hamburger?”

Bao Xin Chun and her husband immediately pretended to retch after shouting.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

When the surrounding customers saw that there was indeed a cockroach in the hamburger, they immediately showed disgusted expressions. In an instant they lost their appetite, regardless of whether or not they had ordered a hamburger themselves.

Shopkeeper Liu had already pinned these two customers as troublemakers. He knew that the reason Boss Sun’s teahouse went bankrupt was because of these two. They even pretended to be buyers, hoping to purchase Boss Sun’s teahouse at a low price. When he saw them show up today, he knew right away that they were planning to cause trouble.

This method of framing a restaurant by saying that they have cockroaches in their food was no longer a special trick. Even the restaurants in the popular East District would occasionally have such a situation happen to them.

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Chapter 151.1 – Nitpicking

Most of the people present knew this husband and wife pair, not only that, they knew that the husband was the Zhuo family’s second son Zhuo Gao Ming and the wife was Bao Xin Chun.

The husband and wife’s reputation was actually not very good, but for the sake of the quality tea in their teahouse, most people overlooked that point.

Although the Zhuo family was a family of merchants, their influence in Jun Zi City was not small.

Zhuo Gao Ming’s talent in business was not the highest among Zhuo’s sons, but it was not the worst either, it’s just that the way he did things was a little out of date.

The status of businessmen in Da Ya was not great, but they couldn’t be inferior, otherwise people would only look down on they even more. So some people might flatter them on the surface, but actually look down on them in their hearts.

When the crowd saw the husband and wife pair coming over to the restaurant, they didn’t pay it much mind.

The very nature of a teahouse and a restaurant was different. One sold tea and the other sold food and wine. No matter how you looked at it, there was not much interrelation.

So no one expected them to come here to make trouble.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

There were no more open seats in the lobby on the first floor, but there were still many vacant rooms upstairs. However, the purpose of these two was not with the private rooms.

After a while, someone finally got up to settle his bill. The customer didn’t really want to leave, but the hamburger was indeed a very novel food, so he decided to buy a few back for his elderly mother, wife, and children to try.

However, Zhuo Gao Ming and Bao Xin Chun were not the only ones waiting for vacant seats. There were other people waiting eagerly on the sidelines, but most of them were literati, so they couldn’t do something like fighting over seats, which would ruin their scholarly image, not to mention, the two elders were still in the lobby and would be able to witness such a shameful scene.

So the scholars could only watch helplessly as the thick-skinned Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife snatched away their seats. They gave the two a bitter look. Now they could only look for other people to share a table with.

Zhuo Gao Ming and his wife proudly raised their chins.

“Waiter.”

Zhuo Gao Ming picked up the menu on the table, glanced at it casually, and suddenly called for the waiter in a loud voice. Many guests around him frowned.

A waiter quickly came over to them. He cleared away the cups and dishes on the table. Then he wiped the table down with a wet towel and a dry towel alternately. Then he asked politely, “What would these two customers like?”

Originally Bao Xin Chun wanted to complain that the table was dirty, but upon seeing the waiter’s actions, she could only open and close her mouth in silence. In the end, she held back her complaint, albeit unwillingly.

While flipping through the menu, Zhuo Gao Ming asked carelessly, “What signature dishes does your restaurant have?”

The waiter was momentarily stumped. He looked at the menu in Zhuo Gao Ming’s hand, and then he looked at the man’s expression. The waiter rolled his eyes and explained, “Sir, please look at the third page of the menu in your hand. The signature dishes are all written on it, and the first two pages are the catalog of various dishes. If you need anything, you can directly turn to that page, and the price is written on the back.”

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Zhuo Gao Ming’s expression suddenly sunk. He slapped the menu onto the table, “I’m asking about the signature dishes in your restaurant, not for you to tell me about the menu, is this how your restaurant serves guests?”

The waiter has already confirmed that the other person was here to nitpick and find fault with them. The man’s actions were so obvious that the waiter wanted to roll his eyes at them. Did this guy think he was all that? Such an unreasonable person.

The boss did say that the customer was king, so no matter how irritated the waiters felt, they couldn’t express that in front of the customers. That was, unless the other party was deliberately trying to pick a fight, then they could handle the situation as they saw fit as long as it did not damage the reputation of the restaurant.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

“Sir, you asked this little one what are the signature dishes, and this little one said that the signature dishes are written on the third page of the menu. This little one does not think he has said anything wrong. If you think that turning a few pages is too tiring for you, then this little one is willing to help you turn to the third page. Is that okay?”

The waiter showed an impeccable smile.

Zhuo Gao Ming could feel everyone looking at him with ridicule and mockery in their eyes, and his face flushed immediately. He wanted to refute, but he couldn’t think of how to refute.

In the end, Bao Xin Chun was wittier, and her brisk laughter attracted everyone’s attention to her.

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Chapter 150.2 – Two Elders and Opening a Business

Everyone then went up to the second floor to take a look around. They were pleasantly surprised to find that the rooms on the second floor were made of soundproof materials, so they wouldn’t have to be afraid of people overhearing them if they said something secretive. People like them were full of convoluted thoughts and secrets. They felt like they should come to this place more often in the future as a show of support.

After they looked over the second floor, the group came down and found seats on the first floor. As a newly opened restaurant, naturally everyone would be interested in it. Since they were already here, they couldn’t just take a look around and then leave. Thus, they ordered a table full of dishes.

The two elders wanted to appreciate the painting and the calligraphy on the screen in the lobby on the first floor up close, so they purposely found a place near the screen.

At first, they didn’t have much expectation for the restaurant’s dishes, but when the food was served, the strong aroma of the food wafted into their nostrils, which actually stirred the gluttons in their stomach, and some of them even gurgled.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

There were more than twenty different types of dishes at the An Family Restaurant. It was impossible to order all of them at once, so they could only order some that looked delicious and that they would usually like.

But after tasting the dishes, everyone became interested in the other dishes. Just smelling the aroma of the food in this restaurant made them salivate. They have never been so gluttonous in other restaurants.

“Look at this menu. There is something called a hamburger on it. It has a strange name. I have never heard of this kind of food before.”

A scholar flipped through the menu and was suddenly attracted by the food names in the back. You could guess what most of the dishes were from the name, but he had never heard of this hamburger thing.

“Let me see?”

The people at the same table were also interested by what he said, and quickly took the menu from him.

The menu was very exquisite. Each dish was sorted according to its type, including a beverages section, followed by a section for convenient and portable foods, such as the hamburger previously mentioned by the scholar, which ranked at the top of the list, and there were even more than one type of hamburger.

First, there was the size of the hamburger. According to your hunger level, there were four types of hamburgers to choose from: five inches, six inches, seven inches, and eight inches. The price was marked on the back. Second, there was the number of layers of meat. Pay a few more copper coins to add another layer of meat to the hamburger, and the five-inch hamburger was the basic choice priced at fifteen copper coins.

To many people, this was an expensive item.

You could purchase a lot of buns with fifteen copper coins, but there were still some people who were very interested in this thing. For people like Pan Zhong and Wan Xi Chuan, they were not short on money.

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These two elders have eaten delicacies from the mountains and the sea, but this hamburger was a food item that they have never heard of before and it has aroused their interest, so they ordered a few plates of dim sum, and then ordered two five-inch hamburgers.

On the first day the restaurant opened, there were no empty seats, and the waiters kept running around. An Zi Ran had expected this situation, so he hired ten waiters from the get-go. The swift waiters quickly served the two elders all their dishes.

The two elders looked at the strangely shaped hamburger in front of them. For a while they didn’t know how to react.

“This… is a hamburger?”

Pang Zhong was surprised. He was a well-informed person, but he was sure he had never seen this kind of food before. It looked like two pieces of golden steamed buns, with a piece of meat and other ingredients in the middle.

Wan Xi Chuan picked up a hamburger and smelled it, “This meat is indeed beef, and the portion is quite a lot.”

There was beef, chicken, and pork on the menu. The two were curious whether it was true, so they ordered two beef burgers. They thought the meat would not be too much, but it looked like a big piece.

Pang Zhong took a bite dubiously. He thought the meat might be difficult to chew, but he bit it off immediately. After eating it, he found that the beef was minced and then squeezed into a round piece. It is just right for the elderly whose teeth were slowly deteriorating, and children could also eat it.

“It tastes really good.”

Hearing this comment, the people in the lobby all started to crave this hamburger. Fifteen copper coins for such a big piece of meat was not very expensive. Some people touched their pockets and in the end decided to try a beef burger. If it was good, they would buy it again, and this thing looked very convenient to eat.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

The beef burger was not greasy. After eating the beef burger in their hands, the two elders drank a cup of tea to refresh their taste buds. They were already slightly full after this, so they could only eat a bit of the dimsum on the table.

The hamburger was still a little expensive for most people, but it was worth the money. At least the amount of meat in the burger was quite a lot, so it should be okay to eat it once in a while.

Soon, the first floor lobby was filled with sounds of praise for the hamburger.

Not long after, the couple from the teahouse couldn’t help themselves and they came to the entrance of An Family Restaurant.

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As selected by VIP Choice, today’s bonus update is TBL. This one is for you Paige33!

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Chapter 150.1 – Two Elders and Opening a Business

March 1^st, 28^th year of Chong Ming, Main Street, West District, Jun Zi City

The sound of firecrackers, cymbals, and drums were deafening. Today was the grand opening day of the An Family Restaurant*. This restaurant was twice the size of the restaurant in An Yuan County. It immediately attracted the attention of many people, who all stopped to watch. A small number of them were literati who came from the teahouse on the other side of the street.

[*T/N: the restaurant doesn’t have a special name, it’s literally called 安家酒楼 “An Family Restaurant”]

Most literati loved to drink tea. Some of them actually liked drinking tea, while some of them drank tea to show off their elegance.

The sound of firecrackers attracted these people’s attention and many poked their heads out of the window to look. When they saw the restaurant’s name plaque, sincere admiration burst from the bottom of their hearts.

“Good calligraphy, such good calligraphy!”

An octogenarian who looked very old and wrinkly admired the four characters on the plaque. The calligraphy was lively and strong like dancing phoenixes and soaring dragons. He couldn’t help exclaiming out loud, “good,” and he looked like he could barely contain his excitement.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Another elderly man also echoed in praise: “It is indeed good handwriting. This is the most imposing and sharpest handwriting I have ever seen. The person who wrote these four words must not be a simple person. It would be great if I could meet him!”

The people around who heard the conversation between the two couldn’t help looking at each other.

The two old men were regular customers of the teahouse across the street, and there was no one around who did not know of them, but that was not the reason why everyone knew them.

The old man who spoke second was Pang Zhong. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, which was one of the six departments of Da Ya. He was a literati himself, and he had quite a reputation. He was good at calligraphy and had made great achievements in this area.

As for the first old man, his name was Wan Xi Chuan. He had grizzled hair and looked very old on the outside, as if he was eighty years old, but in actuality he was only in his sixties. He was not a government official, but he was also a master in the literature world and was at the rank of a great master.

To be able to get a compliment from the two of them, this person must have some real skills.

A trace of jealousy appeared in many people’s hearts.

They knew the identities of the two old men from the very beginning, and many people wanted to curry favor with them, but the two old men didn’t like sycophantic people.

In their view, one must have the arrogance of a literati in their writing to be considered a literati, and this arrogance was not necessarily reflected in their character, rather, the most important thing was the issue of principles and integrity.

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In order to have these two elders view them favorably, some literati would frequently go to the teahouse and stay there for some time.

Some people would find out in advance when the two elders would go to the teahouse, and then they would perform a good deed in front of them, such as helping the old, weak, female, or young, and some would pretend to compose a poem on the spot as soon as they spot the elders, etc. It was like a show of the Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing his own special talent*.

[*T/N: idiom for “to show off the best of one’s abilities”]

But the two old men have lived through many years, so how could they fail to see through these people’s tricks? Up till now no one has been able to catch the eyes of the two old men.

Although everyone was frustrated, they were not discouraged.

As long as they could get one compliment from these two elders, then they would rapidly go up in the world. For this bright future, they were willing to even destroy their own image.

[T/N: Sounds counter intuitive to me…]

But now, the goal they worked so hard for was easily achieved by a person they had never met. Jealousy rushed up in their hearts.

Seeing that the two old men had got up and went downstairs, everyone followed suit. They also wanted to meet the person who wrote the plaque for the An Family Restaurant. They just wanted to find a little psychological balance; maybe that person was ugly.

A group of noisy people came to the restaurant, and when they walked in, everyone’s eyes lit up.

It’s not that they have never been to the predecessor of this restaurant before. During the opening of the Zhuo Family Teahouse, many people here have patronized the teahouse, and the number of times they came here was not low. This included the two elders, who were also regular customers of the teahouse. But later, the husband and wife pair used high quality tea to attract the two elders, and the rest of the literati followed. This then led to the Zhuo Family Teahouse going bankrupt.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

However, the interior of the current restaurant was completely different from what they have seen before. The decoration was more exquisite and luxurious. The waiters and shopkeeper were all in uniformed clothing. All the tables and chairs have been replaced with new ones. It looked more upscale than the teahouse. What was even more surprising was that there were rows of flowers and plants in every corner of the restaurant. Greenery dotted the interior of the restaurant, giving the place a fresh and clean flavor.

There was also a large furniture screen inside the restaurant. On the front of the screen was a landscape painting, which depicted the land of Da Ya. Judging from the painting, the artist’s painting skills were also very high, but what everyone cared about was the characters written on the back of the painting. This was clearly the same lively and strong calligraphy as the one on the restaurant’s plaque.

Appreciating the handwriting at close range, everyone was even more shocked.

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As chosen by Patreon Vote, today’s bonus update goes to TBL! ^-^

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Chapter 149.3 – Beef Jerky

At Prince Fu’s Mansion, Chef Wang and Zhou Lan Han’s wife experimented for many days and finally figured out how to make the tastiest beef jerky.

Speaking of Zhou Lao Han’s wife, rumor has it that the reason why her food was so delicious was because it had something to do with a secret recipe passed down from her family’s ancestors.

Zhou Lao Han’s wife was called Jiang Yu. The ancestors from her maternal family once opened a restaurant. Rumor has it that business was booming and they even opened up a dozen restaurants. But later, they offended some big shot, and then the Jiang family began to decline. Fortunately, the unique secret recipe of the Jiang family has been handed down.

The so-called unique secret recipe was originally only passed down to males and not to females, but in Jiang Yu’s generation, she was the only descendant left in the Jiang family.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Jiang Yu’s father didn’t want the unique secret recipe to be lost, so he passed it down to Jiang Yu, but there was one condition. If she got married in the future and gave birth to a son, then the son must be surnamed Jiang, and she must pass the recipe down to him. Only in this way was she allowed to use the secret recipe herself.

Fortunately, Jiang Yu gave birth to two sons.

Zhou Lao Han has always felt bad for Jiang Yu for marrying a [poor] man like him, so when he learned about her father’s condition, he agreed without hesitation. He was the oldest child in the Zhou family, and all the elders in his family have already passed away, so there was no one to object to his decision.

It was all thanks to Jiang Yu’s secret recipe that the An family’s restaurant was able to flourish.

When they experimented with making beef jerky this time, Jiang Yu added her secret recipe again. The resulting taste was much better than what was already being sold in the markets. Once they determined the best method of making tasty beef jerky, they started marinating beef jerky in large quantities. As for pork jerky, they only made a small portion of that.

The process for making beef jerky was not complicated and it did not take a lot of time.

However, there was simply too much raw meat to work with. It was impossible for Chef Wang and Jiang Yu to do it alone. So in the end, they hired some people and gave them hands-on instructions. Only the last step in the process – the flavoring of the jerky – was completed by the two of them.

The first completed batch of special beef jerky was sent to Prince Fu’s Mansion. Every servant at the mansion got a catty of beef jerky. They were so excited that they almost started snatching at the beef jerky.

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Beef itself was already a bit on the expensive side. Occasionally eating fresh beef was still affordable, but doing it everyday was impossible. Therefore the special beef jerky was even more expensive. Its market price could each forty copper coins per catty, with the most expensive kind reaching sixty copper coins. It was so expensive that most people could not afford to buy it.

The beef jerky distributed to the servants in Prince Fu’s Mansion was not only good in quality but also very tasty.

Some people were even more delighted to find that their catty of beef jerky contained many flavors. There was five-spice beef jerky, mala beef jerky, etc. If they didn’t like spicy flavors, they could replace it with non-spicy ones.

One of the servants made a rough calculation and determined that this one catty of beef jerky would be worth more than fifty copper coins on the market.

They already knew that the wangfei was very generous. During the Lunar New Year, the wangfei gave the servants many new years gifts and about five to ten taels of silver. Many servants were very grateful and they cherished this job even more.

Five days later, An Zi Ran sent most of the marinated beef jerky to Chang Province.

They were building a large-scale construction projection in Chang Province. The workers composed of local migrant workers and some of Fu Wu Tian’s soldiers. There were parts of the project that they did not want outsiders to know about (so they had to handled those parts themselves). Also, the soldiers have a bigger appetite than the migrant workers and An Zi Ran considered them his people too. He was never stingy towards people he considered his own.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

The beef jerky was expensive, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to spend this money. Not to mention, once the project in Chang Province was complete and large amounts of cotton came pouring in, he would get even more money in return.

After another half a month, the An Family Restaurant finally opened.

The refurbished restaurant looked much better than before, especially the entrance of the restaurant.

First impressions were very important. In order to attract customers, An Zi Ran had people repair the threshold. Fu Wu Tian himself also nominated the plaque. His handwriting was majestic and discerning. Everyone could tell that the person who wrote it has profound skills. Literati who loved calligraphy would one hundred percent be attracted just by looking at it.

While they were busy serving customers on this side, the couple in the teahouse on the other side wanted to vomit blood. After waiting for more than twenty days, their competitors actually opened a restaurant?

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