Chapter 8
After crying for several minutes, Bai Jing, who had separated from her mother, said, “Mom, come back to Shenzhen with us.”
“You and Anzi have asked me about this at least a hundred times,” He Donglian said with a smile. “I’m not going. I still prefer it here. It’s more comfortable here.”
“Xiaoqin and I are both in Shenzhen. I’m really worried about you being here alone.”
“What’s there to worry about? I’m not missing any limbs,” He Donglian said. “Daughter, let me tell you, don’t worry about things on my side. You should think about when to give Anzi another healthy baby. The two-child policy has been in place for years, and your belly hasn’t gotten any bigger. One is too lonely; two would be perfect. How about this, after you have your second baby, I’ll come over and help you take care of it?”
“Sure!”
When do you want it?
“Mom, having a baby isn’t something you can just do whenever you want. Do you think it’s like planting radishes?” Bai Jing said with a smile through her tears. “Anyway, once I get pregnant, you should immediately go over there to take care of me and let me give birth to a healthy, chubby baby.”
“become!”
Han An didn’t wake up until 4:30.
Han An smoked a cigarette before going downstairs.
After returning the phone to his wife, Han An drank a bowl of chicken soup.
He Donglian was particularly pleased with Han An as her son-in-law, so after Han An finished his soup, she even gave him a chicken leg.
Han An said he would eat it at dinner, but at his mother-in-law’s insistence, he ate the chicken leg anyway.
After that, the three of them sat on the bench and chatted.
After dinner, Han An and Bai Jing went straight to the rooftop.
Because her hair was disheveled by the wind, Bai Jing chose to stand with her back to the guardrail.
As for Han An, he was leaning against the guardrail, smoking and gazing at the afterglow of the setting sun.
After a moment of silence, Bai Jing asked, “How’s the chain store project going?”
“We’re still looking for a storefront,” Han An said. “The rent for the storefront I’m interested in is too expensive, almost 50% more expensive than our current storefront. Although the location is very good, there’s Haidilao and several other hot pot restaurants nearby, so I’m still hesitant.”
“Even if the competition is fierce, it doesn’t matter, after all, our Hanji hot pot base is unique.”
“I’m not afraid of too much competition, I’m afraid of malicious competition,” Han An said after taking a drag of his cigarette. “Didn’t a new hot pot restaurant open across from us at the beginning of last year? The owner of that restaurant was disgusting. To ditch our regular customers, he kept offering huge discounts. The discounts were unprecedented, and it was clearly a loss-making scheme to gain publicity. I went to talk to him and said that business shouldn’t be done like that, but he just yelled at me. He made it very clear to me that he wanted to ditch all our regular customers and force us to close down. He thought that as long as the discounts were big enough, he could turn our regular customers into his own, but he forgot the most important thing. The most important thing about hot pot is the soup base, and the soup base in that restaurant was really bad. It was just made with any ingredients you could buy on the market. So after two months of malicious competition, he closed down because he lost more than 200,000 yuan. As for Han Ji, although we didn’t make any money in those two months, at least more regular customers knew that Han Ji’s soup base was the most authentic.”
“So there’s no need to fear malicious competition, since we have real substance.”
“Established stores are certainly not afraid of malicious competition, but new stores are, since they don’t have regular customers.”
“So, should we move to a different location?”
“Let’s talk about it when we get back to Shenzhen,” Han An said, gazing at the afterglow. “My goal this year is simple: to open a branch in Futian District as soon as possible. Business in Luohu District is already very stable, and it’s hard to make any further breakthroughs in turnover, so I have to focus my efforts on the branch.”
“Honey, are you only planning to open a few branches in Shenzhen?”
“The ultimate goal is to open branches in major first- and second-tier cities, but we need to establish a foothold in Shenzhen first.”
“Will it be a directly operated model or a franchise model?”
“Let’s operate directly,” Han An said. “I’ve seen too many news reports about big brands being ruined by franchisees.”
“So, are they learning from Haidilao?”
“Only by standing on the shoulders of giants can we see further.”
Upon hearing her husband’s words, Bai Jing immediately hugged him from behind.
Gazing at the afterglow, Bai Jing murmured, “I’ve found a treasure.”
“I’ve also struck gold,” Han An said, gently holding his wife’s hand. “When Han’s Restaurant first opened, business was incredibly slow, and I even considered closing down. When I was losing my will to fight, you said that what customers care about most isn’t what dishes are available, or whether the prices are cheap or expensive, but the soup base. So, with your encouragement, I went directly to Chongqing to learn from a master, focusing all my energy on perfecting the soup base. Only after I created a soup base that even amazed myself did I return to Shenzhen.”
“And your return has brought Han Ji back to life.”
“Thank you for supporting Hanji for me during those three months.”
“Behind every successful man is a woman who silently supports him, so that’s what I should do.”
“Wife,” Han An asked, turning around to look at his wife, “have you ever done anything to betray me?”
Does being secretly photographed count?
“You know what I mean.”
“If secretly filming doesn’t count, then there’s nothing to it.”
Han An hopes his wife will tell the truth so he can make a decision based on it.
Unfortunately, his wife is still playing dumb with him.
He’ll be going to the Flower Bamboo Inn tomorrow; maybe then he’ll find out who his wife’s lover is.
Before that, Han Anzhen hoped that his wife could be honest with him or even repent.
Only in this way would he possibly forgive his wife.
After his breathing became heavier, Han An said, “It’s getting a bit cold.”
“The temperature difference here is quite large,” Bai Jing said. “When I went back to my parents’ house this morning, I was wearing this dress and that red coat. By noon, I was just wearing the dress. And now, I want to wear the coat again.”
“Let’s go downstairs then.”
After smiling at his wife, Han An, who looked somewhat tired, immediately walked towards the stairwell.
“Husband,” Bai Jing hesitated for a moment before asking, “If I were touched by another man, would you still forgive me?”
Hearing his wife’s words, Han An’s heart sank to the bottom.
Turning to his wife, Han An said, “Tell me what happened.”
“Tell me first whether you will forgive me.”
