books44 Chapter 290: Deal
Chapter 290: Deal
Chapter 290: The Deal is Made
"Why is there nothing here? What's wrong with this restaurant?" Ji Meiqing said, trying hard not to get angry, but the fierce look on her face still sent chills down people's spines.
"Alright, you can go downstairs now. Make some tea and bring up some side dishes," Zhang Yang couldn't help but step in to smooth things over. The waiter immediately went downstairs obsequiously, and after a while, the tea and dishes were brought up. Ji Meiqing took a bite and shook her head, saying that the food was not as good as the dishes at Yuanyanglou.
"Zhang Yang, although I don't know why you suddenly set up Jixianglou, isn't what you're doing going too far?" Ji Meiqing said slowly, taking a sip of tea as she spoke.
"Oh? That's going too far? Miss Ji, that's not quite right of you." Zhang Yang pretended not to understand as he looked at Ji Meiqing, the smile in his eyes reaching deep into his depths.
"Don't play dumb. We're all business people. Why resort to underhanded tactics to make things a life-or-death struggle?" Ji Meiqing said bluntly, not even glancing at Zhang Yang, resting her chin on her hand and waiting for his reply.
"Since Miss Ji has said so, I have nothing more to say. Judging from Miss Ji's attitude, are you going to negotiate with me?" Zhang Yang was a reasonable person. If his father hadn't used reverse psychology, he wouldn't have mobilized so many people to set up this so-called Jixianglou overnight.
"I want you to shut down this Jixianglou restaurant. Are you willing?" Ji Meiqing asked directly, without beating around the bush.
“Okay, but what will you offer me in exchange?” Zhang Yang looked at Ji Meiqing with deep, dark eyes.
"An exchange is impossible. This Jixianglou has no signature dishes or famous wines. It's more like a small eatery than a restaurant," Ji Meiqing said bluntly, directly hitting Jixianglou's weakness. Zhang Yang, standing to the side, looked ashen-faced. After all, it was his own restaurant that had been spoken of in such a way, and he felt truly ashamed.
"No exchange? You think too highly of yourself. What makes you so confident that I will close this auspicious building?" Zhang Yang found this woman increasingly interesting. She didn't seem like a lady from a respectable family, lacking the beauty of virtue and gentleness, nor did she seem like a country bumpkin or a rustic woman.
“Close down this Jixianglou and cooperate with me,” Ji Meiqing said, pouring tea as she poured it. She then realized that she had already finished the tea without her noticing, and smiled somewhat awkwardly. Zhang Yang remained silent and simply told the waiter to brew another pot of tea.
"How exactly will we cooperate?" Zhang Yang wanted to know what Ji Meiqing was up to.
"As you know, my husband and I are both winemakers. Our wines have already established a foothold in Rongcheng, and we have many partners. If you cooperate with us, I'll provide the wine from your store, and you can share it with me according to the market price!"
As Ji Meiqing spoke, she glanced at Zhang Yang's expression, which remained calm and unfathomable.
"What does this have to do with Guan Jixianglou?" Zhang Yang remained unmoved by the prospect of personal gain, but instead inquired about Ji Meiqing's exposed nipples.
"The Yuanyang Building is right in front of Jixiang Building. Your sudden appearance of a restaurant is no different from stealing my business," Ji Meiqing said impatiently.
"In that case, if I close this restaurant, wouldn't that make you, Miss Ji, a fortune?" Zhang Yang's glib tongue made Ji Meiqing sweat with anxiety as she racked her brains for a solution. Seeing Zhang Yang's difficult behavior, she understood his true intentions; he simply wanted to extract even greater profits.
“You’re not from Rongcheng either, and you don’t usually stay here. How about this, I’ll buy this Jixianglou restaurant, and we’ll split it 30% for you and 70% for me. But to the outside world, you’ll still be the owner of Jixianglou.” Ji Meiqing knew this was definitely a losing proposition, but there was no other way. A small act of impatience could ruin a big plan.
"Alright, it's settled then. I hope Miss Ji won't go back on her word." Zhang Yang knew that one shouldn't be too greedy, otherwise one wouldn't gain any benefits. He signed and sealed the documents, handing over the house deeds and land deeds of Jixiang Building to Ji Meiqing.
After dealing with the matter, Ji Meiqing had no desire to stay any longer. She took the things back home and saw Lu Yu sitting and reading a book, leisurely drinking tea. She was a little angry and plopped down on the chair next to him.
"Madam is back." Lu Yu could tell that Ji Meiqing was angry, so he put down his book and said gently.
"Hmph, I think you don't want me to come back. I've been gone for so long, and you're not worried about me getting into trouble? You're just sitting here drinking tea." Ji Meiqing turned her head away from Lu Yu and said angrily.
"How could that be? My wife is not so easily fooled." Lu Yu quickly walked behind Ji Meiqing and massaged her shoulders.
"You're smart enough to know what's good for you," Ji Meiqing rolled her eyes at him. She took out the house and land deeds from her sleeve and handed them to Lu Yu. Lu Yu stopped what he was doing, sat down and looked at the deeds, looking at Ji Meiqing with some confusion.
"The servant said that a new restaurant called Jixianglou appeared overnight near Yuanyanglou. Who knew it was a restaurant opened by Zhang Yang? I discussed it with him for a long time, but he refused to close down Jixianglou. So I had to buy it and give him three and me seven of the profits every year." Ji Meiqing's tone revealed regret.
"Then you're at a loss," Lu Yu said, though he didn't quite believe that Ji Meiqing would make such a losing deal so rashly, but he still wanted to know Ji Meiqing's answer.
"Losses are inevitable. You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, and you can't catch gold without risking your silver. If Jixianglou continues to operate like this, Yuanyanglou will have to close down sooner or later. But if both restaurants are mine, the impact won't be so great." Ji Meiqing felt a pang of pain at the thought of splitting the profits 30/70 at the end of the year.
"Alright, don't think too much about it. I'll go cook; it's almost noon." Lu Yu said as he went to his room to hide his things before heading to the kitchen to cook. Hearing Lu Yu say this, she realized that she hadn't eaten anything at Jixianglou, only drunk a lot of tea. Thinking about it, she suddenly felt the urge to pee and quickly looked for a latrine.
Lu Yu prepared the food and put it on the table, but Ji Meiqing was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was wondering whether he should go look for her, he saw her come out of the outhouse. Thinking that she had eaten something bad, he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"
"Ah...no, it's nothing. I just didn't eat anything at Jixianglou. I was only focused on drinking tea and drank a bit too much." Ji Meiqing explained somewhat awkwardly. Lu Yu couldn't help but laugh. Ji Meiqing rolled her eyes at him, and he immediately knew when to stop.
"Brother Lu, this is so annoying. We were supposed to go to Jiangnan today, but now we're delayed again," Ji Meiqing said while eating, her mouth feeling tasteless at the thought of it.
"If you can't go today, that's fine. You can go tomorrow," Lu Yu said, putting a piece of meat into her bowl.
"Can……"
"Alright, eat your food and don't think too much." Lu Yu interrupted her, and Ji Meiqing didn't say anything more.
Watching Ji Meiqing busy with the restaurant all day long, even during meal breaks, she really wondered when she could put all these things aside, go out and have fun with him, and then have a bunch of children with him, living a carefree life as a family.