The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 506 Do You Understand How to Be a Protagonist? (Bonus chapter for the patron who donated!)
After listening to Gong Liang's long and heartfelt narration, Qin Huai was at a loss for words.

Living off lies, accompanied by lies, yet fearing the beast of lies living in its shadow, the awakening opportunity lies in sincerity.

Qin Huai believed what Gong Liang said: no matter which incarnation Gong Liang was in now, for him, Master Jing was his lifeline.

Since Master Jing was mentioned, Qin Huai briefly explained what he knew so far, informing Gong Liang of Master Jing's real name and the Jiang family's affairs, and also mentioning Taifeng Restaurant.

After hearing this, Gong Liang immediately said, "How much is Taifeng Building worth now? Three hundred million? Five hundred million? Seven hundred million? Nine hundred million? I don't have that much cash on hand right now. I don't know if selling assets will be enough. I should have known better than to slack off these past few years. It's mainly because my son is so disappointing. It seems I can't rely on him when I go back. I have to rely on myself."

"Luo Jun, can you lend me a few hundred million? I'll pay Qin Huai back after you die."

Qin Huai: ...Enough! I said enough! You damn rich people, Gong Liang, listen to what you're saying! Are you even human?!
Luo Jun rolled his eyes at Gong Liang: "You're not a chef, why would you invest your entire fortune in a restaurant? Are you out of your mind?"

"Did you catch something from Chen Huihong right after waking up? Is there something wrong with your brain?"

Seeing that Luo Jun could still criticize her at this time, Chen Huihong immediately said with dissatisfaction: "Luo Jun, how can you say that? What do you mean by being infected by me? I haven't said a word since Gong Liang woke up. Zhao Cheng'an spoke, maybe he's the one who infected me."

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

Zhao Cheng'an took a bite of banana with a question mark on his face. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want to argue. He wanted to say something else: "Taifeng Restaurant is not a matter of a few hundred million. Even if the Li family had a few hundred million, they wouldn't sell it."

“I asked Xia Murui when we were chatting. He said the Li family members are all stubborn. They said that Miss Huiqin said that Taifeng Restaurant was going to be bought back for Master Jiang. Of course, Master Jiang is definitely dead now, but didn’t Master Jiang have seven sons? Qin Huaiguang only remembers seeing three of them. I remember Jiang Weiguo was quite young. He would probably be seventy or eighty years old now, maybe he’s still alive.”

"The Li family is determined to leave Taifeng Restaurant to the Jiang family. They won't sell it for hundreds of millions, or even billions. Do you think Xia Murui hasn't offered billions before?"

"If you ask me, instead of borrowing money from Luo Jun to buy Taifeng Restaurant, you should give Luo Jun's private investigator a little extra money and see if he can find out Jiang Weiming's whereabouts faster. Or have Qin Huai try his best to wake An Youyou up. An Youyou begged for food with Jiang Weiguo in her first life, so maybe she knows where he is now."

Zhao Cheng'an rarely displayed such clear and correct thinking, and he spoke in a convincing and reasonable manner.

Everyone instinctively looked at Qin Huai.

Qin Huai: "...It's not that I'm not trying hard, it's just that An Youyou's task is too difficult. It's a main quest. It requires me to make three A+ level desserts. I haven't leveled up my skills enough yet, so I can't make A+ level ones at all."

"Then why are you still chatting here? Where were you before?" Luo Jun was in a state where he wanted to say something to everyone he saw. "If you haven't leveled up your proficiency enough, then work on it. Do you think you can gain proficiency by sitting here eating bananas?"

"You have the nerve to introduce yourself as the protagonist? What protagonist are you? Do you even know how to be a protagonist? If you don't know how to be a protagonist, then step aside and wait for me to die and be reincarnated so I can be the protagonist."

Qin Huai knew that nothing he said would make a difference at this point, so he decided to follow Qu Jing's example and repent. Since Bi Fang was known to respond better to gentle persuasion than force, he immediately slid down and knelt: "It's my fault. I realize I've been lazy lately, only making pastries for a mere 8-10 hours a day. Even after grinding my skill level for so long, I haven't reached the Master level in dough preparation. Although reaching Master level in dough preparation doesn't guarantee an A+ grade pastry, it does increase my chances. It's my problem. I've reflected on it, and I'll definitely work harder on making pastries starting tomorrow!"

"Let's work hard together with Zhao Cheng'an."

Zhao Cheng'an: ? ? ?

Retaliation?

Luo Jun still had a lot of cursing words he wanted to say, but suddenly they were stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them.

Seeing the situation had turned out this way, Gong Liang immediately changed the subject with high emotional intelligence: "Mr. Luo, is the private investigator you hired reliable? Is his professional competence lacking? Should we hire a few more?"

"There aren't any suitable private investigators in Shanshi, but I can look elsewhere. I know you won't leave Shanshi for personal reasons, but I can travel all over the country."

Luo Jun turned to look at Gong Liang again, his face saying, "If you keep talking like this, I'll stuff mooncakes into your mouth next time: The private investigator I hired is very capable, very expensive, and there are no problems at all. If you're so capable, go ahead and hire one."

Gong Liang's interruption reminded Qin Huai of the question he had wanted to ask earlier, prompting him to bring the conversation back on track: "Mr. Gong, why do you want to buy Taifeng Restaurant?"

It's understandable that Xia Murui wants to buy Taifenglou. For Xia Murui, Taifenglou was his only spiritual sustenance before he recognized Zhao Cheng'an, and it was the embodiment of all his beautiful memories of his youth.

“I didn’t know before why Master Jing never mentioned the past or said where he was from,” Gong Liang said. “Now I know, and I also know why Master Jing was able to understand me so well and comfort me back then.” “He is like me; he has his own fears.”

"Master Jing doesn't mention Beiping, nor does he go back, not because of a tragic past, but because he is afraid, he is apprehensive, and he feels inferior."

“He had an unknown fear of Beiping. He didn’t know what would happen if he returned to Beiping. He hoped that when he returned to Beiping, he could reunite with his family, but subconsciously he believed that his family was long gone. In addition, Master Jing was lame and disfigured, so he subconsciously avoided Beiping. Therefore, he never mentioned it to us and never talked about the past.”

"But from what you just said, I think Master Jing hopes that Taifeng Restaurant will reopen."

"If Taifenglou can reopen, I believe he would be very happy in heaven."

Seeing Gong Liang's opinion, Qin Huai understood, but he also voiced his objection: "Your intention to buy Taifenglou is good, but Master Xia still has the ability to reopen it. Although he is old now, he is indeed the undisputed number one active Chinese chef, and reopening it wouldn't mean losing Taifenglou's reputation."

"If you buy it and reopen it, who will be the chef?"

Gong Liang looked at Qin Huai.

Qin Huai: ?
"Me? I'm just a pastry chef. Taifenglou is a restaurant specializing in hot dishes."

“Taifenglou used to sell dim sum too.” Chen Huihong, who had actually eaten at Taifenglou for several years, felt it was time to speak up. “However, Xiao Qin, your skills are indeed quite different from the dim sum of Taifenglou back then. What Luo Jun said earlier was not wrong. You have been a bit lax. You need to work harder.”

Hearing Chen Huihong say this, Luo Jun couldn't help but look at Chen Huihong with newfound respect, revealing an expression that said, "So Chen Huihong, you can actually speak human language."

Hearing everyone say this, Shi Dadan couldn't help but say in Qin Huai's defense: "Although I don't know how delicious Taifenglou's dim sum is, Qin Huai's dim sum is quite delicious. Moreover, Qin Huai has been improving recently, and I can tell from the fact that I've been eating his dim sum."

Qin Huai was so moved that his eyes welled up with tears.

"However, Qin Huai's cooking skills are indeed a bit worse than Xu Nuo's. If only Qin Huai's cooking skills could be as good as Xu Nuo's."

Qin Huai's eyes, which were about to moisten, became dry again.

Qin Huai felt it was time to skip the topic of his skills. Wherever Master Qin went, he was praised as a young genius with excellent skills. But he just happened to run into this group of shrewd people who had either eaten or worked at Taifeng Restaurant or had seen the world. It was truly a bitter pill to swallow.

Qin Huai was starting to understand Zhao Cheng'an a little better.

"Mr. Gong," Qin Huai abruptly changed the subject, "Do you know Xu Nuo?"

Upon hearing Qin Huai's question, Shi Dadan immediately stopped eating his fruit and looked up sharply at Gong Liang.

From the moment Gong Liang heard Qin Huai talk about Shi Dadan's situation, he guessed that Qin Huai would definitely ask him about the promise, so he was prepared.

“I know such a person. When Xu Nuo was alive, he was very famous in our area. Everyone knew Xu, the factory director’s youngest son. He was a spendthrift when he was alive, and then he died suddenly and mysteriously. Many people in our silk weaving factory may not know who the deputy director of the cotton mill is, but they must know Xu Nuo.”

"To be honest, we've met a few times, all at state-run restaurants. Xu Nuo worked as a handyman at a state-run restaurant for a while, but he didn't do much work; he just stayed there."

"But I'm not familiar with him."

Upon hearing Gong Liang's words, Shi Dadan showed a look of disappointment.

"But I know what happened after his death."

"It might be helpful for your side quest, Xiao Qin."

(End of this chapter)