The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 560 Let’s Go Now
Of course, it was impossible to lend gold bars. The reason Luo Jun didn't kick the two swindlers out was simply because he wasn't full and needed Qin Huai to make a few more snacks.

Qin Huai and An Youyou returned to the kitchen to continue making desserts, while Luo Jun moved his chair to the kitchen doorway to supervise and listen to their conversation.

There was nothing the two of them could not tell Luo Jun.

Qin Huai stated that although he didn't have three gold bars and hadn't inherited Luo Jun's estate, he did have a paltry twenty million yuan in his bank account. An Youyou decided against such a lavish gesture as giving her younger brother gold bars; she'd never even touched a gold bar in her three lifetimes. It was more realistic to buy something to visit the elders.

If there are any real difficulties, Qin Huai can provide loan services to help An Youyou and her little brother.

"Youyou, when do you plan to take leave? Are you going to Z City to find Jiang Weiguo first, or to Suzhou to find Factory Director Xu first?" Qin Huai asked.

Without hesitation, An Youyou said, "If Xiao Qi is still alive, I will go to Shanghai to find her first."

Qin Huai didn't expect An Youyou to choose C from A or B. After hearing about Jiang Weiguo and Director Xu's connection to other monster stories, An Youyou still remembered her little brother Xiao Qi, who still had no name.

"Why Xiao Qi?" Qin Huai asked.

"Because in my previous life I went to find Jiang Weiguo and also thought about finding Xiao Jiu, but I never thought about finding Xiao Qi. I found out about Xiao Qi when I was inquiring about Jiang Weiguo's whereabouts. He never left Shanghai. At first, he worked as a dockworker, and later, when he heard that he could get land, he went to the nearby countryside to farm."

An Youyou added something she hadn't mentioned earlier: "Xiao Qi also has a new name, Lin Qi. I really like this name; I chose half of it myself."

At this point, An Youyou still had some worries: "After I found out which brigade he was in and that he was alive, had a wife and a son, I didn't go looking for him. But I wrote him a letter and sent him 10 yuan in the letter. Xiao Qi has no skills, no education, and doesn't know how to beg. I don't know if he can farm."

“I was afraid he would starve to death before I could make a comeback, so I sent him 10 yuan so he could live well, save money, and wait for me to come find him.”

Qin Huai asked curiously, "What did you write in the letter?"

An Youyou thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be: Save money and wait for the boss to come back so you can get rich."

Qin Huai: ...

Yes, that's very much like the three-legged toad—straightforward, concise, and to the point.

"Have you received a reply?" Qin Huai asked.

An Youyou shook her head: "Xiao Qi probably can't write, and I was wandering around at that time. Even if Xiao Qi sent me a letter to the address I used to mail letters, I wouldn't receive it."

Qin Huai: ...That's really not how you use the word "wandering"!

As she spoke, An Youyou suddenly turned around and asked Luo Jun very respectfully, "Mr. Luo, could you ask your private investigator to help me find out about Xiao Qi? Although he has never been able to find out about Jiang Weiguo's brother, Jiang Weiming, he was able to help Dr. Qu find his parents from his previous life, so he must be quite good at finding people."

"I can do it without paying, but can you get that detective to help me find out?"

Luo Jun nodded slightly: "Send me Lin Qi's previous information, and I'll send it to the private investigator."

"I won't charge you."

An Youyou happily continued cutting the meat into small cubes.

Watching An Youyou's skillful chopping of meat, Qin Huai noticed that after An Youyou woke up, in addition to a significant change in personality, from being somewhat reserved to being extremely willing to ask for money, her culinary skills had also improved by leaps and bounds.

My cooking skills have improved dramatically.

"Youyou, were you a chef in your second life?" Qin Huai asked.

An Youyou nodded: "I did, but it was just as a kitchen helper."

Speaking of this, An Youyou started counting on her fingers: "I had a lot of jobs in my second life. I worked as a kitchen helper, a waitress, a bicycle repairman, a cardboard box paster, a factory worker in a clothing factory, a worker in a food factory, a porter, and I even stole something once and was caught and almost beaten to death."

"In the end, I used all the money I had saved to buy pirated cassette tapes, intending to make a fortune by buying and selling them. But I was scammed by the cassette tape seller. My pirated tapes were of such poor quality that I couldn't sell them. Their pirated tapes were all of better quality than mine. Almost all of those tapes were stuck in my hands, and I lost everything."

"In order to make a comeback, I had to live frugally. Later, I finally made a small fortune. In my excitement, I overate and drank, which resulted in pancreatitis and death."

An Youyou summarized the cause of her death in her second life in a few words.

Qin Huai thought it was alright. The more spirits and monsters he knew, the more outrageous the ways he had seen die. As long as it wasn't feeding lions on the African savanna or being stabbed to death by a flying knife while watching a spectacle, Qin Huai felt he could accept it.

An Youyou's death was relatively normal, with a cause and effect, and in a sense, it was a fitting end.

"If Lin Qi is still alive, and you go to Shanghai to see him, who will you see next?" Qin Huai asked again.

“It must be Xiao Jiu,” An Youyou said. “I’ve met Jiang Weiguo in my past life. He had to support five sons who ate so much that he didn’t have the money to buy back Taifenglou, but he was still doing quite well. The head chef of the state-run restaurant didn’t have to worry about food and drink, and I saw that he had gained a lot of weight. The prices of the dishes at his state-run restaurant were quite expensive, and my heart was bleeding when I paid the bill.”

"Besides, he has five sons. Even if some of them die in an accident, it's impossible for them all to die. Xiao Jiu is in a worse situation. Both of his sons are dead, and his wife is dead too. Of course, Xiao Jiu needs me more."

"I've already thought it all out. I won't spend my salary this month. I can take the fruit directly from Mr. Luo's house for free. I won't buy the clothes and shoes I've been eyeing, and I won't buy those headphones either."

"I'll go to Shanghai to find Xiao Qi in mid-October, to Suzhou to find Xiao Jiu in mid-November, and to Z City to find Jiang Weiguo in mid-December. By then..."

“No need to split it into three months.” Qin Huai interrupted An Youyou. “Once Mr. Luo’s private investigator has found out the specifics, we can set off directly. I’ll go with you in the order you just mentioned.”

"Old Shi has to come too. I have a thousand-day breakfast mission for him, so he has to follow me wherever I go."

"He also wanted to go to Suzhou to see Director Xu."

"Travel expenses will be reimbursed."

An Youyou:!

"Boss, you are truly the best and most generous boss I have ever met!"

"It would be even better if you could lend me three gold bars."

"Don't even think about it."

In the end, Qin Huai and An Youyou did not stay at Luo Jun's house to wait for the others to wake up and have a tea party.

After finishing breakfast, Luo Jun wanted to catch up on his sleep, not wanting the two people who were trying to scam him to be an eyesore in his house. In Luo Jun's opinion, since Qin Huai and An Youyou didn't have anything else to do anyway, they might as well go back to work at the Yunzhong Canteen and make some snacks instead of staying at his house slacking off and interfering with his sleep and TV watching.

Qin Huai agreed. He had originally brought An Youyou to Luo Jun's house because he felt his thoughts were in disarray and wanted to discuss things with everyone. Now that everything was clear, Qin Huai selflessly gave up the amazing opportunity to tell everyone that An Youyou was the real protagonist to Luo Jun.

Before Qin Huai and An Youyou left with the fruit, Luo Jun sat on the sofa and said leisurely, "Your mind was in a mess before not because you couldn't figure it out, but because you needed someone to explain things to you again so you could have time to sort out the plot."

"In the future, if you have something you don't understand, just like today, find someone to help you think about it, instead of thinking about it all by yourself."

Qin Huai rarely heard such direct words of concern from Luo Jun. Before leaving, he nodded earnestly and said, "I'll remember, Mr. Luo." Luo Jun, who claimed he needed to catch up on sleep, ignored Qin Huai and turned on the TV to continue watching his drama.

On the way back to the Cloud Cafeteria, An Youyou was as excited as if Qin Huai had given her a 2000 yuan bonus, carrying two large pieces of fruit. She kept asking questions: "Boss, can I really eat and take as much fruit as I want at Mr. Luo's place? Can I come and pick it up whenever I want?"

"Can I take anything? Can I take a whole durian? Can I take a box of strawberries? Can I take three boxes of cherries?"

Qin Huai looked at An Youyou with some helplessness: "Are you going to take all of Luo Jun's fruit and resell it?"

An Youyou chuckled and remained silent.

Qin Huai could only offer a gentle reminder: "Although Mr. Luo failed his tribulation, his failure was more like a trap he created himself. We all believe that he has a chance to succeed in this life, as long as he is willing to forgive himself."

"Although the possibility is slim, what if it is? You are also an auspicious beast, but can you withstand a single burst of fire from Bifang?"

An Youyou fell silent.

"Boss, how could I possibly want to take Mr. Luo's fruit out to resell? I just really enjoy eating fruit, and I'm already very satisfied with being able to take so much fruit home to eat every day."

"It would be even better if I could bring two more boxes of fruit home for the Chinese New Year and send them to my grandma."

Qin Huai didn't expect An Youyou to suddenly bring up her grandmother. After thinking for a moment, he still asked, "I thought you and your grandmother didn't get along."

“It’s not very good.” An Youyou said frankly, “Boss, didn’t I write you a resume? Everything in that resume is true. I don’t have a good relationship with my grandmother, but I don’t have any relationship with my parents or my brother at all.”

“I definitely wouldn’t be willing to spend my own money to buy fruit to take home. But if Mr. Luo is willing to give it to me for free, why not?”

“Every year during the Spring Festival, my grandmother would grumble loudly and fiercely, saying that she had worked hard all her life and all the children she raised were ungrateful wretches who didn’t know how to bring her anything nice to show their respect during the holidays. Before I woke up, I didn’t really want to spend money to buy her nice things to show my respect, and now… I don’t really want to either.”

"It's possible if it doesn't cost money."

"And there's one good thing about my grandma: she dislikes my brother and dislikes my mom even more. When my mom left me with my grandma, she only gave me the minimum living allowance each month. I ate a lot, and sometimes my grandma even had to pay out of her own pocket. If I bring her some fancy fruit, she definitely won't share a single pit with my brother and the others; she'll eat all the fruit in front of them."

Hearing An Youyou say this, Qin Huai finally saw a bit of this life's shadow in the current An Youyou.

Perhaps because she was craving fruit, An Youyou took out a date from the bag and ate it as she walked. Just as she and Qin Huai were about to reach the entrance of the Cloud Canteen, Qin Huai suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, Youyou, there's something else I want to ask you."

An Youyou stopped in her tracks.

"You said that Director Xu originally had parents, but they died, which is why he became an orphan and had to beg on the streets. But according to Lao Shi, Xu Nuo had a grandmother who loved him very much. Did Director Xu later find a godmother?"

"Oh, this? Actually, I found out about this back then, through gossip." An Youyou lowered her voice. "I heard that Xiao Jiu married into the family."

Qin Huai: As expected of the clever Xiao Jiu, she really wants to improve.

"But coincidentally, his wife's surname is also Xu. However, because of this coincidence, I also heard another version of the gossip."

"This version is a bit far-fetched. It says that Xiao Jiu's name in the steel mill was Yang Chenggang because the factory manager's surname was Yang, and Xiao Jiu used that surname to flatter him. Later, after marrying into the Xu family, he changed his surname to Xu to flatter the Xu family, and that's how he became Xu Chenggang."

"But that's ridiculous, because I know that Xiao Jiu's original surname was Xu, there's no need to change it."

As she spoke, An Youyou's face showed an envious expression: "I was so envious when I heard that Xiao Jiu was a son-in-law. I wish I could have been a son-in-law in my previous life. Being a son-in-law means you can become a factory manager, how awesome would that be?"

Qin Huai: ...Your three-legged toad's thinking is truly unique.

After Qin Huai and An Youyou returned to the cafeteria, they continued working as usual, the only difference being that An Youyou worked even more diligently.

An Youyou was already a well-known "Queen of Currying" in the Cloud Cafeteria, and after awakening her memories of being a worker for three lifetimes, she became even more of a curry-getter.

The fact that the three-legged toad can live like a working-class person... just shows that the best job in the world might not be a good job. Look how the three-legged toad has been forced to become a top-notch employee in its search for a good job.

On the other hand, Luo Jun deliberately didn't share any information about An Youyou in the group chat. Instead, he asked everyone to come to his house to listen to her privately, and then he enjoyed watching everyone's shocked expressions on their faces.

Even Zhao Cheng'an was no exception; he went to Luo Jun's house alone to listen to the conversation after being discharged from the hospital.

After hearing that, I was sent home to pack my bags and put on a plane back to Hangzhou.

Zhao Cheng'an was naturally quite unwilling. He first played the victim, saying that he had just recovered from a serious illness and was not in good health, so he couldn't take a long flight back to Hangzhou. After Qin Huai exposed that he was already well and had even stayed in the hospital for a few more days, he then shouted that the diners at Yunzhong Canteen needed Chef Zhao, only to be told by Qin Huai that they didn't actually need him that much.

Qin Huai planned to take advantage of his trip to Shanghai, Suzhou and Z City to do a small renovation of the Cloud Cafeteria and close it for a few days to give the employees a long holiday.

Since its opening, Yunzhong Canteen has had almost no bad business. The tables, chairs, walls and other facilities are aging very quickly, and it's time to renovate them to prevent diners from thinking that Yunzhong Canteen is a 20-year-old establishment.

Qin Huai reassured Zhao Cheng'an to go back without worry, as he was just recovering from a serious illness and Master Zhou wouldn't harm him. There were no more scenes involving him; he was going to Shanghai with An Youyou and Shi Dadan to expand the story.

Zhao Cheng'an could only board the plane with tears in his eyes, temporarily logging off. Before logging off, he didn't forget to shout: I will definitely come back.

It's clear that many children didn't read books as children but watched too much "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf".

On the other side, on the third day after Zhao Cheng'an returned to Hangzhou to receive loving education and grueling training from his master, and on the second day after Chen Gong ended his vacation and returned to work in City A, Luo Jun's private investigator sent good news.

Lin Qi and Jiang Weiguo are both still alive.

Jiang Weiguo is enjoying a happy retirement life raising pigs in the countryside of Z city, and he is in good health.

Lin Qi's situation is relatively worse. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years ago and is now very confused. He is currently in a nursing home on the outskirts of Shanghai, and his children and grandchildren visit him occasionally.

Upon hearing that Xiao Qi was living such a miserable life, even worse than Xiao Jiu, An Youyou was immediately overwhelmed by the tragic content she had seen on short videos over the years. She imagined a scene of Xiao Qi becoming confused in her later years, being bullied in a nursing home, and being neglected by her children. She immediately decided to go to Shanghai.

Fly over there!
Buy a first-class ticket!

Anyway, Qin Huai will reimburse the airfare. An Youyou has never flown in first class in all three of her lifetimes.

In response, Qin Huai said: "...Three-legged golden toad, you should stop taking advantage of the boss."

It's not that taking advantage of the boss is wrong; any normal worker would take advantage of the opportunity.

It would be even better if Qin Huai wasn't this boss.

(End of this chapter)