Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!-Chapter 637 - A Foodie’s Favorite Past Time (Part 2)

The whole place screams "This is a family-owned business" through and through and most likely, from the previous structures I have seen, the family should be living on the second floor of this place. As for the two people making bread, they should be mother and son as to where the father of the family is, who knows?

Instead of sitting, I started walking along the shelves, curiously looking at the assortment of goods they offer. Most of them were just plain buns, loaves of bread that is meant to be used for dipping soup or simple spreads and lastly small pies with meat inside. As for sweet things, there was none at all and it immediately made me sad. I still ordered a piece of each to taste their creations since the kind lady invited me in earlier. Fortunately, they have some hot cocoa for drinks so it made me feel just a tiny bit better.

After looking through everything in the shelves and giving my order and payment by the counter, I sat down in one corner of the shop by the window and waited for my order patiently while looking out at the people walking leisurely outside. Instead of the woman who invited me in, she pushed the unwilling younger man out of the kitchen to serve my food and drink to me. He blushed furiously, obviously unwilling and shy to have any connection with a female stranger.

I chuckled and shook my head then looked at the woman who has a knowing smile. I thanked him for the food and he simply nodded his head then almost ran back to the inside of the kitchen afterwards. This time, it was the woman who not only chuckled but laughed out loud at the young man.

She looked at me and apologized as she explained that her son has always been shy around people and his only favorite thing in the whole world was to bake bread. She even said that her son is already 20 but seemed to not want to get married or even go out of the house to meet friends. She sighed and shook her head with a helpless smile on her face. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

While she is telling her short story, I already started eating the bread and even dipped it on my cup of hot cocoa once in a while. The texture and taste of their bread was amazing. It was like the modern high end loaves of bread that I buy in boulangeries in that area near my house full of European cuisine shops. It is impressive since the technology and ingredient options in this world are not as advanced but they still produced such excellent results.

The taste of the bread definitely reminded me of high grade cake flour, fresh eggs, full fat milk and surprisingly some butter as well. As for sugar, there was none maybe because that ingredient is quite expensive but there are always alternatives sweeteners, of course. They used some mashed sweet fruit or honey instead though in small amounts.

After finishing my snack and the hot cocoa, I asked the woman what her name was and how long have they been managing the shop. It turns out that this shop has already been in the area for at least 30 years. She said her name was Hesta while his son’s name Xan. She said she only had one husband who used to manage the store together with her, the father of her son, Ford, but he had already died years ago due to illness.

I smiled at her and introduced myself as Selene, also a businesswoman from Hoffen City. I asked her if their business accepts partnerships or investments from bigger businesses to grow her bakery business. I gave her examples of investments like widening the store, improving furniture or even transferring it to another area with better foot traffic to increase sales. Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized the possibility of having a better life for her and her son if things panned out to the positive side.

Hearing the conversations outside, his son hurriedly came out of the kitchen and looked at me with doubtful eyes. He immediately cut the conversation before Hesta can ask questions by saying, "We are not selling this place. If you are done with your meal, you can leave."

I slowly looked towards the guy named Xan and replied, "A partnership, a merger, an investment and a buyout are all different from each other, young man. Just so you know, I am not buying your family business out. I want to help you make it bigger and more prosperous. You only need to give my investment back gradually by giving me a portion of the profits."

Xan glared at me and replied, "You can stop using big words at us. You know we were not highly educated so I do not know if your intention is to insult us in the process. We don’t need your money, investment or whatever you call it. We are doing fine as we are."

I did not immediately answer his rants and simply looked around the place like I was just somebody curious. I scanned my eyes to the floor, walls, ceiling, the counters, the shelves then finally I smirked before landing my eyes back on him. He immediately got what I meant and his eyes widened and further reddened in anger.

Hesta coughed to break the tension and told Xan to return inside the kitchen much to the guy’s discontent, making sure to stomp on his way back to tell everybody that he was angry. The woman came out of the counter and took a seat in front of me to talk more about my offer.

I explained to her that the investment I was offering was more of a partnership. I only put in money and knowledge to the business then get a part of the profits. The business stays under their name and their management while I only provide advise on how to make the business better. There is a contract for it that will last for a year first and they can lay their own conditions before signing it. If everything turns great, we can extend the contract for another year or until my total investment has been returned to me.

She looked very interested in the idea and was carefully considering the prospects of my offer. I saw Xan peeking through the archway leading towards the kitchen like a hawk watching its prey.