Yuan Mei’s eyes brightened slightly as she saw the yellow Lamborghini Urus parked by the side of the road.

Luofeng had already swapped cars with his father.

The initial bout of father-son rivalry had ended.

It concluded with Luofeng promising his father to take over the family business.

The Lamborghini was parked curb-side, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Pickled Chicken restaurant, Luofeng could see Tangya inside.

Tangya was still wearing her professional bank attire today, the kind with a cinched waist – for a woman like her, the waist was the most appealing feature.

She exuded the charm of a professional woman.

After getting out of the car, Luofeng walked straight into the restaurant. He naturally didn’t notice Yuan Mei and Yang Meng’s surveillance; after all, the Danger Prediction Card hadn’t alerted him.

Neither person posed any threat to Luofeng’s personal safety.

In the Pickled Chicken restaurant today, theirs was the only occupied table, since noon wasn’t a popular time for dining out.

The restaurant had three full-sized round tables.

There was also a square table against the wall.

The square table was chosen when there were fewer people, and the round tables were for larger groups.

With just the two of them, Tangya naturally chose the square table.

The owner and his wife both looked to be over fifty-five. The wife, holding a cat, sat at the counter watching television.

"Welcome, guests!" the owner said, his voice full and strong.

Tangya stood up first and called out, "Student Luo, I’m over here!"

Luofeng nodded at the owner then approached Tangya. "Good afternoon, Auntie. Sorry for being late."

"It’s fine, I was early," Tangya said with a polite smile, then called out, "Boss, our Pickled Chicken can be served now!"

"Alright, just a moment," the owner replied coolly.

Shortly after, he carried over a sizeable stainless steel basin and placed it on the gas stove on their square table.

Luofeng immediately caught the striking scent of the pickled vegetables.

Tangya introduced, "Their pickled vegetables are all homemade; they don’t use store-bought ones. They’ve been specializing in Pickled Chicken for more than twenty years!"

The owner happened to hear Tangya’s introduction and corrected her, "It’s been more than twenty-one years. Our skills were excellent even before we opened this restaurant."

Tangya smiled and nodded.

Without hesitation, Luofeng picked up a piece of pickled vegetable to taste. Just as Tangya had described, the restaurant’s pickles were homemade and excellent—very crisp, with the genuine flavor of pickled vegetables and no chemical aftertaste.

Apart from being a bit hot, it was faultless.

Luofeng then picked up a piece of chicken, placed it in his bowl, and waited for it to cool to an appropriate temperature before tasting it.

[Ding! The host has tasted a delicacy and received a random gift package!]

Luofeng immediately opened it. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Congratulations, host, you’ve received a box of condoms!"

"This reward will be sent to the host via courier!"

??????

Luofeng was dumbfounded.

This System? Why is it causing trouble now? Me, Luofeng, eating with Tangya? Hmm, who is Tangya? Bai Ningbing’s mother. Damn it! What’s with this box of condoms? Has it gone mad?

Although Luofeng was inwardly speechless, he maintained his composure and continued enjoying the dishes.

This Pickled Chicken restaurant, it had to be said, indeed reflected over twenty years of culinary expertise; the flavor was good. The reason for the lack of business, it seemed, was perhaps that the old couple weren’t great at social interactions.

"Student Luo, how do you find the taste?" Tangya began, looking for a topic of conversation.

Luofeng nodded. "Indeed, it’s quite good. The place you’ve chosen is excellent!" He then added curiously, "But why are we the only customers at noon if it tastes this good?"

Such great flavor. Even if not many people dine out at noon, there should at least be a few occupied tables, right?

"Because our Pickled Chicken is ninety-eight yuan per half a kilogram!" the owner’s wife volunteered, still holding the cat and watching television.

This? Pickled Chicken? It actually costs ninety-eight yuan?

Tangya looked at Luofeng, and noticing his questioning gaze, she said, "Indeed, the price is ninety-eight yuan!"

The proprietress added, "Our prices follow the market. In recent years, the price of native chickens has been rising steadily. We naturally had to increase our prices to maintain a profit!"

The price of native chickens from farms was indeed excessive.

But without a good supply source, what one purchased were mostly fakes anyway, still fed with commercial fodder.

However, the meat quality was certainly much better than that of the average fodder-fed chicken.

"Actually, it’s because our cooking skills are excellent. Other places usually can’t compare with us!" the proprietress said confidently. "The last reason is that we want to earn the money of two tables’ worth of customers from just one. We’re getting old, and our physical strength isn’t what it used to be. We no longer aim for small profits with high sales volume. We’d rather work less and earn more!"

Luofeng listened. Isn’t that a bit too honest? And to think I assumed their business was struggling due to poor people skills. So, this is the real reason?

Tangya had obviously heard the owner’s spiel before and wasn’t too surprised.

"Cough, cough, cough, proprietress, aren’t you being a bit too frank?" Luofeng just wanted to say, aren’t you afraid of upsetting customers by talking like that?

The proprietress replied bluntly, "Our business is built on reputation. After operating for over twenty years, we’ve accumulated a lot of goodwill and loyal customers. Plus, our son has done us proud, so we don’t need to work too hard. It’s enough to earn a bit for ourselves without having to ask our son for money!"

Luofeng still couldn’t argue with that.

So, these two opened a restaurant not to make a fortune, but just to muddle along and earn some living expenses? Add to that their genuine cooking skills and established reputation... They truly are the kind of establishment that can afford to be a bit arrogant with customers. But they don’t mistreat their guests; rather, they just give off a slightly haughty vibe.

In Shanghai, there are actually many such establishments; they’re almost always old brands. But if their children are successful, or if they’ve received a hefty demolition compensation, they hardly need to strive. With nothing much to do when idle, they might as well make some pocket money.

So? Do they need to be enthusiastic for you? You want enthusiasm? Fine, go spend twenty thousand yuan on some escort in black silk stockings; they’re extremely enthusiastic. They’ll even call you ’daddy’ outright!

"Student Luo, regarding the loan, does your family’s Jiamei have any thoughts?" Tangya got straight to the point.

Luofeng wiped his mouth with a napkin before replying, "The same old issues, of course: the interest rate, the timing of the loan disbursement, how fast it will be, funding restrictions, and so on."

These were all basic issues.

Currently, in Shanghai’s banking circles, Jiamei was considered a diamond-grade client.

After all, who else could have landed such a big project for their company?

However, just as Tangya was about to respond to Luofeng’s basic questions, a woman’s voice suddenly interrupted from the side.

"Tangya, have you no shame at all?"

Yuan Mei stormed into the restaurant and began hurling accusations.

The boss and the proprietress were both dumbfounded, completely taken aback.

Yang Meng commented coldly from the side, "Tangya, you always act so high and mighty, like a little fairy. How come this time you’re secretly dating Little General Luo? Just what are you up to?"

Tangya was initially startled, but then she looked at the two of them with indifference.

Luofeng was surprised. Had these two women been tracking Tangya? Otherwise, how could they have shown up now?

The boss and the proprietress switched to spectator mode, figuring that women arguing probably wouldn’t lead to a physical fight, so it was no big deal.

"Tangya, I really didn’t expect you to be so shameless!" Yuan Mei turned to Luofeng. "Little General Luo, you might not be aware, but this Tangya is not as simple as she appears on the surface!"

Yang Meng continued, "That’s right, Boss Luo, there are things you might not know!"

"Oh? What might I not know?" Luofeng chuckled and asked deliberately.

Faced with Luofeng’s question, Yang Meng glanced at Tangya’s attractive figure and fair skin. Let’s see how you lose face in a moment, she thought, then replied, "Boss Luo, how old do you really think the Tangya in front of you is?"