Chapter 0361: Be Civilized and Polite

Zhao Fusheng deeply despised Fan Baobao's 'shameless' behavior, so he told Fan Beibei, 'Don't listen to your sister's nonsense. If she were that capable, why did she forget your birthday last time?'

The little girl bit her finger, tilted her head in thought, and felt that what Zhao Fusheng said made some sense. Last time on her birthday, her sister really seemed to have forgotten, only calling to apologize the next day.

'Brother, is there really magic in this world?' Fan Beibei asked Zhao Fusheng after thinking.

Zhao Fusheng blinked. 'What do you think, Beibei?'

'I know, I know! Ultraman and Digimon are fake, but Santa Claus is real. He gave me presents,' Fan Beibei clapped her hands and laughed.

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then chuckled. 'Right, right, you're correct.'

Children's worlds are simple and pure. Zhao Fusheng felt it was better to let her keep this beautiful fantasy.

Pulling the little girl out of the mall, Zhao Fusheng noticed there wasn't a single fast-food place here. Maybe Tan Kaixuan's strategy wasn't wrong—opening a KFC here would surely make a lot of money.

After wandering around, Zhao Fusheng noticed a noodle shop in the back. After a moment's thought, he pulled Fan Beibei inside.

The shop was quite spacious, with few customers inside. A few waitresses were chatting there.

Zhao Fusheng led Fan Beibei to a table and sat down. He called over a waitress: 'One bowl of hot noodles, one bowl of mixed noodles.'

Then he said to Fan Beibei, 'Beibei, you'll have the hot noodles, okay?'

'Okay.'

The little girl nodded obediently. Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and casually ordered two cold dishes.

Since there were only two or three tables of customers, Zhao Fusheng wasn't in a hurry. He figured the dishes and noodles would come soon, so he sat there telling stories to Fan Beibei.

'Once upon a time, there was a little white rabbit and a little turtle...' Zhao Fusheng finished the story of the tortoise and the hare, but found that the dishes and noodles still hadn't arrived.

Only one waiter stood at the counter.

Frowning slightly, Zhao Fusheng didn't say anything and continued telling Fan Beibei a story: 'The beautiful Snow White lived in...'

A long time passed, and the story of Snow White was finished, but the food still hadn't been served.

Fan Beibei asked curiously, 'Brother, where are the noodles? Why haven't they come yet?'

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and patted the little girl's head. 'Maybe the kitchen staff are busy. Beibei, be good, we're not in a hurry. Let's wait a little longer, okay?'

Fan Beibei nodded. 'Okay, I want to hear a story.'

Zhao Fusheng patted her head, then raised his voice a bit to the waiter: 'Hey, buddy, could you check if the noodles and dishes are being made? Hot noodles won't be good if they sit too long.'

Hearing this, the waiter looked up at Zhao Fusheng and then walked toward the kitchen.

Zhao Fusheng lowered his head and continued telling Fan Beibei stories.

It must be said that when it came to entertaining children, Zhao Fusheng's skills were truly poor. The stories he told were ones Fan Beibei had already heard, and he told them without any interest. In many places, Fan Beibei was the one vividly explaining things to Zhao Fusheng.

During their storytelling, the waiter who had entered the kitchen never came out.

And so, a new story was finished, but still no one brought out the food.

Zhao Fusheng took a deep breath and smiled gently at Fan Beibei. "Beibei, sit here nicely, okay? Big brother is going to get you some water, alright?"

Fan Beibei nodded obediently. She always listened to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng stood up and walked toward the kitchen. When he reached the kitchen door, he stopped and looked back to make sure he could still see Fan Beibei before entering.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, there were four or five people inside, all cracking sunflower seeds. They froze when they saw Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng sneered. "Fuck your mothers, are you all dying or don't want to work anymore? Am I not paying you or not burning paper money for you? If you don't want to do business, just say so. Call the boss over now. I want to see if you bastards usually slack off like this. Two bowls of noodles and you dawdle this long. Believe me, I can have someone chop up your whole family in a minute!"

He was truly angry. These people were clearly chatting idly, yet none of them remembered that he and Fan Beibei were waiting.

A waiter tried to speak, but an older cook beside him stopped him. The cook studied Zhao Fusheng carefully and quickly apologized, "Sorry, sorry. Please wait a moment, just a moment..."

Then the kitchen erupted into chaos. Zhao Fusheng stood there, occasionally glancing back at Fan Beibei while watching the cook prepare his food.

Soon, Zhao Fusheng came out carrying a pot of hot water, with the waiter following behind him, looking cautious.

Zhao Fusheng walked to his seat and smiled at Fan Beibei. "Be good, big brother will pour you some water."

"Thank you, big brother." Fan Beibei thanked him politely. Her mother had taught her to say thank you when someone gave her something.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and said to Fan Beibei, "Come on, say thank you to this big brother too."

The little girl obediently said thank you, making the waiter blush deeply.

After eating, Zhao Fusheng left with Fan Beibei. The waiter who had been stopped earlier looked reluctantly at the cook. "Master, why did you stop me? I..."

"You what?" The cook glared at him. "Last time I went to the Wanda Mall ahead, I happened to see that young man with the boss of Wanda. He called that boss 'Dad,' you know?"

Wanda Mall?

Everyone was stunned. The waiter's expression changed slightly.

Recently, the name Wanda had been extremely hot. All of Ninghai knew that a Wanda Mall had opened on the first floor of Hualian Department Store. More importantly, in the impression of surrounding merchants, Wanda had never given face to so-called underworld figures.

Although it was now the year 2000, in the Northeast, especially in the province where Ninghai was located, while society was thriving, there was also a chaotic side. Simply put, all kinds of people existed. Doing business meant not only facing competition from the same industry but also management from government departments.

Moreover, there were those so-called influential people on the streets who would occasionally wander around. The group from Han Family Alley who had previously schemed to trap Fan Beibei's father, Fan Jian, into gambling were largely like that.

These people were called "knives, guns, and cannons" in the Northeast, essentially gangs with some criminal nature.

Don't underestimate them. Across the country, the Northeast was famous for producing gang members. Even in Beijing, the Northeast gang was notorious. The most obvious example was a singer in the rock circle who called himself a big brother and sang "Friend"; he had a group of Northeasterners under him.

And these people had helped him fight many tough battles.

Ninghai naturally had such people too. Usually, places like these restaurants had to pay a monthly fee for protection, but everyone knew that Wanda Mall didn't have to pay.

In fact, those knives, guns, and cannons had tried to extort money from Wanda Mall. The first time, a group of Wanda security guards cornered six or seven extortionists in a back alley and beat them up. The second time, about twenty came, but they were arrested by the police before they could even enter, on charges of disrupting military and local construction.

It was said that even the backers of those thugs suffered considerable losses and personally hosted a banquet to apologize to the boss of Wanda.

In this little piece of China, anything related to the military, whether true or false, had to be handled carefully.

The waiter now felt relieved that he had listened to the cook and played it safe. If he had actually clashed with that young man, and the other party called a bunch of people, what would he have done?

Of course, Zhao Fusheng didn't know that his father had done such ruthless things behind his back. Even if he knew, he would probably just smile helplessly and sigh at becoming a second-generation rich kid in others' eyes.

For him, what was more important now was to talk with Old Zhao about renting a shop.