Chapter 20 A Table of Bigwigs

When Fang Tang returned to his restaurant with a Buddha statue and a fossil, he saw a girl waiting at the door.

"Are you here to eat or look for someone?" Fang Tang asked politely.

"To eat, is this restaurant already closed?" said the girl.

"No, I just went out to buy something." Fang Tang took out the key and opened the shutter door.

The girl followed Fang Tang into the restaurant and was surprised after seeing an empty lobby with a table and three chairs. Immediately, she retreated her steps to confirm the restaurant's signboard.

Fang Tang put the Buddha statue and fossil at the corner of the wall, and saw that girl returned with confusion. He scratched his head with embarrassment and complained in his mind: "Damn, we will fatso send the new chairs and tables here."

"Because we just finished re-decoration, so the new tables and chairs have not yet been delivered. Sorry for that. If you don't mind, you can sit here. There are not many customers today anyway." Fang Tang explained.

"Is your boss here?" the girl asked with her eyes, looking around.

"I am the boss of this restaurant." answered Fang Tang.

"Oh, ok. Then is your chef here?" she asked again.

"It's also me." said Fang Tang.

"…"

With an unbelieving look, the girl said: "No kidding, I'm the staff of a TV station and wanted to interview your chef."

Fang Tang remembered the words of Mi Le while he was in Taibai Bar. He didn't expect that there would really be a person from a TV station interviewing him. In his mind he thought: "Rabbit really gets a silver tongue! Impressive!"

"Not kidding you, I am the chef of this restaurant. What would you want to have? I can cook for you now." said Fang Tang.

"Then where were you yesterday afternoon." asked the girl.

"Cooking in the kitchen of Life Pass Away."

Hearing Fang Tang's answer, this girl was not as suspicious as before, but she still asked: "Is your master here?"

"I don't have a master, and I'm the only chef of this restaurant."

In her mind, Meng Jingyi had imagined that the person who made that tofu meal must be an aged and experienced chef who could barely be found. But her imagination was destroyed by Fang Tang's answer.

At this time, the door was opened, an aged man walked in and said: "Hi, young boss, I'm here again."

"Welcome, how do you feel today?" Seeing this aged man who had the porridge with Junior Heal buff yesterday, the first thing Fang Tang wanted to know was how that porridge worked for him.

Hearing Fang Tang first as his health condition, this aged man understood something. He answered with a smile: "thanks to your medicated porridge, I'm good now."

"That's great! Good for you!" Knowing his Junior Heal worked for this aged man, Fang Tang was very happy because this also indicated that "food buff" can activate divine spells.

"Young boss, didn't you get more tables?" This empty lobby remained the same as last night. The aged man speeches after seeing that.

"I'm really sorry for that. If you don't mind, how about sharing a table?" Fang Tang didn't think that he could have two returned customers today.

Meng Jingyi is also a bit speechless. If it was not for interviewing the chef of this restaurant, she could have left already. But her interview task hadn't been finished, so she had to bite the bullet and said: "It's ok, I don't mind."

"I also invited a few friends to come here, young boss, can you find a bigger table?" said the aged man.

"Ah, how many people did you invite?" It should be a good thing when a returned customer brings new customers. The problem is that he currently has neither enough tables nor enough chairs. But once there are customers, as a restaurant owner, he shall never drive them out.

"About seven."

"Ok, please wait for a second." Fang Tang thought of a solution, he took out a folded round board from the warehouse, unfolded it and put it on the small table. Immediately, a four person table turned into a big round table that could serve 8 people.

"Ok, you can sit opposite to each other. But be careful not to press the table with force, or the other side would be overturned." Fang Tang brought out his family used chairs from the room upstairs.

"The material of this board is rarely seen now, it's yellow rose wood." the aged man said.

"No idea what kind of wood it is. This is passed down from my grandpa and is seldom used now." responded Fang Tang.

As they were talking, another aged man came in and said: "Bro Guan, long time no see."

While Meng Jingyi was struggling whether to continue her interview today, this voice broke her thoughts. She turned back and startled with eyes open wide after seeing this aged man. It's aquatic product giant Sun Daoxian, the legendary man of South Hill city. Graduated from Wharton, instead of taking the offer of the top 100 international company, he came back to China and led his fellows in the small finishing village opening an aquatic product company, which later turned into the largest aquatic product group in East China.

But in recent years, Sun Daoxian has gradually faded out the business community and handed over his company to his son. What's more, he is engaged in charity and public activities, and seldom shows up in the media. Meng Jingyi never thought such a wealthy and successful businessman could come to this shabby and small restaurant, which doesn't even have enough tables and chairs.

"Bro Guan, you look good today. I was going to visit you after knowing that you were in hospital, but you refused to let me do so. I'm glad that you could invite me out today." the third aged man came in holding his cane.

It's Yu Maolin. Meng Jingyi almost shouted out his name right after she saw him. He is the richest man in South Hill city, nickname Yu Bancheng (the owner of half South Hill city's wealth), and the chairman of the largest real estate group in South Hill city. Why would he also appear in this restaurant?

Later, Wang Ming, the president of South Hill University, Fu Hongshen, the owner of Nanxing Media, and Tong Yuquan, the chairman of South Hill Pharmaceutical Group walked in one by one and sat around the table. Meng Jingyi was totally shocked, she was really nervous sitting there and had no courage to say anything.

When those people were chatting, a young man in a military uniform pushed a wheelchair into the restaurant. Seeing the aged man in the wheelchair, they all stood up. Guan Tianping and Yu Maolin took over the wheelchair pushing hands.

"Senior commander, I'm sorry for inviting you here. It should be me go to your house and pay a visit, but I really want you to have a meal here, so I invited you all out." Guan Tianping said this emotionally holding the aged man's hands.

"The doctor told commander Xu to rest, but he insisted to come here after getting your call." The young soldier standing behind me said this with dissatisfaction.

"It's not a big deal, I'm OK. People at our age don't have too many chances to gather together, it doesn't matter whether you come to see me or I come to see you. For me, it's all the same." the man in the wheelchair said this slowly.

Seeing this, one was decisive and resolute, commander now sitting in the wheelchair and panting a lot while talking with them, Guan Tianping's tears rolled down.

"Little Ping, why are you still crying so much at this age? The young people here may tease at you. How are you now? I heard that you come back for medical treatment." said the senior commander.

Hearing senior commander still call him Little Ping as many years ago, Guan Tianping wiped his tears and smiled: "I'm ok now, totally recovered."

"Totally recovered?" asked the commander.

"Yes, totally." Guan Tianping responded.

"Wonderful, health is the fundamental of everything, don't leave the world before me." said the senior commander.

"I won't, neither should you. I'm still waiting for you to teach me more." Guan Tianping answered.

"Yes, senior commander, you should also take good care of yourself." Yu Maolin agreed.

Meng Jingyi didn't know Guan Tanping, and she never thought this aged man could invite so many bigwigs to South Hill city. Moreover, she didn't know anything about the wheelchair man either, but she could tell this man was very important because these bigwigs all stood up when he came in. She stood up with them not knowing whether to stay or leave. Apparently, these people wanted to have a chat together. She felt like they were in a dilemma.

In particular, Fu Hongshen, the boss of Nanxing Media, is also here. Even the director of the TV station has to be very respectful when seeing him. Meng Jingyi is so afraid that she might offend him unconsciously. If so, she would be in serious trouble, and her career in the media community would be in a period.

"This girl is…?" asked the commander. While pushing the wheelchair, Yu Maolin also noticed Meng Jingyi, who is very obvious among them.

"I…" Meng Jingyi dared not to say that she is a staff of TV station. She didn't know what this group of big bosses wanted to do here, and if they out there was a person from a TV station, she was afraid that they would take her as a paparazzo and kick her out.

"I'm here to look for him." Meng Jingyi used her quick wits to make an excuse and pointed at Fang Tang.

Although Fang Tang did not know why the girl looked at him with begging eyes, growing up in this restaurant, he had encountered different people and could tell these aged people here today are not ordinary.

"This is my cousin, and she is here to have lunch. I'm sorry for this inconvenience, because this table is all I have now. I hope you won't mind sharing a table together." Answered Fang Tang.

Guan Tianping said with a smile, "Not at all. Eating with young people can lower our average age, not a bad thing."

"Little Lei, come here and have a seat." Guan Tianping spoke to the young soldier.

"I have already eaten, so I'm good." This young soldier stood still in a standard position.

"Don't worry about him, he has been always like this, military rule oriented." the old man in the wheelchair said.

"What do you want to eat?" Fang Tang asked them since everyone is here.

"Meiling porridge." Answered Guan Tianping, and his eyes were glowing with excitement.

Fang Tang is somewhat embarrassed and said "There is not enough material for making porridge."

"Ah, is there any other medicated diet?" asked Guan Tianping with disappointment after hearing that there was no porridge.

At that moment, Fang Tang understood that this aged man wanted buff added food. Then he also knew why this aged man had come back and invited so many friends. Fang Tang checked his last Junior Heal and looked at those aged men around the table, finally decided to help them to the end. He took this as a gift to make friends with them.

"I can make longevity noodles for you, which is also a medicated diet. So, please don't worry. I promise you it would be as good as Meiling porridge"