Chapter 12: Huang Tianyue

Whether they were visiting officials or businessmen, almost everyone dined at his restaurant.

Before long, he established the first hotel, the first guesthouse, the first farmhouse inn, the first large supermarket, and the first holiday hotel in Sanchong Township!

It could be said that he pioneered so many firsts in Sanchong Township, becoming an undisputed legend there.

Yet at this moment, he was just a scruffy young man with messy hair, a patchy beard, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

As Tang Jiancheng sized up Manager Huang, Huang was doing the same, looking him over from head to toe.

In Huang’s eyes, Tang was a rugged, dark-faced farmer in his early thirties, standing about 1.7 meters tall with a strong build. The only difference was Tang’s deep, confident, and steady eyes.

This made Huang inexplicably fond of him and eager to befriend him. He smiled and asked, “You want to sell? Do you have any?”

Tang asked, “What’s the price?”

Huang paused for a few seconds, then held up three fingers. “Thirty cents a jin. How about that?”

Hearing the price, Tang was delighted. “Sounds good. Deal. I’ll bring the wild boar meat to you shortly.”

Thirty cents a jin far exceeded his expectations.

He thought the highest price would be fifteen cents, but Huang was surprisingly generous, quoting thirty cents right away.

Of course, Huang wasn’t throwing out a random price.

He was confident he could make even more profit. More importantly, he genuinely wanted to be friends with Tang and somehow sensed that Tang’s future would be extraordinary. This was his way of investing early.

One had to admit, this man’s sharp eyesight was part of why he had done so well in his past life.

Seeing Tang about to leave, Huang quickly advised, “Come in through the back door later. Don’t use the front.”

“All right.”

Tang understood Huang’s caution—it was to avoid attracting envy.

At that time, Sanchong Township’s attitude toward private transactions was still unclear, so discretion was necessary to prevent unnecessary trouble.

“Hey, Tang Jiancheng, come have a drink! It’s snowing heavily, why rush off like that?”

“Yeah, Tang Jiancheng! Come tell us the story of your nine daughters!”

“No sons, so why the hurry? Come drink!”

Seeing Tang’s hurried departure, a few rare drunks inside the restaurant loudly called out to him, but he ignored them, opened the door, and dashed into the snowstorm.

These men were genuine drifters, aimlessly drifting through life with a ‘drink today, don’t care about tomorrow’ attitude. They never achieved anything significant. In his past life, Tang had mixed with these kinds of people, sinking deeper into despair until he was left utterly alone, accompanied only by a big yellow dog.

Reaching shelter, he saw his eldest and second daughters covered in snow, their little faces red from the cold. They hopped and stamped their feet, rubbing their hands, and huddled together back-to-back for warmth.

Tang hurried over and gently said, “You’re freezing, aren’t you? Come on, Dad will take you for some hot soup.”

Carrying a basket, he led the two girls to the back door of the state-run restaurant. Despite the heavy snow, they passed one or two people along the way, but everyone was in a hurry and paid them no mind.

Huang was already waiting at the back door.

Seeing the two little ones trailing behind Tang, he smiled, “Are these your children?”

Tang smiled back, “Yes, my eldest and second daughters. Big Sister and Second Sister. Say hello to Uncle Huang.”

“Uncle Huang.”

Both girls were well-behaved.

“Ah, good kids! Come inside quickly, you must be freezing!”

Huang happily ushered the two girls in.

The back door led to the kitchen, where soup was simmering, steam rising warmly like spring.

“I heard you’ve had nine daughters in a row?” Huang asked.

“Yes,” Tang nodded as he set down the basket.

“How can you have so many! Nine daughters in a row, impressive! But raising nine girls isn’t easy,” Huang said. “I only have three kids, and I’m already under pressure.”

“Is the wild boar meat fresh? It doesn’t seem so. It wasn’t sick or dead, was it?”

Huang spoke while carefully examining the wild boar meat Tang had brought.

He had managed this state-run restaurant for nearly a year and often bought wild boar meat, so he could tell if it was fresh.

Tang laughed, “Good eye, Manager Huang. This wild boar wasn’t freshly killed; I found it yesterday in our village’s Qingshi’ao…”

Tang then briefly described how he found and processed the wild boar the night before. As for why he happened to come across it, he said nothing—just that it was a fortunate coincidence.

Huang couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up, “Your luck is amazing! To find something like that!”

“Well, since it wasn’t sick, it’s manageable.”

“Let’s stick to the price we agreed on: thirty cents a jin. Let’s weigh it!”

The scale showed eighty-six jin.

Huang suddenly turned to the two girls, “Can you calculate how much thirty cents times eighty-six jin is?”

The two little girls looked puzzled and shook their heads, silent.

“They haven’t been to school?”

Judging by their expressions, Huang was sure they had never set foot in a classroom.

Tang looked embarrassed. “I’ve held them back. After the New Year, I’ll send them to school to learn to read and write.”

Huang didn’t press further.

Mountain folk often favored sons over daughters; Huang knew this well.

“Here you go, that’s twenty-five yuan and eighty cents in total. Count it yourself.”

Huang handed Tang a thick stack of bills.

Tang counted carefully, found no mistake, and tucked them away, smiling warmly at Huang. “Thank you, Manager Huang. I still have more wild boar meat at home. Do you want some?”

“Call me Huang Tianyue. Just Tianyue is fine—no need for ‘Manager’ all the time; it feels too formal.”

“All right, Tianyue. I’m Tang Jiancheng,” Tang said, dropping formalities and using his name.

Huang Tianyue was delighted. “Haha, Brother Jiancheng, from now on we’re good brothers. Send me anything good you have, and I’ll make sure you get a fair price.”

Tang smiled, “Thank you in advance, little brother Tianyue. By the way, my two daughters just got frozen outside. Could you get them two bowls of hot soup?”

“No problem.”

Huang grinned. “What kind? Bone broth or lotus root soup?”

The two children had no idea what bone broth or lotus root soup was, just staring with wide, dark eyes at Tang.

Tang said, “Get them the lotus root soup.”

“All right.”

Huang said, “Go sit over there; we’ll bring it out to you soon.”