Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Shiyi, which had been criticized all day, received unanimous praise from netizens this time for its decisive handling of the incident, garnering an overwhelming wave of positive feedback.

Nan Shuyi not only released a statement explaining the incident but also released new products. Additionally, he sent cease-and-desist letters to several major marketing accounts that had spread rumors about Yishi Catering.

Yishi itself is a subsidiary of Nanyuan, sharing the same legal team. The team isn't a celebrity legal team—it's used as a deterrent. Once Nanyuan sends a legal letter, it cannot be withdrawn, and all evidence has been preserved.

After this incident, everyone saw Nan Shuyi's ability to handle crises. Of course, his "playboy" label hasn't been shed yet; he's still the Young Master of Nanyuan. Whatever netizens say, Nan Shuyi doesn't care—they're just strangers. If he had to read every single comment, he'd be so angry he'd end up in the hospital in a single night.

Although the situation had turned around, Nan Shuyi's focus had already shifted elsewhere.

Since new products were about to launch, the most important factor in gaining customer acclaim for Yishi Catering's new offerings was still the supply chain.

Early the next morning, Nan Shuyi left Lincheng with Liu Dan. They needed to fly to Guangdong to find the most authentic free-range chickens.

Since the focus was on Cantonese cuisine, chickens could be prepared in various ways—not just chicken, but also pigeon and other ingredients.

Different dishes require different preparation methods, naturally leading to different supply chains.

They had visited several chicken farms. This time, the farm was in northern Guangdong, and they needed to go there to directly sign a supply contract. The previous supplier had been dropped by Liu Dan. The new chicken farm was one he recommended to Nan Shuyi, and Nan Shuyi needed to personally inspect it to confirm whether to sign, while also having the company's lawyers investigate the farm's operational status.

Jiang Yicen had gone to bed very late after washing up the previous day. Nan Shuyi hadn’t had a chance to tell him about the business trip before the next morning. It wasn't until Jiang Yicen woke up and noticed some of his personal items were gone that he checked his phone and saw Nan Shuyi's message.

At 6:30 AM, as dawn was breaking, Nan Shuyi had sent him a photo of the departure airport.

He was so much busier than when he was the owner of Yongjiang Restaurant that he didn't even get enough sleep.

He replied to Nan Shuyi, asking if he had landed, but there was no immediate response—he was probably still on the plane.

Jiang Yicen had never been on a plane before, nor did he have any desire to. Seeing a plane always brought back unpleasant memories that made him feel like crying.

Today, he was home alone.

Since coming to this world, he hadn't had a day this relaxed.

Even when he was alone at the Jiang family residence, he had been cautious and lacked a sense of security. But after living with Nan Shuyi, he gradually adapted to this world, sleeping better each day, and had come to see this place as his home, with traces of his life everywhere.

In his hand was a mug in the same style as Nan Shuyi's but in a different color. The slippers on his feet were also the same style but different colors. On the expensive Roman column display stand sat a set of blind box figures they had bought on a whim from a night market—not expensive, but perfectly matching Jiang Yicen's taste, giving him new ideas for his blind box designs.

Since marrying Nan Shuyi, he had spent every weekend with him, but this week he was alone.

Jiang Yicen didn't feel lonely. Colleagues in the work group maintained good boundaries and didn't intrude on his personal life. The Jiang family hadn't bothered him since the birthday incident. Nan Anru had wanted to invite them for a weekend meal at home, but since Nan Shuyi was on a business trip, that plan fell through.

Today, he could finally manage his own time.

Suddenly having free time, he wasn't used to it at first.

Probably because the last time he tried to make breakfast, he had made a mess of the kitchen, so Nan Shuyi had arranged for the housekeeper to come over every morning to make breakfast.

The housekeeper knew they were a couple. She would go grocery shopping before they woke up every day and come back after they left to clean the house. She was almost invisible, which made both Jiang Yicen and Nan Shuyi very comfortable.

Since it was the weekend, Jiang Yicen wasn't going out, so he ran into the housekeeper.

"Master Jiang, what would you like for lunch today? I'll go buy groceries now."

"Auntie Liu, no need to buy groceries yet. I'll be going out during the day and eating out in the evening. Just focus on cleaning the house today."

"Okay."

Since she started working at Master Nan's home instead of the main Nan residence, Auntie Liu's schedule had become much more flexible. The two young men were often away from home, so she only occasionally cooked and did daily cleaning.

Jiang Yicen knew that Auntie Liu had come from the Nan family and was someone Nan Shuyi trusted implicitly, but she was still relatively unfamiliar to him.

In the old Jiang family, the household staff were mostly old servants who had been with the Jiang family for many years, with their entire families serving the family—essentially household servants for generations. But now, housekeepers were different—they had the freedom to choose their employers, and the relationship was purely contractual.

Since it was rare to run into Auntie Liu, Jiang Yicen asked, "How long have you worked for the Nan family, Auntie Liu?"

He just wanted to know more about Nan Shuyi.

Auntie Liu was holding a cloth. Since she wasn't going shopping, she prepared to start cleaning.

"Me? I started working for the Nan family when I was thirty-six. Now I'm fifty-six—that's twenty years. I didn't realize I'd been with the Nan family for so long until you asked."

Jiang Yicen had always been curious about one thing: he had never heard Nan Shuyi mention his mother. Was there a reason for that?

He knew that Nan Shuyi's mother had passed away—he had found online that Nan Anru's ex-wife was deceased.

But he didn't know whether she died of illness or for other reasons.

The father-son relationship between Nan Shuyi and Nan Anru wasn't as good as it seemed. Nan Shuyi clearly held a lot of resentment toward Nan Anru.

He wanted to ask Auntie Liu about Nan Shuyi's mother, but that didn't seem appropriate, so he suppressed his curiosity.

Instead, he asked about Nan Anru: "What hobbies does Father usually have at home?"

Auntie Liu: "Mr. Nan? He has many hobbies—fishing, playing golf, and sometimes he gets dragged out shopping by Madam."

Jiang Yicen smiled: "They have a good relationship."

Auntie Liu: "Well, an older husband and a younger wife." She realized she had said too much. "Master Jiang, I'll go upstairs to clean. Do you want me to change the bed sheets?"

Jiang Yicen: "Yes, please change them all. Thank you." He knew that Nan Shuyi was actually a bit of a neat freak.

Auntie Liu went upstairs, and Jiang Yicen didn't pry any further into the Nan family's affairs. He could ask Nan Shuyi later.

He had new plans for today.

Half an hour later, Jiang Yicen changed into simple casual clothes, picked out one of Nan Shuyi's baseball caps, slung a stylish messenger bag over his shoulder, and headed out.

Today, he had a plan: he wanted to take the subway to find the Jiang family shops scattered around Lincheng. He hadn't been able to buy back the shops on the main street before, so today he would see what else was available.

The Jiang family's businesses were spread across all areas of Lincheng. Selling them back then had been a decision made out of helplessness. If he could buy them back, it would be a way to be worthy of his father and big brother.

He hoped his father and big brother in heaven would bless him in successfully buying back the family shops.

The subway station was about a ten-minute walk from home. He looked up the route and wrote it down in his notebook, but the subway had many lines, so it took him a while to find the right one.

Jiang Yicen successfully entered the subway station and waited for the train he needed.

While transferring, he received a message from Nan Shuyi saying he had already landed and was on his way to the chicken farm.

The subway was packed on Saturday. Jiang Yicen's attention was drawn to the bustling flow of people, observing all kinds of people in this modern world. There were many people on the subway—fathers traveling with their kids, students carrying backpacks for weekend tutoring classes, the usual office workers, and tourists.

Everything seemed new and interesting to Jiang Yicen. He even examined the reserved seats for the elderly, children, sick, and disabled for a long time. He had come to a civilized society where people respected the elderly and cared for the young, and everyone followed this rule. Not only that, but he also saw a blind person riding the subway with a guide dog. The big golden retriever quietly followed its owner, guiding them. Watching them made him worry about both the owner and the dog, but the subway staff and passengers all helped out—everyone had kind hearts.

He pressed his hand to his heart. Seeing all of this, he no longer regretted that the Jiang family's properties had been sold off.

Even if he couldn’t buy them back, he wouldn’t regret it, because these assets had already lived on and grown in value in another form—what a treasure they were.

Seeing all this, Jiang Yicen no longer felt such a strong attachment; his mindset had calmed down considerably. Still, he intended to keep searching where he could.

Areas already under government management naturally offered no chance to buy back, but he could still reclaim other scattered shops—especially his mother’s dowry, those shops that came with her marriage, which were not within the scenic area. He hoped he could retrieve them.

He searched methodically, based on the locations he remembered.

Today, he had brought a power bank and made good use of his phone’s map, so at least he wouldn’t get lost. If all else failed, he could ask passersby, or as a last resort, call for help long-distance—Nan Shuyi, even from far away, could figure out a way to get him home. That’s how much he trusted Nan Shuyi.

After checking, he found two places. One was the former Jiang family cloth shop, a fabric store that had dealt in cloth, Suzhou and Hangzhou silks, satins, and high-end foreign fabrics. The other was his mother’s dowry, originally a shop selling cosmetics, which later added Western items like lipstick and stockings.

Jiang Yicen jotted down the current operating status of these shops.

The cloth shop had completely changed—no longer the Jiang Silk and Fabric Store, but a shop selling textile materials.

When he walked into this store, only a middle-aged man in his fifties was at the entrance. The fabric shop was nearly empty, and a sign reading “Business for Transfer” hung on the wall.

Jiang Yicen asked, “Hello, how’s business here?”

A transfer didn’t mean selling the property; it meant the tenant renting the shop was subletting it to someone else.

The middle-aged man shook his head, with a worried look: “Who buys cloth to make clothes these days? This shop can’t keep going.”

Jiang Yicen: “Is this property up for transfer?”

Middle-aged man: “I’m getting old and don’t want to keep running it. The landlord has been saying he wants to sell this shop.”

Jiang Yicen: “How much is this place?”

Middle-aged man: “Young man, are you looking to buy?”

Jiang Yicen smiled: “Just looking, thinking about starting a small business.”

The middle-aged man put away his fan. The shop had been listed for transfer for half a year with no takers, and now someone was finally asking. A faint smile appeared on his face.

Middle-aged man: “Want to take a look at the property?”

Jiang Yicen: “Sure, please show me around.”

The Jiang Silk and Fabric Store was a three-and-a-half-story Western-style building. The structure was old, its exterior had long gone without upkeep, looking out of place among the neighboring shops, dirty and run-down.

The middle-aged man rented this place to sell fabrics, but business was poor. Many bolts of cloth were covered in dust, and it was no wonder sales were sluggish.

The Jiang cloth shop had five bays, with a depth of over ten meters. Once, it had been bustling with customers, its business spanning the entire Jiangnan region and even reaching the Northeast and Lingnan areas, with branches of the Jiang family cloth shops everywhere. Unfortunately, the Japanese invasion disrupted operations, forcing the shop to close hastily. What happened afterward, he didn’t know.

This property hadn’t been taken over by the government; it might have been sold by caretakers later on. Now, it still had an owner who likely knew nothing of the Jiang family’s history. After the war broke out, nearly all the family’s key members died, and the Jiang family assets were scattered—almost everything that could be sold was sold.

Jiang Yicen walked up floor by floor. He had rarely visited the cloth shop, but he had gone once with his eldest brother to check accounts.

He was young then, and his brother had let him wander around the shop by himself.

At that time, the cloth shop was packed with customers, bustling with activity. Staff were busy introducing fabrics to clients and measuring cloth. In their Jiang family shop, customers of all statuses were treated equally; the staff were good at sizing up what customers were wearing to recommend suitable fabrics.

Standing in the modern-day Jiang cloth shop building, Jiang Yicen recalled the shop’s peak business days. But now, it was cold and empty, without a single customer. Had cloth shops become obsolete in this era?

He asked the middle-aged boss: “Boss, why are so few people buying cloth now?”

Middle-aged man: “Who makes clothes anymore? Everyone just buys clothes online. The people who buy our fabrics are small workshops that can’t get good prices. I can’t keep running this. I want to transfer the lease. If you’re interested, you can leave your number.”

Jiang Yicen: “This building looks pretty old.”

Middle-aged man: “Definitely. It’s over a hundred years old. I heard the landlord wants to sell it, but house prices have been dropping year after year. New homes don’t sell, let alone second-hand ones. The price just won’t go up. He’s been trying for years with no luck, and agents have brought lots of people to see it.”

Jiang Yicen: “Why hasn’t it sold?”

Middle-aged man: “First, the asking price is high. Second, the building is too old, and renovation costs a lot. Nobody wants to throw money away. Plus, it’s not on the main street—we don’t get the crowd or foot traffic. We only get the leftovers, and now even those are running out.”

Jiang Yicen: “How much could this building sell for now?”

Seeing how young Jiang Yicen looked, the middle-aged man didn’t think he could afford it and said with a laugh: “I heard it’s selling for a hundred million.”

Jiang Yicen added up his cash and the value of his properties, which totaled less than sixty million—not enough to buy back this building.

He got the middle-aged man’s number and also casually asked for the landlord’s contact info.

In the afternoon, he took the subway five kilometers away to find his mother’s shop.

The cosmetics shop was in better shape—the building was preserved and hadn’t been torn down. The once-bustling commercial street was now much quieter than the city center, with little foot traffic. Still, the property was for sale, though the price was a bit higher. He checked and found it was listed for fifty million.

Although this shop was his mother’s dowry, it had been run by his third sister—a talented woman who started her own brand selling soap, lipstick, and high heels. Back then, this brand was popular with celebrities. She even had someone write a touching love story for the brand.

Today, the brand still existed but had declined. In today’s diverse, booming market, few brands from the Republican era had survived. What he wanted to buy wasn’t just the shop, but also the brand—this struggling domestic company. It was his third sister’s life’s work, and he intended to buy it back.

Jiang Yicen couldn’t check all locations in one day. The next day, he took his notebook and traveled around Lin City by subway or bus, inspecting the shops he remembered. But the others had either been turned into government-managed tourist sites, demolished, or turned into ancestral homes that couldn’t be sold.

At nine o’clock on Sunday evening, Jiang Yicen dragged himself home, exhausted. He kept running calculations in his notebook—he really didn’t have enough money. Could he get a bank loan to buy the building and the company?

Having an empty bank account was frustrating. He had never been this poor in his life. How could he make money fast?

Over the weekend, Nan Shuyi had inspected several chicken and vegetable supply points in northern Guangdong. He returned to Lin City on Sunday afternoon and got home at nine in the evening.

After visiting several places over two days, he was tired, but coming home to see Xiao Liuzi waiting for him obediently and eagerly helping with his suitcase warmed his heart.

However, Jiang Yicen kept following him around, hovering over him.

Jiang Yicen: “Brother Shuyi, have you had dinner yet?”

Nan Shuyi: “Yes, I did.”

Jiang Yicen: “Brother Shuyi, are you thirsty? Would you like tea, water, or fresh juice?”

Nan Shuyi: “I’ll pass, not this late.”

Jiang Yicen: “Brother Shuyi, are you tired? Was the flight bumpy? Were you cold?”

Nan Shuyi: “No, not tired. It wasn’t bumpy. I wasn’t cold.”

Something’s up—if things are weird, there’s always a reason.

Nan Shuyi saw him about to follow him into the bathroom and turned to ask: “Do you want to come to the bathroom with me?”

Jiang Yicen stepped back to let him close the door: “No, I’m not. You go ahead.”

The kid even used polite language—something was definitely weird.

When Nan Shuyi came out of the bathroom, Jiang Yicen handed him a glass of warm water, at the perfect temperature, the same as the warm water he usually drank in the morning.

“Do you have something to ask me?” Calling him “Brother Shuyi” at every turn—if he couldn’t see through that, he wouldn’t deserve to be the young master of Nanyuan.

Jiang Yicen, looking more flustered than usual, tested the waters: “Can you… lend me a hundred million?”

Nan Shuyi nearly spat out the water in his mouth. He forced down the water, his mind racing through countless possibilities—but never this one.

He couldn’t believe what he’d heard: “What did you say?”

Was he hearing things? Had Jiang Yicen set him up? Or was Jiang Yicen getting scammed?