After returning to the restaurant, Yuan Zhou went upstairs and washed himself. By the time he went downstairs again, it was time for him to prepare dinner ingredients.
Naturally, Yuan Zhou still focused fully on his dinner preparations even if the Tri-Color Beans incident was still plaguing his mind.
While Yuan Zhou was preparing the ingredients, the customers started lining up outside.
Today, the queue was somewhat different. Usually, the queue would be bustling with noise, but today, a certain part of the queue was rather silent. That was the end part of the queue.
That was because just a while ago, Ling Hong joined the queue with a white-haired old man that still had steady and firm steps despite his age.
The old man appeared imposing and his expression was very strict. Even Ling Hong who would usually be messing around was standing there silently.
And due to the silent pressure exerted by the old man and the abnormal way Ling Hong was behaving, the crowd started lowering their voices when speaking.
“This is the place?” asked the old man with a strict tone.
“Yes,” Ling Hong nodded.
“If there’s no Keemun Black Tea here, I will teach you a lesson,” said the old man.
“Yeah, I know,” Ling Hong replied helplessly.
They were being quite conspicuous, and even Wu Hai who was at the front part of the queue saw them. He turned and clicked his tongue at Ling Hong without saying anything.
From Wu Hai’s expression, his unspoken words were, “Ling Hong, I can’t believe a day will come when you become a wimp.”
“Looks like I had chosen the wrong time to eat Herbal Tea Eggs,” Ling Hong kneaded his head with a troubled expression. He was originally planning to trick Compass, but unexpectedly, he had tricked even himself as well.
“This restaurant is too much of a wastrel. It’s Keemun Black Tea! What a waste of natural resources!” said the old man furiously as he glared at Ling Hong.
“I have only eaten it. It’s not like I was the one who cooked it,” Ling Hong tossed the responsibility away.
The old man widened his eyes, “You can’t even eat it! What kind of mouth do you have growing on you? You need the Keemun Black Tea for your Herbal Tea Eggs? How come I never realized you have such expensive taste?”
This old man was Ling Hong’s grandfather. Ling Hong would only be so obedient in front of his grandfather.
It was worth noting that Ling Hong was the cause of his grandfather’s visit here.
The incident happened last night. The Ling family would hold a reunion every now and then, with the entire family gathering for a meal.
This practice was started by this very old man. As he grew older, he started enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by his family, to enjoy the pleasure of familial affection.
And Ling Hong was creating trouble for himself last night. He insisted to come and have a meal of Herbal Tea Eggs. He was already aware that this dish was prepared with Keemun Black Tea, and after eating the dish, an intense fragrance of tea would be left lingering in his mouth.
More importantly, to ensure the fragrance of the tea was strong enough, Ling Hong had even requested for additional tea in his dish.
With that, his grandfather who was an avid tea lover would be able to smell it.
As a result, his grandfather was able to smell the fragrance, nearly beating Ling Hong to death then and there. If it wasn’t for him being busy, he would have arrived at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant early in the morning.
He waited until dinner time before he could finally come. Naturally, the old man was in a bad mood.
After all, last night, Ling Hong had proudly declared that he had eaten some Herbal Tea Eggs. But the Herbal Tea Eggs had managed to leave the fragrance of Keemun Black Tea in his mouth. If Ling Hong wasn’t his own grandchild, he would have been beaten to death.
“Just you wait,” said the old man resentfully as he glared at Ling Hong.
At this time, a few other customers joined the queue behind Ling Hong and his grandfather.
All along, Ling Hong’s grandfather had an expression as fierce as a tiger, while Ling Hong was standing straight and obediently like a peacock who had drooping feathers.
This was a rarely seen scene.
“What’s going on with Brother Ling?” Zhou Jia had just arrived and was both curious and worried. Therefore, she asked Wu Hai.
“I reckon he must have been beaten by his grandfather,” said Wu Hai while rubbing his mustache. “Looks like the old man’s body is not in such great shape since Ling Hong is still alive.”
“Ah? But Ling Hong is already an adult. His grandfather is still beating him?” Zhou Jia asked in astonishment.
“Anything is possible,” said Wu Hai as his eyes glanced around.
This conversation was overheard by the other customers. And since Wu Hai had intentionally spoken loudly, before long, the customers all found out Ling Hong had been beaten by his grandfather today.
As for the reason he was beaten, everyone had their own theory. Some claimed it was because Ling Hong was too much of a playboy, while some claimed that Ling Hong wasted too much money. In short, without Wu Hai realizing it, more than 10 versions of the original story for Ling Hong getting beaten were created.
The rickshaw driving grandpa had also heard about this. He was the customer behind Ling Hong.
He was a helpful person. As such, when he heard and saw something like this happening, he spoke.
“Old pal, what’s going on here?” he asked Ling Hong’s grandfather.
Ling Hong was aware of the rickshaw grandpa’s ability to strike a conversation with strangers. And thus, he stepped aside and gave them space to talk.
“Are you talking to me?” asked the old man with a gloomy expression.
When Grandfather Ling turned around and looked at the rickshaw grandpa, he was greeted by a kind and warm smile on a face filled with wrinkles. This was obviously a face that was not taken care of as well as his face.
On the other hand, the rickshaw grandpa’s hair wasn’t as white as Grandfather Ling, with his wrinkles concentrated at the corner of his eyes. These were clearly wrinkles that were an accumulation from smiling too much.
The rickshaw grandpa was thin yet appeared energetic. He was not dressed in a luxurious manner, with part of his black gloves sticking out of his pocket. On his feet was a pair of sports shoes that made walking around comfortable.
His hair was neatly trimmed and his beard was black. For some reason, he gave off a friendly feeling.
Grandfather Ling was naturally astonished to find a person like this suddenly speaking to him. Although this person was very friendly, he was aware that he did not know this person.
“You look like you’re in a bad mood. Did he anger you or something?” asked the rickshaw grandpa while pointing at Ling Hong.
“Hmph. What else can it be? This kid is simply a spendthrift,” said Grandfather Ling with a frown.
“Is that so?” asked the rickshaw grandpa as he looked at Ling Hong doubtfully.
Since the rickshaw grandpa was a regular customer here, he naturally knew Ling Hong. In his impression, Ling Hong wasn’t a youngster that would behave too brazenly. He was merely an energetic young man.
“Of course. This kid ate Herbal Tea Eggs cooked with Keemun Black Tea. What kind of bullsh*t is that?” Grandfather Ling started turning talkative as he started scolding while pointing at Ling Hong.
The moment he heard that, the rickshaw grandpa was stunned. He lifted his head and gazed straight at Grandfather Ling before sizing him up, as if he was bearing witness to some sort of marvel.
He continued doing so for a long time without saying anything.
“What is it?” Grandfather Ling felt very uncomfortable being stared at and asked.
“This is your grandfather?” the rickshaw grandpa asked Ling Hong instead of replying.