Haidilao

"Xia, did something good happen? You seem especially happy today," Zhihui said. She had probably already guessed why Hyuga Natsu was so cheerful.

It was probably because Hyuga Gen had made up with her.

"Is that so? Big Brother Gen said he'd treat us to hot pot after class, so I'm happy," Hyuga Natsu said, her face turning slightly red. Of course, that was one reason, but it wasn't the real reason.

Remembering what Hyuga Gen had whispered in her ear that morning, her heart started racing again despite herself.

On the way to school, they had barely taken a few steps out the door when Hyuga Gen stopped. Just as Hyuga Natsu was starting to feel confused, he pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear.

"Xia, don't worry. I'll never leave you. I'll always be by your side. Even if one day you hate me and don't like me anymore, I'll still protect you."

Hyuga Natsu froze when Hyuga Gen suddenly pulled her into his arms. Then she heard his sincere, gentle words in her ear. Her heart pounded, and her ears quickly turned red.

"By the way, Zhihui, how many shops does your family have now?" Hyuga Natsu hurriedly asked, trying to change the subject so Zhihui wouldn't notice how flustered she was.

"Twelve in total." Zhihui rolled her eyes. How many shops my family has? As if you don't know. You've been to all of them.

"Aren't you planning to open a few more? It's been over a year since you opened a new shop, hasn't it?" Hyuga Natsu asked.

"Yeah. I'm just following your husband's plans. He's decided not to open any new shops in Konoha for a while. Besides, what we have now is probably enough," Zhihui replied, unable to resist teasing Hyuga Natsu.

"Zhihui, you—you..." Hyuga Natsu knew exactly who Zhihui meant by "your husband," and her face couldn't help turning red.

"Haha, Xia, you're so cute when you look like that," Zhihui said with a laugh.

"Oh, Zhihui, I'll show you what I can do today. Let's see if you dare tease me again!" With that, Hyuga Natsu pounced on Zhihui.

After school that evening, the group went to the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant. That's right, the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant. When they'd talked about naming the hot pot restaurant, the name had popped into Hyuga Gen's head at once.

They went straight to a private room, and not just any private room—the best one. As soon as they sat down, a server brought in all kinds of food. Before long, Zhihui's mother came in too.

"Welcome, Young Master," Shuishu Ling greeted Hyuga Gen with a smile. Then she personally started arranging the dishes and preparing the food.

The server who had brought in the dishes wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. What had she just seen? Their esteemed proprietress was doing a server's job!

She could hardly believe her eyes. Every one of them admired their boss. In just a short time, a woman had built up an impressive fortune and opened several shops.

As far as she knew, her boss owned several busy shops: six hot pot restaurants, four barbecue restaurants, and two ice cream shops.

The things sold in those shops were always popular with people. Take hot pot, for instance. There wasn't anything complicated about it, but no one else had thought of doing it this way. Now all they could do was watch their boss make money.

That wasn't the only impressive thing about her boss. Plenty of important people often came to eat at the restaurant. Even Lord Hokage had visited before, and he'd praised the Haidilao Hot Pot and the boss to no end.

And yet this very same boss was acting as a server today, respectfully addressing that person as "Young Master." How could that not shock her?

"Now that the food's been served, you can go. Don't let anyone come in without my permission," Shuishu Ling said, her voice slightly stern.

"Yes," the server replied. She didn't dare take another look, and slowly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Hyuga Gen could only shake his head helplessly at Aunt Ling calling him "Young Master." She had called him Gen before, but over the past few years, as she'd witnessed one strange thing after another about him, she'd grown more and more awed by him.

After that, she started calling him "Lord Gen." Hyuga Gen really didn't like being called "Lord," so eventually they settled for "Young Master" instead.

Actually, "Lord" was a very common form of address in this world, as in Lord Hokage or Lord Hiashi. People of lower status generally added "Lord" when addressing someone of higher status.

The unusual one was Hyuga Gen himself.

"Aunt Ling, why don't you sit and eat with us? Zhihui's here too. We'd feel awkward starting without you," Hyuga Gen said.

"Then, thank you, Young Master." Shuishu Ling sat down beside them, though she didn't stop keeping her hands busy.

Seeing Shuishu Ling in her purple kimono, Hyuga Gen couldn't help giving her a thumbs-up. Her movements were gentle, and even the way she picked up food looked refined and elegant.

Mature really was better. "Hiss—"

"What's wrong, Big Brother Gen?" Hyuga Natsu asked, blinking.

Seeing Hyuga Natsu act as if nothing had happened, Hyuga Gen's mouth twitched. He wanted to say, "Xia, could you take your hand off my waist?"

"Oh, it's nothing, nothing," Hyuga Gen said, forcing a smile.

"Young Master, you haven't even picked up your chopsticks. What are you moving?" Shuishu Ling suddenly stopped Zhihui's chopsticks just as she was about to pick up some food.

"Mother, am I even your real daughter? Big Brother Gen didn't say anything," Zhihui said with a pout. She felt that her mother had changed and was becoming stricter with her all the time.

Hearing Zhihui invoke Hyuga Gen, Shuishu Ling could only let go of Zhihui's chopsticks helplessly.

"Aunt Ling, just act as if you're at home. There's no need to be so formal," Hyuga Gen said hurriedly. He felt a little helpless too. The first time he'd visited Zhihui's home, things had been just fine. But as time passed, he'd noticed Shuishu Ling becoming more and more respectful and reserved around him.

Hyuga Gen didn't like it, though sometimes he enjoyed the feeling too. He thought he was rather conflicted.

At his words, Zhihui made a face at her mother, looking as if she'd won.

Hyuga Gen found it amusing too. Zhihui only ever showed this side of herself in front of her mother. It was clear that the two of them had a very close relationship.

"By the way, Aunt Ling, how's construction on the farm going?" Hyuga Gen hurriedly asked.

"Things are going quite smoothly at the farm. By next year, we should be able to supply most of our ingredients ourselves. The year after that, we should be fully self-sufficient," Shuishu Ling said.

"That's good. It's better to keep everything in our own hands," Hyuga Gen said with a smile. He didn't want to go through what had happened last time again.

They'd earned quite a lot over the past few years, but Hyuga Gen had never taken any money. Of course, his share had been set aside for him; he'd simply asked Shuishu Ling to invest most of his assets in building the new farm.

Hyuga Gen wanted to develop agriculture on a large scale so more people could afford to eat and have enough to eat. It would also help prepare for his own business ventures later on.

The rest had gone toward building a product research and development department, which would study ways to increase crop yields and develop new products. He wanted to recreate everything from his old world in this one, so a research department was essential.

Of course, they couldn't move too fast at the beginning. They had to take it slowly, then gradually expand and grow stronger.

He believed that before long—perhaps within the next decade—this world would change even more because of him.