Zhou Qiang picked up his glass, then put it down.
"When Lanxiang was away studying, business at Hongbin Little Tower was incredible. There were long lines outside at every mealtime. I thought I should ride that momentum and expand into a chain, so I spent every day running all over town looking for storefronts."
"Xiaoliang's met the landlord of Hongbin Little Tower. A decisive, straightforward guy, fair in his dealings. One day I was scrolling through Moments and saw his rental ad. It was for this place."
Wang Xiaoliang nodded. He vaguely remembered that landlord. He could no longer recall exactly what the man looked like, only that his words carried weight. When Zhou Qiang took over Fang Dongxu's café, the landlord had spoken up to help keep things fair.
"I called him, and the next day I brought Xiuyun over to look around."
Zhou Qiang ran his finger back and forth along the rim of his glass.
"The location, the size, the layout-everything was right. Xiuyun stood in the middle of the main dining room and turned around, then looked back at me and said, 'Let's take this one.'"
"I decided on the spot and called the landlord. The next day he flew back from out of town to sign the contract. Afterward, he insisted on treating us to dinner."
Zhou Qiang's lips moved, but no sound came out for a second or two.
"That guy could really drink, and he had all kinds of ways to get you drinking. A toast for coming through the door, a toast for meeting for the first time-all bottoms up, one round after another. Xiuyun and I together couldn't outdrink him. We were in a good mood that day, and we really did want to drink."
Huang Xueli quietly uncrossed his legs.