I'm back in 1990

Chapter 556: A Perfect Solution

As the saying goes, if you're going to do something good, do it all the way.

After finishing a meeting in the courtyard in the afternoon, Huang Xiaochuan went straight to the Yu family's house.

Zheng Aiying, who opened the door, asked her son-in-law in surprise, "Why are you here at this time?"

After Huang Xiaochuan entered the door, he said to his mother-in-law, "Yesterday I said I'd get my cousin a job! I've already arranged it, he'll go to Old Tang's restaurant, where he can work and learn at the same time. I happen to have some time now, so I'm planning to accompany my cousin and his wife to complete the formalities."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Aiying immediately beamed and said, "That's wonderful!"

She then called out to Li Song and Cao Xiuying, who were tending her vegetable garden in the yard, "Li Song, Xiufen, stop working! You two hurry up and wash up, change your clothes, and come with Xiaochuan!"

The couple were completely bewildered by Zheng Aiying's loud shouting; they never expected the job arrangements to be finalized so quickly.

After Zheng Aiying told them about it, the couple, whose hands were covered in mud, were surprised and delighted that their nephew-in-law had handled things so quickly. They were also caught off guard.

Li Song was about to shake Huang Xiaochuan's hand, but he quickly pulled it back halfway because his hands were covered in mud and hadn't been washed.

He said with a grateful expression, "Nephew-in-law, how can I possibly thank you enough!"

Before Huang Xiaochuan could speak, Zheng Aiying interjected, "We're family, no need for formalities, Li Song, why are you being so polite? Hurry up and go inside to wash up and change your clothes, quick!"

Li Song smiled at Huang Xiaochuan while replying to Zheng Aiying, "Okay, I'm going right now!"

Cao Xiufen kept thanking Zheng Aiying and Huang Xiaochuan, and then followed Li Song into the house.

After the two entered the house, Huang Xiaochuan asked Zheng Aiying, "Mom, where's Dad?"

"You went to play ball with your dad. These two are really into ball now!" After saying that, Zheng Aiying suddenly remembered something and hurriedly went into the house as well.

Huang Xiaochuan sat down in the courtyard, admiring the colorful flowers and the small vegetable garden laden with fruit, all tended by his mother-in-law, Zheng Aiying, when she had nothing to do.

Huang Xiaochuan didn't have to wait long before Li Song and Cao Xiufen came out after changing their clothes. Li Song kept tugging at the hem of his new shirt, which looked like Lao Yu's shirt. It was a little big on Li Song, but it was new and hadn't been worn before.

As Huang Xiaochuan left, he didn't forget to say to Zheng Aiying, "Mom! We're leaving now!"

Zheng Aiying waved her hand: "Go on, go on! Come back early tonight!"

Huang Xiaochuan replied, "Mom! I might not be able to come over tonight."

Zheng Aiying responded, "Understood!"

Afterwards, Huang Xiaochuan took Li Song and Cao Xiufen to the car and headed towards the Huahong Restaurant in Yangpu. This was Tang Jianhua's sixteenth Huahong Restaurant in Shanghai, which had been open for more than half a year. It was not far from the University of Finance and Economics. Huang Xiaochuan had been there a few times, mainly to treat his colleagues to meals.

After getting into the car, Li Song and Cao Xiufen looked at the interior of the minivan they were riding in with some restraint. The car was really big! It smelled nice inside, and the seats were very comfortable. This car must have cost a lot of money. This nephew-in-law seems to be quite rich? Could it be that university professors earn a lot of money these days? The two of them were full of questions.

The car entered the inner ring elevated highway and soon arrived at the Yangpu branch of Huahong Hotel. Tang Jianhua had been waiting there since receiving a call from his brother-in-law.

Through the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows, Tang Jianhua saw his brother-in-law's car arrive and went out of the hotel to greet it.

At this moment, Huang Xiaochuan, along with Li Song and Cao Xiufen, had already gotten out of the car. Seeing Tang Jianhua approaching, he said to Li Song and Cao Xiufen, "The restaurant owner is here. Let's go say hello to him."

Li Song asked, "Nephew-in-law, what's the boss's surname?"

Huang Xiaochuan laughed and said, "His surname is Tang, the same as that of Tang Jiezong, the crosstalk performer."

At this moment, Tang Jianhua came up to greet them: "Xiao Chuan, this must be Master Li and his wife, right?"

Li Song and Cao Xiufen quickly greeted him, "Hello, Boss Tang!"

Before Li Song arrived, Tang Jianhua hesitated for a while. He was unsure how to address Li Song, who was his brother-in-law's wife's cousin-in-law, and more importantly, younger than him. How could he call him cousin-in-law? It was really hard to say! What's more, this man was coming to work as a chef at his restaurant.

After much thought, Tang Jianhua decided to simply avoid the issue of seniority and call him Master Li, which would be the most appropriate term.

Li Song and Tang Jianhua greeted each other and shook hands.

After exchanging a few pleasantries at the restaurant entrance, Tang Jianhua invited the others to come inside with him. Huang Xiaochuan did not follow them in, but instead found a seat by the window in the lobby. He was going to take Li Song and Cao Xiufen to their accommodation later.

Once inside the restaurant, Li Song and Cao Xiufen were overwhelmed with wonder, like country bumpkins visiting the Grand View Garden. Li Song, in particular, was utterly astonished. This restaurant was incredibly upscale! He had never seen anything like it before. He had already guessed it was a large restaurant from the entrance decorations, but he hadn't expected it to be even more magnificent inside.

Tang Jianhua led Li Song and his wife through the restaurant, personally introducing each department as they walked, before heading directly to the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, Li Song was completely dumbfounded.

This kitchen is so clean! It's equipped with a full set of stainless steel kitchen utensils, and the best part is that there's not a single trace of oil or smoke on the range hood!

Moreover, the kitchen was preparing for the evening rush hour, with more than thirty chefs dressed in white chef uniforms busy at work. The uniforms were all the same, except that the hats of seven or eight of them were different from the others.

"Old Song, come here for a moment!" Tang Jianhua beckoned over a chef wearing a tall hat who was busy at work.

After the man approached them, Tang Jianhua introduced him to Li Song and his wife, saying, "This is Chef Song Xiaodong, now the head chef of this restaurant. Li, you'll be working under Chef Song from now on. He'll have someone tell you anything. You're new here, so you need to learn a lot!"

Li Song quickly nodded and extended his hand to Chef Song, saying, "Hello, Chef Song, my name is Li Song. I hope you can help me in the future!"

Chef Song seemed to be a pretty good person. He extended his hand to shake hands with Li Song and then said casually, "It's not about helping. Just know that there's work to be done. In our line of work, we're not afraid of being diligent, but we are afraid of being lazy."

After listening to this, Li Song felt that Master Song was right. To be a chef, you have to be diligent, otherwise how can you learn the skills?

Tang Jianhua said to Chef Song, "Old Song, I'm entrusting this person to you. In a little while, arrange for someone to take him to HR to complete the onboarding procedures."

After glancing at Li Song, Head Chef Song said to Tang Jianhua, "Mr. Tang, you can rest assured that he's with me!"

After settling Li Song in, Tang Jianhua led Cao Xiufen to the lobby manager.

"Jiang Qiaoqiao, add someone to your team. Assign her some light work."

After glancing at Cao Xiufen a few times, the lobby manager smiled and agreed, "President Tang, don't worry, I will definitely do as you say!"

After explaining the situation, Tang Jianhua went to the lobby to find Huang Xiaochuan.

After Tang Jianhua left, Jiang Qiaoqiao asked Cao Xiufen, "Big sister, what's your name?"

Cao Xiufen was a little timid being alone, but she still replied, "My name is Cao Xiufen."

Jiang Qiaoqiao smiled and said, "Then I'll call you Sister Cao from now on."

Cao Xiufen was a little overwhelmed by Jiang Qiaoqiao's enthusiasm, and she nervously clutched her clothes.

Jiang Qiaoqiao casually probed Cao Xiufen's background: "Sister Cao, what's your relationship with our CEO Tang?"

Jiang Qiaoqiao asked this question because she was puzzled by the matter. It was not surprising that Cao Xiufen was a country girl who had come to the city to work, as many people nowadays work in the city. What was strange was that Boss Tang had personally arranged for her to do some light work and even came all the way from the company to the store to wait for Cao Xiufen to arrive.

Cao Xiufen truthfully replied, "It's nothing, this is also the first time I've met President Tang today."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qiaoqiao carefully examined Cao Xiufen. What was going on? Was she perhaps connected through connections?

"Who recommended you?"

The simple-minded Cao Xiufen turned her head and looked around, then pointed to Huang Xiaochuan, who was sitting in front of the French windows chatting with Tang Jianhua, and said, "My nephew-in-law helped."

Jiang Qiaoqiao naturally knew Professor Huang, the brother-in-law of the big boss Tang Jianhua. She looked at Cao Xiufen with surprise. First, she did not expect that Cao Xiufen was related to Professor Huang. Second, this woman who looked less than forty years old (in fact, Cao Xiufen was only thirty years old) was Professor Huang's elder.

Jiang Qiaoqiao then warmly took Cao Xiufen's arm and began exchanging pleasantries: "Sister Cao, are you related to Professor Huang?"

Meanwhile, Tang Jianhua had someone brew a pot of his fine tea and bring it over. Tang Jianhua personally poured a cup for Huang Xiaochuan.

"I know you're particular about tea, and this tea was a gift from you, so I'm just passing on your kindness."

Huang Xiaochuan smelled the aroma of the tea and smiled, "I'm very casual about drinking tea! You can just use any tea leaves from now on."

Upon hearing this, Tang Jianhua thought to himself, "I don't believe you for a second. Others may not know, but I do. Your tea is worth at least several million. Would someone who isn't particular buy several million worth of tea and keep it at home? The key is that it doesn't even look like much. It's just a bunch of cakes, jars, boxes, and stuff. A minivan could easily haul it away."

Anyway, Tang Jianhua didn't think he would be so foolish as to buy so much tea to drink, and he couldn't tell the difference between good and bad anyway, since they all tasted pretty much the same.

"Forget it! If you're not particular about tea, then you're not a particular person at all. I saw it with my own eyes. Last time we went back to Suzhou to visit relatives, you didn't even touch the tea they brewed for you."

How could Huang Xiaochuan possibly admit to this? He shamelessly said, "How could that be? You must not have seen it. I drank it!"

Tang Jianhua felt there was no point in arguing with his brother-in-law about this, so he simply changed the subject.

Are you free this Sunday?

Huang Xiaochuan asked, "What's wrong? Brother-in-law, is something the matter?"

"Your sister asked me to ask you if you have time to bring your wife and kids to my house for a meal. You haven't been there in a long time."

Huang Xiaochuan would of course agree to this request: "You reminded me that I haven't eaten my sister's cooking for more than half a year. It's Sunday, right? Our whole family will definitely go."

Tang Jianhua was very happy to see that his brother-in-law had agreed, and said, "In that case, I'll invite Zeng Xia's family as well; the more the merrier."

"Okay, that's for the best!"

After Li Song and Cao Xiufen familiarized themselves with the work environment and completed their onboarding procedures, Huang Xiaochuan said goodbye to Tang Jianhua and then took the two away again. He wanted to arrange accommodation for Li Song and Cao Xiufen.

Living at the Yu family's house wasn't impossible, but it wasn't convenient. The Yu family's house was too far from the restaurant where Li Song and Cao Xiufen worked. The restaurant did provide dormitories, but they were all shared dormitories. Huang Xiaochuan naturally wouldn't let Li Song and Cao Xiufen live in the shared dormitories. Wouldn't that mean separating the couple? Besides, Huang Xiaochuan wasn't short of houses. He had plenty of houses in Shanghai!

Huang Xiaochuan took Li Song and his wife to the apartment that the school had allocated to him. The property rights of this apartment were now in his name. Due to housing reform, based on factors such as years of service and professional title, the apartment was sold to Huang Xiaochuan at a very low price. Of course, Huang Xiaochuan was not the only one who enjoyed this benefit; it was a nationwide practice. All government agencies and enterprises across the country operated in this way when it came to their public housing. This also marked the beginning of housing reform, and there would never be such a good thing again.

Huang Xiaochuan never lived in this apartment, but it was fully furnished with all the necessary appliances. After he gave up his single dormitory, Huang Xiaochuan would only come here for a midday nap when he didn't go home. Later, after he moved to an office with a lounge, he never came here again. Now, this apartment has been vacant for a long time.

Upon entering the house, which had been uninhabited for a long time, there was a musty smell. Huang Xiaochuan opened all the doors and windows to ventilate the house, and then said to Li Song and Cao Xiufen, "Uncle, Aunt, this is a house that the school used to allocate to me. It's not far from the restaurant, but it's been empty for a while now. You can stay here for now! We'll buy two bicycles later, so it will be convenient for you to commute to get off work."

When Li Song and Cao Xiufen heard that their nephew-in-law was going to lend them such a nice house, they felt it was inappropriate. Not only had their nephew-in-law helped them with their jobs, but now he was even lending them his house. This was a huge favor. Besides, when they were doing their onboarding, the HR girl had mentioned that the hotel provided dormitories.

Li Song quickly refused, saying, "Nephew-in-law, the hotel has dormitories. We can stay there. It would be a waste for us to stay in such nice accommodations."

"What kind of talk is that? Uncle, look how long this house has been empty. The floor is covered in dust. If the furniture and appliances weren't covered with cloth, they would probably be covered in dust too. It's not good for the house to be empty. If you move in, you can help me take care of the house."

Cao Xiufen asked cautiously, "Nephew-in-law, such a nice house would cost a lot of money to rent out each month, wouldn't it?"

Huang Xiaochuan smiled and waved his hand: "Auntie, I would rather leave this house empty than rent it to outsiders. I don't need that little bit of rent. But you and Uncle are not outsiders. I feel at ease letting you live in the house. So it's settled."

Seeing Huang Xiaochuan's resolute attitude, and knowing that he genuinely liked the house, Li Song said, "Then how about this, we'll pay you rent every month; we can't live in your house for free."

Huang Xiaochuan said with dissatisfaction, "Uncle, what are you talking about? You came to look at the house for me, so I should pay you. Let's not talk about renting it out again."

Li Song refused, saying, "Nephew-in-law, although I'm not very educated, I'm not stupid. I know you're taking care of me and your aunt, but you've already helped us enough. If you don't want to take the house, then we'll stay in the dormitory."

At this point, Cao Xiufen chimed in, "Yes! If you don't accept the money, we'll go live in the dormitory!"

Huang Xiaochuan had no choice but to compromise: "Alright, alright! But we need to be clear from the start. Because of our relationship, the rent can't be charged like it would to outsiders. How about this, two hundred yuan a month, and you can pay for the water, electricity, and gas yourself."

Seeing that Li Song still refused to agree, Huang Xiaochuan said decisively, "Alright, it's settled then. You guys have to help me take care of the house. If outsiders live here, who knows what kind of mess they'll make of it. How can I feel at ease letting you live here?"

Having said all that, Li Song finally agreed to Huang Xiaochuan's suggestion.

When Huang Xiaochuan returned home that evening, Yu Xiang was already there. Seeing him, she asked, "Haven't eaten yet?"

Huang Xiaochuan shook his head: "No, I only came back after I had settled your cousin and aunt."

Yu Xiang said gratefully to Huang Xiaochuan, "Thank you! You've gone to so much trouble for my cousin and aunt."

Huang Xiaochuan said with a displeased look, "Look how distant you're being. Are we still a couple?"

Yu Xiang said, "These are two different things. Logically speaking, my parents and my brother should be helping with my cousin's affairs. There's no reason for my nephew-in-law to run around doing all this."

Huang Xiaochuan walked towards the first-floor restroom, intending to wash his hands before eating. As he walked, he said, "It's best for me to handle this."

After he washed his hands and came out, he continued, "It's not appropriate for you to ask Yu Wei to use his connections. After all, he's a public servant. You shouldn't owe people favors, because you can't always repay them. Ask your parents to figure it out. They're both retired, so don't let them worry about it anymore. Besides, my brother-in-law's restaurant needs to hire people from outside anyway. This is a win-win solution for both of us. Isn't it great?"

After packing the food, Yu Xiang placed it in front of Huang Xiaochuan: "You, you always get to say everything."

Huang Xiaochuan picked up his rice bowl, took a bite of the vegetables, and then said, "I heard from your mother that your aunt is incredibly kind to you all. She often brings things to your family. When you were little, you got shingles, and it was your aunt who took care of you day and night and found folk remedies to cure you. At that time, your mother said that your father was in the army, and Yu Min and Yu Wei were still young. If it weren't for your aunt taking care of them, life would have been very difficult."

Besides, I think my cousin and his wife are honest people, so I just casually recommended them for a job. It's no big deal. If they weren't so poorly educated, I would have arranged for them to work at the supermarket.

Yu Xiang said softly, "Anyway, thank you!"

Huang Xiaochuan glared at Yu Xiang, feigning displeasure: "Look at you, here you go again!"

Yu Xiang laughed and said, "I won't say anything more, okay?"

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