Siheyuan: Why is my crossing so ugly?

"Boom!"

In front of the cold drink stall, Du Weiguo opened a bottle of iced Kunpeng Cola with his bare hands and gulped down the whole bottle in one breath.

"Burp~" He let out a long burp.

I have to say, the Fat House Happy Water is really good. After drinking a bottle, every cell in the body feels relaxed and it feels great.

He lit a cigarette, sat down on a folding stool at the cold drink stand, and looked at the street with squinting eyes.

Central Street is the commercial street of St. George's and is also the main north-south road that runs through the entire city.

The flat, clean cement road is more than 30 meters wide and can accommodate eight cars running side by side. There are also specially marked pedestrian crossings on both sides.

There are no high-rise buildings or bungalows on both sides of the road. Instead, there are blue-gray six-story buildings, which are arranged in an orderly manner and even have a uniform design.

Because Quiana is located in the rainforest, everyone is tired of seeing green, so there are no trees planted on the road.

It looks neat and pleasing to the eye, which is definitely a boon for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

However, although the color tone and shape are single, it is not monotonous.

Because there are countless signs, billboards, and light boxes as embellishments, many light boxes are also lit during the day, colorful and very beautiful.

The entire city of St. George has electricity and water, and the government provides subsidies, so the cost is quite low.

On the streets, all kinds of vehicles are flowing continuously. Every passerby is dressed appropriately, holding his head high, with a confident and calm smile on his face, full of enthusiasm for life.

The most important thing is that, looking around, at least 8% of the passers-by are of Chinese descent.

At first glance, I thought it was a city in later China.

"Sir, isn't St. George very beautiful?"

After finishing a cigarette, Du Tie and the others also finished several bottles of Coke. Duran sat next to him and asked softly.

"Yes, I have traveled to many places, but I have never seen a city more beautiful and prosperous than Saint Georgetown."

Du Weiguo's tone was full of emotion. This was not a lie, but a true feeling from his heart.

"Hey~" Du Tiehan smiled and came over:

"Sir, since St. George's is so good, why don't you stay here? With you here, everyone will have a backbone in their hearts, Luo Ting'er."

Hanging out with Hanwen every day, this kid has learned to speak in Beijing dialect.

"Yes, yes, sir, please don't leave." The greedy Duhani quickly drank the last drop of Coke and echoed.

Reaching out to help her wipe the remaining Coke from the corner of her mouth, Du Weiguo smiled and nodded:

"Well, okay, once I've dealt with all the mess outside, I'll stay in Saint Georgetown permanently. Let's enjoy a few days of peace and quiet, and I'll take you to eat all kinds of delicious food every day!"

"That's great!" Duhani cheered immediately, and Duran and Du Tie also smiled.

Du Weiguo rubbed his stomach:

"Tsk, speaking of delicious food, I'm actually a little hungry. Is there any good restaurant in St. George's? Let's go and have a good meal."

"Sir, I know, I know!"

Du Tie immediately raised his hand high like a primary school student presenting a treasure.

"Then let's go!" Du Weiguo stood up with a smile.

"Sir, this is the most authentic Shandong cuisine restaurant in Saint Georgetown. Brother Hanwen likes to eat here the most. In his words, it's authentic!"

A moment later, on the eastern section of Central Avenue, Du Tie pointed to a large restaurant on the roadside and recommended it with great excitement.

Du Weiguo raised his head and took a glance, wow, it's really impressive!
The brand new three-story wooden building is connected to a spacious backyard, with red paint, green pillars, flying eaves and brackets, and looks full of ancient charm.

A gilded plaque hangs right above the vermilion gate, with three large characters written on it in a flamboyant style: Manhan Building.

There is also a pair of gilded couplets hanging on both sides. The top line reads, "The wise man has reached a blessed land, and the guests are served tea with happiness." The bottom line reads, "After exchanging cups, there is little food left."

On the left and right of the plaque, there are two red lanterns hanging, and waves of food aroma are wafting out from the air, reaching into the air.

"Tsk, this taste is really authentic." Du Weiguo sniffed and praised softly.

The air is filled with a rich, salty and fragrant aroma of stir-fried food. Just smelling it, the characteristics of Shandong cuisine are fully displayed and make people salivate.

"It has four doors and is named Manhanlou. What a boast! Could it be that this restaurant is the descendant of some imperial chef?"

Du Weiguo's anticipation was instantly aroused.

In the past, restaurants north of the Yellow River were very serious, especially the signs at the door, which were not hung casually.

One is a staple food shop, selling buns, pies, steamed dumplings and the like. It does not sell hot pot dishes, only cold dishes and at most hot soup.

Lianghou is an ordinary restaurant that can cook simple meals, mainly stir-frying and stewing, and the cuisine is often single.

The four tips are quite impressive. You have to be able to fry, stir-fry, deep-fry, stew, and braise, almost all 24 cooking methods, and often you can't just master one cuisine.

Moreover, the name Manhan Building was not chosen at random.

In a large restaurant of this size, if there is one dish with 108 dishes in the Manchu-Han Banquet that cannot be made well, the restaurant will be replaced by its competitors.

Of course, these are all old almanacs, and they are old customs in northern China. If they were placed in Shengzhidun, thousands of miles away, there would probably not be so many rules.

"Huh?" Just as he was about to go in, Du Weiguo suddenly frowned and stopped.

He lit a cigarette and asked with interest, "Xiao Tie, when did this restaurant open?"

Du Tie replied without hesitation:
"It opened four months ago. At that time, we set off 4 firecrackers and invited lion and dragon dancers. It was a very lively scene."

Exhaling the smoke, Du Weiguo continued to ask: "Is it opened by local Chinese in St. Georgetown, or by Chinese from Suriname?"

"Neither. Most of the locals are from Chaoshan and don't know how to cook Shandong cuisine. I heard it was opened by an outsider."

"Heh~ outsider." Du Weiguo chuckled, and a hidden dark light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

"The owner of this Manhan Building is quite capable. He came here across the ocean and has the ability to build such a grand new building."

You know, most of the mainland people who immigrated to Guyana and Persia are struggling to make a living.

Anyone who has the financial resources and the means basically stays in Hong Kong Island and Pattaya. After all, these two places are closer to their homeland, are home to the Chinese, and have a better environment.

But the boss of Manhanlou is obviously an outlier. To be able to set up such a big stall in a foreign country, his strength and skills must be extraordinary.

There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. Doubting everything has become Du Weiguo's instinct. What's more, there is another secret in this Manhan Building.

Thinking of this, Du Weiguo suddenly changed the subject: "Xiaotie, do you know the owner of Manhanlou?"

"I don't know him." Du Tie shook his head.

"Brother Hanwen and I have been here a few times, but we only ordered food and ate as ordinary diners and have never met the boss."

"Never seen him?" Du Weiguo raised his eyebrows: "Isn't he usually waiting at the counter?"

The owner of a restaurant usually also serves as the accountant, and usually waits at the cashier counter near the door.

This makes it easier to settle accounts, welcome and see off guests, and make friends with guests from all over the world. Of course, it can also effectively prevent people from running away without paying.

"Well, no, there's only a little girl at the cashier's counter who's in charge of accounting."

Du Tie recalled briefly:
"One time when we were having a meal, Brother Hanwen casually asked the waiter, and he said that the owner of Manhanlou had another business in St. Georgetown and was not usually in charge of the store."

"Oh? He has other jobs?" Du Weiguo became more interested.

"Sir, do you suspect that there is something wrong with the owner of this store? I will immediately ask someone to check his background."

The little girl Duran was very smart. She had already noticed something was wrong from Du Weiguo's behavior, and her little face immediately tensed up.

"Xiaolan, you are still smart." Du Weiguo smiled and touched her little head.

"But you don't need to be nervous. I'm just curious about the identity of the shop owner. Let's go in and try the cooking of Manhanlou first."

The Man-Han Building has three floors in total. The first and second floors are both open-air platforms, but the open-air platforms on the second floor are separated by wooden screens.

As for the third floor, there are 24 exquisitely decorated private rooms, all named after the solar terms, which is very classy.

It was dinner time and St. George was very rich, so the entire Manhan Building was packed with people, except for a few private rooms on the third floor.

This is the case in good restaurants and popular places. A few private rooms are always reserved to meet the temporary needs of certain privileged people.

Moreover, these reserved private rooms often have the best seats.

For example, the Manhan Building has four rooms, which are located in the four most secluded corners of the third floor, namely Grain Rain, Great Heat, Frost Descent, and Great Cold.

Du Weiguo spent a full 100 yuan in tips to finally secure the Guyu Hall located in the southeast corner.

The doors, windows and floors of the private room were all made of solid wood, with carved beams and painted buildings, and all yellow rosewood tables and chairs. There were calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls, potted plants on the small table, and incense was burning. The layout was very elegant. Du Weiguo took the menu and just glanced at it casually before putting it down. He then ordered ten dishes in one go:
"Scallion-fried sea cucumber, three-shred shark's fin, braised prawns, abalone with sauce, fish fillet with scallions and peppers, fried double crisps, nine-turn large intestine, four-happiness meatballs, braised chicken, and jar meat."

Every dish he ordered was a representative one of Shandong cuisine, and it was obvious at first glance that he was an extremely connoisseur of gourmet food.

"Sir, you are this, not only are you rich, but you are also a gourmet and know how to eat!"

The young man was slightly surprised, and gave him a thumbs up, praising him while calmly saying:
"From your accent, you are from northern China. I haven't seen you before. Could it be that you just came from Vladivostok?"

"Heh~" Du Weiguo chuckled without saying anything and simply ignored his question:
"Well, I don't have any other hobbies except being greedy. Brother, what kind of wine does Manhanlou have?"

The young man smiled and replied:

"Sir, you are a gourmet. You must drink white wine with the dishes you ordered, right?"

"Brother, you are an expert. When eating Shandong cuisine, of course you have to drink white wine. How about it? Do you have any in the store?"

The waiter nodded attentively: "Yes, we have homemade Xinghuachun in Manhanlou, which tastes sweet. Would you like to try it?"

"Xinghuachun? This name is interesting. Could it be related to the Xinghua Village of Fenjiu in Jin?"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Du Weiguo raised his eyebrows slightly.

This question touched the boy's sore spot, and a hint of satisfaction appeared on his face:
"Sir, you are indeed very knowledgeable. This is the recipe of Xinghua Village liquor that my boss spent a lot of money to get from Jin. The liquor we brew at home tastes exactly the same as Fenjiu."

"Good fellow!" Du Weiguo was very surprised when he heard this:

"Then your boss is really capable. Okay, then order three pounds of Xinghuachun to try. We can talk about the main course later."

"Okay, please wait a moment, everyone." The waiter turned around and went out quickly.

"Tsk, he's from the north, and he comes from a military background. This is becoming more and more interesting." Du Weiguo lit a cigarette and muttered to himself in a teasing tone.

"Sir, what's the problem?"

The little girl Du Lan was quite alert. She was always observing Du Weiguo's expression and immediately asked.

Du Weiguo turned to her with a smile and said, "Xiaolan, look towards the backyard and take a closer look."

Hearing this, Duran lowered her head immediately, a sharp light suddenly flashed in her eyes, and just a moment later, she raised her head abruptly, with a surprised tone:

"Sir, in the basement of the backyard~"

Du Weiguo made a hushing expression to her, and Du Lan's voice suddenly stopped.

"It's okay, just eat your meal first and we'll talk about it when we get back." Du Weiguo rubbed her little head lovingly.

"Okay, sir."

Duran nodded obediently, but she seemed to suddenly think of something: "Hey! Your eyes?"

Du Weiguo winked at her, leaned close to her ear, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear:

"Well, I can see through things now, too. It's a secret."

"Yeah~"

Upon hearing this, Duran covered his mouth in surprise, and his face turned red as blood because of shame.

The dishes at Manhanlou are served very quickly and the taste is very good, with good color, aroma and flavor.

What is more worth mentioning is that the wine is also delicious, sweet, mellow, and its taste is 7% similar to Fenjiu.

Duhani was still young and did not drink. The remaining three people shared and drank the three-jin jar of Xinghuachun.

After drinking a pound of strong liquor, Du Lan and Du Tie just blushed slightly, while Du Weiguo looked as if he had never drunk any alcohol at all, and there was not even a trace of alcohol on his body.

Du Weiguo smacked his lips:
"Xiao Tie, go and call the waiter over so we can get some staple food. Just now downstairs, I saw that he seemed to have pies at home."

"Okay, sir." Du Tie stood up immediately.

"Tap tap tap~"

At this moment, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor outside the private room, followed by the waiter's voice.

"Sir, may I come in?"

"Come in." A smile with an ambiguous meaning appeared on Du Weiguo's face.

The young man pushed the door open and came in, smiling very attentively:

"Sir, do the food and drinks in our Manhan Restaurant suit your taste?"

Du Weiguo nodded:
"Well, the food is good, the wine is good, I had a great meal today, and my gluttony was fully satisfied. Brother, what's the matter?"

The young man accidentally glanced at the golden filter in the ashtray, and his pupils shrank slightly.

However, there was no extra expression on his face and he still had a smile on his face.

"Sir, it's like this. Our boss happened to come here today. He heard that a gourmet who knows how to eat and drink has come to the store. He wants to make his acquaintance with you. I wonder if it's convenient for you."

Upon hearing this, Du Weiguo immediately looked flattered:

"Of course, of course. The boss of your Manhanlou is a god-like figure. It is my honor to meet him."

A moment later, in the northwest corner of the third floor, the vacant Dahan Hall.

"I heard from the waiter that a gourmet came to the store. I thought he was a wise elder, but unexpectedly, he was a young talent. My name is Yu Hanliang. May I know your name, sir?"

Sitting on the armchair by the wall was a handsome middle-aged man with a slicked-back hair, a well-ironed dark grey double-breasted suit, and shiny leather shoes.

"My surname is Chen, and my given name is Haonan." Du Weiguo said nonsense.

"Chen Haonan, what a nice name. I'm a few years older than you, so it's okay for me to call you Haonan, right?"

Yu Hanliang had a deep voice and spoke in a very stylish and slow manner. While speaking, he handed a cigar to Du Weiguo.

"Brother Haonan, do you want to smoke?"

"Of course, Brother Yu, thank you." Du Weiguo took the cigar without any taboos.

Yu Hanliang picked up the blowtorch and helped him light the cigar. He asked casually, "Brother Haonan, are you new to Saint George?"

After exhaling a long breath of smoke, Du Weiguo smiled and asked:
"Brother Yu, why do you ask? Could it be that I have been in Saint Georgetown for a long time?"

"No~" Yu Hanliang also laughed and shook his head firmly:

"A top person like you would stand out wherever you are. Although there are more than a million Chinese people gathered in St. George's, if you had been here for a long time, you would have stood out long ago."

"Ha!" Du Weiguo laughed.

"Brother Yu, you are too kind. I am not some outstanding person. I am just a gambler who wanders around."

Yu Hanliang showed an expression of sudden enlightenment:

"So you came to Kunpeng Casino for fun, brother? How was it? Have you been there? How was your luck?"

Du Weiguo shook his head and said nonsense: "That ghost king Ye is so powerful that I even lost all my boat tickets."

"Hehehe~" Yu Hanliang laughed so hard that his eyebrows were not visible:
"I'm not mistaken. Brother Haonan is indeed an incredible figure."

"Brother, why do you say that?" Du Weiguo was a little surprised.

Yu Hanliang said meaningfully:

“As far as I know, if you want to sit at the same table with the ghost king Ye of Kunpeng Casino, the minimum chips are 200 million US dollars.

If you want a one-on-one fight, at least 500 million. You are the only one I have ever seen who can come up with this amount of chips at your age."

"Alas~ What's the use? In the end, I still lost everything." Du Weiguo sighed, his tone helpless:

"By the way, Brother Yu, you are also a big businessman. Do you have any way to make money? Introduce me one so that I can earn a boat ticket back home."

A gleam of light flashed in Yu Hanliang's eyes: "Go home? Oh, by the way, I still don't know where Brother Haonan's home is?"

Du Weiguo said without hesitation:
"Hong Kong Island. My hometown is in northern China. We couldn't make ends meet during the war, so we moved there with our family."

Yu Hanliang then asked:
"Hong Kong Island is a great place, full of gold. What does your family do for a living, Haonan?"

"Buy a few small sampans and transport some things here and there."

"Good fellow!" Yu Hanliang's tone was a little exaggerated:
"So you're in the shipping business, brother Haonan, you really come from a wealthy family, no wonder you look so noble."

"What wealthy family?" Du Weiguo shook his head quickly:

"Brother Yu, please don't shiver at me. I'm just trying to make a living. So, do you have any way to make money?" (End of this chapter)