Cheng Su never received a call from Qi Taiguo, and inevitably felt a sense of loss and frustration. When she was away, the calls came, but now as she waited, there was not even a hint of a ring, and the psychological drop was not minor.
Instead, she received a call from Luh Kai, concerning the shop with an ominous past. They arranged to meet the next day.
The rendezvous was the same teahouse as before. Luh Kai, clad in a long coat and wearing glasses, looked refined and polite, not at all like a supply and marketing cooperative director but more like a teacher.
"I called you twice, I heard you were ill, are you fully recovered now?" Luh Kai observed her carefully and said, "Your face has become much sharper, and your complexion doesn’t look too good!"
Cheng Su touched her cheek and smiled, "It’s just right, eating a lot in the cold winter, losing weight!"
Luh Kai chuckled lightly, "Women are more fortunate looking plump and rosy, you look just fine like this!"
Uh, that seemed a bit too much, and Luh Kai felt a little embarrassed.
Cheng Su, however, laughed heartily and said, "Director Luh’s got honey on his lips today, aren’t you about to tell me that not even a single penny can be knocked off the price of that shop?"
Luh Kai slapped his forehead and pretended to sigh, "You really can’t hide anything from you." He added, "Not a single penny off, but tens of yuan can be. My uncle said, seeing as it’s for a friend of mine, the bottom price is 950 yuan."
"Then I’m indeed blessed by your light," Cheng Su teased with a playful squint.
After they’d had their tea, they walked over to the shopfront. The seal had been removed, leaving only bits of white paper scraps that couldn’t be torn off completely and the faint sight of ink.
"Scared?" Luh Kai took out a key and glanced at Cheng Su.
Cheng Su exhaled and said, "I’m still a bit nervous!"
"Don’t be scared!"
The shop had two doors; the outer one was a split iron shutter. Luh Kai unlocked the big padlock on the iron shutter, then used another set of keys to open the wooden door.
The lacquered red door creaked open, releasing a musty smell and a chill air from the lack of sunlight.
Cheng Su instinctively stepped back, feeling very uneasy—after all, someone had died there!
"Come on in," Luh Kai said with a smile.
Blushing, Cheng Su felt somewhat awkward as she stated, "I, I am a woman, you know, hehe."
Luh Kai said, "It’s alright, I’m quite nervous myself."
Grateful, Cheng Su followed him inside, into the empty space.
"Everything was cleared out after the incident. The family took away their belongings, and my uncle even came by to clean up especially," Luh Kai explained.
Cheng Su tried her best to ignore the fact that someone had died there and examined the place carefully. The shopfront was fairly spacious at about forty square meters, with plenty of room for several tables. She deliberately stood at the entrance; the orientation was southeast, and at just past ten in the morning, the sunlight was ideal, shining in and brightening up the space considerably.
"The kitchen is this way!" Luh Kai beckoned to her, pointing to the far end, where a small staircase led to an attic, "That’s an attic. It’s not for living, but you could use it for storage."
She walked over to find that the kitchen was not large, only about ten square meters, combining the functions of cooking, dishwashing, and vegetable cutting all in one place.
"The whole shop is about sixty square meters, quite large. The kitchen is fourteen, the main hall is over forty, plus there’s the attic." Luh Kai said, "What do you think?"
"It’s quite nice and square, just the kitchen is a bit small; I wonder if it can be expanded?" Cheng Su carefully inspected the kitchen and asked.
"It probably can be, but that means a significant renovation project, depending on your needs!" Luh Kai also took a look.
Cheng Su nodded, having made up her mind, gave it a brief thought, and declared, "Done! Then I’ll buy it."