Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 1159 - 557: A Wondrous Fate (Part 2)

"It turns out he's not in Shanghai either. While I was working in Shanghai, I was asking around about him, and found that he really could run. He was drifting around the southern region working as a chef everywhere. I could only follow up on the places he went. Along the way, I worked in different places, and when I was asking about him in Hankou, I unexpectedly heard news about Little Ninth."

Qin Huai: "...You're not using the word 'drifting' right."

"Then I found out Little Ninth was doing incredibly well. I immediately gave up on searching for Jiang Weiguo and wanted to go seek out Little Ninth. I had even bought the ticket, but later thought better of it."

"Why?" Qin Huai was a bit curious.

Although An Youyou's overall style of doing things was not very Three legged Golden Toad due to failure of obsession and crossing tribulation, he believed the words 'gaining without effort' were engraved in An Youyou's bones; whenever there were conditions, he still wanted to gain as much as possible without effort. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

For the sake of gaining without effort, exposing his non-human truth, seeking out a former underling to live a carefree life, that's something An Youyou could do.

"Because I'm Little Ninth's boss." An Youyou said, "During those years when I couldn't earn a living, I relied more on Jiang Weiguo for food and resources, but Little Ninth was really the one I raised."

"And Jiang Weiguo has a good relationship with Chen Shun. I think if I die, given Chen Shun's personality, he'd probably leave part of my legacy to Jiang Weiguo, but he definitely wouldn't give anything to Little Ninth. If Jiang Weiguo gets my inheritance, then when I reincarnate, I'd go find him, ask him for some money to start over, I think that's fine."

"Also, he's not doing well either; he hasn't even bought back Taifeng Building in Beiping. By hanging out with me, maybe someday when I become prosperous, I'll help him buy back his family's Taifeng Building."

"But Little Ninth is different, he's really doing too well, and if I went to him becoming utterly useless, it'd be a bit embarrassing."

Qin Huai felt An Youyou made sense while also being a bit curious, asking, "How well is Little Ninth doing exactly?"

It sounded like he achieved financial freedom, causing An Youyou to make such a lament.

"Boss, you also saw in my memory, Little Ninth later went to work in a factory near Hankou, right?"

"Little Ninth is actually quite smart, he picked up reading and writing quickly, even if Chen Shun occasionally taught him, he'd recognize many characters."

Qin Huai nodded indicating he could see it, during An Youyou's first life, besides Jiang Weiguo, Little Ninth was the most valued underling. Because Little Ninth was sharp, good at reading expressions, and articulate.

When viewing the memory, Qin Huai had thought among all the nameless underlings An Youyou had, the one most likely to provide for An Youyou monthly with two silver coins ensuring a carefree life was Little Ninth.

Little Ninth really achieved that.

"Before I picked up Little Ninth, he actually had a name. His family used to be farmers near Shanghai, they had two acres of land, his parents even rented landlord's land paying rent to farm. Later, his mother got sick, they spent a lot of money for doctors, his father, being illiterate, borrowed money from the landlord, which was usurious, eventually the interest compounded and resulted in their land being given to the landlord as debt repayment."

"His father tried to seek justice, but was beaten to death by the landlord's men."

"His mother also coughed blood and died."

"Since his family offended the landlord, relatives dared not take him in, and he was very young at the time unable to do any work, supporting him wouldn't be cost-effective, he became an orphan who could only beg around."

"Little Ninth was actually very clever, before I came to the human world to cross tribulation, when he couldn't get food by begging he'd go to the churches and orphanages opened by westerners at the time to beg. Later, he met me on the street, felt my begging skills were particularly strong."

"By then, I'd already taken in 8 underlings. I initially didn't plan to take in Little Ninth, because he seemed to be doing reasonably well. But he insisted on recognizing me as boss and being my 9th underling, and he was also the underling who stayed with me the longest."

"Back then I really didn't understand surnames, I thought 'boss' was a name, 'Xiao Yi and Xiao Er' were names too. Little Ninth had a name then, I remember his surname was Xu, called Xu Gou Dan or something, but Little Ninth chose to change his name to Little Ninth, saying he couldn't be different from everyone else."

Upon hearing this, Qin Huai already wanted to applaud, Little Ninth had such talent, he'd succeed in anything he did, truly the only one among the beggars who found a proper job in a factory.

"Back then the factory hiring in Hankou was a steel factory, as it was a steel factory there were high requirements for workers, they needed to be literate."

"After going to Jinling, I realized working well really required education, so I wrote to tell Little Ninth, when he got the chance he must study well, this way he'd be able to get promotions and raises, sending more wages to me monthly."

"Little Ninth was indeed very diligent, not only did he study, but he later joined the military, became some kind of volunteer soldier. By the time I heard about him in Hankou, he'd already become the director of the biggest cotton mill near Gusu, boss you don't know how much resolve I had to exert not to go to Gusu to seek him out!"

Qin Huai was already stunned.

He felt like his brain was crashing, at that moment he somewhat understood why every piece of An Youyou's memory was a mainline task.

Her memories might seem ordinary, but every person appearing in them was crucial.

Her awakening was pivotal.

"Dir... director of the cotton mill in Gusu, sur... surname Xu." Qin Huai was stammering, even though he already knew the answer, he couldn't resist asking again to confirm, "Then... do you know what he was called at that time?"

"I remember he was called Xu Chenggang, I heard that name was changed at the steel factory."