Qin Huai cautiously asked, "Did you set your house on fire while playing with fireworks during the New Year?"
Ouyang sobbed, "I... I sent my entire family to the hospital."
Then Ouyang spent 5 minutes briefly and concisely describing his eventful life over the past ten-plus days of the New Year.
Even though Ouyang returned home a bit late for the New Year, he brought back a lot of snacks, so he didn’t receive much blame and his dad didn’t break his leg.
On the eve of the New Year, Ouyang’s aunt heard that Ouyang planned to start a business again, opening a hand-pressed lemon tea shop, and offered her support. She felt that although Ouyang’s first venture failed, it was because young people lack experience, and starting too big all at once led to bigger losses.
This time, learning from experience, just opening a simple hand-pressed lemon tea shop would surely be better than last time.
Ouyang’s aunt also heard that he studied advanced hand-pressed lemon tea techniques in Gusu for two months and suggested that on New Year’s Eve, since everyone would be drinking something anyway, why not let Ouyang make some of his newly developed hand-pressed lemon tea for the family to try.
This proposal received unanimous agreement from the whole family, and Ouyang was very happy, not only making traditional hand-pressed lemon tea but also many new flavors.
All I can say is that Ouyang’s relatives were very supportive.
Not wanting to disappoint the young man, everyone forced themselves to finish the lemon tea, and Ouyang’s grandfather even drank three different flavors to support his grandson’s endeavor.
Everyone in the Ouyang family, except for Ouyang, didn’t even make it to the first day of the New Year. They ended up in the hospital on New Year’s Eve due to acute gastroenteritis.
Ouyang’s plan to open on New Year’s Day was also put on hold due to the family’s sudden hospitalization.
By the way, Ouyang drank a lot that day too, but he was fine.
The doctor’s diagnosis was that the hand-pressed lemon tea was cold, and many dishes in the New Year’s Eve meal were hot dishes. The mix of hot and cold, along with the variety of foods, was too much for those with weak or average digestive systems to handle, causing the acute gastroenteritis.
As for Ouyang, he has a stomach of iron.
Throughout the New Year, Ouyang was busy taking care of his relatives, from his seventy-year-old grandfather to his seven-year-old nephew, running around for them and offering apologies.
Ouyang’s aunt advised him to change the recipe, saying it’s one thing for family members to end up in the hospital, but if customers also end up there, he could face lawsuits.
Qin Huai responded: Fair enough.
Ouyang is indeed the trial dish taster he had high hopes for, not only eats a lot but also has a strong stomach.
"I’ll be back in a couple of days," Qin Huai said, "Hang in there for another two days."
"And I think your aunt is right, you shouldn’t experiment with those messy recipes anymore. If all else fails, sell your hand-pressed lemon tea and cold tea together. I can teach you a few fruit tea recipes and even though my mom’s Seven Spice Dampness Removing Tea tastes bad, it’s good for health."
"Is your hand-pressed lemon tea shop still opening?"
"Definitely!" Ouyang said firmly, "It has to open, just waiting for my grandfather to recover!"
Qin Huai: "...Your grandfather isn’t better yet? Is acute gastroenteritis that serious?"
"The acute gastroenteritis is fine, it just happened that when he went to the hospital, they also discovered cholecystitis. My grandfather had been experiencing stomach pain before, but he was stubborn and refused to go to the hospital. Luckily, going to the hospital that night for the gastroenteritis allowed it to be treated together."
"My dad decided to consider my merits and faults balanced, but he deducted all my living expenses and cut off my card."
"Godfather, lend your son 1000 yuan!"
Qin Luo, who had just finished counting money, heard Ouyang loudly asking for a loan of 1000 yuan over the phone and curiously leaned over, "Is Brother Yang asking to borrow money? I can lend him 1000 yuan."
"Bro, grandma just gave me 2000 yuan in a red envelope!"
Qin Luo also asked loudly, "Brother Yang, can I lend you cash? I’ll give it to you when I get back. My mom doesn’t allow me to have more than 500 yuan on WeChat because she’s worried I’ll buy things online randomly."
Ouyang was very touched, "No need, Luoluo, I can borrow money from your brother. Luoluo, my hand-pressed lemon tea shop is opening soon, you can drink as much as you want after it opens, for free!"
"Brother Yang has a new product, berry peach hand-pressed lemon..."
Qin Huai cut off the call.
"Don’t listen to him," Qin Huai said calmly, "Their shop doesn’t have this new product."