Beijing City.
The cold north wind blew against He Yuzhu's face.
"Damn winter, are you going to let people live?"
Tugging at the hood of his down jacket, He Yuzhu decided to take a shortcut and quickly head home.
The shortcut passed through a bridge tunnel, which was a bit secluded, but for He Yuzhu, who didn't want to be exposed to the cold wind outside, it was nothing.
"In this weather, why is there still an Old Lady sitting under the bridge tunnel?"
He Yuzhu looked at the Old Lady under the bridge tunnel with confusion, then froze.
"Impossible! How could he be dressed in rags and come here?"
He Yuzhu worried he had made a mistake, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. No mistake, the person in front of him was exactly the person he was thinking of.
But this wasn't right.
That person was very wealthy, owning a three-Courtyard Siheyuan (Courtyard) in Naluoguxiang, worth at least several small fortunes. Such a person, no matter how down and out, wouldn't end up like this. Besides, the day before yesterday, he passed by that person's family restaurant and saw that their restaurant was still open for business.
The person He Yuzhu was talking about was someone whose name sounded similar to his, but the character 'Yu' in the middle was different. That person's name was He Yuzhu, the head chef of Jia family Sichuan cuisine, and also the owner of Sichuan cuisine.
When they graduated from university in June, their dorm mates had a get-together. One of the classmates, whose father worked in the Ministry of Industry, suggested going to Sichuan cuisine to eat Sichuan cuisine.
During the meal, that classmate introduced some information about Jia family Sichuan cuisine.
The owner of Sichuan cuisine was Qin Huairu, a charming Old Lady. Although she was already over seventy, every move she made still carried endless allure.
This owner, when she was young, must have been a great beauty, no less beautiful than Xiao Yanzi or Xiao Maque.
The owner's story was very inspiring. A woman became a widow before she was thirty. One must know that it was 1961 then, and the country was still impoverished, let alone an ordinary family.
She didn't complain about fate, but took on the heavy burden of the family, caring for her sickly mother-in-law, raising three children, and supporting her family with her own hands.
Such a woman, no matter the era, deserves admiration.
Later, when she became prosperous, she even forgave the neighbors in the Courtyard who had once bullied her, providing for them until their deaths.
When they heard this part, He Yuzhu and several other classmates gave a thumbs up. If anyone in this life met such a wife, their ancestral grave would surely be smoking with good fortune.
He Yuzhu, nicknamed Sha Zhu, was Qin Huairu's neighbor, and their families had always had a very good relationship. It was just that later he found a partner whose family background was not good, and she fled to Hong Kong with her family.
At that time, Sha Zhu was thirty-one years old. He had finally found a wife, but before they could consummate their marriage, his wife ran away.
This blow was not light for anyone. Sha Zhu had always struggled to find a partner due to his appearance and personality. Now, he felt even more ashamed to face people and became increasingly depressed.
Everyone else avoided Sha Zhu and mocked him, but only Qin Huairu did not kick him while he was down. She encouraged Sha Zhu to pull himself together.
Sha Zhu's gratitude towards Qin Huairu turned into admiration. Disregarding others' strange looks, he planned to marry Qin Huairu, the widow.
Unfortunately, there were troublemakers in the Courtyard who interfered with them, threatening Qin Huairu with her children to prevent her from marrying Sha Zhu. For the sake of the children, the two never married.
It wasn't until 1978, when Qin Huairu's son, Jia Geng, grew up and had a respectable job, that with Jia Geng's support, the two finally entered into marriage.
By 1984, Sha Zhu's former lover, Lou Xiao'e, returned, bringing their son with her.
It was Qin Huairu again, who, without holding grudges, accepted Lou Xiao'e and the child, and even collaborated with Lou Xiao'e to establish this Sichuan cuisine restaurant.
Relying on Qin Huairu's shrewdness and Jia Geng's convenience working in the ministry, they gradually expanded Sichuan cuisine.
But human greed knows no bounds, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
After Lou Xiao'e saw Sichuan cuisine grow, she wanted to contend for control of Sichuan cuisine for her son. If she were simply contending for Sha Zhu's son, Qin Huairu wouldn't have bothered with her.
But she was contending for control of Sichuan cuisine for the child she had with someone else in Hong Kong.
Although Qin Huairu was kind-hearted, she wasn't a pushover. She couldn't possibly give away her life's work to others. Through a series of struggles, Qin Huairu retained Sichuan cuisine and renamed it Jia family Sichuan cuisine.
The ill-intentioned Lou Xiao'e, blaming Sha Zhu for not helping her, took her child back to Hong Kong and never returned.
When they heard this story at the time, several classmates joked, asking if everyone named Sha Zhu had such good fortune. They told He Yuzhu not to forget his classmates when he became successful in the future.
This was just a joke among them; no one took it seriously.
He Yuzhu never expected to see Sha Zhu again in such a situation.
Even if he didn't know the person in front of him, he couldn't just ignore him.
"First Grandpa, wake up."
Sha Zhu was shivering from the cold and suddenly felt someone push him. He immediately became excited: "Bang梗, is that you? Are you here to take me home? First Grandpa told me on his deathbed that you would be more filial than He Xiao. He really didn't misjudge people."
He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment, knowing that he had mistaken him for someone else, and quickly explained, "First Grandpa, you're mistaken, I'm not Bang梗."
Hearing He Yuzhu's words, Sha Zhu suddenly went mad and began to strangle He Yuzhu's neck.
"Bang梗, I'm going to strangle you, unfilial son! Your family's restaurant, your family's house, they're all mine. I regret it, I shouldn't have abandoned Xiao'e, I shouldn't have wronged my son. I'm going to strangle you."
He Yuzhu was being choked and couldn't breathe, trying to break free from Sha Zhu's hands. He didn't know where this old man got his strength, but he wouldn't let go.
The two struggled like that, and neither noticed that an open well appeared beneath their feet, and then both fell in together.
He Yuzhu really wanted to curse. Was there any justice left in this world? He just wanted to do a good deed. It was fine if he didn't get a reward, but don't take his life!
Boom.
A loud noise came from beside him, and He Yuzhu immediately fainted.
When he woke up, He Yuzhu couldn't help but curse, calling the so-called legendary widow a black-hearted widow, saying there was no more black-hearted widow in the world than her.
At this moment, He Yuzhu had already merged with Sha Zhu's memories and understood everything that had happened in Sha Zhu's life. Of course, he also understood the legendary widow's rise to wealth.
Indeed, capital is always bloody. Even the black-hearted widow knew to spend money to whitewash herself.
Just now, the elderly Sha Zhu encountered the younger Sha Zhu. The elderly Sha Zhu hated Qin Huairu, and even more, he hated himself, so he directly pulled the younger Sha Zhu and self-destructed.
Finally, the memories of the three people merged, benefiting He Yuzhu.
It sounds a bit convoluted, but in reality, it's very simple: He Yuzhu returned to 1951 and became the younger version of Sha Zhu.
But no matter how He Yuzhu calculated, he felt that he was at a loss. Why should he, a promising young man from modern society, come to this era of scarce resources?
Although modern society had many downsides, at least resources were abundant, and there was no shortage of food and drink. As an employee of Walmart, an employee of a Fortune 500 company, he had a bright future.
"I want to go back."
"Sha Zhu, you better be honest when you sleep. If you disturb my sleep again, I'll beat you to death."
Hearing this rude voice, He Yuzhu could only obediently close his eyes and go to sleep.
The owner of the voice was Sha Zhu's biological father, He Daqing, who later abandoned his children and eloped with a widow.
He Daqing had a bad temper. If anything went slightly wrong, he would scold Sha Zhu. Now that he was Sha Zhu, if he angered He Daqing, he would definitely get a beating.