Chapter 37 The Origins of Jufu Restaurant

"Oh, you have something to ask me?" Lin Wen replied, surprised.

"This isn't about something small, is it?" Lin Wen knew Lin Xing well, which was why he said this.

Lin Xing hesitated for a moment but decided to tell them about what happened that day, especially the strange actions of Jufu Lou. Lin Xing wasn't one to gossip, but Jufu Lou was just too odd, and he'd been wondering about it for ages.

Ordinarily, if Lin Xing hadn't been aware of Jufu Lou's actions, he wouldn't have been so eager to figure things out. But today, Bade had given him their prestigious membership card. What did a prestigious membership card mean? This made Lin Xing keen to clarify the relationship between Jufu Lou and himself, or rather, his family.

Lin Xing vaguely sensed that Jufu Lou seemed to have an unusual connection with him, but this was merely his speculation. He wasn't certain, so he wanted to ask the Lin family's patriarch—the old man.

Considering the old man's position, he should know something. Even if he wasn't entirely clear, he should at least have some clues.

Lin Xing looked at everyone and said, "Look, what is this?" As he spoke, he took out Jufu Lou's prestigious membership card from his spatial ring and showed it to everyone.

"Prestigious membership card!" Everyone present was well-informed; they recognized the card in Lin Xing's hand as Jufu Lou's prestigious membership card. "How did you get it?" They still found it hard to believe that Lin Xing actually had a prestigious membership card.

"Bade from Jufu Lou gave it to me."

"Gave it to you? Under what conditions? Or is there some ulterior motive?" Lin Xing's grandmother, Dikalin, couldn't help but ask anxiously.

"Could it be some plot against you? Are they trying to win you over from now on?" Dikalin seemed to be asking Lin Xing, yet also muttering to herself.

Seeing everyone's astonished expressions, Lin Xing felt a bit disappointed. However, Lin Wen remained calm and composed, not losing his cool like Dikalin and the others. Lin Xing couldn't help but look at Lin Wen with hope.

He hoped Lin Wen could shed some light on this.

Lin Wen remained silent, as if deep in thought, not answering or even showing any intention to speak.

Lin Xing glanced helplessly at the others and said, "I don't know either, but this card was indeed given to me by Bade, the person in charge of Jufu Lou."

He then proceeded to recount everything that had happened that day.

Hearing how arrogant Bill had been, the fiery Dikalin immediately spoke up, "That Bill is too arrogant! Just because he's from the Left Minister's family, he looks down on our Lin Xing? Our Lin Xing's status is no lower than his! How dare he belittle our Xing'er? It's outrageous!! Absolutely outrageous!!"

As she spoke, she started heading toward the door.

"Grandma, where are you going?" Lin Xing quickly called out to stop Dikalin.

"I'm going to teach that little brat Bill a lesson! How dare he look down on you? It's like he doesn't even take our family seriously!" Dikalin said angrily.

"It's fine, Grandma," Lin Xing said, holding Dikalin's hand.

"How is it fine? I can't stomach this insult! That little brat!" Dikalin was still fuming.

"He's just too arrogant. I didn't even pay him any mind. I can't be bothered with someone like that," Lin Xing said nonchalantly.

"Dikalin, really, you're so old, yet you're still acting like a child, making such a big deal out of it. The Bill family has always been arrogant like this. Just ignore them," Lin Wen finally spoke up.

"Old man, how can you say that? I just can't let this go!"

"Alright, alright, they're just kids. Let them be," Lin Wen said casually.

Lin Zhantian and his wife also nodded, indicating they wouldn't bother arguing with a child like Bill.

"You all!" Dikalin huffed and turned away, sitting down on a nearby chair to sulk alone.

Seeing Dikalin like this, Lin Xing couldn't help but feel both amused and touched. He knew Dikalin wasn't doing this for the family's sake; she simply couldn't stand seeing Lin Xing being bullied and wanted to help him vent his anger.

"Alright, Grandma, next time I see Bill, I'll teach him a good lesson. It's not worth getting angry over him now," Lin Xing said, trying to comfort Dikalin.

Dikalin remained seated, still fuming, not reacting to Lin Xing's words.

Lin Xing felt helpless, but the warmth in his heart continued to grow.

"Alright, Dikalin, stop acting like a child. Don't you all want to know about Jufu Lou? I'll tell you everything I know, though it's not much."

Hearing this, Lin Xing's eyes lit up. This was promising!

"Everyone knows the origin of our family. We appeared in the world alongside the Huaxia Empire thousands of years ago. Our first ancestor was one of the four great meritorious officials under the founding emperor of the Huaxia Empire! Our ancestor, along with the other three officials—who later became the ancestors of the other three great families, including ours—helped the founding emperor of the Huaxia Empire establish the empire we have today!"

"The four great families gradually emerged after the Huaxia Empire stabilized. The first-generation patriarchs of the four great families all made indelible contributions to the Huaxia Empire. That's why the founding emperor of the Huaxia Empire strongly supported the development of our four great families. It was only through this support that the four great families were able to develop and become what they are today!"

"But what does this have to do with Jufu Lou? Is Jufu Lou connected to the four great families? And why are there only three great families in the empire now, not four?" Lin Xing couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, although there's no direct connection, there is still some relationship," Lin Wen glanced at Lin Xing and continued.

"Several decades after the emergence of the four great families, Jufu Lou also appeared."

Everyone was surprised. Although they knew Jufu Lou was ancient, they hadn't realized it appeared around the same time as their family.

"Jufu Lou first appeared in other empires. Initially, it was just a single restaurant, not very large in scale, but..."

"Within just a few decades, Jufu Lou began opening branches in the capitals of various empires and duchies. This expansion was astonishingly fast. At that time, our family also investigated Jufu Lou, but we couldn't uncover who was behind it. Thousands of years have passed, and we've never given up investigating Jufu Lou, but we still haven't discovered anything!"

"Nothing discovered over thousands of years?" Everyone was even more astonished.

"That's right, nothing discovered over thousands of years. The people behind Jufu Lou are too well hidden," Lin Wen couldn't help but sigh.

"After thousands of years of operation, what do you think their influence is like now?"

It didn't take much thought to realize the extent of Jufu Lou's influence after thousands of years of accumulation!

"Lin Xing, you just asked why there were four great families back then, but only three now?"

Lin Xing looked at Lin Wen and nodded.

"That's because one family was destroyed. It happened a long time ago, so there's no need to dwell on it." Clearly, Lin Wen didn't want to say more.

"Destroyed? A family was destroyed? Is there some hidden story?" Lin Xing sensed something amiss, but seeing that Lin Wen didn't want to elaborate, he didn't press further.

"Then you just said Jufu Lou has some connection with us or the four great families. What kind of connection is it?" Lin Xing was still quite curious about this.

"It's not connected to the four great families; it has a certain relationship with our family," Lin Wen said with a mysterious smile.