Avoid detours, start by running a nursing home.

Chapter 19 Parallel World

Hearing the old man's words, Zhang Yang's hand, which was holding a spoon, froze in mid-air.

This preserved egg and lean pork congee was actually cooked by a chef who also served at state banquets.

Was I treated like a state guest?

He looked down at the ordinary white porcelain bowl in front of him, and the equally ordinary porridge inside, and suddenly felt like he couldn't afford it.

"Well, Old Xu originally came to live in the nursing home, but he disliked the previous chef's cooking and kicked him out, so he brought his apprentice to take over."

Hearing the old man say this, Zhang Yang didn't know what to say for a moment.

So all chefs have such strong personalities?

Is it only chefs who serve at state banquets who do this?

He was just about to have a sip of porridge to calm his nerves when he looked down and noticed that Old Jiang's plate across from him seemed a little off.

A bowl of mixed grain porridge, a boiled egg, and a banana—the soup was just water and all the ingredients were things I hadn't seen on the table before.

"Grandpa, what's your breakfast?" Zhang Yang asked curiously.

"Hey, I have high blood pressure, so I can't eat anything high in salt, sugar, or fat. This is all I can eat."

As he spoke, Old Jiang took a sip of mixed grain porridge: "Those of us with chronic illnesses all have separate menus."

"Xiao Li helped me order them all."

"But it's all thanks to Lao Xu. Even a simple boiled egg can be cooked in a fancy way. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to eat anything that's neither sweet nor salty."

As he spoke, the old man cracked open the eggshell, broke the egg in half, and placed it in front of Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang looked down and saw that the orange-red egg yolk inside still had a little bit of runny yolk in the middle. Its semi-solid state made him want to take a bite.

Is this Chef Xu perhaps a master of boiled eggs?

"Oh my, isn't this our young director?"

Just as Zhang Yang was about to say something about how many minutes and seconds to boil an egg, he suddenly heard a slightly mocking laugh beside him.

As soon as I looked up, I saw that Old Mrs. Chen was also walking over with a tray.

A glass of milk, an egg, and a vegetable salad—not even a main dish.

"By the way, Dean, where's today's notice?"

"How come I still haven't seen it?!"

She placed the plate on the table, gracefully sat down in a chair, crossed her legs, turned to Zhang Yang, and asked with a smile.

The old lady didn't wear a cheongsam today. Instead, she changed into a loose shirt and wide-leg pants, looking elegant but with a touch more of the neat and capable look of a modern urban woman compared to yesterday.

"Notice? What notice?"

Old Jiang, listening from the side, was completely bewildered: "Isn't it just the new dean taking office? Didn't everyone know that yesterday? Why do we need to put up a notice?"

"Then you'll have to ask our new young dean."

The old lady curled the corners of her lips and winked at Zhang Yang: "Aren't you right, young director?"

"Grandma Chen! Could you please drop the 'little' part when you call me 'Director'?"

Zhang Yang smiled at the old lady, deliberately emphasizing the word "grandmother": "My surname is Zhang, not 'little'!"

"Oh, your surname is Zhang, so you must be Dean Zhang..."

"..." Zhang Yang felt exhausted upon hearing this. He couldn't get rid of the "little" label, could he?

"Hehehe..."

Seeing Zhang Yang's exhausted and speechless expression, Old Mrs. Chen covered her mouth and laughed until her eyes narrowed:

"Alright, I won't tease you so early in the morning, lest you get so angry that you can't eat and it'll just be a waste of food."

As she spoke, she turned her head and happily began eating her vegetable salad.

Seeing the old lady's nonchalant attitude, Zhang Yang gritted his teeth in anger.

Ugh, so annoying!

"Oh, Mr. Chen, you're here for breakfast too."

Just as he was about to scoop up a spoonful of porridge and put it in his mouth, Li Xiaoyun arrived with a plate.

The little girl looked delighted when she saw Grandma Chen; she was just like a little fangirl.

"Little Li is here for dinner too?" the old lady asked with a smile.

"No, I just brought breakfast to Grandpa Gu..."

"Why are you getting dark circles under your eyes? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

"Oh dear, Mr. Chen, please stop talking. I don't know which lunatic was yelling like that in the middle of the night last night..."

"Snoring~~~"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a thunderous sound of people drinking porridge next to her.

Turning around, Zhang Yang wiped his mouth, grabbed a steamed bun, stood up, and then casually picked up two small steamed buns and stuffed them into his mouth.

"I'm leaving now!"

"Hey, hey, wait a minute!"

Seeing him take off running, Li Xiaoyun panicked and, without even putting down her tray, shouted, "I just notified Grandpa Zhou and the others that there's a meeting in the dean's office at ten o'clock!"

"Okay! I understand!"

Zhang Yang responded and ran out without looking back, while Li Xiaoyun sat down behind him with an unhappy expression.

"What the hell? They said they had a meeting, then ran off!"

Old Jiang beside him also looked puzzled: "Yeah, why is he running so fast? I was going to ask him when we're teaming up to catch the baby today."

Grandma Chen sat there slowly peeling an egg, watching the direction Zhang Yang left with a half-smile on her face.

"By the way, Xiao Li, what kind of meeting are you having today?"

"We still need to repair the house next year, but we don't have enough money in the courtyard's account, and the civil affairs department isn't helping us anymore."

"So we need to figure out where to make money."

Li Xiaoyun ate her breakfast, still feeling rather down.

Hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen's lips gradually curled up.

The little rascal just became the dean and there wasn't enough money in the account?

This seems quite interesting...

...More than three hours later, at 9:55...

At the elevator entrance on the fourth floor, Zhang Yang, with a solemn expression, opened the gate and stepped off the elevator.

He didn't go anywhere for the past few hours; he spent all his time researching in the computer room on the first floor.

Even when Old Jiang insisted on forming a team, he ignored him.

The reason for this was that after researching online, he discovered that while the general direction of the world he lived in was similar to the one he had lived in before, many details were different.

In terms of major events, it seems that there is not much difference from the previous life. The world war and the historical trajectory after the war are basically the same.

This includes reform and opening up, joining the WTO, and other such events.

Just like in the previous era, the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo were held in the capital and Songhai respectively.

Even the Songhai Stock Exchange subscription certificate from 1992 is available here.

The housing prices in Songhai also started to rise sharply around 2000...

However, aside from these major events, there are still quite a few differences in other matters.

Just like Moutai liquor, although it still exists and remains a famous liquor, it doesn't seem to have the same dominance as before.

There are two or three other liquor brands of similar quality in the same production area alone.

Furthermore, there's no claim that it won a gold medal at an expo decades ago...

There were also some companies and brands he had heard of before, but they all seemed somewhat dubious.

Just like that game called Fantasy Journey to the East, although the game looks exactly the same as the one in the previous life, it is now operated by a network company called Youyi...

And those two internet giants from the past life, now one is called Q-Pao and the other is called TaoTao...

This ambiguous situation has left him somewhat frustrated.

I had previously thought that if the timeline didn't change much, I could still make money from stocks and Bitcoin, but now it seems a bit unreliable.

This system is determined to make me run this nursing home!

Zhang Yang sighed, walked to the door, and pushed it open forcefully.

Forget it, let's focus on getting this nursing home up and running first. If we can survive ten years and buy the house, then I won't have to worry about the rest of my life.

Thinking of this, he roused himself, raised his head, straightened his chest, and was about to walk into the room...

The next second, Zhang Yang was dumbfounded:

"Huh?! What are you doing here?!"