First Breath

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Now that Yù Rú was the proud owner of one creaky, dusty, illumination challenged shop, he got right down to business.

Cleaning the whole thing, top to bottom.

Lay out, lighting, inventory and every little bit of niggling annoyance that he had to endure all those years ago as he slaved away beneath the tyrannical orthopaedic soles of Grandma Shan.

○○○
"Young man, I still owned 30% of the shop, you know!"

"Yes, and that area includes the checkout machine, your TV and that designer lounger I got you last birthday. Shhh! Let me bask in the glory of well lighted, sensible floor plans."

"Hah! Don't come to me whining when you can't find the inventory. At least my system made sense!"

"Only to you. My system will make sense to anyone."

"Hah!! Says you!"

"Old ladies should stay put and watch men in wigs make cow eyes to girls in wigs. Shush."

"Humph!! I want fried eggplants for lunch!"

"I made you a vegetarian curry."

"I do love curry."

"I know, you nosy dragon. Now, stay put. We're moving heavy new shelves today."
○○○

The clean up  took days, but intriguingly enough, unearthed treasures nobody expected.

Not even the previous owner, Grandma Shan.

○○○
"How would I know?!? The place was a dump!"

"It's your shop! How else would these things turn up here?"

"Bah!! It was a dump when I got it!"

"How?!??"

"...~mumble~...payout...~grumble ~...settlements..."

"You know what? I'm going to rewind the last half hour, and this conversation never happened!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!!"

"I want that bangle."

"Of course it's yours. Finders, keepers, eh?"

"...Good child."

"Thank you."
○○○

Eventually, the potential worth of those newly discovered items grew too much for Yù Rú's peace of mind and he call upon his brother for advice.

His degree in history was no match to those who specialise in the business for decades.

A certified appriser was contacted, and both of the shop owners, young and old, sat down to the nitty-gritty details.

○○○
"That's... a lot of money."
"Young man, don't swindle this poor old woman. My grandson is new to the business, but this is all I could leave him with. Are you sure?"

"Madam, young sir, I'm willing to stake my company's name. This is true."

"This is way out of my league..."
"Hush! Mr Lee, what would you suggest? Don't swindle this old woman, ah!"

"Ma'am, don't worry. In this business, no one dares to be too greedy. One may not be able to survive the consequences. Haha! This is what I would do..."
○○○

Yù Rú's spring cleaning netted the both of them a tremendous amount of profit. In the spirit of fairness, he tried to split the sum equally.

Grandma Shan isn't having that.

After doing some research and calculations, she only set aside a comfortable amount for her future funeral expenses with some elbow room for any fluctuations and returned the rest.

They had another argument over that.

Yù Rú's parents were called to mediate.

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