Liu Fen could hardly believe that Liu Fang had returned three times in a month.

Even before the family rift, Liu Fang rarely visited more than three times a year after marrying into the Liang family. Counting the New Year’s dinner and grave-sweeping on the second day of the lunar year, she had come back five times in just over a month!

Liu Fen suspected her sister needed help from her family.

She hadn’t thought about matchmaking for Xia Xiaolan, having already refused, and clearly stated that Xia Xiaolan was in a relationship. Liu Fen couldn’t imagine someone would be so persistent.

Could there be problems between Liu Fang and Liang Bing’an?

That seemed unlikely. During New Year’s dinner, Liang Bing’an had come with both children. He was polite and even offered 4,000 yuan for their new house construction. Though Liu Fen wouldn’t accept the money, it showed that Liu Fang and Liang Bing’an’s marriage was fine. If they had marital problems, he wouldn’t have helped Liu Fang save face with her family.

Beyond marital issues, Liu Fen couldn’t think of other reasons.

Was Liu Fang worried after finding the family home empty?

After much thought, this was the only explanation Liu Fen could come up with.

She wanted to leave a message for Liu Fang but remembered Liu Yong’s caution. None of them had told Liu Fang about their business in Commercial City, keeping quiet even in the village. Seven Wells villagers only knew they were in Commercial City but not what business they were doing. Liu Yong said since Liu Fang’s husband was an official, having private business owners as relatives wouldn’t look good, which Liu Fen agreed with.

With only Li Fengmei at the store, and needing to return to Commercial City early morning, Liu Fen couldn’t visit Liu Fang’s home.

It was dark, and Liu Fang’s house was even farther than Anqing County.

“Sister-in-law, if Ah Fang comes home again, please ask what she needs. She can reach me at this number.”

Liu Fen left the phone number anyway.

She gave the number for the public phone in the alley next to Grandmother Yu’s house.

Sister-in-law Chen took the note, expressing envy, “You even have phone access now? I heard from Chen Qing’s grandfather that our village is getting phones installed in a month or two. Once that’s done, contacting you will be much easier!”

Some villages had already installed phones. Seven Wells Village wasn’t the first, but they weren’t far behind.

Liu Fen was pleased, “That would be great, making phone calls is much more convenient than traveling back.”

Since the village was installing the phone line, it wasn’t much different from the Chen family getting a phone. The village followed Chen Wangda’s lead, making Sister-in-law Chen quite proud. Though Liu Yong’s family had made money as private business owners, the phone number Liu Fen left was still for public use. City life must be difficult for village people, only appearing prosperous when returning for New Year’s – somewhat putting up a front.

Feeling more at ease, Sister-in-law Chen asked about Xia Xiaolan’s exam preparation.

“Any news about Xiaolan’s father? Have the Xia family caused any more trouble at school?”

Liu Fen shook her head.

Xia Dajun had truly “disappeared” since fleeing the hospital and hadn’t shown up since. The Xia family hadn’t disturbed the school either. Busy managing the store and learning about accounting and clothing knowledge, Liu Fen hadn’t thought about the Xia family.

Sister-in-law Chen seemed slightly disappointed.

Not that she necessarily had ill intentions – everyone has a natural curiosity for gossip.

Zhang’s Restaurant was struggling.

After reopening post-New Year for a month, they did their monthly accounting. After paying wages and settling supply costs, they could see their monthly earnings.

The incident on the fourth day of the New Year had severely impacted Zhang’s business.

First, the third-year students stopped coming. Whatever rumors spread through the school had badly tarnished Zhang’s reputation, causing even lower-grade students to avoid eating there. At least a third of Zhang’s business had relied on First Middle School’s teachers and students, who hadn’t stopped eating out but switched to Sister Huang’s Fast Food instead.

Initially, Zhang’s was the only restaurant in the area.

Sister Huang’s Fast Food had already taken some of Zhang’s business, and now with the school crowd gone, they lost even more customers.

The month’s revenue after New Year was only a third of what it used to be!

Sister Huang’s business thrived, with one storefront insufficient for the overflow of customers. They rented and connected the adjacent building, expanding their shop.

After calculating the accounts, Zhang Cui looked very unhappy.

Counting and recounting the money, this month’s profit was barely over 200 yuan. Before New Year’s, Zhang’s monthly profit had been over 800 yuan, never falling below 700 yuan in their yearly average. Monthly earnings of 200-plus weren’t insignificant, matching a well-paid dual-income family.

But after earning more before, 200 yuan seemed especially hard to accept.

Last year, Zhang had earned the couple nearly 10,000 yuan, making Xia Changzheng and Zhang Cui a modest “ten-thousand-yuan household.” Now with income plummeting, who could stay cheerful?

“You just gave Ziyu 5,000 yuan? How could she spend so much at school!”

Xia Changzheng was quite unhappy.

He doted on Xia Ziyu because she brought him pride and came up with money-making ideas. If Zhang’s business had remained good, giving 5,000 yuan wouldn’t have mattered – they could quickly earn it back. With business so poor, thinking about that 5,000 yuan now pained Xia Changzheng.

It would have been one thing if Xia Ziyu used it herself, but she gave it all to Wang Jianhua’s family!

Though Xia Ziyu said Wang Jianhua would be successful, Xia Changzheng wasn’t entirely convinced.

How much glory could a father-in-law share in his son-in-law’s success? A married daughter was like spilled water – even if the Wang family prospered, how much would benefit the Xia name? People weren’t wrong calling daughters money losers. He hadn’t seen it before, but now Xia Changzheng felt his daughter Xia Ziyu’s heart had already shifted to the Wang family.

Zhang Cui worried too, not about the 5,000 yuan already given, but about Zhang’s future business:

“Is this temporary or permanent? What’s wrong with the First Middle School students? What connection do they have with Xia Xiaolan? Even lower grades who don’t know her are following the trend of avoiding Zhang’s?”

Xia Changzheng slammed the table, “And Principal Sun! After all the gifts he’s taken from me, now he’s turning his back on us! The County Health Bureau has visited twice this month… why don’t they inspect Sister Huang’s Fast Food across the street!”

Health Bureau inspections disrupted business and required red envelopes for bribes.

Restaurant businesses were naturally under strict health supervision, and monthly visits were normal. Previously, someone had put in a good word, making the Health Bureau turn a blind eye to Zhang’s. Now that they were treating Zhang equally, Xia Changzheng couldn’t accept it.

Zhang Cui didn’t stop her husband’s complaints.

She couldn’t understand why Principal Sun had taken Xia Xiaolan’s side.

How highly he had regarded their Ziyu before!

Ziyu was right – they couldn’t let Xia Xiaolan take the college entrance exam. The “college student” status was too powerful. Now Xia Xiaolan could already steal their Ziyu’s “backing” – wouldn’t she be even more formidable as a college student?

When Zhang was profitable, Xia Changzheng could accept paying his brother-in-law’s couple 100 yuan monthly. Now he not only thought it excessive but wanted to remove his niece Xia Hongxia too. Sister Huang’s Fast Food operated with fewer staff, while Zhang’s was paying high wages despite worse business.

When Xia Changzheng mentioned this, Zhang Cui became anxious:

“I’ve only heard of raising wages, who reduces them?”