When Zhang Cui suddenly blurted out “divorce,” the Xia family was stunned.
Xia Chang Zheng was the first to disbelieve. He didn’t want to take in his mother and brother’s family in the county town either, and wasn’t he still trying to figure something out? But Zhang Cui suddenly brought up divorce, which immediately angered Xia Chang Zheng.
“What did you say? Say it again!”
Did she expect him to be like Second Brother, unable to control even his wife and children?
Xia Chang Zheng flew into a rage and immediately started hitting Zhang Cui. Their fight scared their young son into crying. Xia Hong Bing, seeing this wasn’t an act, stepped in to break it up. Zhang Cui, with a bruised face, grabbed her son Xia Jun Bao and ran out.
“Let her go! Everyone wants to turn the world upside down!”
Grandmother Xia clutched her chest, stopping Xia Chang Zheng from chasing after them. Xia Chang Zheng also felt he needed to complete the act, slamming the door with a bang in front of the family: “Is everyone satisfied now?”
Xia Hong Bing and Wang Jin Gui were startled.
The eldest brother’s couple had been making big money behind the family’s back, yet now they were acting like the victims – who were they trying to fool?
Grandmother Xia also felt Zhang Cui’s mention of divorce was a slap in her face.
One daughter-in-law had already divorced, making the Xia family a laughingstock, and now Zhang Cui was talking about divorce too. Grandmother Xia felt she was being threatened! When her blood rushed to her head, she was furious, but after a few hours, she could think more clearly.
Zhang Cui’s divorce talk was a threat, but her words weren’t wrong.
If over ten members of the Xia family all moved to the county town, forget whether the small restaurant could support so many people – what about the village fields? The second son Da Jun had run away, but his fields remained, and Xia Da Jun’s grain tax and fees still had to be paid. Grandmother Xia was already worried about who would pay these costs. If nobody tended to the fields, would they have to buy grain to pay the taxes?
Xia Chang Zheng’s couple certainly had money, but would the cunning Zhang Cui help pay the grain tax and fees for Third Brother Xia Hong Bing’s family of five?
Xia Hong Xia, while helping at the shop and slacking off, kept track of the daily earnings.
The daily income was several dozen yuan, and after deducting costs, they must still make quite a bit. When Grandmother Xia thought about Zhang Cui and Xia Chang Zheng making hundreds of yuan monthly in Anqing County while leaving her to suffer in the countryside, her heart felt like it was being repeatedly fried in oil.
The couple had no conscience!
As their mother, she couldn’t bring the whole family along – someone needed to do the work at home.
While Grandmother Xia was tossing and turning in bed, Zhang Cui had taken her son back to Anqing County. Her bruised face spoke volumes – how could Zhang Fu Man not understand?
Zhang Fu Man chopped his cleaver hard against the cutting board:
“Sister, if the Xias dare bully you, I’ll take my knife and kill them! Do they think our Zhang family is as useless as the Lius?”
Liu Fen’s bullying was partly due to her personality and partly because the Liu family had moved from elsewhere and had no foundation in Anqing County. But not the Zhang family – what were the Xias? The Zhangs weren’t to be bullied.
Jiang Lian Xiang also supported Zhang Cui, saying a couple could earn 100 yuan monthly, and the shop was originally her sister-in-law’s. Now the Xia family’s old woman wanted to drive her and Zhang Fu Man away so the Xia family could take advantage.
Fearing the situation wasn’t dramatic enough, Jiang Lian Xiang threw off her apron and rushed home to gather people:
“Sister, we’re not afraid of the Xias. And brother-in-law, how could you hit her so hard!”
The three closed the shop and left hurriedly.
Sister Huang watched from across the street, thinking it would be unreasonable if she didn’t make money now. Zhang’s business had been so good before the New Year but had declined daily since. Regular customers had all been stolen by Sister Huang, yet instead of urgently trying to save the business, the family was fighting among themselves. Business people feared domestic unrest most – with daily family troubles weighing them down, how could they have the heart and energy for business?
In Sister Huang’s shop, whether it was her in-laws, sisters-in-law, or even the children, no one dared to trouble her.
She was the family’s main earner, her words carried weight, and no one in the family went against the greater good.
“I think Zhang’s business might fail,” Sister Huang whispered to her mother-in-law, who was helping wipe tables. Her mother-in-law pinpointed the essence:
“They deserve it, serves them right for being mean-spirited!”
If they were kind-hearted, why wouldn’t the beautiful and clever Xia daughter help them?
Sister Huang’s mother-in-law had never heard of dishes like rice or noodles with toppings, but these simple things made money. Pushing away a ready-made God of Wealth – who else but Zhang would suffer such bad luck?
On the fourth day of the New Year after that incident, Sister Huang and her family learned about Xia Xiao Lan’s connection to Zhang.
People naturally have different levels of closeness. Since Xia Xiao Lan had helped Sister Huang establish her business, Sister Huang’s family naturally sided with her. Sister Huang thought Xia Xiao Lan’s future cousin-in-law must be blind, choosing to get involved with Xia Xiao Lan’s cousin instead of the smart and beautiful Xia Xiao Lan.
So what if she got into university?
Xia Xiao Lan would surely get into university this year too – wouldn’t she be a university student as well?
Though Xia Zi Yu was a university student, Sister Huang felt she probably focused on stealing men. In terms of cleverness, ten Xia Zi Yus together couldn’t match Xia Xiao Lan.
If Xia Zi Yu was capable, why hadn’t she saved Zhang’s business?
Though Xia Xiao Lan didn’t know all the messy details of the Xia family, she could predict them.
The eldest brother’s family seemed loyal but was treacherous, while the third brother’s family was lazy and greedy.
Without the ox-like second family in the middle to exploit, the brothers Xia Chang Zheng and Xia Hong Bing would eventually fall out. Xia Chang Zheng’s couple had opened a shop in the county town, becoming Da He Village’s success story, originally hiding their selfish nature well, but as they became the wealthiest in the Xia family, they would inevitably show their true colors.
The existence of “Zhang’s” was a time bomb – Zhang Cui and Xia Chang Zheng could keep it secret temporarily but not forever.
Sister Huang’s fast food stealing from Zhang’s business had merely accelerated the conflict. The Xia family’s internal strife naturally left them no time to cause her trouble – this was Xia Xiao Lan’s original plan. However, after Xia Da Jun was instigated to cause trouble on the fifth day of the New Year, Xia Xiao Lan felt her approach to the Xia family had been too gentle.
She directly removed Xia Zi Yu and Principal Sun, the backbone of Zhang’s thriving business at No. 1 Middle School’s gate.
Principal Sun, thinking of Xia Zi Yu’s “deception,” had no goodwill left for Zhang and wouldn’t protect them anymore. Without backing and unable to navigate relationships skillfully, how could Zhang Cui and Xia Chang Zheng expect to make money peacefully?
They were dreaming.
The snack business had no barriers to entry – setting up a small stall was fine, but trying to expand and strengthen would inevitably attract others’ envy.
Xia Xiao Lan had dug pitfalls for the Xia family according to her own plans, but she didn’t care when the conflicts would intensify and explode. Anyway, she hadn’t been to school recently, had taken the county’s No. 1 Middle School exams, and would directly participate in Yunan Province’s unified “preliminary examination.”
The time would be around two months before the formal college entrance examination.
That would be in May.
Only those who passed the preliminary examination could take the college entrance exam, and the preliminary results would somewhat correlate with the final exam performance. Ordinary students only had two months left to review and fix weaknesses; their overall scores wouldn’t change dramatically.
After returning from Yang City, Xia Xiao Lan received many magazines and books sent by Zhou Cheng through others, all materials about architecture and interior design.
Liu Yong, holding these illustrated magazines, felt deeply reassured!