Going to Lan Feng Huang to buy clothes?
Liu Fen panicked instantly. She was already poor at lying, and now with Liu Fang wanting to visit Lan Feng Huang, her lie would be exposed!
Liu Fang noticed her strange expression and asked curiously:
“What’s wrong? Can’t I treat you to a meal? It’s not like you’re paying.”
“No, no… Ah Fang, I work at Lan Feng Huang.”
This was unexpected.
Liu Fang was quite pleased. “Second Sister, Liang Huan says this store does excellent business in the provincial capital – even people from our county have heard of it. People specifically come to the provincial capital to buy clothes here. I didn’t expect you’d be doing so well. How’s the salary?”
How’s the salary?
The business was a partnership with her brother’s family, and her daughter let her use however much money she wanted.
Liu Fen remembered she did have a salary. The store had opened on January 24th, and after the New Year, on February 24th, Xiaolan had said she would pay everyone’s wages, and she had received 200 yuan. In 1984, 200 yuan was a decent salary. Liu Fen wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just vaguely nodded:
“The salary is okay…”
Liu Fang didn’t probe further.
The Xia family’s conditions were poor, and her second sister had never had the chance to see money – she probably thought even a few dozen yuan was quite good. How much could such a store pay? At most a few dozen yuan, certainly nowhere near what her husband Liang earned. Liu Fang had never really suffered after marrying into the Liang family. When she gave birth to Liang Huan in the ’60s, while many people were starving and eating dirt, she had stewed eggs during her month of confinement.
Back then, she’d thought how good life was in the Liang family, and she would never return to the countryside.
The Liang family had never truly experienced poverty, and now that even rural people’s lives were improving, the Liang family’s life was even better.
Liu Fang’s attitude was genuinely good today. She took her elder sister out, treated her to lamb noodle soup, and then went together to “Lan Feng Huang” to choose clothes. Liu Fen was sweating anxiously but lacked the quick wit to handle the situation, so she could only be dragged along by her sister.
Li Fengmei watched from afar – why had Liu Fen brought someone to the store?
Had Liu Fen cracked under pressure?!
Liu Fang was even more surprised – only Li Fengmei was in the store. What owner would hire both sisters-in-law to watch the store? With one selling and one handling money, couldn’t they conspire to empty the store?
Li Fengmei knew she couldn’t hide it. Since Liu Fang had found Lan Feng Huang, she would eventually learn who the owner was.
The business license was registered under Liu Yong’s name, so Li Fengmei simply admitted it openly: “Xiao Fang, you’re here! Have you eaten? I was wondering why your sister left without having lunch.”
“Sister-in-law, this store…”
“Oh, I’m partnering with someone in this small business. We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to embarrass your brother-in-law. Since Ah Fen had nothing to do, I asked her to help out in the store.”
So Li Fengmei was partnering with someone to run the store!
Liu Fang’s shock was evident.
Even as they spoke, customers came and went trying on clothes. The store had a steady stream of customers, and Li Fengmei and Liu Fen worked together seamlessly. In half an hour, they sold four pieces of clothing.
Were the clothes attractive?
Liu Fang thought they were.
But even by Liu Fang’s consumption standards, she found the store’s clothes weren’t cheap – they were as expensive as those in the department store, some even pricier. Such a store must make how much money daily? Liu Fang’s head was buzzing.
Li Fengmei said it was a partnership, but with three storefronts, this scale was no small individual vendor’s operation.
The people from Qi Jing Village weren’t lying – her eldest brother Liu Yong had made his fortune in Shang Du! Liu Fang couldn’t pinpoint her emotions – disbelief, anger, and resentment. Even though she didn’t want money from her natal family, if she hadn’t stumbled upon this today, who knows how long they would have kept it from her!
In her anger, she wanted to leave immediately.
But Liang Bing’an had analyzed the situation so clearly – if she left in a huff now, what about everything else that needed to be done?
Liu Fang stayed in the store feeling wronged, completely forgetting about buying clothes for Liang Huan.
Li Fengmei and Liu Fen kept helping customers. At four in the afternoon, when Li Fengmei needed to pick up her son from school, she asked if Liu Fang was planning to stay in Shang Du for the night.
“You see, your sister and I are so busy, we can’t go home to cook for you. If you’re staying in Shang Du, wait until we close the store and we’ll go eat at a restaurant.”
This sounded familiar.
She had said the same thing to Liu Fen at noon about not cooking and eating at a restaurant instead.
People without money in their pockets, who had to plan every cent’s use, could they so casually and easily offer to treat others to meals?
The crystal lamps in “Lan Feng Huang” reflected off the glass mirrors – this store was too high-end, and this news was too unexpected for Liu Fang. She had never taken Li Fengmei seriously before, considering her just a woman who had remarried Liu Yong, but with a store like this, she was far from being just a rustic rural woman.
Li Fengmei’s dress, speech, and manner had all changed.
Liu Fang felt inexplicably nervous:
“No, Sister-in-law, you’re all quite busy, and I need to hurry home. I’ll come another day.”
What was she nervous about? She was nervous about having brought just two jin of meat as a gift!
This was just Liu Fang’s nature – she was casual and careless with those less well-off than her family, not caring whether her words hurt them. With those of equal standing, she worried about proper etiquette. And with those better off, she naturally tried to please them carefully.
She couldn’t judge Li Fengmei’s current status, but it was certainly better than when Liu Yong was just a farmer stealing chickens in the village.
Li Fengmei had effectively pushed Liu Fang away and felt relieved herself.
Then she found it amusing – why bother calculating with such a person? Hadn’t she always known what kind of person Liu Fang was?
Liu Fang felt she had acted foolishly today.
First, she had spent half the day flattering a street-sweeping old woman.
Then, suddenly learning that Li Fengmei was Lan Feng Huang’s owner, she couldn’t accept the disparity and lost her composure. After returning to the county, as she calmed down, she complained to Liang Bing’an:
“Look at my sister-in-law’s attitude – isn’t she just partnering with others in the store? Maybe others hold the majority share, and she’s just a minor partner, otherwise, why would she be watching the store herself?”
But Liang Bing’an didn’t jump to conclusions.
“Tell me more about that store – no, tell me everything that happened today in detail.”
Lan Feng Huang’s reputation had spread from the provincial capital to the county. Fashion-conscious people like Liang Huan had heard of it, but why would a man like Liang Bing’an pay attention to such things? But this store was located at Er Qi Square, right next to the department store – could just anyone open a store there?
Even running a small business in the county required connections up and down, how much deeper were the waters in the provincial capital? Even with the Liang family’s backing, if Liu Fang tried to open a store in the provincial capital, she might not be able to manage it. What connections did the Liu family have to secure three storefronts at Er Qi Square?
Liang Bing’an was more inclined to believe Li Fengmei’s words – the store must be a partnership, as Liu Yong didn’t have those connections.
The question was: who was the partner?
Liang Bing’an felt this was the key to the matter.
He now understood why Liu Fen and her daughter wanted to build a house and adamantly refused the Liang family’s money. Liu Fen and Xia Xiaolan were depending on Liu Yong, and someone as face-conscious as Liu Yong couldn’t possibly watch Liu Fen go without a house.
As for the house, Liu Yong would help Liu Fen with money to build it.
Liu Fang recounted the day’s events, and Liang Bing’an listened attentively. After hearing everything, he immediately grasped the key points:
“You say you didn’t see Big Brother or our niece today?”
“No, I didn’t…”
Liang Bing’an asked further, “What exactly did that street-sweeping grandmother say about Xiaolan’s boyfriend being very well-matched with her?”