Zhu Fang hadn’t yet processed the fact that Xia Xiaolan had a boyfriend when his heart clenched again.

His mother had been cursing at Xiaolan in the street.

How could she do such a thing?

Though Zhu Fang hadn’t heard it firsthand, he could guess the words must have been particularly nasty, otherwise Zhou Cheng wouldn’t have come to confront him.

Zhu Fang knew well how domineering his mother could be, but Ding Aizhen had seemed so supportive of him and Xiaolan at home. She had even agreed to arrange a job for Xiaolan earlier, though that naturally fell through when Xiaolan said she wanted to study for university entrance exams and stopped the eel business.

Zhu Fang’s face flushed red. Had his mother said something terrible to Xiaolan that made her stop coming to the Yellow River Restaurant? At that time, he knew Xiaolan didn’t have a boyfriend.

This boyfriend must be new, Zhu Fang’s thoughts were in chaos as he unconsciously defended his mother: “That’s impossible, my mother isn’t that kind of person… There must be some misunderstanding!”

Zhou Cheng grew impatient. “I heard it with my ears, how could there be a misunderstanding? Comrade Zhu Fang, I’m just giving you notice – if you can’t control your mother, I’ll have to handle this matter my way.”

He had come simply to notify and declare his claim while giving the Zhu family one chance.

The young man before him had designs on his woman. Zhou Cheng was extremely petty about such matters, yet for the sake of his image in Xia Xiaolan’s eyes, he had to maintain an appearance of magnanimity and steadiness.

A stack of Great Unity notes was 1,000 yuan, and what remained on the table must have been eight or nine hundred.

Kang Wei clicked his tongue twice and pointed at the remaining money: “Your mother said my Sister-in-law Xiaolan was seducing you just to sell eels to the restaurant. I wonder if this money is enough to cover what Yellow River Restaurant owes Sister-in-law Xiaolan? A simple business transaction that your mother made sounds so disgusting – keep this money, it’s a thank-you fee from my brother.”

That Kang Wei fellow might as well have called it a tip for Zhu Fang.

His romantic rival coming to his workplace to flaunt his wealth and give him a “tip”?

Zhu Fang couldn’t take this insult!

But Zhou Cheng had already run out of patience. He and Kang Wei stood up.

Both men were tall and sturdy with northern builds – Zhu Fang didn’t even have a height advantage.

“Kang, let’s go.”

Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei didn’t bother engaging further with Zhu Fang. They had come to the Yellow River Restaurant to throw down a thousand yuan without even sipping water.

“Why did the customers leave?”

“They didn’t even order a single dish…”

“Shh looks like they came to make trouble.”

“Does Zhu Fang know those two?”

Zhu Fang didn’t have very good relationships with his colleagues. While he maintained a humble attitude around Xia Xiaolan, he was quite proud when dealing with coworkers. Some female servers had shown interest in him, but Zhu Fang hadn’t given any of them a second glance.

Zhu Fang’s arrogance hurt the female comrades’ self-esteem, and Ding Aizhen’s attitude made things even more uncomfortable.

Seeing Zhu Fang take a hit, everyone felt a bit of schadenfreude.

Some felt Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei were too harsh and came forward to comfort Zhu Fang: “Comrade Xiao Zhu, are you alright?”

Zhu Fang was mortified. He pushed away those trying to comfort him. “…I’m fine. I need to take leave, there’s something at home.”

Zhu Fang ran off.

Everyone stared at the money left on the table. The money was meant for Zhu Fang, but he obviously wouldn’t take it.

“What kind of people come to our restaurant just to show off?”

“Well, they can afford to show off like that – that money’s probably more than Zhu Fang’s annual salary!”

The one who had received the tip had already counted the money in their hands – 15 Great Unity notes, which meant 150 yuan. If one stack was a thousand, then the remaining money on the table was 850. Zhu Fang’s monthly salary was 70 yuan, so his annual salary was only 840 yuan – indeed less than what was left on the table!

Zhu Fang hadn’t taken the money, and no one dared to touch it sitting there. Finally, the manager, seeing how awkward it looked, had someone collect it: “We’ll give it to Xiao Zhu when he returns.”

No one knew what had happened – two wealthy customers came early in the morning to “deliver money” to Zhu Fang, and the delivery made him so angry. Everyone at the restaurant was incredibly curious.

Zhu Fang was simply furious.

He hadn’t done anything particularly wrong in pursuing Xia Xiaolan, but being a mama’s boy, he was used to going home to his mother to solve problems – who knew Ding Aizhen would be two-faced, saying she’d help arrange work for Xiaolan while turning around and humiliating her? Zhu Fang was hurt that Xiaolan had found a boyfriend and suspected his mother’s interference had scared Xiaolan away from the Yellow River Restaurant, causing her to quickly find someone else.

What exactly had his mother said to Xiaolan?

It was bad enough that she had ruined his romance, with Xiaolan refusing to see him anymore, but how could she rush out to insult her in public?

Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei’s early morning visit to Yellow River Restaurant was certainly to avenge Xiaolan. Zhu Fang, proud as he was, had been thoroughly crushed by Zhou Cheng’s wealth and superiority. How would his colleagues view him now? How could he continue working here?

The angry Zhu Fang rushed straight to his mother’s workplace, but Ding Aizhen had several meetings that day.

Having calmed down slightly, Zhu Fang didn’t make a scene at Ding Aizhen’s workplace and headed home instead. When Ding Aizhen finished her meetings and heard her son Zhu Fang had visited, she found it strange – shouldn’t he be at work at this hour? Though the purchasing job had flexible hours, Zhu Fang rarely came to her workplace. If he came, it must have been for something important, so why had he left without leaving even a word?

Ding Aizhen left work early that afternoon and returned home to find Zhu Fang lying on the sofa with a pillow over his head.

Hearing footsteps, Zhu Fang threw off the pillow and jumped up, his face red and ears burning, looking at his mother as if she were an enemy:

“Mom, you went to cause trouble for Xiaolan!”

Ding Aizhen’s heart skipped a beat.

She had lost considerable face yesterday and wasn’t about to let it go easily. As a minor leader at her workplace, she naturally knew other friends and would certainly retaliate for yesterday’s events – since Xia Xiaolan wanted to be a private business owner, she could easily have a few friends investigate her. If they couldn’t destroy Xia Xiaolan’s business, they’d at least make her suffer!

The spring breeze of Reform and Opening Up had swept across China, and the entire country’s economy was changing for the better. The allocation of land to households had increased agricultural production, farmers had surplus money, and cities had access to more abundant materials… While opposing Reform and Opening Up would be turning back the wheels of history, the reform model was still being explored.

The distinction between private business owners and speculators wasn’t particularly clear.

With a monthly salary of just dozens of yuan, a train ticket from Shangdu to Yangcheng would cost half of that. The high transportation costs directly stifled “speculation” in its cradle. Xia Xiaolan delivering eels to restaurants could be considered farmers selling their produce, still within the category of agricultural products. But in Ding Aizhen’s view, her openly setting up stalls on the street was “speculation”!

Ding Aizhen hadn’t taken action yet, but Zhu Fang had already exposed her – had Xia Xiaolan gone to complain to him?

Ding Aizhen sat down on the sofa, having already prepared her explanation:

“Mom wasn’t causing trouble for her, just making her recognize her place. She’s just a country girl – her family must have incredible luck for you to fancy her, but instead of being grateful, she dares to be fickle. She’s too wild… She deceived you. Xia Xiaolan has some scoundrel by her side, I’ll never accept such a daughter-in-law!”

Zhu Fang was about to explode.

His mother’s words sounded nice, but she had admitted to cursing at Xia Xiaolan and planning to cause her trouble!

Zhu Fang’s anger stemmed from his feelings for Xiaolan, Zhou Cheng’s provocation, and most importantly Ding Aizhen’s attitude, always treating him like a child. The twenty-something Zhu Fang couldn’t take it anymore, but he knew what would threaten his mother:

“Xiaolan never promised me anything. You scared her away from delivering eels to the restaurant, and now you want to ruin her business… Heh, her boyfriend came to the restaurant to find me today. I think her business won’t be ruined, but your son might lose his job! Go ahead and cause more trouble for her, go on – I’ll move out right now, I won’t stay in this house anymore!”

Zhu Fang felt like a hero, protecting Xia Xiaolan while also standing up to the tyrannical Director Ding for himself.

Seeing him like a lit firecracker about to rush out after dropping such harsh words, Ding Aizhen’s liver ached with anger as she quickly grabbed him.

“Mom won’t cause trouble for her anymore. Now tell me, what happened when her boyfriend came to the restaurant?”