Chapter 28: The Restaurant is on Fire with Rumors

  Dad's restaurant has been busy for a while, and when it's slightly less busy, Mom chooses a day to invite Uncle's family, four aunties' families, and Grandpa and Grandma to come to our store for dinner to bond and also ease the tension.

  At the dinner table, Auntie said: "Young uncle, you're now famous and wealthy. Your brother's skills are not bad either. Why don't you bring him along to work with you? Let him be your assistant. It's better than being bullied in that restaurant they're currently working at. Isn't there a second-in-command position available at your store? If so, let your brother take it over. After all, family members are more trustworthy than outsiders. Don't let the benefits go to outsiders, right?"

  "Yes, yes, second brother, we four sisters have discussed it and still have some spare money on hand. Your business is doing well now, just look at the small restaurant outside, there are even people who drive specifically to eat, the private rooms and halls are all full of people. You can expand your business, we'll invest some money in it." The eldest sister said, with the other three sisters echoing her.

  Mom was very unhappy when she heard that, thinking that I invited you to eat and you all came up with ideas for my store. Just as I was about to speak, Dad said: "Brothers and sisters working together, I'm naturally grateful, but I've had ideas about expanding the business for a long time. Before the restaurant caught fire, there was an investor who wanted to invest, and the money is already in place, just waiting for a while before moving to a new location. It's really not good, we signed a contract, if we breach it, I won't be able to afford the penalty. As for your brother's situation, from what I know, his current restaurant is quite large, second only to Hualing's Kaiyuan, with great development potential. Your sister-in-law should consider it carefully. After my store moves, I won't be the largest shareholder, and that restaurant won't be entirely up to me either. If your brother still wants to go after that, I'll arrange it for him. As for the second-in-command position, Xiaoye has been with me for a long time, he hasn't made any mistakes, just removing him would make people say I'm nepotistic..."

  After hearing this, the aunt was indeed unhappy and said: "Young uncle, what you just said is like father-son soldiers going to war together. Brothers want to help you, but you're putting on airs. It's not just a small restaurant that caught fire, even if it becomes a big restaurant in the future, there's no guarantee that business will be good. If we don't go, then we won't go. We're not that interested anyway..."

  The aunt chattered a lot, and Uncle felt embarrassed, shouting loudly: "Fengyi, shut up! Today my brother invited me to dinner, you're talking nonsense here, you don't feel ashamed, I do!"

  "Nan Zhenglin, you're so arrogant now, daring to yell at me. Just watch and see if I don't make you kneel on the washboard when we get home."

  "Li Fengyi, you're going too far! At home, I always give in to you, but outside, you still won't give me any face... You... You... I want a divorce, a divorce!"

  "A divorce? Who's afraid of who? I'll be just fine even if we get divorced."

  "Big brother, say a few less words. Big sister has been busy at home all these years, no credit but hard work. What he said is just angry talk. Big sister, you know my big brother talks nonsense when he's drunk. Whatever he says, don't take it seriously, just think of him as not being in control of his mind..."

  The aunt was still muttering to herself on the side, while the uncle continued drinking. The third aunt started talking coldly, "Second brother, you say that if you become rich in the future, don't forget about your brothers and sisters. Now that you haven't become rich yet, we let you lead us, but you're pushing us away. Mom, isn't this what they call forgetting one's roots? Second brother, don't forget that when we were young, we suffered together. Ever since some people came to our house, you've changed and don't care about your sisters anymore. You don't even care about big brother! Don't forget who saved you from drowning at grandma's house, it was your wife!"

  Little aunt was even more provocative, saying: "Yes, yes, mom, you'd better say something about second brother, otherwise one day he'll stop coming to see us. And he brought his mother-in-law and nephew too, but he's never been this good to dad and mom before, it seems that in second brother's house, everything is controlled by second sister-in-law..."

  "Grandma, you're really angry," she said. "These are all your brother's and sister's children, related to you by blood. As the saying goes, 'even if bones are broken, they're still connected by tendons.' And now they just want to make money with you, for the whole family to get rich together. You can bring wealth to your wife's family, but not to them? It's really heartbreaking. I think you've lost your mind, being manipulated by your wife..."

  The mother-in-law couldn't help but stand up and say calmly but firmly, "Mother, are you targeting me with these words? I don't know what I did wrong for my sisters-in-law to look down on me. But I do know that our family's current situation is a result of my husband and I working hard together. Do you remember when we got married, you gave us a separate household just one month later? And what did you give us at the time? I won't say more..."

  "Also, sisters-in-law, how have I wronged you? You're all married off, but still come to interfere with our family matters. Sometimes it's not even important things, but you always find fault and make a big deal out of it. Can't you just let your second brother be happy? As for eldest sister-in-law, why do you always come to cause trouble when we're building a house or doing something? I think you know the reason in your heart..."

  "We invited you here today to put aside past grievances, but it's turned out like this. If this is our fault, we'll admit it. But if it's not our fault, even if we have to argue until the sky falls, we won't admit it. We can ask our uncles and aunts to mediate. You want to condemn me? I don't accept it. What else do you think Lu Jieqiong is after besides your family's location and household registration?"

  Grandma also got angry and said: "Old man, eat what you want to eat, let's go home. Let's just pretend we never raised this son. I'm not only this one son."

  "Everyone sit down, no one is allowed to leave! What's going on here? This isn't what siblings should be like. Old lady, I'm not saying you're wrong, but you've always been biased towards your daughter. I know she's your darling, but that doesn't mean our sons' wives are all bad. Our family has always been run by you, now you're being overbearing and I have to watch my step around you. Your daughters are in charge of their own households, while our sons... the eldest is controlled by his wife, and the second son at least discusses things with his wife. What's wrong with that? Why do you need to interfere with their small families? When we divided the family property, didn't we agree to rely on our own abilities? If the second son does well, it's because of his hard work. Helping each other out is what siblings should do, but meddling is not good. You really think they have money to invest? I know they don't. What if they lose everything? They'll all blame Zheng Gang again. And even he doesn't have full confidence in this investment, he's also relying on the big boss to invest... "

  The meal ended with everyone lost in their own thoughts, and they parted ways without a smile. It seems like it's going to be another period of not seeing each other. Ah, I'm used to it, it was the same in my previous life. Don't look at how everyone gets together during holidays, but in daily life, they're actually quite distant from each other. Speaking of my previous life, my three aunts and four aunts were all troublemakers, and my maternal grandmother was also a female tyrant. It wasn't until after my older sister Nan Qing got married and was looked down upon by her that she changed her ways.

  And my grandparents were biased towards boys over girls, my third aunt married a soldier who settled in Guangxi and became a Miao ethnic minority, never to return again. She gave birth to a son, so now my cousin calls my grandfather and grandmother "grandfather" and "grandmother". In my past life, I still have a shallow scar at the corner of my eye, which was burned by my cousin with a fire fork. At that time, I cried bitterly, and my mother quarreled with my grandmother over this matter. My grandmother actually protected my cousin and even pulled out a lot of my mother's hair. In the end, my mother got angry too, and they had a big fight, disregarding the respect for elders. Now my face is clean and smooth, without any scars from that incident, and I won't let such things happen again. Grandfather, you finally stood up for yourself once, and grandmother, after we move out of this place, you'll know who really treated you well. As the saying goes, "a distant journey tests the strength of a horse, and time reveals a person's heart". Just watch and see, we won't say more.

  Although this unhappy event occurred, business still needs to be done. In the evening, my mother comforted my father, and then he turned around to comfort her, saying that as long as they had a clear conscience, everything would be fine. A few days later, something unexpected happened at our small restaurant. Someone intentionally found fault with us, claiming that our restaurant had hygiene issues and that customers had eaten flies in their food. Not only did we have to provide free meals, but also compensation. Moreover, the person was deliberately making a scene, trying to blow things out of proportion. At first, my father wanted to smooth things over, but as he looked into it further, he felt that something wasn't right, so he reported it to the police. After the police arrived, they said they would take both parties back to the station for investigation, and my father went along with them.

  At night, we got a general idea of the situation. Dad just casually mentioned that everything was fine to comfort us, but when I got up at midnight, I saw that the light in my parents' room was still on. I secretly listened and found out that things were actually quite serious. The police seemed to be helping the person who was causing trouble, it seems like our small restaurant has been successful and someone is jealous, Dad offended them, so they deliberately set a trap to frame him. Moreover, there are some powerful people behind this, at least some people in the police station have been bribed.

  Indeed, there are people with money and power. People with power also have money. What can be done about this? Who can help us? After thinking for a while, I couldn't think of anyone to turn to. All I heard was Dad saying: "Go to sleep, we'll talk about it tomorrow. A solution will always be thought of by people."