Chapter 3: The Pine Brother in the Mink Coat

  At this moment, Yin Weiraions were plex: shock, disappoi, jealousy, and anger.

  How could Yi Nuannuan have the privilege of eatier food than her? She was just a pitiful, ugly girl without parents. No, she couldn't stand it—she was going to lose her temper!

  But wheurned and saw Feng Xiaoxiao also staring at the lunch box, Yin Weiran suddenly ged her mind. She forced a fake smile and said, "Alright, I was just joking. This lunch is really cute, I almost don't want to eat it."

  Saying that, she hahe lunch box to Yi Nuannuan, and before the irl could take it, Yin urposely let it drop. The lunch box fell to the floor, and the Christmas-themed decoration was trampled by the students on the dirty terrazzo floor.

  "Ah, how could you be so careless?" Yin Weiran looked up with i, wide eyes, pretending to be pitiful.

  Tears welled up in Yi Nuannuan's eyes, but she held them back. If her mother were here, she would have known how to help her. But her mother was gone, and her grandparents were the type of timid, ho people who couldn’t be of any use. In this cruel world, she had to face everything alone.

  She didn’t argue; she quietly ed up the spilled food and put it into a garbage bag, tossing it into the trash bin in the hallway.

  The cafeteria was under renovation, and o was finished, she wouldn’t her lunch from home, and she wouldn’t be bullied like this anymore. Yi Nuannuan thought to herself.

  Back at her desk, a group of three girls was eating and whispering, occasionally gng at her. They were from families with simir financial backgrounds, all from local high-ine families. Their lunches mainly sisted of meat dishes. Yin Weiran had pig head meat and braised iines, Jian Shiyu had stir-fried pig liver and beef kidney, and Mei Xin had pig tripe soup and braised pig trotters. There was a mountain of food oable, and it all looked appetizing.

  A boy passed by and g them. Jian Shiyu shot him a gre. "What are you looking at? This is what we afford."

  Yi Nuannuan heard the growl of her stomach; she was hungry. The students around her probably heard it too, and a few threw her sympathetic looks. The group of girls ughed even harder. Yi Nuannuan buried her fa her arms, her body trembling slightly. She was choking on her sobs and tears, but she didn’t want ao see her.

  Suddenly, someo dowo her. A boy's slightly hoarse voice broke the silence. "Eat mine."

  Yi Nuannuan looked up—it was Feng Xiaoxiao. He pced his stainless steel lunch box in front of her, taining scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried beef with chili, prawns in oil, and a bowl of seafood vegetable soup. As a boy in his growth period, he had a rge appetite, so he had enough food to spare.

  "I 't finish it by myself; I often waste food. Help me out," Feng Xiaoxiao anded in an authoritative tone. Due to his family background and his own excellence, he had already bee the css monitor and had the aura of a domina a young age.

  Yi Nuannuan didn’t refuse. Setting aside her feelings for the boy, at a moment like this, she couldn’t turn away anyone help. This pce felt like a small jungle society, where everyone was an animal in a big forest. Some were ivorous predators, while others were herbivorous mbs. Yi Nuannuan clearly beloo the tter. When a young lion tried to protect her from the bite of a wolf cub, she instinctively chose to accept the help.

  This made the trio of girls furious. Yin Weiran was the English css representative, a css officer, and the proud daughter of the css. She always thought Feng Xiaoxiao was hers and no one else had the right to pete for him. But now Yi Nuannuan...

  Her father wasn’t as high-ranking as Feng Xiaoxiao’s, so she dared not take out her anger on him. She could only retaliate by making Yi Nuannuan’s life miserable.

  After finishing lunch, the three girls exged gnces ao the girls' restroom to plot their move.

  "Find someoo beat her up," Jian Shiyu suggested.

  "I think we should report her for cheating, having a retionship, or stealing," Mei Xin said with a sly glint in her eyes. Her father was a low-level official who liked to report petitors behind their backs, so she had learhe tricks.

  Yin Weiran shook her head, then nodded. A sinister and vicious look crossed her young face. "This isn’t something that be solved in one or two tries. I want her gone."

  Jian Shiyu was stunned. "Kill her... that's too much, right?"

  Yin Weiran sneered, "What are you thinking? Do you know how many suicides happen in schools every year?"

  ---

  Meanwhile, in the Yumei Restaurant, four tables were filled with ers. The guests had already finished a bottle of beer, and the cold dishes were nearly finished, but the hot dishes still hadn't arrived.

  Xiaohong brought a tray of rice to oable, only to be scolded by the ers for her ck of tact. The dishes hadn't even been served, and they were still drinking, but she rushed t the rice out. The ers said she didn’t know the rules.

  Xiaohong, with her bad temper and ugly appearaomped angrily into the kit.

  Wu Yumei stepped forward to apologize and also went into the kit te the chefs to hurry.

  Ihe kit, Kang Peng was smoking casually while stew cooked oove, and Huang Pihu was cuttiables at a leisurely pace.

  Wu Yumei was frustrated. How could they be this careless? There were only four tables of guests, and they had ordered over a dozen dishes, including stir-fries, stews, and deep-fried items. The chefs should have arrahe cooking sequence more effitly. Why were they making the time-ing stew first instead of the quick stir-fries?

  She couldn’t ask directly, as that would mean bming someone else. Kang Peng gred and said, "I’m following the order of the tickets. What do you wao do?"

  Wu Yumei’s teeth ched with frustration. Usually, Kang Peng was zy and greedy, but he wasn’t usually this careless. It felt like he was iionally embarrassio shoihu who was in charge.

  "This isn’t w," Wu Yumei said. "Get aric stove, Huang, you take over the stir-frying."

  Huang Pihu shook his head. "The electric stove won’t work. It doesn’t heat up enough. We he big stove with strong fire to cook quickly. Let’s put the stews on the electric stove and free up a burner for the stir-fries."

  Kaossed his stir-fry spoon aside. "Fine, you do it."

  Huang Pihu didn’t hesitate and immediately grabbed the stir-fry spoon.

  Xiaohong still had mrievao vent. She was in the middle of pining to Kang Peng about the ers when Kang Peng, furious, stormed out to front them.

  At that moment, Huang Pihu tied on his apron and got to work. The high heat, sizzling oil, and the inteemperatures i allowed him to cook the quick dishes in mere seds.

  Kang Peng, seeing the efficy, was even more furious. He picked up a cleaver and stormed out, shouting, "Who’s been bullying my waiter?"

  A man wearing a mink coat turned and looked at Kang Peng, his gaze cold.

  "Mong Ge, you didn’t eve me when you arrived," Kang Peng said with a fake smile. "Today, the meal’s on me."

  The man in the mink coat, known as Song Ge, waved his hand carelessly, and Kang Peng quickly ehe kit again.

  Wu Yumei came out with two ptes of food, pg one on Soable and another on a nearby table. She quickly apologized to the other ers, "It’ll be ready soon."

  Song Ge, with an expressionless face, extended his hand and spped Wu Yumei on the backside.

  Wu Yumei screamed in shod turo gre at him. "Song Ge, what are you doing?"

  "e sit down and have a drink," Song Ge said, and his hen immediately pulled a chair over.

  "I’m busy. I o go bad watch the kit. Otherwise, the dishes won’t e out," Wu Yumei smiled apologetically. Song Ge was someoh es in society, and she didn’t dare provoke him.

  "Is my word not good enough?" Song Ge’s hen teased, half-joking.

  At the diagonal table, two men in work uniforms from a shipyard were sitting. One of them couldn’t take it any longer and smmed the table, but his friend signaled him to sit back dowtered, "Why aren’t the dishes ing out yet?"

  ---

  *"Just one cup," Song Ge insisted.*

  The waiter filled a full gss of beer and pced it in front of Wu Yumei.

  At this moment, Huang Pihu brought two dishes out and pced them on two other tables. Seeing that the fangsters were making things difficult for Wu Yumei, he didn’t act out but naturally walked over to greet her.

  "Yumei, you should’ve told me your friends were here earlier. Go to the bad take care of things; I’ll have a drink with a few of my brothers."

  Song Ge looked at Huang Pihu, then turo Wu Yumei. "Who is this brother?"

  Wu Yumei replied, "He's my cousin from my third uncle’s side, here to help me i."

  Huang Pihu picked up an unopened beer bottle, flicked the cap off with his thumb, and ope. One of the key drinking skills oable was not using a bottle opener—using a thumb to pop the cap was a rare sight.

  "o meet you, let me show you a trick," Huang Pihu said as he popped the beer into his mouth and started p it down in a tinuous stream. In a few moments, he fihe etle.

  "Not bad, this brother knows how to py," Song Ge ented, lifting his gss and drinking it down. After years in society, his sharp eye could tell that some people were easily pushed around, but Huang Pihu was clearly not one of them—he was experienced and could hold his own in any situation.

  Wu Yumei also wasn’t hesitant, "I’ll have a drink with you," aied her gss of beer. She then stood up to leave, "Sorry, Song Ge, I’m really busy i today."

  "Alright, go on, go on," Song Ge said with a wave, granting her freedom.

  Huang Pihu went back to the kit and tinued cooking. His efficy was far superior to Kang Peng’s. In no time, he had processed dozens of dishes in an orderly manner, and Xiao Hong faithfully brought them out. After oable of guests fiheir meal a, Xiao Hong collected the payment and recorded it before bringing in the set of guests. The lunchtime turnover rate was quite high.

  After finishing their meal and paying, Song Ge and his group drunkenly stumbled out and got into a Toyota Land Cruiser, leaving.

  The man sitting at the adjat table, wearing a work uniform, muttered, "Drinking and driving, why doesn’t he just crash?"

  Wu Yumei reized the man and patted him on the back, "Brother Ma, thanks for earlier."

  Brother Ma looked ashamed. While he was a figure in the workshop, he had to back dow came to someone like Song Ge, a true tough character. In order to save face, he began to introduce Song Ge's background.

  "Yin Bingsong used to be an officer at the factory, he worked in the security department and the Beijing office. Later, he took a leave of absend followed Gao Peng. Gao Peng is a big shot in our factory, the cousin of the factory’s chief engineer, Gao Ming, and has a huge business. I’ve heard that Yin Bingsong has blood on his hands, and not just one person."

  Huang Pihu chuckled and ighe story, while Wu Yumei couldn’t be bothered to listen. It was just a bunch of people trying to make a living. Yin Bingsong wasn’t as scary as they made him out to be. She overheard when paying the bill earlier that Song Ge had givera money for the meal and didn’t ask for any ge.

  After the lunch rush, Wu Yumei, following Huang Pihu's strong suggestio over the day’s ats. Usually, she wasn’t this meticulous and trusted Xiao Hong, but today she noticed the downside of not keeping track of things carefully.

  For Soable, Xiao Hong had recorded 350 yuan, but wheioned, Xiao Hong fidently cimed she had made the decision to round off the bill and give the ers a ten yuan dist.

  Wu Yumei was furious. Xiao Hong had just taken 50 yuan off the till, and upon cheg other tables, the records were equally unclear and disanized. She began to recall that there were frequent er pints about overcharging, and each time it was when Xiao Hong was handling the transas.

  Xiao Hong was a thief in disguise, taking small amounts from the till every day, and over time, it probably amouo more than her sary.

  Huang Pihu spoke up, "Boss, you should also check the grocery expenses."

  Kang Peed, "There are no ats for buying groceries. I keep tra my head, don’t stir up trouble."

  Wu Yumei was fed up with both of them. In the past, she had been too scared to fire a chef, but with Huang Pihu around, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Instead of firing them ht, she smiled and said, "I trust you, but you’re up early every day buying groceries. It’s tough work. How about you and Old Huang take turns buying the groceries on alternate days, aart keeping a record book for the purchases. A good memory ’t repce a bad pencil. What do you think?"

  Kang Peng exploded, "You clearly don’t trust me. Fine, I’m out. Honghong, let’s go. I’m not going to put up with this nonsense."

  Wu Yumei hurriedly said, "If you really want to leave, I won’t stop you. The shop is tight on funds, so you e baext month for your sary."

  Kang Peng replied, "Fine. I’m not going to take less than what I’m owed. I’ll set up a restaurant across from you and we’ll see who does better."

  With that, he stood up and stormed out, with Xiao Hong angrily following him.

  Wu Yumei sighed in relief, "Old Huang, from now on, it’s all on you. I paid Kang Pe thousand a month, so I’ll give you the same, and the grocery duties will be yours too."

  Huang Pihu thought for a moment, "As for buying groceries, it’s better if you do it yourself, boss."

  Wu Yumei replied, "I’d like to, but I ’t wake up at four or five in the m to go to the market."

  Mentioning the early m hours reminded Huang Pihu of something. He quickly switched to his alternate identity, Yi Leng, as it was time to pick up his daughter from school.

  As a father, he had ed his duties for eleven years. Since his daughter started kindergarten, he had never once picked her up, and now he finally had the ake up for it.

  "Boss, I o go handle something. Let’s talk ter," Yi Leng said as he ged clothes and headed out toward Zidi Middle School.

  Wu Yumei uzzled. Wasn’t Huang Pihu supposed to be without family? Where was he going? Feeling an inexplicable curiosity, she decided to follow him. After log the shop, she got into her Wuling Hongguang and trailed behind.

  She eventually saihu standing under a tree at the school gate, smoking a cigarette, just like the street punks she had seen when she was young.

  It was the time when school let out, and the gate acked with people and cars. Suddenly, Wu Yumei spotted a familiar Toyota Land Cruiser. Wasn’t that Song Ge’s car?

  Yin Bingsong was there to pick up his daughter, Yin Weiran, who was in the sed year of middle school.

  Wu Yumei watched as a girl got into Song Ge’s Land Cruiser, then looked back at the tree. Huang Pihu was gone. She cautiously drove forward, but after a short distance, she saihu trailing a group of girls.

  "Turns out, you ’t judge a book by its cover!" Wu Yumei thought, her feelings mixed. She never expected Huang Pihu to be that kind of person.

  At a red light, she stopped, but when the light turned green, Huang Pihu and the girls had disappeared. Wu Yumei could only drive back with a sense ret.

  Yi Leng followed his daughter into a residential area. It was cold and quiet outside, with no one around. Suddenly, a dark figure jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Yi Nuannuan.

  [----------------°-------------]

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