「In the car.」
Lu Fan looked at Jiali and said, "Have the branch company terminate their partnership with Huang Minghao’s family. Also, inform all our partner companies that they are not to work with him."
"Yes, Boss!"
Chen He laughed. "Boss, I really thought you had forgiven them."
"I’m not that kind."
After dealing with Jiang Ming’s situation, Lu Fan returned to the pastry shop.
At that mont, Jiang Yixia was still worried about Jiang Ming.
She saw Lu Fan get out of his car and walk straight to the entrance of her flower shop.
"Yixia," Lu Fan said with a smile, greeting her.
"I don’t have ti for your gas right now." Jiang Yixia was in no mood to banter with him. She kept checking WeChat on her phone, waiting for a reply from Jiang Ming.
Lu Fan smiled. "I bet you’re worried about your brother, aren’t you?"
At his words, Jiang Yixia looked up at him. "Do you know sothing?"
"I just picked up your brother and went with him to his school," Lu Fan explained.
Jiang Yixia imdiately tensed up. "And then?"
"I’ve been running around busy for the better part of the day. I’m a little thirsty now." Lu Fan feigned a sigh.
Jiang Yixia heard this and knew he was up to his old tricks.
She had no choice. It seed Lu Fan had indeed helped out.
She had no choice but to turn, grab a cup, and pour him a glass of water. She frowned and said, "Hurry up and tell . If you keep dawdling, I won’t listen anymore."
"If I hadn’t gone today, who knows how badly that student’s parents would have chewed out your brother." Lu Fan switched into bragging mode. "I imdiately shielded your brother behind and shouted, ’I’d like to see anyone try anything!’"
Jiang Yixia was speechless.
She interrupted him impatiently, "Speak plainly."
"Okay, to put it simply, the student’s parents were being difficult and unreasonable. Then I found out their family had a partnership with my branch company, so I casually flexed a little. After that, their family and the student apologized to your brother." Knowing Jiang Yixia was out of patience, Lu Fan quickly told her the truth.
Jiang Yixia hadn’t expected the parent to have business connections with Lu Fan.
But she still found it hard to believe. "But... Jiang Ming was clearly the one who hit that student. Why did the student apologize to him instead?"
"Because that student is a bad seed. He not only lifts girls’ shirts and snaps their bra straps, but he also insults people. I just made a preemptive strike. If this blew up, his son probably wouldn’t be able to stay at this school anymore," Lu Fan explained with a shrug and a smile.
After his explanation, Jiang Yixia understood the situation.
’She had to admit, this was his typical MO.’
Back when they had a street stall, soone was causing trouble at the neighboring one.
The owner of that stall happened to be an elderly grandmother.
Lu Fan couldn’t stand by and watch, so he stepped up to help.
He had no power or influence back then, but he still protected the weak.
’After all these years, he hasn’t forgotten his principles despite his rise in wealth and status.’
’In that regard, the guy was still worthy of respect.’
After understanding the whole story, Jiang Yixia said in a small voice, "Thank you for this."
"Yixia, don’t say that. We’re not strangers," Lu Fan said with a laugh. "Besides, I’m just helping my little brother-in-law. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?"
"Who’s your little brother-in-law?" Jiang Yixia said with a frown. "You may have helped him with this, but I’m warning you, don’t think you can use him to guilt-trip . I’m not falling for it. If you want to get back together, go get back together with him."
With that said, Jiang Yixia got back to work.
Lu Fan just smiled. "I’m not trying to guilt-trip you, and I didn’t ask Jiang Ming to do anything to thank . I just know that he’s put in a lot of effort helping take care of Sifan and Silu over the years. So if he’s in trouble, of course I have to help."
Hearing this, Jiang Yixia felt a little touched.
It was true. Over the years, besides her two children, the people she felt she had wronged the most were her parents and Jiang Ming.
Besides making a living, they also had to expend energy helping her care for the two children.
Only in recent years, after the two children had grown up, did things get a little easier for them.
She looked at Lu Fan and said in a calm tone, "Don’t mind what my brother said before. It hasn’t been easy for him to watch raise two kids on my own all these years, so it’s understandable that he got a little emotional when he saw you."
"Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against him." Lu Fan’s eyes darted around for a mont before he seized the opportunity. "As long as his sister makes a delicious dish tomorrow, I won’t be the least bit angry."
Jiang Yixia knew he was taking advantage of the situation again.
But no matter what, he had really done Jiang Ming a huge favor.
She hesitated for two seconds before finally agreeing. "Just one dish. No more."
"Great." Lu Fan smiled. "So, can you guess what dish I want to eat?"
"I’m not guessing. If you don’t na the dish, I’m not making it. That’ll save the trouble," Jiang Yixia said, feigning indifference.
Lu Fan replied, "I want to eat your braised pig’s trotters."
"You want to eat sothing so greasy? Your hand still needs its dressing changed. The doctor told you to eat light," Jiang Yixia said, exasperated.
"It’s fine. My hand is healing quickly. And I really am craving your braised pig’s trotters." Lu Fan took the chance to play the sentint card. "I still rember back at the factory, the first ti you made them. I opened my lunchbox in front of everyone, and the scent of that dish filled the entire cafeteria."
"Even the cafeteria cook couldn’t help but ask you how to make it. Everyone was so envious of . I was so happy back then, so blissful," Lu Fan said with a smile.
Hearing this, Jiang Yixia couldn’t help but blush.
In fact, when Lu Fan ntioned the braised pig’s trotters, she too was reminded of that scene from eighteen years ago.
Lu Fan was too thin back then, so Jiang Yixia had asked her mother for the recipe for pig’s trotters.
Then, she combined it with her own touches and created a uniquely flavored dish of braised pig’s trotters.
Of course, if Lu Fan hadn’t brought it up, Jiang Yixia would never have thought of it on her own.
Because the more beautiful the beginning of the story, the more heartbreaking the end.
Jiang Yixia replied coldly, "You were so happy back then. Did that stop you from going after other won later?"
"Yixia, I’ve noticed you’re a real stickler. You just have to get a couple of digs in," Lu Fan said with mock criticism.
Jiang Yixia ignored him and continued arranging her flowers, casually saying, "I’ll make it for you tomorrow. You can go now."
"Can’t you let stay a little longer?"
"No."
"Alright, then." Seeing this, Lu Fan waved. "I’ll look forward to your braised pig’s trotters tomorrow!"
With that, he left.
Although Jiang Yixia never once looked toward the shop’s entrance, she couldn’t help but glance out of the corner of her eye.
’Damn bastard, why did you have to bring up the past for no reason?!’ she cursed inwardly.
Even as she arranged the roses in her hands, her thoughts drifted back to the sumr of eighteen years ago.
Just as she’d thought monts ago, the more beautiful the beginning of the story, the more heartbreaking the end.
That sumr vacation was the happiest ti of Jiang Yixia’s life.
Lu Fan had no money back then, but he had loved her with all his heart.
If she could, she would rather Lu Fan had never beco rich and that the two of them had just lived a simple, ordinary life.
Raising their children together.
Like it says in the books: working from sunrise to sunset.
But sadly, none of those beautiful wishes could ever co true.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yixia suddenly felt a pang of regret.
"I shouldn’t have agreed to make those braised pig’s trotters for that guy."
"Eat, eat, eat. Go stuff your face, you goofball."
Jiang Yixia muttered to herself in a fit of pique.
...
「anwhile.」
Jiang Sifan arrived at a milk tea shop.
The clerk handed him two milk teas, and he imdiately thanked them, "Thanks!"
He then turned and handed one of the cups to Wen Wan. "Here, Wen Wan. I didn’t get you an iced one. I was afraid you couldn’t drink it cold."
"Thank you, Class President," Wen Wan said shyly.
The two of them had just left a shop.
Naturally, they had successfully signed another contract.
Jiang Sifan found it quite amazing.
Ever since the lawyer, Jiali, taught them a set of sales pitches, the two of them had been winning one victory after another.
Even when Wen Wan went in alone to practice her communication skills, the shop owners would still end up agreeing to let them handle their bookkeeping and tax filing.
For a mont, Jiang Sifan even started to get a big head.
He felt like he was born to be an entrepreneur!
He looked at Wen Wan and said with a smile, "Wen Wan, I think starting a business is so easy! We had so setbacks at the beginning, but now we’re like fish in water."
Seeing how confident he was, Wen Wan looked like she wanted to say sothing but held back. She just smiled, happy for him.
Noticing her expression, Jiang Sifan asked, "What’s wrong? Is there sothing you want to say?"
"Class President, I think Sister Jiali was actually the one who helped us a lot this ti. And I feel like I haven’t made much progress. Instead, I feel like I’m holding you back sotis," Wen Wan explained, blushing.
Hearing this, Jiang Sifan quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, Wen Wan, you can’t sell yourself short. When I was at my lowest, you were the one comforting . And you’ve made obvious progress, haven’t you noticed? In the beginning, you would even stamr when talking to shop owners."
Wen Wan said nervously, "I... I do?"
"See? You’re doing it right now," Jiang Sifan laughed. "You do this whenever you get nervous. And you blush, too."
His words made Wen Wan’s face turn an even deeper shade of red.
"Haha, I’ll stop teasing you. You’re too cute." Seeing that her face looked like a ripe red apple, Jiang Sifan decided not to tease her anymore.
Just as he was about to look for the next shop to negotiate a contract with Wen Wan, he received a WeChat ssage on his phone.
It was from Pan Lindong.
Pan Lindong: [Junior, I tried to be nice at first. We aren’t asking for much, just thirty percent of your business’s profits. But you still refuse to send us your revenue details. Don’t bla for using legal ans to protect our legitimate rights and interests!]
Pan Lindong: [Contract.jpg]
Pan Lindong followed up with a photo of the contract they had signed.
His goal was to scare Jiang Sifan into obediently handing over thirty percent of the business’s profits.
But Jiang Sifan wasn’t afraid of them now.
Besides, dragging this out wasn’t a solution. He decided to go straight to their company and clear things up with them.
So he sent a voice ssage: [I’m coming to your company right now. Let’s say what we need to say face-to-face.]
Then, he looked at Wen Wan and said, "Wen Wan, you should head back to the dorm. I’ll go take care of this."
Wen Wan hesitated. Though her face was still bright red and she looked a bit nervous, her eyes were resolute as she said, "Class President, I want to go with you... We... we’re partners..."
Her words struck a chord deep in Jiang Sifan’s heart.
It was the sa feeling he’d had back when Huang Hui used to bring him breakfast.
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