Chapter 19 Encounter at the Restaurant

Every morning when Yao Fanghua arrives, she goes for a walk around the workshop, then goes back to the office to read. In the afternoon, when she is alone, she takes out her tools to do handicrafts. In addition to repairing broken jade, she also made several music boxes, handmade wooden music boxes, with rotating little angels, princesses, and several kinds of small animals.

After work, I would go to Wu Peng's place to buy things. After the two got to know each other, they reached a consensus on prices very easily. In short, for the sake of mutual trust, neither of us would take advantage of the other, and we would cooperate for mutual benefit and win-win results. We would all make money together.

Wu Peng wasn't good at repairs, but he had a basic understanding of antiques and collectibles, thanks to his grandfather's influence since childhood. His main focus when collecting scrap was on antiques and collectibles. Since most people didn't understand them, these antiques didn't reveal their true value; paintings and calligraphy might be burned as firewood, and old vases might be used as chamber pots. Anyway, he always managed to find a bargain in his collection of miscellaneous items. He kept all these antiques in his room.

Yao Fanghua wasn't interested in his antiques; even if she were, Wu Peng probably wouldn't allow it. What interested her were all sorts of broken furniture, broken radios, watches, bicycles, sewing machines—anything that could be turned into something useful. She'd repair what could be fixed, and disassemble what couldn't, sorting the parts for future use. Wu Peng would assist her, moving things when asked, sawing when asked, buying tools when asked, and buying materials when asked…

Yao Weimin comes to help every day after work.

Wu Peng's yard quickly became tidy. He sent all the unusable broken glass, toothpaste tubes, and other debris to the recycling station. Apart from the rotten wood that could only be used as firewood, the yard looked like it was full of money.

Stools, tables, chairs, and boxes of various sizes—all assembled from cheap wood. The better wood is used to carve ornaments and decorative items, as well as repaired bicycles, radios, horns, watches, and more.

The yard had never been so tidy. The two of them swept the floor more diligently. Wu Peng even took out his mattress and blankets to wash and air them out. They also tidied up their own room.

Yao Fangyuan now learns to cook from Li Chunying every day. Apart from being generous with oil and meat, her cooking has no advantages or special features. After eating a few meals cooked by Li Chunying, Yao Fangyuan has refused to pay her to cook. She can cook if she wants, but she will not pay her.

When Li Chunying cooks, she gets into the mood and generously slaps money on the table—one or two yuan, sometimes even five yuan. Now, Li Chunying is thinking about what to cook for dinner while she's at work, and she's racking her brains trying to remember what Yao Fanghua liked to eat when she was little, what her taste was like, whether she preferred sweet or salty, and whether she ate spicy food…

Whenever Yao Fanghua eats at home, Li Chunying prepares special meals for her. She observes Yao Fanghua's expression at the dinner table to see if she is eating well. If Yao Fanghua frowns, she gets worried and asks if there is a problem or what needs to be improved. She is both anxious and gentle, just like a top-notch mother!

Li Chunying no longer felt that men were important. Yao Weimin and Yao Fangyuan were also sidelined. No one could affect her earning money or get in the way of her wealth. Her salary plus extra income was more than what Yao Deyi earned. Her confidence swelled up like an inflated balloon. She felt that it didn't matter whether she had a man or not. Her gaze towards Yao Deyi would change from time to time, becoming strange.

Yao Deyi never expected that his wife would occasionally have thoughts of divorcing him. He only felt that his wife was becoming more and more disgusted with him and treating him coldly...

And then there's Yao Weimin, who follows Yao Fanghua around like a whim, helping her out every day, and who knows how much extra money he's made!

Yao Fangyuan has now taken over all the housework, including washing dishes and sweeping the floor, even though Yao Fanghua doesn't pay her. She does it because if she doesn't do housework, she will have even less status in the family. She is already at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Moreover, she wants to learn cooking skills from her own mother and diligently helps Li Chunying with the housework so that Li Chunying can teach her how to cook.

They used to be so eager to learn that they wouldn't even listen to being coaxed or scolded, but now they're eager to learn.

On the weekend, Yao Fanghua took Yao Weimin to the Overseas Chinese Store, along with Wu Peng, who insisted on coming along.

Yao Fanghua initially started by carving things and selling them to foreigners in order to practice her English. However, she later discovered that foreigners particularly liked these handicrafts, and selling them to them was both simple and profitable, so she couldn't stop.

Spending a whole day outside the overseas Chinese store, Yao Fanghua would inevitably run into a few foreigners. She chatted with them, gradually selling the jade pieces and wood carvings from her bag. One last foreigner was particularly interested in these, especially the small box of jade carvings—figures, animals, flowers, and birds, all incredibly lifelike. Seeing the foreigner's bright eyes, Yao Fanghua raised the price, but he still bought them all in one go. He didn't even let the wood carvings go to waste.

Yao Fanghua found a large amount of foreign exchange certificates and US dollars in her bag.

This is making money way too fast!

Moreover, in Wu Peng's view, Yao Fanghua was doing business with no capital!

The broken jade was a gift he gave as a formal apprenticeship present. Some of the wood was sourced from him, though it wasn't high-quality wood and wasn't worth much.

These things, after passing through Yao Fanghua's hands, were all elevated and turned into US dollars.

There were also repaired radios, watches, and a yard full of assembled stools, tables, and boxes—he was responsible for selling all of these, splitting the profits 50/50 with Yao Fanghua. But compared to Yao Fanghua's pocketful of US dollars, this money was practically worthless.

As Yao Fanghua cleared out the items, Wu Peng felt a growing resentment towards her. She was too capable; she earned far more than him.

Wu Peng's heart was bleeding. He had worked hard collecting scrap for months, feeling like he had only made a wedding dress for Yao Fanghua. Fortunately, he still had a few antiques hidden away, and thinking of this, he was able to stop the bleeding in his heart.

It's just English. I'm determined to learn English well so that one day I can chatter away with foreigners and make money.

Yao Fanghua was in a good mood. The last foreigner even gave her his business card. He introduced himself as a jewelry designer who had come to China with a journalist friend to find inspiration. His trip was already over, but he was pleasantly surprised to meet Yao Fanghua. He insisted that Yao Fanghua contact him, and that she should contact him if she had any good work, or save it for him, as he would come to China again if he had the chance. He even insisted on getting Yao Fanghua's address, saying that they should keep in touch and that he would write to her.

That evening, Yao Fanghua treated the two of them to dumplings at the same restaurant they had visited before.

The dumpling shop was even more popular than the last time they came. As the three of them were looking for an empty seat, Wu Peng spotted Wang Huaizhi.

Wang Huaizhi was successfully transferred to the machinery factory, a lucrative position, and immediately took office as the head of the purchasing department.

This position was originally intended to be promoted from within the machinery factory. Two promising deputy directors were vying for it fiercely, each exposing the other's shortcomings. Unexpectedly, it went to the newly appointed outsider. Wang Huaizhi was overjoyed to have achieved his goal.

Why is it so hard to climb up the ladder? It's because everyone around you doesn't want you to get there. Even if they can't climb it themselves, they'll do everything they can to stop you from doing so; and even if you do get there, they'll find ways to pull you down. In contrast, people who are parachuted in tend to provoke less malice and resentment.

Today, Wang Huaizhi treated his colleagues to dinner: three department heads and two deputy department heads from the factory. The group occupied a large table. Coincidentally, the two deputy department heads were newly assigned college graduates this year, and both were Yao Fanghua's classmates.

Chen Zhiyuan glanced up casually and saw his old classmate, Yao Fanghua, and exclaimed in surprise.

Wang Huaizhi recognized them all at a glance and quickly asked the owner to add more dishes and chairs.

"Where were you assigned? I haven't heard from you since you came back to Beijing." He had always assumed that Yao Fanghua had been assigned to the machinery factory like him. Yao Fanghua was the top student in the class, and Chen Zhiyuan was honored to be assigned to the same factory as her. He never expected to meet Shen Jiao after reporting for duty.

Yao Fanghua: "Fan factory".

"A fan factory!?" Chen Zhiyuan was incredulous. Yao Fanghua was one of the top students in the class! He looked at Yao Fanghua, then at Shen Jiao beside him, and fell silent.

Yao Fanghua nodded. Seeing Shen Jiao, she guessed what had happened. Chen Zhiyuan was at least above average, but Shen Jiao—there were only two girls in the class studying mechanical design, one was her, who was at the top of the class, and the other was Shen Jiao, who was at the bottom, always at the bottom, even by a considerable margin from the second-to-last. Yao Fanghua wondered how Shen Jiao had managed to get into the class.

But now she no longer needed to wonder how she got to the machine factory. Damn it, she must have taken her place! With Shen Jiao's skill level, would she even be able to find the switches on those machines? Yao Fanghua thought maliciously. Whether she wanted to go to the machine factory or not was another matter, but being taken over for no reason wasn't exactly pleasant.

Yao Fanghua remained silent, her face grim. Chen Zhiyuan also kept quiet.

Shen Jiao saw Yao Fanghua's provocative smile. So what if she had good grades? She still got assigned to the fan factory. Besides, once you leave school, grades don't matter anymore. Once you're in the factory, grades are a thing of the past. "Fanghua, it's rare to see you. You can come visit me at the machinery factory sometime."

Yao Fanghua raised her eyelids and coldly swept her gaze over, "With your skills, you're lucky to have gotten into a machine factory. Are you probably asking me to solve your technical problems?"

Shen Jiao was caught off guard by Yao Fanghua's blunt and unforgiving remarks. Her face turned ugly and her eyes darkened when her secrets were exposed. If it weren't for the fact that they were in public and she was mindful of her image, she would have torn Yao Fanghua apart.

Wang Huaizhi quickly smoothed things over, "Oh, Director Shen, Director Chen and Director Yao are in the same class, what a coincidence! We must have a drink together."

Yu Qingqing sat quietly to the side without saying a word. She had been brought here by Sales Director Hou; otherwise, she would not have been qualified to attend or witness such a dinner party.

Upon hearing Wang Huaizhi call out "Director Yao," she abruptly looked up. "Director Yao, Yao Fanghua?"

Right, they're all college students; she should have realized that sooner. Yu Qingqing bit her lip secretly, wishing she had known she should have gone to college too, instead of choosing the path of the performing arts troupe.

When Yao Fanghua and the other two came in, she only smiled slightly and didn't say anything. Seeing her reaction now, Hou Jingkun asked, "Do you know them?"

Yu Qingqing: "Yes, we're from the same compound."

Upon hearing this, Shen Jiao scoffed, "That's quite a coincidence. Xiao Yu lives in a tenement, right? There are quite a few people living in one courtyard, so it's not surprising that you know each other."

Shen Jiao is currently in the publicity department, which makes her Yu Qingqing's direct supervisor.

Yu Qingqing was furious. She glanced at Hou Jingkun with a hint of grievance on her face, then forced a smile and said to Shen Jiao, "Director Shen, you flatter me."

Who are you trying to impress with this act? Disgusting! However, Shen Jiao felt a great deal of satisfaction with the words "Director Shen." She blew on her newly grown nails and sighed, "Sigh, I just didn't choose the right major back then. Now that I'm in the machinery factory, I realize that the publicity department is where I can truly utilize my talents and strengths." If it weren't for her parents insisting on arranging some prestigious major for her to "gild" her resume, she wouldn't have to put up with this. As for the machinery factory spot, so be it. It's not like all the suffering and humiliation she's endured these past few years was for nothing. That damned Yao Fanghua, why doesn't she just die! I really want to chop off those hands and throw them into the shredder! Let's see how arrogant she is now! It's only now that things have changed. If this were a few years ago, she would definitely kill Yao Fanghua. She has plenty of ways to get rid of her: parade her through the streets, lock her in a pigsty, chop off her hands, and then have a few people gang-rape her to death! Shen Jiao ran through these vicious thoughts over and over again in her mind.

So she ended up in the publicity department. Well, I guess she wouldn't dare embarrass herself in the technical department. Yao Fanghua sneered.

Wu Peng became particularly sensitive to the name "Shen," and he glanced at Shen Jiao subtly a few times. His family had been ruined by someone surnamed Shen. Besides the confiscation of their property, a significant portion likely benefited the Shen family, who spearheaded the raid. He had long since agonized over the names of Shen Gongming and Shen Dongchuan, father and son. He even hoped the world would descend into chaos again so he could gather his strength and personally avenge his enemies. But it didn't matter; no matter how the world changed, he would always find an opportunity for revenge.