Upon hearing Yue Jiaoyang say that it was a gift from Chen Niannian, Lin Zhi immediately spat out the half-eaten sweet and sour garlic in her mouth, "What did you say? Bah! Always making such vulgar things."

"Don't contact her as much as possible in the future, Yangyang. Why did she send you this? Is she clinging to you? She's shameless. I'm going to find her tomorrow and tell her to stay away from you. She's so young and already behaving badly." Lin Zhi said angrily after spitting it out.

“Mom, speaking of harassment, your good friend Chen Caixia’s daughter, Wang Bing’er, is always bothering me. Compared to her, Chen Niannian is truly of noble character. You should stop causing me trouble.” Yue Jiaoyang retorted to Lin Zhi in a neither soft nor hard way.

"Don't meddle in children's affairs. If you don't like it, then don't eat it. Chen Niannian is much better than you in terms of knowing all sorts of people," Yue Mingyuan scolded his wife in a low voice.

Looking at the father and son, Lin Zhi felt a surge of resentment. It was all Chen Niannian's fault for making her son talk back to her time and time again, and for her husband to criticize her as well. She had now formed a deep grudge against this girl.

The Li family also became regular customers, but every time the Li family came to buy, Panpan would intentionally or unintentionally fill the container to the brim.

After Chen Wenjing took it to the school, some people who had tried it asked for the address, which attracted some customers.

Through his hard work, Chen Panpan gradually built up a stable customer base, earning enough to cover his tuition and daily expenses.

Looking at her younger brother's increasingly confident demeanor, Chen Niannian felt very gratified. The days passed uneventfully until December.

When Chen Panpan's leg injury was fully healed, his and Chen Niannian's birthdays arrived as scheduled.

This was a birthday celebration for the siblings together. It happened to be a Tuesday, and around noon, Chen Niannian took the afternoon off and sneaked out of school.

Panpan is back this time, and so is her mother. In a sense, they are a family reunion. So for her birthday, Chen Niannian only plans to have a nice meal together as a family to celebrate.

When she got home, Wan Qing, who had already received her call to come back, had prepared a sumptuous lunch.

The family, including Aunt Liu, ate the meal with deep emotion. Chen Panpan only learned today that December 20th is actually his birthday.

As they ate and chatted, they shared various sentiments. In Panpan's heart, although he had only spent a few months with his mother and sister, the feelings they had for him were something he had never experienced before. Therefore, he made up his mind to treat them well in the future.

Panpan was actually very curious about his biological father. He wanted to know what kind of person his father was. However, from Chen Niannian's narration, his father was not a good person.

Panpan had been keeping this little secret in his heart, but he knew that his sister and mother would be sad if he told them, so he kept the thought to himself.

Even if his original intention was simply to see what his biological father looked like...

Meanwhile, Chen Huibo had already celebrated his birthday early over the weekend. Chen Bangrui had booked the event at the most upscale hotel in Beijing and invited his friends to join him.

Chen Huibo always looks forward to his birthday every year, as he receives not only a large red envelope but also all sorts of gifts.

Chen Huibo smugly enjoyed the praise and congratulations from his classmates and friends. He waved his hand and said, "Order whatever you like. My family is rich."

His two lackeys' eyes lit up immediately.

"I wonder if they have shark fin? It's said that eating shark fin is good for your health. Chen Huibo, have you ever eaten shark fin?" a lackey asked casually.

"I've eaten it, I'm sure I've eaten it before. My family eats it every day, we're all tired of it. Do you guys want some? If so, one serving for each of you." Chen Huibo started making things up.

Actually, Chen Huibo had never eaten shark fin. Firstly, Zhang Xinyue was reluctant to let him eat such a delicacy, and secondly, shark fin was still a rare thing in those days, and it didn't taste very good when ordinary people made it, so Chen Huibo had never tried it.

"This must be quite expensive, right?" one of the students remarked.

"So what if it's expensive? It's not like I can't afford it. You're underestimating me." Provoked, Chen Huibo didn't even look at the menu and directly told the waiter, "One serving of shark fin soup for each person."

The waitress knew the customers who made the order were relatively well-off, so she wasn't worried about the children skipping out on the bill. She still confirmed, "Hello, sir/madam, would you like 10 servings of shark fin soup?"

"Yes, hurry up and get up here, you're so long-winded." Chen Huibo waved his hand impatiently.

The waiter nodded and went to place the order.

The shark fin soup was served first, and the waiter placed a small ceramic soup bowl in front of each person with a fire lit underneath.

The soup bowl is steaming, with a few sprigs of cilantro on top. When it's served, red vinegar is placed in front of you, so you can add it as you like to your taste.

Chen Huibo picked up his chopsticks and poked around in the bowl, finding it filled with something as transparent as vermicelli. He smiled and said, “My family are regulars here. Look, as soon as they heard it was my birthday, they even prepared longevity noodles. The noodles here are different from the ones outside; you’ve probably never seen them before.”

With a "pfft," a well-dressed girl at the table covered her mouth and laughed.

"Shen Rongrong, what are you laughing at?" Chen Huibo asked, looking at the girl with a question in his mind. He had gone to great lengths to invite this girl, and he had always wanted her to be his girlfriend.

"It's nothing," Shen Rongrong laughed, but then regretted it. She had heard about Chen Huibo's background; he was just a country bumpkin from a small county.

Shen Rongrong is sweet and lovely, petite and delicate, with a particularly smooth personality. In addition, she is at a very young age, and it is said that she has had many boyfriends since junior high school.

Shen Rongrong's family wasn't well-off, so she was very ambitious. She knew that there were many students from wealthy families at No. 1 High School, and that as long as she got in, with her looks and skills, she could definitely get these rich boys to pay for all her expenses.

After she entered the No. 1 High School, she did date several boyfriends from wealthy families. However, because she always asked each boyfriend for this and that and wanted them to treat her to all kinds of expensive food, her reputation in private was not very good.

She initially refused Chen Huibo's invitation, but later, upon hearing that he was also the son of a high-ranking official, she agreed. She was looking for a sucker, as winter was approaching and she hadn't bought new clothes for the New Year yet.