The wonton shop is still packed with customers every day.
Every now and then, government officials would come to inspect, saying they had received complaints from diners that the food in the restaurant was unsanitary.
Song Yinhua closed the shop and hired renovation workers to renovate the kitchen, replacing all the kitchen walls with glass so that customers could see the hygiene of the kitchen at a glance when they came to eat wontons.
After the store reopened, customers flocked to eat wontons, and during peak meal times, the two servers were overwhelmed.
Song Yinhua hired two more waiters.
“Cai Xing, your older sister’s shop is short-handed. Why don’t you go and help out at your older sister’s shop? This will save your older sister money.” Guo Rui said to Song Cai Xing. “Your older sister’s shop will be your own daughter’s in the future. If you go and help out now, you can get familiar with it in advance so that when the wonton shop is in our hands, we can get started more quickly.”
Guo Rui frequently encouraged Song Caixing to ask her older sister for a share of the profits from selling fruit. Song Caixing told Guo Rui that Xiao Xiaohua was her biological daughter and said that all of her older sister's property would be hers in the future.
After learning about this, Guo Rui frequently visited the wonton shop and found that the business was exceptionally good.
There aren't enough seats during peak hours.
He noticed two unfamiliar faces in the shop and learned that the shop was too busy and had hired two more waitresses. He then wanted Song Caixing to come in and help out, and that she could gradually take over the shop's accounts once she became familiar with the business.
By then, she can be like Song Qiuxue.
Song Qiuxue married well; her husband's family has a strong background in the provincial capital, and Song Qiuxue herself is a shareholder in a real estate company, responsible for the company's financial accounts.
He frequently contacted Song Qiuxue in private, seeking her advice on the ins and outs of running a company and doing business.
He kept this a secret from Song Caixing, afraid that she might tell him.
Song Caixing was persuaded and coaxed by her husband to go to Song Yinhua and express her desire to help out at the wonton shop, but Song Yinhua politely declined.
From the moment Song Caixing opened her mouth, Song Yinhua knew that Song Caixing's true intentions were not what they seemed.
She and Song Caixing grew up together and knew that this was not Song Caixing's idea, but rather someone instigating it behind the scenes.
When Guo Rui learned that Song Yinhua wouldn't let Song Caixing come into the store to help, he secretly called Song Qiuxue and asked her for advice.
That evening, Song Caixing ran to Song Yinhua crying, saying that Guo Rui had abused her and disliked her for not earning money.
Song Yinhua wanted to call the police.
Song Caixing refused no matter what she said, and kept crying and begging Song Yinhua to let her work as a waitress in the wonton shop and give her a job opportunity.
The owner of a gold shop in town often came to the shop to eat wontons, so Song Yinhua greeted the owner and introduced Song Caixing to the gold shop as a sales clerk.
When Guo Rui found out, he beat Song Caixing up and demanded that she work at the wonton shop.
Song Caixing went to Song Yinhua again to cry and complain.
She didn't know why her husband was forcing her to go to the wonton shop right now, and even hit her.
She used to forbid him from gambling and using heroin, and he would hit her a few times when she argued with him. Later, she stopped interfering with him, and he never hit her again.
When Song Yinhua saw that Song Caixing's face was covered in bruises, she took Song Caixing to the health center for a check-up and also called the police.
Guo Rui was arrested at his gambling den in Hanjiacun.
When Song Caixing faced the officials, she immediately changed her story, saying that she fell on her own and that her husband had not abused her, claiming that the two of them had a very good relationship.
In front of Song Yinhua, Guo Rui said to the officials, "My wife's older sister lost her husband and can't stand seeing her younger sister's happy marriage. She's trying to get my wife to divorce me and is now even making a false police report."
Song Yinhua looked at Song Caixing and asked, "Caixing, tell me, how did you get these injuries?"
Song Caixing dared not look Song Yinhua in the eye, and timidly nestled in Guo Rui's arms, saying to the officials, "I...I fell. My older sister forced me to divorce my husband, but I didn't want to, and I accidentally fell."
Song Caixing's words clearly implied that her injury was related to Song Yinhua.
The government officials aren't fools; they know that Song Yinhua is doing a thankless job and is disliked by everyone.
After Song Caixing and Guo Rui left, the officials advised Song Yinhua, "This isn't the first time we've received a report like this. When couples fight, outsiders shouldn't get involved. Otherwise, you'll end up pleasing neither side, and the couple will still be a couple."
Song Yinhua decided to no longer concern herself with Song Caixing's affairs.
That evening, Song Caixing came to visit again, specifically to apologize to her.
She also called her parents and her second brother and his wife over to help plead for her.
“Sister, I can’t get a divorce. My husband and I have a child who is only one year old. If I get a divorce, my husband won’t let me take our son with me. If he remarries, my son will be tormented by his stepmother. I can’t watch my son suffer.”
Song Caixing tearfully begged for forgiveness from Song Yinhua.
Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang also advised Song Yinhua not to hold a grudge and that sisters shouldn't quarrel.
“Cai Xing has her own difficulties. Her son is only one year old. Unlike you, you have so many fruit trees that bear fruit and sell for a lot of money every year. You also make money from your wonton shop. But Cai Xing has nothing. She can barely afford to raise her son.” As Qiao Guilan spoke, she urged Song Yinhua to let Song Cai Xing help out at the wonton shop.
“You have four waitresses in your shop. How much salary do you have to pay them every month? It’s better to let your own people earn that money than let outsiders do it! Yinhua, fire two of them. Tomorrow, Caixing and I will go to the shop to help out and also help you watch the shop.”
"Your mother is right, there's a saying that goes, 'Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders!'"
Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang, a married couple, each offered a suggestion to Song Yinhua, urging her to bring her family members into the shop.
“Dad, Mom, my shop is doing very well and we don’t need any staff right now. Cai Xing is having some difficulties, so I helped her find a job as a sales clerk at a jewelry store. The salary there is higher than that of the waitresses in my shop.”
“Cai Xing is your own sister, how can a waitress be compared to her?” Qiao Guilan said. “Your sister should at least be in charge.”
Song Yinhua fell silent.
Her parents couldn't hear her when she spoke.
"Yinhua, Caixing is your own sister. Why can't you help your own sister?" Song Erzhuang asked, puzzled. "Would Caixing ever cheat you? She's your own sister. She's helping you out at your shop. You're often not in the shop yourself. Isn't it a good thing that Caixing is watching over things for you?"
“Your dad is right. Besides, when you get old, won’t you be relying on Cai Xing’s daughter to take care of you?” Qiao Guilan had long been convinced by Song Cai Xing and her husband. “By then, your shop will all belong to Cai Xing…”
"Mom!" Song Baogen shouted, "Don't talk nonsense."
"What nonsense are you talking about, Mom?" Qiao Guilan didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said. "Your eldest sister only has one adopted daughter, Xiao Xiaohua. She doesn't have any biological children. Your eldest sister herself said that after she passes away, all her property will go to Xiao Xiaohua. Xiao Xiaohua is Cai Xing's daughter, so doesn't that mean the property belongs to Cai Xing?"
Song Yinhua: "Mom, I'm not even thirty years old yet, and you're already eyeing my estate after I die!"
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