Lin Minjun sat by and listened to Aunt Cao gossiping. After she finished, she asked about something that concerned her, "Where are the couple from Yunnan last time? Didn't you say they would come again? Where are they?"

"He's probably participating in a competition and will be here in two days. Wait a little longer," said Aunt Cao.

The restaurant business is so prosperous and busy now that Lin Minjun is the only one who can cook, so she has no time to go to night school.

Lin Minjun simply asked for leave from her teacher and decided to study at home. She went to school every few days to get study materials and asked her teacher questions she didn't understand. She managed to study in her spare time despite her busy schedule and surprisingly didn't fall behind on her studies.

That day she went to school to get her study materials and happened to meet her former junior high school cram school teacher. They sat down and chatted for a while.

When the teacher heard that she had opened a restaurant, he was very happy for her. When he heard that she had no time to go to school and took the study materials home to study on her own, he was even happier.

"Just treat it as a preview. It doesn't matter if you can't keep up. At most you can learn it first, and then you will be more proficient next semester. What do you think?" the teacher said with a smile.

Lin Minjun nodded. When she first came to school, she felt that learning was particularly difficult. She knew most of the words in the textbook, but she just didn’t know what they meant when they were put together.

Now I find it interesting as I study, and I can keep up with the learning on my own.

After chatting for a long time, the teacher looked at the weather outside and slapped his thigh, "The weather outside is not right. It may rain today. You should go back quickly. You can't delay your practice. Go back quickly."

Lin Minjun looked out the window. It was only afternoon, but the sky was already overcast, as if brewing a heavy rain.

She stood up with a smile, thanked the teacher and bowed.

Lin Minjun rode her bicycle out of the school and sped back to the restaurant. The road was fine, but when she arrived at the door of the restaurant, it started to drizzle.

Fortunately, she was lucky and did not get caught in the rain, but her body was a little wet.

After parking her bicycle in the shed nearby, Lin Minjun came out and saw a couple standing at the door of the restaurant. They looked particularly familiar.

She looked carefully and found that they were the Yunnan couple who had come to her restaurant for dinner last time.

The two of them didn't even go in, they just stood at the door and looked around.

"Are you here for dinner?" Lin Minjun walked up and greeted them.

The couple seemed startled and turned to look at Lin Minjun.

When the man turned around, he was stunned for a moment when he saw Lin Minjun, and soon disdain appeared in his eyes.

He knew that Lin Minjun was the owner of this restaurant, but in their place, it was considered restless for a woman to work and do business in public.

How can a woman run a restaurant? I wonder how she can seduce customers to come and dine.

Lin Minjun sensed the disdain towards herself, her smile faded and her gaze turned to the woman in the couple.

The couple were two extremes. One was arrogant and conceited, while the other was like a shrunken turtle. They put their hands together and said anxiously, "We are here to look for someone. Last time, the old lady said she could take us to see a doctor."

Lin Minjun understood what was said, "Then follow me in."

"No, eating costs money, we can just ask." The woman said quickly.

Lin Minjun looked around and said, "It's not appropriate to chat outside. Let's go inside and talk."

Seeing that the woman was really nervous, she smiled and said, "This is not a black shop. How can you come in and eat? It's okay. Come in and I'll call the people out and you can talk."

Lin Minjun brought the couple in and went to the back to call Aunt Cao first.

The restaurant hadn't started serving customers yet. Aunt Cao was selecting vegetables. She heard the noise and ran out with a bunch of celery in her hand. "What's going on?"

Then I saw the couple, “It’s you.”

The man nodded and said attentively, "It's us, Auntie. Didn't you say last time that there is a medicine that can cure infertility? That's what we're here to find today."

Hearing this, Lin Minjun couldn't help laughing. The man looked at her with dissatisfaction but held back and said nothing.

Speaking of the miracle drug, Aunt Cao herself felt embarrassed and quickly said, "I'm sorry, that drug is fake! It's a scam! In fact, I was deceived myself and really took it for a long time as a panacea. It's vitamin C, and fortunately, I didn't have any major problems with my body after taking it. I just took it as a nutritional supplement."

She sincerely apologized to them, "I'm so sorry, and I made you come here for nothing."

"It's okay, it's okay." The woman seemed relieved and said repeatedly.

The man got angry, his face darkened with dissatisfaction, and he shouted angrily: "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Can you fool people? You said that medicine can cure the disease."

"I was also cheated. It was the police who told me. I didn't do it on purpose." Aunt Cao was a little puzzled.

The man waved his hands, extremely emotional. "Is it enough for you to just say you were deceived? I really thought I could have a son this time! Can you deceive people about such a thing?"

When it comes to quarrels, Aunt Cao has never lost. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Young man, you are cheating on me, right? I didn't take your money at the beginning, and I bought the medicine with my own money. I spent money to do good deeds, but you are taking advantage of me and saying that you were cheated. I also apologized to you. What do you want?"

"What do I want? You're lying and you think you're right? Do you know how many places we've traveled to and how much we've suffered in order to have a son? How can I hold my head up in the village without a son?" The man became more and more excited as he spoke, and his face turned red.

Aunt Cao felt that she was wronged. "What does your wish to have a son have to do with me? It's not me who made you unable to have a son. When you said you wanted to see a doctor, I gave you a pill, but you got cheated. But I didn't take your money. I was doing a good deed."

Who knew that the man wouldn't listen at all, and just kept saying son, son, as if the only thing on his mind was that baby with a penis.

He talked about how much he had suffered in order to have a child, what he was willing to do to have a son, and how important his son was to him.

Aunt Cao was annoyed by what he said, and also fed up with his nonsense, so she put her hands on her hips and started arguing with him. The two of them were quarreling in the lobby of the restaurant.

After a while, Aunt Xu came back after finishing her work. She tried to persuade her but it was no use, so she went in to call Lin Minjun.

Lin Minjun was preparing food on the stove. When she heard the quarrel, she ran out immediately.

At this time, customers were already coming into the restaurant one after another. Someone saw a quarrel going on in the restaurant and walked out directly.

They are quarreling here and affecting the restaurant business!

Lin Minjun asked Aunt Xu about the whole story and found out the reason for their quarrel. She immediately said, "However, Aunt Cao was indeed deceived. She really meant well, but you have come all this way for nothing. Why don't you just have a quick meal here? I'll treat you. It's time for dinner now."

If you don't take advantage of an opportunity, you're a bastard. The man's expression suddenly changed, "You don't want money?"

"No money." Lin Minjun retreated without leaving a trace. "But I can't treat you to a big meal, just a simple meal. Don't quarrel after eating."

The man thought about it, still a little unconvinced, but after looking at Lin Minjun, he said, "That's fine, but it must be meaty."

"Okay." Lin Minjun said, "Aunt Xu, take them to the small table next to the window."

The man wanted to say something, but Lin Minjun suddenly seemed like a different person. Her aura was completely different, and she looked like the leader of their unit. She shrank her neck and stopped talking.

Lin Minjun went into the kitchen to cook, and Aunt Xu followed in, "Why don't I go ask them if they know any chefs who cook Yunnan cuisine?"

"Forget it." Lin Minjun frowned. "That man is not a good person. I don't dare to trust the people he introduced."

She made a plate of red chopped vegetables and two other side dishes and sent them up.

At this time, more and more customers came to the restaurant. Lin Minjun focused all her attention on cooking and no longer paid attention to the couple.

Who knew that when Aunt Xu came in to serve the dishes, she said, "That man asked for some wine, do you want to give it to him?"

"Give it to him. You have to charge him for the wine." Lin Minjun was still busy with her hands.

Who knew that when it was time to pay the bill, Aunt Xu came running in and said that the man wanted to default on the bill and refused to pay for the drinks.

Lin Minjun went out to see that the man was probably drunk, his face was red, and he was mumbling, "Your boss said he treated us to a meal, why is he charging for the wine?"

"I just said I'd treat you to a meal. Of course you have to pay for the wine." Lin Minjun came out.

The woman seemed to feel ashamed. She wanted to pay the bill and leave, but she didn't have the money, so she pulled her husband's arm and said, "Forget it, stop making trouble. Let's pay and leave."

"Get lost." The man pushed her away and looked at Lin Minjun from top to bottom. His smile was inexplicably greasy. He smiled and said, "Young boss, I see you are not very old. Do you run a restaurant by yourself? I just tasted the dishes you cooked, and they didn't taste authentic. How about you come back with me and I will teach you how to cook?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the people around changed. Aunt Xu held back and really wanted to hit him on the head with the plate in her hand.

This is clearly a tease.

The man's thoughts were easy to guess. He felt that a woman alone could not run a business and could not support such a large restaurant. His good business might be due to her using her body to seduce people to come and dine with him.

Lin Minjun walked to the counter, picked up the order book, glanced at it, and said in a light tone: "Okay, you don't want to pay, right?"

"You said you would treat us to dinner." the man muttered.

Lin Minjun smiled, "Did I say I'd buy you a drink? It's okay if you don't want to pay."

She turned around and said to the customers, "There's a debtor here. If anyone can help me take him to the police station, I'll give you a discount on this meal today."

Immediately, a table of men stood up and looked at the man who was cheating with displeasure, "You are drunk and crazy, right? You are still not a man. Come on, let's go to the police station."

Seeing that Lin Minjun, a woman, was not afraid, and seeing several strong men coming towards him, the man suddenly frightened and sobered up a lot.

He finally took out his money, mumbling something dirty while doing so.

The couple gave the money but refused to leave because it was raining heavily outside and they couldn't leave for a while.

Lin Minjun didn't force them to leave, but just said to the man, "If you want to make trouble, go ahead. I'm familiar with the way to the Public Security Bureau. If you want to make trouble, let's go to the Public Security Bureau."

People in Yunnan can drink, and actually this man was just pretending to be crazy because of the alcohol. After hearing these words, his mind finally came to its senses, and he took his wife to stand at the door, as honest as a quail.

Lin Minjun just didn't like this man. She felt annoyed just by looking at him. Seeing that he had calmed down, she went back to the kitchen.

But tonight was destined to be restless. After a group of guests left, Lin Minjun was cleaning the kitchen.

When I looked up, I saw Aunt Xu walking in with an unhappy look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Lin Minjun asked.

Aunt Xu curled her lips and said, "The couple started arguing."

"Why?"

"Well, I can't explain it clearly. They didn't affect the guests." When saying this, Aunt Xu's face still looked very ugly, as if she was trying hard to endure something.

Lin Minjun thought about it and felt that something was wrong, so after finishing her work in the kitchen, she ran out to take a look.

Lin Minjun ran to the front and when she walked in, she saw the couple arguing. It was called an argument, but in fact the man was just swearing at the other woman unilaterally, mumbling on and on like a machine, and the woman was unable to say anything back.

Lin Minjun took two more steps forward, and the man actually raised his hand and slapped his wife in the face with great force.

After the beating, he didn't even look at his wife, and angrily said, "Now you have the guts to talk back to me!"

He abandoned his wife and ran off into the night.

The woman was beaten so hard that she felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. A red slap mark immediately appeared on her face. She staggered to the counter to support herself, her eyes red and she was breathing heavily, unable to utter a word.

She was leaning against the counter in a daze, just like that, and everyone who passed by looked at her with pity.

Lin Minjun was so angry that her head felt dizzy, and she wanted to chase after the man and kick him to the police station.

She walked up to the woman who was still in a daze and asked, "What's your name?"

"Yu Caiping." The woman answered subconsciously.

After she finished speaking, she saw Lin Minjun and suddenly became nervous. She stood up straight immediately and said, "I'm sorry, boss, I'm causing you trouble. I'll leave now."

Lin Minjun pulled her, "Where are you going? Where can you go now?"

After hearing this, the woman seemed to be frozen for a moment. She stood there with her head down and said nothing, as if she had done something wrong.

She is a few years older than Lin Minjun, but she is always timid and doesn't say a word.

Lin Minjun felt sad when she saw this, and she went forward to pull her, "Sister, don't be nervous, I'm not a bad person."

"I know." Yu Caiping forced a smile. "Bad people wouldn't treat us to a meal. I just tried your cooking. It's delicious."

Lin Minjun said, "It's raining heavily outside. Sit here for a while and calm down."

Yu Caiping really didn't know where to go. Lin Minjun pulled her to sit in a corner, staring blankly.

At this time, it started to rain outside again, and people started to come into the store. They were all employees who were off work and were blocked on the road by the rain, so they simply came in to take shelter.

Lin Minjun didn't say much and asked Aunt Xu to bring them a cup of hot tea with some shredded ginger in it.

"Our boss said that everyone who comes in is a guest, and drinking some ginger tea won't catch a cold." Aunt Xu is very good at speaking.

Most of the people who come in are employees with a stable income. Some of them just eat here after smelling the aroma coming from the kitchen.

So the kitchen became busy again. Lin Minjun wished she could split herself into eight parts, but she still couldn't keep up.

There are two stoves in total. Sometimes I have to cook two dishes at the same time. If I pay attention to one, I will neglect the other. One of the stoves almost got burnt.

Lin Minjun was busy when she suddenly heard someone behind her say, "Go take care of the other one, I'll help you watch this one, okay?"

Turning around, Yu Caiping was standing behind him. She added nervously, "It's not good to eat your food for free. I can help. I can cook."

"Sister, please help me light the fire." Lin Minjun stepped aside.

After moving aside, she also looked at the stove. After watching for a while, she realized that Yu Caiping was just being humble. It wasn't that she just couldn't cook, she was a professional!

She was about the same height as Lin Minjun, or even taller. She stood in front of the stove for a while, then looked at the menu and started cooking.

She picked up a large spoon and scooped a spoonful of oil into the pot.

Lin Minjun knew from the way Yu Caiping cooked that she was a professional. It was obvious from the way she cooked that she had worked as a chef and was very skilled at it.

Yu Caiping was much faster than Lin Minjun, and she cooked one dish after another.

After finishing this round of work, Lin Minjun wiped the sweat off her face and asked her, "Sister, have you ever been a chef?"

Yu Caiping nodded and smiled briefly. "I used to work in a state-owned hotel in my hometown. This is a craft passed down from my ancestors. My family has been doing this for generations."

"Then why don't you do it?" Lin Minjun asked again.

Yu Caiping lowered her head and said, "I got married and wanted to have a child. I couldn't lift the pot when I was pregnant, so I gave up my job."

Lin Minjun chatted with her, and when customers came to order food, they worked together, and talked while cooking.

Yu Caiping was very nervous at first, but as she talked more she became more relaxed and her brows began to relax.

Lin Minjun then realized that she was originally a chef in a state-owned hotel, a master chef. At that time, there were no women working as chefs, and she was very famous in the company.

The unit also sent her a young apprentice, who is her current husband.

Before they got married, her husband was very polite and respectful to her, calling her "Master" all the time. He remained polite to her even after they got married.

Yu Caiping thought she had met the perfect man, and the couple had a very good relationship at that time.

But she later found out that it was all her husband's disguise.

Yu Caiping became pregnant less than half a year after her marriage. Her husband was still very caring towards her. Seeing that she was too busy and physically unable to cope with the late stages of her pregnancy, he suggested that she take over his job and get through the pregnancy first.

Yu Caiping thought her husband was worried about her, so she hesitated for a moment and then gave her husband his job.

When the replacement took place, they said it was just a temporary replacement during pregnancy, but she later found out that it was her husband's conspiracy.

After giving birth, she had to observe the confinement period. During this period, her husband was very impatient with her. She even quarreled with her mother-in-law. She did not observe the confinement period well and her energy was greatly damaged.

After the confinement period, she still had to breastfeed and take care of the child. She finally waited until the child was one and a half years old and could be weaned. She asked to change jobs, but her husband looked at her coldly and said, "Do you think you can come back?"

She went to her boss's workplace and found out that her husband had already informed him that she would stay at home to look after the children and that all work would be left to her husband.

She went from being a master chef in a state-owned hotel to a woman who ate free meals at home for her husband.

After losing her job, her husband's true nature was completely exposed. On the one hand, he urged her to have a second child as soon as possible, and on the other hand, he sent their daughter away when she was not paying attention.

Yu Caiping cried and made a fuss, but her husband would beat her when he came home from drinking, telling her that she must give birth to a son, and if she dared to bring her daughter back, he would beat her as well.

Yu Caiping gradually gave in. She was scared of being beaten and had completely lost her confidence because her husband said she had no future because she couldn't give birth to a son. A woman who was so clumsy at cooking actually wanted to go back to work.

These harsh words were like a knife, carving Yu Caiping into her current appearance bit by bit.

"Have you ever thought that your husband said that on purpose? He deliberately made you lose confidence and become like this." Lin Minjun said, "His kindness at the beginning was all fake. This man has been plotting against you for a long time."

"I know." Yu Caiping put down the work in her hands, confusion flashed in her eyes. She knew, but what could she do?

Time passed quickly and it was already past nine o'clock in the evening. The restaurant was about to close and all the guests had left.

Lin Minjun brought the two aunts to clean up the restaurant inside and out, and Yu Caiping helped them.

After finishing their work, the four women sat in the lobby to rest and talked about what had just happened. The two mothers also fell silent after hearing about Yu Caiping's experience.

Yu Caiping stood up and said, "I'm done with my work, so I should leave now. Thank you for listening to me today. It's been a long time since anyone has listened to me."

At the end she choked up and walked out, "They all think I'm a crazy woman."

She once had a job and had her own pride, but she had no way to deal with the current situation. When her husband hit her, she would hit him back.

Because of this kind of naughtiness, her neighbors called her crazy.

It was still raining outside, and she wanted to go out. Lin Minjun was about to hold her down, but before she could stand up, the two mothers held her back together.

"It's raining so hard outside. You'll definitely catch a cold if you go back now. Sit for a while. There's no rush."

Yu Caiping shook her head. "It's okay. I'll just need to go back and clean it up."

"How can that be? You are not made of steel. You will catch a cold if you get caught in the rain. Can your husband take you to see a doctor?" Aunt Cao yelled.

Yu Caiping wanted to leave, but the two aunts held her back. During the tug of war, Yu Caiping's sleeves were torn, and Aunt Cao took a breath of cool air.

Lin Minjun said, "What's wrong? Is your clothes torn? I have needle and thread here."

She came over to take a look and couldn't help but want to curse.

Through Yu Caiping's torn sleeves, her arms were covered in bruises, some of which looked like they were caused by collisions, while others looked like they were caused by being pinched.

Domestic violence, this is domestic violence.

Several women stared at the arm, speechless. They didn't know what to say that would be helpful, nor did they know what to say that would comfort Yu Caiping.

Finally, Lin Minjun pulled up the hand and touched it. She asked, "Does it still hurt now?"

The author has something to say:

I've been moving these past two days. I got up at 5 or 6 o'clock today to write this. Hehe