The young couple sighed with tears in their eyes. Yang Cuihua, the sister-in-law, returned after cleaning up the steamer, pots, and pans, and eagerly asked, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, how's business? Is business good today?"
Chen Yi nodded excitedly, and with tears in her eyes, she grabbed Yang Cuihua's hand: "Cuihua, let's work hard and make money. In addition to your monthly salary, your second sister-in-law will prepare a generous dowry for you and introduce you to a husband in Nanshan Brigade."
Upon hearing this, Yang Cuihua blushed and shyly pulled her hand back, saying, "Second sister-in-law, why are you saying this? I won't marry him."
"By the way, Second Sister-in-law, when I went home to pick up Second Brother last time, Mom and Dad said that since we've made money, we should remember to give him the filial piety money this year."
Upon hearing this, Yang Lin and Chen Yi's smiles faded considerably.
The young couple hadn't forgotten that when Yang Lin broke his leg and was being treated in the hospital, the old man and his wife, along with Yang's eldest son's family, worried that Yang Lin would be a burden to them, so they separated their households overnight.
Yang Lin said softly, "Ahua, there's no need to talk too much about what we're doing here. Just send some money and food to Mother at the end of the year."
"When this shop opened, your sister-in-law's third brother lent us 1,500 yuan. We'll have to work hard for at least a year or two to pay off the debt!"
Upon hearing that so much money had been borrowed, Yang Cuihua's eyes widened in disbelief. More than a thousand? She had never heard of such a large sum of money in her life.
Yang Cuihua asked in shock, "Second sister-in-law, what does your brother do? Where did he get so much money?"
“My brother got married and his daughter-in-law is still in college and she can earn money by painting for others. She can earn several hundred yuan a month.”
"So, does that mean your brother is living off a woman?"
Chen Yi looked at her with a complicated expression: "It can't be said that he's a kept man. My brother used to have a job too. However, everyone in the brigade said that Ji Xia was a lucky wife. It was his brother-in-law's arrangement that allowed A Jing to find a job in the city."
"So, aren't you just living off a woman?"
Yang Lin glared at his younger sister: "I'm also making money off her brother now. Are you trying to say that I'm a kept man too?"
Yang Cuihua chuckled, awkwardly touching her braided pigtails: "Actually, as long as I can make money, it doesn't matter if I'm a kept woman. Being a kept woman is quite delicious."
Yang Lin looked at his silly-looking younger sister and sighed silently.
If you say he's a kept man, so be it. Being a kept man allows him to eat his fill, afford medical treatment, and support his two children. He accepts it.
There were a few steamed buns and two bowls of porridge left. Chen Yi called his mother, and the family happily shared the buns and porridge.
After resting for a while, the group started grinding rice and simmering bone broth in the backyard to prepare noodles, wontons, and steamed rice rolls for lunch.
Students passed by at noon, and although there were relatively few people entering the shop, they still sold more than twenty bowls of noodles and a dozen steamed rice noodle rolls.
Plain noodles cost two cents, noodles with meat sauce cost three cents, and vegetarian sausage also cost two cents. Adding meat and egg cost three cents. In half a day, I sold more than eleven dollars and made more than five dollars.
The couple did the math behind the scenes, their faces beaming with excitement.
When Chen Yi's breakfast shop opened, Chen Jing was already rushing to Huacheng to find out more.
Two days after Chen Jing returned last time, Song Wu and Liu Xiaogang led the Lin family staff to inspect the small workshops in the commune.
The inspection team was led by Liu Jin. Chen Jing kept a close watch on them and knew that they were sent by Lin Chen as soon as he saw Liu Jin.
Chen Jing returned to Huacheng and hurriedly found Song Wu: "Brother Song, have those people left? How did your talks go?"
Upon hearing this, Song Wu's face darkened: "A bunch of bastards, do they all think I'm an idiot? I scolded them away, and they didn't agree to cooperate."
"Did you drive him away with your insults?"
Chen Jing was taken aback upon hearing this, and his eyes became somewhat strange. Song Wu was always adept at social maneuvering, so what was going on?
Song Wu spat in annoyance, "I thought I was ruthless, but those scholars are even more ruthless than me. Don't you know what kind of demands they make?"
"They offered half of the 200,000 yuan, demanding 51% ownership. They wanted to manage finances, procurement, operations, and design, while we could only handle production, maybe with warehousing and transportation. They said we were uneducated and didn't understand these things..."
He recounted the intense struggle between the two groups to Chen Jing, who was so enraged by their comments that he nearly died.
It turned out that the Lin family, represented by Liu Jin, had thoroughly investigated the small workshop inside and out, and found that although it was small, it was fully equipped, especially in terms of design, which closely followed the popular elements of Hong Kong Island, and the styles were updated very quickly.
Liu Jin was quite interested in the small workshop, but his cooperation requirements with Song Wu were disappointing.
Chen Jing demanded absolute control, and the Lin family also demanded at least 51% ownership, with their staff assigned to key departments such as design, finance, and operations. They wanted control over all departments except production.
In summary, the other party only intended to treat them as a processing plant and had no intention of cooperating with them on an equal footing.
Song Wu and Chen Jing originally wanted to fool them into paying a lot of money for a small share and becoming a big victim, but unfortunately, the members of the Lin family were not fools.
On the contrary, this family started out in business and their business interests extended to the military and political spheres. Almost every generation had shrewd individuals who were also very good at debating, and Song Wu and his brothers were no match for them.
After spending two days in the commune and then another week in Huacheng, Song Wu finally gave up.
When Chen Jing returned, they had only been gone for less than two days.
After listening to the negotiation, Chen Jing sighed. Oh well, he wasn't short of money anyway. He could cooperate with Hai Shi's group without them.
He asked with concern, "Brother Song, do you have any leads on the land deal we discussed last time?"
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