Stepmother

Marriage Plans

The chili oil was introduced in his shop and it was instantly a hit. Though not as popular due to the fact it was summer right now many still bought it and that could be attributed to Baohai's marketing skills. He had brought dumplings to taste. One would taste the dumplings without chili oil and one with it and the difference was indeed great. Many were persuaded and bought it.

Due to his three hit products and the case of his sister-in-law, the shop made some small waves. Which of course means the Zhang family heard of it. Zhang Dai and Zhang Enlai were hiding at home and waiting for the waves to die down so the person who brought the news was Li Ya. She had gone to her maternal family, and an acquaintance of theirs, Aunt Li stopped by and told them about it.

"So the dilapidated shop is now thriving?" Old Lady Zhang asked in a trance. She found it hard to believe.

"Yes, Aunt Li told me they sell something called jam and chili oil. The jam strawberry jam is sold at thirty-five wen, while the peach is sold at forty wen, and he introduced chili oil which was fifty wen per bottle, but people don't care about the price so he always sells all of them," Li Ya explained, the sourness in her tone evident.

Hearing his wife's tone, he shot her a look. Li Ya knew that he was telling her not to get involved. 

"He's making all that profit yet he brings nothing to his husband's family?" Old Lady Zhang asked, clearly dissatisfied.

"Mom, we have clearly separated, and from what happened with Yingtai you still haven't learned your lesson?" Zhang Enlai reminded coldly, causing Old Madam Zhang to be quiet, but she quickly regained her voice.

"Er Lang*, Ai'er's fiancee had agreed to hold the wedding two weeks from now, and even said we had to hold a small ceremony before that where the two families meet, shouldn't Da Lang's wife pay, that's what the separation letter said. For matters in the family even if separated they still have to contribute!" Old Madam Zhang said enthusiastically.

"You haven't even let anyone know about this marriage, why would he just come here and give you money? And don't forget to inform them to come to the ceremony. Your matter has made rounds in town so we have to find a way to soothe Madam Zhu," Zhang Enlai said with a sigh.

The family Ai'er was getting married to was quite a reach for them actually. The Zhu family's son, Zhu Bo was a Xuicai though he was just eighteen which was quite young for the county so he was a very sought-after bachelor. His family was involved with the sea business and though his father was not extremely wealthy he was wealthy enough for them to live in a decent-sized house in the county and eat and drink wine and meat every day.

Because Ai'er was well-versed in some of the arts, she had caught Madam Zhou's attention but after learning she was just a village girl she gave up. But through Zhang Enlai, Zhu Bo met Zhang Ai and fell in love. The Zhu parents weren't that conservative in this aspect and agreed to the marriage, but who would've thought that their in-laws had such a dirty history and that their laundry was aired right in public like this? 

They lost a lot of face in front of their peers and wanted to break off the engagement but their son who was head over heels in love with that girl didn't want to so they just decided to hold a small ceremony before the wedding, the requirement was that Jinhai's family was to attend, in order to save some face and make it known that what their in-law did was terrible but they were not aware. Zhang Enlai knew that this was the Zhu's chance for them to make it right.

"Do we have to invite them?" Mother Zhang muttered hatefully.

"If you do not invite them then kiss the wedding goodbye and also the future of your daughter," Zhang Enlai responded cooly, scaring Old Madam Zhang. Zhang Enlai hated iron for not becoming steel. After doing so many things that clearly put her children at a disadvantage she was still so petty and greedy.

Old Madam Zhang could clearly see the resentment in her son's eyes and felt her heart break. She finally realized that her actions may have caused more damage than she realized. Seeing that her other children agreed with her eldest's words, she decided to just lay low. 

Seeing that his mother understood, he made a decision, "Li Ya will go and talk to him and convince him,"

After the decision was made, no one really objected so it was decided that Li Ya would go and talk to Sun Baohai.

Sun Baohai was not aware that he was the topic of discussion right now, and his mind was simply focused on his business. Since his chili oil and jam blew up many restaurants wanted to strike a deal with him but he only struck a deal with one.

At first, he just wanted to sell his jam and chili oil to a restaurant but most of these restaurants looked down on him as a ger and a villager so they tried to cheat him. To him, it did not matter how well-known the restaurant was, as long as he could sell his products, but these restaurants weren't good at all and liked to discriminate.

So in the end he settled with Qifeng restaurant, a restaurant owned by an old couple that was showing some signs of decline. The couple had been very kind to him and offered him a generous contract. He signed the contracts and as a thank you signed another contract where he would supply them with recipes and there he would only take thirty percent of the profit. He did not plan to open a restaurant so these recipes meant nothing to him. So far he showed them how to make jam-filled donuts and chilli oil noodles. 

But these two simple recipes were an instant hit, and the day after the restaurant was busy, filled with people. He didn't make much too but to the village making about two hundred wen every day was a lot. He used that money to buy medicine for Yingtai and also started saving money for the kid's future. So all in all his days were spent in leisure.