Chapter 9

“I’ll send money home every month to pay off the debt.”

My uncle sighed. “Go.”

“You can’t keep staying in this house.”

My cousin lowered his head. “It was Mom…”

My uncle cut him off. “Don’t say anything more.”

At that moment, I felt that this family was finally beginning to pay for its own greed.

The price was just very high.

Later, Manager Lin from the Cantonese restaurant came to see me in person.

He sat in the shop and ordered a serving of dark char siu.

After he finished eating, he smiled.

“Would you let me put your dark char siu on my restaurant’s menu?”

I was taken aback. “Of course.”

He held up three fingers. “Three years.”

I laughed. “Three years?”

He nodded. “We share a name, but your cooking is even better than mine.”

“You’re too kind, Manager Lin.”

“The first week we put your dark char siu on the menu, I’ll set aside a supply channel for you.”

“The price will be whatever you quote me.”

I reached out and shook his hand. “Manager Lin, I look forward to working with you.”

From then on, my roast-meat shop grew busier by the day.

Delivery orders piled up on the counter.

An employee called out, “Boss, where does this order go?”

“The Cantonese restaurant next door.”

“Manager Lin needs fifty portions today.”

Another employee called out, “Boss, we have a lot of delivery orders today.”

I laughed. “Then we have a lot. We’ll take our time and get them done.”

The shop returned to its lively rhythm.

Our regular customers gradually came back too.

“Boss, I heard someone tried to harm you?”

I handed the customer an order of char siu. “That’s all in the past.”

“So you’re okay now?”

“Everything’s fine. Enjoy your food.”

The regular smiled and took a bite.

“Your dark char siu still smells as good as ever.”

“Thanks for your support.”

In the evening, after we closed, I gave my mother the money we had earned that day.

She looked at the accounts and couldn’t help murmuring, “Don’t waste your money like this.”

I smiled and ladled her a bowl of soup.

“It’s only right.”

“What else is money for if not to spend?”

She asked, “And what about your grandfather?”

“I visit him regularly. Don’t worry.”

Only then did she nod. “That’s good.”

Afterward, my grandfather’s condition gradually stabilized.

Whenever he saw me, he held my hand and apologized for a long time.

I shook my head. “Grandpa, you don’t need to apologize to me.”

The case against Zhang Guilan was also resolved.

For forging a signature, deliberately damaging property, defaming us during her livestream, and shoving my mother, she was dealt with according to the law.

The remaining debt of one hundred and eighty thousand yuan was to be repaid in installments under the agreement.

I heard that my aunt sold her gold bracelet and several other valuables from the house.

After that, no one was willing to lend her money.

The relatives who had once crowded around her at the banquet, praising her good fortune, now kept their distance.

That’s how the world is.

When you pretend to be rich, everyone flatters you.

When you’re in debt, everyone is afraid you’ll come after them.

I didn’t feel sorry for my aunt.

I had said from the beginning that the restaurant wasn’t mine.

I wasn’t hosting the banquet.

But she refused to believe me.

She thought the words “family” and “relatives” meant she could force anyone to do whatever she wanted.

She thought being an elder in the family could erase a debt.

She thought she could just sit down and make everyone else clean up her mess.

But in the adult world, a bill doesn’t disappear because you throw a tantrum.

And a signed contract doesn’t become invalid just because you say, “I’m an elder in the family.”

That night, my mother and I sat at our little dining table and had soup.

She suddenly said, “Xiaoyuan, I used to think you were cold.”

I looked up.

She smiled, her eyes a little red. “Now I understand.”

“You aren’t cold.”

“You just refuse to give in when it goes against your principles.”