Zhang Wenxue and his wife's faces immediately turned grim. In their eyes, their daughter belonged to Tie Zhuzi, she was a married woman. How could she be so intimate with the mute man here?
"Little sister, what are you doing? Let go quickly," Yu Xiaohua shouted, startling Zhang Xiaomei. Her apron, not properly tied, instantly fell to the ground.
"Mom?" Zhang Xiaomei heard her mother's voice and turned around in a panic, only to see her parents looking at her with disappointment.
"Come out with us." Yu Xiaohua didn't want to discuss her daughter in front of outsiders. Since they valued their reputation, she grabbed her daughter's hand and led her outside to a secluded spot.
Jiang Qingqing, who had just rushed over from home, saw this. She sent her daughter into the female educated youth dormitory, instructing her not to come out, and then went to see what was happening.
"Mom, I..."
Zhang Xiaomei opened her mouth to explain, but before she could finish, Yu Xiaohua interrupted, "Don't call me Mom. I don't have a daughter as promiscuous as you."
Her tone was very harsh. Zhang Xiaomei knew her parents had found out about her and the mute man, and she was speechless for a moment.
Zhang Wenxue, being experienced, could tell his daughter's feelings from the scene. He said, "Xiaomei, your behavior just now was inappropriate. A married woman and an unmarried, older young man should not be like that."
"Dad, we want to be together. I just asked the mute man his thoughts, and he likes me too." *Slap*
Zhang Xiaomei finally mustered the courage to express her feelings, only to be slapped by Yu Xiaohua. "Shut up. You are Tie's family in life and death. You cannot be with him. From now on, don't you dare say such disgraceful things."
Hit, Zhang Xiaomei covered her face, looking at her mother in shock, unable to utter a sound for a long time.
Seeing his daughter's sadness, Zhang Wenxue felt a pang of guilt and comforted her, "Xiaomei, you have always been the most sensible child in the family. No matter what, you always follow our arrangements.
This time, please listen to us and go to the Tie family!
Your second brother cannot bear the reputation of having a divorced younger sister. You have to think of him."
Tears streamed down Zhang Xiaomei's face upon hearing this. "Second brother, second brother. You only care about second brother. Are we not human?
You know exactly what the Tie family is like; it's a wolf's den.
Yet you still want to push me into the pit. Can't you give me a chance to live a happy life? I am human too!"
Zhang Xiaomei broke down and cried out in sorrow.
Zhang Wenxue couldn't bear his daughter's tears and turned away, remaining silent.
In fact, he didn't want this either, but thinking of his second son's future and prospects, they had no choice.
"What's wrong with the Tie family? Even if Tie Zhuzi is dead, you have to support his parents in their old age. That's your duty as a daughter-in-law," Yu Xiaohua said, unmoved, only filled with anger.
Anything that would bring shame upon their second son, she would not allow to happen.
Whether it was her youngest son's private business or her daughter's remarriage.
She would not permit it.
"I am divorced. I am free. I want to start over. I don't want to go back."
Zhang Xiaomei's marriage to Tie Zhuzi was arranged by her parents; they never asked for her consent. Now that she finally had a chance to choose again, why were they forcing her into a fiery pit?
"You've gotten so bold following your third brother. You even dare to argue with me." This was the first time her daughter had defied Yu Xiaohua over something, which made her, who was always obeyed by her daughter, very angry.
"It has nothing to do with third brother. It's me who doesn't want to live the life you planned."
"We are your parents. You must listen to us."
"Listen to you? Why do you only say this to me? Is it because I am a daughter that I am treated differently?"
Zhang Xiaomei paused for a moment and then said, "Besides, I listened to you and married Tie Zhuzi. If he were still alive, I would never leave. But he is dead, and I just want to start over."
"Tie Zhuzi is dead, but you are still his wife. Xiaomei, we have no other demands on you besides asking you to be more obedient."
"I don't want to be obedient anymore. If I listen to you, I will never find happiness."
*Slap!*
Another slap. Zhang Xiaomei was used to it and didn't bother to cover her face.
Just as she was about to unleash words of anger and frustration, she saw her third sister-in-law appear beside her and say to her mother, "Mom, please let Xiaomei go! She has the right to happiness."
Yu Xiaohua, seeing Jiang Qingqing suddenly appear, was even more furious. "Get out of here. We'll settle your matters later."
Jiang Qingqing stood her ground, determined to protect her sister-in-law for her husband. "Mom, Xiaomei has already been ruined once. She cannot be ruined a second time. Please, for my sake, grant them this."
"For your sake? What face do you have for us? Jiang Qingqing, don't forget, you haven't given us a reasonable explanation about the man from yesterday, or Hua Bao's biological father."
"Mom, I've already explained. Hua Bao is just someone I found. I don't know that man."
"Nonsense! This old woman doesn't believe you. If you want us to believe you, then stop doing private business. Show us some sincerity, and we will believe you."
"..."
On the other side, after delivering 1250 jin of crayfish to Mu Mingliang and others, Zhang Liunian received 375 yuan.
But before he could celebrate, Mu Mingliang delivered bad news. "Liunian, I've found several places in our city selling crayfish recently. Our business has been impacted. Starting tomorrow, you only need to bring us two hundred jin."
Mu Mingliang didn't want to reduce the quantity, but so many people selling crayfish had suddenly appeared in the county town. Besides restaurants, there were also several street vendors.
The appearance of these people had caused a loss of customers to their restaurant.
Fortunately, their taste was good, and they hadn't lost too many customers. He believed that two hundred jin of crayfish a day would still be enough to maintain their business.
Zhang Liunian's eyes deepened upon hearing about the reduction in quantity. "Okay, I've noted that."
Receiving the news of the reduced order made Zhang Liunian even more eager to speed up the process of making the crayfish sauce.
There's no time like the present. He would go buy some ingredients for the sauce later.
"I have good news for you too. I've introduced your crayfish to a few friends who run small restaurants. They said they'd like you to start delivering to them tomorrow to test the waters.
There are three in total, and each of them said they'd start with fifty jin.
They will still pick it up from me at the same time."
Seeing Zhang Liunian looking a bit downcast, Mu Mingliang immediately shared this good news with him.
Zhang Liunian expressed his gratitude and clasped Mu Mingliang's hand. "Then I thank you, Mingliang. But since you've brought me three more customers, I don't know how to repay you. How about I give you a 1% commission on their orders?
This means that from now on, for every delivery they receive from me, no matter the quantity, I will give you a 1% share. For example, if they buy a hundred yuan worth of goods from me tomorrow, you'll get one yuan in profit, and this will happen every day until our cooperation ends."