Chapter 3: The Pine Brother in the Mink Coat
At this moment, Yin Weiran's emotions were complex: shock, disappointment, jealousy, and anger.
How could Yi Nuannuan have the privilege of eating better food than her? She was just a pitiful, ugly girl without parents. No, she couldn't stand it—she was going to lose her temper!
But when she turned and saw Feng Xiaoxiao also staring at the lunch box, Yin Weiran suddenly changed her mind. She forced a fake smile and said, "Alright, I was just joking. This lunch is really cute, I almost don't want to eat it."
Saying that, she handed the lunch box to Yi Nuannuan, and before the other girl could take it, Yin Weiran purposely let it drop. The lunch box fell to the floor, and the Christmas-themed decoration was trampled by the students on the dirty terrazzo floor.
"Ah, how could you be so careless?" Yin Weiran looked up with innocent, wide eyes, pretending to be pitiful.
Tears welled up in Yi Nuannuan's eyes, but she held them back. If her mother were here, she would have known how to help her. But her mother was gone, and her grandparents were the type of timid, honest people who couldn’t be of any use. In this cruel world, she had to face everything alone.
She didn’t argue; she quietly cleaned up the spilled food and put it into a garbage bag, tossing it into the trash bin in the hallway.
The cafeteria was under renovation, and once it was finished, she wouldn’t need to bring her lunch from home, and she wouldn’t be bullied like this anymore. Yi Nuannuan thought to herself.
Back at her desk, a group of three girls was eating and whispering, occasionally glancing at her. They were from families with similar financial backgrounds, all from local high-income families. Their lunches mainly consisted of meat dishes. Yin Weiran had pig head meat and braised intestines, Jian Shiyu had stir-fried pig liver and beef kidney, and Mei Xin had pig tripe soup and braised pig trotters. There was a mountain of food on their table, and it all looked appetizing.
A boy passed by and glanced at them. Jian Shiyu shot him a glare. "What are you looking at? This is what we can afford."
Yi Nuannuan heard the growl of her stomach; she was hungry. The students around her probably heard it too, and a few threw her sympathetic looks. The group of girls laughed even harder. Yi Nuannuan buried her face in her arms, her body trembling slightly. She was choking on her sobs and tears, but she didn’t want anyone to see her.
Suddenly, someone sat down next to her. A boy's slightly hoarse voice broke the silence. "Eat mine."
Yi Nuannuan looked up—it was Feng Xiaoxiao. He placed his stainless steel lunch box in front of her, containing scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried beef with chili, prawns in oil, and a bowl of seafood vegetable soup. As a boy in his growth period, he had a large appetite, so he had enough food to spare.
"I can't finish it by myself; I often waste food. Help me out," Feng Xiaoxiao commanded in an authoritative tone. Due to his family background and his own excellence, he had already become the class monitor and had the aura of a dominant CEO at a young age.
Yi Nuannuan didn’t refuse. Setting aside her feelings for the boy, at a moment like this, she couldn’t turn away anyone offering help. This place felt like a small jungle society, where everyone was an animal in a big forest. Some were carnivorous predators, while others were herbivorous lambs. Yi Nuannuan clearly belonged to the latter. When a young lion tried to protect her from the bite of a wolf cub, she instinctively chose to accept the help.
This made the trio of girls furious. Yin Weiran was the English class representative, a class officer, and the proud daughter of the class. She always thought Feng Xiaoxiao was hers and no one else had the right to compete for him. But now Yi Nuannuan...
Her father wasn’t as high-ranking as Feng Xiaoxiao’s, so she dared not take out her anger on him. She could only retaliate by making Yi Nuannuan’s life miserable.
After finishing lunch, the three girls exchanged glances and went to the girls' restroom to plot their next move.
"Find someone to beat her up," Jian Shiyu suggested.
"I think we should report her for cheating, having a relationship, or stealing," Mei Xin said with a sly glint in her eyes. Her father was a low-level official who liked to report competitors behind their backs, so she had learned the tricks.
Yin Weiran shook her head, then nodded. A sinister and vicious look crossed her young face. "This isn’t something that can be solved in one or two tries. I want her gone."
Jian Shiyu was stunned. "Kill her... that's too much, right?"
Yin Weiran sneered, "What are you thinking? Do you know how many suicides happen in schools every year?"
---
Meanwhile, in the Yumei Restaurant, four tables were filled with customers. The guests had already finished a bottle of beer, and the cold dishes were nearly finished, but the hot dishes still hadn't arrived.
Xiaohong brought a tray of rice to one table, only to be scolded by the customers for her lack of tact. The dishes hadn't even been served, and they were still drinking, but she rushed to bring the rice out. The customers said she didn’t know the rules.
Xiaohong, with her bad temper and ugly appearance, stomped angrily into the kitchen.
Wu Yumei stepped forward to apologize and also went into the kitchen to urge the chefs to hurry.
Inside the kitchen, Kang Peng was smoking casually while stew cooked on the stove, and Huang Pihu was cutting vegetables at a leisurely pace.
Wu Yumei was frustrated. How could they be this careless? There were only four tables of guests, and they had ordered over a dozen dishes, including stir-fries, stews, and deep-fried items. The chefs should have arranged the cooking sequence more efficiently. Why were they making the time-consuming stew first instead of the quick stir-fries?
She couldn’t ask directly, as that would mean blaming someone else. Kang Peng glared and said, "I’m following the order of the tickets. What do you want me to do?"
Wu Yumei’s teeth clenched with frustration. Usually, Kang Peng was lazy and greedy, but he wasn’t usually this careless. It felt like he was intentionally embarrassing her to show Huang Pihu who was in charge.
"This isn’t working," Wu Yumei said. "Get an electric stove, Huang, you take over the stir-frying."
Huang Pihu shook his head. "The electric stove won’t work. It doesn’t heat up enough. We need the big stove with strong fire to cook quickly. Let’s put the stews on the electric stove and free up a burner for the stir-fries."
Kang Peng tossed his stir-fry spoon aside. "Fine, you do it."
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Huang Pihu didn’t hesitate and immediately grabbed the stir-fry spoon.
Xiaohong still had more grievances to vent. She was in the middle of complaining to Kang Peng about the customers when Kang Peng, furious, stormed out to confront them.
At that moment, Huang Pihu tied on his apron and got to work. The high heat, sizzling oil, and the intense temperatures in the kitchen allowed him to cook the quick dishes in mere seconds.
Kang Peng, seeing the efficiency, was even more furious. He picked up a cleaver and stormed out, shouting, "Who’s been bullying my waiter?"
A man wearing a mink coat turned and looked at Kang Peng, his gaze cold.
"Mong Ge, you didn’t even greet me when you arrived," Kang Peng said with a fake smile. "Today, the meal’s on me."
The man in the mink coat, known as Song Ge, waved his hand carelessly, and Kang Peng quickly entered the kitchen again.
Wu Yumei came out with two plates of food, placing one on Song Ge’s table and another on a nearby table. She quickly apologized to the other customers, "It’ll be ready soon."
Song Ge, with an expressionless face, extended his hand and slapped Wu Yumei on the backside.
Wu Yumei screamed in shock and turned to glare at him. "Song Ge, what are you doing?"
"Come sit down and have a drink," Song Ge said, and his henchman immediately pulled a chair over.
"I’m busy. I need to go back and watch the kitchen. Otherwise, the dishes won’t come out," Wu Yumei smiled apologetically. Song Ge was someone with connections in society, and she didn’t dare provoke him.
"Is my word not good enough?" Song Ge’s henchman teased, half-joking.
At the diagonal table, two men in work uniforms from a shipyard were sitting. One of them couldn’t take it any longer and slammed the table, but his friend signaled him to sit back down. He muttered, "Why aren’t the dishes coming out yet?"
---
*"Just one cup," Song Ge insisted.*
The waiter filled a full glass of beer and placed it in front of Wu Yumei.
At this moment, Huang Pihu brought two dishes out and placed them on two other tables. Seeing that the four gangsters were making things difficult for Wu Yumei, he didn’t act out but naturally walked over to greet her.
"Yumei, you should’ve told me your friends were here earlier. Go to the back and take care of things; I’ll have a drink with a few of my brothers."
Song Ge looked at Huang Pihu, then turned to Wu Yumei. "Who is this brother?"
Wu Yumei replied, "He's my cousin from my third uncle’s side, here to help me in the kitchen."
Huang Pihu picked up an unopened beer bottle, flicked the cap off with his thumb, and opened it. One of the key drinking skills on the table was not using a bottle opener—using a thumb to pop the cap was a rare sight.
"Nice to meet you, let me show you a trick," Huang Pihu said as he popped the beer into his mouth and started pouring it down in a continuous stream. In a few moments, he finished the entire bottle.
"Not bad, this brother knows how to play," Song Ge commented, lifting his glass and drinking it down. After years in society, his sharp eye could tell that some people were easily pushed around, but Huang Pihu was clearly not one of them—he was experienced and could hold his own in any situation.
Wu Yumei also wasn’t hesitant, "I’ll have a drink with you," and emptied her glass of beer. She then stood up to leave, "Sorry, Song Ge, I’m really busy in the kitchen today."
"Alright, go on, go on," Song Ge said with a wave, granting her freedom.
Huang Pihu went back to the kitchen and continued cooking. His efficiency was far superior to Kang Peng’s. In no time, he had processed dozens of dishes in an orderly manner, and Xiao Hong faithfully brought them out. After one table of guests finished their meal and left, Xiao Hong collected the payment and recorded it before bringing in the next set of guests. The lunchtime turnover rate was quite high.
After finishing their meal and paying, Song Ge and his group drunkenly stumbled out and got into a Toyota Land Cruiser, leaving.
The man sitting at the adjacent table, wearing a work uniform, muttered, "Drinking and driving, why doesn’t he just crash?"
Wu Yumei recognized the man and patted him on the back, "Brother Ma, thanks for earlier."
Brother Ma looked ashamed. While he was a figure in the workshop, he had to back down when it came to someone like Song Ge, a true tough character. In order to save face, he began to introduce Song Ge's background.
"Yin Bingsong used to be an officer at the factory, he worked in the security department and the Beijing office. Later, he took a leave of absence and followed Gao Peng. Gao Peng is a big shot in our factory, the cousin of the factory’s chief engineer, Gao Ming, and has a huge business. I’ve heard that Yin Bingsong has blood on his hands, and not just one person."
Huang Pihu chuckled and ignored the story, while Wu Yumei couldn’t be bothered to listen. It was just a bunch of people trying to make a living. Yin Bingsong wasn’t as scary as they made him out to be. She overheard when paying the bill earlier that Song Ge had given extra money for the meal and didn’t ask for any change.
After the lunch rush, Wu Yumei, following Huang Pihu's strong suggestion, went over the day’s accounts. Usually, she wasn’t this meticulous and trusted Xiao Hong, but today she noticed the downside of not keeping track of things carefully.
For Song Ge’s table, Xiao Hong had recorded 350 yuan, but when questioned, Xiao Hong confidently claimed she had made the decision to round off the bill and give the customers a ten yuan discount.
Wu Yumei was furious. Xiao Hong had just taken 50 yuan off the till, and upon checking other tables, the records were equally unclear and disorganized. She began to recall that there were frequent customer complaints about overcharging, and each time it was when Xiao Hong was handling the transactions.
Xiao Hong was a thief in disguise, taking small amounts from the till every day, and over time, it probably amounted to more than her salary.
Huang Pihu spoke up, "Boss, you should also check the grocery expenses."
Kang Peng retorted, "There are no accounts for buying groceries. I keep track in my head, don’t stir up trouble."
Wu Yumei was fed up with both of them. In the past, she had been too scared to fire a chef, but with Huang Pihu around, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Instead of firing them outright, she smiled and said, "I trust you, but you’re up early every day buying groceries. It’s tough work. How about you and Old Huang take turns buying the groceries on alternate days, and we start keeping a record book for the purchases. A good memory can’t replace a bad pencil. What do you think?"
Kang Peng exploded, "You clearly don’t trust me. Fine, I’m out. Honghong, let’s go. I’m not going to put up with this nonsense."
Wu Yumei hurriedly said, "If you really want to leave, I won’t stop you. The shop is tight on funds, so you can come back next month for your salary."
Kang Peng replied, "Fine. I’m not going to take less than what I’m owed. I’ll set up a restaurant across from you and we’ll see who does better."
With that, he stood up and stormed out, with Xiao Hong angrily following him.
Wu Yumei sighed in relief, "Old Huang, from now on, it’s all on you. I paid Kang Peng eight thousand a month, so I’ll give you the same, and the grocery duties will be yours too."
Huang Pihu thought for a moment, "As for buying groceries, it’s better if you do it yourself, boss."
Wu Yumei replied, "I’d like to, but I can’t wake up at four or five in the morning to go to the market."
Mentioning the early morning hours reminded Huang Pihu of something. He quickly switched to his alternate identity, Yi Leng, as it was time to pick up his daughter from school.
As a father, he had neglected his duties for eleven years. Since his daughter started kindergarten, he had never once picked her up, and now he finally had the chance to make up for it.
"Boss, I need to go handle something. Let’s talk later," Yi Leng said as he changed clothes and headed out toward Zidi Middle School.
Wu Yumei was puzzled. Wasn’t Huang Pihu supposed to be without family? Where was he going? Feeling an inexplicable curiosity, she decided to follow him. After locking the shop, she got into her Wuling Hongguang and trailed behind.
She eventually saw Huang Pihu standing under a tree at the school gate, smoking a cigarette, just like the street punks she had seen when she was young.
It was the time when school let out, and the gate was packed with people and cars. Suddenly, Wu Yumei spotted a familiar Toyota Land Cruiser. Wasn’t that Song Ge’s car?
Yin Bingsong was there to pick up his daughter, Yin Weiran, who was in the second year of middle school.
Wu Yumei watched as a girl got into Song Ge’s Land Cruiser, then looked back at the tree. Huang Pihu was gone. She cautiously drove forward, but after a short distance, she saw Huang Pihu trailing a group of girls.
"Turns out, you can’t judge a book by its cover!" Wu Yumei thought, her feelings mixed. She never expected Huang Pihu to be that kind of person.
At a red light, she stopped, but when the light turned green, Huang Pihu and the girls had disappeared. Wu Yumei could only drive back with a sense of regret.
Yi Leng followed his daughter into a residential area. It was cold and quiet outside, with no one around. Suddenly, a dark figure jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Yi Nuannuan.
[----------------°-------------]
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