"We’re tight on cash right now. If you keep spending money so freely, what am I supposed to use for advertising? What will I use to buy recipes?"

Li Xiaoyan was stunned. "Daughter, are we broke now?" she asked in disbelief.

"Didn’t you just mortgage a few stores? Including the previous ones, that should be at least twenty million, right?"

Yang Yixue rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It’s gone! The start-up capital for a single store is over one and a half million. You do the math."

"I only have a little over eight hundred thousand left!"

"A little over eight hundred thousand?" Li Xiaoyan froze for a moment. Her stomach suddenly rumbled. Thinking of the sour and spicy fish, she said, "That’s still a lot. A meal is only a few hundred. Spending a few hundred won’t make a difference."

Yang Yixue gritted her teeth:

"Spending a few hundred won’t make a difference? What are you thinking?! Do the employees not need to be paid? What about utilities, seasonings, ingredients, advertising, and so on? Why don’t you pay for all that?"

"I’m even reluctant to fill up my gas tank now, do you get it?!"

She was already starting to panic inside.

She was just forcing herself to stay calm.

Yang Yixue suddenly felt a pang of regret. ’It would be so much better if I were still with Jiang Liu. Even if he couldn’t make money, he would at least help me come up with a good idea.’

But she quickly pushed the thought from her mind.

’Good thing I divorced that ingrate. Otherwise, who knows, he might have stabbed me in the back later!’

Her pride wouldn’t allow her to have such regrets. Even if she did, they had to be stamped out!

"Huh? Is it really that tight now?"

Li Xiaoyan walked over in astonishment and plopped down next to Yang Yixue. She casually grabbed an apple and started eating it, mindful that eating apples could slow down aging.

"What do you think? I signed a mortgage loan contract with the bank! The interest is two percent per month. That’s at least three hundred thousand I have to pay the bank every single month!"

Yang Yixue’s face was cold.

In reality, she was terrified.

She had ventured into the restaurant industry purely because she’d gotten an initial taste of success, which led her to bet the farm.

And now, her beauty salons were either sold or mortgaged.

The mortgaged ones were racking up interest. If she couldn’t come up with the money to reclaim them, she could only watch as the bank auctioned off her salons. Even then, she’d still be saddled with a mountain of debt.

Her financial situation was a complete mess, with holes everywhere. She was pinning all her hopes on this new venture to patch things up.

Li Xiaoyan said, "Why don’t you go beg Jiang Liu? I see he’s making a lot of money! Even if he’s not willing to lend us money, if he just casually gave us a few recipes, we could get through this."

Although she spoke of begging Jiang Liu, her tone was still sour.

After all, in her eyes, Jiang Liu had always been the poor son-in-law.

Now, in just a few short weeks, he was already earning two hundred thousand a day!

Li Xiaoyan dreamed of taking Jiang Liu’s shop for herself.

"I... I’ll give it a try."

Yang Yixue reluctantly opened her phone.

She sent a text message to Jiang Liu.

She was at the end of her rope. The only person she could rely on now was Jiang Liu.

’If Jiang Liu is willing to help me,’ she thought, ’I could give him a chance, live a good life with him.’

’We have a daughter, after all. It would be a complete family!’

...

"You’re back, Boss Jiang? Any new dishes for lunch today?"

"Not for now."

"Alright then, hurry up and get to work. Try to make more sashimi. Your tuna sashimi is so refreshing."

"Hey, Boss Jiang, let me help you wash the vegetables. I’m not busy anyway."

"Thanks, but there aren’t many. I won’t trouble you."

Jiang Liu chatted casually with a few neighbors.

Back in the shop, he casually picked up a few slices of ham and put them in his mouth, chewing.

Tender and chewy.

The fragrant smoked pork became more aromatic the more he chewed.

His phone vibrated.

Jiang Liu thought it was a message from Jun Qingmeng. He opened it and took a look.

A text from an unknown number: "Jiang Liu, I admit I was wrong before. I can change. I can apologize to you. But can you please help me? My business is doing terribly, and I’m losing money fast!"

"Can you bear to watch Tongtong’s mother end up homeless and begging on the street? I’m Tongtong’s only mother! Just giving me a few recipes is all it takes. It’s such a small request, something you could do so easily!"

Jiang Liu’s face darkened after reading the text.

It was truly disgusting.

’Her losses have jack shit to do with me.’

’And now she has the nerve to say she’s Tongtong’s mother? Fucking shameless!’

’She was so eager when she was trading Tongtong’s visitation rights for recipes, wasn’t she?’

Jiang Liu was fed up. He casually replied with a text: "What the hell does that have to do with me? And please, stop sending me harassing messages. Do you understand plain language?"

After replying.

Jiang Liu blocked the number without a second thought.

He tossed his phone aside to charge.

When Yang Yixue saw Jiang Liu’s reply, the hand holding her phone trembled slightly.

’How could Jiang Liu say something so heartless...’

’He even cursed at me!’

Li Xiaoyan asked anxiously, "Did he reply? What did he say? Does he want to meet you?"

Yang Yixue bit her lip and struggled to speak. "He... he said what does it have to do with him..."

"And he told me not to bother him..."

Li Xiaoyan exploded on the spot.

"What?! That little bastard! We gave him an inch and he took a mile, didn’t he?!"

"I never should have let you marry that ingrate! Now that we’re in trouble, he’s not even willing to lift a finger to help. And he says what does it have to do with him? Ptooey!..."

Hearing her mother’s endless, repetitive tirade, Yang Yixue grew irritated.

"Can you just stop talking for a minute? Aren’t you embarrassed? Wasn’t it because you were bad-mouthing Jiang Liu’s parents behind their backs? If it weren’t for that, Jiang Liu would definitely help me!"

She believed Jiang Liu still had feelings for her, and that all their current misfortune was because Li Xiaoyan’s insults towards his parents had made him despise them.

Li Xiaoyan was stubborn. "How can you blame me for that? Who knew Jiang Liu would get so successful? He just got shit-lucky! Weren’t my insults also for your own good?"

The two had a huge fight, then got dressed and left separately.

Li Xiaoyan stormed out and headed straight for Aiyu. She was in a foul mood and panicking.

Only spending money could calm her down.

Yang Yixue wasn’t any better. Her lips were pale the entire way to her store.

She was starting to get scared.

Now Jiang Liu refused to help because he held a grudge against her mother.

She had completely lost her safety net...

...

「Yangzhai Street.」

Today, a huge billboard had been erected near the traffic light. It was for a marathon event organized by the Sports Bureau.

Anyone could scan the QR code for the official account to sign up.

Jiang Liu went out for a bit and bought five pounds of pistachios for Tongtong, her favorite.

He usually didn’t buy snacks for his daughter. After all, so many foods these days were full of additives, it was impossible to be too careful.

Tongtong was young, and eating too much of that stuff wasn’t good for her development.

Back at the shop.

Jiang Liu wiped the sweat from his brow.

"The weather’s nice today, just a little hot..."

He grabbed a glass of iced watermelon juice, took a couple of sips, and went to the kitchen to check on the stewing beef.

Lifting the lid, a rich aroma of beef wafted out to greet him.

It was mingled with the scent of various spices.

"Almost ready. Time to add the potatoes..."

The potatoes were already cut and soaking in water. If not left in water, they would turn black.

As eleven o’clock approached.

Over a thousand customers were lined up at the door.

...