Chapter 48: Eating Alone with Gu Tingxiao
When Mother Chen heard her husband’s command, she gasped in shock. Why on earth should they compensate the Sheng family? She absolutely refused to pay.
The household barely had any savings to begin with, and they had a whole family to support. Father Chen’s salary wasn’t even as high as Father Sheng’s, yet he wanted to hand their hard-earned money over to the Shengs? What a joke.
“Go get it when I tell you to!” Father Chen barked, his face twisting into a sullen glare.
But Mother Chen dug her heels in, refusing to budge. Instead, she threw herself onto the concrete floor and began to wail, rolling around while screeching about how miserable her life was for marrying a man who sided with outsiders over his own flesh and blood.
“Why is my life so bitter?!” she howled. “My youngest son is a helpless loser, my daughters-in-law just stand by and watch me get beaten, and my own husband lets me be bullied by the neighbors!”
Father Chen’s expression grew increasingly venomous as the crowd murmured. What man could endure having his authority stripped and mocked so publicly?
“Since living with me is such a hardship, then pack your bags and get out! Go back to your parents’ house!” he roared.
The moment the words left his mouth, Mother Chen choked on her tears, instantly struck dumb with terror. He was actually threatening to exile her back to her maiden home! She was already an old woman; her parents were long gone, so what maiden home did she even have left to return to?
“I’ll get it… I’ll get it right now,” she stammered.
Mother Chen scrambled to her feet and stumbled back inside the apartment. When she returned, she was clutching a crumpled stack of bills totaling fifty yuan. Before she could even extend her arm, Mother Sheng lunged forward, snatched the cash right out of her fingers, and smoothly tucked it into her pocket.
“We’ll let it slide this time,” Mother Sheng announced coldly, smoothing down her shirt. “But if there’s a next time, it won’t be settled this easily.”
With that final warning, the Sheng trio turned on their heels and marched downstairs, leaving behind a thoroughly entertained crowd of neighbors and a deeply fractured Chen family.
“What are you all staring at?! Get the hell away from our door!” Mother Chen shrieked, venting her humiliated rage on the lingering onlookers. The neighbors simply rolled their eyes, scoffed, and dispersed back to their own apartments.
That night, a massive storm erupted inside the Chen household. While the parents wanted to use the rest of their savings to bribe the authorities and bail Chen Ming out, the two eldest daughters-in-law launched into a furious rebellion.
The family finances were already stretched to the limit, and now that their brother-in-law was locked in a cell, he would undoubtedly lose his permanent factory job. Father Chen was the only remaining breadwinner, and all the grandchildren still needed money for school. Was it truly worth bankrupting the entire household just to salvage a degenerate who acted like a common street thug? How were the rest of them supposed to survive the coming days?
Backed into a corner, the two daughters-in-law flatly threatened divorce, while the two elder sons bluntly stated that if their parents threw away the family funds, they would legally split the household property immediately. Hearing their husbands bring up a property division, the daughters-in-law’s eyes lit up with sudden calculation.
“Shut up, all of you! I’m not dead yet!” Father Chen roared, slamming his fist onto the table.
But despite his bluster, fear gripped his chest. If his remaining two sons became entirely alienated from him over this, how would he and his wife survive their old age? The reality was cruel: the youngest son now possessed a criminal record, meaning his future in the city was completely ruined. If they forced the issue and drove the other two sons away, their retirement support would vanish.
Furthermore, the Public Security Bureau had already made it clear that Chen Ming was being exiled to the countryside. At the very least, sent down there, it could be framed as labor reform. The parents could still secretly mail him provisions and slowly plot a way to secure his return to the city down the line.
No matter how heartbroken Father and Mother Chen were, they had to swallow their grief and accept the harsh reality; otherwise, their entire family unit would shatter.
Naturally, Mother Chen directed all her venom toward the Sheng family. If it weren’t for that wretched Sheng girl, why would her precious boy be forced to suffer in the wilderness? God only knew when he would ever be allowed back. She hated the Shengs with every fiber of her being, but powerless to strike back, she could only lock herself inside her room and curse their names into the night.
Chen Ming was sentenced to five days of standard detention. Once his time was up, a government official would escort him back to the compound to pack his meager belongings, keeping a hawk-like watch over him until he was boarded onto the transport truck bound for the countryside.
The Chen family was still desperately comforting themselves with the thought that going to the countryside wasn’t the end of the world. What they didn’t realize was that for an exiled youth with a criminal record, the destination selected would be the most remote, brutal outpost available. He would be sent to a place with no villages in front and no shops behind—a lawless wasteland where, if someone chose to target him, he would have no choice but to swallow his blood and bear the abuse in silence.
Back down in the Sheng apartment, Mother Sheng pulled out the crumpled bills and handed the full fifty yuan to Sheng Wanyan. After all, her daughter was the one who had suffered the grievance, so she had no intention of keeping the money for herself.
“Mom, let’s just split it. Just give me half,” Wanyan suggested, pushing a portion back. “We already agreed that all income goes to the household fund. There’s no reason for me to keep the whole amount.”
Mother Sheng considered it for a moment and nodded. With Sheng Wanze’s wedding fast approaching, they needed every cent they could get. If she gave Wanyan a massive private sum right now, she worried her future daughter-in-law might harbor unspoken grievances if she ever found out.
“Alright, twenty-five yuan goes into the family chest,” Mother Sheng agreed happily.
The spectacular scene Mother Sheng had caused upstairs had effectively terrified the entire building. Her raw, explosive combat power left the neighbors thoroughly shaken, and no one dared utter a single out-of-line whisper in front of her. Mother Sheng was incredibly pleased with the result; she had no desire to waste her energy dealing with petty, passive-aggressive hypocrites every time she walked down the hall.
The next day at noon, the moment Sheng Wanyan stepped through the factory gates, she spotted Gu Tingxiao waiting for her. He stood perfectly rigid, his expression stoic and unyielding, drawing intense, wary stares from the factory gatekeeper.
The guard had been tracking the soldier for an hour. The man’s intense, righteous aura made him look as though he were staking out a dangerous criminal inside the facility. If it weren’t for the crisp, official military uniform, the guard would have already called the factory security patrol.
Seeing Sheng Wanyan emerge, Gu Tingxiao’s stern posture melted, and he strode forward to meet her.
“Have you been waiting long?” she asked.
“No, I just arrived a short while ago,” he lied smoothly.
If the gatekeeper had been within earshot, he would have rolled his eyes so hard they might have detached.
The walk from the factory gates to the central State-Owned Restaurant took barely ten minutes, so the two strolled side by side down the sidewalk. Sheng Wanyan wore a beautiful, light blue knee-length skirt today—a piece hand-tailored by Grandma Sheng that gave her an incredibly gentle, elegant appearance. She walked slightly ahead, while Gu Tingxiao trailed exactly one step behind her shoulder, his gaze quietly fixed on her graceful silhouette.
The moment they stepped into the bustling restaurant, Sheng Wanyan looked up to scan the daily menu chalked onto the wooden blackboard.
“What would you like to eat?” she asked, turning to him. “Please, don’t be polite with me.”
She carried herself with the effortless poise of a wealthy young lady. Watching her, Gu Tingxiao’s sharp eyes softened completely.
“You decide,” he murmured. “Order whatever you like.”
Sheng Wanyan paused, momentarily caught off guard by the profound gentleness in his eyes, before offering a small nod.
“We’ll have a portion of the braised pork belly, the soy-braised beef, the stir-fried eggplant, three large meat buns, and two bowls of white rice,” she told the cashier.
She shot a quick, questioning glance at Gu Tingxiao, silently asking if the amount was sufficient. After all, given his massive stature, she assumed he possessed a formidable appetite.
“That’s plenty,” he assured her with a slight smile.
The cashier quickly tallied the order. “That’ll be three yuan and ninety cents, plus two pounds of grain coupons.”
Sheng Wanyan lowered her head, reaching into her canvas bag for her wallet. But before her fingers could even brush the fabric, Gu Tingxiao smoothly extracted a neat stack of cash and coupons from his pocket and pressed them into the cashier’s hand.
“Wait, no…” Wanyan protested, her brow furrowing. “I’m supposed to be treating you today!”
She was utterly baffled by his reflex. How on earth was this man’s hand speed so terrifyingly fast?
“It’s all the same,” Gu Tingxiao replied easily, steering her away from the counter. “Besides, I eat a lot. There’s no world in which I’d let a young lady foot the bill for my appetite.”
Sheng Wanyan wanted to argue further, but the customers queuing behind them were already clearing their throats and urging them to move along. Left with no choice, she navigated through the crowded tables and sat down. She didn’t persist in shoving cash into his pockets; he had already paid, and forcing money on a proud man in public would only cause unnecessary awkwardness. She resolved to make it up to him in other ways later; her modern sensibilities simply detested owing anyone a favor.
“Order number forty-six! Braised pork, soy-braised beef, stir-fried eggplant, three meat buns, and two bowls of white rice!” the counter worker shouted.
Hearing their numbers, Gu Tingxiao stood up to retrieve the heavy ceramic platters. Sheng Wanyan hurried after him, carefully carrying the two steaming bowls of white rice back to their table. She also stopped by the beverage crate to purchase two bottles of chilled soda, which cost a mere penny each. This time, because the amount was so trivial, Gu Tingxiao didn’t fight her for the bill.
When it came to food, Sheng Wanyan lacked any modern pretense; she ate heartily and without restraint, entirely at ease in his presence. She managed to polish off a savory meat bun and a generous helping of the rich meat dishes, but looking down, she realized she still had half a bowl of white rice left. Her stomach was already completely full.
However, in this era of strict rationing, wasting a single grain of food was a severe moral offense. If she left the rice behind, the surrounding diners would look at her with blatant disgust and openly point fingers at her extravagance.
