Chapter 52: Liang Zhiyan Creating a Fuss Over Divorcing His Wife

Xia Shi'an’s eyes were filled with confusion.

Liang Yunqing’s lips curled into a bitter smile. She knew all too well about performance-based bonuses; after spending several years working in the real world, she had long since thoroughly grasped the concept.

"A performance bonus is extra compensation given based on your performance. If a chef works overtime more than ten times in a month, a portion of the late-night snack profits at the end of the month will be set aside as an extra reward."

Xia Shi'an suddenly felt that the commercial principles she had studied since childhood were so insignificant.

The Liang Yunqing before her was still a farm girl who barely knew a few characters, yet every suggestion she made was bizarrely reasonable, making it seem as if she, the proprietor, ought to be the one stepping down to let Liang Yunqing take her place.

"Proprietor Xia, do you understand what I mean?"

Seeing her in a daze, Liang Yunqing assumed Xia Shi'an hadn't understood her proposal.

"I understand. How... how did you come up with all of this?"

Xia Shi'an couldn't help but ask the question.

Liang Yunqing scratched her head sheepishly. Weren't these just her daily routines from her past life as an employee? The only difference was that the so-called bonuses back then were nothing more than empty promises dangled by bosses.

But here, this bonus would actually be paid out.

"I just daydreamed and came up with it. If there is anything unreasonable, I'll still need Proprietor Xia to make adjustments."

Seeing that she wouldn't elaborate, Xia Shi'an didn't dwell on it.

Afterward, the two discussed a partnership regarding the late-night snacks. Liang Yunqing knew she owed the Xike Restaurant a favor, and the one hundred taels for redeeming Xiaotu’s indenture had not yet been repaid.

However, Xia Shi'an insisted firmly that it was nothing, and even handed her the redemption contract for Xiaotu.

The document clearly stated the redemption price was ten taels. Only then did Liang Yunqing realize how miserably she had been scammed last night.

In her heart, she continuously cursed the burly man from the previous evening.

The subsequent negotiations became much simpler. Liang Yunqing would hold a stake in the business through her culinary techniques and would be responsible for introducing new dishes in the future.

The revenue would be split on an eighty-twenty basis, with Xike Restaurant taking the lion's share since Liang Yunqing didn't have to provide ingredients, labor, or physical resources.

After saying their goodbyes, Manager Yang specially sent a carriage to escort her back.

On the way, nestled in the spacious carriage, Liang Yunqing slept soundly until the carriage stopped at the village entrance and the driver lifted the curtain to wake her.

Stumbling groggily along the path, she found it was already broad daylight. The somewhat glaring sunlight made her eyes ache.

"Yunqing! Yunqing, you're finally back!"

Aunt Ma’s voice echoed from ahead.

Liang Yunqing looked over with a dizzy head, only to see Aunt Ma covered in grains of rice with her hair all messy.

"Aunt Ma, what on earth happened to you?"

"Oh, Yunqing! Your second aunt went crazy and smashed several of the siu mai that your third aunt and I made!"

Aunt Ma said, anxiously brushing grains of rice off her clothes with a heart full of distress.

"What?"

Liang Yunqing never expected that just as she finished dealing with matters outside, trouble would break out at home.

"Yunqing, what happened to your hand?"

"Aunt Ma, never mind my hand. Hurry up and take me to see what's going on."

Aunt Ma acknowledged, and trotted to lead Liang Yunqing toward a fork in the village path. The aggrieved sobbing of her third aunt reached her ears.

At the intersection, the third aunt was clutching a steaming pot tightly in her arms, while Li Pinghua, disheveled and wild-haired, kept trying to snatch the pot away.

Siu mai were scattered all over the ground.

"This business is mine! It's mine! You're all bullying me, you're all bullying me!"

Her shrill voice made Liang Yunqing’s head buzz.

"Stop right there!"

Stepping forward, Liang Yunqing kicked Li Pinghua away directly. Seeing that she had arrived, Li Pinghua’s emotions completely collapsed.

"Yunqing, I am your family! How could you actually give the business to an outsider?"

"Li Pinghua, if you want to fake insanity, go throw your tantrum somewhere else."

Liang Yunqing’s head was pounding; one disaster was barely over before another began.

"I'm the one who belongs to the Liang family! Liang Zhi言 doesn't want me, Youyong blames me too, you're all bullying me!"

Weeping and wailing, Li Pinghua clutched her own hair as tears streamed down her chin and dripped onto the ground.

In a split second, Liang Yunqing realized that Li Pinghua hadn't come here simply to wreck the siu mai business.

"Li Pinghua, what has happened at home again?"

"Your second uncle, Liang Zhiyan, is a heartless bastard! He doesn't want me anymore! I bore him two sons, and yet he doesn't want me anymore!"

The heartfelt wails made Liang Yunqing furrow her brows even deeper.

"Didn't you make a scene just yesterday? What kind of madness is Liang Zhiyan up to today?"

With that, Liang Yunqing helped her third aunt up from the ground and told them to take the remaining siu mai to town first. After all, the business couldn't keep halting.

If they constantly failed to open their stall, they would surely lose all their customers.

Aunt Ma understood this as well and proceeded to help the third aunt carry the siu mai toward the village entrance.

Only the two of them were left on the narrow path.

"Let's go home and talk. I want to see whose face is itching for a beating again."

Liang Yunqing turned and walked toward home, but Li Pinghua's cries grew even louder behind her. Pouncing forward, she grabbed the hem of Liang Yunqing’s skirt and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her bosom.

"I can't go back... I can't go back..."

Liang Yunqing took the paper and unfolded it, seeing dense lines of writing scrawled across it.

Though she couldn't read all of it, she managed to decipher the first two characters.

"A divorce letter?"

She stared at it incredulously several times. It was indeed written in Liang Zhiyan’s chicken-scratch handwriting.

"Has he lost his mind? How dare he divorce you?"

Liang Yunqing suspected her memory was failing her. Wasn't this Liang Zhiyan an absolute henpecked husband? Where did he get the guts to divorce his wife?

Beating her chest, Li Pinghua choked out,

"I beat him all through the night, and yet he insisted on divorcing me. He even said he found the person he truly loves and doesn't want me anymore, boohoo..."

"The person he truly loves?"

Liang Yunqing wore an expression as though she had swallowed excrement. Could this beloved person possibly be Xiaotu, the one she had just rescued?

"It's that wretched bint from yesterday! I can't go on living. I suffered through hardship with him for so many years, and now he turns around and casts me aside!"

"Stop crying and come back with me."

Grabbing Li Pinghua by the arm, Liang Yunqing hauled her up from the ground and hurried toward home.

They had barely walked halfway when shouts rang out from behind them.

"Miss, Miss, wait for me!"

Xiaotu had changed into a grey tunic and wore no hairpin in her hair. She called out excitedly as she ran toward Liang Yunqing.

Liang Yunqing had barely managed to pacify Li Pinghua, and now Xiaotu had to show up right in the middle of it.

This was going to be difficult.

She gripped Li Pinghua’s hand even tighter, silently praying these two wouldn't start a brawl.

"Stop pulling, I'm not going to fight."

Li Pinghua’s voice suddenly turned calm. Her wrinkled, weather-beaten face displayed an unprecedented stillness.

Her dull eyes stared blankly at the approaching Xiaotu.

"She's prettier than me, younger than me..."

"So what if she's prettier and younger? Does that give Liang Zhiyan the right to divorce you? When I get back, I'll deal with that idiot."

As Liang Yunqing spoke, she didn't even glance at her.

Yet, Li Pinghua suddenly felt the urge to cry again. At home, her mother-in-law ignored her, and her son was away; no one ever stood up for her.

She had never expected that when she was being bullied, Liang Yunqing would actually speak up on her behalf.

"Xiaotu, why are you here? Didn't I tell you to recover from your injuries before coming?"

Right now, Liang Yunqing was hardly in the mood to see her. She couldn't possibly bring Xiaotu back home and make the chaos even worse, could she?

"Miss, this humble maid is your person. Wherever Miss goes in the future, this maid will follow. My mother back home already knows about this."

Although Xiaotu was approaching thirty, she had a fine figure. Kneeling there, she genuinely looked quite pitiful.

"I have some matters to attend to right now. Why don't you head back first?"