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Chapter 427: Chapter 427: Are You Tong Yao?
Seeing Lin Man’s anger, Tong Xiangqiao’s face quickly turned sour, and she became unhappy herself. "Did you discuss any of what you’ve done with us? Who do you think your father and I are doing this for if not for you? As a young unmarried woman, if you act this way, who would want you if Zhao Wenkai doesn’t?"
"You think doing this would scare others into marrying me?" Lin Man shouted back: "How can an ordinary family like ours fight with Zhao Wenkai? If we anger him, none of us will have a good life. Moreover, you think Zhao Wenyu is a good person? He was the one who hit me in the first place. If he hadn’t, none of this would have happened. And you’re oblivious to the fact that you’re being used."
"It was him who hit you?" Tong Xiangqiao was stunned, "Isn’t he Zhao Wenkai’s cousin?"
Lin Man replied, "Tong Yao is my cousin and look at us; neither of us wants to see the other."
Tong Xiangqiao became flustered, "What should we do now? He already knows our address and even left us his business card."
"I wanted to stop you at the time, but you were so quick to blurt out our home address." Lin Jinwu shifted the blame entirely onto Tong Xiangqiao, blaming her for being too quick to speak and making a mess of everything.
"You two are never successful but always manage to make things worse. If Zhao Wenkai becomes really angry, all he has to do is lift a finger, and we’ll have nowhere to live in Kyoto. We will all be driven out of the city." To prevent them from causing more trouble, Lin Man deliberately tried to scare them with her words.
The scare put a terror into Tong Xiangqiao, and her voice even trembled when she asked, "What should we do now?"
Lin Man shot Tong Xiangqiao an annoyed glance, "Why don’t you make a scene elsewhere and let the whole world know that I’m Zhao Wenkai’s mistress?"
"But don’t you see that I’m doing this for your own good?" Tong Xiangqiao said defensively. Indeed, she had failed to fully consider the consequences of her actions, but she was doing everything for her daughter’s sake!
Lin Man calmed herself somewhat and impatiently instructed, "From now on, you two need to pretend as if you know nothing. If Zhao Wenyu comes looking, deny knowing him. No matter who comes asking, keep your mouths shut. Don’t acknowledge my relationship with Zhao Wenkai."
As long as they deny everything together, Zhao Wenyu will have no other options. As for the rest, they’ll have to wait until Zhao Wenkai comes back.
At this thought, a look of resentment flashed in Lin Man’s eyes. It was all Tong Yao’s fault. If she hadn’t blurted out the truth, her parents wouldn’t have found out, and she wouldn’t have had all these troubles.
Having thought of this, Lin Man quickly instructed Tong Xiangqiao, "Go to the Vegetable Market to buy some yam and pork ribs to make a soup. I need to visit a friend in the hospital."
Normally, Tong Xiangqiao would take this opportunity to ask for money, but this time she didn’t dare say anything extraneous and hurriedly left to buy the ingredients.
Lin Man clenched her molars. Since Tong Yao had set a trap for her, she would have to pay her back in kind to make it fair.
...
On the other hand, Tong Yao had no idea that Tong Xiangqiao and her husband had caused a scene at Zhao Wenkai’s company. She just thought they would scold Lin Man at most, but now it might result in a mutual downfall.
After all, Tong Yao knew what kind of people her Aunt Tong Xiangqiao and Uncle Lin Jinwu were.
The couple were greedy for money. They probably didn’t feel ashamed of their daughter’s actions. On the contrary, they might even be delighted at the prospect of their daughter marrying a rich man.
But now that she exposed Lin Man’s affairs, Lin Man would definitely come to cause trouble for her again.
Tong Yao prepared herself to face Lin Man, but to her surprise, seven or eight days had passed and till the end of the year, and Lin Man hadn’t showed up.
School was on break, and Gu Hongwei, to earn some extra money, didn’t rush to go home. It was only the morning of the 29th that he caught a train back to Li City.
Tong Yao and Deng Wenwen were cleaning the shop. Just when they were about to finish and head home, a pair of country folks came into the shop. The man was carrying a large woven bag that rattled with unknown contents, and the woman wore a floral padded jacket with a green scarf wrapped around her head.
Both of them looked to be in their thirties.
Initially, they thought these people were here to buy milk tea. Deng Wenwen said politely, "I’m sorry, our shop is on break. We will reopen on the seventh day of the lunar new year."
The woman, who appears to be in a big city for the first time, was somewhat apprehensive. Speaking in a Li City accent, she said, "We’re not here for milk tea, we’re looking for your boss. Is your boss here?"
The man, looking like the woman’s husband, appeared to be a simpleton. Seeing only two young girls in the shop, he did not feel comfortable speaking.
Receiving her gaze, Deng Wenwen subconsciously looked at Tong Yao. She wasn’t certain why these two people were here, and she didn’t know if she should tell them that Tong Yao was the boss.
Seeing this, Tong Yao walked over and said softly, "I am the boss. Can I help you with anything?"
In the meantime, she began to take a closer look at the two people, trying to see if she had met them before. However, after a long while, she could not recall who they are.
"Are you Tong Yao?"
The woman and man both looked surprised; they hadn’t expected Tong Yao to be so young. They had heard that Tong Yao had opened several chain stores and had thought that Tong Yao must look like a successful woman, not realizing that she was quite young.
No wonder everyone in Kyoto was rich. Someone so young was already so good at business; how could she not be wealthy?
Tong Yao nodded, "Yes, I’m Tong Yao. What can I do for you?"
The woman regained her composure and said with a shy smile, "I’m Song Yu’s sister-in-law, and this is my husband, Song Wenhua. Some time ago, Song Yu called home to say that he was working across from your milk tea shop, learning how to do renovation work. But ever since, he hasn’t called home again. It’s nearly the New Year now, and we can’t get in touch with him. Our family is worried, so they sent us to check up on him."
Both of them had limited education and had never traveled far. They finally found this place after fumbling around the big city for an entire day. They did not expect to run into Tong Yao herself upon arrival. Niu Airong felt relieved. Finding Tong Yao meant finding Song Yu, and they wouldn’t have to worry about finding a place to stay for the night.
Song Yu was the most educated member in their family. He was the apple of their mother’s eye and she doted on him greatly. Not being able to contact Song Yu in these days had left her constantly fretting about him
As the New Year approached, his mother dreamt that Song Yu was harmed by someone and was constantly crying, insisting she would go to look for him. She was so old and clueless about the ways of the world. None of the family members felt comfortable letting her venture far on her own. Left with no choice, it fell to the two of them to go look for Song Yu.
Who else but them would take on the responsibility? They were the oldest couple in the family, after all.
After arriving in Kyoto, they were overwhelmed. The city was so vast and they were lost, unable to distinguish between east and west, north and south. They had difficulty finding this place and spent more money on cabs than they had on train tickets. They were heartbroken.
Fortunately, Song Yu had left his address with them, or else, they wouldn’t have known where to start looking.
Tong Yao looked well off. They weren’t sure if she would look down on their humble background.
To be honest, the issue of their younger brother running off with someone’s sister brought them great embarrassment. If Song Yu hadn’t gone missing, they wouldn’t have dared to face Tong Yao, especially considering how their mother-in-law had repeatedly slandered Si Xiaohui.
