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Chapter 471: Chapter 471: Are You Desperate for Money Now?
"Can Shi Yan afford to take such hits running a little business?" Tong Yao asked, half-jokingly.
During this period, Tong Yao had taken note of Shi Yan’s situation, discovering that aside from the milk tea shop, he had no other enterprises. The fact seemed to prove that Shi Yan had likely just stumbled on an opportunity and made a small fortune.
Recently, in order to compete with her for business, Shi Yan had lowered the price of his milk tea to a bare minimum profit margin. Add to this, his business was a joint venture with Xiao Mingqiang, and Lin Man’s lavish spending recently, even if there was a mountain of gold and silver, it would not be enough to squander this way.
Of course, all of these were Tong Yao’s speculations. The way she spoke now was merely to probe the extent of Shi Yan’s wealth.
Lin Man’s heart quivered. Shi Yan hadn’t given her control over the finances, so she had no idea how much money he actually had.
Reminded by Tong Yao, she started to have some doubts.
Recently, Shi Yan indeed hadn’t been as generous to her as before. They had just gotten married. If Shi Yan was having financial problems now, would that mean she had boarded a sinking ship?
Although she felt somewhat panicked inside, Lin Man put up a calm face, "Tong Yao, even if you’re jealous of me, at least say something believable! Haven’t you heard the saying ’A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse’? Even if Shi Yan’s business isn’t doing well, it’s a hundred times better than marrying a broke doctor like you did. Oh, I almost forgot, Si Chen has already divorced you."
"Speaking of which, I do feel a bit sorry for you. You thought Si Chen loved you very much, but in reality, he didn’t want you as soon as he left the country. When you deliberately tried to break up me and Zhao Wenkai, you probably didn’t expect that I would marry Shi Yan, right? I should really thank you. After all, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have married Shi Yan and now be the owner of several shops."
Every word Lin Man spoke was meant to sting Tong Yao, doing it on purpose to make Tong Yao upset, because there was nothing she disliked more than Tong Yao’s smiling face.
She wanted to see a pained expression on Tong Yao’s face. The more pained it was, the happier she would be.
"Who told you that I divorced Ah Chen?" Tong Yao looked at Lin Man with a smile, "Ah Chen and I have never been to Li City, nor have we ever been to the Civil Affairs Bureau. Why do you think that Ah Chen and I are divorced?"
"What do you mean by that?" Lin Man’s face changed slightly.
"Just as it sounds." Tong Yao replied, "Ah Chen and I simply wrote a piece of paper to fool Lin Fengying. I didn’t expect you to take it so seriously. Ah Chen and I didn’t really file for divorce. With just one tear of that paper, we’re still husband and wife."
"Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell Lin Fengying about all this right now?" Lin Man was successfully angered by Tong Yao. She had always assumed that Tong Yao and Si Chen were divorced.
She had been secretly delighted for quite a while. After all, the man she couldn’t get, Tong Yao couldn’t have either. But she hadn’t expected that Tong Yao and Si Chen would be so cunning as to deceive everyone.
Tong Yao, with a cheeky expression, said, "Oh, you might not know yet. Lin Fengying had an accident a few days ago. She broke her waist and is about to be taken back to Li City. She’s almost gone crazy with regret. If you do tell her, I might have to thank you. After all, she’s about to jump off the hospital building right now. I won’t have to fulfill the duties of a daughter-in-law in the future. The future sure looks promising."
"..." Lin Man was livid and wished she could slap Tong Yao across the face.
Seeing her like this, Tong Yao continued, "It seems to me that Shi Yan doesn’t have much business acumen! The milk tea shop is such a small business, and yet he has to draw in investors. I guess he doesn’t make much money a month, right? Is it enough for you to buy a few hundred yuan down jacket in the mall?"
"In fact, you’re only holding the empty title of a store owner, which sounds better when spoken, but in reality, you’re penniless."
Listening to her, Lin Man reflexively retorted, "Xiao Mingqiang has already pulled out of the investment. The shop is completely ours."
Speaking of which, she lifted her chin smugly, "Do you think we’re relying on the milk tea shop to make money? Let me tell you the truth! Shi Yan is able to make several thousand yuan with just one trip abroad, what can your pathetic milk tea shop come up against that?"
A gleam flashed in the depths of Tong Yao’s eyes, "Shi Yan is doing the re-export business?"
In this era, those bold enough to go abroad and become re-exporters could indeed make a lot of money with just one round trip, but if anything happened during the trip, it would be a matter of life and death.
The trains to the international lines were very chaotic, and robberies were common on the way, everything was up to luck.
Who would have thought Shi Yan would have the guts? No wonder he suddenly got rich.
However, ’He who stays near vermilion gets stained red, he who stays near ink gets stained black.’
At this rate, sooner or later, something would go wrong.
Lin Man didn’t expect Tong Yao to guess right away, and said coolly, "What if he is?"
Lin Man didn’t know anything about the re-export business; she just heard a bit from Shi Yan. She only knew one trip could make a lot of money, and since Shi Yan hadn’t been going recently, she assumed he had saved up a lot of money.
This was also one of the reasons why she was willing to marry Shi Yan.
"Not much," Tong Yao replied, the corner of her mouth twitching upward slightly, deliberately saying, "I heard that foreign women are very beautiful. Some of the men in the re-export business play quite the field when they’re abroad. Be careful. Don’t catch a nasty disease."
Upon hearing this, Lin Man’s face changed instantly, but she retorted, "Don’t think you can stir up trouble between me and Shi Yan. Shi Yan has pursued me for so many years. I know him better than anyone."
Tong Yao bluntly punctured her lie, "If you trust him so much, why did you fight with Dong Shanshan?"
She said that earlier just to see if Lin Man knew about the re-export industry. From the looks of it, she really didn’t know.
Lin Man must think this money can be earned just by lying down.
No wonder she’s so extravagant with money.
"..." Lin Man was so furious she almost turned green. She didn’t think she would be practically choked to death by Tong Yao, who she’d come prepared for.
With Shi Yan’s affairs weighing on her mind, she didn’t have the mood to argue with Tong Yao any longer. She turned around to leave, but Deng Wenwen stopped her.
"Your milk tea is ready."
"Throw it away! I’m afraid you’ve poisoned it." Lin Man never intended to drink it. She ordered the milk tea before to humiliate Tong Yao.
"Even if you don’t drink it, you have to pay." Tong Yao said.
Lin Man sneered, "How much?"
Tong Yao stretched out five fingers, "Five yuan."
Lin Man glared at Tong Yao, "Are you insane from poverty?"
Five yuan for a cup of milk tea, why doesn’t Tong Yao just rob people?
"If you can’t afford it, then you don’t have to pay." Tong Yao turned around and walked away towards the counter.
"Tong Yao, you don’t have to provoke me with words. I can afford five yuan. Just take this five yuan and wait for your shop to close! This will be the last cup of milk tea your shop will ever sell." Lin Man took out five coins from her bag, scattered them on the ground, and walked away.
Deng Wenwen was livid from Lin Man’s behaviors. Still, money on the ground was like money from the sky, she hurried over to pick up all the money, "Sister Yaoyao, you are so amazing. Not only did you piss Lin Man off, but you also made money. Although Lin Man is very annoying, the money smells good."
"The money is what you earned. Keep it! Treat it as a bonus." Tong Yao said with a smile.
"Thank you, Sister Yaoyao." Deng Wenwen wasn’t shy at all, happily pocketing the money.
