Hearing those words, Ning Xin’s anger flared up instantly. She was absolutely furious!
So this woman was deliberately poking at their most vulnerable spot!
Bullying an elderly woman who was home alone, constantly bringing up her deceased son, stabbing those words right into her heart?
“Shut your mouth!”
Ning Xin rushed over, shoved the woman aside, and positioned herself between her and Old Madam Ning. “Who are you? What kind of mangy mutt came crawling in here? What the hell are you yapping about in our house? Get out!”
Her words nearly infuriated Li Cuihua to death!
“Who are you cursing? Who are you calling a mangy mutt? Ning Xin, do you have any sense of how a girl should behave? Can’t you talk properly?”
“I’m talking about a mutt! Whoever bullies my grandmother is a mangy mutt! I talk to people. Who would talk to a mutt? You don’t talk to a mutt, you hit it with a stick!”
With that, Ning Xin looked around, reached out, and grabbed the mop handle leaning against the wall by the side.
Ning Yi got there first and grabbed the mop, then stepped in front of her, trying to shield both her and their grandmother behind him.
But before Ning Yi could even say a word, Ning Xin snatched the stick from him and pushed him aside.
“Brother, move! It’s just dealing with a mutt, I don’t need you for this!”
By now, Ning Xin had already figured it out. Regardless of who this woman was or whether someone had instigated her, she had come prepared today.
Otherwise, why would she have brought so much luggage?
At a time like this, reasoning with her was completely useless. This woman was using their deceased father to pressure the family, how could any amount of reasoning settle that?
A few more words and Grandma would probably start crying!
Besides, this woman had clearly come to take advantage of them. What was the point of reasoning with someone like that?
At this moment, talking was futile. There was only one thing to do, fight back!
Fight hard enough to scare her off, and the problem would be solved!
If it had been a man standing there, Ning Xin definitely wouldn’t have taken the lead, that would be Ning Yi’s job.
But the person in front of her right now was a woman.
Ning Xin had no intention of giving this woman an opportunity to exploit the situation and play the victim in their own yard.
So Ning Yi couldn’t step in for this, she had to confront the woman herself.
Ning Yi, pushed aside by his sister, tried to move forward again but was stopped by Ning Xin’s stern glare.
He was fuming, breathing heavily, but managed to hold onto the last shred of his rationality and refrained from acting impulsively.
Clenching his teeth, Ning Yi looked at the woman and said, “Sister Li, no one in our family has provoked you. What are you doing, causing a scene at our house so early in the morning? And bringing our father into this, what, do you think just because you throw a tantrum, I can’t do anything about it?”
Seeing that the siblings were giving no ground and showing no sign of backing down, Li Cuihua grew anxious.
She plopped herself down on the ground, slapped her thigh, and wailed, “Everyone come and see! The Ning family is being unreasonable! Back then, Master Ning himself saw how difficult my family’s situation was and offered to let us move here temporarily. How can they just block us at the door?! Oh, Master Ning was such a good man, how did he end up raising two such ungrateful little bastards!”
Seeing her about to continue her wailing, Ning Xin didn’t say a word. She swung the stick down hard!
Li Cuihua clearly never expected her to actually strike. She was still immersed in her own performance, still dragging out her tune like an opera singer playing to the crowd.
Then she heard a whoosh of wind. The moment she looked up, the mop handle in Ning Xin’s hand came crashing down hard on her shoulder!
Li Cuihua was momentarily stunned senseless by the pain.
Her face twisted.
It took a good ten seconds for her to register what had happened. Then she let out a piercing shriek, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“You little bastard hit me! Oh, Mom, it hurts so much! Everyone saw that, right? They won’t let people live, she’s trying to beat me to death!”
“If you can’t live, then go die! Brother, stop wasting words with her. Call the police!”
Ning Xin stepped forward again and pressed the stick against Li Cuihua’s chest.
Then she looked into the woman’s eyes and said, word by word, with fierce intensity: “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if someone put you up to this or if you came up with this nasty scheme yourself, thinking you could take advantage of us because there are so few of us. I’m telling you right now, you can forget it! Whether it’s you or anyone else, forget it!
Don’t bring my father into this. My father is dead. In this house, my brother and I are the ones in charge. Whatever he supposedly said, unless he stood right in front of me and said it to my face, I don’t acknowledge it!
If you’re unhappy about that, if you feel wronged, go ahead and slit your throat. Go down to the underworld and complain to my father that I didn’t listen to him. Let him come find me.
Everyone on this street knows how much my father doted on me. Go ahead and complain, I’m not afraid. A conniving, scheming mutt like you, I’ll hit you while you’re alive. And if you go to the underworld, when my father finds out you bullied me, he’ll beat you so badly you’ll be picking your teeth off the ground!”
After saying this, Ning Xin didn’t give anyone listening a moment to process her words. She raised the mop handle high again and, without the slightest hesitation, brought it down hard on Li Cuihua once more.
“Oh my God! This crazy girl has lost her mind!”
This time, Li Cuihua didn’t stay sitting on the ground. She scrambled to her feet and fled outside, crawling and scrambling as fast as she could. Just moments ago, she had been carrying on as if at death’s door, now she was running like the wind. In the blink of an eye, she had reached the screen wall.
But her face was streaked with tears and snot, her hair was messy, her legs and backside were covered in dirt, and there were mop handle marks on her shoulder. She looked utterly pathetic.
Yet at that moment, no one could bring themselves to laugh.
The courtyard was deathly quiet.
Everyone stood there dumbfounded, staring at Ning Xin, one hand on her hip, the other gripping the mop handle tightly, with looks of sheer shock.
They all felt as if they were dreaming and hadn’t woken up yet.
Was this really the same delicate, pampered little girl whom Master Ning had protected like the apple of his eye?
Ning Xin didn’t spare Li Cuihua another glance. She simply instructed her brother, “Brother, throw her things out. Don’t let them take up space in our house. Also, go find Brother Xiao Li and file a report. Say this person trespassed into our home and scared Grandma. Ask what the legal procedure is for handling this.”
With that, she ignored Ning Yi entirely. Turning around, she wrapped her arms around Old Madam Ning and gently soothed her, saying softly, “Grandma, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”
But only then did she notice that her grandmother’s gaze was vacant and her entire body was trembling violently.
“What did you do to my grandmother? How did you frighten her? Don’t run, you explain yourself to me!”
Seeing her grandmother in this state, Ning Xin flew into a rage. She pushed the old lady into her brother’s arms and charged after Li Cuihua.
“Help! Murder!”
Seeing Ning Xin’s eyes turn red, Li Cuihua was genuinely terrified now. Pushing through the crowd, she shrieked and ran for her life, abandoning all her bags and bundles.
“Xiao Xin, don’t be angry. Don’t get upset over someone like that.”
“Xiao Xin, ignore her. Li Cuihua is just someone who likes to take advantage of others. She doesn’t have any real ability.”
The neighbors quickly stepped in to stop Ning Xin, coaxing and comforting her.
Ning Yi also wanted to come over and calm his sister down, but he was worried about their grandmother in his arms.
Just as he was caught in a dilemma, Old Madam Ning had already come back to her senses.
She let out a sob, then suddenly pushed her grandson away, looked up at the sky, and cried out loudly, “Chengwen! My second son! How could you be so cruel? Leaving your two children behind and just going away like that? Do you know they’ve been bullied right at our doorstep? You unfilial child! How could you abandon us, the old and the young like this?”
The old lady wailed and wept, her voice shrill and anguished.
It was as if she wanted to pour out all the bitterness she had been holding in her heart all at once.
Ning Xin stopped chasing after Li Cuihua and turned back to embrace her grandmother, letting the old lady cry on her shoulder until tears and snot soaked through.
Only when Old Madam Ning’s sobs began to subside did Ning Xin hold her shoulders tighter and comfort her, saying, “Grandma, don’t cry anymore. We’re all here! As long as my brother and I are around, no one will ever bully you again, and no one will ever bully our family!”
Ning Xin’s voice wasn’t loud, but her tone was resolute.
She stood there, her small, thin frame holding tightly onto her white-haired grandmother.
She looked so frail and vulnerable.
And yet, what had just happened was still fresh in everyone’s minds. At this moment, no one could doubt the credibility of Ning Xin’s words.
The crowd silently watched the three generations of the Ning family, and without realizing it, a hint of respect crept into their eyes.
At the doorway of a house two doors down from the Ning family, Leng Hui stood in the shadows of a corner, secretly watching everything.
Staring at Ning Xin’s straight, unyielding back, Leng Hui’s heart sank almost to the bottom.
She could hardly believe what she had just witnessed, but the scattered bundles that had been thrown out of the Ning family home were still lying there.
Everything served as a constant reminder to Leng Hui, the course of life had changed. Nothing was as she had expected.
Hu Yuanping and his wife only learned about what had happened after they returned.
Since the Ning siblings had agreed to go to the housing authority that day and might not make it back in time to cook lunch, Hu Yuanping and Zhuang Wenxia had decided to take the opportunity to tour Xinnan.
After all, they had been there for nearly ten days without going out together, and Xinnan was a nationally renowned scenic city.
But they never imagined that in the short time they were out, such a major incident would occur at the Ning household!
After learning the full story, Hu Yuanping’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a blackened pot.
He took out a pen and paper, wrote down a phone number, and handed it to Ning Yi. “This is your Uncle Shi’s phone number. Go give him a call and tell him exactly what happened in your house today.”
Hu Yuanping’s voice was calm, and his tone carried no obvious fluctuation, but everyone present could clearly sense that he was angry.
When Shi Zhengyi received Ning Yi’s call, he was just about to head out.
He was holding the test report that had just been submitted by the Academy of Sciences. Although he tried to suppress his excitement, the joy on his face was impossible to hide.
The academy’s report stated that an active substance had been detected in both the soil samples and the flower stems and leaves that had been tested.
What exactly the substance was had not yet been determined, but what was clear so far was that these substances were very helpful in boosting the human body’s resistance and promoting the body’s absorption of medicinal components.
Furthermore, through repeated testing, they had confirmed what Ning Xin had said, the longer these active substances were away from their native soil, the weaker their activity became.
This also indicated that these substances were only suitable for local use and could not be easily moved elsewhere.
This news was absolutely wonderful!
Even better than knowing the soil contained active substances!
This meant that this feng shui treasure site could only remain in Xinnan and could only contribute to Xinnan’s development!
Just thinking about it made Shi Zhengyi so happy he could have thrown his head back and laughed out loud.
At that moment, all he wanted was to rush to the Ning household as quickly as possible and share this good news with his old superior.
But right then, he received Ning Yi’s call.
After hearing what had happened at the Ning home today, Shi Zhengyi became even more furious than Hu Yuanping!
Hu Yuanping was worried because he was about to leave and felt uneasy about the Ning family, the old and the young. Shi Zhengyi’s anger, on the other hand, was more a matter of shame and humiliation. He felt his face burning with embarrassment.
Just the day before, he had promised Ning Xin that as long as he was in Xinnan, no one would ever set their sights on their house.
And now, not even a day had passed! This was a blatant slap in Shi Zhengyi’s face!
Although Shi Zhengyi knew that such small frictions between neighbors were hard to completely avoid, the timing of this incident couldn’t have been worse!
He made a phone call with a grim expression, then left his office only after hanging up.
By the time Shi Zhengyi arrived at the Ning household, the family had just finished lunch.
As he entered, Shi Zhengyi’s stern expression from earlier vanished, replaced by a warm and amiable smile.
He looked at Ning Xin. “Xiao Ning, you’ve finished the transfer procedures, haven’t you? When are you planning to open the medicinal kitchen? Name a day in the coming days, and I’ll have someone take you to get your business license sorted out. The sooner you finish the paperwork, the sooner you can start operating. Uncle is waiting to toast your opening!”
“It might still be a while. There are some things I still need to prepare. Uncle Shi, thank you for all your help. When the time comes, I’ll definitely invite you to have some fine wine! By the way, Uncle Shi, would you do us the honor of cutting the ribbon at the opening of our medicinal kitchen?”
Ning Xin could naturally tell that Shi Zhengyi’s effusive words the moment he walked in were a clear gesture of goodwill toward her. Given that he was both older and a leader, how could she not accept his kind intentions?
Besides, Ning Xin didn’t feel that Li Cuihua showing up at her door today had anything to do with Secretary Shi. Uncle Hu could displace his anger, but what right did she have to do the same?
“Haha! That’s a must! Uncle will definitely come. Xiao Xin, are you planning to invite anyone else to cut the ribbon? If you want a livelier event, how about I invite Director Liu from the Municipal Bureau, Director Zhang from the District Management Committee, and Director Zhao from the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce to come as well?”
“Alright now, she’s just a child opening a small restaurant. Why are you trying to bring so many people? Xiao Ning is all alone, she hasn’t even found a helper yet. Don’t make things too big for her.”
Hu Yuanping spoke up to stop Shi Zhengyi from continuing.
Hu Yuanping knew the Party Secretary of Xinnan quite well, they had worked together for a period of time before. He knew that Shi Zhengyi wasn’t usually such a talkative person, nor did he particularly enjoy lively occasions.
On the contrary, he was typically quite low-key.
This must be the result of the phone call he had asked Ning Yi to make. This fellow was using this approach to show him that he would indeed take good care of the family.
Thinking of this, Hu Yuanping’s expression softened considerably.
“Did you rush over here because the academy has results?”
“Yes! Ah, Minister, let me tell you…”
Hu Yuanping’s question had hit Shi Zhengyi’s sweet spot. His face lit up with excitement, and he looked as if he had aged several years younger.
He took the test report out of his briefcase and, paraphrasing what the experts had explained to him, relayed the entire account.
After finishing, he looked at Ning Xin again. “Xiao Ning, have you decided which rooms you’ll set aside for recuperation stays? If you need any coordination from my side, just say the word.
Although we haven’t received feedback from Secretary Lin yet, we can start making preparations on the municipal level. Do you need me to find a construction crew to help renovate the house? I noticed some of the roof tiles are broken.”
Ning Xin thought for a moment and shook her head.
“Uncle Shi, thank you, but for now, I don’t want to expand things too much. I want to focus my energy on getting the medicinal kitchen open and doing it well. Once that’s stable, I’ll move on to other things. Otherwise, I won’t be able to manage everything on my own.”
“That works too. You’re right, do one thing and do it well! Xiao Ning, I’m not just praising you, but you really have a good head on your shoulders. Uncle won’t interfere with your plans. Go ahead and follow your own ideas. But if you need anything, you must let me know.”
Shi Zhengyi’s earlier suggestions were more about signaling his attitude.
After all, regarding the medicinal kitchen, the higher-ups hadn’t yet given specific directions, how it would be handled, how big the scope would be, none of that had been discussed in any meeting. It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to make decisions on his own.
Since Ning Xin had said this, he naturally agreed.
After these matters were settled, the two leaders stayed in the room to discuss work, and Ning Xin stepped out.
Although she had appeared calm just now, Secretary Shi’s words had still given her a sense of urgency.
“Brother, what are you doing this afternoon?”
Ning Xin went straight to Ning Yi’s room and asked bluntly as soon as she entered.
Ning Yi looked at her. “What do you want me to do?”
Ning Xin grinned. “I want you to come with me to clear out the storage room and see if there’s anything useful in there. Also, let’s go through the tables and chairs we bought earlier. Check if any have broken legs or missing corners, and we can repair them.”
Ning Yi glanced at her sideways. “We can clear out the storage room together. As for the tables and chairs, wait until Shaonian gets off work. I’ll go get him, and we’ll work on them together. You talk as if you actually know carpentry. Don’t make a mess, just tell us how you want things arranged.”
Ning Xin wasn’t upset at being called out by her brother.
When he asked how she wanted things done, she immediately said without ceremony, “Brother, go buy a can of paint, choose a nice color. Use it to touch up the paint on the tables and chairs. As for the rest, we’ll decide when we see it.”
Ning Xin had many ideas about how to decorate the house. But having ideas was one thing, she knew the likelihood of realizing them was slim.
In this era of a planned economy, where everything required ration coupons, even buying a can of paint was a luxury. She didn’t even dare specify a color.
No matter how many brilliant ideas she had, what could she actually pull off?
She would have to start with the simplest approach, slowly get the restaurant up and running, and then find opportunities to add things bit by bit.
This was Ning Xin’s second time in the family’s storage room.
The first time had been at night, when she had gone with her grandmother for a quick look and hadn’t seen much of anything.
She knew it was filled with various boxes, but what was inside them, neither sibling had any memory.
Today, they opened the door and began opening all the boxes one by one.
After seeing what was inside, Ning Xin nearly jumped for joy!
She had truly had no idea that inside these large and small boxes were all the things needed to run a restaurant!
Steamers, woks, kitchen knives, cleavers, curtains, tablecloths, boxes upon boxes of cups and bowls, stacks of bamboo chopsticks, napkins…
For a moment, Ning Xin felt as if she might be knocked unconscious by the overwhelming wave of happiness!
She excitedly grabbed Ning Yi’s arm, bouncing up and down like she had springs on her feet, unable to control herself, while shaking his sleeve vigorously.
She kept shouting, over and over, “Brother! Brother! Dad left this behind! All of this is for running a restaurant!”
Ning Yi hadn’t seen his sister act so childlike in a long time.
Looking at Ning Xin’s eyes, shining like gems, his heart ached with a mixture of sorrow and tenderness.
He reached out and ruffled his sister’s hair, responding loudly, “Yes, this was all left by Dad, left for our Xiao Xin to open her restaurant. It’s all for our Xiao Xin!”
These items were clearly of excellent quality. Without much thought, the siblings understood: when the house was returned, the state must have also returned the household belongings that Ning’s father had originally stored there.
It was just that back then, Ning Yi was still in the countryside, and Ning Xin simply hadn’t cared about such things. That was why neither of them had known.
Looking at these treasures that seemed to have fallen from the sky, Ning Xin felt as if she possessed the whole world.
For the rest of the afternoon, she floated about in a daze, as if walking on clouds, grinning from ear to ear and instinctively giving anyone she saw a silly smile.
It worried Ning Yi to death.
He was afraid his sister might go mad with joy.
After helping his sister move everything out of the storage room so she could sort through it slowly, Ning Yi rode his bike to the grain store.
He and Xu Shaonian had recently closed a big deal, securing several truckloads of fine grains for the city’s Shanghe Hotel, and both of them had made a good amount of money.
So, after confirming that they were going to the housing authority today, Ning Yi had gone to ask Xu Shaonian for time off.
Xu Shaonian had readily agreed and said he also wanted to take a few days off and wouldn’t be going up to the mountains for a while.
Ning Yi knew that whenever Xu Shaonian took a break, he would spend his time visiting his sisters on the east side of the city.
Normally, he wouldn’t dream of bothering him at a time like this.
But today, seeing his sister so overjoyed, Ning Yi really wanted to do something more for her.
He knew Ning Xin was eager to open the medicinal kitchen as soon as possible. After thinking it over for a while, he decided to swallow his pride and go ask Xu Shaonian for help.
This time, however, Xu Shaonian didn’t agree readily. He hesitated for a moment and said, “I can come, but I’ll have to bring Xiao An. She came over today, and she’ll probably be staying with me for a few days.”
Xu Xiao’an was Xu Shaonian’s younger sister, fourteen years old.
Back when the Xu family parents fell into disgrace and were sent to the countryside for labor reform, she had been only six.
That year, for the entire Xu family, it was as if the sky had fallen and the earth had split apart.
Xu Shaonian’s father, Xu Guoping, had fallen out of favor with those in power. Overnight, he was toppled and sent to a labor farm along with his wife.
The family home was confiscated. Xu Shaonian, barely sixteen, was deemed a child who could be educated and was sent to the most arduous place to receive re-education from the peasant masses, only days after his parents.
Only the eldest sister, Xu Xiaowan, then eighteen, and the youngest sister, Xu Xiao’an, under six, were left in the city.
The two girls didn’t even have a home. They had to beg relatives and friends for a place to stay, living in constant fear and uncertainty.
Because of this, Xu Xiaowan decided to get married as quickly as possible.
When choosing a partner, her first requirement was that she would bring her younger sister with her into the marriage.
Xu Xiaowan had grown up in a cadre family, in a simple and privileged environment, as delicate and beautiful as a flower.
To the eligible young men of Xinnan, she was a fairy from the heavens, someone to be admired from afar, never to be defiled.
When word spread that she was ready to marry, even with the condition that she would bring her sister, the young men in that circle went absolutely wild!
They flocked to her.
Xu Xiaowan didn’t sell herself short just because of her temporary misfortune. After careful consideration, she chose Zhao Lin, who was considered outstanding among his peers.
Compared to the other men Xu Xiaowan had met, Zhao Lin might have fallen a bit short, but in Xinnan, his circumstances were already quite favorable.
Zhao Lin’s father was a minor leader in the district, his mother was the union chairwoman at the textile factory. Zhao Lin himself worked as a propaganda officer at the factory, he came from a cadre family too.
Most importantly, he was an only son with just one younger sister. He was extremely pampered at home and accustomed to getting his way.
Just as when he proposed marrying Xu Xiaowan and bringing Xu Xiao’an into the household to raise, the Zhao parents, no matter how uncomfortable they felt inside, never showed it.
Over the years, Xiao’an had lived with her sister in the Zhao household, eight years in total.
Nothing major had gone wrong.
After Xu Shaonian returned from the countryside, he also thought about taking his sister, who had been living under someone else’s roof, back. But because his parents’ situations hadn’t been rehabilitated and the family house hadn’t been returned, he could only rent a place himself.
In Xinnan, renting a house wasn’t just about having money, you also needed a bit of luck.
And Xu Shaonian clearly fell into the unlucky category. He had been back for a year, had even secured a job with the help of his parents’ old friends, but he still hadn’t found a suitable place to live.
Ning Yi knew that Xu Shaonian was currently renting a makeshift partitioned space under a staircase, an illegal construction. That room was so small that even he could barely turn over in it. If Xiao’an came, how would they possibly share the space?
Sensing Ning Yi’s confusion, Xu Shaonian explained, “I’ve applied for the night shift the next couple of days. I’ll look for a place during the day.”
Hearing this, Ning Yi frowned and asked tentatively, “Did Xiao’an have another fight with the Zhao family? Was it with Zhao Lin’s sister?”
Xu Shaonian neither confirmed nor denied it. He proactively changed the subject. “Xiao’an is eating at a place on the main street ahead. Since we have to go there to buy paint anyway, why don’t we head over directly?”
Ning Yi certainly had no objection.
After Ning Yi left, Ning Xin wasn’t in a hurry. She took a soft, clean cloth and began wiping the dishes in each box, one by one.
As she wiped, she mentally planned how to use these things.
When she came to a wooden box, she was drawn to a greaseproof paper package tucked at the bottom.
Her heart suddenly leaped, and her eyes widened slightly.
A thought popped into her mind, could this be the recipe book from the original story that Ning Yi had given away to someone?
The thought was irresistible once it surfaced. Carefully, Ning Xin took out the greaseproof paper package.
She tore open the paper and saw a hardcover notebook.
The cover was black. Judging by how many times its original owner must have handled it, the cover and spine were worn and frayed, looking somewhat aged and tattered.
But the notebook was neatly wrapped, showing just how much its previous owner had treasured it.
Ning Xin opened the notebook. The first thing that caught her eye was a page of handwriting that looked like that of a first-grader just learning to write, and in traditional Chinese characters at that.
She was a bit confused.
Her first reaction was to close the notebook and check the cover again, afraid she might have picked up some elementary school student’s practice book.
But the cover revealed nothing.
She opened it again and carefully read the contents. This time, a sense of admiration welled up from within.
The first page recorded the differences between various vegetables and the methods for washing them.
Flipping further, page by page, it recorded the characteristics of different ingredients, how to distinguish them, and how to select them…
Ning Xin realized that this must be the notebook Ning’s father had secretly kept while working as an apprentice away from home.
How many people in this world achieve success so effortlessly?
Her grandmother had once said that her father had gone to apprentice in another place with an older fellow villager. In the end, the other person was eliminated, but he was kept.
Surely, it was because of this kind of diligence and earnestness.
As she went further, the handwriting in the notebook became more practiced, showing that the recorder’s skills had improved rapidly across various aspects.
By the second half of the notebook, there were no more basic cooking notes. Instead, it contained various snack-making methods that Ning’s father had either collected or created himself.
Ning Xin looked through them and noticed that Ning’s father’s culinary specialty leaned toward light refreshments, primarily various flavored pastries and staple foods.
This was understandable.
The era in which Ning’s father ran his restaurant was originally a turbulent one. He had no family legacy to speak of, not even much capital. How could he have afforded to open some fancy, upscale restaurant?
All he could open was the most basic small eatery serving ordinary folks.
A small eatery didn’t necessarily earn less money. By being willing to work hard, invest in quality ingredients, and pursue small profits with quick turnover, one could still win people’s favor.
It could be said that Ning’s father’s choice back then was quite appropriate.
Looking at the methods and techniques for making those specialty snacks recorded in the notebook, Ning Xin felt as if many things had suddenly become clear.
She felt she had learned something.
Now, she was even more certain that this was the family recipe book her father had left behind, the very one that, in the original story, Ning Yi had foolishly and carelessly given away to someone else.
Looking at the large and small boxes before her, and then at the recipe book in her hands, Ning Xin felt an indescribable mix of emotions.
She couldn’t help but feel that the original author had truly loved Leng Hui, more than a real mother would.
To ensure Leng Hui’s success, the author had stopped at nothing, preparing everything possible for her.
But now that Ning Xin had arrived and intercepted all these things—
Would Leng Hui still be so fortunate in the future?
Without the original author’s favor, would she still thrive as effortlessly?
At this thought, Ning Xin felt an inexplicable sense of schadenfreude, a malicious joy.
She didn’t think her thoughts were dark. It was simply that the more she knew, the more her inner discontent grew.
If someone worked hard and became wealthy on their own merit, no one could say a thing.
But if that wealth was accumulated through plundering others, by taking what originally belonged to someone else, then having it taken back was only deserved, and there was no reason to feel wronged.