But it made no difference.
Jiang Liu hung up.
CHIME. CHIME.
Messages came through on WeChat.
Yang Yixue: "Jiang Liu, whatâs the meaning of this?? Why did you block my momâs number? Say something!"
Yang Yixue: "I never realized you were this kind of person. So youâve made a little money, and now you donât even respect my mother??"
Yang Yixue: "Not talking? Fine! I wonât hold it against you for blocking my mom. As Tongtongâs mother, I miss my daughter. Bring Tongtong to see me tonight. The three of us can have a little reunion, go out for dinner, and see a movie."
ăJust this morning.ă
While Yang Yixue and Li Xiaoyan were having breakfast,
Yixue told her mother her theory: that Jiang Liu had opened a restaurant and was possibly making 50,000 yuan a day.
Li Xiaoyan was stunned on the spot. Her crossed eyes nearly went straight from the shock.
She did the math on her phoneâs calculator and was even more horrified.
Fifty thousand a day... wouldnât that be one or two million a month??
This was a huge deal.
An idea immediately sparked in Li Xiaoyanâs mind.
Jiang Liuâs restaurant was making so much money. If they could just get him to agree to hand over the management rights to her and her daughter...
With their business acumen, they could raise the prices, run some ads... theyâd make an absolute killing!
To be honest,
after sorting through potential new sons-in-law for the past few days and now discovering how much money Jiang Liu was making,
Li Xiaoyan suddenly felt that Jiang Liu was a pretty good match for her daughter after all.
Besides, they needed Jiang Liu for certain things.
For example, ever since Jiang Liu was gone,
the house was always a mess. With no one to clean up, the mother-daughter duo had turned the place into a pigsty.
They had also lost their free laborer.
They could only order takeout.
Moreover,
in Li Xiaoyanâs eyes, Jiang Liu had a good personality. As long as she humbled herself, apologized, and had a little chat, he would surely come crawling back to remarry her daughter.
After all, her daughter was one in a million!
And once they remarried, wouldnât she be able to control him however she pleased?
Jiang Liu scoffed and replied to Yang Yixueâs message.
Jiang Liu: "First of all, let me make one thing clear. Donât come to me talking about blocking your mom or respecting her. Weâre strangers now. Thereâs nothing wrong with me blocking someone who has nothing to do with me, is there?"
Jiang Liu: "Also, about you wanting to see Tongtongâsorry, but I canât make that decision. Today isnât a visitation day. As her mother, if you want to see her, I can ask for her opinion. If she agrees, then you can see her."
âThis mother and daughter must be living in a dream world. Weâre divorced, and they still think they can boss me around? Theyâre completely insane.â
When Yang Yixue finished reading the message,
her vision went dark. The pleasant-looking potted plant on her desk suddenly seemed nauseating.
She nearly fainted from the sharp sting of Jiang Liuâs words.
But on second thought, her motherâs past behavior had indeed been excessive.
She had seen it all but had never stopped her.
Yang Yixue took a deep breath to suppress her frustration, then typed and sent a message.
"I know you have a bad impression of my mom. Iâm sorry; I apologize to you on her behalf. But the past is the past. My mom recognizes her mistakes now, so donât hold a grudge. Youâre a grown man, thereâs no need to stoop to the level of an old woman."
"I hope you can think more about our daughter. Tongtong is still young, and a broken family can have a severe psychological impact on a child. As her mother, Iâm very worried. Canât you just bring Tongtong to have dinner and chat with me, her mother? Iâm reminding you, Tongtongâs mental health is paramount!"
After reading the message,
Jiang Liu actually laughed.
He replied: "Iâve already made myself clear about your mother. She and I are strangers. Can you please not let her bother me?"
He then retorted bluntly: "Besides, where were you when we were getting divorced? And who the hell are you to act all concerned now?"
"If thereâs nothing else, donât bother the two of us. Tongtong and I are doing great. We donât need your concern."
After replying, Jiang Liu put his phone on silent.
If it werenât for the issue of Tongtongâs visitation rights,
he wouldnât have wasted a single minute on this mother-daughter pair.
He glanced at the time: one-thirty.
Jiang Liu grabbed his car keys from the counter, planning to go home and rest until three.
Heâd deal with the ingredients after his break.
ăMeanwhile.ă
Yang Yixue stared at the words Jiang Liu had spewed at her.
Her face was a mixture of disbelief and fury.
"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"
Back when they were married, he had been so good to her every day.
Not only did he satisfy her in bed,
he would also make her hangover soup and loving breakfasts.
And now he was actually calling her a piece of shit??
Even though she was furious, upset, and heartbroken,
Yang Yixue still wanted to get back together with Jiang Liu.
In fact, the thought was growing stronger.
âI never should have divorced Jiang Liu. Things would have been so much better by now.â
Yang Yixue rested her arms on the desk, covering her forehead in regret.
Her phone rang.
Yang Yixue immediately unlocked her iPhone.
It wasnât from Jiang Liu. It was from Li Xiaoyan.
Disappointed, Yang Yixue opened it.
Li Xiaoyan: "Honey, did you chew Jiang Liu out for me?"
"Did he agree to meet? When the time comes, a simple remarriage ceremony will be fine."
"If you ask me, heâs getting bolder and bolder. He even dared to block his own mother-in-law. Once you two get back together, Iâll have to whip him into shape!"
Yang Yixue replied angrily: "Chew him out for what? Remarry who? Jiang Liu wonât even agree to meet me now!"
Li Xiaoyanâs reply was cold: "How dare he! Youâre Tongtongâs mother. What reason does he have not to meet?"
Li Xiaoyan: "Give him an ultimatum right now. Tell him he has ten minutes to unblock my number. That boy is getting more and more out of line."
Yang Yixue was extremely frustrated. "Heâs already mad at you!"
"How could you say those things about his parents right to his face? Do you have any idea how awful that was?"
"Jiang Liu is holding a grudge because of what you did, and youâre still here bossing me around. Can you just shut up for a minute?"
Yang Yixue never thought she herself was the problem. In her eyes, her mother had just been too unreasonable.
Li Xiaoyanâs temper flared. "How is this my fault? Werenât you the one who said Jiang Liu was poor and spineless? Werenât you the one who wanted to trade up?"
"And now youâre telling me this? If you hadnât wanted a new husband, would I have said those things to his face? I was just trying to help you two separate faster!"
Yang Yixue felt both wronged and regretful. "But did you have to talk about his parents? Now heâs holding a grudge because of what you said about them, and heâs being incredibly rude to your daughter!!"
Even now,
the two of them were still shifting the blame.
Both felt it was the otherâs fault.
They even traced the cause of the problem back to Jiang Liuâs parents.
It never occurred to them that the hurt they had caused Jiang Liu and Tongtong was the real issue.
Li Xiaoyan rubbed her temples. "Alright, how about this? Letâs not argue. Iâll get a new number and call Jiang Liu to apologize. That should work, right?"
Yang Yixue replied through gritted teeth: "Heâs already mad and holding a grudge. You think an apology will work? If apologies were so effective, everyone would be an expert in apologizing by now!"