The old president also thought that Old Lady Xia was being unreasonable: “Lady Xia, what’s with all this fuss for no reason?”

Old Lady Xia, enraged by his support for Jin Yaotiao, nearly fainted from anger.

She slammed her cane and shouted Jin’s father’s name: “Jin Wencheng! Good! Good! You really are something, raising a daughter who lacks manners and speaks to me like this!”

Jin’s father wasn’t too bothered by the insults aimed at him, but when his daughter was scolded, he couldn’t hold back anymore and replied in a deep voice, “Lady Xia, please speak more politely. Our families have no relationship to speak of.”

He had already distanced himself from the Shang family, so Lady Xia could no longer claim to be his teacher’s wife.

Lady Xia pointed a trembling finger at him, and after a few moments of shaking with rage, she sneered, “Hah! You speak so righteously. If you had the ability, why don’t you stop taking advantage of the Shang family’s resources? You’ve benefited from us, yet you still have the nerve to speak so arrogantly?”

Shang Rong was fed up: “Enough! Stop talking!”

Upon hearing this, the surrounding people immediately felt there was more to the story.

They knew that the Shang family disliked Mingde, but didn’t understand why.

Whenever the Xia family spoke of it, they were vague. Could it be that Mingde really took advantage of the Shang family in some way?

Jin Yao Tiao found the old lady to be utterly irrational: “Clarify yourself, who has taken advantage of you?”

Old Lady Xia snorted coldly, looking at her with a half-smile: “Still so stubborn? Let me ask you, where do you think Mingde’s new stores are coming from? Want me to tell you?”

Jin Yao Tiao: “…Please go ahead.”

Old Lady Xia, seeing that Jin Yaotiao didn’t seem even the slightest bit embarrassed, became even more furious: “Don’t pretend you don’t know how you tricked the old man’s apprentices. All those connections were from the Shang family! All that money came from the Shang family!”

Jin Yaotiao: “???”

Not just her, but everyone around was left speechless.

What was this old lady even talking about?

Old president Lu, standing nearby, gave her a look that said, “Are you out of your mind?”: “Lady Xia, the funds for Mingde’s new branches came from company financing, from shareholders’ money. What does the Shang family have to do with it?”

Shang Rong suddenly looked up.

Old Lady Xia was stunned: “Financing? When did Mingde get financing?”

The old president, now a bit impatient, replied: “This year, they secured it. It hasn’t been publicly announced yet, but we’ve been talking about it in the venue just now. It will be officially announced after the New Year.”

Old Lady Xia stood there, dumbfounded.

Her earlier remarks were so absurd that even a few association members who had remained silent up until then couldn’t help but comment:

“Alright, Lady Xia, now you’re really just making a scene.”

Jin Yaotiao, confused about this old lady’s logic and unsure of what was going on with the Shang family, had had enough of the baseless accusations.

Seeing the situation unfold, she turned her gaze away in annoyance and said to her father and the people around her: “Let’s go, this is ridiculous.”

Jin’s father, still with a serious expression, didn’t even look at Shang Rong.

The old president shook his head: “Really getting old and muddled.”

---

Old Lady Xia never imagined that the financial situation with Mingde, which she had assumed was the truth for so long, would turn out to be a complete misunderstanding.

Trying to expose Mingde in front of everyone ended up backfiring and she ended up embarrassing herself.

She was so ashamed that she wished she could just disappear into a hole in the ground. Shang Rong, even more mortified, snapped at his mother: “Why did you bring this up in public?”

Xia Ren, suddenly realizing something, awkwardly said, “Doesn’t this mean we’ve wronged the second master and the others?”

Old Lady Xia recalled the harsh things she had said earlier and felt complicated emotions.

Xia Ren asked, “Should we apologize to the second master and the others?”

Old Lady Xia shot him a glare, still angry: “They didn’t say anything themselves, so why should I apologize?”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “I’ll send them a bonus in a few days as compensation.”

There was no precedent for a teacher’s wife apologizing to their apprentices.

But before she could send the money, Xia Ren received a phone call from his spies, telling him that Ma Le and several others had left the Shang family and gone to Mingde.

Xia Ren was shocked and immediately reported it to Shang Rong and Old Lady Xia.

Old Lady Xia, who had been fixated on her public failure in the association, was even more furious upon hearing this. Not only had she failed to expose Mingde’s true nature, but the old president’s distancing from the Jin family made her look unreasonable.

Hearing the news, she was even more furious, not knowing what to do next.

She was itching to confront her apprentices but was restrained by the need to maintain stability within the Shang family. Her son, however, wouldn’t allow it.

Lady Xia, now armed with concrete evidence that her key apprentice had colluded with Mingde, couldn’t contain her rage: “The money thing is nonsense, but recruiting our people is real, right? They really know how to act innocent, making it look like we’re the ones in the wrong. If we hadn’t planted people with the second master, we wouldn’t even know about it!”

Shang Rong, scanning the list from his spies, looked conflicted: “I really thought he didn’t have any intentions towards the Shang family.”

Lady Xia, filled with both rage and a sense of vindication, muttered to herself, “You believe that? His hands are in everything, directly stealing our people.”

Xia Ren, worried, said, “I really can’t do anything this time. Ma Le and the others willingly left, and even if we went to court, we couldn’t win. Now that Mingde’s part of the association, if we take action against him, it’ll break the rules, and the president won’t stand by idly.”

Old Lady Xia gritted her teeth: “That doesn’t mean they should get away with everything. They act so pure and innocent, making everyone think we’re in the wrong. At the very least, we need to let people know their true colors.”

After thinking for a moment, she looked at her nephew: “I remember you have some good friends in the association, right?”

Xia Ren blinked, then nodded.

The old president was visited by Old Madam Xia and a group of association members.

Seeing Old Madam Xia crying, the president was feeling irritated and had a headache: “Madam Xia, what exactly do you want? Why are you always causing trouble for Mingde?”

Old Madam Xia cried, feeling dizzy: “President, I know what you’re implying. I didn’t want to break the rules, which is why I came to you for justice. They joined the association, and right after, they poached our apprentices. How can we tolerate this? There’s no such logic in the world!”

Poaching apprentices in the traditional food industry was indeed a serious issue. The second master and others were still working diligently in the Shang family.

The old president, however, was skeptical: “Mingde is doing fine. Why would they poach your apprentices? Don’t just overthink things and falsely accuse others like last time.”

Old Madam Xia swore on her life: “Would I lie to you about this? I even know where their people are!”

This time, she had brought several association members, all of whom supported her request for the president to intervene and clear the air.

The Shang family was large and powerful.

Although Mingde seemed favored by the old president, Madam Xia’s active plea had still gained some traction.

After all, if the president intervened in such a matter, even if he wasn’t pleased, they would have a strong moral basis.

The president was helpless, but seeing Madam Xia so certain, he started to feel a bit doubtful—could it be true?

If Mingde had really engaged in secretly poaching apprentices, it would be highly unethical.

There were many rules in the craft industry, and betrayal was the most serious offense. Committing such a mistake would lead to scorn from the industry.

---

The Shang family was in chaos, while the Jin family was at peace.

As the year drew to a close, the weather in the deep city had gotten extremely cold, and the dampness made people not even want to leave their homes.

Mr. Jin had somehow found a small stone mill and proudly brought it back home.

This item was rare in the city. Jin Yaotiao had never used one before, as she was more familiar with machines that offered efficiency.

But the stone mill turned out to be more interesting than she expected.

Although Mr. Jin had recovered well after his surgery, his immunity was still weaker during seasonal transitions. So, Jin Yaotiao soaked several types of beans, combined them with coix seeds, and used the mill to make a bean paste for her father to drink.

The soaked beans and rice mixed with water poured from the small stone mill’s hole, circling around, and the thick liquid flowed down into a container below.

Her mother was on the phone with Xu Wan, discussing the upcoming New Year’s shopping.

Last year, Jin’s mother had dragged Xu Wan to buy the goods, but this year, Xu Wan had invited Jin’s mother to make the list, and they were planning to prepare the ingredients for a special New Year’s Eve meal.

This year, she was determined to spend the New Year’s Eve with her son.

It felt good.

Jin Yaotiao could feel her sincere efforts to become a good mother. It was like witnessing someone carefully trying to repair something broken.

She felt happy for Xu Wan and Shen Qiming too.

As she continued, she noticed that the stone mill produced something different.

Corn was ground into paste before soaking the beans, and she mixed it with flour and eggs to make pancakes.

There were two new varieties of corn that Mr. Jin had recently found: sweet and glutinous.

The sweet corn was different from the fruit corn sold in stores. It had a particularly delicate texture and a stronger corn flavor.

When combined with milk powder, a little bit of flower honey, and butter, it could be sweetened just right without needing much sugar.

This was a small dessert.

The glutinous corn was used to make steamed corn buns. She mixed the sweet corn paste into the dough, wrapped it with filling, and steamed it.

The strong corn aroma filled the house, only to be replaced later by the scent of meat cooking, but it still remained pleasant.

Jin Yaotiao cooked the sweet corn pancakes while serving her parents the ones she had already made. The pancakes were small and thin, but she easily spread them into perfect round shapes with a thick center and thin edges.

The edges became crispy from the high heat, and the corn aroma crackled as it separated from the soft middle.

The gentle sweetness and strong aroma of corn paired seamlessly with the milk and honey. Mr. Jin quickly devoured two, while Jin’s mother ate more slowly, praising the delicious pancakes to Xu Wan on the phone.

Xu Wan, hearing about it, felt tempted and said she would come to learn in a few days, planning to add a dish to the New Year’s Eve dinner after learning how to make it.

They were enjoying the food, while a group of workers in the kitchen felt pitiful.

They ground the beans, peeled garlic, and did other chores with clenched teeth, complaining about not getting a single pancake to eat: “You’ve made so many! Why didn’t you give us one? We want to eat too! If not, we’ll stop grinding! We have no strength left!”

Their apprentices, in tears, nodded and complained about the unfair treatment.

Jin Yaotiao stood there, speechless, watching these uninvited guests who were busy grinding beans, peeling garlic, and complaining: “Please stop grinding and leave already. You can stay in Linjiang, but you said you couldn’t afford to go back. Now you’re in the deep city. When will you leave?”

Ma Le immediately stopped talking, pretending he didn’t hear her.

Jin Yaotiao raised an eyebrow: “I’m talking to you!”

Ma Le: “I’m not leaving! I’m not leaving!”

Jin Yaotiao: “I’ll say it again, leave now!”

Ma Le shouted at the top of his lungs: “I’m not leaving! You want me to leave? Unless I die! No! I’ll never go back! Take my corpse back to the Shang family!”

With a wave, the apprentices joined in: “Yes! We won’t go back even if we die! Take our corpses back to the Shang family!”

Jin Yaotiao: “…”

How ruthless.

---

At the door, the old president knocked: “…”

The association members behind him were also silent: “…”

The old president silently turned to look at Old Madam Xia: “… Are all your apprentices in the Shang family this eager? It seems they’ve already caused trouble for Mingde.”

Old Madam Xia: “…”

Was that look and that statement implying that I’ve embarrassed myself again?

I won’t accept this!

Why is this happening?!