Chapter 47

The newly made spicy hot pot and spicy fragrant pot were very popular with the customers. Even the two little ones, Shulin and Gu Jinzhao, fell in love with these flavors. Now when Shulin came home, he would actively order dishes. Previously, Li Hehua could give him anything to eat and he would be fine with it, but now when she asked Shulin what he wanted to eat, the little guy would pull her hand and run to the pile of ingredients, pointing at the prepared fragrant pot ingredients, then looking at her expectantly, meaning he wanted to eat this.

Li Hehua felt this wasn’t like Shulin’s usual style. Shulin should have blinked his eyes and hugged her for a snuggle, meaning mother could cook whatever she wanted. But now, he was actually ordering dishes.

She thought this was more like Gu Jinzhao’s style.

However, Li Hehua didn’t say much about it, pretending not to know, and whatever the little guy ordered, she would make.

But as the weather got hotter, without a refrigerator, the food spoiled easily. Children’s stomachs were particularly delicate, so the food had to stay fresh. Li Hehua worried that food made in the morning would spoil by noon, so she thought about making it at noon and then delivering it to the little guy, so it would be fresh and wouldn’t need reheating, making it taste better. She could also have more time to make nutritious soups for the two little ones.

After Gu Zhijin learned of Li Hehua’s plan, he said, “Your stall is too busy, and it’s inconvenient for you to deliver. Why don’t you have my family’s Granny He come to your place to pick it up daily? You can prepare it and let her take it back directly.”

Li Hehua thought this arrangement was good, so she nodded in agreement. Therefore, every day close to the children’s mealtime, Granny He would come to the stall to pick up the food. Li Hehua would prepare lunch in advance, and when Granny He arrived, she could give it to her directly.

Last night the little guy had ordered a pot of spicy hot pot, so Li Hehua made him one pot, and additionally stewed a pot of yam and pork rib soup. Shortly after finishing, Granny He arrived.

Li Hehua handed the prepared food box to Granny He, “Granny, here, this is today’s lunch. I prepared a bit much, please watch that the two little ones don’t overeat.”

Granny He took it with one hand while saying, “Don’t worry, I watch them every day. If I didn’t watch those two little ones, they would definitely overeat.”

Li Hehua laughed, “Granny, thank you for the trouble.”

Granny He waved her hand, “No trouble at all, those two little ones are so lovable.”

Granny He was afraid the food would get cold, so she didn’t dare delay. After saying a few words, she prepared to go back. Li Hehua walked her a few steps, but at that moment, the sound of breaking porcelain came, and everyone at the stall looked toward the source of the sound.

They saw the female stall owner next door with her hands on her hips, pointing angrily at Dahe, “Are you deliberately coming to my place to cause trouble? There’s a perfectly good path you could take, but you insisted on coming to my side and deliberately broke my bowl. What do you mean by this?”

Dahe became anxious, “I didn’t deliberately break your bowl. Your stool was placed across the middle of the walkway and tripped me, which is why I bumped into your table. And why did you place your bowl on the edge? Of course it would fall with one bump!”

The female stall owner glared with wide eyes, “My bowl is placed on my table, I can put it wherever I want. What business is it of yours? Now you’ve broken my bowl and you’re blaming my stool. My stool was originally placed there. If your family hadn’t taken up so much space and moved over here, would it have been bumped into?”

Hearing this, Li Hehua looked at the stool placed across the walkway between the two stalls and knew in her heart that this was deliberate troublemaking.

Since adding new dishes, business at the stall had gotten even better. Many people would come together to order a spicy fragrant pot or spicy hot pot to share, which led to insufficient seating at the stall. Many who came late had to queue behind and wait for others to leave before they could have a seat to eat.

Li Hehua had previously ordered two more tables and eight more chairs, but unfortunately, even after adding them, there still wasn’t enough seating. However, it was impossible to add more tables because there was no more space – the current tables and chairs were almost connected with the two neighboring businesses, which made the two neighboring families very unhappy. They had made snide remarks more than once.

The family on the left ran a noodle business, with a married couple as stall owners; the family on the right ran a wonton business, also a married couple. Li Hehua’s stall had good business, and customers all came to eat at her stall, causing the business of the two neighboring stalls to decline drastically.

These two families had long been displeased with Li Hehua. Every time Li Hehua inadvertently saw the way the two neighboring stall owners looked at her, she felt it was quite frightening.

This was bearable, but the female stall owners from the two neighboring stalls often spoke in sarcastic tones, basically complaining that she was blocking their business. Li Hehua didn’t want to conflict with them, so she always pretended not to hear and ignored them.

This time, adding new tables to the stall expanded its area, making it much closer to the neighboring stalls, which made the two neighboring families even more dissatisfied. Their words became even more impolite. Li Hehua had been ignoring them, but the neighboring stall owners were still not satisfied and today were directly picking a fight.

Because there were too many customers, when Dahe and Xiaoyuan served food to customers, they had no place to pass through, so sometimes they would walk through the small path between the two stalls. The path was quite narrow and not easy to walk through, but the neighboring stall had placed a stool across the middle of the walkway. When Dahe walked by, he bumped into the stool and stumbled.

The neighboring female stall owner grabbed Dahe’s clothes and wouldn’t let him go, saying, “We must talk this through today. What does your family mean by this!”

Li Hehua saw that things were getting bad. She patted Granny He’s hand, “Granny, it’s okay, you go back first. The children shouldn’t be late for their meal. I’ll handle this here.”

Granny He was worried about delaying the children’s meal and left with concern.

Li Hehua walked over and said to the neighboring female stall owner, “Sister, we’ll pay for the broken bowl. Can we not argue about this?”

The female stall owner said, “That won’t do. We need to talk this through properly. Your waiter also said it was my stool’s fault for being placed there. My stool was originally there. If your stall hadn’t moved over here, would it have bumped into my stool? I haven’t even mentioned that your family is blocking my business, and now your family is causing trouble for mine first!”

Li Hehua frowned and said, “Sister, this path is originally shared by everyone. My family did move over a bit, but we didn’t occupy your space. The walkway did become narrower, and if this affected your business, I ask for your understanding, sister. Business is about harmony bringing wealth. If everyone gives a little, everyone’s business will be easier. Don’t you think so, sister?”

Li Hehua spoke very peacefully, but the stall owner didn’t appreciate it. She said, “What harmony! This walkway is so narrow it’s affecting my business. You’re already interfering with my business, and you still want me to be harmonious with you? Now you’ve broken my bowl. If I don’t make a fuss about it, will you break more in the future? Where would I get so many bowls for you to break!”

Although she knew this stall owner was deliberately picking a fight out of resentment, Li Hehua didn’t want to quarrel. Arguing back and forth would not only delay business but also be embarrassing to quarrel publicly like this. It was better to solve the problem directly, so she asked, “Then sister, what do you want to do?”

The stall owner said, “Compensating for my bowl is definitely required, but your stall must move back. If you keep doing this, are you planning to continue breaking my bowls? How can I do business like this?”

Li Hehua frowned, feeling somewhat troubled, because she really couldn’t move back. Moving back would mean removing tables, but removing tables would mean not having enough.

“Sister, you can see that I can’t remove my tables, otherwise there really wouldn’t be enough. How about this – from now on, my waiters won’t walk through the walkway anymore. We’ll leave the entire walkway for your use, and we definitely won’t bump into your things. This way it won’t interfere with your business either. What do you think?”

But the stall owner still didn’t agree with Li Hehua’s words and flatly refused, “No! You doing this is affecting our business. Your tables must move back. If you don’t move back, then none of us should do business.”

Li Hehua could patiently reason with people, but when encountering someone who was determined to be unreasonable, she didn’t want to waste more words. She said directly, “Sister, I’ve been talking nicely with you, but if you’re going to be like this, then we have nothing more to discuss. My stall didn’t occupy your space. Whether it actually affects your business or not, you know in your heart. Anyway, my stall won’t move back.” After saying this, Li Hehua took out five wen and placed it on the neighboring table, “This is compensation for your bowl.”

After giving the money, Li Hehua turned to go back to business, but the neighboring stall owner didn’t want to let it go. She immediately threw the money Li Hehua gave to the ground and grabbed Li Hehua’s arm, not letting her go, “Bah! You think five wen can settle this? I tell you, no way! If your family doesn’t move the tables back today, don’t think about doing business!”

Li Hehua was pulled and stumbled, taking two steps back before steadying herself. She tried hard to pull her arm back, but the stall owner held on tightly and wouldn’t let go, “Don’t think you can leave! Today—ah—”

Before the female stall owner could finish her words, the hand grabbing Li Hehua was forcibly pried open, causing her to cry out in pain with her face contorting.

The female stall owner covered her hand and looked at the man standing in front of her, both shocked and angry, “What are you doing!”

Zhang Tieshan’s face was stern as he pulled Li Hehua behind him, saying, “Weren’t you trying to solve the problem? Talk to me.”

Zhang Tieshan was tall and imposing, naturally intimidating, and with such a stern expression on his face, he was even more frightening. When the female stall owner saw him like this, she was immediately intimidated, taking two steps back and looking toward her husband.

The female stall owner’s husband had originally wanted to help when he saw his wife being bullied, but after seeing Zhang Tieshan clearly, he too became intimidated and only dared to ask, “Why are you getting physical?”

Zhang Tieshan said in a low voice, “It was your wife who wanted to solve the problem with physical force, so I’m using the same method with you. Is there a problem with that?”

The male stall owner was speechless, remembering that it was his wife who had gotten physical first. Having nothing to say, he could only say, “It’s your family that made this walkway so narrow, affecting our business. Of course we have to argue about it.”

Zhang Tieshan said, “Then tell me, how exactly did it affect your business? I remember that even before the extra tables were added, your family didn’t have many customers eating here, right? And now you still don’t have many. How exactly were you affected?”

If it weren’t for the inappropriate setting, Li Hehua would have almost laughed. She hadn’t expected Zhang Tieshan, who appeared stoic, to be so sharp-tongued, so easily pointing out their poor business. Look how ugly the couple’s faces became.

“You… you…” The couple turned green with anger but couldn’t come up with words to refute, because indeed they had no business even before Li Hehua’s stall expanded – it had always been like this. They were just jealous of Li Hehua’s good business.

Zhang Tieshan continued, “Since you say our family affected your business, we can move back. But if after we move back, your business doesn’t improve, then that proves you were deliberately picking a fight. Don’t blame me for being impolite then!”

Zhang Tieshan’s words made the couple’s faces change, and they no longer dared to speak easily, because even if Li Hehua’s family moved back, their business wouldn’t improve. Wouldn’t that clearly show they were deliberately picking a fight? What if this person turned around and caused trouble for them?

Seeing the couple’s hesitation, Zhang Tieshan snorted coldly, stopped paying attention to them, and directly pulled Li Hehua back to the stove, “You focus on cooking. I’ll handle everything else.”

If it were just Li Hehua, a woman, the couple definitely wouldn’t let it go easily, but Zhang Tieshan was too intimidating. The two didn’t dare say anything more and could only hate them secretly, cursing them countless times behind their backs.

Li Hehua’s heart raced as Zhang Tieshan led her back, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

Zhang Tieshan pressed his lips together and said nothing, returning to where he had been before, not disturbing Li Hehua further.

Seeing Zhang Tieshan like this, Li Hehua felt increasingly uncomfortable. He had helped her once again. This person always appeared in front of her to help when she needed it, making her owe him favor after favor.

But she couldn’t accept him.

She really didn’t know what to do with him. He just stayed there quietly, not disturbing her, yet always appearing within her sight, giving her no reason to drive him away, but she could always see him, always appearing in time when she needed help.

For so many days, she had deliberately ignored him, thinking that a few days would make him give up, but unexpectedly he still appeared in front of her every day, still unwilling to give up.

Ignoring him was completely useless against him. Li Hehua had to face him directly.

After closing the stall, Li Hehua let Zhang Tieshan into the courtyard.

“Zhang Tieshan, thank you for helping me today.”

Zhang Tieshan didn’t speak, knowing Li Hehua had more to say, so he waited for her to continue.

Li Hehua pressed her lips together and said, “Zhang Tieshan, it’s really impossible between us. Please don’t come anymore, okay?” She didn’t know how to handle it if she owed more favors.

Zhang Tieshan looked at her quietly for a long time before slowly saying, “You say you can live well alone, but is that really true? Do you think you, a woman, can live peacefully in this world? Without a man to protect you, you’ll face difficulties everywhere. Take today’s incident – they dared to make trouble with you because they saw you as a weak woman running a stall alone. If there had been a man present, they absolutely wouldn’t have dared to cause trouble so easily. This is just once – what about the future? As your business gets better and better, it will only attract more and more jealousy. Can you guarantee you won’t be bullied then? Is this what you call being able to live well alone?”

Li Hehua’s face stiffened. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she had to acknowledge in her heart that Zhang Tieshan was right. This world was completely different from the 21st century. This world didn’t have so many laws to protect you, nor so much morality to protect women. Here, women’s lives were very difficult, especially women who wanted to do business. Without backing and without male protection, it was very dangerous. Like her – she had been troubled by others repeatedly. If Zhang Tieshan hadn’t been there, even if she used her wits to avoid losses, she would still have suffered physically.

Moreover, it wasn’t just this – when a woman didn’t have a man by her side, she would always be gossiped about, subject to various malicious speculations. Although she didn’t say it, she knew that the neighbors were all talking about her behind her back, making various speculations, just because she was alone with a child, without a man.

Sister Xie had told her to be careful, but what could she do? She couldn’t stay home all day without going out, right? She couldn’t marry someone just to avoid gossip, right?

In this world, single women had such a hard time.

However, she didn’t want to show weakness in front of Zhang Tieshan, “Zhang Tieshan, you’re right. As a single woman, I am indeed easily bullied, but that doesn’t mean I should marry you. Would getting married make things better? Would marriage solve all problems?”

Zhang Tieshan looked at Li Hehua with unprecedented seriousness, “I don’t know if marrying someone else would cause problems, but I dare say that if you marry me, I can guarantee that I will do everything in my power to shelter you, to keep you worry-free and happy, to solve all your problems, as long as you’re willing to trust me and not reject me from a thousand miles away.”

Li Hehua’s heart jumped hard. Looking into Zhang Tieshan’s eyes, the sincerity there made her heartbeat uncontrollably fast and her face heat up. She could only awkwardly look away, staring at the ground.

Li Hehua pinched her palm to calm herself down. She knew Zhang Tieshan was a stubborn man – once he decided on something, it was hard to change. All the reasons she had given before weren’t enough to make him give up. To make him give up, unless…

Li Hehua took a deep breath, hardened her heart, and said through gritted teeth, “Zhang Tieshan, I won’t marry you because I already have someone I like.”