“What’s wrong?” Zhang Guilan also looked over.
“It’s nothing, Lihua hasn’t come to work at the shop yet? It’s been so many days.”
“I heard she and Cai Jun are having a quarrel. A matchmaker came over a few days ago to discuss the marriage between the two families. Lihua wants Cai Jun to keep working, and Cai Jun wants Lihua to quit her job. Both of them are butting heads, neither willing to give in, and the marriage is being delayed because of this. I think their marriage is going to cause more trouble.”
“I’ll hire a couple of new people later,” Lin Chuxia said.
“Is that really necessary? Isn’t Lihua just caught up in her marriage issues right now? Once the wedding details are settled, won’t she continue working?”
Lihua is their niece after all, it wouldn’t be appropriate to fire her outright, even if she’s inconsistent in attending work.
Moreover, even if they need someone to fill in for her shift, one person should be enough, why would they need two?
“There’s another thing, your older brother didn’t want me to tell you, but a few days ago Lihua approached your brother, wanting Cai Jun to work here. Your brother knows about the job you arranged for Cai Jun, who voluntarily quit, and he outright rejected her. I suspect that the reason she hasn’t come to work these past few days is that she’s upset with your brother.”
At this point, Zhang Guilan sighed, “You see, she seemed like such a good kid before, why would she persist stubbornly in this way?”
This is just a younger generation matter, they aren’t her real uncle and aunt, so it’s not appropriate to probe too deeply nor to comment superficially.
Lin Chuxia smiled nonchalantly, “Sister-in-law, since you know what kind of person she is, why bother about it? Everyone in life pays for their own decisions, and what Qin Lihua is doing now is just paying for her past actions.”
When you sympathize with someone, you unconsciously take on their fate. Restrain the desire to correct others, and avoid recklessly intervening in their karma.
Be righteous in your own world and let nature take its course in others’ worlds.
What Qin Lihua does now is her own business, and in the end, whether or not she and Cai Jun work, she only cares about their work situation.
After leaving the Bun Shop, Lin Chuxia went straight back to her office.
When the seasoning packets went missing, she immediately suspected the Old Food Factory’s involvement.
After tasting the newly improved ready-to-eat meals from there today, she was certain.
Lin Chuxia firmly believed that a few seasoning packets wouldn’t reveal her recipe, but since the food factory was targeting them, she wouldn’t let them be disappointed.
At this moment, the employees had gone to work, the small courtyard was quiet, with only Yuan Bao guarding the office door.
Lin Chuxia directly entered her own space.
Speaking of which, other than that spring water, the most important use of her space was the storage room full of seasonings.
In her last years in her past life, she spent most of her time researching these, including readymade meals, beef sauce, chili sauce, mixed rice sauce, bean paste.
Especially her beef sauce and spicy bean paste, which were well-loved by the market and sold both domestically and internationally.
Lin Chuxia spent the afternoon in her office, and only when she heard staff returning did she stretch lazily, looking at the work plans written on the paper, a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Originally, she thought they were in for a long battle with the food factory, but after just a couple of days, there was a long queue in front of the Bun Shop’s ready-meal window, while there were only a few sporadic people across the street.
People were even cursively lining up.
Zhou Hongmei, while enthusiastically serving customers, chatted with them and soon got the details clear.
The Old Food Factory announced a few days ago that they had improved their food recipes, and for those two days, the taste was somewhat better, attracting some customers. But in the last two days, the taste has significantly worsened, even more so than before. You could say it changes day by day.
Those who didn’t know any better were still okay, but these regulars who love cooked food are now reluctant to buy from there.
Lin Chuxia had an idea, next time she met Su Wensong, she asked him to keep an eye on the factory’s recent activities.
“Mr. Lin, rest assured, we’ve already made some progress in the last few days, Hou Xiaobao has taken people to tighten management, and Jia Liang has also lent a hand.”
Hou Xiaobao and Jia Liang, having roamed the society for so many years, both have their own connections.
Lin Chuxia nodded, “Be mindful of the extent, and route the money through the company’s account.”
Dealing with such people should not leave any loose ends, and monetary transactions are the most direct.
“I know,” Su Wensong had the same intention.
As for their target, they didn’t mention it yet, better to wait until they catch them red-handed.
“Also, today someone from the village chief’s office came, saying the township chief knows that Xiyang, one of the investors of the pig farm in Qin Family Village, wants to meet you and me.”
“Sure,” Lin Chuxia smiled, “Isn’t Village Chief Qin known for getting things done? See, just a few days ago we spoke about not minding meeting township leaders, and today it’s arranged.”
Su Wensong smiled as well.
However, interacting with government leaders is inevitable, they really have no reason to avoid them.
Now that individual enterprises have just started booming, businesses like Xiyang’s, already having a significant scale, are highly regarded by leaders at both village and township levels.
To further elaborate, when a business like Xiyang’s reaches a certain scale, even county leaders will give it some respect.
At the end of the day, individual enterprises don’t have the protection of state enterprises; they survive on merit alone.
…………..
In a deep alley, a woman was walking fast. Seeing a man suddenly appear in the distance, the woman stopped, instinctively looked back, and felt the urge to turn and run.
“Sister-in-law Chunhua, how come you’re just getting off work? I’ve been waiting for a long time, eh, Sister-in-law Chunhua, you wouldn’t be avoiding me, would you?”
Chen Chunhua forced a laugh, “Brother Kai, I just didn’t realize it was you.”
Li Kai strode over to Chen Chunhua and stretched out his hand directly, “Did you bring the stuff?”
Chen Chunhua stepped back, her face full of misery, “Brother Kai, this is really difficult, our boss has already found out, I really can’t get it…”
“Can’t get it? You took the money and now you tell me you can’t get it? Sister-in-law Chunhua, are you playing me?”
“No… I mean it, what if I return the money? The boss is threatening to call the police over last time’s incident, I can’t get arrested.”
Chen Chunhua, trembling, pulled out 20 yuan from her pocket and handed it over, but Li Kai took one look and didn’t accept it, his lips curling into a mocking smile.
“Sister-in-law Chunhua, when I first approached you, you swore and set the price. Then you gave me a bag of some lousy powder, pretending it was good. Who knows if it was a trap you set up with your boss? I heard Qin’s Steamed Bun has also reduced prices recently. What, last time you used this trick to get rid of Director Gao, is this setup using seasoning packs as bait to trap us again, to keep falling for your tricks?”
“No, absolutely not,” Chen Chunhua waved her hands continuously, “The Old Food Factory’s seasoning is just like that, you know, Qin’s cooked food has a secret recipe, the boss keeps it very tight, even those who make the cooked food don’t know what the secret recipe really is, they always use these seasoning packs, I really didn’t lie to you.”
“I originally paid to buy the secret recipe, since you can’t get the recipe, then bring some more seasoning packs, or else I’ll expose the theft you committed at the factory, and make sure you end up behind bars.”