Chapter 71 - 70: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Chapter 71: Chapter 70: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

It actually made Gu Rongjin unable to resist taking a few extra glances.

At a table by the window, four young men, as handsome as if they had walked straight out of a manga, were chatting and laughing.

"Hey, the ’Sauerkraut Fish Beauty’ looks even prettier than usual today," Ouyang Feng said, nudging Jiang Yunhai with his elbow.

Wearing his hat at a tilt, Jiang Yunhai looked rather gloomy. He had tried to strike up a conversation with the Sauerkraut Fish Beauty several times, only to be completely ignored. His self-proclaimed charm had hit a brick wall in front of her.

Song Chuhuan slowly stirred the coffee in front of him. Lifting his slightly melancholic eyes, he looked across the table at Yi Ronghao. "Rong Hao, I heard that Yao Meina and her father are moving into the base tomorrow."

Yi Ronghao’s expression stiffened. Yao Meina? The woman he was supposed to marry in an arranged union before the apocalypse? The smile on his handsome face froze for a brief moment. He thought he had escaped this loveless, purely profit-driven marriage, but he hadn’t expected her to follow him here.

"I’m going to the food stalls. What do you guys want to eat?" Yi Ronghao stood up, trying his best to keep his expression normal.

"Sauerkraut fish," his three companions said almost in perfect unison.

Yi Ronghao went to a few other stalls to pick up some dishes before finally joining the line for the sauerkraut fish. The queue looked much longer than usual today, stretching all the way to the stall diagonally across from it.

During the boring wait, Yi Ronghao’s gaze landed lightly on Chen Momo. She was making the sauerkraut fish with utmost seriousness, her small lips pressed tightly together. It was as if she wasn’t preparing a meal, but performing a critical surgery. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

Glancing around the cafeteria, he realized there wasn’t a single girl Chen Momo’s age running her own food business. Most of the vendors were middle-aged or older couples, whereas Chen Momo looked barely twenty.

Yi Ronghao also acutely noticed a small white hairpin clipped in her hair today. The butterfly-shaped accessory stood out vividly against her cloud-like black tresses, making her cold little face seem much less aloof and unapproachable.

"Two portions of sauerkraut fish are ready." Chen Momo pointed to the card reader next to her. "That’ll be 1,000 base credits in total. Please swipe your card."

Yi Ronghao nodded, swiped his card, and softly said, "Thank you," before carrying the food back to their table.

The young men couldn’t wait to dig in.

"The Sauerkraut Fish Beauty’s business is getting better and better."

"Isn’t it? She puts so much more heart into her food than anyone else."

"She completely deserves the success."

Eating the delicious fish and listening to his companions’ chatter, Yi Ronghao looked over at Chen Momo again, a smile unconsciously curving his lips. However, the moment he remembered that Yao Meina was coming to the base, the smile vanished, and his brows furrowed tightly.

Before the apocalypse, he had always felt that sacrificing personal happiness for the sake of his family’s interests was no big deal. But after the end of the world arrived, he found that his yearning for freedom had grown vastly stronger. Suddenly, he couldn’t accept the idea of being tied down to someone he didn’t love.

"AH!"

A shrill scream shattered the lively harmony of the cafeteria.

Xu Xiaoka stood in front of Zhai Ying’s small-bowl dish stall, holding a tray in one hand, her expression furious and wronged. Her face and clothes were completely drenched.

Wiping the water from her eyes, Xu Xiaoka yelled at Zhai Ying, "Why would you throw water on me?!"

As it turned out, while Xu Xiaoka was busily collecting empty trays from the dining tables, she had walked past Zhai Ying’s stall and was caught entirely off guard when the older woman tossed a cup of cold water at her.

Zhai Ying stood with her hands on her hips, striking the pose of a total shrew. "So I threw water on you, what about it? The line for your stall is blocking ours! How are we supposed to do business?!"

Seeing the massive line in front of the sauerkraut fish stall today while her own remained completely deserted—waiting ages just for a single customer to show up—Zhai Ying had been consumed by jealousy and decided to vent her anger on Xu Xiaoka. As for Zhai Ying’s husband, Ding Qiao, he was so startled by his wife’s sudden outburst that he just stood blankly to the side.

"Our line is still a meter away from your stall! How does that stop you from doing business?" Xu Xiaoka retorted angrily. "It’s obvious that people don’t want to buy your food because it tastes terrible and is overpriced! You should look for the problem yourself instead of shifting the blame onto us!"

Xu Xiaoka’s words hit the nail right on the head, striking a raw nerve in Zhai Ying. Although Zhai Ying knew she was in the wrong and couldn’t win the argument, she absolutely refused to admit there was anything wrong with her cooking.

Doubling down on her shrewish demeanor, she roared at Xu Xiaoka, "Your stall is getting in the way of our business, and that’s exactly why I threw water on you!"

The loud argument quickly drew a crowd of onlookers. Even Gu Rongjin, who was eating noodles at a table by the window, looked up and frowned as he turned toward the source of the noise.

Yi Ronghao, Jiang Yunhai, and the two other young men at their table—Song Chuhuan and Ouyang Feng—also witnessed the scene. Having seen the entire altercation play out, they knew for a fact that the proprietress of the small-bowl dish stall was picking a fight.

Unable to hold back his fiery temper, Jiang Yunhai slammed his chopsticks down and stood up. "This is taking bullying too far! I’m going over there!"

Song Chuhuan and Ouyang Feng grabbed him at the same time. "Yun Hai!"

The two exchanged a glance before Song Chuhuan warned, "The blizzard has reshuffled everything, and you’re no longer the rich heir you used to be. We just arrived at the base. It’s better to be cautious."

Jiang Yunhai had no choice but to sit back down, though he was still fuming.

Meanwhile, Chen Momo finished preparing the portion of sauerkraut fish in her hands and handed it to the waiting customer. Taking off her apron, she marched out from behind her stall. She walked right up to the small-bowl dish counter, grabbed a cup of water, and splashed it straight into the arrogant female boss’s face without a second of hesitation.

"AH!"

Zhai Ying shrieked. When she recovered from the shock and saw that it was the sauerkraut fish stall owner, Chen Momo, she flew into a towering rage.

"Who gave you the right to throw water at me?!" Zhai Ying bellowed furiously, her nostrils flaring in and out with her anger.

"You threw water on my person first," Chen Momo said coldly. "You deserved this cup."

Zhai Ying had long harbored a grudge against Chen Momo. In her mind, this frail woman was all alone with a child—an easy target just begging to be bullied. Seizing the opportunity, Zhai Ying unleashed all her pent-up resentment. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she raised her hand, fully intending to slap Chen Momo across the face.

However, Chen Momo, who had long been a black belt in Taekwondo, was not about to give her the chance.

She raised her hand, seizing Zhai Ying’s wrist in a vise grip before giving her a forceful shove. Zhai Ying’s plump body stumbled backward, slamming right into her own food cart. With a loud CRASH and CLATTER, the two tiers of small-bowl dishes displayed on top plummeted to the floor, shattering into a messy heap.