Chapter 113: Chapter 112: If I’d Known, I Wouldn’t Have Had a Child With That Guy

Yangcheng.

Evening.

Jiang Yixia was busy in her shop.

Ever since she moved her shop to its new location, the flower shop had started catching the eye of passersby.

And they were much more likely to come in and buy flowers, too.

This, in turn, made the owner of a nearby flower shop grow jealous.

She had been running her flower shop there for years, and now, a new shop had suddenly appeared to steal her business.

Aunt Chen started complaining to her husband, "Ever since that flower shop across the street opened, our profits have taken a huge hit."

"There’s nothing we can do," her husband said helplessly. "Her shop is right at the entrance to the commercial street. Anyone can see it, whether they’re heading into the street or just walking by."

"How is that fair? All those customers going to her shop should be coming to mine!" Aunt Chen fumed, growing more incensed by the second.

Aunt Chen’s husband tried to comfort her. "Let it go. It’s just a matter of earning a little more or a little less. Don’t be angry. Come on, have a pork rib."

"All you ever do is eat, eat, eat!" Aunt Chen griped, her brow furrowed. "If you don’t start thinking of a plan, forget pork ribs—there won’t even be shit left for you to eat."

With that, she threw down her chopsticks and stormed back into their room.

Her husband saw this but paid her no mind.

After more than ten years of marriage, he knew his wife’s temper all too well.

At the slightest disagreement, she’d throw down her chopsticks and storm off.

’It’s fine,’ he thought. ’She’ll be back when she gets hungry.’

After he finished his meal, he simply started watching TV.

Sure enough, a moment later, Aunt Chen came back out.

When she saw her gluttonous and lazy husband watching "Drawing Sword" again, she flew into a rage. "Look at you! Watching that ’Drawing Sword’ of yours again. What’s so good about it?!"

"It is good! In this episode, they’re attacking Ping’an County. Look how awesome Li Yunlong is."

"What does it matter how awesome he is? Pretty soon, we won’t have any business left. Then we’ll all be packing our bags and moving back to the countryside." After saying her piece, Aunt Chen stormed out the door.

Her husband glanced at her, shook his head helplessly, and went back to watching Li Yunlong shout for the second battalion commander to bring his Italian cannon.

At that moment, Aunt Chen was still seething with anger.

She watched the customers coming and going from the other shop, thought for a moment, and then headed towards Jiang Yixia’s flower shop.

Jiang Yixia was just then showing some ice-blue roses to a customer.

When she turned around, she noticed a middle-aged woman lingering at the entrance, peering in.

She immediately greeted her with a welcoming smile. "Hi there, interested in some flowers?"

"I’m just looking," Aunt Chen said with a slight smile.

Jiang Yixia took the hint and didn’t follow her around to describe the flowers.

Having been in business for so many years, she could tell with a single glance whether someone was genuinely interested in buying.

This woman, she guessed, was just here to take a quick look.

There was no need to be pushy.

If the woman decided she actually wanted to buy something, she could go over and help her then.

So, Jiang Yixia turned her focus to another couple.

She smiled and said to the young man, "I think this bouquet of eleven ’Ice Heart’ blue roses would be perfect. It really complements your girlfriend’s outfit, don’t you think?"

Flattered by Jiang Yixia’s compliment, the young woman was delighted. She nudged her boyfriend. "Honey, I want this one!"

Seeing this, the young man didn’t hesitate. "Okay, let’s get this one then."

"You got it." Jiang Yixia deftly wrapped the bouquet, then handed the flowers to the young woman, praising, "So beautiful. You look like a little princess."

The young woman was even more delighted to hear this, and she praised Jiang Yixia in return, "You’re really pretty too! You say you’re in your thirties, but I really don’t believe it. I feel like you’re about the same age as me, and I’m only 23."

"I’m old and past my prime, how could I be that young?" Jiang Yixia laughed.

Afterward, the young couple left happily.

When Jiang Yixia’s attention was free again, Aunt Chen approached her, holding a single flower. "I’ll take this one."

"Alright. Would you like me to wrap it?" Jiang Yixia asked.

Aunt Chen nodded. "Yes, wrap it up."

"Okay, this rose is five yuan. The QR code is on the wall," Jiang Yixia said as she began to wrap it.

Aunt Chen took out her phone, scanned the QR code, and paid.

"All set, ma’am. Here’s your flower, all wrapped up," Jiang Yixia said, handing the rose to Aunt Chen.

Aunt Chen glanced at it, then took the rose and left.

Jiang Yixia watched her retreating back, feeling that she looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her.

Although something felt a little strange, she went on to serve the next customer.

「Meanwhile.」

After leaving the hotel, Lu Fan rushed back to Yangcheng without stopping.

By the time he got back to the pastry shop, it was already evening.

As soon as he got out of the car, he happened to see Jiang Yixia serving a customer.

So he walked over.

In truth, Jiang Yixia had seen him the moment he got out of the car, but she didn’t turn to look, instead continuing to chat with her customer.

Lu Fan wasn’t in a hurry either. He stood at the entrance of the flower shop, contentedly admiring the flowers—and Jiang Yixia.

Before long, the customer bought their flowers and left.

Seeing him still lingering outside, Jiang Yixia said irritably, "If you’re coming in, then come in. Don’t stand there making other customers think I’m shooing people away."

"Haha." Seeing that Jiang Yixia had noticed him, Lu Fan laughed. "How could they? Everyone knows the owner of the flower shop on this commercial street is as beautiful as she is kind." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Such a smooth-talker. Thank goodness Silu and Sifan didn’t take after you in that regard," Jiang Yixia said, exasperated.

"If you ask me, Silu and Sifan are too honest. That’s why they get tricked and bullied so easily. If it weren’t for me today, Sifan would have been taken advantage of again," Lu Fan said, deliberately bringing up the topic.

Sure enough, Jiang Yixia’s interest was piqued.

She quickly asked, "What happened to Sifan?"

"Sigh, I’ve been so busy I haven’t even eaten yet. I’m a little hungry. Yixia, is there anything to eat?" Lu Fan said, feigning hunger by rubbing his stomach and sighing.

Jiang Yixia looked at him, then returned to the back room with a sigh of resignation.

She took out a meal box she had already prepared and heated the food in the microwave.

A moment later, she handed the food to Lu Fan and said, "If I find out later that you’re lying to me, you’re dead."

"How could I ever lie to you?" Lu Fan picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of pork rib, and after taking a bite, gave her a thumbs-up. "Yixia, your cooking is truly exquisite. These ribs are delicious! Why don’t you quit the flower shop? I’ll open a big restaurant for you; it’ll make way more money than selling flowers."

"You want me to cook myself to death in a kitchen?" Jiang Yixia retorted. "Your hands are a blur, but that mouth of yours never stops."

"It’s mainly because your cooking is just too good. Besides, don’t all women love a little sweet talk?" Lu Fan teased.

Jiang Yixia immediately shot back, "Well, I don’t."

As she said it, she felt her face grow a little hot. She turned her head away and said coolly, "Just hurry up and tell me. What on earth happened to Sifan?"

"Didn’t I tell you before that Sifan was scammed? Well, his startup was starting to do well, and then that company wanted to take thirty percent of his project’s profits."

"Sifan finally realized he’d been tricked and felt the contract was invalid, so he went to their office to demand an explanation."

"And he brought a girl with him. They ended up getting cornered in the office and couldn’t get out."

Hearing this, Jiang Yixia grew anxious. "That boy is always so impulsive! I’ve told him before not to trust people so easily. And if things got bad, he should have just called the police!"

"Actually, in a situation like his, going to the local police station isn’t very useful," Lu Fan explained. "At most, the officers would just tell them to file a lawsuit in court. As long as there’s no physical fight, they won’t intervene much."

Jiang Yixia fell silent at this.

Because Lu Fan was right.

In most cases, police officers primarily focus on mediation. If they can’t mediate a solution, they just tell both parties to take it to court.

Jiang Yixia then asked, "So what happened? How was it resolved?"

"Afterward, I had my assistant take our legal team and the evidence we’d collected to the Economic Crimes Division. The police went straight to their office and arrested them."

Lu Fan explained, "So Sifan’s unfair contract was voided, and now our good son is officially one of the few entrepreneurial whizzes in his freshman class."

Hearing this outcome, Jiang Yixia finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But when she heard Lu Fan say "our good son," she felt uncomfortable all over.

Yet, she couldn’t really refute it.

After all, Jiang Sifan was indeed her and Lu Fan’s child.

Looking at Lu Fan’s confident face, Jiang Yixia even felt a pang of regret.

’If I’d known, I never would have had children with that guy. Look at his smug face. The bastard.’

But then again, Jiang Silu and Jiang Sifan were so good and dutiful.

If they had never been born, her own life would have lost so much of its meaning.

’Ugh, this is so frustrating!’

Jiang Yixia turned her head and snapped, "Alright, finish eating and get out."

"I just started eating," Lu Fan said shamelessly. "Food this good has to be savored. It’s fine, Yixia. You go on with your work, and I’ll just eat."

Jiang Yixia didn’t want to deal with him, so she sat down across from him and went back to arranging her flowers.

Meanwhile, Lu Fan continued to eat while watching her, feeling an increasing sense of bliss.

Jiang Yixia, of course, noticed that bastard’s gaze. It always made her feel as though she were being stripped bare.

’But I’m fully dressed!’

’Yet in front of him, I always feel like I’m naked!’

For some reason, images of their past life together began to surface from the depths of her memory.

Especially from when they were first living in a rented apartment, when Lu Fan would do the ’elephant swinging its trunk’ dance in front of her after every shower.

’Aaaah!’

’What on earth am I thinking?!’

’Why did that suddenly pop into my head?!’

Jiang Yixia’s face grew redder and redder. Just as she stood up to urge Lu Fan to leave...

The woman who had just bought the flower suddenly returned.

Aunt Chen pointed to a hand covered in a red rash and yelled, "There’s something wrong with the flowers in this shop! Look at my hand!!"