Back To The 80s-Chapter 461 - 471: Misalignment_1

Ou Tiannan looked at Ou Ruoshui like this and realized that anything he said now would be superfluous. This woman appeared weak, but she possessed a resilience that even men could not match. When she had suffered so much all those years ago, she was determined to give birth to the Jin Family’s child. She refused to submit to anyone, preferring death. What could he possibly do about it?

With a sigh, Ou Tiannan turned and left the room.

Ou Ruoshui gently sat down on the edge of the bed, blankly staring at the suitcase next to her. Since she lost her memory, she felt empty inside. She had not felt this way before, but in the last two years, fragments of the past kept flashing across her mind, too elusive to grasp. Two years ago, she had secretly visited a hospital. The doctors claimed that her memory loss was caused by a traumatic event or a severe head injury.

But Ou Tiannan told her, she had slipped and fallen into the water and he has rescued her. How could she have had a severe head injury just by falling into water?

She always felt that she would find an answer if she returned to the provincial capital.

...

By mid-October the weather became colder and the furnace was already burning inside the house.

Gu Xiaobei’s tea shop renovation was almost done, once the custom counter arrived, she could start doing business.

Gu Xiaobei was not fond of the cold, so instead of riding her bike after visiting the shop, she took the bus to the market. Additional bus routes were added recently, making things quite convenient.

As she sat on the bus, looking out, the sidewalks were carpeted with a thick layer of yellow leaves. The cleaning staff hadn’t had a chance to sweep them away yet, giving the city a desolate kind of beauty.

Suddenly, she saw Liao Qing hurrying along outside, holding a baby with a worried look on her face.

Gu Xiaobei was taken aback. So the child was born after all? Wasn’t this another illegitimate child like Liao Zhe?

She watched as Liao Qing disappeared into the distance before finally snapping back to reality.

When she got to the shop, only Qin Li and Xiao Hong were present. She asked, "Where are the others? Have you had lunch yet?"

"Not yet. It’s cold today so we’ve decided to have dumplings. Xiuxiu and Zhou Tiezhu are preparing them. Chen Zhao and Wang Wei went to deliver the merchandise." Xiao Hong responded with a smile.

"I see, I come back just in time for dumplings." Gu Xiaobei, putting on her sleeve cover, said.

Once Qin Li had restocked the shelves, she came over to sit next to Gu Xiaobei’s desk, fiddling with the beads on her abacus. "Sister Xiaobei, I would like to go back to T City for a few days," she said softly.

Gu Xiaobei saw Qin Li speed up on the abacus after finishing her sentence and suddenly remembered that Jin Cheng’s memorial day was coming up. Qin Li didn’t manage to make it back last year due to being busy. This year, when they went home for the New Year, they couldn’t go to Canger Cliff due to heavy snow. Gu Xiaobei nodded: "Okay, are you going back alone?"

"I am going back with Aunt Zhuang. My sister and brother-in-law are also returning." Her voice was small.

"Then, let Jiujiu and Chen Gang come to the market for lunch. Their school isn’t too far away." Gu Xiaobei quickly changed the topic. All forms of comfort seemed futile at this moment.

Qin Li laughed and said, "Jiujiu can cook now. On Sundays, she cooks meals for Aunt Zhuang so she can rest. She even throws little tantrums now."

Gu Xiaobei sighed. Only now did this seem like a child, willing to act spoiled and show little tantrums. She was too cautious before.

After Qin Li had left, along with Zhuang Shuxian, Shen Heng, and Qin Mei for T City, 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Gu Xiaobei became even busier. Plus, the bad news kept coming— Shaan qing tea and jasmine tea were out of stock at two tea wholesalers in the provincial capital. They would not be available until after Qingming Festival.

If they sought to purchase from out of the province, the various costs would raise the price significantly.

Chen Zhao found this strange. "The tea suppliers are out of stock, but there’s still available stock in the market. I’ve seen a lot of stores carrying Shaan qing tea and jasmine tea and the retail price hasn’t increased. It seems they’re specifically targeting us."

Gu Xiaobei frowned, recalling what Zhao Hongmei had said. Zhao Honghe’s boss had purchased an excess amount of cheap tea intending to squeeze out their business. It seemed their opponent has already started to take action. Believing they would simply give up was just too naive.

After thinking for a while, Gu Xiaobei said to Chen Zhao: "No worries, I’ll check the tea market tomorrow. Relax, they might block our way, but we’ll find a new path. They’ll be forever chasing after us."

...

Ou Ruoshui looked at the tea in the factory’s warehouse, her face growing stern. Looking at Yang Tianhua, she said in a stern voice, "What are you doing with so much tea? Since when did I give you so much authority?"

Apparently expecting this, Yang Tianhua responded with a prepared explanation. "Our competitors made a profit of fifty to sixty thousand RMB selling tea during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Considering that the Spring Festival is just around the corner and business will certainly be good, we decided to buy more tea. Buying in bulk means a lower cost. Once our tea hit the market, it will be cheaper than their tea and everyone will certainly buy ours."

Ou Ruoshui looked at Yang Tianhua coldly. She understood that doing this would certainly provide a larger profit margin, but the unapproved actions of Zhao Honghe and Yang Tianhua showed that they were not respecting her authority.

Yang Tianhua, feeling uncomfortable under Ou Ruoshui’s gaze, attempted to soothe the situation. "We really only wanted to do something good for the factory. We didn’t benefit financially from this at all. You can ask around, we definitely got the tea for the absolute market minimum price."

Ou Ruoshui took one last look at the tea piled in the warehouse and said, "Provide me with the bills. As for this expense, since you asked Ou Tiannan to approve it, if there are any issues, you should also ask him to solve them." Wrapped in her red coat, she turned around and walked out.

Yang Tianhua clenched his fist in anger at Ou Ruoshui’s retreating figure, waiting for the day he could release his pent-up frustration.

Ou Ruoshui left the factory and didn’t take the bus, slowly walking back to the city.

She had gone to the tea shop early that morning and found that only the high-end tea was on display. All of the mass-consumed tea was missing, raising her curiousity. Now at the factory, she found a large stockpile of common tea.

What’s more, Zhao Honghe had directly applied to Ou Tiannan to buy the tea, keeping her completely uninformed. What was this supposed to mean? Was Ou Tiannan trying to control her? There was no way she was going to do what he wanted!

Before she realized it, she walked past the school she had recently passed by, just as school was letting out.

Looking at the youthful faces radiating energy and vitality, her depression lightened up a bit.

After school, Jiujiu always went first to the junior high school to wait for Chen Gang. Together they went to Gu Xiaobei’s shop for lunch.

As she left the school gate, Jiujiu was busy saying goodbye to her classmates, "Xiaoyan, come over early in the afternoon, let’s recite the texts together," she had said while slowly backing away.

"Okay, I’ll bring some buns my mom made, okay?" Xiaoyan waved goodbye.

Jiujiu laughed and said, "No need. My aunt is surely making something delicious for me—I am going now..." Jiujiu finished speaking and ran towards Chen Gang’s school like a little swallow.

Ou Ruoshui watched Jiujiu’s retreating figure, lost in a daze. Why did this child’s figure made her feel both affectionate and warm?