Back To The 80s-Chapter 465 - 475: Divorce_1

"Why are you and Fang Jing getting a divorce?" Gu Xiaobei directly asked Lu Aiguo as soon as the call connected.

Lu Aiguo was startled: "Fang Jing told you already? I haven’t agreed yet. What use is there if only she says so, I won’t get a divorce. Asking my daughter to call someone else ’Dad’, dream on!"

Gu Xiaobei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What a time for Lu Aiguo to joke around. Considering how she was just his sister-in-law and it wasn’t her place to interfere too much, she stated, "Mom called and asked me to check on what’s going on with you guys. I’ll just tell her the truth later."

"Sister-in-law, a person must have integrity, there’s no need to be a tattletale. Besides, we’re not even divorced yet. Rest assured, I can handle this matter. Don’t tell my parents and make them worry unnecessarily," Lu Aiguo hastily replied.

"You better resolve this quickly. However, I will definitely discuss this with your older brother, you deal with it as you wish."

"Sister-in-law, there’s really no issue between Fang Jing and myself, please, don’t tell my brother. I promise when the New Year comes, I’ll bring Fang Jing and Yueyue back home, is that ok?" Lu Aiguo promised.

Gu Xiaobei nodded in agreement: "Remind yourself of it, make promises count."

On her way back to their apartment in the evening, Gu Xiaobei told Lu Zhanguo about the situation, after all, she was a woman and doesn’t have to stick to keeping her word.

Lu Zhanguo was also shocked: "Why are they getting a divorce? What happened?"

Gu Xiaobei shook her head, "They both refused to share information, but it isn’t a matter of infidelity, it should be nothing too serious."

After some thought, Lu Zhanguo expressed, "Let’s assume it has something to do with Aiguo’s constant Mahjong playing habit."

Gu Xiaobei also thought it made sense. Although Lu Aiguo didn’t gamble for high stakes, he was addicted to it. Fang Jing was always complaining. Lu Aiguo was practically invisible due to his Mahjong sessions.

"Should we inform mom and the others about this matter?"

Lu Zhanguo mulled it over, "Let’s hold off for now. The New Year is only two months away. We will talk it over when Aiguo comes home. There is no point in making everyone out of home worry."

Having discussed the issue between Lu Aiguo and Fang Jing, Gu Xiaobei went back to her room to write articles. She tries to write as many as she can during her free time.

Lu Zhanguo mopped the floor once, packed the kids’ dirty clothes, and took them back to wash in the bathroom.

The quiet and warm atmosphere was disrupted by a knock at the door.

Lu Zhanguo washed off the soap foam on his hands and went to open the door.

Zhao Hongmei stood at the door, holding Erhu’s hand and said smilingly, "I saw the lights were on in your house and guessed you must be home. Are Xiaopang and Mo Wang here? Erhu insisted on coming over to play."

Gu Xiaobei came out from the bedroom and upon seeing the bandage wrapped around Erhu’s head, asked caringly, "What happened to Erhu? Did he fall? Is it serious?"

Zhao Hongmei led Erhu into the house and with much complaint replied to Gu Xiaobei’s question: "Niuniu and Jiajia hit us. Why don’t the adults do something about it?"

Gu Xiaobei knew that Jiajia was timid, so she must have not been involved. She just laughed it off and said, "Kids can get rough when they play. Next time, try to be more careful."

Zhao Hongmei sat Erhu down in front of the sofa and asked, "Are Xiaopang and Mo Wang not home tonight?"

"Because of the cold weather outside, we didn’t bring them home tonight," Gu Xiaobei replied as she went to get an apple for Erhu.

"How has business been recently?" Zhao Hongmei asked.

"The cold weather has greatly affected the business turnover," Gu Xiaobei replied honestly, not having any intention of hiding the truth.

Zhao Hongmei asked in confusion, "I heard my brother say their business is booming. They even hired two crews to work around the clock."

Gu Xiaobei knew that the tea being sold in the shop across was produced by Zhao Honghe’s factory, but was it really so busy? Or had they started selling to other provinces?

Zhao Hongmei continued, "He hasn’t been coming back home recently, stays in the factory."

Gu Xiaobei didn’t think much of it, thinking it was possibly more convenient to be staying at the factory.

Zhao Hongmei added, "I mean, what kind of tea leaves are Zhao Honghe and the other bosses sourcing? It smells moldy and tastes terrible."

Upon hearing those words, Gu Xiaobei picked up on some valuable information. If there were issues with Zhao Honghe’s tea leaves, what about the ones sold on the market?

Zhao Hongmei continued to chat idly for a while before finally leaving.

The following day, Gu Xiaobei specifically asked Xiao Hong to get someone unknown to them, to buy a pack of tea from Ma De’s store. Back at the warehouse residential yard, after tasting a brew, she indeed detected a moldy flavor.

She opened up several other tea packages for closer examination. Each package contained one or two moldy pieces of tea leaf. No wonder their tea was so cheap.

...

In Ou Ruoshui’s shop, angry customers arrived seeking to not only return the moldy tea but also to demand their money back, all the while cursing at the fraudsters.

Ou Ruoshui had not tasted the tea and was shocked to find such a severe problem with it. At the time, she thought it was a good deal sourcing cheap tea from Zhao Honghe and Yang Tianhua. She never expected them to include moldy tea leaves as well.

The inflow of customers coming back into the shop to return their goods and cause a scene was increasing. Everyone was furious and it created quite a commotion in front of the store entrance.

Ou Ruoshui tried to keep a friendly smile as she handed back the money. To compensate for their inconvenience, she gave each customer an extra yuan.

Yang Tianhua and his third brother were watching the chaos ensue from a hidden corner across the street.

"Third brother, why are we doing this to Ou Ruoshui? It’s not worth it. If she doesn’t make money, we lose as well," Yang Tianhua asked in confusion.

Third brother revealed a wicked smile: "That woman is really cunning. She did this to herself."

Yang Tianhua was even more confused: "Third brother, do you know this woman? Did you have some issue with her in the past? I heard from Zhao Honghe that she and a man named Ou Tiannan, are quite wealthy in Nanhai City."

Third brother sneered: "Rich? One day, it will all slowly become ours." Ending his sentence, he gave the teashop across the street a cold, merciless glance. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

For the problematic tea leaves sold in Ma De’s wholesale market, he referred all the customers seeking refunds his way to go to Ou Ruoshui’s shop. She was one of the producers, and his shop only sold the products. How would he know that the tea leaves were moldy?

Ou Ruoshui spent three whole days resolving the issue of returning goods with the customers, and there was still a stream of people returning merchandise non-stop. Calculating the money left in her hands, she realized there wasn’t enough to cover the refunds.

A thought struck Ou Ruoshui, and she decided to call Ou Tiannan. Since he gave Zhao Honghe the authority to source the tea leaves, he should bear the consequences as well.

"Ruoshui, I didn’t know that Honghe would handle things in this manner. Also, our finances are currently quite tight..." As if he had prepared for this conversation, Ou Tiannan started to beat around the bush.

Ou Ruoshui clenched her fist in anger: "So why did you meddle with my business?"

"Ruoshui, you might have misunderstood. I meant no interference. When I gave Zhao Honghe the money, it was to help you," Ou Tiannan tried to explain.

Ou Ruoshui hung up with a cold laugh. This was clearly him trying to force her to beg for help. He knew that after she had used most of her funds to purchase land and build the factory, she didn’t have much left. Now that there was a problem, he was clearly hoping for her to initiate contact and ask for his assistance.