Chapter 132 — Then Just Go Out with Him, and Let Little Tang and Little Yi's Relationship Advance Another Step — Please Vote with Your Monthly Tickets!!!! "Mom," Tang Yun Patted Her Small Chest, Glancing Behind Her in Some Alarm; Luckily That Villain Had Not Followed to Pester Her, Otherwise She Truly Would Not Have Known What to Do

"Yun'er, school's out!" Mother Tang was lighting the charcoal in the grill. At this hour every day the senior class was let out, and there was still a fair bit of business to be had. "Heh heh, put your schoolbag down quick and give your mother a hand."

The senior class let out late, long past mealtime, and once school was over many of them would grab a bite near the school to hold off their hunger before going home to eat.

"Mm, Mom, why are you so happy today? Business good?" Tang Yun was a little surprised to see her mother in such high spirits.

"Heh heh, Wei Zhao says he has a recipe for Orleans-style barbecue seasoning, and he'll bring it to me tomorrow to improve our grilling. Business is bound to pick up then." Whenever Mother Tang spoke of this, she could not contain her delight. "I hear you schoolkids all love this Orleans flavor. Our business will surely do a lot better too!"

"Wei Zhao?" Tang Yun's expression shifted slightly at the name. "He came again?"

"At noon, he came with a classmate to eat something," said Mother Tang, not noticing anything amiss in her daughter. "A very nice boy, none of those bad habits of rich young masters, and so courteous to everyone..."

"Him?" Tang Yun curled her lip in disdain. "Mom, he doesn't mean well."

"What kind of talk is that, child? What do you mean, he doesn't mean well? He's kindly helping us—how can you say such a thing?" Mother Tang was instantly angry. "He doesn't mean well? How does he not mean well? Look at our situation—what could a rich young master like him possibly want from us?"

"He... he..." Tang Yun felt wronged, biting her lip until it nearly bled, her delicate face full of reluctance. "Mom, can't you really see it? He... he wants to be friends with me..."

Tang Yun simply laid it all out, so that her mother would know Wei Zhao's true, hateful face. It was embarrassing, but better than letting her mother be deceived by that villain.

"Friends, is that so? That's a good thing! Wei Zhao, now, I think he's quite decent. Spend more time with him—it'll do you good too." Mother Tang glared at her daughter. "Who knows, maybe his family knows people, and can help your father find someone, and then the factory will pay out the compensation! You silly girl, you don't understand anything. Don't you see how the world works? Wang Jiaming at the factory—didn't he just slice a chunk of flesh off his finger on the lathe? What kind of injury is that, really? But his son-in-law's uncle by marriage is some minor official at the neighborhood office, and that bastard factory director Sun Laifu paid him ten thousand for medical expenses and even went to visit him at home! See how easy things are for people with connections!"

"Mom..." Tang Yun felt even more wronged. She had not expected her one remark to draw out so many grievances from her mother. Yet what her mother said was also true—how could Tang Yun not understand? Only, what did her mother know of the lives of these rich young masters? To them, playing with women was as ordinary as changing clothes. Why would they help with her family's petty troubles? Never mind just being friends—even if she... went that far, what good would it do?

"Mom, you haven't forgotten what happened to Xiaofen, have you? Back then that man also said he'd help Xiaofen's family. And now?" Tang Yun did not argue with her mother, only laid out the facts and reasoned with her.

"How can that man compare with Wei Zhao? He's far beneath him!" Mother Tang snorted. "I said back then that the fellow had shifty eyes, a little thug, and once his family had a bit of money he didn't know how to carry himself. I even told you to keep away from him! Your mother has lived this many years—I can still tell a good man from a bad one!"

"..." Tang Yun was speechless. It seemed her mother really had been fooled by Wei Zhao's disguise, and was even speaking up for him.

"You girl, you're just stubborn, the same as I was, unable to see through people and the ways of the world. Back when I was at the factory, your mother was a flower of the workshop. The workshop director introduced his son to me, but I looked down on the boy and took a fancy to your father, the skilled worker. And what came of it?" Without waiting for Tang Yun to speak, Mother Tang rattled on with her lecture. "The director's son runs a travel agency now, earns several million a year. And look at your father—injured, and no one cares, and I have to wear myself out day after day running a stall to make ends meet. Why can't you see sense, girl? If I could choose again, I'd have chosen the director's son, and I'd be a rich lady now, not working myself half to death every day."

Her mother's words silenced Tang Yun. True, her mother's words were worldly, but at this moment Tang Yun no longer blamed her. What woman, carrying the household alone, selling at a stall by day to earn money for her husband's treatment and her daughter's schooling, then coming home at night to tend a husband paralyzed in bed—feeding him, washing him, cleaning him, putting him to sleep at midnight—and after he slept still unable to rest, still having to prepare the ingredients for tomorrow's barbecue stall... A life like that, no wonder her mother had such calculating thoughts.

Yet Tang Yun could not agree with her mother's thinking either. A woman should not have to rely entirely on a man, should she? Through her own efforts she too could make something of herself, and just the same give the whole family a good life.

"All right, Mom, I'll say no more. If you want his recipe, take it. I won't interfere." Tang Yun did not want to make her mother angry. She lowered her head and set to helping her mother.

"Then tomorrow, go to his class and get the recipe from him. And don't forget to thank him!" Seeing Tang Yun's reluctant look, Mother Tang sighed. "You girl, saying a few nice words to someone won't kill you."

"Ah?" Tang Yun was busy arranging the skewers when she suddenly heard her mother's words. Her hand shook, and a skewer of meat fell to the ground...

"What are you doing, you dead girl? Why are you so clumsy?" Mother Tang's heart ached—that was a whole yuan! She hurried to pick it up and set it aside. "Wash it off when we get home and grill it for your father tonight."

Ordinarily the family could not bear to eat these skewers themselves. Only the unsold ones, or the ones no longer fresh, were given to Father Tang as a treat; Tang Yun and her mother would never bring themselves to eat them.

"Mom, I don't want to go get it. Can't you just have him bring it over himself?" Tang Yun had no wish to go looking for Wei Zhao. For her to seek him out on her own—what would that make it?

Hearing her daughter, Mother Tang nearly died of anger. "He's giving us the recipe, and you want him to deliver it himself? What are you thinking? Does he owe you something?"

"But..." Tang Yun lowered her head and pouted, somewhat displeased.

"You girl—then if you won't go, I'll go tomorrow!" Seeing her daughter say nothing, Mother Tang was at a loss.

"Then... I'd better go." Seeing her mother put it that way, Tang Yun had no choice but to agree.

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