Chapter 85 — Take Him Down and You Are Number Two
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Tang Yun's mother naturally knew Zou Ruoming and knew he was a tyrant in the school, though he never patronized her own stall. She had no idea why he had brought so many people here to eat today.
Toward Zou Ruoming, Mother Tang felt rather afraid. Before this, there had been a vendor on the snack street selling hastily fried seafood, and because Zou Ruoming got a bad stomach from his food, Zou Ruoming brought men the next day and smashed the stall to pieces. Nor did it end there. The man himself was beaten black and blue and did not come out to set up his stall for days.
At Zou Ruoming's overbearing ways, the other vendors on the snack street were all cowed into silence, and they hurried to find out who this man was. Once they asked around, they learned he was one of the Four Young Devils of the school. From then on, whichever stall Zou Ruoming favored, its owner would take care upon extra care, terrified of the slightest mistake, and when the bill came would give a very steep discount for fear of displeasing Zou Ruoming.
On the snack street, Mother Tang's was not the only barbecue stall. Zou Ruoming and his crew used to eat at another barbecue stand near the head of the street, something for which Mother Tang had secretly counted herself lucky. Hers was a small business that made little money to begin with, and if trouble came, she could not afford to pay for it.
"Take your time, young men... ah!" Mother Tang carefully set several freshly grilled chicken wings down on Zou Ruoming's table, but the more careful she was, the more likely she was to err. As she put the wings down, her hand shook, and the seasoning flicked off a wing onto the leg of a broad-faced fatty sitting beside Zou Ruoming, leaving a grease stain at once.
"Sorry, sorry!" Mother Tang was suddenly at a loss. She was truly frightened of these young masters, afraid that at the slightest displeasure they would stand up and smash her stall. "Why don't... let me wipe it for you... I can wash it for you too..."
Since being laid off, Mother Tang had kept the whole family alive on this barbecue stall alone. Her husband had injured his leg and lain sick in bed ever since, yet the factory's compensation for the work injury had never come through. After she went to ask several times, the factory leaders had rudely driven her out.
Mother Tang was the typical housewife living at the very bottom of society, humble and weak, yet forced to hold up a family with her own two hands, earning money to send her daughter to school and to treat her husband's illness.
"Ha, it's nothing!" The broad-faced fatty did not get angry at all. He casually brushed the seasoning off his trousers and said with utter indifference, "How would I dare trouble you, Auntie, to wash my pants? Brother Ming would kill me. You will be an elder to us from now on!"
"You little brat!" Zou Ruoming tapped the broad-faced fatty on the forehead. "You are already sucking up?"
"Hee hee hee..." The broad-faced fatty laughed, and the other students who had come with Zou Ruoming burst out laughing with him, unrestrained.
Mother Tang stared helplessly at the broad-faced fatty before her, not understanding what he meant and not knowing what these people were laughing at, though the one thing she did understand was that this broad-faced fatty apparently did not mean to hold her responsible.
Mother Tang breathed a sigh of relief at once and said carefully, "Then... let me treat you to this meal?"
"How could we do that? Is our Brother Ming the kind of man who eats without paying?" The broad-faced fatty waved a hand. "Even if he eats for free elsewhere, he would still pay at your place, Auntie. Besides, we will all be family soon, so we certainly cannot short you!"
Hearing the fatty's words, Zou Ruoming looked quite pleased, a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. This broad-faced fatty certainly knew how to read the moment. It seemed all his usual kindness to him had not been wasted!