Chapter 171: Fighting

Xia Ruowan took Qin Huiyin to tour four shops. After comparing them, Qin Huiyin selected the most spacious one.

That shop was not only spacious inside but also had a roomy exterior area where tables and chairs could be set up for waiting customers, along with a designated parking space for horse-drawn or ox-drawn carriages next to it.

With the location chosen, the next step was the decoration. This task was entrusted to Xia Ruowan. Once the renovation was nearing completion, she would recruit and train the staff before opening.

After parting ways with Xia Ruowan, Qin Huiyin returned to the market.

"We sold out quite quickly today, much faster than last time," Qin Huiyin said, glancing at the remaining ingredients.

"Many of our regular customers came back. They said they tried the food from that newly opened shop, but the taste was far inferior, and ours is still much better," Li Taohua said.

"Boss, could you ladle me a bit more soup?" a middle-aged woman asked, pointing to the spicy hotpot broth in the pot.

"Why is everyone asking for extra soup today?" Li Taohua frowned. "Several people have asked us to give them extra soup today."

Usually, some people enjoyed drinking the broth; after all, in this nutritionally unbalanced ancient era, being able to bowl down a cup of savory, oily broth felt like a luxury delicacy—especially since the soup was provided free of charge, making them feel like they had struck a great bargain. However, today the requests were unusually numerous, and those people were insatiable, asking for more over and over again. If she still hadn't realized something was amiss by now, Li Taohua would have been a fool.

"The rest of the spicy hotpot has already been reserved by other customers. I'm sorry, but these are no longer for sale," Qin Huiyin said. "If you're looking for skewers, scallion pancakes, meat burgers, or stir-fried noodles later, we can still make another dozen portions or so."

Hearing that the spicy hotpot was no longer available, a few people standing at the back of the queue left.

"Mom, those people must have been sent by that rival shop to gather information and take our food back for study."

"No wonder the spicy hotpot sold out so fast today. My girl, what should we do about this?"

"Forget it. Next time, let's just set up our stall directly at the dam entrance and skip this place altogether. We'll let the customers know later so they won't make a wasted trip next time."

"Isn't that pushing our business onto others?"

"Mom, leaving a way out for others is also a way of accumulating good karma for ourselves. Besides, setting up our stall at the dam entrance will sell even faster. You saw how much those workers loved eating our food last time."

Li Taohua was still somewhat unhappy.

She hated being on the losing end.

From her perspective, this business idea was clearly conceived by her daughter, and now some people were trying to freeload without paying a single copper—that was purely taking advantage of them.

"All flowers bloom in different seasons, surely Mom understands this principle!" Qin Huiyin coaxed, gently shaking Li Taohua's arm. "Besides, I've already reached an agreement with Miss Xia, signed the contract, and chosen the shop. Once everything is settled there, we'll have to give up our business here anyway. By then, we won't have to rush around like this every day, nor will we have to worry about wind and rain; we can just make our money right inside the shop."

"Alright then." Li Taohua finally managed a smile. "The spicy hotpot is gone, so those waiting behind don't need to queue anymore."

After serving the last of the waiting customers, they packed up their tables and chairs, transported their belongings to the dam entrance, and set up their stall anew.

Just as the stall was set up, several manual laborers walked over.

Li Taohua stepped forward to greet them. Before she could even speak, one of the laborers pinched her chin with a lewd smirk and teased, "Where did such a a pretty woman come from? Could it be you knew us brothers have been starved of female company for too long and came here to entertain us?"

Qin Huiyin and the others quickly dropped what they were holding and rushed to Li Taohua's side.

Li Taohua lashed out with a kick and cursed furiously, "Where did these stinking hooligans come from, daring to harass me—"

"Damn it, stinking bitch, how dare you act so tough in front of me."

Those brawny men reached out with claw-like hands toward Li Taohua, attempting to subdue her while taking advantage of her.

Qin Huiyin picked up a nearby chair to swing at them, but before she could bring it down, a fist violently slammed into the greasy man who had harassed Li Taohua.

"Li Ersha, have you grown tired of living, daring to bully Brother Ze's family?" Jiang Qibin and the others arrived running closely behind.

The person who had thrown the punch was none other than Song Ruize.

Song Ruize and his companions had caught the aroma and, knowing Qin Huiyin had arrived, had come over specially to say hello.

Never did they expect that someone would move even faster than them, rushing over to court death.

Swinging his fists, Song Ruize relentlessly pummeled the molesting man.

The other stalwart men stood frozen, not daring to step forward to help.

"Ah... Pain... Help..."

Chen Yong stood at the very front, eyeing the remaining laborers. "Why aren't you going to help? If you don't help, how will we get a chance to beat people up? My fists have been itching."

Qin Huiyin wanted to step forward to stop Song Ruize, but Li Taohua held her tightly.

"Mom, I'm worried that if this blows up, it will be hard to handle, and it won't reflect well on older brother either."

"Song Ruize, that's enough," Li Taohua said. "It's not worth making trouble over these scumbags."

Song Ruize stopped, kicked the bruised and battered Li Ersha, and said coldly, "Tell Song Tiegen that if he has any tricks, he can direct them at me. Let him try messing with them again."

Only then did Qin Huiyin realize these people were deliberately sent to cause trouble because of Song Ruize, and judging by the implications, it was also linked to Song Tiegen.

"Song Second, you really did father a good son; he even dares to provoke me," Li Taohua said angrily.

Those laborers hurriedly hauled Li Ersha away.

"These guys are truly fools. Song Tiegen told them to come make trouble, and they actually dared to come. Before making trouble, they didn't even bother to ask about our sister Huiyin's temper," Jiang Qibin remarked.

Everyone turned to look at Qin Huiyin.

Qin Huiyin was still holding the folding chair, and it wasn't hard to guess what she would have done had Song Ruize not arrived in time.

Qin Huiyin put the folding chair down and smiled. "It was covered in dust; I just wanted to wipe it clean."

"Sister, why did you all come so late today?" Zhou Jinyuan asked.

"We arrived at the morning market too early and figured you guys were probably still sleeping, so we went to the market first. We won't do that next time; from now on, we'll come straight here," Tang Yixiao said with a smile.

Qin Huiyin picked up Song Ruize's hand and, seeing his knuckles covered in blood, turned to Tang Lanhua beside her. "Sister Lanhua, did we bring any medicinal ointment?"

"Yes, there's some in the chest." Tang Lanhua brought the medicine over.

Qin Huiyin told Song Ruize to sit down, and she took a seat opposite him to apply the ointment for him.

This time, Li Taohua didn't stop her, nor did she make any sarcastic remarks. After all, Song Ruize's performance today was commendable—he showed some capability, which meant her daughter's devotion to him wasn't in vain.

Zhang Erzhu quietly asked Tang Yixiao from the side, "How is your sister-in-law Xiao doing at home?"

Tang Yixiao replied, "Brother Erzhu, you've only been away from home for a single day, do you really miss her that much?"

"What do you youngsters know?" Zhang Erzhu said dismissively. "What good man leaves home and doesn't miss his wife? Tell me, since I left, didn't sister-in-law Xiao cry?"

"Yesterday they were putting together furniture, and sister-in-law Xiao was in charge of cooking. Sometimes she even follows us to learn characters. Sister-in-law Xiao is smarter than you and learns much faster," Tang Yixiao said, not missing a chance to tease him.