Chapter Thirty-One: The Arrogant Li Lan

At this point, not everyone had arrived, and dinner had not yet begun.

Lin Mei glanced at Shen Baoping and Lin E. Seeing that they were seated far enough away to catch none of their whispered conversation, she leaned close to Shen Ye’s ear and said in a low voice, “That wife of your cousin Shen Die’s, Wen Xiuting... she was beautiful, capable, and kind-hearted. She managed the house well, used the money she earned to support the family, and even paid the children’s kindergarten fees and the like. Such a fine woman.”

“Then Shen Die went and divorced Wen Xiuting for money. He married a woman named Li Lan instead. I heard Li Lan is very rich, worth tens of millions. You didn’t go to their wedding banquet, did you?”

“At the time, your eldest uncle and aunt were grinning from ear to ear, saying their family had finally made it, that they had suddenly become a household with tens of millions in assets. They said they could even stand alongside your third uncle. True, Li Lan is a little older, thirty-seven, ten years older than Shen Die. But an older woman knows how to care for people,” Lin Mei whispered.

Among the four Shen brothers, the richest was the third uncle, Shen Weiping. Shen Weiping ran a large restaurant in Guangzhou, and he was unquestionably worth millions.

But Shen Weiping also looked down on this poor branch of the family and rarely had any dealings with them.

“Your eldest uncle and aunt even dreamed that, since their daughter-in-law’s family lived in some ultra-luxurious villa, they might be able to move into a villa too. That would have been quite a glorious thing.”

“Who would have thought that after a while, things turned out to be wrong? That Li Lan was unbelievably proud. In her eyes, Shen Die, your eldest uncle, and your aunt were all nothing but beggars. She never once called them Mom or Dad, and she absolutely would not allow your eldest uncle and aunt to move into her home.”

“She would toss your eldest uncle and aunt a thousand yuan a month for living expenses, and that was that.”

“Now and then, when they were together, it was actually your eldest uncle and aunt who had to pour tea for Li Lan.”

“Li Lan sat down while your eldest uncle and aunt stood there.”

“Wait, what about Shen Die? He had no objection?”

“What objection could he possibly have? He’s been using Li Lan’s money lately to open two shops, and ended up losing several hundred thousand. A man without money can’t even stand straight. Now Li Lan won’t let him run the shops anymore. He just follows beside her as a little secretary.”

Shen Ye listened, dumbfounded.

Back when Shen Die divorced Wen Xiuting and then married Li Lan, who was nearly ten years older than him, Shen Ye had already felt that the marriage might not be a happy one. He had never imagined it would sink to this point. Still, this was Shen Die’s family affair in the end.

Besides, wasn’t there a saying going around online these days: if you set up the tryst yourself, you have to see it through even with tears in your eyes?

The same applied to Shen Die now.

Of course, if Shen Die could harden his resolve even once, divorce would be easy enough. In the end, it all depended on Shen Die himself.

About ten minutes later, the private room door was pushed open.

Shen Die opened the door and made an inviting gesture.

Then Li Lan walked in, wearing a mink coat that was not particularly thick, carrying the faint scent of Chanel perfume, her face lightly made up, her bearing lofty and imposing, though her looks were only average.

By now it was already November. If this were the north, or the Yangtze River region, the weather would already have been quite cold. But in the Guangdong and Guangxi area, the temperature was still rather high.

Wearing a mink coat at this time of year could only be described as posing.

Still, one had to admit that although the act was crude, it was indeed rather high-end.

After all, even the most ordinary mink coat cost at least ten thousand yuan, and a better one could run into the tens of thousands.

Then Shen Die pulled out a chair, and Li Lan sat down leisurely.

Her empress-dowager manner made all the Shen family members in the room open their eyes wide.

Li Lan lightly stroked the enormous diamond ring on her finger. “Well, everyone’s here. Then let’s eat.”

By rights, as the wife of the younger generation, she should have waited for an elder to announce the start of the meal.

But Li Lan never placed these poor relatives of the Shen family in her eyes. Though she had heard that the son of the Shen family’s second brother, Shen Ye, had some small success and opened a little restaurant that could make several tens of thousands a month, Li Lan’s own family fortune was in the tens of millions. How could she possibly take such a small business seriously?

This made Shen Jiaping, Shen Guoping, the eldest aunt Shen Xiaohong, and the second aunt Shen Xiaofen all so angry they could laugh. They looked toward the eldest brother, Shen Baoping. Although Shen Baoping’s face was also somewhat ugly, he still did not stand up.

There was nothing he could do. Shen Baoping was not the type to harden up, and in the Shen Baoping household, Li Lan was practically the empress dowager.

In the end, it was Shen Ye’s father, Shen Jiaping, who awkwardly smoothed things over. “All right, everyone from the Shen family is here now. Let’s gather around and sit at three tables.”

Only after Shen Jiaping said this did the Shen family finally stir. One by one, they gathered around the tables and sat down.

Of course, no one wanted to sit next to Li Lan.

Shen Ye had not attended Shen Die and Li Lan’s wedding, so this was the first time he had ever seen Li Lan. His first impression was already terrible. Naturally, he could not be bothered to greet her. He sat to one side, poured himself a glass of beer, picked up a braised duck leg, and prepared to eat.

Just then, Li Lan walked over with a glass of wine.

“You’re Shen Die’s cousin, Shen Ye, right? I heard you opened a little restaurant.”

Shen Ye lifted his eyes. “That’s right. I just opened a tiny restaurant. Nothing compared to your grand house and great business.”

Li Lan’s manner of speaking was not pleasant, so Shen Ye naturally saw no reason to be pleasant in return.

Li Lan’s gaze turned cold, and dissatisfaction surged in her heart. Such a poor relative dared speak to her like that? She drew a deep breath. “I heard Shen Die’s ex-wife, Wen Xiuting, is working as a waitress in your little restaurant. I really do not want to see Wen Xiuting. Now that you and I are relatives, you and Wen Xiuting count as strangers. Fire Wen Xiuting.”

Shen Ye could not help laughing. He picked up a chopstickful of braised duck, chewed it slowly, and only after finishing did he look at Li Lan with a strange expression.

“Lady, who do you think you are? It’s true you’re Shen Die’s wife, but don’t come here pretending to be some big shot. You tell me to fire whoever you want fired? That’s ridiculous. New sister-in-law, you’d better sit back down in your own place.”

With a sharp crack, Li Lan slapped the table, making even the wine glasses tremble.

“Who am I? Heh. In this little corner of N County, Li Lan still has some standing and some connections. I have relatives in both the industry and commerce bureau and the health bureau. I’m speaking to you nicely and telling you to fire Wen Xiuting, and you won’t listen.”

“Do you want that little restaurant of yours over at Silver Beach to be inspected for sanitation every day? Your little family business can’t afford to offend me.” Li Lan let out a cold laugh.

Shen Ye’s eyes also turned sharp. “Are you threatening me?”

At that moment, the Eye of Justice swept over Li Lan.

“Li Lan, female, businesswoman, with some connections. Has engaged in some dirty dealings, such as selling counterfeit goods, inferior furniture, and low-quality bed linens. Evil value: 1.1.”

It seemed that selling counterfeit goods carried a fairly low evil value, so long as it had nothing to do with food.

If fake food ever killed someone, the definition would probably be a different one entirely.

First installment today; two more will follow tonight.