I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Chapter 34: Fresh Shrimp in Baked Rice

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Yang JianGuo pulled Zhao XueMei faraway and the whole time, Zhao XueMei kept on yelling and cursing. “Is he still human? He doesn’t even care about his own grandson, even an outsider knows sympathy! For his grandson to face something like this, he actually threw us out because of a house, is he still human? No, I can’t do this, I need to go back and have a talk with him! I’m going back to talk to him!!”

Yang JianGuo held onto Zhao XueMei’s wrist as she continued to struggle against him, but he just squeezed tighter, to the point that Zhao XueMei’s wrist started hurting and still hadn’t stopped. The two kept on arguing and no one noticed that Yang Xiao wasn’t behind them.

“How could he disown his grandson?!!” Zhao XueMei screamed.

Pedestrians all turned to look at them. Yang JianGuo had never acted so embarrassingly before, but he didn’t care anymore. He held onto Zhao XueMei tightly and turned to look at her, “My dad even disowned me, his son, why would he care about a grandson? Now you think he should’ve cared for Xiao Xiao? Why aren’t you saying that you’re not a human when you didn’t take care of him?”

Zhao XueMei paused for a moment before pointing at Yang JianGuo’s nose, “Don’t say it as if it’s all my fault. You say you love your father but when we didn’t bring him over to the city, you didn’t say shit! When I said to sell the house, you just tucked your tail away and said nothing. Now it’s all my fault. Yang JianGuo, are you still a man?!!”

Yang JianGuo was expressionless, he didn’t react to Zhao XueMei’s anger as well. When she finished, he nodded and said, “Yes, I’m not a man, so I don’t have the face to meet my father. He painstakingly raised me, and all I became was a good-for-nothing that can’t even reject my wife’s words. I failed him, I don’t have the face to meet him, and I’m not a man. Zhao XueMei, let’s divorce.”

Zhao XueMei’s eyes widened, “Yang JianGuo what did you say? I dare you to say it again!” Zhao XueMei shook with anger, “Fine, fine, you’re good Yang JianGuo. Just you wait, if I’m not living well, then I’ll make sure you’re all living like hell!!”

It was only then did Yang Xiao stumble into the scene. The moment Zhao XueMei saw him, she pulled him in front of her and said, “I’m telling you, Xiao Xiao doesn’t need your care and from now on, his not part of the Yang family.”

Before Yang Xiao realized what happened, he was pulled away by Zhao XueMei. When he turned to look at Yang JianGuo, he just stood there with his head low, not reacting at all to what Zhao XueMei said. He didn’t have any inclination of stopping her either.

When Zhao XueMei pulled Yang Xiao somewhere faraway, she finally broke down into tears.

Yang Xiao was already aggravated and now hearing her cry, he thought she had another argument with his dad. All that was on his mind was the million yuan, so her tears just made his head blow up and he shouted, “Mom, can you stop making a fuss? Do you think I don’t have enough to worry about? You need to think of a solution quickly and get that million yuan! I don’t have much time, I don’t have much time you know?! Go and plead with my grandpa! Why do you only know how to cry?!!”

Once Zhao XueMei heard Yang Xiao, her eyes were filled with hatred, “What grandpa? Your grandpa doesn’t need you anymore. He already sold his restaurant, he doesn’t want to take care of you. Pleading with him won’t do anything!”

“Grandpa’s just angry, it’s just getting to him. My dad’s his son and I’m his grandson, he couldn’t not care about us. It’s just you didn’t leave a good impression…”

Zhao XueMei punched him hard and said with hatred, “Do you know, your dad asked for a divorce? They don’t want to take care you, none of them care about you!!”

Yang Xiao was dumbfounded, “Mom, what are you saying?”

“I’m not joking, did you hear what your dad said? He told me to go to the Bureau of Civil Affairs tomorrow and get divorced from him!! It’s all because of your grandpa, it’s all because of him! Why hasn’t he died already? He just has to separate our family like this huh!”

When Zhao XueMei raised her head up, a venomous glint flashed across her eyes.

Yang Xiao paused for a moment before finally slamming his phone down, hard, and screamed at the top of his lungs, “So no one fucking cares! They just want to see me fucking dead!!”

Zhao XueMei was shocked by Yang Xiao and when she came to her senses, she hugged him close, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, you still have your mother. Don’t scare me like that, your mom won’t allow anything to happen to you, don’t scare me like that…oh why is our life so difficult…”

As she talked, the tears started falling again and Yang Xiao stood motionless like a log as she cried. It was only after a while did he lift his head up and all that was inside was pure hatred.

When Zhao XueMei and Yang Xiao returned, Yang JianGuo was, not surprisingly, absent. The house was messy like how they left it. Half a day had almost gone by since they left. No one would’ve expected things to turn out this way in just two days.

The moment Yang Xiao returned, he locked himself into his room. He ignored Zhao XueMei completely, so if it wasn’t for the fact that there were footsteps, Zhao XueMei would’ve have thought he couldn’t handle it anymore. “Xiao Xiao, open the door and let mom inside, please? You haven’t eaten this entire day. Mom made you Fresh Shrimp and Baked rice. Wasn’t this your favorite dish? Please open the door and let me in. Xiao Xiao! Xiao Xiao!”

Zhao XueMei kept on knocking without ab answer. Worried, she put the plate down and began slapping hard on the door. She screamed and cried, “Xiao Xiao! Open the door, don’t scare me, don’t do anything stupid, mom will sell the house tomorrow, mom will definitely find the money, Xiao Xiao!”

Finally an angry roar came from Yang Xiao, “Can you leave me the fuck alone and let me have my peace?!”

Zhao XueMei got yelled at but her heart calmed down. She quickly placated Yang Xiao by saying, “I’ll leave, I’ll leave. As long as you’re fine, I’ll leave right away.”

Once she was certain that Yang Xiao was fine staying at home, Zhao XueMei packed up some stuff and left. She didn’t want to leave this house, but even more so, she didn’t want to see Yang Xiao suffer. To be honest, there was an easy solution to this problem. Even though, Yang Xiao was also at fault, he was tricked into it, thus the best course of action was to call the police. However, there was no guarantee of Yang Xiao’s safety if they called the police and secondly, he was involved in gambling, according to the law, there would be jail time waiting for him. There was no way Zhao XueMei was going to see Yang Xiao suffer like that.

Thus, she decided to sell this house.

Then, scrapping a bit more here and there should be enough.

However, saying she was going to sell the house was easy but it was difficult to execute. This area was considered a very nice place in the city and the houses weren’t cheap either, but it’s because of that that it’s hard to sell. Zhao XueMei was in a hurry to sell but there was no buyers. After all, Zhao XueMei’s listing price was high and needed the full payment upfront. Those who could afford it disliked the fact that it was an old house, and those who didn’t care, couldn’t afford it. Also, she needed the full payment in a short time span so even after a few days, no one checked out the house or made an offer.

Day after day, Zhao XueMei became more and more anxious. Blisters started to form on her lips but there was nothing she could do. She thought that once the house was sold, she would be able to save Yang Xiao but she didn’t anticipate that it would be so difficult.

Yang JianGuo never came home, no one knows where he had gone and Yang Xiao became more and more irritable. As if he had completely broken down, he would either be shouting at Zhao XueMei or locking himself up in his room without a sound, not eating or sleeping. Zhao XueMei could only watch painfully.

She already borrowed from those she could borrow from and those she shouldn’t, but even then, she only managed to get two hundred thousand. Even those she looked down upon, she went and asked, but the results were expected, all she got was mockery and nothing gained.

Ever since this happened, Zhao XueMei hadn’t slept in days. She looked much older on the whole, but time ticked away as usual.

Everyday, Yang Xiao locked himself in his room and stared blankly at the calendar. Time slowly passed by and every news Zhao XueMei brought back just made it worse. His phone had already been smashed into pieces by him. He even hallucinated that everything was just a dream, maybe they were just scaring him, after all, he hadn’t heard anything back from them yet.

His self denial was finally broken three days before the deadline.

Zhao XueMei was in such a panic that she hadn’t eaten proper for the past few days, but still made every meal for Yang Xiao. Even though Yang Xiao didn’t care nor eat it.

There was only the two of them left in the house and Yang JianGuo’s phone was unreachable. Initially Zhao XueMei blamed him, hated him, but now she didn’t even have time for those thoughts.

For the past few days, other than the occasional call on Zhao XueMei’s phone by potential buyers, the home phone almost never ranged. However, today, the phone suddenly sounded.

The number on display was unfamiliar and not from the city either. Zhao XueMei stared at it confusedly before picking it up, but before she could, Yang Xiao ran out of his room and shouted, “Don’t pick it up!! Don’t pick it up!!!”

Zhao XueMei didn’t know what happened but she didn’t dare pick it up.

The ringing sound became an eerie sound in their ears. Even though no one picked it up, it kept on ringing before it finally stopped. Zhao XueMei saw Yang Xiao breathe a sigh of relief and just as she was about to ask about it, she heard her phone ringing.

Instantly, Yang Xiao broke down screaming.

Zhao XueMei finally realized that something was wrong and picked up the phone. She didn’t put it on speakers but the voice could still be heard throughout the quiet room.

“Hey, where’s Yang Xiao?”

It was an unfamiliar voice but Zhao XueMei knew instantly who he was because Yang Xiao started shaking as he stared at the phone.

Zhao XueMei raised her voice, “You, what do you want?!! I’m telling you, we’re in a society ruled by law, if you act recklessly I’ll call the police!”

The voice started laughing, “Aunty, repaying your debt is a normal thing to do. Calling the police? If you’re not worried about Yang Xiao, then feel free to. Think about it, if I know your home phone, how do I not know your home address? If the money doesn’t reach me, it won’t be just this. Aunty, think carefully.”

Zhao XueMei was panicking and on the verge of tears, “I’ll get the money, I’ll get the money, don’t harm  Xiao Xiao! Don’t harm Xiao Xiao!!”

“Aunty, don’t worry, I’m just calling to ask about it. There’s still three days. Before then, Yang Xiao’s still my brother, I won’t harm him. If I don’t get the money in three days though, then you can decide if it’s the arms first or the legs.”

And with that, he hang up. Zhao XueMei fell onto the floor and broke down into tears.

As if his soul got stolen, Yang Xiao stared at her phone. After a few moments, he abruptly jumped up and rushed into his room.

“Xiao Xiao, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to hide, I’m leaving this place, he knows our address, his going to find us, I need to hide, I need to hide…” As if in a trance, he started mumbling as he packed his stuff. There was no life in his eyes anymore.

Packing only a few pieces of clothing, Yang Xiao left with a bag in hand. Zhao XueMei couldn’t stop him and was instead pushed down onto the ground. She could only watch as Yang Xiao ran out like a mad person.

When Zhao XueMei finally got up to catch him, there was not a trace of him outside. Zhao XueMei felt scared and anxious, to the point that she wanted to slam her head on the wall, “What happened?!!!”

How did this happen in just a few days?