A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)

Chapter 121 A Filial Girl

"You are?"

Ye Fan was taken aback. He had not expected anyone here to know him.

"Mr. Chu, I am Li Xiao-Hong! I used to be an intern at Hongqi Bank. We met when you came to the

bank to withdraw money." Meeting Ye Fan for the second time had clearly made the girl agitated. Just

then, she was blushing bright red.

"Oh, so it's you." And Ye Fan suddenly remembered who the ingenuous girl in front of him was. Ye Fan

had been humiliated when he went to Hongqi Bank to withdraw money, and this girl was the one who

spoke up for him. That was why, when Li Xiao-Hong mentioned Hongqi Bank, Ye Fan could remember

who she was.

"Xiao-Hong, what are you doing here? And you are even working as a server?" Ye Fan had a good

impression of Li Xiao-Hong. In this materialistic world, it was rare to find girls who were both beautiful

and kind like her. But Ye Fan could not help feeling curious. The last time he saw her, Li Xiao-Hong had

been working at Hongqi Bank. So why was she working as a server now?

"Did Miss Xu fire you?" Ye Fan asked curiously.

"No, it was nothing like that, Mr. Chu," Li Xiao-Hong explained hurriedly.

As it turned out, Li Xiao-Hong had been working at the bank during the day and doing part-time work at

the restaurant during her evenings.

Li Xiao-Hong had just graduated college and was barely making ends meet as an intern. After paying

for rent and food, she hardly had anything left. Due to Ye Fan's intervention, Xu Lei had promoted Li

Xiao-Hong to become her personal assistant. But Li Xiao-Hong was still too inexperienced, so she had

found herself unable to handle the job and ended up making a lot of screw ups. Finally, out of guilt, she

had tendered her resignation and returned to her original position at the bank's front counter.

That was why her salary was as meagre as before.

"My mother's birthday is coming soon. So I want to earn a bit more money to buy her a jade bracelet.

All these years, my mother has always been providing for my brother and me. This year, I want to give

her a huge surprise on her birthday.” As she said this, an inscrutable light flashed in her eyes.

She had been working part-time at this restaurant for nearly three months.

During the day, she had to work at the bank. And during her evenings, she had to serve customers at

the restaurant. Her work day was eighteen hours long and Li Xiao-Hong had no time for leisure

activities at all.

Was it tiring?

Of course it was.

But Li Xiao-Hong regretted nothing. In her tiredness, she found happiness.

During this year's birthday celebration, as long as she could see a gratified and satisfied smile on her

mother's face, then her three-month's worth of hard work would have been worthwhile.

"Mr. Chu, look. Do you think this bracelet is pretty?"

As she was talking to Ye Fan, Li Xiao-Hong carefully brought out a jade bracelet that had been

thoroughly wrapped up.

She had just received her salary from the bank today. And together with the money she had saved up

from two months of part-time work, she finally had enough money to buy the jade bracelet, which she

went out and bought without delay. In a few days time, the restaurant would be paying her the

remainder of her salary and she would use that to pay this month's rent and food bill.

Children from poor families had to take up responsibility early in life. So Li Xiao-Hong knew exactly how

each cent of her money should be spent.

Ye Fan chuckled and said, "Mm, it's pretty.

But it must be very expensive? Is it worth it to work so hard for a bracelet?"

"No, Mr. Chu, you don't understand. As long as it makes my mother happy, I am willing to endure any

hardship."

"I never had a father. My mother was the one who single-handedly brought up my brother and me. She

could never bear to spend money on food, clothes and makeup for herself. The only accessory she

owns is a two-yuan plastic bracelet she bought from a roadside stall."

"My mother has given too much to my brother and me. Her youth, her best years and her health have

all been given to us. Now that I have graduated and am working, I want to earn more money to lessen

the burden on my mother."

"This bracelet is my first present to my mother. In future, I will be buying more and better presents for

her."

Li Xiao-Hong's eyes reddened as she was speaking. And Ye Fan could clearly see the tears in the

corner of her eyes. But she continued to smile and her smile was as bright as a lotus flower in June.

Ye Fan was suddenly taken aback. As he looked at her, he could see a shadow of himself. Both of

them had such similar pasts.

"Mr. Chu, I am sorry. I have said too much. We can't chat anymore. I still have to send the beer to a few

tables. I have to hurry.” Li Xiao-Hong wiped her eyes, turned around and hurried away to serve the

tables.

As Ye Fan looked at Li Xiao-Hong, he could hardly believe that a frail girl like her could carry so many

bottles of beer up and down the stairs.

"Let me help you."

Ye Fan walked forward and took the bottles of beer from Li Xiao-Hong. He was going to help her with

her deliveries.

Meanwhile, in a room on the second floor.

Su Qian was having dinner with a couple of friends.

She had just returned from abroad so, naturally, she wanted to meet up with her old friends. Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.

"Qian-Qian, where is Mu-Cheng? Why didn't you invite her as well?" The speaker was a heavily made-

up woman. And although her clothes were not as extravagant as Su Qian's, they were all expensive

brands.

Her name was Yang Qian. And she was also Qiu Mu-Cheng's former school mate.

"Ah, Qian-Qian, let's not talk about her. That fellow is a workaholic. She always work till late at night. I

called her several times already, but she kept saying she was too busy to come.” Su Qian drank her

red wine and complained angrily.

"Oh? I heard she got married though? Why is she still working so hard? Why can't she just let her

husband support her?" Just then, a handsome and slim man at the table spoke up. He was wearking a

white short-sleeves shirt and a Rolex watch.

"Xue Lin, let me tell you this. Don't talk to me about her husband. I get angry every time he is

mentioned. You don't know this but Qiu Mu-Cheng has married a country bumpkin. He has no

background to speak of and is completely useless. He is just a good-for-nothing who is freeloading off

Mu-Cheng. And he is the Qiu's live-in son-in-law."

"He is as useless as can be. Compared to my idol, he is completely worthless." And Su Qian quaffed

another glass of red wine.

"That can't be true?"

"Mu-Cheng was renowned as our school's beauty queen. How could she marry such a useless man?”

Yang Qian exclaimed in surprise. She pretended to feel sorry for her former school mate but, inwardly,

she actually felt an inscrutable sense of satisfaction.

This was human nature at work. Back in the day, Qiu Mu-Cheng had been an elite that Yang Qian was

never able to measure up to. And now that the former queen had fallen off her throne and living in

sadder straits than herself, Yang Qian could not help but feel an inscrutable sense of pleasantness well

up within her.

Xue Lin also shared his heartfelt regret, and kept saying that Qiu Mu-Cheng had married the wrong

person.

"Isn't that right?"

"If Mu-Cheng had agreed to be with you, then she would not be suffering now." Su Qian felt sorry for

her BFF but, at the same time, she was also inordinately angry.

Earlier, she had told her BFF to divorce that good-for-nothing, but Qiu Mu-Cheng had actually shot

down the advice.

"Isn't she just debasing herself?" Su Qian poured herself another glass of wine and then discovered

that the bottle was empty. So she asked the server for more wine.

"Your wine is here.” And soon, a server arrived with the wine. He stood beside their table and waited for

Su Qian to take it from him.

A frown appeared on Su Qian's face immediately. "Can't you read the mood?

Aren't you going to open the bottle and place it on our table? How could this restaurant call itself high-

class when their servers are so unprofessional?"

Su Qian was a hot-tempered person to begin with. And the wine she had drunk earlier was making her

even quicker to anger. So she started lashing out at the server. But when she saw the face of the

server who had delivered the wine, she got so surprised that she sobered up a little.

"Damn!”

"You... you are Ye Fan, aren't you?"

"Cheng-Cheng's good-for-nothing husband?"

"What are you doing here? Why are you serving wine?"

Su Qian was dumbfounded. She had not expected to see Ye Fan here.