Chapter 188 — Bullying
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Wei Zhao mainly didn't want Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu to see him going to find Tang Zhi; otherwise the eldest Miss Chu would surely throw another fit. In the spirit of avoiding trouble wherever possible, Wei Zhao had deliberately waited until both of them had left.
Once out of the school gate, Wei Zhao glanced at the street not far off. Only after confirming that Uncle Qing's Bentley was nowhere in sight did he relax and head toward the snack street with Kang Xiaofeng.
"Huh? Boss, it can't be this popular, can it? Why are there so many people?" Kang Xiaofeng pointed into the snack street in surprise. "Even the vendors from the other stalls have gone to buy Tang Zhi's family's barbecue?" Wei Zhao frowned. Many of the stall owners on the snack street had gathered around Tang Zhi's family's barbecue stall. As for the idea that they had gone to buy Tang Zhi's barbecue, Wei Zhao certainly didn't believe that.
"Tang Zhi might be in trouble over there. Let's go take a look..." Wei Zhao quickened his pace.
Sure enough, as they drew closer, they heard a man's loud voice bellowing: "Look here, boss lady, what you're doing isn't fair. We're all on the same street. If you poach business like this, are you even going to let the rest of us make a living?"
The speaker was, naturally, Zhang Biaogan. At noon he had already been unable to swallow his anger that Tang's Barbecue was doing better business than his own. Unwilling to let his business be taken just like that, he had taken the lead in rallying several other vendors who also sold barbecue or barbecue-related goods, planning to confront Tang's mother when she set up her stall that evening.
In Zhang Biaogan's eyes, Tang's mother was no different from a widow with a child. Her husband lay bedridden, useless as a man could be. The family was easy to push around, and once he made a show of threats and intimidation, she would surely give in.
"Brother, let's talk this over nicely. We haven't poached anyone's business," Tang's mother said. Seeing that several people were backing Zhang Biaogan up, she felt a little afraid. Though none of the onlooking vendors openly supported Zhang Biaogan, not a single one spoke up for her either; they all just stood there enjoying the spectacle.
"Haven't poached business? The moment you set up your stall at noon, all the students went to buy from you. Who are we supposed to sell to then..." Another woman from a barbecue stall spoke up. "And you call that not poaching? Are we supposed to starve to death before you'd call it poaching?"
"Exactly! You alone sell more than all of us combined. Are you even going to let us live?" Another man, tall and thin, chimed in.
"This..." Tang's mother hadn't expected that her business doing well would offend so many people. She was at a loss for what to do.
"My mother is running an honest business. How is that poaching your business?" Tang Zhi was furious and stepped forward for her mother. "Our food tastes good, and customers are willing to buy from us. Is that our fault? If you want better business, you can improve your recipes too..."
"Little girl, well said!" Zhang Biaogan chuckled. "Improve our recipes—we'd like nothing better. Since you've brought it up, I won't be polite. Your family hands over the recipe, we all study it, and we'll let today's matter drop..."
"The recipe belongs to our family. Why should we give it to you..." Tang Zhi hadn't expected Zhang Biaogan to be so unreasonable as to demand the recipe outright. If they gave it away, what advantage would her family have left?
"Why? Because your family stole our business, that's why. Us demanding the recipe is the will of the people. Isn't that right, brothers and sisters..." Zhang Biaogan said to the several people backing him up.
"That's right! Either give us the recipe—let's all make money together. Hogging it all isn't nice..." the barbecue woman agreed.