Chapter 246 - 178: Lu Fan Sings a Love Song to Jiang Yixia, and She Accepted?

Chapter 246: Chapter 178: Lu Fan Sings a Love Song to Jiang Yixia, and She Accepted?

"Hey, Brother Dong, how are you?" Jiang Yixia recognized the owner of the kebab shop and greeted him warmly.

Brother Dong looked a little displeased. "Listen, Sister Xia, what’s the deal with your husband?"

"My husband?" Jiang Yixia was puzzled. "What husband?"

"And you say you don’t have one? Didn’t your husband open those two shops across the street?" Brother Dong pointed to the pastry shop and the oden shop.

Jiang Yixia felt awkward.

She wanted to explain but didn’t know where to start.

Brother Dong continued his rant. "I don’t have a problem with your husband opening a pastry shop and an oden shop across the street. But you can’t just set your prices that low! All the people who usually buy my kebabs are going over there for oden now."

After listening to him, Jiang Yixia grew confused. "Brother Dong, that’s not right, is it? If someone wants to eat kebabs, they’re going to buy kebabs, no matter how cheap the oden is."

"Normally, yeah, but they can’t resist how cheap you are! Since your prices are so low, they’re all going for oden, and no one’s buying my kebabs anymore, are they?" Brother Dong started to argue irrationally.

Jiang Yixia didn’t want to get tangled up in an argument with him, so she just said, "That’s my ex-husband, not my husband. The two shops he opened have nothing to do with me. If you think his prices are too low, you can tell him that yourself when you see him tomorrow."

"Right, right. Pulling the ’ex-husband’ card just to get out of it. Fine. I’ll go ask him tomorrow. We’ll see what he has to say." With that, Brother Dong stormed off, muttering under his breath.

Jiang Yixia saw him leave but didn’t pay it much mind.

’He’s just bitter because he’s making less money. It’s nothing more than that.’

She thought about sending Lu Fan a message to give him a heads-up.

But then she wondered if she was making a big deal out of nothing.

After a moment’s hesitation, she decided against it.

As for Lu Fan,

He arrived in Yangcheng the following afternoon.

He heard about what happened yesterday from an employee at the oden shop.

He didn’t really care about it.

However, he did make a mental note of the fact that the kebab shop owner had gone to confront Jiang Yixia.

Lu Fan had been planning to find an opportunity to teach the man a lesson.

But before long, a few uniformed people showed up unexpectedly.

They said it was a routine inspection.

Seeing this, Jiali was about to call her contact at the regulatory bureau.

But Lu Fan knew the kebab shop owner had to be behind this.

So he chuckled and said to Jiali, "It’s fine. Just let them do their inspection."

The team leader from the bureau said to Lu Fan, "We received a report that your shop’s hygiene is not up to code, so we’re here to perform a routine inspection."

"No problem. Inspect all you want." Lu Fan had Chen He show them inside.

The members of the regulatory bureau inspected the premises meticulously.

When they found no serious issues, the team leader said, "Everything looks fine. Just a formality."

"Okay." Lu Fan nodded.

Just then, he noticed the owner of the kebab shop across the street glancing over at his shop from time to time.

Only after the inspectors had all left did the man duck guiltily back into his own shop.

Jiang Yixia had also noticed what was happening.

She came out of her flower shop and walked over to Lu Fan. "What happened?"

Lu Fan said calmly, "Nothing. Someone reported us."

"What?" Jiang Yixia was shocked. "Why would you get reported all of a sudden?"

"I guess someone has it out for me," Lu Fan said with a smile.

Jiang Yixia immediately looked over at the nearby kebab shop.

There was no direct evidence, but after a moment’s hesitation, she said, "The owner of the kebab shop next door came looking for me last night."

Lu Fan feigned ignorance. "Oh? What for?"

"He said you’re selling your oden too cheaply, and it’s causing no one to buy his kebabs." Jiang Yixia was exasperated. "I think he’s being completely absurd. Oden and kebabs aren’t even interchangeable. Someone who wants a kebab isn’t going to buy oden instead."

Lu Fan teased, "Maybe they just tried my oden, fell in love with it, and don’t even want kebabs anymore."

"That’s possible, too. But resorting to false reports is just disgusting!" Even the usually good-tempered Jiang Yixia couldn’t help but get angry.

She was about to go confront the kebab shop owner.

Even though Jiang Yixia hadn’t truly forgiven Lu Fan, he had done a lot for her.

Seeing someone bully him still made Jiang Yixia angry.

But Lu Fan grabbed Jiang Yixia’s hand and said with a smile, "Where are you going?"

"I’m going to argue with him," Jiang Yixia answered.

Lu Fan shook his head. "And how do you know it was him? You don’t have any proof."

"Who else could it be?" Jiang Yixia said angrily.

"You need proof for everything. If you go over there like this, you’ll be the one in the wrong," Lu Fan explained.

"Then..." Jiang Yixia was confused. "You’re just going to let him bully you like this? That’s not like you."

"You’re right, it’s not. Don’t worry. I’ll have someone look into that kebab shop’s background. I don’t like direct confrontation. I prefer to handle things quietly."

Hearing this, Jiang Yixia calmed down a little.

But then she noticed Lu Fan was still holding her hand. She immediately yanked it back. "You rogue, taking advantage of me again."

"I swear, you were just being impulsive. I only grabbed your hand to help you calm down," Lu Fan said, feigning innocence.

Not wanting to listen to his smooth-talking, Jiang Yixia turned to go back to her shop.

But Lu Fan said, "Oh, by the way, I’m taking Silu to the Northeast next Friday."

"To the Northeast? For what?" Jiang Yixia asked, puzzled.

"There’s a Sun Yanzi concert. I thought I’d take her to see it and let her have a little fun."

After hearing Lu Fan’s explanation, Jiang Yixia replied, "Oh."

"Oh?" Lu Fan teased. "Nothing you want to say?"

"What is there to say?" Jiang Yixia said, turning to leave again.

"Do you want to go?" Lu Fan asked.

Jiang Yixia stopped. She had actually guessed he would ask her that.

She had just been mulling over the answer in her head.

But after two seconds of deliberation, Jiang Yixia finally answered, "I’ll pass. You and our daughter should go."

"Then I’ll take you next time there’s a Wang Leihong concert," Lu Fan added before she could walk away.

Hearing that, Jiang Yixia’s heart skipped a beat.

’So after all these years, he still remembered who her idol was.’

’Back then, that guy had even learned Wang Leihong’s song, "The Only One," just to sing it for her.’

’She had been moved beyond words.’

’Thinking back on it now, that guy really had a whole playbook for wooing girls.’

This time, Jiang Yixia didn’t reject him outright. Instead, she said, "We’ll see when the time comes."

With that, she left.

Jiang Yixia spent the whole afternoon arranging flowers.

But as she arranged the flowers today, she found herself quietly humming that very song.

The memory of Lu Fan singing to her all those years ago surfaced in her mind.

Just as she was lost in thought, several voice messages came through on her WeChat.

She opened her phone to look.

They were from Lu Fan.

At first, she thought it must be something important for him to be sending voice messages.

But when she pressed play...

it was Lu Fan, singing in his shop.

And he was singing a Wang Leihong song.

[My sky is so very clear]

[A transparent promise, like air from the past]

[You are the one holding my hand]

[But your smile, I can’t see it clearly]

...

At first, Jiang Yixia felt a little embarrassed listening to the messages. Worried someone might overhear, she even put in a Bluetooth earbud.

But as she listened, she realized his voice hadn’t changed one bit in eighteen years.

In fact, his voice seemed to carry even more feeling as he sang it now.

As she listened on, Jiang Yixia muttered under her breath, "What’s so great about singing over a voice message... He wouldn’t dare sing it to my face..."