Chapter 11 — The Last Word Is Myself

It's not time yet. Thursday. The person who should come has finally arrived. I'm at the main store. Even though I have stopped doing business, every day I still come and sit for a while to handle a few errands. The sound of footsteps outside the door was very urgent. The person who pushed the door in was Co's mother. Her face was extremely unsightly. Dark blue eye circles, dry, chapped lips. It's like not sleeping for days. Behind her, there was also her second aunt following. Two people stood in front of me. The first thing Co's mother said was:

“To Niem Chan, please return the people and things here.”

I sat on the chair, not moving.

“What is called payment?”

“Chefs, sources, recipes.”

“You pay it all back.”

“Those things were originally mine.”

The corner of Co's mother's mouth twitched.

"You've been married to the Co family for three years. Everything in the marriage belongs to both of you. Don't try to swallow it all alone."

I call that "mother". It's the last time.

“I'll go ask my son.”

“2,130,000 yuan.”

“Two houses.”

“A room for first love.”

“A room for the mother of her first love.”

“That money…”

“Who do you think should pay?”

Mother Co opened her mouth. The second girl standing next to her quickly pulled her sleeve.

“Sister-in-law, stop arguing, let's talk about the real thing first.”

Main story.

“To Niem Chan.”

She took two steps forward.

“Now eight stores are closed.”

“Every day, just the rent alone is losing money.”

“It's not the right way for you to leave Dinh Phong alone to carry the burden.”

“No matter what, you two are still husband and wife.”

"If there's something going on, just close the door and talk to each other."

“Don't make it so big that outsiders see it as a joke.”

I looked at the second girl.

"Okay."

“So let's talk.”

"The first."

“Co Dinh Phong returned all 2,130,000 yuan to me.”

“Move back to Tong Thanh Man's apartment.”

Co's mother's face immediately darkened.

“Dream.”

I stood up.

“Then there's nothing more to discuss.”

“Just let your son continue to carry the burden.”

“The shortest lease of the eight stores still has eleven months left.”

“Every month he loses 400,000–500,000 yuan.”

“Eleven months combined…”

“It's more than 5,000,000 yuan.”

“What did he lose?”

I picked up the key on the table.

“Or take the house of my first love to make up for it?”

Mother Co suddenly grabbed my arm.

“To Niem Chan.”

“Your heart is truly poisonous.”

I bowed my head and looked at her hand. Then raised his eyes.

“Your son stole my three-year savings to buy another woman's house.”

“Is that called poison?”

“I'm just taking back what belongs to me.”

I removed her fingers one by one from my arm. I turned around and left. Things are more complicated than I thought. On the seventh day, Co Dinh Phong changed direction. He started looking for outside suppliers. Tran Dao reported:

"These past few days, Mr. Phong has been asking for new sources of goods everywhere."

"There are several parties. One family agreed to try to deliver a batch."

I didn't panic. Because I know… It's useless. All eight stores' dishes are individually designed with my exclusive sauce ratios. Change supplier... The taste will be different immediately. Furthermore, without a recipe, even if the ingredients arrive, the chef will not be able to make them. The remaining chefs in his hands were all newly hired later. Just follow the recipe. Once I took back the formula, they were like flies without their heads. But the problem lies elsewhere. Day eight. Trieu Man sent me a screenshot of an article post WeChat. It belongs to Tong Thanh Man. In the photo, she stands in a beautiful office. On the table there is a bouquet of flowers. The status line reads:

“New beginning. Grateful.”

Immediately after that, Trieu Man continued texting:

"Did she join a new food company? Look at the logo on the back. It's Dong Huy Cuisine."

Dong Huy Cuisine. I know this name. Is a local company that makes a fast food chain. The scale is not large, but recently it is expanding strongly. The owner's name is Phuong. My finger paused on the screen for a few seconds.

“What did Tong Thanh Man come to Dong Huy for?”

Trieu Man sent a question mark. I don't answer. My intuition tells me… This is not simple. A person who used to work in administration at a law office like Tong Thanh Man suddenly jumped into the culinary industry. Can't be a coincidence. In the evening, Tran Dao texted again.

“Sister-in-law, there's something wrong.”

"Mr. Phong is looking for boss Phuong at Dong Huy."

“Want to use your eight-store brand to cooperate with Dong Huy.”

“Let Dong Huy inject capital to help him restore his business.”

“Tong Thanh Man is the person in the middle of the connection.”

“Before, when she was at the law office, she knew boss Phuong.”

I put down the phone. Lean your head against the bed. Look up at the ceiling. He wants to bring in outside capital to save the situation. If Dong Huy is really willing to invest money to take over... Co Dinh Phong will have a chance to breathe again. Although the brand and formula are still in my hands. But if he changes the brand name and reopens... Even if the taste is different, the regular customers will still be more or less drawn away. More importantly… If he gets through this door… My cards for getting back the 2,130,000 yuan will be much weaker.