The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 8 - 3

Chapter 8 - 3

Haoyu and Zhengyu were back. With Haoyu's birthday approaching, Yu Meng wanted to throw a celebration for her son. Haoyu found it strange; they hadn't made a big deal out of birthdays in years, treating both brothers equally, and suddenly putting on a lavish display felt entirely unnecessary. Buying a pair of limited-edition sneakers would be far more practical.

Yu Meng lectured her son, "Why do you think I sent you away to study? Classmates are a form of network, connections that need to be maintained, right? Take young Han for instance—the one your Aunt Weng went to see—he's back too, isn't he? You should all get together for a gathering."

Haoyu assumed his mother had somehow investigated his love life, making him deeply nervous. In reality, he and Xiqian had already broken up, reverting to just being friends. Inviting her to dinner now felt a bit awkward, but he eventually gave in to his mother's nagging and invited Xiqian anyway.

The restaurant was upscale. Aside from Xiqian, there were three other guys—Haoyu's childhood buddies. Yu Meng made a flashy appearance, stayed for a moment, and then left the space entirely to the youngsters. Xiqian turned to Haoyu and asked, "What is your mother playing at?"

"What do you mean, playing at?"

"Suddenly setting up a dinner like this and being so overly polite."

"It's my birthday, and I'm her son. Of course she cares."

Being sensitive to such things, Xiqian smiled faintly. "Your mother is in business partnership with my father."

"So what?"

"That's why she's having you suck up to me." Seeing right through it, Xiqian was more than happy to spell it out.

Irritated, Haoyu shoved his bowl and chopsticks aside. "Let's forget this."

Xiqian continued her lecture. "Oh! What's the big deal, is that really worth getting mad over? The adults might lack sense, but surely we aren't that childish, are we? I came because I still value a bit of our past history."

"Don't you dare insult my mother."

"Eat your food, and stop talking damn nonsense." Xiqian had no intention of stirring up a major fight. However, she kept an even more explosive thought to herself: based on a woman's intuition, she felt Haoyu's mother was harboring intentions of becoming her stepmother. Over the years, countless women had thrown themselves at her father, giving her enough battle experience to write a book. Nothing escaped her sharp eyes.

Leaving the restaurant, Yu Meng hurried over to Yu Jia's place. The small eatery was officially open for business, specializing in fast food—a set meal consisting of one soup, one rice, one meat dish, and two vegetable sides, following the model of a Japanese bento shop. When Yu Meng arrived, Yu Jia was run off her feet in the kitchen. The shop was packed with customers eager to try out the new spot.

Yu Jia told Yu Meng to find a seat first. Stretching her neck to look around, Yu Meng spotted Yu Rui busy helping pack boxes and handing out takeout containers to delivery drivers. Yu Rui nodded in greeting toward Yu Meng. Pretending not to see her, Yu Meng sat down with her back turned squarely toward her. While juggling her hectic work, Yu Jia still had to manage these delicate interpersonal dynamics; she had intentionally asked both Rui and Meng to be here today, hoping to use the opportunity to patch things up between them. There were no fundamental principles at stake, so they might as well make peace.

Washing her hands, Yu Jia stepped away from the prep counter. As the rush slowed down a fraction, she walked over to the cash register to relieve Yu Rui, nudged her chin, and whispered, "Soften your attitude and go serve your Sister Meng." With no other choice, Yu Rui picked up a meal tray and walked over to Yu Meng, forcing a conciliatory smile.

With her arms crossed over her chest, Yu Meng cut her off before Yu Rui could even speak. "Xiao Rui, I'll ask you just one question: am I your older sister, or am I not? Are you my younger sister, or are you not?"

"Of course you are."

"Then whose side are you on?"

"Sis, that day was truly..."

"Enough, don't say another word. From now on, you walk your path and I'll walk mine. We clearly don't eat out of the same pot or share the same values."

The situation was critical.

Yu Rui quickly chimed in, "Sis, it really hurts me to hear you talk like that. Whenever you need inside info, I pass it to you the moment I get it; whenever you need help, I help wherever I can. But that day was completely out of my hands. Both of you are senior sisters, so whose feelings would it have been appropriate to ignore? I was caught right in the middle and had no good choices. Sister Wen yelled at me, and then you yelled at me. I didn't take Sister Wen's scolding to heart because she's an outsider, and I could understand why Sister Meng was upset with me. But sisters shouldn't treat each other this way. Hearing you talk like that hurts me, Sis. Sister Wen brought me along that day on purpose. If Sister Meng lets herself fall into her trap, then Weng wins and she'll be the truly happy one."

Though the speech was peppered with various versions of the word "sister," Yu Meng heard it loud and clear: Yu Rui wasn't foolish; she was still fundamentally on her side. Yu Meng couldn't afford to push her allies away—anyone who could be brought into the united front needed to be reeled back in. Taking the graceful exit offered to her, she relented. "No matter what happens, we must always tell friend from foe!"

Seeing Yu Meng back down, Yu Rui finally let out the heavy block of frustration trapped in her chest, and the two sisters sat down to share a meal. Suddenly, Bai Yuankai pulled up a chair and sat down uninvited, turning to shout at Yu Jia, "Boss, the regular set meal! Add an extra chicken leg!"

To show his support for the grand opening, he had brought an entire entourage behind him, instantly packing the small shop to capacity. Beaded with sweat, Yu Jia realized the restaurant couldn't handle the influx, so he immediately instructed his subordinates to go back and order delivery instead of lingering in the shop. Looking around left and right, Yu Rui didn't see her younger sister Yu Xi anywhere, but with Yu Meng right in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to ask Yuankai about it. She decided she would ask Yu Xi later when they got home.

A month into business, the shop's customer traffic began to cool down. Yu Jia was still desperately scrambling to boost sales, running promotions and handing out flyers. Clearly, once the novelty of the grand opening wore off, local white-collar workers didn't plan on becoming regulars.

Was there something wrong with the food? Yu Jia had people taste-test the dishes, and everyone agreed the food was delicious, especially her signature braised pork rib rice, which was nothing short of mouthwatering. Was it a pricing issue? Yet ever since opening day, Yu Jia had been operating at a loss just to build buzz. Gradually, members of her small team began to bail. By today, even one of the chefs threatened to quit, stating he simply couldn't see any future in the business.

At ten o'clock at night, with the shop doors still open, Yu Jia sat alone at the high-top table beside the cash register, reviewing financial reports and running analyses. The door was pushed open, and out of sheer habit, Yu Jia automatically murmured a welcome. Looking up, she realized it was Bai Yuankai.

"Still hard at work," Yuankai said with a smile.

"I have to be. I only have the option of pushing forward." Yu Jia's smile was a bitter-sweet mix.

"Anything I can help with?" he asked.

Yu Jia turned back toward the kitchen, washed her hands, scooped up a fresh portion of braised pork rib rice, and served it right in front of Yuankai. "Help me finish this." She wanted to thank him for constantly bringing people in to support her business.

"Are the sales figures not picking up?" he asked between bites.

"We don't get many returning customers."

"Aren't I one?" he joked.

With complete earnestness, Yu Jia replied, "It has to be the kind of unfamiliar, total-stranger repeat customers to count." She felt deeply worried. Yet, strangely enough, the frantic busyness of this period had injected a rare, vibrant energy into Yu Jia.

She felt as though she had returned to her twenties. Aside from the brief moments she spent on the phone with Sisi, the rest of the time she didn't feel like a mother, nor did she feel like a middle-aged woman. She was an entrepreneur with no age, burning with a fierce hunger for success.

"Have you ever gone on a research trip to Japan?" Yuankai asked, sharing a view very similar to Yu Rui's. Yu Jia replied that she hadn't found the time—though the actual reason was to cut down on expenses. Without missing a beat, Bai Yuankai began meticulously breaking things down for Yu Jia: from the history and current state of bento culture, to cooking methods, menu design, product categories, delivery logistics, and the dining habits of nearby office workers. Yu Jia listened in absolute fascination. It was abundantly clear that Bai Yuankai had done his homework, likely even delving into big-data analytics. His insights gave her an instant breakthrough. For instance, he suggested focusing on group orders, only delivering to offices that ordered three or more meals at a time; to minimize waste on expensive ingredients, he recommended a single rotating menu—supplying only one specific type of bento per day from Monday to Friday, which would also relieve pressure on the chef. He further advised upgrading the presentation, noting that modern white-collar workers had strong aesthetic demands: to them, a box of food had to look as good as it tasted. Furthermore, both the food and the packaging needed to evoke a "taste of home," prompting him to suggest commissioning custom-designed lunchboxes—though that would admittedly require higher upfront investment. "You should go take a look at Japan. I'm heading there on a business trip soon; you should come along."

Bai Yuankai extended the invitation.

In the past, Yu Jia would never have agreed to such an invitation. But under the current extraordinary circumstances, with her shop hanging by a thread and no other lifeline left—meaning all her retirement savings were riding on this venture—she couldn't accept such an easy defeat, even though she had mentally prepared herself for failure from day one.

When opportunity knocks, act immediately! Building a business meant leaving no room for overthinking.

As the plane climbed into the sky, bound for Tokyo, watching the ground shrink away beneath her alongside young Bai who had offered his full-hearted support, Yu Jia had never imagined she could soar quite so high.

Yu Xi wanted to resign, and when she dropped a hint about it at home, Yu Rui immediately voiced her opposition.

"You need to stick it out and build seniority."

"Another company is headhunting me with better benefits than I have now."

"How did you get where you are? You can't just jump ship like that."

"Sis, this is the corporate world; you have to look ahead."

"Does Bai know about this?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"What is the real reason behind this?"

"It's just for career development."

"You're already there, how is your current place holding back your development? I see you making huge progress."

"Anyway, I have to leave."

"Did he reject you?"

"We're just friends, nothing more."

"Didn't you guys go to the movies alone before?"

"There might have been a misunderstanding."

"Xiao Xi, you can't be so thin-skinned. He clearly has feelings for you; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to recruit you and train you with such care," Yu Rui urged earnestly.

"That's only because he values my talent," Yu Xi said, her voice raising slightly before dropping the pitch of the second half into a near-whisper. "I'd rather he valued my looks..."

"Give it time to grow," Yu Rui continued to persuade.

"He doesn't like me," Yu Xi admitted the raw truth.

Taken aback, Yu Rui was rarely met with such blunt honesty from her sister.

"Then who does he like?"

"Sister Jia."

This was a blockbuster revelation. Yu Rui's head spun with shock. "What nonsense are you talking about?" Yet, a second later, she realized it was unexpected yet made complete sense—all the scattered clues and loose threads of the past suddenly formed a clear picture pointing directly to Yu Jia.

"They went to Japan together."

"I know, they went to inspect the fast-food industry on a business trip."

"He keeps a photo of Sister Jia right on his desk," Yu Xi whispered softly. Even so, Yu Rui caught every single word clearly. It was unbelievable. Bai Yuankai, a man constantly surrounded by beauties, had actually fallen for Sister Jia? How else could he explain the photo? She asked Yu Xi to confirm it one more time. Yu Xi gave a hundred-percent confirmation. It was a fact.

Yu Rui felt a flicker of stubborn discontent. Though those feelings had faded and she had let go, she had once held a soft spot for Young Bai herself. Losing to her own younger sister was something she could swallow—Xiao Xi was young, pretty, and possessed the qualities of a typical successful man's type, much like a younger version of their cousin. But Sister Jia? To put it bluntly, she was a young widow with a child. By what right or virtue did she manage to bewitch Bai Yuankai? Pondering it deeply, Yu Rui had to admit it wasn't entirely impossible; Sister Jia possessed a uniquely classic, gentle temperament. She was like an orchid in an empty valley, and she loved Kunqu opera—they shared common interests... She refused to let her mind wander further down that path... That was Bai Yuankai they were talking about...

With Yu Xi determined to resign and unable to talk her out of it, Yu Rui told her to stall for a few more days. Even if they were going to process it, they had to wait until Yuankai returned so there would be someone to hand things over to. Yu Rui asked Yu Xi if she was just going to give up like that. Yu Xi simply replied, "I don't love someone who doesn't love me." Hearing that, Yu Rui stopped trying to persuade her. Meanwhile, Sister Jia was still away on her research trip. On this particular day, as Yu Rui sat anxiously in her office, Shuang called telling her to rush over immediately.