After Being Forced Into Marriage, I Became Very Successful - Chapter 36

36:

The Li family had been secretly monitoring the movements of the old shops. Previously, when the old shops were collectively renovated, it was odd but somewhat understandable. The shops that signed contracts with the Li family were uniformly renovated with funding from the Li family, so the old shops following suit to boost competitiveness made sense.

Then, the acquired shops launched promotional discounts, and the old shops began issuing full-reduction coupons in response, it truly seemed like they were countering the moves. For every play by the Li family, the old shops had a corresponding strategy.

Li Wannian felt that the old shops’ reactions this time were overly proactive. Though each action had a justifiable reason, it still made him uneasy.

“Zien, how are those two plans you mentioned last time coming along?”

Li Zien’s expression was grave as he spoke frankly: “The method to obtain the recipes won’t work. They’re basically all held in the hands of those bosses themselves, with almost no written records, it’s all passed down personally.”

Li Wannian had anticipated such an outcome. Most of these old shops started as street-side stalls and weren’t so formalized.

“Then what about registering the trademarks?”

Li Zien’s expression softened a bit: “I’ve already had someone prepare all the materials. In two days, I’ll deliver them personally.”

The Li family had been in the catering business for years. Back when they hadn’t yet achieved a monopoly, they had been willing to invest in connections. The relevant departments were well taken care of, with many key positions held by people on good terms with them.

“Places that need greasing still need to be greased. We’ve spent the big money, don’t trip over the small change at the end.”

Li Zien understood completely: “Got it.”

Li Zien went to deliver the materials personally, not because he doesn’t trust his subordinates’ handling, but mainly to take the opportunity to speak face-to-face with the person in charge and express his “sincerity.”

But this time, his luck was bad. When he arrived, the person in charge had just been called to a meeting.

“I called Director Liu before coming, and he said he’d be available during this time slot.”

The clerk receiving Li Zien took the materials, sorted them by procedure without even looking up much: “He was called away to a meeting temporarily. He probably won’t have time today.”

Upon hearing this, Li Zien didn’t even have a chance to wait around. He’d originally planned to fish for some info from the clerk, but the clerk was diligently working, either processing documents on the computer or taking calls, and Li Zien couldn’t get a word in edgewise several times.

It took Xia Yining and Jiang Yan two evenings to seriously discuss the issues mentioned in the interview prep, finally arriving at answers that seemed fairly credible. For this, they even practiced their expressions and body language in front of a mirror.

Jiang Yan cooperated throughout without showing any dissatisfaction, though in the breaks, she still kept endlessly scrolling on her phone. Xia Yining didn’t say much about it—after all, this level of cooperation was already pretty good; she couldn’t deny the person any personal space at all.

The show’s popularity continued to rise after airing, but Xia Yining and Jiang Yan remained the most watched pair. That day, they went to the set, got made up, and were ready to go on. Yan Zi came over and pulled Xia Yining aside to whisper something. Jiang Yan took the chance to pull out her phone and check the latest promotion plan Qian Ming had posted in the group chat.

Xia Yining’s gaze drifted to Jiang Yan from time to time, seeing her focused on her phone more seriously than ever before.

Yan Zi followed her line of sight, but unlike Xia Yining’s mere contemplation, she chuckled lowly and nudged Xia Yining’s arm: “Ningning, though Xiao Jiang is unlikely to cause any trouble right now, you still need to put more effort into things at home.”

Xia Yining turned to look at her, seemingly not quite understanding the last part.

Yan Zi had to spell it out more bluntly: “It’s infuriating, but the reality is that once a woman gets married, her appeal drops off a cliff. Even if Xiao Jiang was head over heels for you before, over time, with you seeing each other day in and day out, it will inevitably… feel different from before.”

Xia Yining’s expression remained unchanged, clearly not too affected.

“But Xiao Jiang is definitely better than those tacky stinky men. I’m just giving you a well-meaning heads-up, just in case.”

“Thanks for your concern, Second Sister-in-Law.”

Jiang Yan was still in the group chat reading a message from Boss Qian, saying he’d heard that the Li family was recently planning to batch-register a bunch of trademarks, seemingly targeting the old shops.

She’d long known the Li family wouldn’t give up easily, but their despicable bullying was on full display, it was truly nauseating.

Jiang Yan replied that she’d head to the shop soon, and they could brainstorm solutions together then.

Xia Yining only walked back to her side after seeing her put away her phone. Glancing at the basically set-up interview area, she casually asked: “What have you been busy with lately?”

“Which aspect?”

Xia Yining kept watching the bustling staff, her tone still flat, like an idle chit-chat to kill time.

“You’ve been on your phone a lot lately, seems like you’re really busy.”

Jiang Yan smiled knowingly: “It’s Boss Qian’s stuff.”

“What’s up with Boss Qian?”

Xia Yining had a good impression of Boss Qian, especially since he’d gone all out at the wedding banquet and truly saved face for the Xia family.

“Nothing major. His shops just got renovated recently, and now competitors are jealous.”

“Didn’t you say that whole area has shops operating for years without any issues?”

“It’s the Li family. A while back, they tried to acquire Boss Qian’s shop, got rejected, so they bought up a bunch of surrounding ones and started a price war.”

Xia Yining had an extremely poor impression of Li Zifeng. She was very satisfied that Jiang Yan had reduced contact with them after marriage. It had been a while since she’d heard that name, but it didn’t stop her from frowning upon hearing it now.

“Do you need my help?”

Jiang Yan thought for a moment and shook her head: “Boss Qian should be able to handle it himself.”

Xia Yining wasn’t just being polite, but since Jiang Yan said so, she didn’t push.

The staff signaled they could come over to start recording. Before moving, Xia Yining added: “If you run into trouble you can’t solve, you can tell me.”

The pre-rehearsed effect was indeed different, their rapport looked much better than at the press conference.

The host, still reminiscing about Jiang Yan’s scallion pancakes from last time, spoke with subconscious warmth: “You two are usually so busy with work, how do you balance life and career? Do you cook together during breaks to bond?”

Xia Yining said frankly: “We’re still living with my family right now, so we don’t have much room to flex in the kitchen.”

The host turned to Jiang Yan: “Do you feel like your skills are going to waste?”

“Cooking is just a hobby, I do it when there’s a chance, I don’t force it when there isn’t. Cooking can be fun, but not cooking can be enjoyable too sometimes.”

If not for last night’s discussion, Xia Yining really wouldn’t have known Jiang Yan was genuinely interested in cooking. She made a mental note to let her show off her skills once they moved out—after all, the food really was delicious.

The rest of the questions mostly revolved around daily life trivia, with the two supplementing each other, fairly heartwarming. Finally, the topic circled back to Jiang Yan’s last-minute save last time, and the host reminisced fondly about that day.

“A lot of viewers are super curious, Jiang Yan, where did you learn such amazing skills? Those scallion pancakes were incredible.”

Jiang Yan didn’t name Boss Qian’s shop specifically, but she talked about the state of traditional snacks and the challenges they faced.

“Actually, these are flavors that have been with us growing up. Before, you’d turn a few corners and find them easily, but now you search forever and still end up disappointed. So I think instead of just reminiscing about those memory tastes, it’s better to support the traditional old shops still holding on with real action.”

Her words sparked new discussion in the previous food topic thread. Someone suggested old-shop crawls every weekend and even reposted the old shops’ promotion pics.

The old shops’ foot traffic grew daily. Many first-time visitors came back the next weekend, and brought friends. Soon after, friends of friends were recommended too.

So Yang Zhuo posted the second wave of food temptation pics. This time, with no need for streamers to promote, foodies started spreading the word spontaneously.

The Li family was a bit surprised and tense at this momentum. Li Wannian asked about the trademark registration progress, only to see Li Zien shake his head repeatedly.

“I’ve called to follow up several times, but they keep saying the materials are under review. Yesterday, they even said we’re missing stuff and need to supplement before proceeding.”

This was rare in the past. Li Wannian found it suspicious: “Didn’t you ask Director Liu the specific reason?”

“He’s been super busy lately, either in meetings or out on trips. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him face-to-face.”

Li Zien recalled Jiang Yan’s words on the variety show and pushed half the blame onto her: “Jiang Yan publicly supported those old shops, clearly going against us.”

But Li Wannian thought deeper: “Jiang Yan has no real stakes with those shops. This is probably the Xia family’s doing.”

At the mention of the Xia family, Li Zien tensed up: “The Xia family has never been big into catering, why stick their nose in now?”

What made him more nervous was that if the Xia family got involved, the Li family’s acquisition plan would take a major hit, possibly even a huge loss.

Li Wannian pondered for a while before speaking gravely: “Jiang Yan is in Xia family now, and she herself has no real say or ability. For her to suddenly publicly back the old shops, if it wasn’t the Xia family’s idea, I don’t think she’d have the guts.”

“So what do we do?”

“Watch what they do next first. And the trademarks, you must get that sorted ASAP.”

Rarely did Xia Yining proactively suggest skipping going home after work and booking a restaurant to eat out. Jiang Yan racked her brain and found it didn’t match any anniversary, but she agreed anyway.

The restaurant was nice, Xia Yining was in a good mood, and she even asked about Boss Qian’s recent situation.

When they were almost done eating, she finally steered the topic to the honeymoon. Jiang Yan then realized the big setup tonight was for this.

“A key project I signed with AG recently got moved up—I probably won’t have time for the honeymoon.” Xia Yining spoke slowly, watching Jiang Yan’s reaction the whole time.

Jiang Yan showed no displeasure, just nodded lightly and agreed.

Xia Yining was surprised but still a bit disbelieving. She’d thought Jiang Yan might at least sulk, if not throw a fit, who would be happy about a long-awaited plan getting ditched?

If it were her, she’d probably flip the table and storm out.

“You’re really okay with it? No honeymoon is fine?”

Seeing her utter disbelief, Jiang Yan couldn’t help laughing: “Didn’t you say it’s an important project? Work comes first, obviously.”

Xia Yining pursed her lips, silent for a moment before saying softly: “Thanks for understanding.”

With the honeymoon issue settled, Xia Yining’s mood improved a lot. The next day, she told her mom, and as expected, saw a faint worry on her mother’s face.

“Mom, Jiang Yan said work is more important, she completely understands and supports me.”

Her mom sighed: “Of course it’s good that Xiao Jiang understands. But you’re a girl, there’s no need to push so hard in your career. Now that you have your own little family, you need to put your heart into maintaining it.”

Xia Yining’s expression darkened a bit, not thrilled: “Whether man or woman, no one can be without a career. At least for me, marriage definitely isn’t my whole life.”

Her mom didn’t argue, just told her not to always obsess over work and neglect Jiang Yan.

Xia Yining seized the chance: “Then how about we move out now?”

“Why?”

“Consider it honeymooning at home.”

Moving out meant their own world together, in a way, it really was like a honeymoon. Her mom thought it over and actually agreed.