Chapter 118 – What’s Your Relationship with Jiang Ning?

A Price Hike?

Jiang Ning’s first reaction upon seeing the message was: the Culinary Association is at it again.

They had actually managed to track down Du Meilan, the supplier for her toy products.

Truly resourceful.

Jiang Ning was just about to type a reply—

When a sudden thought flashed through her mind.

If the people from the Culinary Association were able to find Du Meilan and convince her—a toy manufacturer—to turn on her…

Then they must’ve also contacted the other suppliers.

Bread. Vegetables. Sauces. And most importantly—chicken.

Any one of them could already be under the Culinary Association’s control.

If it were the first few categories, that would be manageable. Troublesome, but still replaceable.

But if it was the chicken supplier…

A price hike might still be acceptable.

But if they cut off the supply entirely—

That thought sent a jolt through Jiang Ning’s mind.

A wave of panic followed immediately after.

Thankfully—

She still had her cousin.

And her cousin’s poultry farm, which raised twenty thousand Sanhuang chickens.

Without that…

Jiang Ning probably would’ve been in full-on panic by now.

After a while deep in thought, Jiang Ning composed a message for Du Meilan.

She thanked her for sharing the information, and also told her not to go against those people’s wishes.

A price hike? Jiang Ning could accept that.

Whatever amount they asked—she’d take it.

She told Du Meilan not to isolate herself from that group.

As for Jiang Ning’s intention—

She made it clear in the message.

She just hoped that Du Meilan would keep her informed if she heard any new developments.

There were too many words to say all at once.

She couldn’t fit it all into one message.

Only after Jiang Ning sent out everything she wanted to say—

Did she set the phone down on her blanket and let her gaze drift out the window.

After a long while—

A reply came.

Seeing the word “Okay” on the screen—

The knot in Jiang Ning’s chest eased just a little.

As for the rest—

She’d need to make other arrangements.

———

The Next Day

The sun was bright and warm.

As the first rays of morning light filtered through the patterned curtains into Li Mingyu’s room—

She was hugging a piglet plushie, lost in a dreamy, hopeful sleep.

A while later—

The sunlight woke her.

She frowned slightly.

Blinking groggily, she let out a yawn and glanced at the clock on her nightstand.

After confirming the time—

Li Mingyu sat up, stretching her arms high with a big yawn.

Then she patted the piglet in her arms.

Twisted its little snout.

“Good morning, Piggy Ning.”

Not long after—

Li Mingyu, having finished her morning routine in the bathroom, had just sat down at her vanity.

At that moment—

Her bedroom door opened, and Shen Hui walked in from outside.

“Mingyu, I have something to ask you.”

“Hm? What is it, Mom?”

Li Mingyu didn’t turn around—she was still halfway through applying her foundation.

But—

She hadn’t expected her mother’s next words to make her pause mid-movement.

“Mingyu, I’m asking you—what’s your relationship with ‘Shi Ning Ji’?”

What relationship?

Li Mingyu instantly picked up on the hidden meaning in her mother’s words.

She stopped dabbing her compact and turned around with a frown.

“Mom, what do you mean by that?”

Faced with her daughter’s slightly accusatory look, Shen Hui’s tone deepened.

“The registered owner of ‘Shi Ning Ji’ is Tian Wenhao. What’s your relationship with him? And with his sister—Jiang Ning?”

Perhaps sensing the tension in her mother’s words—

Li Mingyu wisely chose to take a step back and calmly explain:

“There’s nothing between me and Tian Wenhao. As for ‘Shi Ning Ji’—we’re in a business relationship.”

“The two stores they currently have, and the other two they’re renovating, all had their interior work done by my company.”

“As for Jiang Ning, she and I are very close friends…” She paused for a second, then quickly corrected herself.

“No—not just friends.”

“I treat her like a little sister.”

But who would’ve thought—

Shen Hui scoffed and said:

“You treat her like a sister, but she treats you like a cash cow.”

With that, she put on a disappointed look.

“She’s out there using our family’s name to do business—do you know that?”

As soon as she said that, Li Mingyu immediately retorted.

“No way!”

“I know Jiang Ning!”

“She’s not that kind of person.”

Seeing her daughter still defending someone else—

Shen Hui spoke with pained frustration:

“How long have you known her?”

“Are you sure the side of her you see is her real self?”

Hearing that, Li Mingyu’s face turned a little sour.

But she believed in her own judgment. She didn’t think she’d misread someone so badly.

So she argued back:

“Mom, Jiang Ning really isn’t like what you’re imagining.”

“If you don’t believe me, try spending some time with her yourself.”

“I guarantee—within a month, your opinion of her will completely change.”

However—

Shen Hui didn’t accept her daughter’s claim.

On the contrary, she got even angrier.

Angry that her son had been bewitched.

Even angrier that her daughter couldn’t see clearly.

They’d gotten to this point, and she was still defending an outsider.

It was like being charmed by some demon.

So, with a stony face, Shen Hui repeated what she’d overheard at work the day before—

When Li Mingyu heard that ‘Shi Ning Ji’ was leveraging her family’s name to pressure the Culinary Association into giving them “special access”—

Her first reaction was disbelief.

Because she knew the full backstory behind the situation.

But she couldn’t exactly explain to her mother why an entire association would go so far to force a fried chicken shop to join.

For money?

To establish a few rules?

Given what she knew about Shen Hui, unless the truth was placed plainly before her eyes, she’d rather believe the story of an ordinary civil association being oppressed and coerced by capitalists.

What should she do?

At this moment, Li Mingyu desperately wanted to talk to Jiang Ning about the situation.

But just then—

Shen Hui suddenly spoke:

“Your father starts undergoing inspection by the provincial Organization Department tomorrow.”

“Whether he gets promoted or not all depends on the next few days.”

“I don’t care what you’ve been doing before, but during this time, I need you to behave yourself.”

“If this relationship causes problems for your father’s promotion path—”

“Then the whole family will suffer for it.”

“I hope you understand!”

——————

At that moment, Jiang Ning had no idea what was going on in Li Mingyu’s household.

Right now, she was using the break after the first class to sneak off to a corner, secretly messaging Tian Wenhao on her phone.

As expected, things were unfolding just as she had predicted.

Early in the morning, Tian Wenhao received a call from Old Wang.

Old Wang claimed that due to recent weather conditions, grain production had decreased, which caused an increase in chicken feed prices—leading to higher farming costs per chicken.

So he hoped to temporarily raise the price of chicken meat by 20% per kilogram.

He also said that once grain production returned to normal, the prices would be adjusted back down.

If not for the warning message from Jiang Ning the night before, there was no way Tian Wenhao would have agreed to the price hike.

In fact, knowing his temper, he probably would have gone straight over to confront Old Wang in person and settle the matter face-to-face.

Jiang Ning wasn’t sure what other traps might be lying ahead.

But what she did know was—if they got into a back-and-forth argument with Old Wang over this, the one who’d be laughing in the end would undoubtedly be President Hua.

But Jiang Ning wasn’t the type to just sit and take a loss.

She had Tian Wenhao pass along a message to Old Wang:

Price increase? Fine. But the payment method had to change.

From the previous “cash on delivery” model to “deliver first, settle the payment a month later.”

If Old Wang was willing, they’d accept the price hike.

If not—then they’d part ways immediately.

Shi Ning Ji would go straight to contact KFC’s chicken supplier.

Of course, that was just Jiang Ning bluffing Old Wang.

KFC was a direct competitor of Shi Ning Ji—there was no way it would use their white-feather chickens and risk tarnishing their own brand.

However, from what Jiang Ning knew, Old Wang was a suspicious man.

From his point of view—well, they were all selling fried chicken, weren’t they?

What if?

Of course, this was just the appetizer in Jiang Ning’s counterattack.

The real feast… was still being cooked.

(End of Chapter)