Wu Yan's Powdered Face didn't have any remarkable secret recipes. Apart from the broth seasoning being a family tradition, it was mainly the quality of the ingredients that mattered. The rice noodles were all made fresh by hand, so the scale couldn't be very large.
In recent years, technology has advanced, and you can buy just about any product. They even customized a small automated noodle machine, which saved them a lot of heavy labor.
Even though business was good, Xiaowu's parents didn't plan to expand with a chain of stores, sticking with the old storefront and old neighborhood. In their view, their son would have great prospects in the future, so there was no need to run a noodle shop anymore.
Wu Yanjun was smart from a young age and always had good grades. He graduated from Nanhua Science and Technology University, and the family paid to send him overseas for two years to earn a master's degree.
After graduating, Xiaowu didn't plan to stay abroad. The job market wasn't great there, so he came back to look for work. Unexpectedly, something happened as soon as he got home.
His parents wouldn't let him help in the shop, but with nothing to do those days, he insisted on going to the noodle shop to help with chores, saying it was to fulfill his filial duties.
That old neighborhood had a few small-time hooligans, commonly known as street punks, who often ate without paying. That day, they finished their noodles, wiped their mouths, and shouted to Wu Yanjun, who was helping at the register, "Put it on the tab, we'll settle it next time!"
Wu Yanjun had heard about these guys and had disliked them for a long time. He came out from behind the counter and blocked the door, demanding they settle the bill before leaving. The leader glared and said, "Didn't we always have it on the tab before? What's going on today, you don't know the rules?"
It would have been better if he hadn't said that. Upon hearing this, Wu Yanjun was even more determined not to let them go and demanded they settle the old debts too. They began to argue, and the others tried to leave, with someone pushing Xiaowu in the chest.
That action was the trigger. Next, everyone started fighting. By the time his parents and another waiter rushed out from the kitchen, the three little punks were already on the ground. Someone had a nosebleed, and another person called the police.
The other two punks weren't seriously hurt, but one of them got punched in the face, broke his cheekbone, and was assessed as having Level 2 minor injuries, which means criminal responsibility. So Wu Yanjun was taken in.
Hearing this, He Kao asked in disbelief, "One against three, and you still won?"
Wu Yanjun: "I do sports."
He Kao: "Are you from Nanhua Science and Technology University's sports department, or did you study sports abroad?"
Wu Yanjun: "I wasn't in the sports department, but I started doing sports in middle school. During my studies abroad, my athletic performance played a big role, otherwise, they wouldn't have accepted me.
While studying abroad, I worked part-time as a coach in a gym, teaching those foreigners Eastern Country kung fu..."
He Kao: "No wonder, so you've actually trained, and that's how you injured someone?"
Wu Yanjun: "I didn't hit hard. Who knew they were so fragile?"
He Kao: "In this situation, as long as you negotiate well with the other party and pay some compensation, gaining their understanding and all, shouldn't that keep you out of jail? Even a suspended sentence would be better."
Wu Yanjun sighed heavily and said: "You think the same as my parents. They also wanted to negotiate compensation, but the injured kid wouldn't accept it, claiming he didn't want money and only wanted me dead... that guy is still a 2.5-generation."
He Kao: "What's a 2.5-generation? Isn't he just a freeloader punk?"
Wu Yanjun: "In our place, clans are important, and his family has connections. His uncle is an official, and another is a wealthy businessman, but he's good for nothing and just hangs around on the streets. So we call such a person a 2.5-generation.
I even told the police that they started it. But the police saw the surveillance and said the other guy only tried to push me away from the door; it was indeed me who threw the first punch..."
He Kao: "How long was your sentence?"
Wu Yanjun: "Nine months."
He Kao: "That's an unusual sentence, not quite round."
Wu Yanjun: "Because I had already been in detention for nine months, it matched perfectly with the sentence, so I was released directly."
**