Li Lanxiang slumped back against her chair.
Her fingers toyed with the tassels along the edge of the tablecloth.
"This... came too suddenly. I need to think."
She straightened up and stared at Wang Xiaoliang.
"Xiaoliang, you're the one handling the actual work. What do you think we should do now?"
"There's no other way." Wang Xiaoliang tapped the table with his fingers. "Start liquidating the stock first thing tomorrow. The sooner, the better."
The hand picking at the tablecloth stopped.
Li Lanxiang looked into Wang Xiaoliang's eyes, and he met her gaze without flinching.
"All right." She nodded. "We'll do as you say. Liquidate the stock tomorrow morning. I'll send people to collect the equipment."
"Then the money from selling the stock belongs to our family, right?"
"Why?" Wang Xiaoliang looked at her expressionlessly.
"Our family put up all the money to open the stores. Now that we're closing down, you two only contributed labor for your shares, so you shouldn't get anything, right?"
"So you're saying you put your money on the school grounds and it started making more money all by itself? Did your family's money get pregnant too?" Wang Xiaoliang didn't confront her head-on, but resorted to sarcasm.
"Wang Xiaoliang, how can you talk like that? How had I never noticed how nasty you were?" Li Lanxiang raised her voice and widened her eyes, clearly furious.
"Is that any way to treat a pregnant woman?"
"Lanxiang, it's precisely because you're pregnant that I chose to back down, and Brother Huang chose to pull out altogether. If it had been anyone else, I'd have retaliated long ago."
"Hey! Wang Xiaoliang, I never thought you were this kind of person..."
"Please calm down, both of you. We're all on the same side. Why do this?" Huang Xueli spoke