The first miscarriage drained a lot of my energy, leaving my spirit and body severely impacted; I even lost a small patch of hair on my head, which was obvious. But my husband couldn't wait for me to get pregnant again, as he places great importance on family continuity. To make him give up, I complained to him: "I was only 5 weeks pregnant last time, and I lost a small patch of hair; if I get pregnant again, I'll be bald!"

He was quite optimistic: "It's okay, you're the biggest contributor to the family!" He really sweet-talked me to get me pregnant.

"What good is reputation? Practical benefits are key! What kind of life can you provide for me? Can you meet my needs?" I retorted, recalling the hard days of my grandmother and mother.

"You must have watched too many toxic motivational videos! You've filled your head with negative energy! Every family is different! Do you think I'm one of those lazy, irresponsible men? I'm focused on making money right now, so that you all can have a better life in the future."

"Don't think so far ahead; I'm more concerned about the current living experience! My parents and I love going to restaurants, especially trying new things! Recently, the Kuaishou platform keeps recommending a bullwhip hotpot restaurant to me! Don't you want to have a baby? Then let's go eat some bullwhip to nourish ourselves?"

"Eating that is a bit embarrassing..."

"What are you embarrassed about, you big man! If bullwhip were really a banned food, could it be widely advertised online? I've checked the information; bullwhip not only boosts vitality but also has beauty-enhancing, blood-activating, and menstrual-regulating effects! It's not just for men; women can eat it too."

"Bullwhip is quite expensive, and the restaurant probably doesn't have much of it since they spent money on advertising!"

"Who cares, let's just try it once! This meal is on me, and I have to bring my parents along to reward them for taking care of me during the miscarriage!"

"Alright, see you at six-thirty! But I have something to do then, so I can't accompany my parents; I'll just ride a shared bike to the hotpot restaurant." My husband decided to go alone because he had something to do. My dad was busy playing chess, so like my husband, he let my mom and me go by ourselves.

In my family, there are two lively characters, my dad and my husband. Whenever we go out for meals or travel, they always like to play on their own and often "disappear" while walking, leaving my mom and me to find them. This time at dinner, they caused a bit of trouble again...

My mom and I arrived at the hotpot restaurant first. A staff member saw us and warmly approached, asking how many people were dining, then arranged a table for us. Since it wasn't mealtime yet, there weren't many people in the restaurant, so we found a four-person table to sit down.

I looked around, observing the other customers. There were only two tables occupied in the entire restaurant; besides us, there were a few big men diagonally across from us. They were eating and drinking, making loud noises, laughing at times, and discussing loudly, filling the hotpot restaurant with their voices...

As I was engrossed in watching, a young man in his twenties walked up to us, holding a menu and asking what we wanted to order. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was the staff member who had just greeted us. He had a broad face, sparkling big eyes, a straight nose, and was quite eloquent. From the first meeting, I felt he should be part of the management.

"Take a look at the menu, decide what you want to eat, and I'll place the order for you right away!" He hurriedly urged us to order.

"No rush, not everyone is here yet; let's look at the dishes first and order when everyone arrives." I declined his kind offer because I wanted to see the prices of the dishes. Hearing this, the staff member wisely left.

I looked down at the menu and found the prices of the dishes to be quite high. There were three signature dishes: bullwhip, soft-shelled turtle, and chicken, with only one or one and a half pounds available, priced at 69 yuan, 88 yuan, and 138 yuan respectively. Although there was a group purchase discount package on Kuaishou (for 3-4 people, including bullwhip or chicken, soft-shelled turtle, Qingyuan chicken, and some side dishes, plus four bowls of white rice for a total of 189 yuan), I still didn't dare to choose the package, fearing the portions would be less than the original price.

Just as I was hesitating, the young man returned to ask what I wanted to order.

"Not everyone is here yet! Let's not order! It's only evening now, and you just started your shift, so there's no rush!" I once again "sent him away."

Actually, I was a bit anxious at that moment; this place was filled with rugged men, and I wondered if they could accommodate just the two of us women. I eagerly hoped my dad and husband would arrive soon to give me some confidence and strength.

Perhaps due to fear, I felt that the big men at the table diagonally across from us were occasionally casting strange glances our way, while the young man taking our order was quietly talking to his colleague, seemingly complaining about my indecisiveness in ordering.

Despite this, I pretended to be calm and quickly called my husband: "Hey! Husband! Where are you? My mom and I have been waiting for a while! Hurry up! I haven't ordered yet!"

"I'm almost at the restaurant door!" my husband replied.

Following his words, I looked up at the restaurant's glass door, and a huge figure was pressed against the door outside. Seeing this, I excitedly went out to greet my husband and led him to our table. Then, I picked up the menu and asked him what he wanted to eat, but he casually said, "You're treating, you decide!"

"By the way, your dad said he got lost; why did you only send him the location of the restaurant? He can't read!" My husband, having received my dad's message about getting lost, blamed me for not being responsible enough.

"I taught Dad how to take the bus and sent him the location, but he just wouldn't listen and insisted on going by his memory; that's his problem, why are you blaming me?" I retorted.

"I'll go find him; you order first!" my husband instructed and hurriedly left the restaurant.

Then, I picked up the menu again, looked at those "eye-catching" prices, hesitated for a moment, and still ordered one pound of bullwhip, one pound of chicken, half a pound of morel mushrooms (125 yuan), plus a few side dishes. This meal cost me one hundred and fifty yuan...

After ordering, my husband called again for "help": "Your dad doesn't know where he went! We agreed to meet at the nearby subway station E exit, but he might have gone to another exit!"

"My dad didn't send me a message! You contact him! He's really directionally challenged!" Since my husband didn't give me any suggestions while ordering, I felt helpless and took out my frustration on him while he was dealing with his dad getting lost.

Half an hour later, my husband finally brought my dad to the restaurant, and he complained that the dishes I ordered were too delicate and looked shabby. So, he waved his hand and added a soft-shelled turtle (88 yuan each) to fill everyone's stomachs. However, there were actually maggots in the seasoning, which made him furious, and he slammed the table...

"I really can't eat anymore! There are maggots in the seasoning! What? Do you store your ingredients in the toilet?! That's disgusting!" My husband's roar instantly silenced the entire restaurant, and everyone's gaze focused on our table.

At that moment, the young man who took our order hurried over, trying to calm my husband's anger. I felt puzzled and leaned closer to my husband to understand the situation.

"Sir, please calm down; can you show me the dipping sauce..." The young man reached out towards the seasoning bowl.

"Husband, what's going on? What's wrong with the dipping sauce?" I immediately blocked the young man's hand with my back.

"This is a food safety issue! How about this, I'll take a picture of the worms and post it online!" My husband's voice was still loud.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we will definitely handle this properly... This isn't maggots, just ordinary vegetable worms..." The young man kept apologizing and tried to cover up the truth.

"I came here for the first time, and I even ordered a soft-shelled turtle just to try something new, but who would have thought... No, I should still post the photos online!"

"How about this! Big brother, we'll give you a free drink... If that's not enough, we'll give you a discount! Please take the dipping sauce to the cashier, and we'll discuss it further..." The young man placed a bottle of orange juice on the table with his bare hands, and when he saw we were unmoved, he promised a discount. In fact, his ultimate goal was to take away the "evidence."

"Look, that worm is still moving..." My husband tried to insist further.

"Sir, I'm sorry; this was our mistake, please follow me to the front desk..." The young man expressed his apologies in a low voice again and wanted to resolve the matter "peacefully."

In the end, the restaurant gave us a 30% discount.

Just as we were settling the bill, my husband proudly told my parents: "That young man is the manager; he promised me he would fire the kitchen worker who washed the vegetables... A 30% discount is the highest discount allowed by their computer system... Let's just leave it at that; everyone is just working hard, it's not easy for anyone..."

Then, my husband whispered in my ear: "Don't come to this restaurant again, got it..."

However, when we stepped out of the restaurant, another staff member was waiting at the door. As soon as he saw us, he immediately nodded and gestured: "Thank you, big brother, thank you, beautiful lady, thank you, uncle and aunt..."

To find out why there were maggots in the restaurant's sauce, I specifically researched related information—apparently, the vegetables and spices in the sauce attract flies, which love to lay eggs in them, and the fly eggs can turn into maggots within half an hour.