Real-Life Opera Between Chinese Restaurant & Harvard Professor

All Mixed Up: Bar manager Ran Duan might feel like he is in the middle of an opera plot gone bad.

"Ben Edelman is an associate professor at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit. Ran Duan manages The Baldwin Bar, located inside the Woburn location of Sichuan Garden, a Chinese restaurant founded by his parents. Last week, Edelman ordered what he thought was $53.35 worth of Chinese food from Sichuan Garden’s Brookline Village location. Edelman soon came to the horrifying realization that he had been overcharged. By a total of $4. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a Harvard Business School professor thinks a family-run Chinese restaurant screwed him out of $4, you’re about to find out. Read the complete email exchange by clicking here. Ran Duan moved to the U.S. from

Plaintiff: Ben Edelman

China when he was 3-years-old. His father had hoped to support the family with a career as an opera singer, but when that didn’t pan out, Duan says 'like all Chinese families we decided to open up a restaurant.' Sichuan Garden opened its doors in Brookline in the early 1990s. A second location followed in Woburn." [Source] You can learn more about Benjamin G. Edelman by clicking here and if you're in Woburn area, check out The Baldwin Bar. The "Read Between the Lines" cocktail looks particularly delicious. Read a Boston Magazine feature on Ran Duan ran in June 2014 and a 2011 story by the Boston Globe reveals his mother was also a promising opera singer.