Chapter 326: A Master Like You

“Are we going to some kind of restaurant?”

To be honest, this was the first time Zhu Niao had gone out to eat alone with the Store Manager Lady.

It wasn’t that they had never eaten together before, it was just that whenever they did, it was always delivery food ordered while they were on shift at the store.

Which brought up the benefits of ordering delivery while working with the boss.

When ordering delivery while working with the boss, Zhu Niao could finally skip Pin He Fan for once.

The Store Manager Lady didn’t even use coupons when she ordered.

Delivery food without coupons just tasted different from Pin He Fan.

Just the fact that the receipt didn’t have those three big characters printed on it gave off some kind of inexplicable air of nobility.

Like the difference between a disposable plastic cup and a bronze wine goblet.

“We’re not going to a restaurant. We’re going to someone’s home. He’s really good at cooking, and his family runs a restaurant.” The Store Manager Lady said, “And then we’ll just happen to start practicing our cooking skills at his place. Conveniently, his house gets fresh ingredients every day.”

Zhu Niao was taken aback.

That kind of description combined together felt just like Chinese Little Master.

Back then, Zhu Niao loved watching Chinese Little Master.

Especially every time the protagonist tried to hide his identity but ended up getting discovered through various coincidences, watching the other party suddenly go from arrogant and defiant to a pitiful, groveling mess.

Later on, Zhu Niao learned that this kind of thing was called Dragon King Returns, showing off and slapping faces.

But that didn’t stop her from loving that feeling back then.

She even once thought that as long as her cooking skills improved, there would be an endless stream of oblivious fools charging at her like in the TV shows, letting her show off in front of everyone.

In the end, she discovered that wasn’t how it worked at all. And she could never learn to cook either.

But even so, she used to have a dream of becoming a great chef.

“Is he one of those Western cuisine chefs?” Zhu Niao asked again.

“No.” The Store Manager Lady shook her head slightly. “Of course he’s the practical and delicious type, not one of those heavily decorated dishes.”

She naturally knew what Zhu Niao was worried about.

She was just afraid that after half a day of learning to cook, she’d end up bringing home a delicately carved carrot.

For someone like Xun Yu who pursued practical experiences, pragmatic things were better.

Zhu Niao looked at the scenery outside the window, at the withering and decay that always accompanied winter between heaven and earth.

The car windows were already rolled up, and the heater was running inside, carrying an unexpected warmth.

But there wasn’t any of that suffocating, strange mixed odor.

Previously, when Zhu Niao took ride-hailing cars in winter, there was a chance she’d smell something that made her instantly wonder if she was getting carsick.

The only downside to this kind of pleasant car environment was that she might not be used to it when she got out.

Before she could even enjoy the scenery outside for long, Zhu Niao noticed the car had stopped.

She immediately looked at the Store Manager Lady.

Then the car door beside her suddenly opened. She turned her head again, and only when she saw the driver holding the door did she realize they had arrived.

“Let’s just head inside. That guy should be getting ready to cook. We’ll go in and rest for a bit, and we should be able to eat soon.”

The Store Manager Lady walked ahead, heading straight for the front door of the standalone Western-style house.

The driver behind them dutifully chose to turn back after dropping the two of them off.

Zhu Niao followed behind.

She looked at the ground. Although frost hadn’t started forming yet, the temperature had fully entered winter’s domain.

Whether in the past or now, what Zhu Niao loved most about winter with Xun Yu was throwing snow down each other’s necks.

But winters in Nanfang rarely brought snow, and over time, it became just a memory.

The most common thing the two did in winter became standing in the cold, breathing out into the air in front of them, exhaling white mist and then trying to suck it back in to see if they could imitate the true True Lao Qi.

Unfortunately, to this day, only Xun Yu had successfully imitated it once. It probably relied somewhat on lung capacity.

Beep beep

The beeping sound pulled Zhu Niao’s attention back. It was the Store Manager Lady pressing the electronic lock on the front door.

After a few beeps, the lock clicked open.

The inside of the house was warm too. Zhu Niao stood on the doormat at the entrance, at a loss.

But the Store Manager Lady, familiar as ever, pulled open the shoe cabinet beside her and took out two pairs of slippers, placing them in front of Zhu Niao.

Overhead was a central air conditioning unit.

In front of the living room sofa, a large TV was playing a period costume palace drama.

In the air, besides a faint warmth and humidity, there was also a hint of fragrance.

Like food.

Zhu Niao craned her neck and looked toward the source of the smell.

A pair of azure-blue eyes, paired with the motion of someone casually wiping their hands with a black apron, appeared in Zhu Niao’s sight.

It felt way too familiar.

The person looked at the two who had walked straight in without even a greeting and let out a slight sigh.

Even though she had greeted him before coming, and had even asked him for the electronic lock password to his front door to his face.

“Something to drink?”

“Sheng Ye Coffee.” The Store Manager Lady answered directly, without any pretense.

“Uh, I’ll have whatever’s fine.” Zhu Niao said weakly.

Then she watched the familiar figure turn around.

She turned her head to look at the Store Manager Lady.

“Didn’t you say his family runs a restaurant and he’s a chef?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” The Store Manager Lady pulled Zhu Niao to sit down on the sofa, then switched the TV to Love Apartment.

“But doesn’t his family sell cars?” Zhu Niao pointed in the direction Mai Che Xiaozi had left.

She had seen it with her own eyes. It was also the origin of the nickname Mai Che Xiaozi.

“Oh, that.” The Store Manager Lady said, “You probably don’t know this, but his family has two parts. His father sells cars, and his mother does food and beverage. I heard the two families arranged the marriage before birth. Apparently, they only discovered at their wedding that they were each other’s high school first love.”

After the entire speech, Zhu Niao’s mouth hung slightly open.

“Wow…”

This was the first time she had heard such an exaggerated love story.

Then, she suddenly remembered something: “So doesn’t that mean he has to sell cars and also handle the food business now?”

“Well, that’s what he does.” The Store Manager Lady shrugged as she spoke, “He’s the most rule-abiding one. Even though his parents don’t have any requirements for him, he takes all kinds of responsibilities onto himself. That’s why he admires my brother, and also looks up to him.”

“Don’t make it sound like I came crawling to your brother when I had no other options. I wasn’t that desperate, and your brother isn’t that useless.”

The Store Manager Lady let out a soft laugh and took the canned Sheng Ye Coffee from Mai Che Xiaozi’s hand.

“You’re the only person who defends my brother when I badmouth him.”