Chapter 107: The Young Master Can Cook Too
When the group arrived at Yunhe Garden, Xu Yunzhou quite rudely directed everyone to help prepare ingredients. Although Li Yuecheng and the others insisted that Yun Zijin needn't join the cooking preparations, she felt embarrassed doing nothing, so she followed them into the kitchen.
There were twenty-one of them in total, counting Yun Zijin and Meilin. Among them, only four were women—two were designers from Sheng Group and Li Group.
Meanwhile, Xu Yunzhou slowly approached Li Yuecheng and whispered, "Who's this 'Sister Zijin' you mentioned?"
He was a few years older than Li Yuecheng, thus considered the older generation in their circle, but that didn't dampen his curiosity.
"You guess," Li Yuecheng teased, unwilling to give a direct answer.
"You won't tell me? Then your precious 'Buddha Jumps Over the Wall' dish is probably out of stock," Xu Yunzhou threatened. That was his specialty, and if he decided not to serve it, Li Yuecheng wouldn't get to taste it. If it weren't for the fact that he had some portions ready yesterday, it wouldn't be possible to whip it up on such short notice.
"Tsk, it'd be boring if I told you outright. Pay closer attention to her," Li Yuecheng said lightly, obviously not wanting to reveal much.
Not far away, Yun Zijin wandered around the kitchen looking for something to do. Lu Yunque happened to pass by with a basket of beans. Catching sight of the untrimmed beans, Zijin's eyes brightened.
"Mr. Lu, are you… preparing these beans?"
He paused and glanced at her. "Yes. Want to help?"
"Sure!" Finally finding a task, Zijin beamed with relief. Too many people were bustling in the kitchen, so they took the basket outside into Yunhe Garden's courtyard.
Fortunately, Yunhe Garden hadn't opened to the public that day. Besides them and Xu Yunzhou, there was no one else around. After receiving Lu's group's call, Xu Yunzhou turned away all other prospective customers—he disliked cooking for large crowds.
Settling down on outdoor chairs, they placed the beans on a low table between them. Watching how deftly Lu Yunque picked the beans, Zijin felt a bit surprised.
"I never expected you, Mr. Lu—who's always so high above—to be this good at prepping vegetables," she teased.
He smiled slightly. "I studied abroad for a year. You know how the food is there. My stomach preferred Chinese, so I learned how to cook for myself."
Living alone forced him to pick up life skills he hadn't needed before.
"So you can cook, too?" Zijin said, more astonished than ever. It was hard to picture the aloof and refined Lu Yunque in a kitchen.
"I only know the basics—nothing advanced," he confessed. "Mostly self-taught."
"You're incredible. I kind of assumed…" She trailed off, feeling she'd said too much.
"You assumed I'm the type with a prominent background, never distinguishing the five grains, right?" he finished, reading her thoughts. Zijin just gave an embarrassed laugh. "Well, maybe it was a biased assumption," she admitted. "But hey, you've changed my mind. Next time we get the chance, you can cook and prove me wrong."
With that, he placed the last handful of beans into the basket. "Alright, that's done. You can rest here a bit if you like; I'll take these in and wash them." So many people were dividing the tasks that each didn't have a huge load.
Zijin nodded, watching him bring the beans inside. Not long after, Meilin emerged from the kitchen and spotted Zijin sitting in the courtyard alone.
"Miss," Meilin said.
"Done in there? How soon can we eat? I'm pretty hungry," Zijin asked.
"The kitchen estimates about forty more minutes. If you'd like, I can cut some fruit to tide you over."
Meilin herself was a mechanical being who didn't need to eat, but she recognized that Zijin did. Just then, Lu Yunque reappeared carrying a fruit plate. Slices of cantaloupe, mango, white dragon fruit, and a cluster of washed grapes lay arranged on a round tray. He set it down on the small table.
"It'll be a while before dinner's ready, so have some fruit," he said, handing Zijin a fork. "Meilin was just offering to do the same thing, so I guess we had a similar idea," Zijin remarked as she took the fork and speared a piece of cantaloupe.
"Indeed, seems we think alike," he answered, lips curving into a slight smile. His gaze held a warmth that momentarily flustered Zijin. She looked away quickly, and Lu Yunque—not wanting to unsettle her—excused himself back to the kitchen.
Alone again, Zijin noticed how carefully the fruit had been arranged on the platter. She inhaled, trying to calm the odd feeling in her chest. Moments later, two of the female designers from Sheng and Li Group came out and saw her.
"Miss Yun, why're you out here alone?" one asked. "Aren't you helping in the kitchen?" the other chimed in.
Zijin remembered how they'd all agreed she didn't need to help, yet these two spoke with a trace of sarcasm. She replied evenly, "I did go in earlier. We've finished prepping the beans. If you didn't see it, that's on you."
They were about to retort when Lu Yunque suddenly reappeared. Hearing them question Zijin, he snapped, "Didn't Chef Xu throw you out of the kitchen for messing around? Perhaps you two needn't worry about others. If you can't do your tasks, keep quiet."
"Mr. Lu—" The two faltered, paling at his sharp tone. They were presumably reluctant to anger him further. Zijin, meanwhile, just sipped her fruit juice silently.
Finally, Lu Yunque turned back to Zijin. "Miss Yun, we've known each other for a while, but we're still calling each other Miss and Mr. Feels a bit odd. Please, just call me by my name, like you did a moment ago."
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