CHAPTER 631: CHAPTER 620: VICIOUS VILLAIN

"This is a good idea." Mr. He turned his head and then said to his son, "Jiangnan, you really need to put more effort into this, otherwise Ye is going to outperform you."

He Jiangnan hung his head in dejection: "I’m already being outperformed. Just think about it—if we pull off this event, we’re probably going to be swamped this weekend. No, I’ve got to set the price higher."

By saying this, it seemed he had affirmed Ye Qiu’s suggestion. Ye Qiu smiled at everyone, her gratitude clearly evident.

Everyone also shared knowing smiles; they all liked Ye Qiu. After two and half days of getting to know her, they found her to be a very sincere person. And when they considered her somewhat tragic background, they were even more caring towards her.

Especially He Jiangnan, when Ye Qiu took the initiative to offer teaching him culinary skills, he was astonished for quite a while. After all, people nowadays value their own skills highly, particularly crafts, and are not willing to teach others easily. But Ye Qiu did not hesitate at all before she made the offer.

Although he provided her an opportunity to make money, relying on her cooking skills, even at a young age, she could get by anywhere. Rather than saying that he took her in out of kindness, it was more like she was looking after him.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved. He still wanted to learn, but he wouldn’t shortchange a child. So he doubled her commission and added a base salary of three thousand yuan. Based on the volume of dishes Ye Qiu prepared daily, the money she earned wasn’t much less than what he, the boss, made, but in the end, he was still the one earning more.

Because in just two days, the number of customers at his shop had increased significantly. He believed that if Ye Qiu continued to work, the reputation of his shop would continue to rise.

"Boss, isn’t this too much?" Ye Qiu asked, holding over a thousand yuan in her hand.

"Not at all." He Jiangnan smiled, "Now I’m pricing the dishes you make at fifteen and twenty-five yuan per serving, which comes to exactly twelve hundred yuan. The commission is settled daily, and I’ll give you the base salary at the end of the month."

"But I cooked all that porridge in one go."

"Even then, it’s sold by the serving. When it comes down to it, I’m still the one profiting. I have to say I’ve learned that with such a wait, people would even drink porridge priced at thirty yuan a bowl. It’s a good thing I listened to you and raised the prices that much."

In the past, He Jiangnan wouldn’t even dare to dream about selling a bowl of porridge for so much. Although his shop targets the mid-to-high-end market, if he had tried to sell a bowl of porridge for thirty yuan, he would not have dared, but now not only is he selling it, it’s in high demand. Clearly, the problem before was his own cooking skills.

"Then thank you, Boss. I’ll go back and create a customized menu just for our Sundays," Ye Qiu said as she stashed the money away.

He Jiangnan’s eyes sparkled with excitement: "That’s great. I’ll have to price it even higher then. If it sells well, I’ll give you a bonus afterwards."

"Thank you, Boss." Ye Qiu said with a beaming smile.

When she returned to the Jiang Family home, the motorcycle was already parked in the garage.

Walking into the house, she casually placed a lunchbox on the dining table and then went to warm up a cup of milk in the kitchen. This time, she didn’t leave a note.

Jiang Cheng had been listening in his room the whole time. Only when he heard the door close did he open his bedroom door. Looking downstairs, Ye Qiu was already gone, but just like yesterday, there was a lunchbox and a cup of milk on the table.

He pursed his lips, walked downstairs, and found that the milk was warm, less fishy than yesterday, and tasted even better. Today the lunchbox contained soy sauce fried rice.

He frowned, having not heard the sound of the ventilation fan turning on. Had she brought this from outside?

He took a taste and found it delicious as always. Before he knew it, he had finished the whole bowl. Patting his stomach which felt full but not bloated, he couldn’t quite describe how he felt.

For several days, the two maintained this silent agreement; one would return first and wait in their room, and the other would set down the lunchbox, warm the milk, and then retire to their own room. The one who had been waiting would come out and eat everything up, until one day when Jiang Yi discovered it.

"Qiu, what are you doing?" Jiang Yi asked as he opened the door.

The restaurant had nearly run out of ingredients that day, so Ye Qiu had come back to make more. She had just prepared a bowl of hot shredded chicken noodle soup - perhaps the noise from the range hood was too loud and had disturbed him, so he came downstairs.

"It smells so good!" He sniffed with a grin, drooling with desire.

Ye Qiu didn’t respond, but he didn’t wait for the reply he wanted and spoke up: "Could you make a bowl for your big brother? Big brother is getting hungry too."

Hearing the voice, Jiang Cheng felt a tightness in his heart, but he still stood in his room, motionless.

"Little sister, why haven’t you been eating at home lately? Where have you been going? Can you tell big brother? I’m really worried about you."

In reality, I’m worried too, Jiang Cheng silently thought to himself.

"A summer job," Ye Qiu replied softly.

Jiang Cheng didn’t hear her, and frowned; Jiang Yi asked in surprise, "Why? Aren’t you afraid of getting heatstroke in this hot weather?"

He had a reason for saying this: in his heart, he didn’t think Ye Qiu was smart or pretty. What else could she do for a summer job besides handing out flyers? Naturally, it would be exhausting to hand out flyers in this heat.

But Ye Qiu didn’t feel like responding to him anymore. Jiang Yi was very hypocritical, always wanting to appear perfect in front of everyone, even if that person was someone he resented greatly.

It’s not like he hated Ye Qiu, but he definitely didn’t like her. Yet every time they met, he would habitually show some concern.

It was just lip service, without any real action, yet it gave others the false impression that he genuinely cared.

Jiang Cheng was like that, otherwise he wouldn’t have been deceived so badly by him. It was because of him that Jiang Cheng later thought about taking revenge on society.

Ye Qiu’s silence didn’t make Jiang Yi feel awkward. He watched her movements, pleased, and said, "Is it ready? I really appreciate it, sister Qiu."

After speaking, he picked up the bowl and put the noodles into his mouth with very refined etiquette, not even letting his astonishment over how good the noodles were cause him to lose his composure.

This was what set him apart from ordinary people. If it were an ordinary person, like Jiang Cheng, he would definitely be slurping the noodles noisily by now. Even though making noise while eating isn’t considered good mannerism, Ye Qiu liked the way Jiang Cheng ate, not the way Jiang Yi did.

It seemed polite, but it was actually repressed. And he ate without her permission!

These noodles weren’t made for him!

Jiang Cheng stood in his room, motionless, his complexion somewhat gloomy. He knew he was unwelcome, that he didn’t deserve familial affection, and indeed, it was big brother who was able to give her what she wanted.

He knew that once Ye Qiu had big brother, he probably would never again get to eat anything she made, so he went to bed with his head covered.

He had a poor night’s sleep, waking up several times. Irritated, he decided to go for a walk. But as he passed by the dining room, he discovered a bowl of noodles that had already turned cold and soggy.