Yu Antong chased Xing Lixuan to the main road of the amusement park, when suddenly someone patted his shoulder from behind.
He looked back and saw that the one who was patting him was a fat and naive “little snowman”, followed by a long row of mascot characters of various origin.
The main parade has begun!
“Wow! It’s great!” Yu Antong, who had never seen such a big scene, gasped in awe. He greeted the “little snowman” with joyous glee.
Another mascot costume the back came up to give him a high-five. And other characters, such as a fairy with translucent wings and other fantastical costumes, also gave him a wave once they saw Yu Antong was a handsome man with such high enthusiasm.
Yu Antong had a great time watching the colorful parade.
“Ge, let me take a picture for you.” Yu Annan, who also experienced this for the first time, offered with a huge smile on her face.
“Let’s go together.” Yu Antong hugged his sister, and called Xing Lixuan, who was a few steps away from them, “Husband, come and help us take pictures.”
Xing Lixuan took out his mobile phone from his pocket, and quickly snapped a few photos of the siblings.
“No, no, I haven’t posed properly yet.” Yu Antong said dissatisfied, “A few more.”
“Troublesome.” Xing Lixuan sneered, but he still raised his phone and continued to take pictures of him. After taking more than a dozen pictures in a row, he said, “This time it should be sufficient.”
Yu Antong walked up to Xing Lixuan, “Show me the results!” Yu Antong got the phone and flipped through the photo album. After picking and choosing the best one, he was still dissatisfied, but he relented. “Forget it, I’m still handsome in these pictures anyways. I’ll forgive you~”
Yu Antong handed the phone to his sister and said, “Xiao Nan, can you take a picture of me and him?”
Xing Lixuan didn’t want to participate, “No need.”
Yu Antong pulled him, insistent, “Come here, just take a few pictures. You can keep them as a souvenir, so when you miss me someday, you take them out and have a look.”
Pushed forward by him, Xing Lixuan sneered, “You think too much. That day won’t ever happen.”
Yu Antong shook his head, and said with a pout, “Nope, I’m taking that reason.”
Then, he went closer to the parade area as he pulled his husband with him. Then, he spoke to his sister, “Please take our picture.”
In the camera of the mobile phone, Yu Annan saw the tall man with godly proportions. His leg was very very long, his posture was straight, and his face was extremely handsome. He had a helpless smile on his face, but it didn’t diminish his cool gentleman bearing.
Yu Antong was standing next to Xing Lixuan. He quietly raised a hand from behind Xing Lixuan to the top of Xing Lixuan’s head. He was giving the taller man a rabbit ears, probably venting his earlier frustration.
Yu Annan was amused by him, her hands were shaking constantly, she couldn’t focus.
Just as he was winking and beckoning Yu Annan to take a quick photo, he was grabbed by Xing Lixuan’s big hand, and his arms were forced to be obedient.
Fine, then.
Xing Lixuan restrained the naughty hand tightly, and scolded him, “Stop it.”
Yu Antong smiled and said, “I was wrong, I was wrong.”
Next time he won’t get caught!
Xing Lixuan held him tightly and motioned Yu Annan to finish the photo quickly.
Yu Annan was stared at by Xing Lixuan with a stern face, and the smile on her face faded immediately.
‘Damn, he’s so fierce. How on earth did ge get brave enough to prank him?’
Yu Annan obediently took a picture. Then, at the very moment she pressed the camera button—
–Yu Antong suddenly turned around and kissed Xing Lixuan on the cheek.
“Mua!”
“Click!”
This scene was immortalized by the camera.
Xing Lixuan turned his head, facing Yu Antong’s eyes which were narrowed with laughter because of the successful sneak attack.
Yu Antong wore a fox ear headband he bought earlier on his head, and when he smiled like this, he really looked like a cunning fox spirit.
“Hahaha.” Seeing Xing Lixuan looking at him, Yu Antong laughed even more heartlessly.
When going back, he passed by a place selling headbands, and Xing Lixuan stopped.
He decisively bought two pairs: one black rabbit ears and one white-and-pink rabbit ears.
Yu Antong looked at Xing Lixuan’s stern profile, and then at the soft headbands in his hand, with an expression of disbelief, he blurted, “So you like these?”
Is this the thing called… gap moe1a japanese term. It’s when someone has a “gap” in their personality, or what you expect of them vs. who they actually are. A classic example is the “though gangster secretly loving cute things/picking up an abandoned kitty during the rain.? Tough man’s secret tenderness?
Xing Lixuan looked at him with cold eyes, but said nothing.
“Hiss.” Yu Antong rubbed his arm.
Why is there a sudden chill down his spine? He suddenly has a bad premonition…
At night that day, Xing Lixuan made Yu Antong wear that white-and-pink rabbit ears on bed. He was begging for mercy.
“Ah, no, mhmm~ let me go.”
“Husband, husband, I was wrong!”
Xing Lixuan gripped the rabbit ears with a vicious look and taunting words. “Do you like it?”
The corners of Yu Antong’s eyes turned red as tears began to form. “I like it, uh~ I really can’t do this anymoreeee–”
Xing Lixuan held the fiery red fox ears and held it in front of Yu Antong, “But I haven’t tried this one yet.”
Yu Antong was really about to cry, “Next time, next time, please, husband, please. It’s too mu– ahh–! A-ah….”
Xing Lixuan didn’t let him go. In the end Yu Antong was so tired that he couldn’t even lift a finger.
Unsurprisingly, the next day he slept until late afternoon. He didn’t know when Yu Annan was sent back to school.
Yu Antong looked at himself in the mirror. He was dressed in a well-fitting suit. This body had a good frame, plus the well-cut suit made his waistline smooth and his legs straight, making him look particularly dignified and energetic.
Xing Lixuan knew what he was going to do, but still asked, “Where are you going?”
Yu Antong snorted and ignored Xing Lixuan.
This dog man only knows how to bully him!
See if he deigned him with an answer!
Xing Lixuan knew of his “sin” from the previous night. He was particularly patient today as a result. He took the initiative to say, “I asked someone to contact Sang Yu for you, and he agreed on lowering the price to 70 million yuan, with the stipulation that you pay the full price within a week.
Yu Antong remembered the original asking price was 76 million yuan. After Xing Lixuan helped him, the price really dropped to 6 million yuan. It’s amazing.
Yu Antong was overjoyed, “Really?!”
Then he remembered that he was still miffed at Xing Lixuan. So he put away his smile, and asked with a serious face, “Why are you so kind and volunteer to help me?”
‘Was it because I cooked for you daily?’ was left unasked.
“Because I love you to death.” Xing Lixuan rolled his eyes as he quoted Yu Antong. He said them with an emotionless tone.
Yu Antong couldn’t help laughing. Forget it, it’s not like the “nightly sports” wasn’t good – no, it was actually downright phenomenal – so he’ll be generous and forgive him this time. He relaxed his expression and asked, “How did you make him cut the price so much?”
While he knew that Sang Yu’s properties weren’t popular because of his personal reputation, that kind of price lowering was still mystifying.
Xing Lixuan bent his knuckle-boned fingers, patted Yu Antong’s head, and said, “I’m relying on this part of mine, actually.”
When Yu Antong mentioned his desire of buying Sang Yu’s shops on that day, Xing Lixuan actually asked someone to investigate.
After that scandal, Sang Yu had no choice but to cut off his contract with his company. As a result, he owed a lot of liquidated damages. He wanted to use the money he got from selling his restaurants and food factory, but it was very difficult to find a buyer for these bundled properties. Seeing that the interest of his huge liquidated damages alone was enough to kill him, Sang Yu had to agree to sell at a lower price.
After all, the total sale was 70 million; and while it didn’t cover his initial investment, it was enough to pay his 60 million liquidated damages plus the interest.
Yu Antong reacted slowly, and finally understood Xing Lixuan’s implication, “Are you calling me stupid?”
Xing Lixuan: “I didn’t say that.”
Yu Antong scolded him angrily: “You think I’m a food?! Bad thing.”
Xing Lixuan sent his trusted lawyer to follow Yu Antong to the property dealing. Things went very smoothly, and Yu Antong successfully bought the restaurants and food processing factory with 70 million yuan.
After signing the contract, Sang Yu was about to leave. Yu Antong stopped him and said, “There is one more thing I want to trouble you.”
Sang Yu was quite different from his original glamorous celebrity image. He was far thinner, sickly pale, and even his lips looked bloodless. While he was haggard, his voice was still gentle and dignified. “Is there something the matter?”
“Can you introduce me to the chef of your restaurant?” Yu Antong said, “I went to your restaurant not long ago for dinner, and it tasted good.”
No matter how good Yu Antong’s culinary skills were, he alone would not be able to manage an entire large restaurant, let alone take over three restaurants at once.
Every outstanding restaurant has its own set of chefs. If he could win over the original chef team of the restaurant, he only needed to develop dishes and teach them to the chef.
Sang Yu didn’t think it was a bother, so he easily agreed. “The chef is at the head office now, I’ll go with you.”
Sang Yu didn’t know when his shops would be sold, and if it wasn’t sold by the end of this month, he had to close them. Thankfully, that didn’t happen yet, so all the staff were still contracted.
Capable people will never be afraid of unemployment – Yu Antong knew those chefs weren’t in a hurry to jump ship just yet, and so it’s not too late for him to poach them all now. With extra springs on his steps, Yu Antong followed Sang Yu directly to the restaurant.
During this period of time, there were no customers in the restaurant, so Sang Yu introduced Yu Antong to the head chef.
The head chef of this branch is a chubby middle-aged woman with short ear-length hair and a natural smiling face. She looked like a genial aunt, someone who is easy to talk to. “Hello Yu-xiansheng, my name is Zhao Juan.”
“Hello, Zhao-jie, you can just call me Xia Yu.”
Hearing Yu Antong talk about his intentions, Zhao-jie was overjoyed. With her skills, it was indeed not difficult to find a job. The difficult thing was to reintegrate into other chefs when entering a new restaurant. With a well-established team in another place, it’s hard to find a place for her to thrive.
Moreover, it will be difficult for her apprentices to find better jobs after leaving this restaurant.
It would be great if this new owner could accept these old employees.
She nodded and decided to agree, but when she heard Yu Antong said that he would develop the dishes in the future, she immediately became unhappy.
The chubby smiling face pulled away, and she said defensively, “Yu-xiansheng can’t trust me? If that’s the case, please find another chef.”
Since she was the head chef, she should have absolute control over the kitchen and the dishes. If this new owner wanted to control that, she might as well quit.
Yu Antong tried to placate her, “You misunderstood me, the kitchen is still yours, and I absolutely approve of your cooking skills. But, don’t you want to keep improving your cooking skills?”
After all, if she stood uncontested at the top, it’s harder for her to practice on her own. Although, this does hold an implication that because Yu Antong was young, he had better potential compared to her.
Zhao Juan had to applause this young man for his bravery. He’s not afraid to stand on his opinion, despite how wild his claims sounded. She directly locked eyes with him and said, “Just talking won’t solve anything. Since you think your cooking skills are better than mine, then let’s compete.”
Yu Antong very much agreed to the proposal. He nodded and said, “If my cooking can convince you, then you agree to stay on working for me and follow my directions. How about it?”
Zhao Juan nodded. “Alright, I’ll let you decide which dish we should compare. I’ll agree even if it’s your specialty.”
She gave the young man a face, so as not to lose too embarrassingly.
Yu Antong remembered a dish called Jade Belt Hydrangea2玉带绣球 “yùdài xiùqiú”; I can’t find the images anywhere, but you should be able to imagine it in the next chapter. It’s some kind of a stuffed dumpling shaped like hydrangea, to put it simply. that he ate here last time. It tasted good and was very memorable to him. So he decided on that. “Then, let’s compare our version of Jade Belt Hydrangea.”
As soon as he said the dish name, Zhao Juan’s apprentices, who were sitting quietly on the side, stood up in shock. They were angered by such bold declaration. “Master, come on, let’s teach this brat some harsh lessons in life.”
That dish was their restaurant’s signature! It’s also their Master’s specialty. This brat must’ve chosen this on purpose! How daring!
They were all chefs brought out by Zhao Juan, and they have a deep relationship with her. Even if they lose this job, their honor meant that they would take her side.
Zhao Juan also felt embarrassed. But since this young man didn’t want to give her face, then don’t blame her for bullying him in retaliation.
But in truth, Yu Antong really didn’t do it on purpose. He ate here once, so he just chose the dish he was most impressed with.
The author has something to say:
Tongtong: I am difficult! You all bully me!
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