"How else can we explain it? A failure is a failure. We’ll just report it as it is.
The bla for this failure doesn’t lie with us. It was entirely because of Tie Qiu Heng and his team. Sothing went wrong on their end at the critical mont, causing the plan to fail.
Steward Zhang is a discerning man; he won’t punish us over this..." the head of the intelligence departnt said.
"Phew..." The subordinate sighed in relief upon hearing this.
If they had to take the bla for the failed rescue mission, it was highly likely that Steward Zhang would transfer many of them out of headquarters, an outco neither he nor his colleagues wanted to see.
"Even though we aren’t to bla for the plan’s failure, we still need to investigate what caused Tie Qiu Heng’s team to fail at the very last step," said the head of the intelligence departnt.
"Understood." The subordinate nodded. "I’ll contact our personnel in Rongcheng right away and have them investigate why Tie Qiu Heng’s group was captured by the local Superpower Administration Bureau’s Investigators."
"Go on. Tell our personnel in Rongcheng to find out the reason as quickly as possible..." the departnt head instructed his subordinate.
After his subordinate left the office, the departnt head sat in the quiet room, his eyes closed in thought for several seconds. Then, he picked up his phone and dialed a special number.
"Hello, Steward Zhang. I have sothing to report..."
...
「Happiness Garden District.」
The air conditioner in the living room humd softly, filling the entire house with cool air.
"Lin Li, the food’s ready! Ti for lunch."
"Coming!"
Lin Li, who was watching TV in the living room, called back in response to the voice from the kitchen. He then turned off the television, stood up, and walked toward the dining room.
For lunch, Su Yue had cooked several dishes: poached prawns, braised beef, stead mandarin fish, scrambled eggs with chives, stir-fried water spinach, a cold fish skin salad, and a large serving of chicken and mushroom stew.
Well, calling it ’chicken and mushroom stew’ wasn’t quite accurate, as the ’chicken’ was a Luhua Chicken Beast, which was anything but small.
Su Yue erged from the kitchen carrying two bowls of stead white rice. When she saw Lin Li standing by the dining table, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the feast she had prepared, the corners of her mouth turned up in a knowing smile. Overjoyed, she called out to him.
"What are you just standing there for? Sit down and eat!"
"Okay."
Lin Li pulled out a chair and sat down. Gazing at the six dishes and one soup on the table—a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate—he couldn’t help but give Su Yue a thumbs-up in admiration.
"Every ti I eat here and watch you whip up a whole feast so effortlessly, I can’t help but be impressed."
Su Yue chuckled. She placed a bowl of rice in front of Lin Li. Hearing him praise her cooking, she let out a laugh as clear as silver bells. A bright glint flashed in her lovely eyes as she spoke with a smile.
"Don’t you always say you’re a bad cook? I think you just need a good teacher to give you so hands-on guidance.
If you’re willing to learn, I wouldn’t mind being your teacher. I could show you the ropes in my spare ti..."
"Huh?" Lin Li had just picked up his chopsticks, ready to dig in. He was stunned by Su Yue’s unexpected offer to teach him how to cook.
Seeing Lin Li’s reaction, Su Yue smiled and said, "What’s wrong? You think my cooking needs to improve more before I’m qualified to teach you?"
"No, not at all! My cooking is terrible. Yours runs circles around mine; you’re more than qualified to teach . How could I possibly say no?
I was just thinking it might take up too much of your ti. After all, teaching soone to cook is a pretty ti-consuming process...
You’re working part-ti at your friend’s flower shop, so after a long day, you don’t have much ti to rest when you get ho. I’d feel bad taking up even more of your free ti to teach how to cook," Lin Li explained.
"Oh, there’s sothing I forgot to tell you. I won’t be working part-ti at my friend’s flower shop for a while," said Su Yue.
"But I thought everything was going well with your part-ti job there? What’s wrong? Did sothing happen?" Lin Li asked, confused. ’Did Su Yue have a falling out with her friend?’ he wondered.
"The road in front of my friend’s flower shop is going to be renovated," Su Yue explained. "That whole section will be closed off, so her shop has to close temporarily..."
Her old classmate, Wang Ling, had called her just last night with the news about the flower shop’s temporary closure.
When Wang Ling called, she’d been really down about it. The closure was a significant blow to the flower shop she had worked so hard to build up.
"Oh, so that’s what happened," Lin Li said. "By the ti they finish repairing the road in front of your friend’s shop, it’ll probably be ti for the school sester to start. You’ll have to go back to work at the school then, so you won’t be able to go back to your part-ti job anyway."
"Once the sester starts, I’ll definitely have to go back to work at the school. The flower shop was just a part-ti job, after all.
After the sester starts, I could still pop over and help out on weekends if my friend needs ," Su Yue said with a smile.
Lin Li nodded and said, "Alright, then. In that case, I’ll be counting on you to teach , Chef Su."
Seeing that Lin Li had accepted her offer to learn cooking from her, Su Yue’s lips curved into a slight smile, and her bright eyes twinkled mischievously.
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