Shu Yun: "..."
If she hadn’t misheard, that must have been President Chen driving up.
The chosen Mr. Right really was... a perfect check on her!
Dundun, on the reception desk, turned over in his sleep, his chubby little body concealing his great contributions.
「On the other side.」
Chen Yan parked her car on the side of the road and hurried into a building with a tutoring sign. She climbed the stairs to the third floor, where Song Tiantian was already waiting.
Chen Yan took the chef’s uniform, slipped it on, and then pulled the chef’s hat onto her head. "How about it? Does it look okay?"
Song Tiantian looked her up and down. "It’s okay, but that watch of yours..."
The Vacheron Constantin on Chen Yan’s wrist was a limited edition, worth nearly seven figures. It wasn’t sothing you’d expect a chef to wear; moreover, professional chefs aren’t supposed to wear watches or other accessories.
Chen Yan took it off and, along with the diamond chip pendant from her neck, handed them to Song Tiantian. "Hold these for , Tiantian. I’ll go down and check things out."
To invent a persona as a head chef and then rush around in a panic like this—she really wondered how those illiterate stars managed to maintain their scholarly personas.
I’m really not cut out to be a star.
President Chen mused randomly. She was grateful she had only put on light makeup today and didn’t need to do anything more. If she’d worn heavy makeup, she would have had to remove it before going downstairs.
She walked through the passageway to the third floor of Lin Ji’s Food, then went down the stairs to the second-floor kitchen.
"Brother-in-law, do we have any dishes ready to be served? I need to deal with soone downstairs..."
Lin Xu looked at his sister-in-law, who seed to have undergone a complete transformation. He pointed to the steam pot chicken that had been started that morning and said, "We’re working on the steam pot chicken right now. There aren’t any other dishes ready. What do you want to do?"
President Chen didn’t beat around the bush. "Didn’t I blurt out the other day that I’m the head chef here? Now soone’s co looking, and I want to maintain that persona."
Maintain her persona? Lin Xu thought for a mont and then offered his suggestion. "Just say you’ve just finished a eting with the executive chef and the head cook. Business has picked up for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the kitchen staff started to slack off, so you scolded them. Isn’t that a good story? Head chefs don’t just cook all the ti. It’s more common for them to stand around with a bulging belly and their hands clasped behind their back."
Oh? Learned a new trick.
Chen Yan recalled how Xie Baomin, Guo Weidong, and Qiu Zhenhua behaved at the Fishing Platform, and her expression imdiately grew haughty.
A head chef should carry an air of arrogance.
Lin Xu was curious about his sister-in-law’s behavior. "Why don’t you just tell the truth? Being a chef isn’t sothing that particularly brings glory, nor is it sothing to be ashad of. There’s no need to pretend."
Chen Yan replied, "The other person is just a low-ranking police officer. If I were to show off my sports car and things like that, wouldn’t it intimidate him? After all, n generally value their pride highly."
Having said that, she started walking down the stairs.
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ren Jie, who had heard the footsteps, looked over. "Head Chef Chen, I hope I’m not disturbing your work?"
When Sui Fusheng heard that Head Chef Chen had arrived, he imdiately put down his teacup. Turning to see Chen Yan, he paused for a mont, stunned.
In his impression, a head chef should be at least in their forties. But this head chef seed to be in her twenties, right? So young and beautiful, could she really be a head chef?
"Hello, Officer Ren. I was just upstairs holding a eting with the executive chef and the head cooks. With business booming during the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone’s gotten a bit lax, so I scolded them... Sorry to have kept you waiting."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Ren Jie said, "This is my captain. The mooncakes you gave him last ti cleared up a misunderstanding between him and his fiancée. He ca especially to thank you today."
Sui Fusheng took an envelope from his handbag, containing three thousand yuan. "Head Chef Chen, your mooncakes were a great help. This is paynt for them; please accept it."
So they really did co to offer money?
Chen Yan refused. "Didn’t we clear things up last ti? Those mooncakes were to compensate you for your loss. How could I accept your money?"
After so back and forth, they compromised. Chen Yan accepted fifteen hundred yuan, and the other fifteen hundred was credited to a mbership card, which they could use at the restaurant in the future.
While the card was being topped up, Chen Yan shot Shu Yun a aningful glance.
The implication was to add more credit, effectively returning the fifteen hundred yuan to them. It’s not easy for them being police officers; she couldn’t possibly accept their money.
Shu Yun caught on imdiately and said with a smile to Ren Jie and Sui Fusheng, "We’re running a promotion in our restaurant at the mont: top up one thousand five hundred and get an additional one thousand five hundred free. Since both of you are friends of Head Chef Chen, let’s just put it onto two cards then. That way, it’s more convenient for you to use."
Ren Jie and Sui Fusheng had never dined at the restaurant before. They thought it was a regular promotion and didn’t question it.
After the top-up, Ren Jie gave Chen Yan a deep look and then took his leave.
「Stepping out of the restaurant.」
He sighed and said, "I can’t believe that during the last assessnt, Head Chef Chen saw through my disguise, yet I didn’t see through hers."
Sui Fusheng was taken aback. "What do you an?"
"When I first entered the restaurant, soone ntioned there was no head chef nad Chen in the back kitchen. I thought it was nonsense at the ti, but after observing Head Chef Chen just now, I realized. She’s still wearing the sa canvas shoes she had on when we t the other day. They’re dirty and haven’t been changed, which suggests her living conditions are quite ordinary, completely mismatched with a head chef’s inco."
"So you an..."
"She’s not actually a head chef. She’s probably just a kitchen helper doing miscellaneous tasks. The reason we waited so long was likely because she hadn’t finished her tasks, and that manager was just helping her cover it up."
After saying that, Ren Jie sighed. "Just because she felt she ruined my assessnt, she insisted on not taking our money, even though her financial situation doesn’t seem good. What a kind girl."
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