Chapter 416: Chapter 414: Friendship

Jiang Feng hurried to Taifeng Building after sending his aunt and two cousins home, and upon his arrival, the place was already filled with quite a few customers.

The moment Jiang Feng stepped into Taifeng Building, he felt like he was being watched.

Not just by one person—it seemed like many eyes were fixed on him the instant he walked in.

Jiang Feng stood still, not daring to make any rash movements.

Ever since he got the script for the business war drama, he had become extremely cautious, always feeling that some crafty individuals were plotting and scheming to usurp his position.

Jiang Feng, why are you standing there?” Ji Yue approached Jiang Feng with several forms in hand, “Just now, several customers asked me if you were working today; they are all waiting for your wontons and yams.”

Today she had applied an intricate makeup: eyeliner, double eyelid stickers, nose shadow, contour, highlight, none were left out, she even curled her bangs and straightened the ends with a flat iron before leaving the house; she also packed three lipsticks in her lipstick case for emergencies.

Since she was going to visit Sir Xia Mushi’s grave in the afternoon, Ji Yue dressed very simply: a white shirt under her work jacket, even her lipstick was a light shade, the YSL105.

Of course, Jiang Feng didn’t notice any of the aforementioned details; he only noticed that Ji Yue was wearing makeup today, her lipstick was a bit pale, and her eyeliner wasn’t smudged.

“Ah? Oh.” Jiang Feng came back to himself, nodded, and walked towards the changing room.

More than one table of customers picked up the ordering tablets, faces tensed, ready at any moment.

“Has it started?” Jiang Feng heard the customers at the table in front of him discuss with their companions, “Can we order the wontons now?”

“Not yet.”

“Keep an eye on it; we must snatch it this time!”

“No worries, we have three tables; we’re bound to snag some. We’ll each get a few pieces later, and with that, we’re set for the selection this time.”

“Really? Will it work?”

“Definitely. Cheng said that his ‘Destruction’ made it to the finals all thanks to the wontons from this restaurant; it’s got to be useful!”

Jiang Feng: …

So, you art school students are all here hunting for inspiration during the holiday.

“Ji Yue.” Jiang Feng suddenly turned his head, glanced at the table of customers he was just observing, “Come here for a sec, I need to talk to you about something.”

Ji Yue, not knowing why, followed Jiang Feng to a corner.

“Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, and it’s not great for business seeing customers crying their hearts out in the main hall. How about later, you ask those who ordered pure meat wontons to go to private rooms? After they finish eating and crying, they can come back. Are there any private rooms available?” Jiang Feng said.

Ji Yue glanced over the hall, recognized quite a few faces who had cried, and understood the situation, nodding in agreement.

Having changed his clothes, Jiang Feng then went to the kitchen.

Although it was only eleven o’clock, the kitchen was already bustling. Tablets hanging on the walls were constantly beeping, reminding the chefs that customers had placed orders. Ji Xia, who didn’t know what she could do to help, stayed next to the tablet, shouting out loud whatever new dishes customers ordered so she could write them on sticky notes and place them on the wall in front of each chef.

Jiang Feng took a look at Ji Xia who was writing, and to himself, he muttered about how terrible the handwriting was.

It was even worse than his own.

The handwriting was fitting for Ji Xia’s identity as a delinquent girl with no dedication to studying.

“Master, you’re here!” Ji Xia looked very excited when she saw Jiang Feng, as if she had found her pillar of support, “I punched in for you.”

“Set the sweet and sour yams to only 5 servings,” Jiang Feng reminded.

Ji Xia nodded, opened the attendance interface on the tablet, and checked Jiang Feng in for work.

“Beep beep beep beep beep…”

Almost immediately as Ji Xia marked him in for work, 5 servings of sweet and sour yams and 3 servings of pure meat wontons sold out.

Just as Jiang Feng was about to get to work, he turned around and saw Ji Xia gazing at him eagerly.

Ji Xia had nothing to do.

Today being Mid-Autumn Festival, the kitchen was overwhelmed with customers, and from the moment they began work, each person was too busy to even spare a moment to speak to Ji Xia, let alone assign her a task. Ji Xia was also aware that she wasn’t skilled enough, and that she’d only get in the way if she tried to help during the rush, so she had been waiting for Jiang Feng to return and give her something to do.

Jiang Feng initially thought about having Ji Xia check the kitchen inventory, but then reconsidered that such a task was too dismissive and didn’t fit his image as a good mentor, and he didn’t want to leave Ji Xia in the kitchen to cause chaos either. He found himself in a dilemma.

Suddenly, Jiang Feng thought of Da Hua.

Da Hua’s pig feed still needed to be sorted for the day.

After the lunch service, everyone was going to Li Mansion to have the Mid-Autumn reunion dinner. Although the Li Mansion had two kitchens, there was no spare staff to make Da Hua’s pig feed, and today being Mid-Autumn Festival, Professor Li and his wife were both relatives and elders; it wouldn’t be right to ask them to work on such a day. It would be better to have Ji Xia go to Li Mansion now to prepare Da Hua’s feed in advance.

“Here’s the deal, Xiaxia, Master has a serious task for you. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, a special day, and I want you to go to Li Mansion and make pig feed for Da Hua. Be careful when chopping vegetables, don’t let it turn mushy, stir-fry it well. Da Hua likes stir-fried dishes, so let’s give it a good meal today. After you’re done chopping and cooking, take a photo with Grandma Chen’s phone as usual, and I’ll check it later,” Jiang Feng directed.

“Alright, Master,” Ji Xia accepted the task and was about to leave.

“I haven’t bought a new bicycle yet, and it’s hot today, so don’t walk over there. Wait here—I’ll get my phone and call a ride for you. If Grandma Chen has prepared fruits, help her wash them too,” Jiang Feng said as he headed to the changing room to fetch his phone.

“I will, Master.” Ji Xia followed Jiang Feng like a little tail.

Jiang Feng had arranged for a car to take Ji Xia to work as an apprentice at the Li Mansion, while he threw himself into his work with all his heart. During holidays, the restaurant bustled like a battlefield, with both the hall and kitchen shrouded in smoke and clamor. In the hall, Wang Xiulian and Fang Mei led the charge as two commanding officers, overseeing everything. Fortunately, despite the sudden departure of two commanding officers in the kitchen due to personal reasons, the kitchen’s battlefront was always steady, ensuring no issues arose with their absence.

The war continued until 1:40 in the afternoon. Even Wu Minqi, who was experienced in helping out at her family’s restaurant, felt extremely tired, drenched in sweat to the point that even her clothes were soaked. As for Mr. Jiang Jiankang, a major sweat producer, he looked as if he had just been fished out of the water.

The air conditioning was no savior for Jiang Jiankang, who found a chair to sit in front of a powerful floor fan. He turned it to the highest setting and let it blow directly on him, whooshing loudly.

“Son, you go ahead to the Li Mansion first. You have a lot of dishes to prepare; if you’re late, you won’t finish on time.” Even though he had turned into a sweating mess, Jiang Jiankang was still concerned about the upcoming feast, reminding Jiang Feng loudly from in front of the fan.

Jiang Feng and Jiang Jiankang were close by, but his voice still felt somewhat ethereal.

Glancing at the time, Jiang Feng realized it was indeed getting late. He decided to freshen up in the changing room and change back into his clothes before heading to the Li Mansion. By the time he would get there, it would probably be past 2:00 PM. With dishes like orange stuffed crab, Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, and Sweet and Sour Yam to prepare, there was a tight schedule and a heavy workload waiting for him. It was time to head over.

With this thought, Jiang Feng stood up.

“Fengfeng, I’ll go over with you. You can’t handle the oranges and crabs all by yourself,” Wu Minqi also got up to join him.

“Minqi, you should go out and sit for a rest. Isn’t Xiaxia at the Li Mansion? She’s quite fast at processing crabs now. Her help should be enough; have a break here and then come over. Can you call Grandpa for me and ask him to steam the crabs first? I forgot to charge my phone, and it’s almost dead,” Jiang Feng said.

“Mhm,” Wu Minqi nodded.

Jiang Feng hailed another car for himself. His Xiaomi phone, after two years of service with a battery that was practically nominal, managed to hold on with 7% battery life until he got out and paid, automatically shutting down before he could even give a five-star rating.

The very first thing Jiang Feng did upon entering the Li Mansion was to search for a charger to power up his phone.

After finding a charger and plugging his phone in, Jiang Feng headed to the kitchen in the back house, assured. Professor Li had just told him that Ji Xia was chopping vegetables in the old-style kitchen in the back house.

Jiang Feng was on his way to recruit little Ji Xia to help him pick crab meat.

Just as he reached the doorway, before even entering, Jiang Feng heard the chitter-chatter of Jiang Junqing and Jiang Junlian.

“Did your brother really do this to you? You’ve been the one chopping pigs’ food for Da Hua all this time? Plus, you have to cook and stir-fry today?” Jiang Feng could clearly distinguish that it was Jiang Junlian who was speaking now.

“Yes, Master has been busy recently, so I’ve been the one coming over to make pigs’ food for Da Hua,” Ji Xia replied.

“That’s too much, how could your brother do this to you!” Jiang Junqing exclaimed indignantly. “Are you going to make pigs’ food for Da Hua again tomorrow?”

“If Master is too busy, then it will be me who comes over,” Ji Xia said.

“That’s so…” Jiang Junqing’s poor vocabulary was cut short as Jiang Junlian pulled her hand back, and she quickly caught on.

If Ji Xia came over to make pigs’ food for Da Hua every day, then they wouldn’t have to do it!

The brother is great!

“That’s right!” Jiang Junqing corrected herself quickly.

Ji Xia: ???

“That’s how our family teaches us. Originally, your brother, De, Cheng, and Ran all went through this kind of training. Junlian and I also chopped vegetables for Da Hua all summer long. It’s really effective; this training method is very useful, isn’t it, Junlian?” Jiang Junqing passed the proverbial microphone to Jiang Junlian.

Jiang Junlian grabbed the conversation and began spouting nonsense: “Right, exactly, making pigs’ food for Da Hua is really useful. It’s our family’s secret recipe!”

Ji Xia, who had never watched a palace drama, was immediately taken in by their words and genuinely surprised, “Really? Master is so good to me.”

Jiang Junlian and Jiang Junqing, completely devoid of guilt for duping an honest child, nodded firmly and sincerely while speaking insincerely, “Yes, your brother is really too good to you. He’s never that good to us.”

“By the way, do you want to eat some mooncakes? This morning, your brother mentioned you like egg yolk mooncakes. Junqing and I brought lots of them, egg yolk, mixed nuts, chocolate, icy-skin, and ham. Which one do you want?” Jiang Junlian asked.

“I…” Ji Xia was too embarrassed to admit that she had never heard of any mooncakes other than the egg yolk and mixed nuts ones.

“I think the ham ones are tasty,” Jiang Junlian, a carnivore, said. “The mixed nuts ones are also okay, but like the icy-skin ones, they lack meat. The ham ones have more meat, and the egg yolk ones are only good if they have double yolks.”

Ji Xia’s eyes lit up, “Can I have the ham ones?”

Anything with meat must be delicious!

“Do you also like the ham ones?” Jiang Junlian was pleasantly surprised, as Jiang Junqing preferred the icy-skin ones and didn’t like the ham ones.

As long as you like ham mooncakes, we’re sworn sisters from different fathers.

Jiang Junlian decided she was set on making Ji Xia her sworn sister.

The friendship of teenage girls can be just that sudden.

“I’ll go get it for you!” Jiang Junlian hopped away gleefully and ran into Jiang Feng as she turned around.

Jiang Junlian: …

Jiang Feng: 🙂

Duping my apprentice?

Nicely done.