“Yanran, I suppose this is your friend,” Dong Wenjie said with a casual grin. “You entertain her first. My brother and I have something to take care of.” Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Dong Wenqiang’s arm and dragged him out the door.
Annoyed, Dong Wenqiang yanked his arm back and glared at his brother. “What are you pulling me out for?”
“Brother,” Dong Wenjie lowered his voice, looking unusually serious, “I think you were wrong before. I like Xu Ying too. Leave her to me. Once Xu Ying and I are married, I’ll introduce you to someone even more beautiful.”
Dong Wenqiang’s expression darkened in an instant. His nostrils flared. Was this brat serious? All that talk earlier about Xu Ying not being found even ten villages over, and now he wanted to claim her?
The two brothers began to argue in the middle of the courtyard, voices rising and tempers flaring.
Meanwhile, Chen Yanran led Xu Ying to the dining table with a stiff smile. “Yingying, you must be thirsty. Here, have some water.”
She picked up a glass and placed it in front of her.
Xu Ying’s eyes swept across the table, then narrowed on the utensils in front of her. Her lips curled in a faint sneer. “Yanran, are these bowls and chopsticks even clean? Could you take them and rinse them again, please?”
Chen Yanran stiffened. She wanted to snap at Xu Ying for being so particular, but she gritted her teeth and forced a smile. With evident reluctance, she picked up the bowl and chopsticks and headed toward the kitchen.
As soon as her back was turned, Xu Ying sprang into action.
She swiftly swapped the quilt she had been sitting on and mixed the water in the glass Chen Yanran had handed her with the other ones on the table—just enough to blur the lines between them.
A moment later, Chen Yanran returned from the kitchen, only to find the two Dong brothers still bickering outside. She scowled.
“What are you two doing out here? Go in, quick! What if Xu Ying notices something’s off and leaves?”
Startled, the brothers glared at each other before reluctantly stomping back inside.
Seeing the way they both immediately tried to cozy up to Xu Ying, Chen Yanran felt her blood pressure rise. She clenched her fists.
Something was off.
She wasn’t imagining it, was she? Xu Ying seemed… different now. More poised, more striking. Even her clothes looked better—fresher, more refined.
She looked radiant.
The thought made Chen Yanran grind her teeth and bite her chopsticks in frustration.
“Don’t just stand there,” Dong Wenqiang said eagerly, “try the dishes, have a drink. You must be tired after coming all this way. Have some water to quench your thirst.”
Xu Ying’s eyes glinted. They really did put something in the water.
Smiling sweetly, she said, “You should drink some too.”
The moment she smiled, both brothers were dazed. Caught in her gaze, they eagerly picked up their glasses and drank them in one gulp.
Chen Yanran hesitated, then forced a laugh and did the same.
Seeing them drink, Xu Ying followed suit, picking up her own glass and finishing it in one go.
She then picked up her chopsticks and began eating, choosing only the dishes that the others had already touched.
Outside the courtyard wall, Huo Chen’s face was like thunder.
Standing on tiptoe, he peeked over the edge—and what he saw nearly made his blood boil. There sat Xu Ying, eating with not one, but two men who looked uncannily like Dong Wenzhong.
His fists clenched so tightly that the veins in his forearms popped. His gaze darkened.
Wu Qingsong, who was hanging beside him, frowned. “Brother Chen, should we go in? It’s not right to peek like this…”
Then again, he thought, Brother Chen’s possessiveness is on another level. He even gets jealous of women around Xu Ying.
He peeked in and gasped at the scene.
Two men? Why do they both look like Dong Wenzhong?
He shrank back, trying to disappear.
Meanwhile, Huo Chen was almost trembling in anger. So Xu Ying didn’t like Dong Wenzhong anymore? That was a lie! She clearly liked men who looked exactly like him!
“She really knows how to pick her meat,” he sneered through clenched teeth.
Inside, Chen Yanran’s face was flushed. “Ugh… it’s so hot…” she mumbled, her body swaying as she fumbled with the buttons on her blouse.
The Dong brothers didn’t fare much better. Both of them were eyeing Xu Ying, waiting for a reaction. But she remained calm and motionless. The heat overwhelmed them.
Dong Wenqiang, unable to bear it, took off his shirt completely.
Up on the wall, Huo Chen’s teeth nearly shattered from how hard he clenched his jaw. This woman was teasing him all this time—only to flirt with other men behind his back?!
Took off your shirt? What next?!
Wu Qingsong gaped at the scene in horror. “What the hell are they doing?”
But Xu Ying had already grasped what was happening. Her expression remained calm, even amused, as she quietly stood up and walked outside. Spotting a large iron lock in the corner, her eyes lit up.
It was originally meant to lock her in—but now, she was going to return the favor.
She slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside with a satisfied smile. “Chen Yanran, enjoy the ride,” she whispered coldly.
Turning on her heel, Xu Ying walked out of the courtyard humming a cheerful tune.
🎵 “I’m in a good mood today, in a good mood…” 🎵
She passed by the wall without even noticing the two stunned figures watching from above.
Wu Qingsong was speechless. “Brother Chen… what did we just witness?”
Before Huo Chen could respond, a commotion erupted from inside the locked room. Sounds that made it very clear what was going on.
Wu Qingsong turned red and cursed under his breath. “Holy crap… so wild!”
Even Huo Chen’s lips twitched.
He might not know the full details, but he now understood enough—and the sight of Xu Ying walking away, triumphant, made the corners of his lips curl upward in delight.
—
Back at the store, Xu Ying arrived just as the lunch rush hit its peak.
In the kitchen, Chef Ge was standing still as a statue, a storm cloud practically forming above his head.
Xu Ying sensed the tension instantly. She turned to Chen Chunfeng. “What happened?”
Chen Chunfeng leaned in and whispered, “I’m not sure. Zhang Quanquan cooked a few dishes today, but they’re not good at all. No one likes them, and most of them are untouched. If they can’t be sold, it’s a huge waste. Chef Ge is furious. You should be careful. He’s about to blow.”
Xu Ying frowned. Just a few hours gone, and Zhang Quanquan had already stirred up such trouble?
Gao Guihua clicked her tongue from the side, clearly enjoying the drama. “You think just anyone can cook a big pot of food without saying a word? What if no one buys it? That’s a whole pot of money down the drain. If Director Hong finds out, Zhang Quanquan’s going to be fired on the spot.”
Gao Xianghong sighed. “Does he have no self-awareness? If you know your food doesn’t taste good, why make so much of it?”
Sun Lifang poked at the pot with a grimace. “It’s half-cooked… this is terrible.”
Chef Ge looked like he was about to explode. His brows were furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly.
In the corner, Zhang Quanquan stood small and defeated, like a quail in the cold. He shrank back under everyone’s gaze, whispering, “I just followed Xu Ying’s cooking method…”
At first, he’d felt confident. He had seen her cook so many times—how hard could it be?
But when he tasted the result, it was too bland.
So he added salt. Too much salt.
To fix that, he threw in more vegetables. More and more. But the more he added, the worse it became.
And now… now he was facing a disaster.
He had sold only one or two portions before customers began yelling to take it off the menu.
When Chef Ge tasted it, his face went black, and he immediately exploded.
“Chef Ge, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. I was just following what Xu Ying did!”
But no amount of apologies could save him now.