Just as everyone expected, during the first two days of the National Day holiday, the officially opened Jiu Shan ushered in an unprecedented peak of customer flow.
Whether it was the lunch or dinner service, both the main dining hall and private rooms were at one hundred percent capacity, and the table turnover rate even reached three hundred percent.
Fortunately, the preliminary preparations were sufficient, so everything went smoothly. Jiu Shan also took this opportunity to successfully complete a transformation, returning to the top ranks of local high-end Chinese restaurant brands.
Seeing the battle-like two days pass, Xu Yanxia felt at ease with the back kitchen. On the third day of the holiday, she set off for Macau with Lu Jingming.
For convenience, they chose to take a boat directly.
To avoid the holiday crowds, the two deliberately caught the first boat early in the morning, and Lu Jingming even specially bought first-class tickets.
Compared to the economy class, not only was the environment quieter and the view broader, but it was also relatively more stable.
Unfortunately, Xu Yanxia still got seasick.
Less than twenty minutes after the boat departed, she felt a bit nauseous in her stomach and had a slight headache.
Lu Jingming noticed her pale complexion and quickly asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Xu Yanxia nodded, "I think I'm a little seasick."
Lu Jingming blamed himself, "I should have known we should drive. I'm sorry, I didn't arrange this well."
"No," Xu Yanxia explained, "I rarely got seasick in the past. I probably just didn't sleep well last night, and I've been too excited working at the restaurant these past two days."
Lu Jingming couldn't help but chuckle, joking, "Were you excited because you saw yourself getting closer and closer to your little goal?"
"Maybe so." Xu Yanxia smiled along despite her seasickness.
Then she heard him ask with concern, "Should I call the attendant to get you something to drink? Or a hot towel?"
As he spoke, he touched her forehead and said, "The air conditioning is a bit strong, could you have caught a cold?"
"I don't think I caught a cold," Xu Yanxia said. "I'll be fine after a little nap."
With that, she adjusted her seat back and closed her eyes.
Lu Jingming didn't say anything more. He just quietly asked the attendant for a blanket and gently draped it over her.
Xu Yanxia originally wanted to do it herself, but she was too dizzy, so she could only manage to open her eyes and thank him.
She saw him smile gently and whisper, "No need to be so polite with me. Go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we arrive."
"Mm." She closed her eyes again and unknowingly really fell asleep.
By the time Xu Yanxia woke up again, the boat was about to dock.
At first, her mind was still a bit groggy. She blinked and realized that she had somehow leaned onto Lu Jingming's shoulder.
He was wearing a white cotton short-sleeved T-shirt today, which had a faint citrus scent. Perhaps it was because of this scent that she felt much more comfortable.
"Awake?" Lu Jingming, who was reading documents on his phone, looked sideways at her and said warmly, "I was planning to wake you up a bit later."
"I'm sorry." Xu Yanxia quickly sat up straight. Feeling her throat a bit dry, she subconsciously cleared it.
Immediately after, she saw him hand her a glass of water, saying, "Lemon water. You might feel better after drinking it."
She thanked him again, took it, and drank a few sips. Her mind indeed cleared up a lot.
"Feeling better?" he asked her again.
Xu Yanxia nodded, "Much better after sleeping."
She then apologized to him, "Did I make your shoulder numb?"
He just smiled and said, "No, you're not that heavy."
He then asked, "You looked like you were sleeping soundly. Did you have a dream?"
Xu Yanxia shook her head, "I don't remember."
He didn't ask further. Seeing that the boat had docked, he reminded her, "Get ready to disembark."
Xu Yanxia nodded and said okay. She put the cup down, folded the blanket on her body, grabbed her bag and phone, and got up to follow him off the boat.
Ahem, actually, she did dream just now.
Perhaps her experience visiting Old Master Shen a few days ago made her suddenly dream of her father in this life.
She dreamed that she had returned to her infancy. Her young father was holding her and coaxing her to sleep, his gentle palm softly patting her shoulder.
It made her sleep very peacefully.
...
Because it was early and not crowded yet, the two passed through customs smoothly after getting off the boat, and then entered the streets of Macau, where East meets West.
Having slept, Xu Yanxia was fully revived. She immediately looked at Lu Jingming with anticipation and said, "Where are we going first?"
Lu Jingming smiled, "To eat, of course!"
To save room in their stomachs to fully experience the food, they hadn't even eaten breakfast this morning.
"Water crab congee, lo mein, pork chop bun, egg waffles," he looked at her and said, "Which one do you want to eat?"
Wow, just these names were enough to make one drool!
Xu Yanxia's eyes lit up as she said, "I want to eat them all!"
"Then we'll try them one by one." Lu Jingming said as he took the lead.
...
The water crab congee was fresh, fragrant, and smooth; the shrimp roe lo mein was chewy and al dente; the pork chop bun was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with the pork chop tender and juicy; the egg waffles were crispy outside and chewy inside, with a rich egg flavor.
Not to mention the crispy and tender Portuguese egg tarts, and the soft, glutinous, and rich curry beef offal...
It had to be said that Lu Jingming really put a lot of effort into planning the itinerary over the past two days. During this entire day, whether it was dim sum in the teahouses or various street foods, none of them disappointed.
Moreover, they avoided the crowds and didn't have to wait in line.
This gave Xu Yanxia, a hands-off tourist, a very good experience.
The two ate and strolled around, and soon it was evening as the sun set in the west.
Lu Jingming had booked a Portuguese restaurant in advance. It was time for it to open, so they took a taxi there.
Of course, they could actually walk there, but Xu Yanxia had walked nearly 30,000 steps today and really couldn't walk anymore.
...
This was a famous local star-rated restaurant, located next to a well-known tourist spot.
There were many mainland tourists visiting during the holiday. As soon as Xu Yanxia got out of the car, she bumped into a few of her fans.
"Hey, is this Xiao Xia?"
"It is Xiao Xia, right?!! Oh my god, are you traveling here too?!!"
Xu Yanxia greeted everyone warmly, "I am Xiao Xia. I had some free time today to walk around. What a coincidence."
"Ahhh..."
The young boys and girls were extremely excited. They gathered around to take photos with her and passionately expressed their support for her.
"Xiao Xia, your performance on the show was amazing! I really love your boss aura!!!"
"Yeah, especially when you roasted those posers, you were so logical and well-founded! So cool! Thank you for popularizing domestic ingredients to everyone!!!"
Among them, a friend from Hainan also expressed gratitude to her, "Thank you for helping to promote the fruits and seafood from our hometown!!! You are welcome to visit Hainan again when you have the chance!!!"
Xu Yanxia then remembered that, according to the schedule, that variety show was officially broadcast last night. Judging from everyone's reaction, they must have all seen it.
She smiled and thanked everyone again, "Thank you all for your love. It's what I should do. The good things are our domestic ingredients, and I was just telling the truth."
"Hainan is indeed a wonderful place. If I get the chance, I definitely want to go back!"
Saying this, she obliged her fans' requests and took a few more group photos with them.
Then, they bid their farewells, and she continued heading toward the restaurant with Lu Jingming.
The restaurant was on the third floor. The two of them got into the elevator on the ground floor, but just as the doors were about to close, a few more people walked in from outside.
There were men and women; some had Western features, while others had Asian faces like theirs.
Xu Yanxia didn't pay much attention at first. She simply stepped further inside out of politeness to make room for them.
To her surprise, a young Asian couple among the group spotted Lu Jingming and took the initiative to greet him, "Hey William, fancy seeing you here."
They spoke with a rather authentic British accent.
Of course, foreigners were quite common around here, so Xu Yanxia naturally assumed these two might also be friends from abroad.
Seeing that they were dressed in high-end designer clothes, she figured they were probably Lu Jingming's business associates.
However, to her surprise, Lu Jingming simply nodded at the two of them and replied directly in Mandarin, "Long time no see."
Xu Yanxia was speechless.
So she had guessed wrong.
Immediately after, the woman looked at her and said another sentence in English to Lu Jingming, basically asking who she was.
It seemed the two parties weren't very close. Lu Jingming's answer was quite measured: "This is a very important friend and colleague of mine."
He still spoke in Mandarin.
The woman nodded at Xu Yanxia and then asked Lu Jingming, "Is she a celebrity? I saw people taking photos with her just now."
Although she spoke Mandarin, her pronunciation wasn't very standard. It was obvious she didn't live in a Mandarin-speaking region year-round.
Xu Yanxia politely replied, "I'm not a celebrity. I just have a social media account and am fortunate enough to have the support of some fans."
"Oh."
The woman nodded again.
Up to this point, the atmosphere had been perfectly normal.
Who knew that immediately afterward, the man would say to Lu Jingming in English, "So you've got a thing for influencers now? Funny, I always thought you had more... refined taste."
Xu Yanxia couldn't help but frown. She understood English perfectly well; the man was implying that Lu Jingming's tastes had changed recently and that he was now into internet influencers like her.
Calling her an influencer was one thing, but what was with that frivolous tone?
She was just about to speak up, but Lu Jingming beat her to it. "What do you mean by refined taste? Stop spreading rumors about me here. I have always kept my hands clean. Also,"
"Have you been working with foreigners so much that you've forgotten how to speak Chinese?"
"Uh..."
The atmosphere instantly became awkward.
Right at that moment, Xu Yanxia also spoke up, addressing the man, "You flatter me. I only have a few hundred thousand followers, which is still far from the standard of a true influencer."
As soon as she finished speaking, the man was taken aback.
She simply smiled and added, "Of course, if you don't understand, I can translate it into English for you."
"Uh..."
The man hurriedly said, "I'm sorry." Surprisingly, his Mandarin was absolutely perfect and articulate.
Just then, the elevator let out a ding.
They had arrived at the third floor.
Lu Jingming and Xu Yanxia stepped out of the elevator.
The elevator doors closed and continued upward.
The two of them followed the restaurant waiter, who had come out to greet them, to their reserved table and began to order.
Lu Jingming looked up at Xu Yanxia sitting across from him and tentatively asked, "Is there anything you'd like to eat?"
Xu Yanxia shook her head with a calm expression. "Anything is fine. You can just order whatever."
Her tone sounded somewhat indifferent.
Lu Jingming proceeded to place the order with the waiter himself.
Then, he cleared his throat and said to Xu Yanxia, "That guy earlier was just talking nonsense. I have always been pure in both body and mind."
