Seeing that Lu Jingming hadn't sent any more messages, Xu Yanxia also returned to the bedroom, planning to lie down for a while longer.
Only to find her future sister-in-law, Luo Jiajia, who was sound asleep, sprawled out in a starfish position, taking up the entire bed.
"..."
Alright, she was getting a bit hungry anyway. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, changed clothes, and went downstairs for breakfast.
Meanwhile, in the Lu family mansion, Lu Jingming, who had been busy in the kitchen for nearly twenty minutes, finally finished making a scrambled egg sandwich.
He cut it in half with a knife. It looked decent, but there was no time to eat at home. So, he packed it in a plastic bag and took it with him.
Twenty minutes later, his car arrived at the group's parking lot. After parking and taking the elevator up, he ran into Wen Jiajun stepping out of another elevator just as he reached his floor.
They exchanged greetings. Wen Jiajun immediately spotted the breakfast bag in his hand and asked, "Brought breakfast?"
Lu Jingming gave an affirmative hum. "Scrambled egg sandwich. Want one?"
"Scrambled egg sandwich?"
Wen Jiajun's eyes lit up. "That's one of my favorite breakfasts. Thanks for sharing, boss."
With that, he took the offered sandwich.
However, after taking an eager bite, Wen Jiajun's expression gradually shifted. "This... wasn't made by Little Xu, was it?"
Lu Jingming told the truth. "She's off today. I made it."
Wen Jiajun, "... Boss, it's not that I don't want to save face, but my stomach suddenly feels a bit off this morning... I'm going to check if the cafeteria has anything to drink."
Saying so, he turned and headed for the cafeteria.
Lu Jingming, "???"
What did that mean? Was he being snubbed?
Hmph, he had followed Xu Yanxia's recipe.
Fine, he'd eat it himself!
He then opened his own bag and took a bite of his sandwich.
"..."
Why was it sweet?
He remembered adding salt...
Unwilling to believe it, he took another taste.
President Lu put the bag away.
Forget it, he'd go check out the cafeteria too.
...
Xu Yanxia finished breakfast at the shop downstairs, took a stroll, and, on the way back, picked up breakfast for Luo Jiajia and the others.
After eating, everyone got busy. Wang Gang and Xu Zhanpeng went to buy groceries, while Luo Jiajia calculated yesterday's income and expenses.
Xu Yanxia took the subway to the city library and borrowed a few professional books on food science.
After working these past few days, she realized there was still quite a bit of free time. Rather than lying in bed scrolling through her phone, she might as well read. Maybe she could return to her original field of study or prepare for graduate school later.
By the time she returned to their place, Xu Zhanpeng and Wang Gang had already brought back the ingredients. The family had a simple lunch and then worked together to prep the food.
Cleaning seafood, cutting and marinating meat, stewing pork and beef offal in the pot.
Luo Jiajia, taking Xu Yanxia's suggestion from last night, had posted their Douyin account info in several WeChat groups this morning. They'd gained nearly a thousand followers in half a day. Now, she filmed a few videos of the prep process, planning to edit and post them when she had time.
Everything proceeded in orderly chaos. Once the dishes were prepped, it was time to set up the stall.
As night fell, the lively night market brimmed with the vibrant hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The crew had just finished setting up when their first customers arrived.
Xu Yanxia had specially reserved two tables for Lu Jingyao and his friends. A while later, seeing the place was nearly full, she was about to send a text asking when they would arrive when seven or eight tall, long-legged handsome men—each over 180 cm—walked into the room.
Lu Jingyao, leading the group, waved at her. "Sister Xia, we're here."
These guys were quite eye-catching. Not only did passersby look their way, but Luo Jiajia also let out a soft "wow," whispering to Xu Yanxia, "Where did these handsome guys come from?"
"That's the third young master of the Lu family you asked about last night," Xu Yanxia whispered back, then went forward to lead Lu Jingyao and the others to their seats.
"What would everyone like to eat today?"
Lu Jingyao waved his hand grandly. "Just serve all your signature dishes. It's my treat today."
Lu Tong beside him quickly added, "It has to be better than what Chu Hao and them ate yesterday!"
"Exactly!"
"Right!"
The other handsome guys chimed in agreement.
Xu Yanxia was both amused and exasperated. She could only say, "They ordered ten dishes for seven people yesterday. We have more people today, so let's start with twelve. We can order more if it's not enough."
"No problem."
Lu Jingyao took out his phone and snapped a few pictures first, muttering lightly, "Let Chu Hao see this. As if he's the only one who can come."
Lu Tong went ahead and opened Douyin. "I'll livestream the whole meal so he can see how much we're enjoying it!"
This reminded Luo Jiajia. While taking their order, she quickly opened her Douyin account to start a livestream too.
Perhaps because of the discount coupons, there were even more customers today than yesterday.
It was only 7 PM, and the place was already packed. Just as Xu Yanxia was about to go help her brother with the cooking, four men barged in, shouting loudly—
"Xu's Teppanyaki? Is this the place?"
"This is it! I ate here last night and ended up vomiting and having diarrhea! I was on an IV drip all night at the hospital!"
"Who knows where this place gets its meat? One bite and you get the runs. Who would dare eat here again?"
Luo Jiajia hurried over to stop them. "Gentlemen, what seems to be the issue?"
One burly man gave her a sidelong glance. "Are you blind? Isn't it obvious? My buddy got food poisoning from your teppanyaki last night. How are you going to handle this?"
Food poisoning?
They'd been in Rong City for a while now, and this was the first time anyone had claimed food poisoning from their food.
"They're here to make trouble again!"
Wang Gang put down the dish he just finished cooking and was about to charge over. Xu Zhanpeng also set down his spatula. Xu Yanxia quickly stopped them. "You guys take care of the other customers first. I'll go see."
With that, she walked up and asked the men, "Gentlemen, let's talk this through calmly. Are you sure it was food poisoning from eating at our place?"
The burly man looked her over. "Who are you?"
Xu Yanxia smiled. "I'm the person in charge here. You can talk to me."
"Person in charge?"
The man looked her over again and snorted, very rudely. "My buddy didn't eat anything all day yesterday, just had teppanyaki here at night, and then got food poisoning right after. If it wasn't you, who else could it be?"
"Everyone here is watching. If you can't give me a proper explanation today, don't even think about operating in Rong City anymore. Get back to wherever you came from! Daring to serve customers rotten meat from who knows where!"
"Watch your mouth!"
Wang Gang couldn't help but try to charge forward again.
Xu Yanxia quickly blocked him, whispering, "Call the police first."
Only then did Wang Gang stop, hurriedly pulling out his phone to make the call to the side.
Xu Yanxia then addressed the troublemakers again. "If you're sure you ate here last night, you can show me your payment record first."
"Fine, I'll show you!"
A man as thin as a monkey pulled out his phone, swiped a couple of times, and waved a screenshot in front of her. "See? Xu's Teppanyaki. You think I'd falsely accuse you?"
Xu Yanxia glanced at it and immediately understood.
The time on the payment record showed 9:13 PM.
She arrived here at eight-thirty last night, and from start to finish, she never once saw that person.
