Xu Yanxia found it a bit strange, "Did you eat at the cafeteria this morning?"
Lu Jingming gave an affirmative hum, "Had a glass of milk, a boiled egg, a few steamed buns, and some cold dishes."
Xu Yanxia was even more puzzled, "Didn't you make a sandwich yourself this morning?"
"Well..."
Although it was a bit embarrassing, President Lu honestly admitted, "I mistook sugar for salt. What I made was... somewhat inedible."
"A lot of people actually can't tell those apart..."
Xu Yanxia could only try her best to save face for him and kindly suggested, "If you didn't feel the food was particularly salty but still felt thirsty, it was likely due to an excessive use of flavor enhancers like ethyl maltol or disodium ribonucleotides in the dishes. You could eat some high-potassium foods like bananas, spinach, or potatoes to help your body metabolize them quickly."
"Alright,"
Lu Jingming nodded and asked her, "So, not only does our company cafeteria use pre-made dishes, but they're also substandard, low-quality products?"
Xu Yanxia stated precisely, "At least that was the situation I observed yesterday at noon."
"It's probably similar at other times too."
Lu Jingming sighed, "The company sets aside a portion of funds every year specifically to subsidize the cafeteria so everyone can eat better. Now it seems that money has gone down the drain."
He then asked her, "Would it be convenient for you to prepare a document for me based on what you just described?"
"I can do that,"
Xu Yanxia said frankly, "but the company cafeteria has dozens, even hundreds of dishes. My sampling yesterday only covered a few, and it was just a one-time, chance occurrence. It might not be sufficiently convincing."
Lu Jingming hummed in acknowledgment, "I understand."
As the car had already entered the Lu family's gate, they waited for Lu Jingming to park it in the garage, then got out together.
"I recall you graduated from the Food Science department of Huazhong Agricultural University?"
Lu Jingming asked her again, "Have you ever considered not working as a cook..."
Before he could finish, Mrs. Lu's voice suddenly sounded from the side, "What are you doing? Where are you trying to whisk our Xiao Xu away to?"
It turned out Mrs. Lu was standing right outside the garage, accompanied by Chairman Lu, who was holding her bag.
The couple was dressed very formally, looking like they had also just returned from outside.
Xu Yanxia quickly greeted them, "Hello, Mrs. Lu. Hello, Chairman."
The couple both nodded. Lu Jingming also asked them, "Mom, Dad, you just got back too?"
"Yes, today was the full-month celebration for your Uncle Zhu's grandson. We went to the banquet,"
Mrs. Lu said and then asked, "Where did you two come back from?"
Xu Yanxia hurriedly explained, "I ran into President Lu on the road, and he gave me a ride back."
"Oh,"
Mrs. Lu nodded, "That's only right. That car of his hardly carries anyone all year, let alone a young lady. Him staying single might just be because the masculine energy in that car is too strong."
Lu Jingming, "..."
Xu Yanxia, "..."
It was clear that the full-month banquet of someone else's grandson had somewhat impacted Mrs. Lu's state of mind.
Then Mrs. Lu said to her, "Now that Xiao Xu is back, we can have home-cooked meals again. Make me the Seven Whites Drink tomorrow morning as usual. When I was out today, everyone said my complexion looks much better than before."
"Alright."
Xu Yanxia nodded and asked Chairman Lu, "Is there anything you'd like to eat, Chairman?"
"I'm fine with anything,"
Chairman Lu smiled and glanced at his eldest son, "What about Jingming? Anything you'd like Xiao Xu to make for you tomorrow morning?"
Lu Jingming, "I'm also fine with anything."
—As long as it's not the cafeteria's low-quality pre-made dishes.
Chairman Lu patted his eldest son's shoulder meaningfully, "Wishing you an early escape from singlehood."
Lu Jingming, "..."
Why did the topic suddenly jump to this again?
Was this the power of someone else's grandson's full-month banquet?
...
After returning to her room to put her things away, Xu Yanxia went to the kitchen to busy herself for a while. By the time she got back to her room, it was already quite late.
Having had little rest all day and needing to get up early for work the next morning, she didn't even check her phone. She took a shower and went straight to bed.
She only found out she had appeared in a Douyin local trending video the next morning.
At 7:30 AM, with fresh breakfast dishes coming out of the kitchen one after another, Xu Yanxia was just carrying beef noodle soup and layered baked sesame cakes to the dining table when she saw the cleaning staff, Sister Sun and Sister Wang, hurriedly approaching her with their phones. "Xiao Xia, why does the person in this video look so much like you? Is it you?"
"What video?"
Xu Yanxia glanced at Sister Wang's phone screen and was taken aback. Wasn't that footage from last night when those Jiushan people caused trouble at their Xu's Family Teppanyaki stall?
In the video, she was standing in front of Luo Jiajia confronting those men, loudly saying, "This is a society governed by law..."
"Where did you see this?"
She quickly asked Sister Wang.
Sister Wang exclaimed, "From last night until this morning, this is all over Douyin when you open it. Is that girl in the video you?"
"It's me,"
Xu Yanxia nodded and took another look at Sister Wang's phone. She then realized the video seemed to be shot from the angle of their stall's live stream last night.
It seemed a viewer of their live stream had clipped this segment out?
"Xiao Xia, you're really trending!"
The two sisters asked her with curiosity and excitement, "What... what's going on? Is that stall your family's? Were those people deliberately bullying you? What happened in the end? How did the police deal with them?"
"Well..."
Xu Yanxia said, "It's a long story. Let me bring out the food first."
With that, she quickly returned to the kitchen and brought out the assorted cold vegetable salad, scrambled egg sandwich, and the almond Seven Whites Drink that Mrs. Lu had specifically requested.
Just then, Mrs. Lu also came downstairs after finishing her yoga. Sitting down at the table, she asked, "What were you all talking about just now? Who's trending?"
"It's Xiao Xia, Mrs. Lu!"
Sister Wang excitedly showed her phone to Mrs. Lu. "Look! Last night, some people went to Xiao Xia's family stall to cause trouble, claiming food poisoning, but it turned out to be a fake setup for extortion. They were taken away by the police. Now people online are praising Xiao Xia for being capable!"
"Ah?"
Mrs. Lu was even more confused and hurriedly asked Xu Yanxia, "You also run a food stall at the night market? Weren't you running a restaurant back in your hometown? And who's trying to bully you? How did this even get posted online?"
Xu Yanxia had to explain again, "Our family restaurant back home was demolished a few months ago due to redevelopment. We originally planned to relocate and continue, but a relative ran off with the compensation money. My brother, two friends, and I came here. One reason is because that relative originally fled here, so we wanted to find him. Another reason was to try and earn some money first."
"What kind of relative is that?"
Mrs. Lu couldn't help but exclaim, "How could they cheat you like that? Have you found them now? Did you report it to the police? Has the money been recovered?"
"We did file a report,"
Xu Yanxia explained, "But by the time we reported it to the police, he had already left the country for Thailand. Since he's my uncle, and the demolition compensation was under my grandparents' names, it involves some internal family disputes. It wasn't easy to file a criminal case, so we started by freezing my uncle's accounts to force him to return."
"So it was your uncle?"
Mrs. Lu and the two other ladies were equally shocked. They asked her, "What about your parents? How did he manage to take the money?"
