Although Lu Jingming couldn't hear exactly what Xu Yanxia was saying to that guy surnamed Lin, judging by the changes in their expressions, he felt that tonight's meeting wasn't a pleasant one.
Seeing Xu Yanxia say one last sentence to the other party with a cold face before suddenly turning around and striding toward him, he immediately unlocked his phone screen, withdrew his gaze, and pretended to be browsing a work app.
Right after, he saw her pull open the car door and sit in the passenger seat, her movements carrying a sense of decisiveness.
Lu Jingming put on a surprised look and asked her, "Finished talking so quickly?"
Xu Yanxia's face still held some lingering anger, but she politely thanked him anyway, "Yes, thank you for waiting for me all this time. Let's go."
As she spoke, she decisively buckled her seatbelt and looked away, not casting another glance in the direction of that guy.
That guy's gaze, however, followed her the whole time, his face showing that he still had more to say.
As if he was going to come over in the next second.
Lu Jingming immediately started the car, turned the steering wheel, and stepped on the gas, driving her away from the spot.
With peace and quiet restored in front of them, he was just brewing over how to ask what had happened when Xu Yanxia's phone suddenly rang.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of her looking at the phone screen. After a slight pause, she answered it anyway.
The guy's voice immediately came from the receiver, "Xiao Xia, I might have expressed myself poorly just now. I didn't mean to look down on you..."
"You expressed yourself very clearly,"
Xu Yanxia cut him off in one breath. "I'm very grateful for your help in the past, and I'm also very grateful that you took the initiative to help me find a job this time. But unfortunately, some of our concepts are very different. It doesn't matter, though. Let's just leave it at that. You don't need to call me again. Oh, right,"
she added, "the original meaning of the phrase 'a gentleman stays away from the kitchen' is that a gentleman cannot bear to see animals being slaughtered, so he stays away from the kitchen. It expresses Mencius's compassion and benevolence toward life, not contempt for the profession of a chef."
With that, without waiting for the other party to say anything more, she simply hung up the phone.
"..."
Lu Jingming seemed to somewhat understand what had roughly happened just now.
Seeing that the car had merged onto the smooth main road, he tried asking her, "Did you just have a conflict with your senior?"
He saw the girl sigh. "To tell you the truth, my eyes were really opened today. I've known this person for four years, and today is the first time I found out he's this kind of person."
—Although she didn't say it very clearly, the disappointment and disdain in her tone were already quite obvious.
Lu Jingming suddenly felt a trace of unprovoked relief.
He said, "If it's convenient, you can tell me about it."
Unexpectedly, Xu Yanxia suddenly asked him, "I want to ask you a question. In your opinion, is being a chef, or the entire service industry, inferior to others?"
"How could it be?"
he immediately replied. "Occupational equality is one of the most important signs of civilization and progress in modern society. Although the service industry was often misunderstood in traditional concepts in the past, we've said goodbye to the old society for so many years now. If someone still has such thoughts, it only shows that their vision is too narrow and shortsighted."
"Not to mention anything else, with the global economic downturn over the past two years, the service industry has already become the primary driving force for our domestic economic growth. If I remember correctly, last year's added value accounted for fifty-six percent of the entire GDP, and it's been further strengthening in the first two quarters of this year. The catering industry, in particular, has been the absolute bulk of the retail market over the past two years."
As he spoke, he added with profound meaning, "If there are still people today who look down on the service industry or a certain specific profession, then it's probably because they have a strong sense of vanity and inferiority themselves."
Exactly.
Xu Yanxia sneered. "And he called me vain. He's clearly the vain one."
"But it doesn't matter anymore. There are all kinds of people in this world, and it's normal for everyone to have different ideas. It's best to have less contact with people who have different values in the future."
"That makes sense."
Lu Jingming nodded. He was about to speak again when Xu Yanxia's phone vibrated once more.
But it wasn't a call; it seemed someone had sent her several messages in a row.
She just glanced at it and locked the screen again without replying.
Then she said to him, "By the way, Mr. Lu, we're almost at the Line 1 subway entrance up ahead. You can pull over there, and I'll just take the subway. That way, you won't have to take a detour to my brother's place."
"It's no problem,"
Lu Jingming had a brainwave and immediately said, "I was actually just about to ask you, are your brother and the others busy over there lately? If they're not busy, I'd actually like to go try the teppanyaki."
"Ah..."
Xu Yanxia indeed patted her head immediately, looking apologetic as she said, "I almost forgot! I said last time that I was going to treat you to teppanyaki! I'm so sorry..."
"It's alright."
Lu Jingming's tone was relaxed. "There's no time like the present. Since you're here to lead the way today, let's go over and try it."
"That sounds great!"
Xu Yanxia immediately nodded and asked him, "Then should we invite Assistant Wen to come along too?"
"..."
Lu Jingming paused. "Why do we have to invite him?"
But Xu Yanxia smiled and said, "You might never have eaten at a food stall before. Our kind of street stall is only fun when there are a lot of people eating together. Besides, when you gave me a ride back last time, didn't Assistant Wen also say he wanted to try it? Why don't we just invite him to come over together?"
"Uh..."
Lu Jingming said again, "I don't know if he's free lately... He has quite a lot of friends in his private life."
"I see..."
Xu Yanxia then said, "If it's inconvenient for Assistant Wen, how about asking Jingyao or Lu Tong and the others? When they got together yesterday, they even had Jingyao bring me back a lot of small gifts. I feel quite bad about it..."
Lu Jingming, "???"
If they were going to invite those guys, it might as well be Wen Jiajun.
He immediately said, "Then I'll call Wen Jiajun and ask."
Saying so, he used the car's voice assistant to dial Wen Jiajun's number.
After the phone rang three times, his good assistant answered and asked, "Boss, it's only about ten hours until work starts. If you're calling to ask me to work overtime now, wouldn't that be a bit too inhumane?"
"Pfft..."
Xu Yanxia couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Lu Jingming said wordlessly, "Asking you to work overtime at Xu Family Teppanyaki. Are you coming or not?"
"Xu Family Teppanyaki?"
Wen Jiajun on the other end was indeed taken aback. "Isn't that Pretty Miss Xu's family's shop? What, are you treating me to a meal now?"
"I'm treating you."
Xu Yanxia hurriedly took the initiative to speak to the speakerphone, "Assistant Wen, it's Xiao Xu. Are you free right now? Mr. Lu and I happen to be going to my brother's place. If it's convenient for you, I'd like to treat you both to our family's teppanyaki tonight."
"I absolutely have to be free!"
Wen Jiajun immediately agreed, "The night market at the Xiahe intersection, right? I'm heading out now."
"That's the place. Then we'll see you in a bit," Xu Yanxia said.
"See you in a bit."
Wen Jiajun also happily hung up the phone.
Next, Xu Yanxia used her phone to send a voice message to Luo Jiajia—
"Sister Jiajia, I have the night off tonight. I'll be bringing two friends over in a bit. Could you save a table for us? We'll be there in about twenty minutes."
Luo Jiajia quickly replied with an OK. Xu Yanxia locked her phone and asked Lu Jingming, "By the way, do you need me to navigate for you?"
Her voice was noticeably much more relaxed now.
"No need."
Lu Jingming smiled, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. "I know the way."
If there was an extra third wheel, so be it.
After all, the fact that her mood had bounced back so quickly proved that the guy wasn't all that important to her.
Besides, he was finally considered a friend now.
