At half past ten in the evening, after finishing his late-night snack, President Lu returned to his room, and the guest dining area on the first floor fell into quietness.
Xu Yanxia, who had tidied up the kitchen, also returned to the staff quarters. After taking a shower, she lay down in bed.
A house only feels like a home when there are many people. Seeing the way the Lu family—mother and sons—were talking earlier had made her a little homesick.
But at this hour, her grandparents were already asleep. She picked up her phone and sent a WeChat message to her brother, asking about how things went today. However, she guessed he was probably busy, as after waiting for a while without a reply, she went to sleep first.
When she woke up to her alarm the next morning, she saw the message her brother had sent her late at night after closing up his stall. He said the stall was running smoothly, with more and more customers. These past couple of days, he had even called his friend Wang Gang, who was working in Rong City, to come help. Everything was still quite orderly.
Xu Yanxia replied to her brother with an "OK" emoji, then got up, washed up, and started her own work.
The ingredients for breakfast had been prepared the day before, so making it went much more smoothly. By the time the Lu family came downstairs, a sumptuous breakfast was already laid out on the dining table.
Shrimp shumai, beef noodle soup, vegetable salad, steamed egg custard, and cod and cheese burgers.
Mrs. Lu, who had just finished her yoga, was the last to come downstairs. After she sat down, Xu Yanxia brought over the freshly brewed Almond Seven-White Drink.
"Hmm,"
Mrs. Lu took a sip and immediately praised it, "This is richer and more fragrant than any I've had before. How did you make it, Xiao Xu?"
"I added some Chinese yam, fox nut seeds, and lotus seeds,"
Xu Yanxia said, "It's an old recipe, good for nourishing and boosting qi."
"Very good, very good,"
Mrs. Lu was very satisfied. She then tried a shrimp shumai and immediately said to her, "This is delicious too."
"I'm glad you like it."
Seeing that Mrs. Lu had no further questions, Xu Yanxia prepared to return to the kitchen.
Lu Jingyao suddenly spoke to her, "Oh, right, Sister Xia, you have WeChat, right? Someone wants to add you."
Huh?
Xu Yanxia was taken aback.
Someone wants to add her?
Mrs. Lu was also curious, "Who wants to add Xiao Xu?"
"Chu Hao, of course,"
Lu Jingyao said while eating a burger, "He's bringing ingredients for the party next week and said he wants to ask Sister Xia what he should bring."
Mrs. Lu laughed, "If it's at our house, we'll use our own ingredients. No need for him to provide anything. If anything is needed, Xiao Xu can coordinate directly with Wannong."
The Lu family's daily groceries were supplied directly by Wannong, a well-known local fresh produce company, so they were never short on ingredients.
"If he insists on providing, let him,"
Lu Jingyao said to Mrs. Lu with a smile, "Who knows what he's really up to. Last night he secretly asked me how old Sister Xia is and if she has a boyfriend."
???
Xu Yanxia nearly stumbled.
Are these wealthy young masters always this casual? Even trying to flirt with a cook?
Mrs. Lu also chuckled, "I wondered why he was being so generous! That rascal, setting his sights on someone in our household? Xiao Xu, you should be careful. That scoundrel Chu Hao has had no less than ten girlfriends, a total playboy."
"More than that!"
Having finished one burger, Lu Jingyao picked up a shumai and said to her, "He just broke up with the fourteenth one last week. Sister Xia, don't be fooled by his smooth talk."
Xu Yanxia was both amused and exasperated, "Then I won't add his WeChat. Please tell him that when the time comes, he can just send over whatever expensive ingredients he wants."
"Great idea!"
Lu Jingyao burst out laughing and picked up his phone to reply to his playboy friend.
Mrs. Lu, however, reminded him from the side, "You should add Xiao Xu on WeChat. In the future, if you want to eat something when you come back, you can just tell her in advance."
"Okay."
Lu Jingyao agreed, and Xu Yanxia also took out her phone and pulled up her QR code. With a beep, the two added each other as friends.
Just then, Lu Jingming, who had been focused on eating without saying a word, also suddenly took out his phone and said to her, "Let's add each other too. Send me the recipe for the sandwich later."
Huh?
Mrs. Lu and Lu Jingyao immediately looked surprised, "Since when are you interested in cooking?"
Lu Jingming said, "Getting it for someone else."
—That morning, when he notified Wen Jiajun about working overtime, Wen Jiajun happened to ask about the sandwich. He truthfully said it was made by their family's cook. As a result, Wen Jiajun seemed not to believe him and asked for the recipe.
"Okay."
Xu Yanxia pulled up her WeChat QR code again and added Lu Jingming as well.
Glancing at her contact list, she noticed both brothers used their real names as their WeChat IDs.
However, the CEO's profile picture was the Lu Group logo, while his younger brother's was his own hockey stick.
"..."
Good, that saved her the trouble of adding notes.
After breakfast, Lu Jingming went to the company to work overtime. Mrs. Lu and her younger son went out separately to meet friends, leaving Xu Yanxia and her colleagues to maintain the daily operations of the mansion.
After cleaning the kitchen and organizing the newly arrived ingredients for the day, Xu Yanxia quickly sent the sandwich recipe to Lu Jingming.
Thinking he was probably very busy and might not see it anytime soon, she was surprised to receive a reply in less than two minutes.
[Received, thank you.]
Xu Yanxia quickly replied with a [You're welcome.]
With two buzzes from his phone, in an office building of the Lu Group over ten kilometers away, Lu Jingming tapped his phone open, glanced at it, then turned off the screen and put the phone away.
Coincidentally, today's meeting was also coming to an end. He gave a few final instructions, stood up, left the conference room, and said to Wen Jiajun following behind him, "The board just passed the resolution. Keep an eye on things in Shencheng and have them implement it as soon as possible. Also, I've sent you the sandwich recipe."
Huh?
The topic change was a bit abrupt. Wen Jiajun took out his phone to check and couldn't help but find it strange, "Why send this to me now?"
Lu Jingming let out an "oh," saying, "Just received it, didn't want to forget, so forwarded it to you right away."
Wen Jiajun's expression turned to shock, "It really was made by your own cook? And it's a typed-out message? So well-organized? Not a single typo?"
Lu Jingming looked puzzled, "She's not an old lady. Is it not normal that she can type?"
Wen Jiajun became interested, "From the sound of it, it's a girl? And quite young?"
Lu Jingming gave an affirmative hum, "Around twenty, I think. Just graduated this year, I believe."
What? The Lu family actually hired such a young girl as a cook?
Wen Jiajun immediately asked again, "Is she pretty?"
"???"
Lu Jingming looked at him sideways, "What does that have to do with the sandwich recipe you wanted?"
"Of course it's related."
Wen Jiajun spouted nonsense, "If it's made by a beauty, it'll taste even better."
Then, staring at his face for three seconds, he said, "Judging from your expression, she must be quite pretty."
Lu Jingming scoffed, "What kind of mysticism is this? What can you possibly see on my face?"
"Hah?"
Wen Jiajun widened his eyes, "So it's true?"
"Outrageous! I work overtime with you every day like a dog, go home hungry eating takeout, sleeping alone on a cold pillow, and you go back to your mansion with a beauty cooking for you? Typical capitalist!"
Lu Jingming smiled and patted his shoulder. "Keep up the good work. With two more major projects like the Shencheng one, the board will promote you to vice president."
With that, he took a few more steps and entered his own office.
Half a minute later, several employees who had accidentally overheard the conversation emerged from the nearby meeting room.
"Is Director Lu seeing someone?"
"His girlfriend cooks for him every day in a luxury home?"
"And she's beautiful, and young?"
...
