"My Splendid Cushion Camellias! My hundred-year-old redwood table and chairs! My... my gold-pillared red-lacquered gate! Ahhhhh!"
Just as he arrived beside the small courtyard, Mo Bai heard Chef Zhang Yu's heart-wrenching wails.
"I almost forgot about this mess." While offering a moment of silence for Chef Zhang Yu, Mo Bai turned his head to look at the two iron-bodied dolls behind him who had fallen from a tree fork four or five meters high without a single scratch.
Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie both turned their heads away, daring not to make eye contact with Mo Bai.
"So, in the end, I still have to carry this pot (take the blame), huh." Mo Bai scratched his cheek and walked through the empty space where the courtyard gate used to be.
Inside the messy courtyard, Chef Zhang Yu was slapping his thighs and stomping his feet, crying to the heavens. His round face was filled with an expression of heartache so severe he couldn't breathe.
Bai Zishu and Luo Ziyan stood quietly to the side, looking incomparably well-behaved.
"I'm sorry, Chef Zhang Yu. The responsibility this time lies mainly with me. Please deduct the losses from my salary as the Deputy Branch Hall Head Chef." Miyamoto Yayako spoke up. The misunderstanding that escalated into a fight between her and Luo Ziyan had indeed started because of him.
"Forget it, forget it. I was just howling a bit." Zhang Yu waved his hand. Even though his small eyes were still written full of distress, his mouth said to let the matter pass. "If the old doesn't go, the new won't come."
"Besides, when my two nieces get into a fight with someone, there's really nothing you can do about it."
Emmm...
I feel like I was subtly despised just now.
Mo Bai could only reveal a smile that was awkward yet polite.
"You came back so quickly; did you finish talking with Head Chef Dōjima?" Speaking of the serious business of Mo Bai serving as the Head Chef of Pine Crane Hall, Zhang Yu quickly cast the sorrow of his two beloved camellias being cut in half to the back of his mind.
"Mn, we talked. He said he'd send the contract over to you."
"You're going to sign?!" The look of heartache and regret for his small courtyard vanished completely from Zhang Yu's round face, replaced by the ecstasy of a cunning plot about to succeed.
"Of course I'll sign. Didn't you say it wouldn't restrict my freedom, and I'd receive wages and ingredient resources just by fulfilling two or three guest reservations a month?"
"Right, right, right! I'll go get it right now." Zhang Yu patted Mo Bai's shoulder with the gratification of an old father. "You're doing the right thing. Even though the small shop is what your parents left you as a refuge, you shouldn't waste this golden period of skyrocketing culinary skills on the daily task of entertaining guests."
Having said that, Zhang Yu's round body displayed agile footwork as he somersaulted over the stone wall of the courtyard and vanished.
MMP (Motherfcker)! So that was your idea all along.*
"I was wondering why the words Dōjima Gin spoke seemed strange between the lines, as if he was constantly trying to persuade me of something."
Closing the shop was impossible; it would be impossible in this lifetime.
As the saying goes: women like romance, men like to roam. Mo Bai was still counting on farming little monsters to strengthen his body to cope with the increasingly high martial force indicators around him.
However, the business model could indeed be changed. Maybe set up some kind of limited reservation system or something.
The position of Branch Hall Head Chef gave him inspiration, while his status as a Guest Elder of Yukikawa Shrine and the team of girl bodyguards with superior martial power beside him gave him the confidence.
But before that...
Mo Bai put on dead-fish eyes, the fluctuations in his heart transforming into a familiar phrase: "Little Bai, come out and get beaten!"
"What's this about the shop being left to me by my parents?"
"Don't you understand character settings? If I hadn't helped you get a reasonable Hua nation identity proof, an undocumented resident like you would have been invited for tea (interrogated) long ago!"
"Alright, fine. Nothing to do with you then." Mo Bai barely accepted Little Bai's identity setting.
"Hey now! You person, really... I helped you so much in the dark, and not only do you want me to get beaten, but you won't even say a thank you?" Little Bai expressed its anger.
"Thank you."
"Oh, oh... You're welcome." Mo Bai's sudden gratitude caught Little Bai off guard.
Little Bai recalled the points it had skimmed off privately, and a trace of shame welled up in its heart.
One shouldn't pluck wool from just one sheep; was it being a bit too excessive?
"Old Bai..."
"I already thanked you, why haven't you rolled away yet!" Mo Bai frowned.
Little Bai: w(ﾟДﾟ)w
The condemnation on Little Bai's conscience vanished instantly.
Damn it! This guy changes his face faster than flipping a book! You deserve to be plucked to death!
"Hey~ I didn't expect your weight in my Uncle's heart to be so heavy." Once Zhang Yu left, the 'Well-Behaved Duo' simultaneously reverted to their true forms.
Bai Zishu walked over with a lazy cat-walk, twisting her waist to circle around Mo Bai, sizing him up with eyes full of curiosity.
Mo Bai had truly piqued her interest.
This seemingly ordinary youth possessed three talents: Super Vision (God's Eye), Super Taste (God's Tongue), and Super Tactile Sense (God's Hand). Furthermore, judging from his dishes, his proficiency was quite high. In addition to that, he miraculously possessed several types of mature Culinary Hearts.
"Ne, Little Brother." Her sweet and cloying voice was enough to give one goosebumps. "You pretended to be my boyfriend and won against Mark. Don't you want to—do some thing~?"
A hand, white as jade, rested on Mo Bai's shoulder from behind. Standing on tiptoes, Bai Zishu breathed like an orchid into Mo Bai's ear.
It looked as if her entire body was pressed against Mo Bai, but in reality, her contact with Mo Bai was limited only to the arm resting on his shoulder.
"Sure." Mo Bai turned his head to look at Bai Zishu's glamorous face close at hand, then pointed his finger toward the entrance. "Trouble yourself to go to the Hua nation cuisine restaurant and call a few employees to fix the courtyard gate."
"I'm not used to the door being wide open like this."
Bai Zishu was not only stunned, but as their gazes intertwined, she saw not a trace of joking in Mo Bai's eyes.
Meaning, asking her to go fetch maintenance workers was real!?
Is this something a human would do?!
"I... I'll go right now." Bai Zishu's smile stiffened slightly, and the sound of her footsteps as she walked out of the courtyard was unusually loud.
"Hmph, trying to seduce me without even giving any benefits?" Mo Bai put on a disdainful, high-and-mighty face.
Unexpectedly, this posture was misinterpreted by the two girls behind him.
Yukikawa Yukie: Faced with such a vixen's temptation, he remains unmoved. It seems Senior is serious.
Miyamoto Yayako: Mn-mn, Highness is truly very single-minded.
"Hello, I am Mo Bai." Having dealt with one, Mo Bai walked toward the cheongsam-wearing, flat-chested girl, Luo Ziyan, whose expression had not wavered from beginning to end. "Also, I really am not a lecher."
"Mn, it was my fault." Looking at Mo Bai's extended hand, Luo Ziyan touched it lightly, nodded, and spoke.
"This bodyguard doesn't seem as difficult to get along with as I imagined." Mo Bai marveled inwardly. He had thought this kind of Triple-Null girl (No speech, no expression, no heart)—who was in the midst of puberty and possessed incredibly high martial force—would be very difficult to communicate with.
He didn't expect Luo Ziyan to apologize the moment apology was mentioned; her temper was unbelievably good.
"This matter can't be blamed on you either."
"Umm... let me introduce you guys." Seeing the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Mo Bai actively brought up a topic. "This is IGO Investigator Miyamoto Yayako."
"It's Former IGO Investigator," Miyamoto Yayako corrected. Although she still held some grudges against Luo Ziyan, since Mo Bai had spoken, and believing in the creed that a retainer cannot bring shame to their lord, she opened her mouth. "Currently, I am Highness Mo Bai's retainer, and concurrently hold the post of bodyguard."
"Mn, your blade techniques are very powerful." Luo Ziyan extended her hand first. Seeing Miyamoto Yayako delay in reacting, she couldn't help but tilt her head.
"Wu, you are also very powerful." Miyamoto Yayako, who had been dazed for a moment, shook Luo Ziyan's small hand with a silly smile like a goofy big sister.
Next, Mo Bai didn't need to interfere. Miyamoto Yayako, carrying the naive stubbornness of a martial artist, immediately let go of the grudge between them and introduced her newly made good female friend to Luo Ziyan.
Miyamoto Yayako's image as a 'flower on a high peak' was just superficial; in essence, her style of conduct revealed the silly naivety of a martial artist.
Yukikawa Yukie's high-cold demeanor was similarly just to maintain the shrine's image; essentially, she was an otaku miko who knew nothing of worldly affairs.
Luo Ziyan was certainly a Triple-Null, but from her hesitation-free apology, one could see that her personality was just as straight-forward as the other two.
With different attributes but temperaments that shared commonalities, the atmosphere among the three was incomparably harmonious. The scene was just like two chatty older sisters talking with a taciturn younger sister.
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