Back when they were selling cold jelly and douhua, Li Hongmei and Ye Xiaoxian had promoted and publicized “The Xiaos’ Cuisine” already. Some were greedy for their free cold jelly, so they would come and order one or two stir-fry dishes and gained a free bowl of cold jelly.
On that day, Scholar Wong also dropped by. When Scholar Wong arrived, Liu Qianqian happened to be there too.
Liu Qianqian had been coming to visit for more than a week and every time she came she would ride in her luxurious carriage and had four or five of her servants stand guard outside. Being so ostentatious she meant to let the whole town know that she was dining here. Frankly speaking, it was a very good move, as a restaurant which was loved by Liu Qianqian could not be bad, could it?
When Scholar Wong stepped in he saw the servants on guard outside and he could not help smiling. As he went in he saw Liu Qianqian sitting beside the window in the booth on second floor, so he was on his way to find her.
Li Hongmei was serving the customers inside and seeing Scholar Wong come in she went to greet him right away. “Ah, it’s Mr. Wong! Are you here to have a meal? Shall I give you a nice table?”
Scholar Wong pointed at Liu Qianqian sitting in the booth. “It’s alright. I’m going sit with her ladyship.”
“You are…” Li Hongmei seemed to have stumbled upon some big gossip.
Scholar Wong then added, “Miss Liu is my cousin and we’ve known each other since we were children.”
“Oh…” Li Hongmei was very surprised.
It was indeed a small world as the two who looked like they were not related at all turned out to in fact be cousins.
Li Hongmei hurriedly followed him upstairs and, as expected, Scholar Wong and Liu Qianqian were laughing and chatting vibrantly. Liu Qianqian also asked Li Hongmei to get two more dishes.
Li Hongmei then went to the kitchen, seeing that Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baozhu were rushing around busily, and she said to Ye Xiaoxian in a hurry, “Little Ye, Scholar Wong, that teacher of Baofeng, turned out to be Miss Qianqian’s cousin. They’re now sitting at the same table and Qianqian asked for two more dishes, one sweet and sour ribs and one chicken feet with pickled peppers.”
Ye Xiaoxian had not expected this either but, thinking about it, Scholar Wong had no ordinary bearing and looked like he could be from a wealthy family, so it was not too strange for him to know Liu Qianqian.
Ye Xiaoxian asked Li Hongmei to first bring a bowl of rose plum soup to Scholar Wong, then asked Xiao Baozhu to make a fire and she began cooking. While she was cooking, Ye Xiaoxian glanced at Xiao Baozhu who was somewhat in a daze.
Ever since Xiao Baozhu began reading novels she sometimes looked like this. Ye Xiaoxian did not think too much of it but only reminded her, “Baozhu, pay attention to the fire. Don’t let the fire stir up too much.”
Xiao Baozhu replied shortly. “Yes.”
Once Scholar Wong’s dishes were ready, Xiao Baozhu put down the fire poker and stood up immediately. “Sister-in-law, let me take the food to Scholar Wong.”
“Sure, be quick,” said Ye Xiaoxian.
Xiao Baozhu took the dishes with her and went out as swiftly as a gust of wind.
Ye Xiaoxian felt a bit strange but the moment Li Hongmei came in delivering the orders, saying that there was a group of new customers who wanted to try fish fillets in hot chili oil, Ye Xiaoxian did not dwell on her thoughts and went to cook at once.
She expected Xiao Baozhu to return quickly but Ye Xiaoxian’s food was already in the pan and Baozhu still hadn’t come back.
Ye Xiaoxian had no option but to cook dishes while tending the fire, having her work cut out for her.
As for Xiao Baozhu, she was chatting with Scholar Wong and Liu Qianqian.
As soon as she served the food Xiao Baozhu appeared to be surprised. “Scholar Wong, how come you’re here?”
Liu Qianqian happened to know Xiao Baozhu as well so she said to Scholar Wong. “This is Xiao Baozhu, my friend’s sister.”
The “friend” she mentioned was of course referring to Ye Xiaoxian.
Scholar Wong already knew Xiao Baozhu but still could not remember her name, though out of politeness he still said to Liu Qianqian, “I know. I’ve already met them, including the friend of yours.”
Scholar Wong then told Liu Qianqian how he met and got to know Ye Xiaoxian.
Liu Qianqian exclaimed, “I know, Qinghe Village is as tiny as a palm. Once you know one person you’ve actually got to know seven or eight of others too.”
Seeing Xiao Baozhu still standing there Liu Qianqian then asked her, “Baozhu, aren’t you busy now? Feel free to go back and work, will you?”
Xiao Baozhu answered hurriedly, “I’m not that busy. My sister-in-law has hired two staff and I…I just give her a hand when I have nothing to do.”
She glanced at Scholar Wong while she was speaking. Xiao Baozhu was worrying that Scholar Wong would despise her as a waitress.
Liu Qianqian then said, “I see. So how’s it going with the novels? Have you learned all the characters?”
“Yes, I have. There aren’t many characters that I can’t read now.”
“Not bad at all. You can read some more profound books later on,” said Liu Qianqian.
Xiao Baozhu then turned to Scholar Wong. “I don’t know many profound books. Mr. Wong, could you recommend some for me?”
Scholar Wong said, “You may want to read ‘Records of the Grand Historian’ first. You can only be knowledgeable about the world by learning more about history. Baofeng has the book.”
“Then I’ll borrow it from Baofeng next time,” said Xiao Baozhu.
She was still not willing to leave.
This was a place for having meals while she was just standing there, making both Liu Qianqian and Scholar Wong feel a bit awkward, however, they were acquaintances so they could not ask her to leave, so Liu Qianqian asked her, “Baozhu, why don’t you sit down and eat with us?”
“No, how could I!” Xiao Baozhu also knew that it was inappropriate.
She just wanted to spend more time with Scholar Wong.
It was just that Scholar Wong did not really mind her but only focused on tasting the dishes which Ye Xiaoxian made. It was his first time trying the food made by Ye Xiaoxian and he had tasted happiness.
Liu Qianqian did not know what to chat with Xiao Baozhu about as they were from different classes after all, without too much in common, which would make their chatting nothing but awkward conversation. Besides, having the cuisine presented in front of her but still having to give her attention to others was such torture.
Liu Qianqian then reminded Baozhu again. “Baozhu, if you don’t eat, we’ll start then.”
“Yea, sure!” said Xiao Baozhu.
Xiao Baozhu was still standing there and watching Liu Qianqian and Scholar Wong eat together.
Liu Qianqian and Scholar Wong then began to chat on their own and what they talked about was far beyond Xiao Baozhu’s knowledge, so shecouldn’t possibly add anything of value. It was only by then that she began feeling a bit awkward.
She went back to the kitchen sulkily.
At that moment, Little Five picked up a pot of boiled fish and went out. Seeing Baozhu being so absent-minded, Little Five then hurriedly reminded her, “Miss Baozhu, be careful.”
Miss Baozhu?
Xiao Baozhu did not know why she had suddenly become a “Miss”, but felt a moment of ecstasy because of the title. That’s right. Her family’s restaurant had hired staff and of course the staff had to call her miss, didn’t they?
The reason that she was upset was because she could not chat freely with Scholar Wong and Liu Qianqian, but when the restaurant was expanded in the future wouldn’t she also become a rich young lady? She would be like Liu Qianqian by then. She could go anywhere she wanted and know a lot of important people from the wealthy families in town. By then she and Scholar Wong would naturally be together.