Chapter 169 - A Shy Chen Yushu
Having understood the situation, Pengzhan and Li Fu left. Lin Yi, on the other hand, was about to head to his room when Mengyao and Yushu came down the stairs.
"What were you guys talking about, Shield Bro?" Yushu asked, curious as ever. The both of them had tried to eavesdrop on the conversation earlier, to no avail.
"Not much, just some stuff about the company." Lin Yi said. "Uncle Chu"s business compet.i.tor."
"Oh……" Mengyao wasn"t interested in that stuff- she was still too young, after all, and hadn"t been involved with the plots littering the business world. What she was interested in, however, was the real reason Lin Yi was sent to protect her- it was only natural for her to be uninterested after learning that the incident earlier had nothing to do with that.
"Tell us honestly, Shield Bro- Uncle Chu sent you here to ask for Mengyao"s hand, right?" Yushu blurted, not quite believing that Lin Yi was discussing company matters with Pengzhan at all.
"Wha-?!!" Lin Yi stared at Yushu after hearing the words, clearly taken aback.
"Oh… It"s nothing……" Yushu had planned to test Lin Yi, but realized that her guess wasn"t very accurate from the face he was making. That, or Lin Yi was as kept in the dark as Mengyao was, at the very least.
Lin Yi scratched his nose with a bitter smile on his face- this Yushu was being way too ridiculous this time around. Pengzhan had to have a special kind of problem in his brain to hire suitors for her daughter. Was his daughter so ugly or disease-ridden that he had to resort to hiring people like that?
This Chen Yushu, on the other hand, had quite the imagination… Lin Yi wondered what sort of stuff was stuffed inside that brain of hers.
"Shu, what in the world are you blurting??" Mengyao asked, her face steaming up and blushing. "Maybe you should ask if daddy hired him to ask for your hand!!"
"Why would Uncle Chu do that?" Yushu blinked. "He doesn"t have that much free time on his hands, does he……"
Mengyao only rolled her eyes, evidently frustrated at Yushu. "I"ll tear your lips off if you continue that nonsense!"
"Kay…… But you can still speak with your lips torn off, you know? You gotta st.i.tch them up or something. Your approach"s pretty wrong, Yao Yao." Yushu retorted.
"......" Mengyao only turned and went up the stairs- this best friend was too strong for her to mess with…
"Wait for me, Yao Yao!!" Yushu said, following after Mengyao.
Lin Yi shook his head as he watched the two girls walk up- he still hadn"t been to the second floor, and couldn"t help but wonder what was up there. He suddenly remembered that Yushu"s car keys were still with him. "Shu."
"Hm? Did you call, Shield Bro?" Yushu asked, turning her puzzled head back to look at Lin Yi before opening her mouth in surprise. "Did Uncle Chu really hire you to ask for my hand?!!"
"......" Lin Yi almost tripped at the statement. "Just wanna give you your car keys…"
"Oh, car keys……" Yushu said, embarra.s.sed and panicking. "Ha, I was just joking……"
"I know." Lin Yi nodded with certainty. After all, the girl was known for her pranks and lies.
"Hehe, good……" Yushu sighed in relief, suddenly realizing that her face was heating up. It was a good thing she had that weirdo image- it"d be pretty awkward and embarra.s.sing if her genuine thoughts were discovered……
"Oh, that"s right- can I borrow your car for a couple of days? It"ll be pretty hard to follow you guys the next time you go out otherwise." Lin Yi asked.
"Sure. I won"t be driving it anyway." Yushu said with a wave of her hand. "I"ll leave the villa keys to you too- you need a laptop right? Just go get it yourself when you have time! Well, I"m gonna go sleep now… Bye…"
Yushu was pretty sure that her face was blushing a bright red, like a lobster with a fever…… It reminded her of that advertis.e.m.e.nt she had seen a long time ago: "What"s up bro? You getting cooked?".
In actuality, the dim lighting concealed the red on Yushu"s face, and Lin Yi wasn"t paying attention to that in the first place. "Kay, I"ll go get it tomorrow."
Tang Yin and Liu Xinwen, on the other hand, walked out the school gates under many fingers and gazes…
This Lin Yi!! Tang Yin cursed.
"I"ll be going back first, Tang Yin?" Xinwen and Tang Yin lived close together, but never walked home together because of the barbeque stand Tang Yin was needed at.
"Yeah. Be careful and maybe pay Su a visit when you"re free. Her emotions aren"t very stable these days- she didn"t even say anything to me the last time I visited." Tang Yin said.
"Yeah, I"ll do that." Xinwen nodded.
Tang Yin then made her way to the food street- her mom was in the middle of preparing the barbeque. Pouting, Tang Yin placed the recipe in front of her mom. "Here, the recipe."
"Oh? You got it!" Mrs. Tang said happily as she picked the recipe up. Truth be told, she wasn"t sure if Lin Yi would actually give her the recipe- he might"ve just said all that for the sake of conversation, after all.
She wasn"t expecting Tang Yin to actually get her hands on the recipe because of that- it meant that her business would get better starting from now, and Mrs. Tang couldn"t be happier about that. "Did you remember to thank him?"
"Yeah, I did." Tang Yin pouted. Thank him? Thank him for the love note everyone thinks he gave me?
"You… Did you actually thank him?" Mrs. Tang was Tang Yin"s mother, and she naturally knew best- she shook her head helplessly as she looked at that expression on Tang Yin"s face. The girl probably didn"t even think of thanking Lin Yi at all.
Her daughter was a good girl, with only one problem- a slightly prideful and cold personality. It was a fitting one for a girl born in a rich family, but not in theirs… Mrs. Tang sighed to herself- Tang Yin would grow to realize the cruelties of life by the time she reached her age.
After all, she had been as prideful as her daughter was once- it was the harshness of life that blunted her edges.
"I said I did already!!" Tang Yin said as she fidgeted unnaturally. "Here, lemme help you mom……"
"It"s okay, we"re packing up earlier today. I need to try this recipe when I get home- don"t wanna risk the spices store closing if we work too late." With that, Mrs. Tang started packing the stand up.
Helpless, Tang Yin gave her mother a hand. Why was it that she believed in Lin Yi so much? What if these spices were some random scribbles Lin Yi had written down on a whim? They"d be wasting a lot of materials and ingredients if that were the case.
Yet she hadn"t any other choice but go along with her mother- she seemed so trusting of that Lin Yi, after all.
Chapter 170 - Delighted Tang Family
Tang Yin followed her mother to the supermarket on their way home, getting themselves some ingredients for testing first.
Mrs. Tang then rushed to make some chicken wings and meat skewers based on Lin Yi"s recipe, even humming all the while as her hopes for the future grew. After all, better business only meant a better environment for the family- they might even be able to save up for her lover to go through a surgery.
Tang Jucheng, on the other hand, wondered why his wife was so happy as he laid on his sickbed.
"Honey, what"s up? Did something good happen?" Jucheng asked, also bored from lying in bed all day, unable to help his wife even if he wanted to. There wasn"t much he could do other than sleep and eat.
"Yin"s cla.s.smate gave me a barbeque recipe- our business will get really good if we do this well!" Mrs. Tang said as she placed the pickled chicken wings and meat skewers in the fridge to freeze up.
"For real? That"s great news!!" Jucheng said, delighted as well from the news. "We"ll really have to thank that cla.s.smate if everything goes well!"
"Your precious daughter was actually acting pretty high and mighty the whole time- that boy has a good impression of her, but she always gives him the cold shoulder!" Mrs. Tang said. She always got irritated whenever she thought of Tang Yin"s att.i.tude towards Lin Yi. "We"ll see how well she does if she marries someone like you!"
Mrs. Tang"s words were hurtful, but Jucheng was far from angry at that… Lying in bed for half a year did things to a person, and he thought about things differently now. After all, it was true that his inept.i.tude dragged both his wife and daughter down with him. They would"ve been a little better off if he had any savings, too.
In the midst of his guilt, and the devotion his wife had towards him, Jucheng realized that he couldn"t have his daughter living a life like this when she grew up. It was no life for a normal human being!
Yet his wife"s words raised some concerns. "Is he one of those young masters? Be careful things don"t end up like Fen and that boyfriend she used to have, only toying with her and everything..."
"Don"t think that"s possible." Mrs. Tang explained. "The kid doesn"t look spoiled at all, quite the gentleman, too- I think he"ll treat our daughter quite nicely……"
It was a small house, and Tang Yin heard everything. Why was her mother so pleased with Lin Yi? The guy wasn"t a good person! Gentleman? Wait until she heard about what the kid did to Zhong Pinliang, kicking him off a chair because his way was blocked.
Just thinking about Lin Yi ruined her mood, and she couldn"t even study properly anymore with how troubled she was feeling. She walked out her room to see her mother preparing to test-taste the skewers.
"Need some help, mom?" Tang Yin asked, trying to preoccupy herself now that studying wasn"t working out.
"Help me skewer some of those chicken wings then- I"ll start the fire." Mrs. Tang said as she put the bamboo sticks aside to get the fire started.
"Oh……" Tang Yin said as she started pushing the skewers through the meat. She didn"t know what it would taste like, but it did smell pretty good.
She then put the skewers to the fire after Mrs. Tang finished her preparations, fanning the fire as the wings cooked.
It wasn"t long before an alluring aroma spread from the chicken wings, and even Tang Yin started salivating. Looks like that Lin Yi wasn"t lying…
Jucheng smelled the scent as well. "That smells good, honey."
"It does, doesn"t it?" Mrs. Tang hadn"t tried the wings, but the aroma was proof enough of its taste. Quite a number of customers would come to her stand from just the smell alone. "It"s almost done, I"ll let you try it first!"
Jucheng couldn"t help but feel a little embarra.s.sed- his wife and daughter were giving the best food to him first before eating any themselves, while he lay in bed all day! He"d have ended his own life long ago if he didn"t know the pain it"d cause his wife…
While his wife did nag on and on about making the wrong choice, she always supported the whole family and house with sheer effort- that was proof enough of their bond.
"Yin, give this chicken wing to your dad." Mrs. Tang said as she handed the first skewer to Tang Yin.
Tang Yin couldn"t help but swallow her saliva as she stared at the crispy, rich color on the chicken wing… yet she couldn"t bring herself to bite into it- her father was waiting, after all. With that, she ran to Jucheng"s bed and handed it to him.
"You eat it, Yin." Jucheng, naturally, saw that face Tang Yin was making. The girl was a teenager, and her body was still developing, after all. While Jucheng himself ate the worse skewers of the leftovers, that was out of consideration for Tang Yin"s health- none of them wanted the girl to take a sick leave from school the next day. This particular chicken wing, on the other hand, was freshly cooked, and Jucheng wanted his daughter to get the first taste…
"I"m not hungry, dad- I"ll get fat if I eat too much." Tang Yin shook her head.
"Alright, the two of you stop fighting- Old Tang, just eat it! I"m almost done with the skewers here, Yin and I will eat these." Mrs. Tang said with a smile.
"Alright then……" Jucheng nodded, taking the chicken wings after hearing what his wife had said. He bit into it and showed her a thumbs up. "Really- it"s a pretty unique taste! It"ll sell big for sure."
The next batch of skewers were done as well, and Mrs. Tang handed a skewer to Tang Yin before taking one herself.
Tang Yin would rather not admit it, but the chicken wings this time around were far, far, tastier than the ones her mom used to make. It wasn"t any different from the ones she had in that big restaurant Fen"s ex-boyfriend treated Xinwen and her to!
"How is it, Yin?" Mrs. Tang hadn"t eaten hers, but had a pretty good guess of how successful it"d be just from the look on Tang Yin"s face.
"It"s okay I guess……" Tang Yin lied, not wanting Lin Yi to get too pleased with himself, even if he wasn"t here.
Mrs. Tang took a bite herself, and her eyes widened. "You- Yin, this is "okay"?? Is something wrong with your taste buds? This is practically no different from the trademark ones in barbeque restaurants! This is it- I"ll cook it this way from now on! I"ll get more supplies from the supermarket tomorrow."
"It"ll probably sell better than the old ones……" Tang Yin had to admit- the aroma was a very alluring one, even if the customers there were looking to fill their empty stomachs up and weren"t too picky about what to eat. Most of them only wanted food tastier than the ones they could find in the canteen, after all, and Tang Yin was sure these chicken wings qualified.
"Yin, invite Lin Yi and that friend of his over to our house this weekend- we"ll treat them to some barbeque as thanks!" Mrs. Tang said happily, evidently very grateful.
"Wha-?" Tang Yin froze, almost letting the skewer slip out from her hand. Invite Lin Yi over? Was her mother out of her mind?? How could she just invite the man to her house?!!