Chapter 119: Disguised Blind Date?
Translator: Lonelytree
Xiao Lingyu hid in a corner and watched the car drive away. Her heart was still pounding.
‘Why is this man here?’ She had not seen him before, but she was sure that was his voice. Even though she didn’t know his real identity, he must be incredibly powerful to stay in the presidential suite of a five-star hotel. Plus, when she used her identity, it had opened many doors. The people at the hotel had to give him face. Someone like that had to come from an extraordinary background.
She sneaked a peek at the man. She didn’t get to see his face, but she did capture his exquisite and handsome side profile. She touched her belly and thought. ‘Xiao Tong doesn’t look like me. He probably takes after his father.’
Xiao Lingyu knew that she had to avoid this car and even the driver as hard as she could. Xiao Lingyu didn’t know if the man had appeared in her previous life, but in this life, she didn’t want to meet him.
Xiao Lingyu counted on her fingers. Xiao Tong was about to show himself soon. Xiao Tong, in her previous life, was very sensible, both before and after birth.
However, Xiao Lingyu didn’t anticipate his arrival because he was evidence of her betrayal of Chen Ran. Therefore, in this life, she had to treat him well. She would not allow anyone to hurt him, not even his biological father. Of course, his biological father didn’t know about Xiao Tong’s existence. Xiao Lingyu had to make sure it stayed that way.
Xiao Lingyu slowly calmed down and pushed the tricycle to the gas station to fuel up. Xiao Lingyu checked the tricycle. The back-end needed a paint job, but beyond that, the vehicle didn’t need any repair.
After the fuel tank was filled, Xiao Lingyu rode the tricycle back to her rental. As soon as she arrived, she received a call from Jiang Tao.
“Lingyu, do you still have any vegetables left?” Jiang Tao asked. Xiao Lingyu smiled. ‘He must have cooked the stuff I gave him already.’ She said, “I still have some left. How about I send them to the police station?”
Jiang Tao explained, “Actually, it was Uncle Chen who called to say he wanted to buy more of your products. He was the one who asked me to phone you.”
Xiao Lingyu said, “I’ll drop some off with Uncle Chen later!”
Jiang Tao offered, “I’ll come and get them. I’ll drive.”
Xiao Lingyu chuckled. “Why are you so free as the police chief? It’s alright. I can’t take more of your time. I’ll take a ride to Uncle Chen’s place. I also need to chat with Uncle Chen to see if we can come to cooperation.”
When Xiao Lingyu heard Jiang Tao mention Uncle Chen was once a five-star chef, she already had this idea. Her business was well recently, but she couldn’t expect ordinary customers to purchase her vegetables every day. After all, her prices were high. Therefore, the best solution was to sell them to exclusive hotels and restaurants.
With Uncle Chen’s connection, he should be able to introduce people from big hotels to Xiao Lingyu.
Jiang Tao caught Xiao Lingyu’s intention. He said, “Okay, you should go over first. I’ll go there after work.”
“Alright!” Xiao Lingyu replied. Just as she hung up, she got a message. It was from Jiang Tao. It was Uncle Chen’s phone number.
Xiao Lingyu was about to make the call when an unknown caller rang her. “Hello, who is it?” Xiao Lingyu inquired politely.
“Lingyu, it’s me, Uncle Chen!” Uncle Chen laughed heartily, “Haha…”
Xiao Lingyu laughed too. “Uncle Chen, I was about to call you.”
“Oh.” Uncle Chen was slightly surprised. “Tao Zi has filled you in, then?”
“Yes.” Xiao Lingyu said, “Uncle Chen, I’ll send you the ingredients in a bit.”
“Okay,” Uncle Chen said loudly. “Lingyu, remember to bring me more!”
“Of course!” Xiao Lingyu replied.
Xiao Lingyu teleported into her farming space. Over the past few days, she had sown a few new seeds and added some new varieties of vegetables. There were beans, pumpkins, bitter melons, loofah, and so on.
Xiao Lingyu picked some of each and brought them out of the space.
…
On the other side, once Uncle Chen ended the call with Xiao Lingyu, he immediately made another call. The other party answered and greeted respectfully, “Master Chen.”
Uncle Chen said, “Xiao Wang, I need you to come over to my place for dinner tonight.”
“Of course, Master Chen!” Xiao Wang immediately replied.
After Xiao Wang hung up, a young man sitting opposite him asked, “Manager Wang, did Master Chen ask you to go over to his place for dinner?”
Manager Wang nodded, “President Gu, do you think…”
President Gu grabbed his coat and walked away. When he saw the dumbfounded Manager Wang, he snapped, “Let’s go. What are you standing there for?”
Manager Wang asked in confusion, “President Gu, where are we…”
“We’re going to Master Chen’s place, of course!” President Gu answered.
…
When it was almost time to get off work, Jiang Tao called Gong Tianhao, “Tianhao, where are you? Oh, you’re on the way to Taoyuan Village. I wanted to invite you to dinner, but never mind!” Jiang Tao drove to Uncle Chen’s restaurant alone.
Manager Wang and President Gu were already there.
When Uncle Chen saw President Gu, he smiled, “Xiao Gu is here too.”
Gu Ziye told Uncle Chen respectfully, “Uncle Chen, when I heard you asked Manager Wang to come here for dinner, I shamelessly decided to tag along. You won’t mind, right?”
“Haha, kid. Even if I mind, you will stick around.” Uncle Chen laughed. “I know you too well. When there’s good food, there’s no way to make you move.”
Gu Ziye was not angry being teased. Instead, he smiled, “Master Chen, you called Manager Chen over not just for a simple dinner, right?”
Uncle Chen said, “You’re a smart kid. But you should learn the virtue of patience. You’ll know eventually.”
Gu Ziye didn’t press. He and Manager Wang found an empty table and sat down.
Soon, they saw Uncle and Auntie Chen look out the window like they spotted something valuable. He followed their gaze and saw a girl get out of the taxi with two big bags of vegetables in her hands.
Gu Ziye wondered. ‘Uncle Chen is not trying to set me up with someone, is it?’ The man forgot Uncle Chen originally invited Manager Wang, who was a married man.
Uncle and Auntie Chen immediately rushed to take the two big bags from Xiao Lingyu. They scolded light-heartedly. “Lingyu, these two bags are so heavy. You should have called us to go get them personally.”
Xiao Lingyu smiled, “Uncle Chen, I took the taxi, so they’re not that heavy.”
“Come in to sit and rest!” Auntie Chen welcomed Xiao Lingyu warmly. When she saw Gu Ziye sitting far away, Auntie Chen said, “Xiao Gu, you should sit with Lingyu. Lingyu, you can sit here. Wait for a moment. Tao Zi will come after work.”
Xiao Lingyu nodded.
After Uncle Chen placed the bags in the kitchen, he came over to make the introductions, “Lingyu, this is the president of the Gu family hotel, Gu Ziye. This is the hotel’s purchasing manager, Wang Zhimin! Xiao Gu, Xiao Wang, this is Xiao Lingyu.”
Xiao Lingyu greeted them very politely, “President Gu, Manager Wang!” She understood that Uncle Chen was trying to help her, so she didn’t want to disappoint him.
Gu Ziye and Wang Zhimin were baffled.
Gu Ziye glanced at Xiao Lingyu. He thought to himself. ‘Is Uncle Chen really trying to set me up with a woman? Is this a blind date?’
Wang Zhimin did not think too much about it. Based on what Uncle Chen said, the girl was acquainted with Chief Jiang Tao. He nodded at Xiao Lingyu and said, “Miss Xiao!”
Gu Ziye also greeted Xiao Lingyu politely, “Miss Xiao!”
Uncle Chen asked, “Xiao Gu, I heard from Xiao Wang that your hotel is having some issues with food ingredients supply?”
Gu Ziye was quite angry when he was reminded of this. “Master Chen, you have no idea how shameless Zhou Huaming from the Yi Family Hotel is! He has poached our chef, and now, they are stealing our supplier. The supplier at Green Source is also quite a bastard. They cut off our cooperation without any notification. I woke up, and someone told me our supplier had decided to stop working with us. I would kill them if I could. This is too infuriating.”
Gu Ziye’s eyes were red with anger. He continued to speak angrily, “Ever since Wei Xilin left with his two disciples and Green Source stopped cooperating with us, the Gu Family Hotel’s business is getting worse by the day.”
Then, he looked at Uncle Chen pleadingly. “Master Chen, can you help us? With your culinary skills, you’ll resuscitate the Gu Family Hotel’s business. Master Chen, will you help me? Don’t worry. I will not mistreat you.”
Wang Zhimin also looked at Uncle Chen, “Master Chen, you’re the only one who can help us now. This small shop,” He took in the remote eatery, “Is a waste of your talent, Master Chen!”
Uncle Chen shook his head. “I prefer cooking at this small shop that I call my own.”
“Master Chen!” Gu Ziye and Wang Zhimin looked at Uncle Chen with heartbroken and pleading eyes.
Uncle Chen smiled and said, “No rush. Xiao Wang, Xiao Gu, we can talk about this further after dinner!”
Gu Ziye and Wang Zhimin’s eyes lit up with hope. They immediately nodded and said, “Okay!”