Chef Hua

"It may sound like I’m singing my own praises, but my Xiaomai truly has a heart of gold. She isn’t one to speak sweetly or smoothly, and she may not say the most charming things, but if someone treats her well, she’ll definitely keep it in her heart and think of ways to repay the kindness later on, never being ungrateful or disloyal—that’s the kind of child that gives you peace of mind. Otherwise, if you come across those with a wolf’s heart and a dog’s lungs, like raising a rat in a rice jar, wouldn’t that just exasperate someone to death? Mr. Song, don’t you agree?"

Song Jingxi forced a dry laugh twice and was just about to change the subject when he heard Hua Xiaomai’s voice come from behind him.

"Let’s eat, Mr. Song. Sorry for the lack of care, but I hope you won’t disdain us for it."

As she spoke, she placed a clay pot in the center of the table.

Song Jingxi, curious, leaned forward to look, and his smile immediately froze on his lips.

In that clay pot was a bowl of walnut, eyebrow bean, and chicken foot soup.

In this era, the rule "serve tea to keep a guest, serve soup to send one off" wasn’t exactly in vogue, but being someone in the food industry, she couldn’t be ignorant of it. Getting the order of serving wrong would inevitably expose one to criticism and become the butt of a huge joke. Hua Xiaomai, who had even managed to open up the expansive Daoxiang Garden, how could she not understand this?

With only four cold dishes on the table and not a single hot dish, now to hurriedly serve soup—what did that mean? Was there even a need to guess?

Song Jingxi’s complexion turned particularly displeasurable in an instant. He had originally intended to exchange a few pleasantries with Hua Xiaomai, but now felt as though he had a fishbone stuck in his throat and couldn’t spit out a single word.

Now looking again at those pearl meatballs, the secret sauce sweet and sour pig’s feet, and the chicken feet in the clay pot, it seemed all the more meaningful—wasn’t this a way of telling her to roll out?!