Chapter 14: Baguette

The waitress turned, her high heels making barely a sound as they touched the floor, careful not to disturb the guests with any emotion.

Qin Qing had no idea that someone was having strange thoughts about her. She wasn’t constantly checking people’s logs with a System Panel; that would be too exhausting.

Liang Jinguo played with his teacup, glancing slightly to his right.

His assistant, sitting to his right, understood. He followed the waitress out, slipped her a tip, and said sweetly, “Miss, please, please! Our boss is treating a client to dinner this time, and it’s rare for the client to specifically ask for something. You’re so beautiful and kind-hearted, you must help me solve this problem!”

Seeing this scene, the waitress was a bit unsure. This didn’t seem like a mistress showing up.

She returned the tip: “Sir, please rest assured! Our guests’ matters are our matters. I will do my best to communicate and arrange things so that the client is satisfied. However, the dish that client requested is not on the menu, and preparing the ingredients won’t be that quick, so please understand.”

She bowed slightly again in apology, then left.

The waitress felt both annoyed and confused. She first reported the matter to the headwaiter, arranging for others to cover the private room service. Then she went to the back kitchen, ignoring her boyfriend, and went directly to the head chef.

“Master, a female guest in the private room has a rather strange request…”

The head chef instructed his second assistant: “Stop whatever else you’re doing. Boil a pot of rice water, and make some firm rice to cool… Don’t do anything else yet; wait for my instructions.”

No matter who the guest was, satisfying their request was the top priority.

Once arranged, he dragged his bewildered apprentice, who was prepping ingredients in the corner, into the storage room…

The second assistant’s movements were orderly, but his eyes gleamed with gossip, and his ears were perked, listening towards the storage room. Soon, he heard the guy named Yang wailing, “Master, I’ve been wronged…”

He couldn’t hear anything else, so he had to give up, disappointed.

Leaving aside the various grievances in the back kitchen, let’s talk about what happened in the private room.

The Liang father and son were being polite but insincere, and Qin Qing was patient, not actively bringing up the bidding. She chatted with them about trivial topics.

It wasn’t bad to enjoy the food carefully without discussing business.

The dishes Qin Qing ordered on the spot wouldn’t be served quickly. Instead, the elaborate, time-consuming dishes were brought out first.

Crab roe lion’s head, eight-treasure gourd duck, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, braised dried tofu threads…

Time-consuming and labor-intensive dishes that one would rarely make at home. Even eating out, one might not get an authentic version.

Qin Qing sincerely praised Liang Jinguo’s ability to choose restaurants.

“Hahaha…” Liang Jinguo laughed in a very business-like manner, “As long as the food is good.”

He put down the napkin he had used to wipe his mouth, then said, “Miss Qin, I’ve carefully considered your previous proposal. If there can truly be such a large profit, the commission is not a problem.”

Qin Qing disappointedly put down her chopsticks. She was enjoying her meal so much; why talk business now? You didn’t talk when waiting for the food, you didn’t talk when drinking tea after the meal, but now you do.

“Mr. Liang, are you willing to cooperate?”

“Why not? It’s a win-win. We all make money together. If Miss Qin has no issues, we can sign an agreement first.”

The assistant deftly pulled out several A4 papers from his briefcase and personally handed them to Qin Qing.

The agreement wasn’t long; she skimmed through it quickly. Qin Qing pushed it away: “I refuse.”

Quite straightforward.

She would have to pay a loss if the bidding wasn’t successful? What a joke. It wasn’t like she was begging them, father and son, to do business. She just discovered something and mentioned it casually. Was she helping someone only to get into trouble?

Liang Jinguo: “Miss Qin, if you can ensure winning the bid at a low price as you said, this agreement will have no impact on you.”

“Who said that?” Qin Qing was quite blunt, “I never said I could guarantee winning the bid at a low price.”

Liang Jinguo leaned back, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He tapped the table with his knuckles: “Miss Liang! You’re not joking, are you?”

She wasn’t intimidated: “What I’ve always stated is that, based on the current situation, Mr. Liang, you can win this bid, and I can help you push the price down further, winning even more beautifully.”

The assistant glanced at his boss and asked on his behalf, “This… isn’t that the same meaning?”

Qin Qing: “Of course not. I once explained the principle of my fortune-telling to Liang Jian.”

Liang Jian recalled and repeated: “Can’t tell the future, only the past? Even if you see the future, it’s just the sum derived from past causes and effects, and when the past changes, the future also changes?”

“Exactly!”

No wonder everyone likes intelligent people; a high-IQ brain is just so effective.

“Let me give an example.” Qin Qing pointed at the assistant, “Suppose you’ve been using your position to falsify accounts and embezzle Mr. Liang’s money. Mr. Liang has a large family business, and he doesn’t care about those daily trivial expenses of 30 or 50. So, if you ask me to tell your fortune at this point, I might see that your work by Mr. Liang’s side has always been smooth.”

“But… what if one day Mr. Liang suddenly decides to check where all his recent money has gone? From the moment he makes that decision, what I see is your future of being fired.”

“However, if Mr. Liang’s decision is talked out of by Liang Jian, and he no longer wants to check the accounts, then the item of you being fired in the future I had already seen will disappear.”

Qin Qing felt her example had made it very clear.

“So, in the sum of all past events I currently see, no other competing bidders have made a decision to raise their prices. In this situation, Mr. Liang will definitely win, but there’s no guarantee that others won’t decide to raise their prices before submitting their bids.”

“But there’s no need to worry too much. If someone changes their price, I’ll inform you promptly. We’ll wait until the very end to submit the bid. The only trouble is, you know I use Face Reading, so I need to be near Mr. Liang to see the changes.”

“That’s easy to solve. You follow me to work during the day. You’ll be with me when I have meetings and see clients. At night…” Liang Jinguo instructed Liang Jian, “Have the family prepare a guest room.”

He then said to Qin Qing, “Move in tonight. Xiao Wu will accompany you to get your luggage later. Stay at the Liang family home tonight. This way, you can inform me promptly of any changes.”

Liang Jian: “Okay, I’ll text Auntie now.”

Assistant Xiao Wu: “Okay, boss.”

Seeing that these three weren’t joking, Qin Qing quickly stopped them, unable to help but roll her eyes: “Stop, stop, stop. I’m not a computer that can calculate all the time. After I finish at Baiyun Temple every day, I’ll go to Mr. Liang’s company for one visit, and that’ll be enough.”

The Liang father and son exchanged a subtle glance. Liang Jian spoke up to persuade: “It’s too much trouble going back and forth. There’s nothing much going on at school recently. I also plan to go to the company to learn and observe, so we can go together. At night, we can play games together, and call Lu Yang too; his home is also nearby.”

“Young people should communicate more,” Liang Jinguo also said.

Qin Qing looked at the two suspiciously, always feeling that this father and son pair was strange.

She still refused: “No, it’s settled. I’m not going.” Let them think what they want; they wouldn’t derail her rhythm.

Liang Jian was about to say something else, but saw Liang Jinguo raise his hand and pick up his teacup, taking a small sip.

He shut up and followed suit, picking up his tea and drinking.

This matter was settled, and the agreement naturally needed to be revised. According to Qin Qing’s wishes, if Liang Jinguo won the bid, he would pay her a 10% commission. This was essentially a unilateral constraint on Liang Jinguo.

The agreement was to be signed at the dinner table, and there was no ready-made revised version.

But there was a ready-made worker. Assistant Xiao Wu miraculously pulled a laptop bag from under the table. While everyone else at the table was enjoying their food, he placed the laptop on his lap and revised the agreement on the spot. Not only did he revise it, but after revising, he had to send it back to the company’s legal department for review and polishing, and then have it sent back again.

See, this was why Qin Qing never wanted to successfully find a job and work for someone.

Soon, Xiao Wu again pulled a rectangular bag from under the table—he noticed Qin Qing looking at him and explained with a smile that it was a portable printer.

Qin Qing: “…”

She wanted to lift the tablecloth to see what else this assistant brother had hidden under the table.

She managed to suppress her curiosity; she was a “Master” with an aura now.

After much anticipation, Qin Qing’s hidden menu items finally arrived at the table.

The waitress brought a line of beautiful young ladies to serve the dishes. Each dish was individually portioned.

The two items looked unassuming.

The rice water with greens looked like spoiled hotpot water, and the soy sauce fried rice looked like a dark culinary creation.

The head chef had gone to great lengths to elevate their presentation when serving them. The fried rice was served on a huge black rectangular rock slab steak plate, so large it could hold a tomahawk steak. A small portion of fried rice was piled into two mountains, one tall and one short, standing in the middle. The edges of the plate were decorated with flowers and brightly colored fruit garnishes.

It looked nice, but it was a waste of such a large plate. Couldn’t they serve more? Were they afraid of filling the guests up?

And the rice water with greens was served in a set of lotus leaf-shaped jade-colored porcelain soup bowls, with even the spoons shaped like lotus flowers.

It certainly had an elevated feel, but Qin Qing felt the excessive plating somewhat affected her appetite. It wouldn’t taste better, just look more expensive.

The flat rock slab was not suitable for using a spoon at all. It took her a great deal of effort to successfully scoop a spoonful of fried rice into her mouth. But! The taste was amazing, worth the wait.

The rice was perfectly cooked, neither too soft nor too hard, with a glossy, oily sheen on the outside, yet it wasn’t greasy. She could taste a faint onion aroma but saw no onions. The fried rice contained processed cured ham bits, flavorful but not salty, and some kind of mushroom she couldn’t identify. The entire mouthful of rice was savory, fragrant, and delicious, with rich layers of texture and a lingering aftertaste. It made her eager to put the second spoonful into her mouth.

The rice water with greens also whetted her appetite. The greens were sweet and tender, not turning yellow even after being boiled. The rice oil was thick, and besides the unique, astringent grain aroma of rice, it was seasoned with something that gave it a slightly fermented, sour fragrance, like microorganisms celebrating with gongs and drums. Digging down with the spoon, there was another surprise: at the bottom of the bowl were some kind of beans that had cooked down to a sandy texture. Qin Qing didn’t recognize them, but one bite was incredibly satisfying.

This was truly a case of not judging a dish by its appearance!

From the moment these two dishes were served, no one at the table touched the other dishes.

At first, the other three at the table just watched Qin Qing eat with gusto, intending to try it out of politeness to the guest. But after the first bite, the three of them suddenly turned their heads in shock to look at Qin Qing.

See, they were all stunned by how delicious it was!

Liang Jinguo managed to maintain his composure and offer a few compliments, while Liang Jian and Assistant Xiao Wu elegantly and quickly attacked the strategic high ground of the food.

This was the first time today the waitress couldn’t control her expression. This… were they really here just to eat? Was it really that delicious?

Qin Qing pulled out two 1200ML glass food containers from her canvas tote bag. She had originally brought them to mooch off Master Wutun’s special meals, but the Liang family’s car came too early, and she hadn’t had time to go to the cafeteria. It was good to use them now.

She called out to the still-shocked waitress: “I’ll have to trouble you again. No matter how you calculate your single portions, my request is: fill these two containers! I’m taking them to go.”

Liang Jian seized the opportunity, raising his long arm: “Prepare a portion for me too, in the same quantity.” He smiled at Qin Qing, “I’m going to Lu Yang’s place later. I hope good food can comfort a heartbroken person.”

“Cough cough…” Liang Jinguo drew attention, gently requesting, “Add one more portion, divided into three small portions. Two of the portions must have identical packaging and quantity.” He then explained to Qin Qing, “Liang Jian has twin siblings. Even a slight difference can cause a headache-inducing argument.”

He complained, but his smile was full of loving kindness.

Qin Qing saw that Xiao Wu hadn’t spoken, but his eyes were clearly on her two glass containers. She called out to the waitress again: “Since the pot’s already on, just make one more portion. Mr. Wu can take it home for his family to try too.”

Xiao Wu immediately gave her a grateful look.

The waitress left, her steps light, carrying Qin Qing’s two containers.

Had her boyfriend, after years of being out of favor, finally been chosen by the Kitchen God?