Chapter 28

Waitstaff rushed over to mediate. “Miss, let’s talk this out calmly. Please don’t resort to violence!”

Ying Quhe was tall and broad-shouldered. Xi Mi reached up to strangle him, but her hands were far too small to wrap around his neck. She pressed her thumbs against his Adam’s apple, trying to intimidate him.

Although the spots she had kicked earlier were indeed throbbing with pain, this choking attempt posed zero threat given the double handicap of her height and small hands.

Ying Quhe grabbed her wrists and pulled them down. “Alright, calm down.”

Xi Mi huffed and snatched her hands back, propping one arm against his chest as she panted heavily. Exhausted from her previous frenzy, she muttered, “I need a minute.”

Ying Quhe leaned against the wall, offering his chest as a pillar of support. He looked down at her furrowed brows, her cheeks flushed red from the intense exertion, and her thick eyelashes fluttering, as if she were still processing the fact that he was Ying Quhe.

“Bastard Dao,” Xi Mi finally blurted out after a long silence.

The moment Ying Quhe shifted slightly, Xi Mi slammed her elbow hard into his chest. Snatching the low-heeled sandal from his hand, she pressed the tip of the shoe against his jaw, glaring fiercely. “Don’t move.”

Helpless, he raised his hands in surrender.

The waitstaff watched in dumbfounded silence, sensing that something was very off. From the brief exchange, they gathered that this was the pair’s first meeting in person, yet their relationship seemed complicated.

Unable to make sense of the situation, the servers had no choice but to fetch the manager.

The manager hurried in with two security guards, equally bewildered by the scene. He recognized the girl as “Xi Xi Xi Mi,” the little chef who had recently gone viral online. Hearing the servers’ recount of events, the manager boldly pieced together his own theory of what had happened.

After the last show recording, Xi Xi Xi Mi had held a grudge over their boss’s sharp tongue. For reasons unknown, the two had arranged a culinary showdown here, but Xi Xi Xi Mi had reached her breaking point with the boss and resorted straight to violence.

What a formidable girl.

Just as Xi Mi opened her mouth to talk to Ying Quhe, the two security guards grabbed her by the arms and pulled her away.

Her temper, which had finally begun to cool, flared back up instantly. She kicked her legs wildly in the air. “Bastard Dao, you set me up!”

The manager bowed deferentially to Ying Quhe. “Boss, are you alright?”

Ying Quhe replied, his tone laced with irritation, “Who told you to come in?”

The manager was utterly baffled.

Xi Mi was thrashing violently, so the two security guards held fast, not daring to let go. Chaos gripped the private room, but just at that moment, the police arrived. Taking in the mayhem, an officer bellowed, “Silence! Everyone settle down!”

The moment the imposing police officers stepped in, Xi Mi froze. She stopped struggling, pressed her lips together, and stared pitifully at the two police officers.

After the servers gave a quick summary of the altercation, an officer walked over and questioned Xi Mi, “What’s going on here? Little girl, if you’re going to cause a scene, know where you are. Why are you acting so recklessly?”

Xi Mi puffed out her chest righteously and pointed at Ying Quhe. “You can’t just take their word for it! They’re all his employees, so of course they’re taking his side!” She extended her slender arms, her voice trembling with tearful drama. “I don’t even have the strength to harm a fly! How could I possibly assault him? He was trying to molest me! I was defending myself!”

The police officer stared at her coldly. “Keep going. Keep making things up.” He took hold of her shoulder, brought her right in front of Ying Quhe, and pointed at the chef, who exuded an air of refined, stoic elegance. “Look at Mr. Ying. Does a man like him need to harass a little girl like you? If you ask me, you tried to chase Mr. Ying, got rejected, and came here to throw a tantrum. What year of college are you in? Have you graduated? Show me your ID.”

At the mention of an ID, all her righteous confidence vanished. Her head dropped instantly, her voice sinking as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz. “I didn’t bring it… It’s at home.”

The officer said, “Alright then, come with us to the station. Call your family to pick you up.”

Panic seized Xi Mi. She grabbed the officer’s arm. “I was wrong! I apologize, I admit my fault! I don’t want to go to the police station!”

The officer let out a laugh. “Little girl, if apologies solved everything after committing a crime, why would we need laws and regulations?”

Ying Quhe pulled Xi Mi by the arm, tucking her gently behind his back. “My apologies, Officer. This was just a misunderstanding. My staff called the police before realizing what was happening.”

A smile instantly broke across the officer’s face. “Boss Ying, girls nowadays love to play the victim. Don’t let her fool you. If you help her now, she might just come back and cause more trouble tomorrow.”

“It’s not trouble, just a misunderstanding. A minor conflict between a master and apprentice. I’ll handle it properly, so there’s no need to trouble yourselves.” He turned slightly and reached out to pat Xi Mi’s head. “Xi Mi, tell the officer the truth.”

“We really are master and apprentice, that’s the truth, and we did have a misunderstanding,” Xi Mi mumbled, hanging her head and letting out a sigh. “I was lying earlier… Bas- Master didn’t molest me. The staff didn’t know our relationship, so it was all a mistake.”

The officer delivered a stern reprimand. “Don’t do this again. You’re so young, how did you learn to tell lies like that? And Mr. Ying, you shouldn’t spoil your apprentice too much. Girls these days… sigh.” He patted Ying Quhe’s shoulder. “My own daughter is the same way. At her age, she hasn’t learned anything useful, but she’s mastered lying and rebelling.”

Ying Quhe glanced warmly down at the top of Xi Mi’s head and smiled softly. “It’s alright. One should be patient with one’s own girl.”

The officer teased him for having such a good temper to tolerate a young girl making such a fuss.

The servers and manager watching the whole ordeal were stunned.

Their boss had a good temper? Why did that sound like an ancient myth?

Ying Quhe signaled for the staff to leave.

The moment the manager pulled the door shut, he let out a sigh of relief. With an apprentice like Xi Xi Xi Mi, it was no wonder their culinary-obsessed boss was exercising such patience.

*

After the recent commotion, Xi Mi had no energy left to argue with Ying Quhe. She had no choice but to accept reality. Sitting back down in front of the hotpot, she set about mixing her own dipping sauce, combining oyster sauce, chopped millet chillies, minced garlic, scallions, diced mustard tuber, and crispy soybeans into a bowl of seasoned oil.

She picked up a piece of tripe with her chopsticks and swirled it in the boiling pot, where rattan peppers and red chillies tumbled amidst rolling bubbles, tossing up droplets of glistening oil. When she withdrew her chopsticks, the tripe was coated in a glossy sheen. She dipped it into her bowl, letting the sauce coat every fold, and took a bite. The crisp, spicy, and savory burst instantly exploded across her taste buds.

Crackle, crackle, crackle…

Behind Xi Mi, it felt as though countless red chillies were bursting like fireworks. The fiery sensation left her craving more. The dipping sauce highlighted the fresh crispness of the ingredients, proving that a tremendous amount of effort had gone into crafting both the broth and the food.

Ying Shi Pavilion lived up to its reputation. Its intense spiciness overshadowed every other flavor, as if no other taste in the world could compare. Xi Mi could not handle food this spicy. Fine beads of glistening sweat broke out on her forehead, a bright flush spread across her fair cheeks, and she puffed and panted to suck in cool air. Yet despite being burned to this degree, she could not resist the urge to keep trying, dropping duck intestines, beef, and chicken gizzards into the hotpot.

Relentlessly adding ingredients and eating with gusto, she temporarily set her grievances aside.

Ying Quhe poured her a glass of chilled herbal tea. She snatched it away in irritation, took a sip, and glared at him. “Scheming jerk. Shameless.”

Having been labeled a “scheming jerk,” Ying Quhe chuckled openly, the curve of his lips impossibly gentle. He pulled out a tissue and held it to her lips, gesturing for her to wipe away the grease around her mouth. “I thought your anger had cooled.”

Xi Mi slapped his hand away. “Is this funny to you? I don’t think it’s funny at all! Get your hand away from me. Who wants your tissue?”

Red handprints flared against the fair back of his hand, contrasting sharply with the pale blue veins beneath his skin.

Xi Mi chewed on a lotus root slice, her neck slightly extended as her eyes darted over. Spotting the red mark on the back of his hand, her fierce expression instantly collapsed. A surge of guilt welled up inside her, mixed with a twinge of heartache.

She wanted to hold his hand and blow gently on it to soothe the pain.

The moment Ying Quhe looked up, she guiltily turned her face away, snapping her glance back and lowering her head to keep fishing food out of the pot.

Her lips were ringed with red chili oil. Ying Quhe kindly reached over to wipe her mouth, but the moment his fingers touched the corner of her lips, she jerked her head away. She scooped up a beef roll on her own, dipped it in millet chilies, and stuffed it into her mouth.

The spiciness of the red oil broth was already more than many people could tolerate. Swallowing several millet chilies in a single bite, Xi Mi choked on the intense heat. Steamed by the hot broth’s vapors, her eyes instantly turned red and filled with tears. She spat out the food in a single burst as her tears broke through all restraint.

She was crying purely from the spice.

Fire burned through Xi Mi’s nasal passages and chest. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, practically breathing fire. The searing chilies left her in agonizing pain, and she clenched her fists and pounded the table with loud thuds.

Ying Quhe quickly poured all the remaining iced tea into the hot pot, grabbed an ice cube, and popped it into Xi Mi’s mouth.

The cold relief made Xi Mi eagerly suck on it. In her rush, she took in the ice cube along with Ying Quhe’s fingers. Though he quickly pulled back his hand, the warmth of his fingertips seemed to linger on the tip of her tongue.

The ice cube melted slowly in her mouth. She sat motionless, tears and snot streaming down uncontrollably.

Fearing she might resist, Ying Quhe held her head still with one hand while using a wet wipe with the other to clean the ring of chili oil around her mouth, then swapped for another tissue to wipe her tears.

*

Ying Quhe had urgent business come up, so he did not head home with Xi Mi.

On the drive home, his assistant Zhou Ming noticed the swollen ring around the girl’s mouth and teased, “How was it? Our boss’s culinary skills are amazing, right? He picked, dried, and processed the chili peppers and rattan pepper himself. Ordinary people never get a chance to eat his hot pot. Only you, his little apprentice, are blessed with such good fortune.”

Xi Mi stared at the back of Zhou Ming’s head, wanting to say something, but swallowed her words back down.

It was already eleven o’clock when she reached home. Only a single wall sconce in the entryway was lit. Taking off her shoes, she did not even bother looking for slippers, walking barefoot deeper into the house by the dim light.

Heading up the stairs to the second floor, she nearly slipped. Luckily, her hand was quick to grab the banister and steady herself, but her foot seemed to kick something. A sharp shatter immediately followed as something broke.

The main lights in the living room suddenly blazed to life. Xi Mi instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes from the blinding glare.

Standing in the entryway downstairs, Ying Quhe took off his suit jacket, hung it on a rack, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, and looked up at her. “Why didn’t you turn on the lights when you came in?”

Xi Mi glanced sideways and saw the Blue and White Vase with Bamboo, Stone, and Plantain Motif resting at the turn of the stairs. It lay on the floor, shattered.

A Daoguang-era^[1] vase worth over a million… it was broken, shattered into pieces…

In an instant, every bit of her confidence drained away. Her lower body felt heavy as lead. The harder she pressed her foot down, the paler her face turned. As she curled her toes, a sharp wave of pain shot through her foot; something had pierced deep into her skin, agonizingly sharp.

Yet the physical pain paled in comparison to the anguish in her heart.

A crushing wave of guilt swept over her, leaving Xi Mi feeling entirely hollowed out.

It felt as though a debt of over a million Yuan was crushing down heavily upon her head.

It was all money, so much money…

Seeing Xi Mi standing dazed on the second floor, Ying Quhe had a bad premonition. He quickly rushed upstairs. Reaching the landing, he saw the floor stained red. Xi Mi stood frozen in place, while the broken vase lay on the ground in a pathetic state of ruin, as if it had finally withered away.

Xi Mi looked at him timidly, her eyelids and lips trembling, her teeth chattering against each other. “I’m… I’m sorry, I… I…”

Guilt and tension made her entire body shake. Ying Quhe assumed she was in severe pain, so he wrapped his arm around her waist, easily carrying her downstairs and setting her on the sofa. He turned to place a call and grab the first-aid kit, needing to disinfect the wound before the doctor arrived.

Looking at the shard embedded in the sole of her foot, Ying Quhe did not dare act recklessly. He raised his eyes and asked her, “Why didn’t you turn on the lights or put on shoes when you went upstairs?”

She stammered for a long while without giving a clear answer. Ying Quhe wiped her wound with a cotton swab, his movements gentle and cautious. “I overestimated your resilience. I regret meeting you tonight; I should have waited until after the competition to tell you. But what’s done is done, so you just have to accept it. Adjust your mindset, do well in the competition in a few days, and bring out the same fierce energy you used to hit me tonight to face the three master chefs of the Traditional Group.”

After finishing that hot pot, her anger had already dissipated; she was just feeling a bit down on the way back. But shattering the vase sent her emotions, which had finally settled down after a turbulent night, tumbling into turmoil once more.

Tonight had been like a roller coaster on the edge of a cliff, thrilling and filled with wild twists.

“It’s really alright,” Ying Quhe comforted, as if reading her worries. “It’s just a vase, not worth much. Zhou Ming picked it up at an antique market for a few hundred Yuan. If it bothers you that much, I can add it to your IOU.”

“QAQ…”

Alcohol seeped into the cut, tearing at the raw flesh as if the cotton swab was churning inside the wound. Xi Mi’s lips turned purple from the intense pain. Ying Quhe stopped immediately and asked softly, “Does it hurt that badly?”

She sucked in a sharp breath, pursing her lips as she shook her head. “Bastard Dao, can you stop trying to scam people? Daoguang era vases are extremely rare. Even if it’s a high-grade fake, there’s no way it would be this cheap.”

Glistening tears welled in Xi Mi’s eyes. Talk about rotten luck.

She let out a sigh, but before she could speak, her ringing phone interrupted her. She glanced at the caller ID, “Bald Boss,” and answered with a faint hello.

No one spoke on the other end, only the sound of a man breathing heavily. After a long pause, a steady male voice came through. “Xi Mi, drop out of the competition and leave Jinyang immediately.”

Xi Mi froze for a moment as she recognized who the voice belonged to.

“F-First Senior Brother?”