When Mu Jinyu heard Wen Rou's answer, he became unhappy and said discontentedly, "So from the beginning to the end, you never really had confidence in me? Did you think that whenever I dealt with those places, I was more likely to fail than succeed?"
Wen Rou's pretty face blushed slightly as she quickly set down the food she was handling and waved her hands, saying, "No, I didn't mean that, I believe you would definitely succeed, but I still can't help but worry a little."
"That's more like it." Mu Jinyu's expression eased a bit, and he walked over to glance at the ingredients Wen Rou was organizing. He said, "It's getting late, let's eat here, just give me a bowl of rice, radish pork rib soup, and some greens on the side."
"Okay, then you go out first, I'll make it right away," Wen Rou said with a smile, nodding her head.
She didn't ask whether Mu Jinyu had resolved any troubles in his outing; she merely thought about how Mu Jinyu had spent the morning running around for her and must be hungry, so she should prepare lunch for him.
Mu Jinyu nodded and didn't think to stay in the kitchen and make trouble, so he went out and waited in the hall.
Soon, Mu Jinyu hadn't been waiting long when Wen Rou brought over the dishes he had ordered.
She even added a few more dishes.
Pork belly with preserved mustard, minced meat with eggplant, sweet and sour pork ribs...
Mu Jinyu didn't say anything when he saw the dishes; after all, it was just a bit of money. For him now, worth hundreds of millions, it was no big deal.
After serving the dishes to him, Wen Rou, carrying the tray, was ready to head back to the kitchen to continue organizing the ingredients,
Mu Jinyu grabbed the ties of her apron and called out, "Hey, don't go back to work yet. You probably haven't had lunch either, right? I can't finish these dishes by myself, so come and sit down to eat with me."
Wen Rou turned around, her face slightly flushed as she gently freed her apron ties from Mu Jinyu's grasp, softly saying, "Hmm, wait for me, I'll go wash my hands."
Having said this, she carried her tray back to the kitchen to wash her hands.
Mu Jinyu sat at the table, pondering whether her refusal to refuse outright but going to the kitchen to work meant she wouldn't come out at all?!
It really didn't matter much to him anyway.
One persuasion was enough. If she refused, he had no intention of persistently hounding her; he was not a lackey, nor was he planning to chase after her, so why degrade himself?
Shaking his head slightly, Mu Jinyu picked up his chopsticks, ready to eat.
Then he saw Wen Rou genuinely come out after washing her hands and untie her apron.
"Oh," Mu Jinyu uttered in surprise as he saw Wen Rou come out.
After all, in his view, although Wen Rou seemed gentle and frail, she was actually very self-respecting and wouldn't easily accept others' kindness.
He had only called out casually, originally thinking her return to the kitchen was a polite refusal, but unexpectedly, she really came out.
'It seems that I hold quite a significant place in her heart.' Mu Jinyu couldn't help feeling a bit smug internally.
"Come on, eat, don't be polite with me," Mu Jinyu said, waiting for Wen Rou to sit down and inviting her to eat. After speaking, he suddenly felt a bit odd.
After all, these dishes were prepared by Wen Rou, yet he was inviting her to eat as if he were the host, which felt somewhat peculiar.
But, it was perfectly normal since he was paying for the meal.
Mu Jinyu suppressed the strangeness in his heart and did not urge Wen Rou to eat anymore, starting to enjoy his meal with slow, satisfying bites.
While Mu Jinyu and Wen Rou were having lunch together,
the neighbors in the small alley had their lunchtime and were preparing to go to a nearby small restaurant to address their hunger. When they reached the front of Wen Rou's small restaurant, they unconsciously stopped in their tracks.
In the past, when they solved the lunch problem, they always came to this small restaurant owned by Wen Rou.
After all, the food cooked there was fresh and delicious, and any leftovers that couldn't be sold were given to the stray dogs and cats nearby; they would never keep them overnight to cheat their customers.
Plus, they felt sorry for the young girl: her mother had disappeared, her father had jumped to his death, and the grandmother who had raised her had also passed away. She was alone, shouldering her father's gambling debts. As neighbors, they would take care of her at least a little.
But since last week, those thugs from the Snow Hidden Association had set their sights on the young Wen Rou and began causing trouble everywhere. Anyone who dared to support her business got beaten up, preventing them from dining there and forcing them to switch to another local eatery, a rather poor one.
The taste and prices at that poor eatery just couldn't compare with Wen Rou's.
This made them somewhat nostalgic for the days when they used to eat at Wen Rou's restaurant.
So, whenever they came to Wen Rou's restaurant, their steps would involuntarily hesitate for a moment.
They stopped walking and unconsciously peeked into the restaurant. They had expected to see the young Wen Rou sitting stubbornly behind the counter with a pale face, her eyes filled with hope as she awaited customers who hardly ever came.
But unexpectedly, Wen Rou was not sitting alone as before; she was eating at a dining table in the main hall, sitting together with a young man.
Seeing this, their eyes widened in surprise.
Hmm? Who was that young man? Was he a relative of Wen Rou?
Probably not. She likely didn't have any relatives who would come to help her, right?
A classmate?
That didn't seem likely either, as the boy appeared a few years younger than Wen Rou and more like a high school student.
So was he just an uninformed customer who couldn't resist coming in for a meal after seeing Wen Rou's beauty?
They guessed that was the case. Usually, there were such people who came for Wen Rou, their real intentions not on the food itself.
But ever since those thugs started showing up, those people didn't dare to come anymore, and those who did, having been beaten once, had learned their lesson.
The neighbors and locals, seeing Mu Jinyu and Wen Rou eating together, noticed that Mu Jinyu was young and handsome, behaving respectfully during the meal. They hesitated whether they should warn him to stop eating and leave quickly before the reckless thugs showed up. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to just walk away.
Most people were too timid to speak up for fear of bringing trouble upon themselves, but one auntie, quite fond of Mu Jinyu, finally couldn't help but call out, "Hey, Xiaorou, how come you're letting someone eat here today?"
In her memory, Wen Rou was quite careful; during the times when the thugs were known to make trouble, even if there were unwitting guests who came to eat, she would send them away to avoid involving them.
And now, it was lunchtime, which was exactly when the thugs might show up to cause trouble.
Why was she letting Mu Jinyu eat there today?
When Wen Rou heard the aunt's shout, she looked up and saw many of her neighbors peeking around the entrance. She smiled slightly and said, "Auntie, it's okay. He's a friend of mine. I invited him to eat, and he'll leave soon after we finish. There won't be any trouble."
"You invited me to eat?" upon hearing this, Mu Jinyu paused from eating.
Wasn't he supposed to be treating her to a meal? How had it become her treating him?
Oh, he hadn't paid yet; that's right. No wonder she cooked extra dishes and didn't awkwardly refuse but instead sat down openly to eat with him. It seemed she had planned to invite him for a meal.
While Mu Jinyu was pondering this, the aunt suddenly called out in a low, anxious voice:
"Oh no, those people are coming again, Xiaorou, you should let this young man hide somewhere quickly, or else it could be really troublesome."