Chapter 407: Chapter 394: No Door

“Don’t worry about this, take a break and sit down. I’ll pour you a cup of tea.”

As Ma Tong spoke, he put the vegetables he was holding on the ground, wiped his hands on his apron, and was about to go and pour Zhuang Qingning some tea.

“Don’t bother, look how busy you are. I just came over from the shop and have already had tea. I’m not thirsty and I’m not an outsider, so don’t stand on ceremony.”

Zhuang Qingning hastily replied, “I will help you with the vegetables. We can finish work earlier and have more time to chat.”

“We understand what Miss Zhuang means,” Lian Rong raised his eyebrows, “but you mustn’t help us. If you don’t want to drink tea, just sit down and rest…”

If Zhang Yongchang saw Zhuang Qingning working here, he would definitely give them a lot of criticism.

The key is that being scolded is one thing, but they may not be able to have a share of the delicious fairy chicken during lunch – that’s the worst part.

So, under no circumstances could they let Zhuang Qingning work!

“Yeah.” Ma Tong, seeing Lian Rong winking at him repeatedly, immediately understood his intentions and agreed, “Miss Zhuang, you should take a rest for us.”

With things made clear up to this point, Zhuang Qingning naturally understood what was going on, so she reluctantly put down the vegetable leaves in her hand, “Where is Uncle Zhang?”

“He is…” Before Lian Rong could finish speaking, a hearty laughter and conversation was heard from outside.

Chai Zhengzhen and Zhang Yongchang came back from the outside, and they both looked delighted when they saw Zhuang Qingning.

“Manager Zhuang?”

“Zhuang Qingning?”

“Manager Chai, Uncle Zhang.” Zhuang Qingning greeted them with a beaming smile, and picked up her bamboo basket, “I made some mooncakes at home and brought them for you.”

“Thank you so much, Manager Zhuang. You’re being too kind…” Chai Zhengzhen took the bamboo basket from Zhuang Qingning with a smile on his face.

“Huh, you still know to bring mooncakes?”

Zhang Yongchang snorted coldly, looking at Zhuang Qingning with a disgruntled face and started to accuse her, “You remember there’s a cook like me in Ruyi Pavilion?”

“I thought you’d been so busy doing business lately that you’ve completely forgotten about me.”

“I must tell you, I’m angry because you didn’t even bother to look at me these days. This is not a trivial matter.”

“You think you can get rid of me with a basket of mooncakes? No way!”

Not only is there no way, but there’s also no window!

This time, he was genuinely angry.

Seeing how angry Zhang Yongchang was, Chai Zhengzhen instantly shrank his neck. He didn’t know whether to put down or hold the bamboo basket that was in his hand. After a long thought, Chai Zhengzhen clenched the bamboo basket with both hands and started to back away slowly, until he was far away from Zhang Yongchang. He was afraid of being innocently implicated if something happened.

Lian Rong and Ma Tong on the side were doing the same, their heads hanging low, and they were praying silently in their hearts, “You can’t see us; it’s none of our business…”

At the same time, they were also a bit worried for Zhuang Qingning.

They knew how harsh Zhang Yongchang could be when he was angry. If Zhuang Qingning got scolded, she would definitely lose face.

They truly hoped that Zhang Yongchang could be more lenient with the girl. Oh no, I mean… be less harsh with his words.

But Zhuang Qingning just blinked her eyes.

She had guessed that Zhang Yongchang would be unhappy with her for not visiting Ruyi Pavilion recently, but she hadn’t expected Zhang Yongchang to actually be angry.

“If…”

Zhuang Qingning suddenly burst into laughter, “if one basket of mooncakes isn’t enough, how about two baskets?”

“If that’s still not enough, we can do three baskets, four baskets…”

Zhang Yongchang never expected Zhuang Qingning to respond so cheekily. Even his anger turned into laughter, “Zhuang Qingning, you cheeky girl…”

His laughter immediately warmed up the chilly atmosphere that had been lingering in the room.

Lian Rong and Ma Tong exchanged glances, and relaxed at the same time, although their faces were still aggrieved.

What were they thinking? Could they ever compare with Zhuang Qingning?

People are different from people, they would probably never be cared for by Zhang Yongchang in the same way in their entire lifetime…

Sigh…

After laughing, Zhang Yongchang saw Zhuang Qingning’s excited expression and immediately felt that his behavior just now was too impotent. He hurriedly stopped smiling, wanting to put a serious expression back on his face.

“Alright, I came to see Uncle Zhang today for a meal. Since I’m here, Uncle Zhang must show off his culinary skills.” Zhuang Qingning was still in a joking mood.

“Glutton!”

Zhang Yongchang cursed jokingly. His face couldn’t help but light up with a smile. “However, I have developed a few new dishes recently. I will be making fairy chicken for lunch. You can try it later.”

“You sent over some sweet potato glass noodles. I cooked ‘Ants climbing a tree’ according to your instructions and everyone said it tastes good. You should try it.”

“And, I fried some noodle balls. I’ll use these balls to make a bowl of meatball soup for you at lunch…”

“It’s absolutely the right call to come for lunch with Uncle Zhang today.” Zhuang Qingning gave a broad smile, “But I can’t have lunch for free. Let me help pick up the vegetables, and see how Uncle Zhang cooks these dishes?”

“Regardless, I need to find some way to keep you working.” Zhang Yongchang grumpily gave her a look, picked up the small basket next to him, “You can peel some garlic for me. I want to make some garlic sauce. Manager Chai said he got a basket of river crabs. I’ll stir fry some garlic crabs for lunch.”

“Sure!” Zhuang Qingning grinned and moved a small bench over to peel the garlic.

Zhang Yongchang went to the kitchen to work.

Lian Rong and Ma Tong were overjoyed that they might have a chance to eat a crab at lunch.

Only Chai Zhengzhen, who was still holding the small bamboo basket and standing by the wall, was completely forgotten…

Fine, if no one cares about me, I will care about myself.

First see how many mooncakes there are, and then figure out how to distribute them to the guys…

– – – – –

Meanwhile, Zhuang Qingsui, Zhang Qiuying, and Zhang Qiuyue had been wandering the streets for half an hour before they decided to walk back to the shop.

Each of them was carrying lots of things in their hands.

Fried dough twists, sesame candy, candied hawthorn, egg yolk crisps, and freshly cooked roasted chestnuts were among the items.

Seeing Zhang Qiuying’s somewhat helpless expression, Mrs. Cao knew that the money must have come from Zhuang Qingsui, and that Zhang Qiuying had tried to stop her, but she hadn’t succeeded.