While settling into his new home that evening, Shi Yuan ran into a neighbor. The neighbor was tall and burly, and seeing Shi Yuan struggling alone with the child, kindly offered to help move his luggage.
Shi Yuan thanked him repeatedly. After getting the house in order and everything stabilized, life gradually settled into a routine.
He needed to start thinking about finding a part-time job.
The school offered many top-tier internship opportunities for graduates, but after careful consideration, Shi Yuan decided not to apply. He still had Cai Tou with him and couldn’t leave the little one home alone.
Most importantly, he urgently needed money.
If possible, he wanted to support Cai Tou on his own rather than relying on Uncle He.
After all, he couldn’t depend on Uncle He forever.
Ideally, he’d find a part-time job that allowed him to bring Cai Tou along and paid well. Such jobs were hard to come by, but not impossible.
Shi Yuan thought of the older sister he’d met on the plane.
While collecting their luggage, he noticed she had a lot of bags and proactively helped her pull some. As fellow countrymen striving in a foreign land, she was very grateful and exchanged contact information with him before parting ways: “I’m here to work as a postpartum nanny for a Chinese family. Seeing you raising a child alone isn’t easy—if there’s anything I can help with, don’t hesitate to reach out.”
Shi Yuan thought for a moment, took out his phone, and sent her a message, asking if she knew of any suitable part-time opportunities she could recommend.
She replied instantly.
She knew a local British employer whose family had just welcomed a newborn. The entire family loved Chinese culture and wanted to hire a Chinese chef at a high salary, specifically to design postpartum nutrition meals for the new mother.
Shi Yuan’s eyes lit up.
After two full years of meticulous feeding by He Jingchuan, no one understood postpartum nutrition meals better than he did.
“This really is perfect for you,” the older sister said. “The employer has their own chef for weekdays. You’d only need to go on weekends to plan and design the menu for the following week. If there are dishes with special preparation methods, you can either make them yourself or teach their chef.”
Shi Yuan nodded immediately. “Sis, I’d like to give it a try.”
She sent him the address and asked him to come for a trial meal on Saturday.
Shi Yuan noted the information and, when the weekend arrived, set off with Cai Tou three hours early, boarding a bus.
The employer introduced by the older sister was quite wealthy, living near Hampshire, a famous affluent area in England.
Two hours later, father and son arrived in Hampshire. Shi Yuan found an outdoor park, took out the bread and milk bottle he’d prepared in advance, and sat down with Cai Tou for a snack.
Once they reached the employer’s house, it wouldn’t be easy to grab a bite.
Cai Tou sipped his milk in small gulps, his eyes curving into happy crescents. “Baby is full.”
Shi Yuan bit into his bread, nudging Cai Tou’s little head with his own, and mumbled praise, “Boss Cai is so good.”
A few nearby residents were jogging in the park.
Shi Yuan looked at Cai Tou. “Baby, Daddy’s tired from looking at the navigation. Can you help Daddy ask those uncles and aunties for directions later?”
Cai Tou had an exceptional talent for language. He’d started calling “Daddy” at ten months old, and while other children his age—one and a half years old—still stumbled over their words, Cai Tou spoke quite fluently.
However, Shi Yuan noticed that Cai Tou’s skill points were all invested in Chinese—no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t teach him English.
Taking advantage of their time in England, it was the perfect opportunity to let him practice in a language-rich environment.
“Okay, Dad.” Caicai nodded his little head.
Shi Yuan put down the bread, wiped his hands, and picked up his phone to check the navigation.
The employer’s residence should be a left turn from their current location, about a ten-minute walk away.
He pulled Caicai over and taught him the English phrases for asking directions, word by word. Then he said, “Remember what I just taught you? In a moment, go find an uncle or auntie by the roadside and ask them the way I showed you.”
Caicai felt proud that he could help his dad solve a big problem, puffing out his little chest. “I remember, Dad!”
“Go on, go on.” Shi Yuan smiled and waved at him.
Caicai toddled off on his short legs, pattering over to a muscular uncle passing by. Seeing such a pretty baby with Asian heritage, the man immediately became very friendly.
From a distance, Shi Yuan couldn’t hear what they were saying. He only saw Caicai gesturing animatedly with the uncle, then toddling back on his short legs, pattering all the way.
Shi Yuan was a bit surprised. Was it really that smooth?
Caicai ran up to Shi Yuan. “Dad, the uncle said we should go to the right.”
Shi Yuan was taken aback.
Huh? Wasn’t it left?
“Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong, sweetie?” Shi Yuan asked hesitantly.
Caicai seriously recalled the conversation.
He had asked the uncle if they should turn left to get to the address the employer gave.
The uncle had answered “right.”
“Right” obviously meant the right side.
It completely slipped his mind that before replying “right,” the uncle had also nodded his head.
“No mistake,” Caicai said with certainty. “The uncle said ‘right’ himself, Dad. We need to go right.”
Shi Yuan was convinced, thinking maybe the navigation wasn’t updated. A local resident wouldn’t give wrong directions.
He packed up their things and, without looking back, headed with Caicai down the small path to the right.
After walking for about ten minutes, a massive estate appeared before them.
Caicai couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, it’s so big, Dad!”
Shi Yuan was also stunned. The estate looked like it was at least a few hundred years old.
At that very moment, inside the Cavendish family’s main estate in Hampshire, the old butler, Baker, was fretting.
The old duke had recently taken a sudden interest in hiring a Chinese chef. After a whole month of searching, he hadn’t found anyone suitable. Today, another batch of applicants was due to arrive, and the old butler wasn’t optimistic—it would likely be the same as before.
In his opinion, the young master’s cooking was actually quite good. However, since graduating, the young duke had moved to the Mayfair residence, busy managing the family’s businesses and rarely returned. Only recently, to humor the old duke, had he been visiting more frequently—at least once a week.
The old butler slowly realized the truth.
The old duke wasn’t really looking for a Chinese chef. He was simply lonely and wanted an excuse to have Hawthorne visit him more often.
But the old duke had forbidden them from telling the young master.
So the search for a Chinese chef had to continue as usual, even if it was just for show.
Just then, a thought suddenly crossed the old butler’s mind: If the old duke had a grandson to look after, wouldn’t he have someone to talk to?
As he was thinking this, outside the estate gates, a fair-skinned beauty with black hair and amber eyes, holding a snowball-like little child, arrived at the door.
The beauty spoke in fluent, clear British English, her voice soft and gentle. “Hello, I’m here to apply for the chef position.”
The old butler glanced at Shi Yuan’s unfamiliar face and checked the list. He wasn’t one of the applicants who had submitted resumes in advance—most likely, he had come to the wrong place.
Just as he was about to politely decline, the beautiful man spoke again, “I’m sorry, would you mind if I brought my baby along for the interview? He’s very well-behaved and won’t cause any trouble.”
The old butler was taken aback, only then noticing the little child standing on the ground.
It was fine until he looked, but once he did, he was utterly shocked.
This child was the spitting image of young master Hawthorne as a boy!
The old butler’s heart raced, and an unreliable thought uncontrollably sprang to mind. Fearing that the father and son might slip away, he quickly ushered them into the back kitchen.
If they could satisfy the old duke, not only could they work with the child, but the father and son could even move in directly!
Shi Yuan deftly tied on an apron, marveling at how the kitchen here was larger than his own living room. Using the pre-prepared ingredients, he swiftly and skillfully prepared a trial meal.
Whether it tasted good or not wasn’t important—what mattered was that it was nutritious enough.
The old butler watched the knife skills, the technique, and the presentation, nodding repeatedly in approval.
He had no idea that this was the very “leftover student meal” his own young master had once certified as having only passable knife skills!
The old butler presented the dish to the old duke as if offering a treasure.
The old duke eyed the butler suspiciously.
Seeing the butler’s beaming, triumphant expression, could it be that this chef truly had some extraordinary talent?
Skeptical yet curious, he lifted the lid. The dish’s appearance was indeed impressive, looking quite appetizing. Reassured, the old duke boldly took a bite.
The next second, he grabbed a snow-white handkerchief, covered his mouth, and spat out everything he had just eaten.
He had never tasted such awful food in his entire life!
The old butler hadn’t expected it to be this bad, but he remained unshaken, confidently offering his trump card: “Master, I suggest you still hire this chef. I believe once you see him, you’ll change your mind.”
“Nonsense,” the old duke scoffed. “What kind of person haven’t I seen before? In the past, I—”
Then he saw Shi Yuan, led in by the butler, holding the little child in his arms.
The old duke’s cutlery fell to the floor.
Damn it, this was clearly his grandson!