Amidst the chaos, the door to the break room was pushed open from the inside.
Shen Zhili walked out.
Her face was icy as she swept a glance over the boys who were laughing and roughhousing, then walked directly to Jiang Xianzhuo’s side and said, “Let go.”
Jiang Xianzhuo’s grip on Li Junye’s wrist paused.
He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with suppressed fury.
“Stay out of this,” he ground out through clenched teeth, his voice low and heavy.
But Shen Zhili ignored him.
She reached out directly, covering the back of his hand where veins bulged from the force he was exerting, then pried his fingers off Li Junye’s wrist one by one.
Her fingertips were soft, their touch delicate.
Jiang Xianzhuo’s fingers were forced to loosen.
Li Junye clutched his nearly broken wrist, scrambling backward several steps in a panic, his expression a mix of shock and rage.
“Miss… Miss Shen? What are you doing here?”
Shen Zhili didn’t answer his question.
She took a step back, creating a perfect distance for action.
Then, lifting her foot in flat shoes, she aimed and, with all her strength, delivered a flying kick.
Right into Li Junye’s demon pill between his legs.
“Agh!!”
This cry was a hundred times more agonizing than the previous one.
Li Junye doubled over in pain like a shrimp, collapsing backward, where his stunned lackeys fumbled to catch him.
Blinded by the pain, he clutched his vital area and, without thinking, pointed at Shen Zhili and roared, “Shen Zhili! You crazy woman! What the hell are you doing?!”
“Watch your tone.”
Shen Zhili replied lightly, slowly retracting her leg with an elegance that made it seem as though she had merely kicked aside a pebble on the roadside.
“If you’re unhappy with me, you can go complain to your dad, and then have him complain to my dad.”
Li Junye’s eyelids twitched violently.
Have his dad complain to Shen Zhili’s dad?
Ha! He’d probably get his legs broken and be locked up before he could even finish explaining.
Li Junye grimaced in pain, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
He remembered the task he’d been given, then looked at Shen Zhili standing before him like a female demon, and his heart sank halfway.
Today’s plan was likely ruined.
Who would’ve thought this woman would be here?
Why wasn’t she playing the young lady in her villa? What was she doing in this rundown convenience store?
And dressed so plainly—a black hoodie and jeans. If it weren’t for her strikingly beautiful face, he might not have recognized her earlier.
Pale-faced, Li Junye growled at the lackey beside him, “Help me up.”
Only when Shen Zhili saw the arrogance on his face completely extinguished did she turn to the middle-aged woman behind the counter, who was utterly terrified.
“Auntie, how much do all the damaged items add up to?”
The woman hadn’t yet recovered from the chaos, numbly pulling out a calculator and trembling as she pressed a few buttons.
“A-about… over two thousand…”
Shen Zhili nodded, took out her phone, and scanned the payment code on the counter.
Transfer: three thousand.
“Alipay payment received: three thousand yuan.”
As the notification sounded, the woman’s eyes widened.
Li Junye was dumbfounded too.
“You…”
Shen Zhili put away her phone, her gaze coldly falling upon him.
“This three thousand, I’ll pay it for you.”
She took a step forward, stopping in front of Li Junye, looking at him with arrogance in her eyes.
“But the money, you have to pay me back.”
“Before school ends tomorrow, three thousand yuan, not a cent less, transfer it to this account.”
“Otherwise, I’ll come to your house myself to collect it.”
As Shen Zhili spoke, she opened her payment QR code again and held the phone screen in front of Li Junye.
“Take a picture of it.”
Li Junye’s face turned from pale to red, then from red to ashen. His fingers clenched his phone tightly, unable to utter a word for a long time.
This was blatant humiliation.
But in the end, under Shen Zhili’s icy stare, he reluctantly took out his phone and snapped a picture of the QR code.
Seeing that he had taken the photo, Shen Zhili put her phone back in her pocket. Without another glance at them, she turned and walked back to Jiang Xianzhuo’s side.
“What are you standing there for? Close up.”
Jiang Xianzhuo stared at her for a few seconds.
His deep eyes were turbulent with emotions, complex and hard to decipher.
Finally, he silently walked to the convenience store entrance and flipped the “Open” sign hanging on the glass door.
“Closed for the Day.”
Li Junye snapped out of it and immediately had his lackeys help him up. The group scurried away from the scene in disgrace.
The convenience store fell quiet.
The middle-aged woman was still stunned behind the cash register. It took her a while to regain her composure, and she repeatedly thanked Shen Zhili.
“Miss, thank you so much…”
“It’s fine.”
Shen Zhili casually waved her hand and asked if she needed help cleaning up.
The middle-aged woman had overcharged her by 500 yuan and felt a bit embarrassed, so she quickly said no, she could handle it herself.
Only then did Shen Zhili turn to look at Jiang Xianzhuo standing by the door.
“Keep cooking.”
Jiang Xianzhuo stood with his back to her at the door, unmoving.
Shen Zhili walked over and nudged him in the back.
“Why aren’t you moving? Reliving the moment?”
Jiang Xianzhuo stiffened and finally turned around.
Those beautiful eyes were now filled with an indescribable complexity.
“Did you remember something?”
His tone was light, yet it carried an inexplicable sense of heaviness.
Shen Zhili was taken aback, somewhat confused. “Huh? Remember what?”
But to her surprise, as soon as she said this, Jiang Xianzhuo’s face immediately turned cold.
“So you were just pitying me?”
“Or… finding it amusing?”
Hearing the chill in his tone, Shen Zhili felt that familiar irritation flare up again.
“Yes, pitying you. I just love pitying deadpan faces.”
“I’m a helpful person. I want to go to heaven.”
With that, she couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on him. She turned and walked back to the break room to continue fiddling with the ingredients she had brought.
Jiang Xianzhuo paused for a moment.
He stood there, watching her angry retreating figure, and fell silent for a few more seconds.
In the end, he still took a step and followed her inside.
He picked up the heavy kitchen knife again and resumed the task he had left unfinished.
Shen Zhili stood to the side, quietly watching him.
Jiang Xianzhuo worked quickly—slicing the duck, blanching the ribs, adding the seasonings one by one into the pot.
The single induction cooktop didn’t have high heat, but he adjusted it well. Soon, the entire break room was filled with an aroma that made one’s mouth water.
Shen Zhili breathed in the familiar scent, her throat involuntarily moving.
So fragrant.
This was exactly the smell.
It was the flavor she cherished most in the depths of her memory.
Unfortunately, the Jiang Xianzhuo of now would no longer look up and smile at her when she entered the kitchen.
Nor would he touch the tip of her nose with flour-dusted fingers…
He would no longer immediately set aside his work to cook her a bowl of noodles whenever she said she was hungry.