In the afternoon, a few senior sisters and brothers came by, sensed that she was cultivating, and turned back, planning to come help her plant vegetables the next day.
Early the next morning, You Yu emerged from cultivation and stir-fried some minced meat sauce for noodles, intending to have minced meat noodles for breakfast this morning.
While waiting for the dough to rest, she went outside for a stroll and saw that the seeds planted just yesterday had already sprouted!
Tiny specks of green dotted the brown soil, a sight that brought joy to the heart.
But wasn’t this a bit too fast?
In her previous life at the orphanage, she had also tended the kindergarten’s plot and knew that even the fastest-sprouting seeds weren’t this quick. Could it be that the seeds here were different?
“Chirp chirp—”
“Tweet tweet—”
She spotted several small birds in the distance pecking at the freshly sprouted shoots.
She hurried over to shoo the birds away, but as soon as she chased them off one side, they came back on the other.
Lingcai was highly attractive to these animals as well.
Watching the birds return after being driven away, she felt somewhat exhausted. She couldn’t possibly stay in the field all day chasing birds, could she?
Maybe she should set up a net to cover the ground?
Wait—she had a Defense Array!
She took out the Defense Array Rong Xuan had given her, dripped blood onto it to bind it, then channeled Lingli into it, controlling the protective barrier to cover the entire field.
The Defense Array emitted a faint mist, making it impossible to see what was inside from outside.
It could conveniently hide all the sprouting seedlings within.
Once the Defense Array was activated, the birds were blocked outside. After a moment, the fragrance of the Lingcai was also sealed off, and the birds flew away.
“So useful!”
You Yu was satisfied and went back to prepare the noodles.
She sent message talismans to her senior brothers and sisters, telling them to come over for breakfast if they had time. She also wanted to ask whether seeds in this world always sprouted this quickly.
Not knowing that she had already planted the seeds, the senior brothers and sisters came over, still intending to help her plant.
Jin Haochen came along as well.
He looked much better than yesterday—his injuries seemed to have healed by more than half.
And that made sense; the senior sister had given him a fourth-grade healing pill!
“Wow, Junior Sister, what did you make today? It smells amazing!” He Fan started asking from the kitchen doorway.
“I stir-fried some minced meat sauce today—we’re having minced meat noodles.” You Yu replied with a smile. “Wait a moment, the noodles will be ready soon.”
Jin Haochen smelled the aroma and once again marveled inwardly—if she were to open a restaurant, there would be nothing left for their Wangyue Lou.
His desire to collaborate with her grew even stronger.
Watching the small figure busying herself at the stove, turning clumps of dough into thin strands of noodles with practiced movements that contrasted sharply with her petite frame…
What a pitiful person she was!
Yesterday, he had overheard Ji Qing and Liao Xing discussing her situation at the You family and learned what kind of life she had lived there. He couldn’t help but sigh along with them.
It was remarkable that she had survived to this day in the You family!
Especially after getting to know You Yu better and hearing her talk about how You Xue’er had tricked her into the mountains to prevent her from taking the sect test, nearly causing her death, his impression of the You family plummeted to rock bottom.
That whole family was no good!
Cooking the noodles was quick—before long, several large bowls of minced meat noodles were ready.
After finishing a bowl of noodles, Jin Haochen decided not to wait any longer.
“Miss You, the food you make is truly delicious.” He said with a smile.
“You flatter me, Young Master Jin. The Jin family runs a restaurant—my humble cooking is nothing compared to that.”
“My family’s restaurant can’t hold a candle to yours. If you opened a restaurant, there’d be nothing left for our Wangyue Lou.” Jin Haochen said, half sincerely, half probing.
You Yu shook her head. “I don’t have the energy to open a restaurant.” She needed to cultivate—where would she find the energy and time to run a restaurant?
Hearing this, Jin Haochen felt reassured. “Miss You, I have an idea. Why don’t we work together? You provide the recipes, I’ll handle everything else—let’s open a new restaurant together. What do you think?”
“Open a restaurant together? A new one?”
“Yes, a new one.” Jin Haochen nodded.
“What about Wangyue Lou?”
“Wangyue Lou is the Jin family’s business.” Jin Haochen said. “If this incident hadn’t happened, perhaps I would have partnered with you through Wangyue Lou. But after everything that’s occurred, I believe I need to have power of my own.”
He had always thought the Jin family had minor flaws but was mostly fine. Who knew that beneath the calm surface lurked so many undercurrents?
So for the first time, he wanted to have a power entirely his own.
You Yu hesitated slightly—after all, this guy would eventually become one of the fish in You Xue’er’s pond.
But she didn’t hesitate for long. After all, his first meeting with You Xue’er was still over a decade away. She might as well make some money in these ten-plus years first.
If he eventually chose to become a fish in You Xue’er’s pond, she would figure out how to handle it then.
At worst, she could withdraw her investment and they’d go their separate ways.
So she laid out her conditions: if she wanted to withdraw her investment, he could not stop her, and he would have to give her half of the assets.
Jin Haochen agreed as well. After all, once they cooperated, her recipes would naturally become his. If she withdrew her investment later, he could still continue operating the restaurant on his own.
So he also proposed a condition: if she were to withdraw her investment, she must allow the restaurant to continue operating.
From then on, the two reached an agreement and immediately drew up a contract: You Yu would provide the recipes, he would provide everything else, and profits would be split fifty-fifty. No matter how many branches he opened in the future, even if they spread across the entire continent, the profits would be divided according to this arrangement.
“I need to contact my people first. It may take some time before they can come to learn the culinary skills,” Jin Haochen said.
“That works out well, since I need to research the recipes too,” You Yu replied. “I haven’t seen many dishes before. I did pack up quite a few dishes from Wangyue Lou last time, but I need to study how to make them taste better first.”
Jin Haochen remembered what He Fan and the others had said about her never having eaten anything good before, and how she didn’t even recognize those Lingcai dishes. He felt a pang of sympathy for her, having endured so much hardship at such a young age.
He took out a thick book and said, “This book is an illustrated guide to Lingcai, covering the vast majority of them.”
You Yu took it and looked—it was actually an illustrated reference with both pictures and text, introducing not only the Lingcai but also their growth habits.
Isn’t this exactly what she needed?!
Her eyes lit up as she looked at him. “Can I borrow this book?”
“No need to borrow—it’s yours,” Jin Haochen said generously.
“Then thank you very much.”
Jin Haochen felt a little sorry for this young girl. He thought her former family had treated her terribly—she only thought of borrowing such a worthless book, which showed how hard her life had been.
The You family’s reputation in his eyes sank even further.
Because she needed to finalize the dishes, You Yu didn’t cultivate much over the following days. Apart from going daily to deliver Mulingli to the herbs in the medicine garden, she spent all her other time researching recipes.
Jin Haochen also stayed there every day, watching her study the unfamiliar Lingcai while pondering over recipes.
Watching You Yu ponder over ingredients she was seeing for the first time and then produce delicious dishes, he couldn’t help but feel admiration for her.