Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots-Chapter 1503 - 318, Gossip (Second Update)

"Lin Yuan, I challenge you to a competition! Ahhhhh! You look down on me, you only compete with Drunken Immortal Tower and ignore me! I want to compete with you, Lin Yuan, ahhhhhh!"

The voice outside was still Cheng Haoxuan calling out loudly, attracting the attention of many customers eating in Dong Tian who looked over here.

Lin Yuan frowned, unconcerned with what the customers thought, and slammed the door shut with a ’snap’, huffing in displeasure.

Xia Zheng chuckled, prompting Lin Yuan to give him a sidelong glance: "What, I’m so annoyed by him and you can still laugh? Is it funny? Is it amusing?"

Xia Zheng sheepishly touched his nose; though laughing at Lin Yuan was a bit inappropriate, her exchange with Cheng Haoxuan was indeed quite entertaining.

"Well, cough cough, why don’t you just take the guy as your apprentice? After all, you only have Xiao He as a disciple, one more wouldn’t be too many." Xia Zheng raised his eyebrows, suggesting the idea of taking on an apprentice as casually as discussing what to eat for the next meal.

Lin Yuan rolled her eyes angrily and plopped back into her chair: "Is taking on an apprentice that easy? Have you seen who’s behind him? Do you think Madam Cheng would agree to me taking him on as an apprentice? I don’t want to be hunted down by Madam Cheng all over the city!"

To say ’hunted down’ was an exaggeration; with Madam Cheng’s gentle temperament, she probably wouldn’t hunt her down in the streets, though an awkward confrontation was certain.

However, the conversation made Lin Yuan quite curious.

"Isn’t Cheng Haoxuan Madam Cheng’s adopted son? I heard that Madam Cheng dotes on him a lot, and even hid him away when he was young to prevent others from bullying him. If she dotes on him that much, why won’t she let him learn culinary skills? Learning them wouldn’t affect his ability to take over Red Smoke Pavilion, right!"

Xia Zheng’s eyes rolled uncertainly as he spoke: "If you put it that way, I seem to have heard something about Madam Cheng when she was younger."

"Oh?" Lin Yuan’s eyes immediately lit up with intrigue at the scent of something unusual.

Seeing her gossipy look, Xia Zheng burst into laughter, couldn’t help teasing her: "When did you switch from being a little money-grubber to a little gossip? We don’t have a Liuzi here in Dong Tian!"

Liuzi was known as the biggest gossip in Rice Flower Fragrance, and Lin Yuan had heard all about Mo Sanniang’s and Xie Zhiyuan’s affairs from him. She hadn’t expected to develop a flair for gossip after arriving in the Capital city.

Lin Yuan laughed sheepishly and scooted closer to Xia Zheng, nudging him with her elbow and blinking: "Stop talking about me, we were discussing Madam Cheng’s issues, weren’t we? Tell me, what exactly is the story?"

Xia Zheng tapped her forehead with his hand and smiled: "I heard this from someone else, too. They say that when Madam Cheng was young, she had a lover who was an exceptionally talented chef. It’s said that the two were discussing marriage, but then something happened to the chef, who either died or left, and never came back. After that, Madam Cheng fell seriously ill and vanished from the public eye. It wasn’t until two years later that she suddenly reappeared in the Capital city and single-handedly established Red Smoke Pavilion."

Indeed, it was a love wound.

Lin Yuan couldn’t help but sigh, thinking that only after a woman experiences heartbreaking events does she become even stronger. It seemed that Madam Cheng truly cared for that chef, it’s just unfortunate that the man didn’t seem to love her as much as she thought.

"What a jerk!" Lin Yuan couldn’t help feeling indignant on behalf of Madam Cheng, her delicate little nose twitching with anger.

Although I don’t know exactly what a "scumbag" means, by looking at Lin Yuan’s disgusted expression, Xia Zheng could still guess that it definitely wasn’t a compliment.

Xia Zheng was torn between laughter and tears. He pulled her into his embrace, pinched her bulging little nose, and chuckled, "How can outsiders know the details of others’ affairs? You only see Madam Cheng deeply hurt by that man, without really knowing what happened. Maybe that chef already had a family, and it was Madam Cheng who appeared later."

Lin Yuan seemed to catch on to something, her eyes widening as she asked, "What are you saying? Could it be, you’ve heard something else?"

Xia Zheng raised an eyebrow, "It’s not what I heard, but later on, someone saw Cheng Haoxuan and speculated that he is the biological son of Madam Cheng and that chef. However, there are also people who think that the son might be the child of the chef and his legal wife. They might have met with some misfortune, leaving an orphan to be taken care of by Madam Cheng."

After a pause, Xia Zheng continued, "There are many different stories, but regardless of what others say, Madam Cheng acts as if she has heard nothing and never responds. Besides, since she is friends with many ladies of distinguished families in the Capital city, people also slowly stopped daring to gossip, so Cheng Haoxuan probably hasn’t heard any of these rumors, and considers himself simply as an adopted child."

No wonder Xia Zheng previously mentioned hiding Cheng Haoxuan to avoid disturbance. So he was actually trying to spare the child from hearing these rumors!

At first, Lin Yuan was somewhat baffled by Madam Cheng’s interference with Cheng Haoxuan and Tian Xuan’s matters, but now she understood a bit more. Only a child raised with such care would be somebody that one would hope could do better!

Nonetheless, no matter what, Lin Yuan still hoped Madam Cheng would accept Tian Xuan, not to use her own standards to choose a partner for her son. After all, children have their own blessings. It would be best to let the child make his own choice.

As the two were talking, they heard someone pacing back and forth at the door, with footsteps indicating hesitation about whether to enter or not.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked in a raised voice, "Who’s outside?"

Startled by Lin Yuan’s sudden call, the person outside paused their steps. However, not long after, someone knocked on the door, "Miss, it’s me. Your servant has a request to make."

It was Shui Xian.

Xia Zheng raised an eyebrow, a hint of puzzlement in his eyes.

But Lin Yuan had already told her to come in.

After Shui Xian entered and closed the door, she paid her respects and then said with her head lowered, "Miss, your servant, your servant has a request."

Lin Yuan was always very generous to servants, and she immediately said with a smile, "What’s all this talk about requests? Just speak if you have something on your mind."

Shui Xian nodded, and cautiously said, "Miss, my mother is unwell. I would like, like to ask for an advance on one month’s silver to seek medical treatment for her and buy some nourishing supplements."

So it was about an advance on her pay. Lin Yuan smiled, very amiably responding, "Is it serious? Does she need the young miss to have a look at her?"

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