Chapter 413: You’re Not Thinking of Reneging on the Debt, Are You?

Jiang Ying pushed the door open and walked to Fu Cheng’s bedside, stopping there. They hadn’t seen each other for a few days, and she looked a bit haggard.

"Fu Cheng, I’ve been thinking for days. I told myself not to care too much, but I still feel awful." A long-suppressed grievance was stuck in her chest, and Jiang Ying felt like crying the moment she started speaking. "Why did you have me replaced?"

’She secretly had a guess as to the reason, but unless Fu Cheng admitted it himself, she just couldn’t let it go.’

Fu Cheng fell silent for a moment. "I heard you were originally responsible for another patient?"

"I had already explained it to her, and besides, her observation period was almost over."

"Oh, really? Then it seems I was mistaken."

A flicker of hope ignited in Jiang Ying’s heart. "Then let me continue as the doctor monitoring your case. She’s fully recovered and no longer needs observation."

"That won’t be necessary," Fu Cheng refused. "I still feel Doctor Zhang is a more convenient choice."

"It’s because your fiancée doesn’t approve, right?" Jiang Ying blurted out in a fit of anger.

Fu Cheng’s eyes darkened. "This is my decision. It has nothing to do with her."

Jiang Ying bit her lip. "But you only replaced me after she came to visit."

"Jiang Ying, you’re crossing a line." Fu Cheng’s tone turned cold. "We’re just ordinary high school classmates."

Her face went white, and fat teardrops began to fall. An instant later, she spun around and ran out of the room.

Fu Cheng’s eyelashes half-veiled his eyes. ’He truly hadn’t expected to attract this kind of trouble, even under these circumstances.’

’If he weren’t so focused on recovering quickly, he’d honestly just discharge himself.’

Fu Cheng raised his newly reattached right hand, slowly clenched it into a fist, then slowly opened it again.

’I have to get stronger.’

...

There was more than one preliminary round. Shen Lu had to compete in at least four to earn an official spot in the Kitchen King tournament.

Shen Lu was scheduled to compete in her second preliminary round in two days, and she felt no pressure about it at all.

’Today, I won easily without even using a tenth of my full strength.’

’I probably won’t run into any real competition in the Lower City District. I’ll have to see if there are any decent chefs in the Upper City District.’

Shen Lu didn’t deliberately hide the fact that she was competing, but she didn’t publicize it either. Pretty much everyone who needed to know already knew.

Sang Yue sent her a message to congratulate her.

As a fellow competitor, Sang Yue was paying close attention to the Lower City District preliminaries and had been watching most of the day.

Normally, the live broadcast of the preliminaries rarely gave anyone a close-up, but Shen Lu’s skilled and elegant movements and her delicate and lovely face naturally caught the cameraman’s eye, who couldn’t help but give her a few extra shots.

Sang Yue had never seen Shen Lu cook a complete dish before. After watching her from start to finish today, Sang Yue couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

’Shen Lu’s cooking is on a whole other level than I imagined.’

’Looks like she’ll be the one to take the top spot in this competition, no doubt about it.’

Sang Yue: I’ve bet all my available funds on you, Boss Shen. You’ve got this! I’m counting on you~

Shen Lu: ...

Shen Lu: Thanks. Let’s both do our best.

Shen Lu found it a bit strange for some reason.

’Wait, wasn’t I the one supposed to be riding someone else’s coattails?’

’How did I end up becoming the one whose coattails everyone wants to ride?’

Bai Wanwan also sent a message. First, she praised Shen Lu’s cooking skills to the high heavens, then congratulated her on successfully advancing from the first round, and finally asked if she could make another 220 pounds of boneless lemon chicken feet.

Bai Wanwan: Why don’t you just stop running a restaurant and just sell chicken feet? You have no idea how popular your chicken feet are at school!

Shen Lu: That’s a great suggestion. Next time, don’t.

Bai Wanwan: Okay, so we’re on for the 220 pounds of chicken feet then!

Shen Lu: No way. I sent you Dragon Hall’s new menu two days ago. We’re not making chicken feet right now.

Bai Wanwan: Don’t be so heartless~

Bai Wanwan: Is 220 pounds a bit much? 165 pounds?

Shen Lu: Alright, I have to go get busy. I don’t have a competition tomorrow, so you can place orders like usual.

Bai Wanwan: Don’t go! Shen Lu! Little Deer! Little Deer-deer~

Shen Lu ruthlessly closed the chat window, ignoring whatever else Bai Wanwan had to say.

「Two days later」

Shen Lu advanced to the next round again. When she returned to her restaurant, President Pan was there to return the armored car.

Along with the car, he brought some specialty pastries from Shanghai, which he said were a gift from a client over there.

Shen Lu smiled. "Mr. Sun and General Manager Chen didn’t come with you?"

"They said they’re a bit busy," President Pan replied.

"Right. They certainly are very important, busy men."

President Pan transferred some money to Shen Lu—the agreed-upon rental fee for the car plus half of the profits earned.

However, President Pan only paid his portion. He didn’t cover what Mr. Sun and General Manager Chen owed.

Shen Lu accepted it without any hesitation and casually asked if President Pan knew the owner of Hongxiang Materials Company, as she wanted to purchase a batch of materials.

With President Pan’s introduction, Shen Lu got in touch with President Zhu of Hongxiang Materials Company and bought a large batch of materials.

President Zhu, out of respect for President Pan, also offered to have the materials delivered.

"Boss Shen, what are you planning to do with so many materials?" President Pan asked curiously.

Shen Lu gave a mysterious smile. "It’s a secret."

A strange sense of unease crept over President Pan. He recalled the grudge between Ma Tao’s group and Shen Lu. His lips twitched, but in the end, he said nothing and took his leave.

It wasn’t long before the materials were delivered. Shen Lu didn’t have the delivery crew unload anything. Instead, she entered the truck’s cargo hold and had her system absorb all the materials.

After settling the final payment, Shen Lu’s Star Coin balance shrank significantly.

Not only did she spend all the money President Pan had just given her, but she also paid out another 1,000,000 Star Coins.

And then came the massive upgrade spree.

Originally, Shen Lu had planned to upgrade her kitchen equipment slowly. After spring began and the weather improved, more people would go to the junkyard to scavenge materials to bring to her.

She could acquire materials at a relatively low price and also earn a boost to her reputation value, killing two birds with one stone.

But that method of upgrading was just too slow.

With the current difficulty in hiring people, upgrading the kitchen equipment to increase efficiency seemed like the fastest solution.

So Shen Lu simply gritted her teeth and upgraded all the kitchen equipment by one level.

After the upgrade, she tested it all out herself and confirmed it was indeed better than before.

For example, the stove’s heat was stronger, and food cooked faster.

But on the other hand, it also demanded a higher level of skill from the chef.

Because the heat was stronger, if a chef couldn’t master the heat control, they could easily burn the dish.

But for Shen Lu, this wasn’t a problem at all. For Little Mantis, it was just a matter of setting the right program.

Shu Meng was a veteran chef, so it wouldn’t be a problem for her once she got the hang of it.

After taking care of these things, Shen Lu went back to the fourth floor and called Mr. Sun directly.

He didn’t pick up, so Shen Lu kept calling.

After four or five calls, Mr. Sun finally answered.

"Boss Shen, I’m in the middle of something. I didn’t hear your call."

Shen Lu didn’t bother calling out his lie and got straight to the point. "President Pan has already returned the car, along with his payment. When will you and General Manager Chen be transferring the money you owe?"

"We want to pay you, but we have to wait until we receive payment on our end. Rest assured, I’ll make sure you get every last Star Coin."

Her voice was deceptively light. "Boss Sun, your business is so successful. For such a small amount, do you really need to wait for another payment to come in? You aren’t trying to welsh on the debt, are you?"