Chapter 50 - Sweet and Sour Fish

As more and more guests came to the restaurant and waited in the hall, the hostess led Mu Li and Lin Qing to their back hall. She made a pot of tea for them.

The decoration of the back hall was quite unusual, with a faint style of antique time. But the modern items placed in the hall made the atmosphere of history not so strong in here.

Lin Qing thought that it was right the combination of the antique and modern elements that had made the back hall special.

After serving the tea to them, the hostess sat on the carved wooden chair opposite, with her elbows resting on the armrests.

She gave Lin Qing a polite look before slowly asking Mu Li, “You came in person today, is there anything we can do for you?”

Besides, he came with his wife, so probably the reason why he came was related to his wife.

Upon hearing this, Mu Li went straight to the point, “Lin Qing began to learn cooking since she was young. Today, after trying the dishes of your restaurant at noon, she got impressed and wanted to come to visit the chef.”

The hostess was a smart person and understood Mu Li’s words immediately. “If you want to learn one or two dishes in our restaurant, it’s not up to me. You need to ask Old Dong.”

Old Dong was Dong Xianren, the hostess’s husband and the boss of the Jinxiu Hall.

As soon as the hostess finished speaking, a man walked in from the back-hall door. The hostess turned her head and looked at him with a complaining look.

“Why are you keeping us waiting so long? I told Little Lin to get you here ten minutes ago.”

Old Dong apologized, “I was too busy to leave.”

As he spoke, he walked towards the hostess and stood still before greeting Mu Li.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Old Dong apologized sincerely.

Mu Li didn’t mind and said it was okay.

Unlike most chefs in general people’s impression, Old Dong was not fat at all. He was even a little skinny. With the height of 1.8 meters, he did not look like a chef at all.

Lin Qing seemed to have noticed this and involuntarily stared at Old Dong for a while.

Old Dong was also looking at Lin Qing and said in a very friendly tone, “I heard your conversation. As you know, our recipes are family secrets. I cannot share them with you. But I can mentor you when you cook. This is all I can do for you.”

Lin Qing was very grateful to hear that.

Thus, she succeeded in fulfilling a wish that she had since childhood with Mu Li’s help.

When Old Dong mentored Lin Qing, Mu Li was not present. Lin Qing learned with all her concentration. Old Dong smiled and said, “I remember that Mu Li likes sweet and sour fish the most. I can teach you how to cook it.”

Lin Qing’s movement paused for a moment, and then she turned around and smiled. “That’s great. Thank you very much.”

Old Dong was more than ten years older than Mu Li. He and Mu Li were close friends, so Lin Qing showed proper and great respect for Old Dong.

It turned out that Mu Li’s favorite dish was sweet and sour fish.

But Lin Qing never liked that dish.

At the thought of this, she would still feel lost and frown until this day.

That night, in order to show that she did have learned something, Lin Qing cooked Mu Li his favorite sweet and sour fish.

“How is it?” Sitting at the table, Lin Qing stared at Mu Li and asked nervously.

Mu Li tasted the dish carefully, then put down his chopsticks.

“Is it bad?” Lin Qing was a little disappointed. She had never cooked this dish before. It was natural if she could not control the cooking heat for a while.

Mu Li rubbed her hair and looked at her with his doting eyes. “It’s very good.”

“Really?” Lin Qing’s eyes lit up with bright stars immediately.

Mu Li laughed.

He only praised her with a simple compliment, but Lin Qing was so happy about it.

So he added, “This is the best sweet and sour fish I’ve ever had.”

Lin Qing was overjoyed.

She felt that she had finally achieved something.

Mu Li ate up the whole dish. Lin Qing only had a small bowl of porridge and some vegetables.

When they were in the meal, Mu Li tried a few times to ask Lin Qing to try the fish she had cooked, but she refused.

“I don’t like sweet and sour food recently.” Lin Qing declined.

Mu Li did not think too much about her excuse.

But he felt that something was wrong with Lin Qing since the morning of the third day.

This day, Lin Qing was going to work as usual when Mu Li stopped her at the door.

“I’m going to be late.” Lin Qing checked her watch.

However, Mu Li didn’t care about that much. He pulled her into his arms and kept her soft lips in his mouth.

“Mmm…” Lin Qing didn’t expect this sudden action and had no choice but to obey.

At the end of the kiss, Mu Li gave a loud sound to it, which echoed for quite a while at Lin Qing’s ears. Lin Qing did not regain her senses for a long time.

Mu Li looked at Lin Qing in his arms and was finally satisfied. “Let’s go. I’ll send you to work.”

Lin Qing was stunned. “Didn’t you say that you had something important to do today?”

Mu Li clenched her chin and said seriously, “Is there anything more important than you? I would like to know.”

Lin Qing blushed and didn’t say anything more.

After they arrived at the entrance of the company, Mu Li took Lin Qing’s wrist before she got off the car and said, “I’ll go up with you.”

“Why?” Lin Qing was confused.

“I think I need to meet your friends at work.” As Mu Li spoke, he unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car gracefully.

Lin Qing had no choice but to follow him.

Lin Qing was always gossiped about by the employees in the company at their leisure. Even so, Lin Qing felt that they would finally get tired of the topics about her. By then, it would probably be boring for anyone to bring her up again.

Thus, Lin Qing waited and waited patiently, hoping that one day the gossips about her and Mu Li would disappear.

However, after Mu Li visited her office today, Lin Qing gave up on this idea totally.

Mu Li held her hands along the way, which made Lin Qing become the center of attention. Even though she kept her head down quietly, there were still people gossiping and discussing around.

“Look, that’s Lin Qing from the Planning Department.” Before they got into the elevator, some people discussed behind them.

“She looks just ordinary. Why did Mu Li fall in love with her?” Another envious voice sounded.

When they arrived at the seventh floor and walked along the corridor, Lin Qing could still faintly hear some people were talking.

“Hey! What are you guys muttering about?” From the end of the corridor, a sharp female voice with an infinite sense of righteousness sounded, causing Lin Qing to look up in shock.

Of course, because Lin Qing recognized that voice, she was even more surprised.

Lu Xiao put her hands on her hips and was scolding the few staff who were gossiping in whispers in the corner.

Obviously, Lu Xiao had heard their conversation and was angry.

Lin Qing’s attention was attracted by Lu Xiao, but Mu Li remained indifferent. He held Lin Qing’s hand and continued walking forward.

After walking for a while longer, Lin Qing suddenly realized—

Weren’t they heading towards the General Manager’s office?

Lin Qing seemed to read through Mu Li’s real purpose.

“Well…” Lin Qing’s footsteps slowed down and she pulled Mu Li to stop.

Mu Li asked in a flat tone, “Have you finally made up your mind?”

Lin Qing was stunned. “Made up my mind to do what?”

Mu Li continued frankly, “To quit your job and concentrate on being my wife.”

Lin Qing almost fell down to the ground with a thump.

“And…” Mu Li stopped mysteriously and leaned closer to Lin Qing’s ears, whispering, “Having a baby is also one of our plans, right?”

“What…what baby?” Lin Qing was so shocked that she couldn’t help but raise her voice.

Instantly, the suspicious and envious glances from people around cast to Lin Qing.

Even Lu Xiao, who was standing not far away and arguing for Lin Qing, heard these words. She turned back to look at Lin Qing in surprise.

Lin Qing immediately lowered her head and didn’t dare to say anything else. She obediently allowed Mu Li to take her away.

Lin Qing had never thought about being a housewife.

However, Lu Xiao was the one who reacted the most intensely to this matter.

When the whole thing about Lin Qing’s resignation was over, Lin Qing returned to the company, Lu Xiao immediately came and criticized her fiercely.

“Don’t you know that a woman has to stand on her own feet? How could you yield to a man?” Lu Xiao was extremely angry.

However, these happened quite a long time later.

Right now, Lu Xiao did not thought of what would happen next. She just stood at the corner of the corridor and watched Mu Li lead Lin Qing toward the General Manager’s office.

The view of Lin Qing’s back disappeared at the end of the long corridor.

“She has married a wealthy husband. What are you meddling in here!” When Lin Qing was out of sight, the colleague who was scolded by Lu Xiao sneered and mocked Lu Xiao.

In the General Manager’s office, it was also a conflicting situation.

As soon as Mu Li pushed open the door of the General Manager’s office, he said, “Dismiss her.”

Fu Yang, the General Manager, was making a call in his revolving chair. He was stunned to hear that. He covered the telephone receiver with one hand and asked with great uncertainty, “Dismiss whom?”

Mu Li pointed at Lin Qing, who was standing by the side with helpless looks, and he said, “Her.”

Fu Yang let out a breath of relief. He hung up the phone in a hurry and sat straight up a little. Then he straightened his black suit before saying, “Commander Mu, long time no see.”

Fu Yang, the General Manager of Qixun Group, and Mu Li, the First Army’s Commander, had met for only once. Although they weren’t familiar with each other, they were friendly to each other.

Mu Li waved his hand. “I’ll cut the polite words. I’m just here to discuss with you about letting Lin Qing quit her job.”

But he said that in the tone of commanding.

The General Manager glanced at Lin Qing beside Mu Li. She was still the same as before, looking like she was not in the same universe as anyone else.

As the General Manager, Fu Yang knew very well about Lin Qing on this point.

“Lin Qing, what do you think?” Fu Yang turned to Lin Qing and asked for her opinion.

Lin Qing never thought that she would get the opportunity to speak. She was stunned and looked up at Fu Yang. The moment their eyes met, the observant Fu Yang got to know that Lin Qing was unwilling to quit her job.

As the General Manager, again, Fu Yang was busy with business every day. But he took good care of his employees.

Now that Lin Qing was unwilling to quit her job, there was no need for him to cater to Mu Li’s wish.

After all, his Qixun Group had no dealings with the army.

Lin Qing intended to say something, but after sensing Mu Li’s meaningful gazes, she shook her head.

“I… I’m okay with both.” Lin Qing sighed inside.

Everyone in the company knew that Lin Qing was Commander Mu’s wife. This matter had attracted Fu Yang’s attention from the beginning.

But he knew Lin Qing’s personality and didn’t say anything about the matter. He even stood up for Lin Qing a few times in secret.

Fu Yang felt that there was something special in Lin Qing.