The Reviled God of Cooking Tries to Slack Off - Chapter 22

Lu Baiyu stood there, stunned for a long time—rare for him—and didn’t even know where to begin.

No one ever treated him so coldly, especially not Jiang Tingzhou.

After some thought, he found a few reasons that barely explained it—after all, he wasn’t there when Jiang Tingzhou was sick.

His illness wasn’t minor. The hospital records showed his fever nearly reached 40 degrees. If treatment was delayed, it could’ve become serious. The Jiang family’s affairs were always a headache, as was clear from what just happened. He was probably still angry.

But Lu Baiyu had never seen him angry for this long before.

With no other choice, Lu Baiyu stepped closer, stood beside Jiang Tingzhou, and reached to hold his hand.

“Tingzhou, let me explain. I never meant to neglect you—I was really busy with work and couldn’t get away.”

He was telling the truth.

This time, the business negotiations in China didn’t go smoothly. They were difficult, so he stayed longer than expected.

Import trade was the Lu family’s main business, but recently, some Chinese suppliers kept raising prices and tightening conditions. The cooperation stood on the verge of collapse.

Lu Baiyu made great efforts to maintain profit margins and the partnership. He hardly took a break. The time difference forced him to react quickly to Jiang Tingzhou’s situation, but it was impossible to drop everything and rush back from so far away for illness alone.

“Tingzhou, I won’t do that again,” he promises. “I’ll stay in Yongqing for a while, but I’ll visit home often. I even bought you a gift. Remember, I promised you when I was in my country?”

Jiang Tingzhou remembered.

After Lu Baiyu agreed to be with him, they both knew their relationship had to stay secret. So Lu Baiyu often made up for it in other ways.

Now he held out a small open box containing a beautiful sapphire ring, gleaming and exquisite. It was a top treasure from an auction house—very valuable.

Rings symbolized some kind of permanent promise and were perfect for coaxing someone—especially such a dazzling one.

“Don’t be angry. Come back with me, okay?” Lu Baiyu says softly as he holds out the ring.

It was hard to imagine someone of his status—Young Master Lu—lowering himself like this to coax someone so gently. For Jiang Tingzhou, who had lived through this once already, this kind of moment was rare.

Anyone else would’ve found it hard to refuse under these circumstances—otherwise, they’d seem unreasonably dramatic.

Jiang Tingzhou was happy to receive this gift in his previous life; he instantly forgot the pain of being hospitalized and pushed himself harder than ever.

But at that time, he was still a chef and couldn’t wear accessories while working. So he just treasured it carefully, never wore it once, and eventually returned it untouched.

It was a beautiful ring, but he knew it was useless now.

So Jiang Tingzhou resolutely avoided Lu Baiyu’s outstretched hand.

“Of course Young Master Lu has many responsibilities. There’s no need to say these things to me—I honestly can’t help you,” he looks up at Lu Baiyu. “After you returned to China, President Qin probably told you something. Now that she sees me as somewhat useful, she pays more attention to me. But my suggestion was made purely for myself. If the Lu family considers it helpful, then let’s call it me repaying the favor for your help during that time. These past few days have troubled you enough. In any case, we really are broken up now.”

His tone remained calm. He paused, then decided to get it all out in one go to avoid trouble later.

“As for the kidnapping and everything else—I already know. There’s no need for you to pity or compensate me. I’m doing fine now. That matter wasn’t your fault, and we owe each other nothing. So let’s just leave it at that.”

Lu Baiyu’s expression changed.

His brows furrowed, especially when Jiang Tingzhou started urging him to leave, saying things like “if there’s nothing else, you’d best go—I won’t keep someone as busy as you.”

His gentle demeanor vanished. He grabbed Jiang Tingzhou’s wrist.

“Tingzhou,” he asks, “speak properly. What are you really angry about?”

Jiang Tingzhou didn’t know how to emphasize that he wasn’t really angry—he was just stating the fact they’d broken up.

The two were deadlocked when a noise came from the door.

It was An Xiaoping’s voice.

He returned home on Friday, carrying a backpack, turning in from the other side of the alley. His cheerful voice came as soon as he entered.

“Brother! I’m back,” he says. “Are we stewing soup at home? It smells so good, I can smell it from here. Tonight we—”

The secretaries and bodyguards with Lu Baiyu moved away on request, and the neighbors watching dispersed. From outside, nothing seemed unusual.

An Xiaoping pushed the door open excitedly, only to stop when he saw another person standing inside.

It was Friday, and he only had one free class in the afternoon. He wanted to come back quickly to see Jiang Tingzhou and his home, so he signed out and slipped back. He’d been planning to invite the three people from the Tian family to dinner for a housewarming, and to help Jiang Tingzhou—but he didn’t expect this.

It would’ve been more embarrassing if he didn’t recognize the visitor as Lu Baiyu.

An Xiaoping lingered in the hall a moment and called out, “Mr. Lu?”

Lu Baiyu didn’t recognize him.

An Xiaoping introduced himself. “We’ve met before. I went to find brother at school and was surrounded by a group of people. It was your car that passed by and scared them off. I was a lot chubbier then—guess you’ve forgotten.”

Lu Baiyu was a little impressed. “You’re a friend of Tingzhou’s from high school?”

“Yes,” An Xiaoping said. “I live in the next yard.”

Only then did Lu Baiyu notice the courtyard wall was half knocked down. The two courtyards basically connected, almost like one family.

He looked at Jiang Tingzhou and his tone changed. “Tingzhou, so you moved from Brilliant Star and bought this courtyard. You planned to live here with this friend forever?”

He gripped Jiang Tingzhou’s wrist tightly—tighter and stronger than before.

With a third person present, the two naturally couldn’t act too intimately. After all, they both knew this relationship had to be kept secret. Jiang Tingzhou couldn’t break free.

Jiang Tingzhou’s patience ran out.

“It’s none of your business,” he said sharply.

Sure enough, Lu Baiyu couldn’t stay gentle for long. How could someone like him really be mild and humble?

“Yes!” An Xiaoping heard Jiang Tingzhou’s answer clearly. Without overthinking, he answered happily.

Since reconciling with Jiang Tingzhou, his temper had improved. He’d returned to a happy, brainless puppy state. He kept talking.

“My brother’s too tired now and wants to rest. I agreed he’d cook at home, and I’ll go out to earn money.”

“Living with Jiang Tingzhou made him happy just thinking about it. Aside from everything else, the food was absolutely first-class.”

After entering, the smell of stewed chicken soup was stronger. He hadn’t felt such warmth in a long time.

An Xiaoping knew they’d broken up, but he always had a good impression of Lu Baiyu, thinking him a good man. After all, Mr. Lu had helped Jiang Tingzhou many times. When they came in holding hands, he simply assumed they weren’t enemies just because they’d broken up.

He relaxed and said politely, “Mr. Lu, why don’t you stay for dinner? My brother cooks very well. Ah, I can smell the soup.”

Lu Baiyu seemed calm as he answered, but he stared directly at Jiang Tingzhou and replied to An Xiaoping word by word.

“He cooks well. Of course I. Know. That.”

An Xiaoping had only said it out of courtesy—no one expected someone like Lu Baiyu to actually stay.

But Lu Baiyu did.

“I haven’t had dinner with Tingzhou for a long time,” he says. “I should stay, right, Tingzhou?”

An Xiaoping: “…Ah?”

Jiang Tingzhou was also stunned for a moment, but the words had come from An Xiaoping.

“I don’t think so,” Jiang Tingzhou says. “Young Master Lu, I have something else to do. I’ve already made it clear. I really don’t have anything else to say.”

At that moment, he finally broke free from the tight grip on his wrist, said nothing more to Lu Baiyu, and turned into the kitchen. The time for the old black chicken soup on the stove had come, so he adjusted the heat.

After Lu Baiyu left the kitchen, he walked from the yard into the living room and sat down on the sofa.

No matter how naive An Xiaoping was, he felt the atmosphere was off, so he followed Jiang Tingzhou into the kitchen to help.

Standing apart, he whispered, “Brother, did I say something wrong?”

“What could you do wrong?” Jiang Tingzhou rubbed his wrist, his face calm. “Don’t worry, he won’t stay here for long.”

An Xiaoping was puzzled. “Really?”

“Really,” Jiang Tingzhou didn’t even raise his head. “How can I not understand him?”

Lu Baiyu probably didn’t come to the old city for him—more likely, it was just a side trip. He never intended to stay long. This so-called “emotion” was likely just frustration over losing control.

An Xiaoping didn’t understand, but from then on, he stuck closely to Jiang Tingzhou, doing his best to be a third wheel.

Lu Baiyu was sitting on the sofa when his phone rang. He glanced at it and answered, but soon Secretary Song, who was waiting outside, came in and whispered, “Director Lu’s people are asking for you. There’s a very important private banquet tonight. It’s urgent—and it’s time.”

Lu Baiyu frowned. “Get someone else to attend.”

Secretary Song felt embarrassed and didn’t say it directly. She looked at Jiang Tingzhou, who was cutting vegetables in the kitchen with his back to them, and said, “Did you suddenly change your schedule for Young Master Jiang?”

“He refused to go back with me. I don’t know what he’s suddenly upset about all of a sudden,” Lu Baiyu looked unhappy. “What did you say to him when he was talking to you in the hospital?”

“Nothing much, but Young Master Jiang seemed to be in a bad mood at the time,” Secretary Song said with a guilty conscience but didn’t show it on her face. She changed the subject. “President Lu, forgive me for being blunt, this doesn’t seem to be about you. It must be because of the Jiang family. You know, his situation in the Jiang family has always been difficult. Young Master Jiang doesn’t like to talk about these things to you, and I never hear him complain. But maybe getting hospitalized triggered something. At the core, it’s just emotional stress.”

That seemed the only reasonable explanation.

“At this point, it’s useless to say anything to him. Better to wait until Young Master Jiang calms down and comes back naturally. He’s always been sensible,” Secretary Song continued. “But for now, the company matters are more urgent.”

She pushed the phone toward him. The other party was still waiting.

Lu Baiyu answered again and called out, “Aunt Qin.”

The person on the other end was Qin Rushuang.

Qin Rushuang and her stepson didn’t get along like ordinary mother and son, more like cooperating colleagues.

Now she was even more straightforward: “I heard you went to Yongqing to inspect in person as soon as you got off the plane today. How’s the situation?”

This was Lu Group’s top priority now.

The entire group’s strategic planning was integrated. Recently, cooperation with foreign countries didn’t go smoothly. The business focus of Lu Group shifted more toward the domestic market. Domestic competition was fierce, demand huge, and the market still had room to explore. Lu Group lacked a breakthrough point. Besides his own business, Qin Rushuang was very concerned about Lu Baiyu’s movements.

Especially the plan for Lu Group’s logistics city and distribution center. The urban area around Shangying Yongqing was considered Lu’s old territory. Expanding nationwide from there was inevitable. The Lu family’s investment in renovating Yongqing Old Town was no secret.

“I’m doing well here,” Lu Baiyu said. “The city is very optimistic about this place.”

When speaking of business, his demeanor returned to its usual calm, as if he were in Lu Group’s boardroom.

From Jiang Tingzhou’s home, he could see a corner of the empty plot of land to be developed in the distance—that was the place he had just visited.

Dongjiang Province was one of China’s most developed provinces. Yongqing and surrounding cities in neighboring provinces were the Lu Group’s base camp. Many manufacturing industries took root here, especially the food industrial park in the old city.

Recently, manufacturers’ direct sales models became more popular. Building a distribution center nearby was equivalent to seizing the market from the source—a major plan of the Lu family.

Yongqing was an excellent transportation hub, especially the old city. Railways, highways, and the Baiying River waterway connected here, with many large docks. Ships could reach the estuary a bit further. If the old city renovation succeeded, building an airport nearby was included in future municipal plans.

“A high-standard distribution center must be built. The first site in Yongqing is no problem,” Lu Baiyu said. “But the group’s current plan is still too conservative overall.”

Qin Rushuang sighed. “You raised that point abroad too. Your father agrees. But he still wasn’t satisfied with the revised plan. Even my team’s proposals can’t compare to a few offhand comments from little Jiang. Since you’re already in Yongqing, you’d better talk him into coming back. Director Cheng from ‘A Bite of China’ has only expressed interest—no official nod yet. Baiyu, you know this—there aren’t many good, reliable people out there. What’s rare is that he actually listens to you.”

Except for Secretary Song, no one else knew Lu Baiyu had a closer relationship with Jiang Tingzhou. But it was well known in the circle that Jiang Tingzhou listened to Lu Baiyu a lot.

Lu Baiyu’s emotions, which had been fluctuating, calmed after listening to Secretary Song and Qin Rushuang.

“Yes, you’re right,” he said. “Tingzhou has always been obedient.”