The Reviled God of Cooking Tries to Slack Off - Chapter 44

Lu Baiyu’s fever was higher than when he arrived, and his wound split open. If it continued like that, it would only get worse. An Xiaoping could already smell the blood.

Only then did he realize things between the two of them deteriorated this far.

Lu Baiyu’s phone kept ringing, as if someone was urgently looking for him, but he resolutely hung up every time.

“Tingzhou,” he said, “there is indeed a problem between us.”

Lu Baiyu felt that he had never looked at Jiang Tingzhou so carefully before.

The realization struck him belatedly and felt strange. Even though he knew he liked the other person, he still fell into the habit of putting most of his time and energy into his work.

Because Jiang Tingzhou would always stand there and say things like, “It doesn’t matter,” “I understand,” or “There will be time later,” Lu Baiyu kept taking it for granted, until so many things were buried and ignored.

Two years ago, at the economic and trade conference, Lu Baiyu became even busier after becoming the official successor.

Every project was a big deal, every business required huge effort, and competitors were endless. Maintaining such a large group wasn’t easy. Lu Baiyu took no holidays or rest. Since he was young, his family taught him to live that way.

The heir of the Lu family didn’t need love. Marriage and love were not the same. Even if he had a partner someday, it should be like Lu Zhenting and Qin Rushuang—treating each other with respect and dedicating all their time to the enormous undertaking, rather than wasting time on each other.

By comparison, Jiang Tingzhou was always an exception.

To him, Jiang Tingzhou was a beautiful exception. Maybe before, he could tolerate living the life of an heir, but not anymore.

“But things between us aren’t exactly like you said,” Lu Baiyu continued, still staring intently at Jiang Tingzhou. “I won’t give up. After everything between us… I can’t give up.”

Jiang Tingzhou said, “That’s not up to you.”

An Xiaoping, standing nearby, didn’t understand.

He knew they were lovers, and he witnessed Jiang Tingzhou’s obsessive crush on Lu Baiyu. He thought the two would be very sweet after finally getting together, but now there was tension and resentment.

“You should go,” An Xiaoping started ushering him out. “Stop upsetting my brother, and don’t pass out in our house either.”

The smell of blood grew stronger, and he really thought Lu Baiyu might faint any moment.

Jiang Tingzhou didn’t want to talk anymore. There was no point in continuing the stalemate.

An Xiaoping watched Lu Baiyu leave. His figure was a little shaky, and he coughed a few times.

“He…” An Xiaoping started.

“His driver and bodyguards are nearby. He’s fine,” Jiang Tingzhou said. “He’s not as fragile as you think. No need for others to feel sorry for him. Go back to sleep. He’s fine.”

An Xiaoping said “Oh” and followed Lu Baiyu out, thinking he was fine. But after Lu Baiyu walked away, Lu Baiyu suddenly called out to him.

“An Xiaoping.”

An Xiaoping replied, “Huh? You calling me?”

“Tingzhou was in the hospital before. When he was hospitalized, you stayed by his side and watched over him the whole time,” Lu Baiyu said. “Has he… seemed different lately? I mean, suddenly different?”

An Xiaoping didn’t dare to talk much and quickly said, “No, brother’s fine, same as always. You should go.”

Lu Baiyu wanted to say more, but An Xiaoping already ran back.

An Xiaoping glanced over at Jiang Tingzhou, who seemed unusually calm, as if he were eating something.

“Brother, what are you eating?” An Xiaoping looked at the table. “What is this?”

Jiang Tingzhou opened the lid and poured him a pill. He seemed to recall something from the past; his hand trembled slightly, but after a deep breath, he quickly steadied himself.

He said, “Vitamin C soft candy, Grandpa Li gave it to me today.”

An Xiaoping tried it and it was really soft candy.

“Go to bed early,” Jiang Tingzhou said. “Don’t overthink it.”

An Xiaoping wanted to say something, but Jiang Tingzhou already walked upstairs, turned off the lights, and everything returned to silence.

But that night, the outside world was not calm.

As Jiang Tingzhou said, something really did happen to Lu Jiahe.

Lu Jiahe was chatting and laughing with people. He talked about everything with others and had a good time. He even talked about Lu Group’s victory at the Economic and Trade Fair two years ago, almost forgetting he was supposed to discuss food tastes.

Lu Jiahe didn’t drink much, but he felt dizzy. He had the nagging feeling he forgot something important.

Right—what about Assistant Director Sun? Why hadn’t he come yet? They were just chatting about business.

He noticed Jiang You next to him drank a lot and looked completely drunk, slumped on the sofa. Lu Jiahe rubbed his temple vigorously, muttering, “Brother, he’s really amazing…”

“He’s really amazing,” a woman laughed, then stood up. “But it’s a pity. You both have the same father. Qin Rushuang is always so calculating, yet you didn’t inherit any of the Lu family’s vigilance. You’re even dumber than I thought, Lu Jiahe.”

Lu Jiahe listened and slowly realized something was wrong, but it was too late.

His head spun, his body felt weak, and he couldn’t speak at all. A lewd sound filled his ears, along with laughter. Someone even said, “Alright, he’s taken the bait.”

Lu Jiahe’s bodyguards guarded the door and checked when guests came in. This was routine, but they wouldn’t suddenly interrupt their employer’s interests. They wouldn’t enter unless something was clearly wrong. They came by every half hour.

The music inside was loud, covering most of the noise.

At that moment, Lu Jiahe was still partially conscious and heard the woman speaking again.

“What a pity. If Lu Baiyu came today, he would have recognized me. I met him at that economic and trade conference. Things were already a mess back then. One more month, and the Lu Group wouldn’t have made it. But he turned it around. Every time I see Lu Baiyu’s face, I feel disgusted. I actually wanted to expose him online. That so-called ‘gentle and noble’ persona he’s praised for online—what a joke. He thinks no one knows what he’s done behind the scenes. Sooner or later, that bastard is bound to get what’s coming to him. I swore on the spot that one day I would bring down your Lu family, to relieve the hatred in my heart for the past two years! The car accident didn’t kill him today, but Lu Jiahe, you’re not getting away.”

He opened his mouth, but his throat was hoarse. No sound came out.

He had no idea what happened at the trade fair two years ago that would make someone hate them this much. All he could think was: What’s wrong with you? if you’ve got a grudge, Why didn’t you go to find my brother? Why take it out on me?

Still, when he heard “karma,” he couldn’t even refute it. He really did some stupid and shameful things recently.

At that time, Jiang Tingzhou also said he would pay a price. Lu Jiahe didn’t think much of it then. With his status as Second Young Master Lu, what price could he possibly pay?

Now, he was beginning to understand.

The woman in front of him still scolded Lu Baiyu. It seemed she’d been holding back her anger for a long time and finally let it out today.

“You bastard, you shameless bastard! You talk as if you’re selfless, but can your business really be clean? When road bandits were wreaking havoc years ago, wasn’t it the Lu family who first gave the order to ram cars to death, right? I only rammed a few of his cars three years ago, but Lu Baiyu retaliated by burning down two of my warehouses. I was almost killed there! A bunch of brainless idiots who follow the crowd—they really think he is a god? What the hell. No one believes he would do such a thing! Such a black-hearted person. And he dares to be called Lu Baiyu? Just saying his name makes me want to puke!”

Lu Jiahe opened his mouth to protest that this was pure slander, but he couldn’t. He tried to stand up, but the woman only grew angrier, slapping him back down onto the sofa.

Her hand was very strong. He was limp all over, with no strength to resist.

He cursed her silently. The more he thought about it, the more hateful he felt. Even without fully understanding the reason behind it, he suspected the wine and food he’d been given were tainted.

Lu Jiahe wanted to call his bodyguards, but the woman seemed very familiar with the security around rich kids. She quickly took his mobile phone and watch, making sure he had no other devices.

The room was well soundproofed, and loud music covered all noise, leaving him no chance to contact the outside world.

From the beginning, people accompanied him inside the room, all entering under orders. There was even a restroom with a bed in the back—enough for a lot of sex in the half hour between the bodyguards’ visits.

“Come on, let’s take a few photos, Young Master Lu,” the woman said after a breath, stretching out her hand to tear off his clothes, exposing him. She smiled coldly, “Lu Baiyu’s public image is impeccable, but I didn’t expect his brother to be here engaging in promiscuous activities. Tsk tsk. You know, someone will report this soon. You’ll be caught red-handed and become a hot search topic on the news. What then? How are you going to recover?”

At that moment, she removed the mask covering her face.

Lu Jiahe didn’t recognize her at first, but her eyes looked oddly familiar—very similar to Zheng Zexing’s, the head of Suda, with slightly upturned eye tails, very distinctive.

It wasn’t that Lu Jiahe was foolish enough not to recognize key rivals. Unlike Lu Zhenting, who only had two legitimate children, Zheng Zexing had been more romantic in his youth. He fathered four legitimate children and many illegitimate ones, with over a dozen recognized or hidden offspring. The Zheng family was large, with many relatives, not all of whom appeared publicly.

No matter how stupid Lu Jiahe was, he knew he was baited by a rival company.

For a rich kid to have romantic gossip was nothing new—usually it was suppressed quietly—but not this time.

The show A Bite of China was a CCTV program with extremely high standards for its partners’ reputations. Lu Jiahe wasn’t a low-profile unknown; he had many social media fans and built a persona as Lu Baiyu’s younger brother—the exemplary wealthy young master. This kind of scandal was a huge blow and could affect the cooperation.

Losing A Bite of China was one thing, but this would cast a long shadow over the Lu family’s reputation.

His clothes were torn off and photos were taken with multiple men and women, but that wasn’t enough. Lu Jiahe’s frustration grew as he saw the woman take out another syringe, drawing something from a bottle.

She whispered to a nearby man, “Is this stuff pure enough?”

“Don’t worry,” the man replied. “It’s imported. But, sister, do we really have to be this ruthless? The Lu family doesn’t have many children.”

Lu Jiahe’s heart skipped a beat.

He didn’t know what was in that syringe. But he couldn’t let it enter his body. He knew he was a good-for-nothing, but even so, he didn’t want to become a drugged-out mess.

Luckily, he hadn’t drunk that much.

Because he’d watched Jiang Tingzhou’s video before coming, he’d lost his appetite—no interest in alcohol or cold snacks. He preferred tea and hot buns, secretly poured out some drinks, and stayed more conscious than they expected.

His body was trained and conditioned to resist surprises. His drug tolerance was stronger than average. After a while, he regained some strength.

Lu Jiahe tried to open his eyes and felt his mind clearer than ever.

When the man with the syringe approached, he knew it was his last chance.

At that moment, he recalled Jiang Tingzhou’s words: “See yourself clearly.”

Summoning his strength, Lu Jiahe suddenly turned over just as the man came near and kicked him in the back.

It wasn’t enough to escape, but the man was startled and stepped back. The syringe fell to the floor. The men and women on the bed screamed in surprise.

Lu Jiahe fell off the bed with his remaining strength and hit the standing lamp next to him. The lamp struck the one-way glass wall; the lampshade shattered with a bang, making a loud noise.

The room was soundproof, but the bodyguard at the door was sensitive to such sounds. When they sensed something wrong, they immediately started knocking.

But the photos were already taken.

That night, the scandal spread on the internet.

Jiang Tingzhou slept without dreams and woke up on time the next day.

An Xiaoping was thoughtful and didn’t ask much about last night. After breakfast with Jiang Tingzhou, he sat on the stairs at the entrance fiddling with his equipment.

Flipping through his phone, he said in surprise, “Hey, brother, something really happened with the Lu family? And Jiang You too…”

That day’s headlines all focused on Lu Jiahe, and the scandal couldn’t be suppressed.

Photos were taken last night. Though bodyguards rushed in at the end, the images were already sent out. By then, they were everywhere.

Even if the Lu family’s PR team deleted some posts, it couldn’t stop the flood of public opinion. Deleting posts only made it worse, like trying to cover up the truth.

Now people said Lu Jiahe was seeking thrills, took illegal drugs to enhance his sex life at a bar, and slept with three or four men and women. One man resembling Jiang You, a blogger with millions of fans, was also present.

Jiang You drank heavily after entering the private room, far more than usual. He was unconscious, eyes closed, looking unwell, so only certain angles were shown in the photos.

With Jiang You’s popularity, such ambiguous photos sparked huge discussions.

As expected, the effect was devastating.

The public’s image of second-generation rich kids was exactly like this. Even if the Lu family claimed it was a setup, the simple and direct story of a rich young man’s decadent life was more believable.

The bar was investigated that night. The report confirmed illegal drug and sex transactions, making explanations even harder. Lu Jiahe himself visited the place; surveillance footage was clear. Who would believe a man in his twenties was innocent? Did he really not know anything?

That day, Jiang You and Lu Jiahe faced public criticism. The hot search was repeatedly removed and reposted, drawing even more attention.

Jiang Tingzhou seemed to expect this. He didn’t even look at his phone—just replied calmly.

An Xiaoping noticed his attitude and suddenly understood. When he approached yesterday, he overheard part of Jiang Tingzhou and Lu Baiyu’s conversation.

“Brother, … did you know all this was going to happen?” he asked quietly. “Not just yesterday. Even earlier—did you already know something like this would occur?”

He dared not say more. His brother might have even been planning and pushing this entire thing forward.

“Xiaoping, don’t overthink it,” Jiang Tingzhou smiled. “At least, for a while, no one will bother us during this time.”