The freshly squeezed orange juice in the cup swayed. At the gathering, Alex said straightforwardly, “When President Chen first came to me to promote it, the entire editorial department was confused. They could not believe that AI intelligence had already developed to this extent, and their tone was even more arrogant. They boasted that they could earn tens of billions of yuan once they went public. Who knew that they would lose to you? Now, their assets have directly shrunk by half.”
“Tsk tsk, the Chen family must hate you to death. But what can he do about the live broadcast?”
Li Shengsheng peeled the garlic crayfish and placed the red oil-coated chewy lobster meat on Xu Tian’s plate. He rubbed his fingers and said proudly, “Who cares? You won anyway.”
Alex said, “But I think it’s a pity—”
“What’s a pity?” Xu Le looked at him in confusion.
“It was not a glorious enough win.”
“Hmm?”
His words attracted everyone’s attention. Ever since Lu Yuxi saw the series of actions that Alex had done to Xu Le at the beginning of the Chinese restaurant, her impression of him was average. At this moment, she immediately retorted.
“Then what do you mean by glorious? We’ve already won. What’s there to fuss about?”
Alex’s mouth was open. He didn’t expect his usual style of speech to be refuted. He was stunned for a moment before smiling. “I didn’t mean that. It’s just that in the last round, the Buddha Jumps over the Wall from the other party didn’t beat the three ordinary dishes made by Xu Le. This made the audience a little surprised. This is also the source of many criticisms.”
“Oh.”
Lu Yuxi was slightly embarrassed and lowered her head to eat.
“I tried that Buddha Jumps Over The Wall. It tasted perfect, but the competition only lasted for a day. Usually, it takes three days or even half a month to prepare the ingredients to the finished product. Even if he went through the entire process, it was a pity that the stew was not cooked well. After it entered the mouth, it tasted a little fishy. It was not sweet and even slightly bitter.”
If it didn’t win over the taste buds of the judges, and didn’t suit their tastes, it was just a gimmick. In the end, it was understandable that he would lose miserably.
Xu Le was commenting when his eyes lit up. “From your tone, you should know how to do it!”
His meaning was self-evident. Li Qing said, “Of course. My master knows how to cook many dishes, right?���
“Yes, yes, yes. But it will take half a month to prepare the ingredients. I’m not free, so you should give up on that thought.”
Xu Le smiled and started talking about the business in the shop. He had originally thrown this matter to the back of his mind, but when he opened the comments section of his social media account at night, he was shocked.
The last update was still the tutorial of the fried chop rice cake. There were more than 100,000 comments below, all arguing about the unfairness of the match.
“Although I’ve always liked Xu Le, how could the few dishes he cooked at the competition win against the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. It would be a lie if there’s no foul play.”
“I heard that the feedback from the use of the Master Chef Machine is super good. How can it lose to Xu Le?”
“I think there’s something fishy going on.”
“Does Xu Le dare to come out and respond to this?”
The further he scrolled, the more unsightly the new comments became. Although someone was helping him explain, rumors spread far faster than clarification.
“Is there a possibility that the person who can obtain the title of Master Chef is Xu Le? That robot doesn’t have a name yet.”
“If you feel that the anonymous tasters aren’t up to standard, then go and reason with them! This isn’t something Xu Le can decide.”
…
Late at night, Lu Yuxi, who was holding her phone and smiling, sat up from the bed. She looked at Xu Le, who had pushed the door open, and said in surprise, “What’s going on?”
“I’ll record a tutorial on Buddha Jumps Over the Wall tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you going to the shop?”
“With the two of them around, it’s fine if we don’t go.”
Since the boss had already spoken, Lu Yuxi nodded and said, “…Alright, sleep early.”
“Good night.”
The next morning, Lu Yuxi heard the banging sounds in the kitchen and rubbed her eyes to leave her room.
“Have you started cooking?”
“I’m still sorting the ingredients. Don’t worry, we’ll start recording later.”
“Sure.”
After Lu Yuxi agreed, she went to wash up. She saw Shen Hui braiding Xu Tian’s hair. Unfortunately, she didn’t often take care of her child, so her hands were very unfamiliar with tying the hair. After four or five times, she became slightly irritated. Xu Tian’s expression gradually became anxious. “Mom, it hurts. You tugged at my scalp!”
“Okay, okay. Don’t move.”
Shen Hui’s last attempt was finally presentable. She clapped her hands and smiled. “Alright, go look in the mirror.”
Xu Tian looked at the hairstyle in the mirror and pouted for a long time without saying anything. This was far from the effect of Lu Yuxi’s hairstyle! However, in order to take care of her mother’s mood, she did not complain.
A moment of loneliness flashed across Shen Hui’s face. Lu Yuxi took out a scar removal ointment from the drawer and handed it over. “Even if the wound on your hand recovers, you have to take a few more weeks of medicine. Be careful not to leave a scar.”
The burn that day made Shen Hui miss the finals. She was unhappy about it. After accepting the ointment in a muffled voice, she looked up and said, “I heard from Xu Le that you were leaving. Why are you staying now?”
Xu Le heard the commotion and was about to come out to explain when Xu Tian said excitedly, “I don’t want Sister Lu to leave. I want Sister to stay and braid my hair!”
Like a rabbit, she hugged Lu Yuxi’s thigh and said, “Sister, can you not leave?”
Xu Le, who came out later, couldn’t help but laugh when he saw his sister’s attitude. He urged, “You’re going to be late for school. Be careful that the teacher would punish you for it.”
Xu Tian looked up with tears in her eyes and said, “Then Sister Lu…”
“I’m not leaving.”
Lu Yuxi reached out and rubbed the top of her head. She smiled lovingly and said, “Hurry up and go to school. It’s going to be holiday soon. We’ll take you out to play then.”
“Alright!”
Xu Tian reached out to do a pinky promise with her before leaving.
Shen Hui had a complicated expression as she stroked the hair by her ear.
“Mom, Lu Yuxi works in my shop and has helped a lot since the beginning. Moreover, we used to know each other and can be considered trusted friends. It’s fine for her to live here.”
Xu Le was the one who paid for the mortgage, so Shen Hui was too embarrassed to chase his friend away. She snorted. “Anyone can do the cashier job.”
“Look.” Xu Le knew that Shen Hui didn’t really hate Lu Yuxi. Instead, she had other concerns. He opened the homepage of his social media account and handed it over. “This is the shop’s operations and publicity account. The other is my personal tutorial account. Both of accounts have quite a lot of followers, and the benefits of the account are very considerable. Most importantly, from the filming to the editing and dubbing, as well as the script scenes, they were all thought up by Lu Yuxi alone. You can’t deny her hard work and results.”
Shen Hui choked on her words and her gaze darkened. She flipped her hair to hide her embarrassment and changed the topic. “You want to film the tutorial on ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’. Have you bought all the ingredients?”
“I missed a few of the 18 ingredients. The Ginseng, scallop, Flower Mushroom, and I bought large strips of crucian carp meat. When I started making it, I feel that the small crucian carp meat would be more tender and delicious.”