Savory Alley still wasn’t open for business due to the sudden management change it had undergone. Shen Lingqing had to review everything from scratch before she could come up with a concrete business plan she had to present to her father over the weekend.
While she was busy studying the numbers, Qiao Lian took the opportunity to sort out the paperwork and audits of the restaurant. It baffled her how the restaurant managed to stay open for this long if everything at the backend was such a mess.
The office was too silent for her liking. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Qiao Lian was already used to working alongside her miss, given how they grew up together; but this was one of the rare times she hoped Shen Lingqing would speak more.
Thinking about it, when they were younger, Shen Lingqing was the perfect opposite of what she was now. When Shen Lingqing was a child, she used to sport a warm smile, her eyes sparkling with joy whenever she was surrounded by her loved ones. However, before the Shen princess hit puberty, something inside her changed her dramatically over time.
She started to speak less, and the warmth in her eyes was replaced with a cold countenance that was enough to freeze someone to death with her gaze alone. Qiao Lian knew something had happened, but Shen Lingqing refused to voice out what it was.
When she confronted Shen Lingqing about it, telling her that she was losing friends because of her attitude; the Shen princess only shrugged her shoulders as if she couldn’t be bothered with what people thought of her.
“It’s fine, Qiao Lian. It’s enough that I have you by my side.” That’s what she said.
Whatever Qiao Lian was thinking to convince Shen Lingqing to open up, her miss’s words had caught her off-guard. For the first time, Shen Lingqing had told her how valuable she was in her miss’s life. She wasn’t just a companion, a bodyguard to look after Shen Lingqing. She was Shen Lingqing’s best friend.
“Qing, did you hire Chef Liu because you are afraid your mother would hear about what happened here?” She asked her miss.
Shen Lingqing’s fingers stopped and hovered over the keyboard of her laptop momentarily before she resumed working.
“What made you think of that, Lian? I see potential in him, and I hate to lose the chance of getting a valuable employee for our team.” She scoffed, ignoring the way Qiao Lian gave her a teasing look. How could she forget that this personal assistant of hers was a hopeless romantic?
“Alright. If you say so.” Qiao Lian grinned at her boss. “With how handsome Chef Liu is, he could be a ladies’ man, no?”
“Lian, whatever happens in his private life has nothing to do with us. You shouldn’t poke your nose in someone else’s affairs.”
Her personal assistant pouted at that. Qiao Lian pulled a chair and moved closer to Shen Lingqing’s seat before cupping her chin with both hands. Shen Lingqing was already at the age where she could start dating, but Qiao Lian had never seen her friend getting interested in the opposite sex.
“I’m just thinking why he had chosen to be a chef rather than succeed their family business.” She started. “If he had chosen to oversee the Liu Corporation, he could open several restaurants and compete with us, don’t you think?” She asked Shen Lingqing.
“Lian…” the Shen princess commented, which made her assistant a little confused, “Sometimes, peace of mind is more important than having material things that could easily be lost.”
This wasn’t the first time Qiao Lian heard her miss say cryptic comments, but it only proved that there might be things about Liu Jinfei that Shen Lingqing was already aware of. What could it be? Qiao Lian wondered. Did Shen Lingqing ask their Uncle Shu to run a background check on Liu Jinfei even before the man signed a contract with Shen Lingqing?
“Did you know something I don’t?” She asked her boss. Perhaps Shen Lingqing had a private talk with Liu Jinfei without her knowing? That was possible because she wasn’t with Shen Lingqing 24/7 and might have missed it.
“I know so many things that you might not. What are you talking about?” Shen Lingqing feigned ignorance about what Qiao Lian wanted to know from her.
“You know, you are no fun, Qingqing. Don’t you know what people call you now?”
“I have no interest in knowing what they think of me. Why should I be bothered by it?” The Shen princess scoffed and tried not to roll her eyes. She couldn’t understand why her friend kept nagging her about it when Qiao Lian already knew her answer.
“Qingqing, I understand where you are coming from, but if you remain cold like this, you will drive your suitors away from you.” Qiao Lian gave her boss a worried look.
“Good. I don’t want a wimpy person. It’s better to chase away the useless ones to see who’s going to stay at my worse. Qiao Lian, sometimes, a person needs to experience some bitterness to be able to appreciate the better times.”
Qiao Lian sighed. She should have known better that Shen Lingqing only wanted the best—perhaps, even in her love life. Was that the reason why she hadn’t dated anyone yet? Was it because Shen Lingqing hadn’t met the right man?
“I yield, Qingqing. I haven’t been by your side for a few years, yet I feel like you changed a lot.”
“That’s because you worry too much, Lian.” Shen Lingqing saved the file she was working on and closed the lid of her laptop before leaning on her seat. “What happened to your motto ‘live at the moment and worry later’?”
“That was before, Qingqing! We aren’t getting younger now!”
Shen Lingqing shook her head and sighed. She should have known Qiao Lian’s logic by now.