Gu Lingling didn’t take the front entrance when she arrived here.
To ensure confidentiality, Su Ziqiao arranged for her to have a private room in a secluded courtyard at the back, fully equipped with everything she might need.
Gu Lingling personally taught the recipe to the head chef at Taoran Inn.
The head chefs here have all signed agreements, stating that if they dare to leak the secret recipes of Taoran Inn dishes, they would face enormous compensation fees.
Furthermore, even if the head chefs leave Taoran Inn in the future, they are not allowed to use these recipes elsewhere.
The secret recipes belong to Taoran Inn, not to the chefs themselves.
Of course, the head chefs also receive a share of Taoran Inn’s profits, along with generous compensation, so unless they’re out of their minds, they wouldn’t think of leaving for somewhere else.
Seeing Gu Lingling arrive, the head chef Feng Dawei excitedly dropped his work and ran over.
In his mind, Gu Lingling, this young girl not even twenty, was his mentor. Although there had been no formal ceremony, he had learned many things from her that he hadn’t learned before.
So much so, that he was inspired in his own private culinary research as well.
"Master, you’re here." Feng Dawei said respectfully, "I recently created a new dish. Please, Master, taste and give me some guidance."
Gu Lingling smiled, "You’re too modest, Master Feng."
Despite having previously refused being called "Master" by such a burly man, it didn’t change how he addressed her.
So she simply went along with it.
After teaching her own culinary creations to Feng Dawei and tasting his dishes, giving him some advice, she checked the time and realized it was about the time she’d arranged to meet Mr. Zhou.
Today, she was bringing Mr. Zhou here for dinner.
Who would have thought that after exiting the back door of Taoran Inn and just barely getting to the path leading to the front entrance, she would run into Meng Feifei.
Maybe it was fate that enemies on a narrow road were bound to meet.
"What are you doing here?" Meng Feifei asked with a doubtful look at Gu Lingling, glancing once more in the direction she had come from.
This path could indeed lead to Taoran Inn’s back door, or it could lead to the front of Taoran Inn.
"This doesn’t seem to be your family’s place, does it?" What did she mean by asking why she was here? Why couldn’t she be here? It was simply laughable.
The key point was her tone was outrageously self-righteous.
"You’re not thinking of going to Taoran Inn, are you?" Meng Feifei sneered, "Gu Lingling, people of a certain status should behave according to their place. A person like you should know what places you should and shouldn’t go to."
"Although this isn’t my family’s place, it’s not a place someone like you can come to either."
Gu Lingling didn’t speak, but a couple of girls who came with Meng Feifei quietly asked her, "Who is she?"
"Just someone from the countryside," Meng Feifei said disdainfully.
"What’s wrong with being from the countryside?" Gu Lingling smiled faintly, "If you trace back three generations in your family, they’re from the countryside too."
Meng Feifei was at a loss for words.
"Who is this person? Being so sharp-tongued is not a good thing," said another woman standing in front of Meng Feifei with a laugh, "Do you know who you’re talking to?"
"Forget it, Yimo, she’s just some country girl," Meng Feifei laughed as she leaned toward Gu Lingling, "Remember, this kind of place isn’t for you, and don’t hold onto things that don’t belong to you."
"I didn’t know that someone as high and mighty as you, Miss Meng Feifei of the great families of the Capital City, would like to covet other people’s things so much," Gu Lingling said with a smile.
"What’s mine is mine, and no one can take it away, regardless of their status."
"Of course, if it’s not mine, I don’t care for it either."
After saying that, she walked away without looking back.
As for Meng Feifei, it choked her speechless!