Chapter 126: Chapter 106: Discouragement

"I opened a small restaurant and saved a VIP card for you. Come over whenever you want something to eat."

Leo took the card and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Thanks."

"Actually, I’m the one who should be saying thanks," Ning He said. Seeing Leo’s questioning gaze, she explained, "It’s about that... ghost upstairs from my place. The method you suggested is great. I’m already... working on it."

By now, she had already realized what was going on.

There was no way someone like Leo would believe in ghost stories. He must have discovered something and was subtly warning her.

Although they had some unpleasant interactions in the past, she owed him for this matter, and thanking him in person was a must.

"That’s good. The sooner you deal with such hidden dangers, the better," Leo reminded her again, his expression neutral.

"Yeah, I’ll do it as soon as possible." Ning He rubbed her hands together and finally asked the question she hadn’t been able to figure out. "Why... did you help me?"

Accustomed to her usually arrogant and defiant demeanor, Leo actually found it somewhat novel for her to speak so cautiously and politely.

"When I was studying at the academy, I used to eat at your dad’s stall a lot. He helped me out once."

Although this reason was unexpected, it made perfect sense.

After all, Old Ning had worked at the academy for decades, so it was normal for him to have left behind some goodwill.

She just hadn’t expected it to be Leo.

"So that’s how it is." Ning He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Regardless, thank you anyway. I’ll remember this favor. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know."

She was just being polite.

After all, she was just a chef. How could she possibly help with the kind of work Leo did?

"Sorry for the wait!"

Connie came over carrying a bowl of oil-spilled noodles. There was also a bowl full of minced meat sauce on the tray; she had probably scooped out all that was left.

"Eat it while it’s hot. These oil-spilled noodles won’t taste good once they get cold."

"I won’t bother you anymore. Enjoy your meal."

Ning He got up and followed Connie back to the stall. Halfway there, she suddenly glanced back on instinct, only then realizing what had felt off this whole time.

How had this guy lost so much weight?!

His massive build, which used to rival Johnny’s, seemed to have shrunk a size.

What had he been doing this past month?

For some reason, Ning He suddenly thought of the mysterious creature she had encountered that day.

It seemed that ever since then, Leo had gradually stopped appearing in television reports.

Could there be a connection between the two?

However, this was just Ning He’s guess and had no basis, so she quickly tossed it to the back of her mind.

Anyway, if the sky fell, the tall people would hold it up. As a chef, she couldn’t afford to worry about so much.

After seeing Leo off, everyone packed up and prepared to head back to the restaurant. Ning He suddenly remembered she hadn’t grabbed her jacket, so she told Connie and the others to go first while she turned back to get it.

Just as she returned to the stall, someone called out to her from behind.

"Ning He, can we talk? It’ll just take two minutes of your time."

Ning He turned around. It was Wendy.

She didn’t seem to be in a good state. She looked haggard, and a sense of urgency shone in her eyes.

"Alright, speak."

Wendy took a step forward, looking at Ning He with a bitter smile.

"You won. Seeing me suffer the consequences of my own actions must be very satisfying for you."

Ning He remained expressionless.

"I’m very busy. I don’t have time to gloat. If you’re just here to say this, I’m not interested in listening."

Wendy looked at her, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "Actually, I don’t understand. You’re so skilled, so why must you stay in the cafeteria? You can only earn a steady, small amount of money here, which is far inferior to the restaurant you opened outside. Why do you insist on... staying here? I know it’s crossing a line to say this, but because of your presence, us older stalls are having a very hard time now. We’re all just ordinary people trying our best to make a living. Do you really have to drive us to a dead end?"

"Who is ’us’? Who’s being driven to a dead end?" Ning He laughed out of anger. "As of right now, not a single stall has failed to make ends meet and had to close down, right? And you call this a dead end? Besides, it’s not like everyone’s business is doing poorly. Hai Hei and Uncle Qin are doing great. You’re speaking with such certainty, trying to pin the blame on me out of thin air?!"

"But you’re going to upgrade in the future, and more and more stalls will be affected by you. Do you really want everyone to hate you?" Wendy said, her eyes darkening.

Ning He scoffed. "I do my business while abiding by the rules and laws. I don’t have time to care whether others hate me or not. It looks to me like you’re a representative sent here to persuade me to quit on everyone’s behalf. Well then, I’ll waste a little breath today and make things perfectly clear once and for all."

Ning He scanned the surroundings. The seemingly busy figures behind the various stalls all paused their movements.

She raised her voice:

"When doing business, I only believe in two words: fair competition. If you feel that I’m squeezing your business, then just show off your skills. As long as the students approve of your food, even if all my customers run off, I promise I won’t utter a single complaint. Otherwise, I’ll keep selling however I want, and I’ll sell as much as the cafeteria rules allow me to! Moreover, up to now, my sales revenue isn’t even a fifth or sixth of the breakfast stalls. You’d rather band together to come up with these kinds of tricks against me than spend more effort researching new dishes. I think you might as well take off those chef uniforms and go join a gang outside. You might even have more talent for it!"

Wendy’s face flushed bright red. Gritting her teeth, she said, "That’s easy for you to say, but not everyone is as talented as you. We’ve worked hard to learn the meager skills we have. How could innovating be that simple?"

"You have a brain and hands, so figure it out. Have you even tried? Look up literature, find information. You can spend money to buy cooking videos from before the Great Cataclysm, right? Study! Practice! Put the same energy you use to deal with me into research. What’s the use of just running your mouth?" Ning He sneered. "You guys have really been spoiled rotten by the academy. You don’t strive to improve, and you don’t have the slightest sense of crisis. Out there, even an eight-year-old kid knows they have to study hard to support themselves in the future. What about you?! You just want people to hand money over to you. It’s simply despicable!"

"Enough!"

A shout came from the side. Ning He narrowed her eyes and looked over. A middle-aged man was staring at her with a heavy gaze, and beside him stood Alisa, whose lips were pouting high in the air.

"We’ve all heard what you had to say. From now on, we’ll mind our own business and won’t bother you again."

Jonah spoke in a deep voice. Under his watch, Wendy bit her lip and walked away.

"Good. I look forward to seeing your changes."

Ning He left those words behind, picked up her clothes, and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

"Uncle, she’s going too far!" Alisa glared at Ning He’s retreating figure, wishing she could poke a hole right through her back.

"Our skills are simply inferior to hers; there’s nothing more to say. Let’s go back and practice!"

Jonah glanced at Wendy, didn’t say anything, and turned around to return to his stall.

"Hmph, go ahead and be so smug. You’ll stumble one day!" Alisa muttered defiantly toward the door, then went back to work.

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