Zhu Yun raised an eyebrow. Ignoring the other woman, she gazed coolly at Vice Squad Leader Zhang. "Comrade, you know exactly what's going on better than anyone. Don't let someone use you as their attack dog. You won't get any of the benefits, and you'll just end up in a world of trouble!"
Vice Squad Leader Zhang's face flushed red. He prided himself on never taking advantage of others, but with another mouth to feed at home, he hadn't been able to resist the temptation. He had taken the money and ration tickets, a fact that severely undercut his righteous indignation.
'Still, I'm just taking money to do a job. This has nothing to do with some chef.'
He continued to crane his neck defiantly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I gave you money and tickets, no less than anyone else. Just look at the tiny portion you gave me!"
"That woman just now was right. You're taking from my portion to give extra to your crush, aren't you?"
'He really couldn't stand people who abused their position for personal gain, especially women. How could she fawn all over a man in public like this, without any regard for her reputation?'
'Mr. Chu might be a great guy, but why should I be the one to get the short end of the stick?'
Zhu Yun smiled. "How about this? If you were getting this meal for yourself to eat right here on the second floor, I'd fill your lunchbox to the brim. If your relatives come to visit, bring them here, and I won't short you a single piece of meat."
Vice Squad Leader Zhang said gruffly, "I don't like eating in crowded places. I prefer to take my food to go! Just hurry up and give me a proper portion of food, and we'll consider this matter dropped. Otherwise, I'll make such a scene that you'll be reprimanded throughout the entire factory."
Zhu Yun's expression turned cold. "Well, let me tell you something. I'll serve anyone else, but I absolutely will not serve Wang Xianbing's family. For seven years, they worked me like a slave, bullied me because I had no family to stand up for me, and slandered my name."
"I cook for the factory, yes, but I refuse to serve them. What about it?"
"If your wife cheated on you, would you still be able to sit at a table with the guy, smiling and calling him 'brother'?"
Vice Squad Leader Zhang's face turned beet red with anger. "How dare you say something like that? My wife is a decent woman! It's hard enough for her raising our children at home. What gives you the right to say such a thing?"
"Get your director over here! You need to be formally reprimanded in front of everyone!"
Zhu Yun sneered. "You'd better think this through. If you really call him over, the nature of this incident will change. It might turn out that someone took a bribe to deliberately cause trouble for me."
"I'm not one to take things lying down. Once it gets to that point, even your director won't be able to do anything. We'll have to call in the police. What's that charge called? Disturbing the peace? You'll be locked up for a few days of 're-education'!"
Vice Squad Leader Zhang froze. 'I just took some money and tickets to run an errand for someone. How did that turn into 'deliberately stirring up trouble'?'
Disturbing the peace could be a major or minor offense. Plenty of people in the factory had picked fights and caused trouble before, and it wasn't uncommon for the police to be called in. A conviction usually meant being excluded from the entire year's bonuses, training courses, business trips, and any chance of promotion.
He couldn't help but mutter, "Then just give me a new portion."
Zhu Yun scoffed and pointed to the signs around the cafeteria. "Portions are priced and sold by weight. I didn't short you on weight, and I gave you the dish you asked for. It just happens to have no meat in it. I haven't broken any rules."
The onlookers nodded in agreement. That was true. The broth was heavy on the scale, and even without solid pieces of meat, the dish was still flavored by it. Why else would they all be more polite to the person serving the food than they were to their own bosses or even their parents?
Vice Squad Leader Zhang was dumbfounded. 'That's not how it happened at all, so how did she manage to talk her way out of it and make it sound reasonable?'
The people around him also started to persuade him to let it go. "Old Zhang, the young chef's right. You might not have gotten a little extra, but you can't really say you were cheated."
Seeing Zhu Yun's triumphant expression, Vice Squad Leader Zhang picked up his tray without another word and left.
As he was leaving, Zhu Yun kindly called out in a loud voice, "Just keep the money and tickets Wang Xianbing gave you! You ran his errand for him, after all. He's not going to stiff you on your fee for the trouble, is he?"
"That couple is great at sweet-talking but their actions are vile. They knew your temper, Vice Squad Leader Zhang, so why did they pick you to do their dirty work? They're just trying to escalate the conflict, which would only get both of us in trouble."
"Why else would they be so fixated on getting food from my specific window?"
The crowd murmured amongst themselves. It was obviously because Chef Zhu was a great cook, but the way she spun the story, it turned into Wang Xianbing being bitter that she had this job and now trying to drag her down.
Regardless, the crowd now had fresh gossip and couldn't help but debate which version of the story was more likely.
Seeing Zhu Yun pick up the ladle again, the people still in line felt their hearts skip a beat. They chuckled and immediately began to shower her with praise. "Well now, Chef Zhu! We haven't seen you for a few days, and you've gotten so much fairer!"
Zhu Yun's lips curved into a smile. Above her mask, her eyes crinkled into crescents, sparkling like the brightest stars in the night sky. "Of course. I put a mixture of egg and honey on my face every morning and night."
"It's not that I'm vain, but as the chef on the second floor of the First Cafeteria, I have to be mindful of my appearance. I'd hate for foreign guests to visit and someone mention, 'Oh, you mean that lump of charcoal from the Bright Machinery Factory's First Cafeteria?'"
Her self-deprecating humor took everyone by surprise for a second before they all burst out laughing.
'It was true, after all. Chef Zhu was a master cook, but her looks weren't exactly presentable. What if a foreign guest loved the food, called her over to offer a few words of praise, and then saw what she looked like?'
'They were all used to her, so they didn't think much of it. In fact, the more observant among them had noticed she was actually quite a dark-skinned beauty.'
'But if a foreign guest were to catch a sudden glimpse of her... well, who knows what their stomach might do.'
Now in a better mood, Zhu Yun dug in her ladle and gave the man a huge scoop filled with meat. Delighted, he couldn't stop praising her. "Xiao Zhu is as beautiful as she is kind! Her cooking is filled with the taste of warmth!"
Although the flattery made everyone else cringe, the tactic was undeniably effective.
The people behind him quickly followed suit, trying to get in her good graces. Even the older women were no exception, praising Zhu Yun to the high heavens until every one of their lunchboxes was filled to their satisfaction.
'It was just a matter of a few words in exchange for real, tangible benefits. Only a fool would pick a fight with their own stomach.'
Chu Shenyu stepped forward, and the bustling atmosphere suddenly stilled. All eyes focused on the two of them.
The menu today was excellent: Braised River Prawns, Beef and Potato Stew, Hot and Sour Cabbage, and Corn with Pine Nuts. Each dish looked, smelled, and tasted incredible, making it hard to pass any of them up.
"I'll have a portion of each," he said, his cool voice matching his glance at the trays of food. Noticing how quiet it had gotten, he couldn't help but look at Zhu Yun. He gave a low cough and, just to go with the flow, added, "Thank you for your hard work, Chef Zhu. The food is very good."
The crowd erupted in laughter. A young man on good terms with Chu Shenyu was cackling so hard he nearly fell over. "Shen Yu, in all the years I've known you, this is the first time I've ever heard you praise someone! Oh man, you sound so serious..."
"Haha, it looks like our Chef Zhu has fallen for Mr. Chu's looks, and Mr. Chu has fallen for our Chef Zhu's cooking..."
The racket was loud enough to bring the roof down. A number of people even came stomping up the stairs from the first floor to see what all the commotion was about.
Zhu Yun just smiled and continued filling Chu Shenyu's lunchbox. When she was done, she added a roasted chicken wing, speaking directly to him for the first time. "I made it in the oven with a honey glaze. It was my first time experimenting with roasting, but the temperature control turned out pretty well. I wanted you to be the first to try the finished product."
The crowd let out another collective groan of jealousy. The roasted chicken wing smelled incredibly fragrant and sweet. Just looking at its glistening, oily sheen was enough to make a person drool.
Chu Shenyu nodded. He never put up a fight when it came to delicious food. Feeling it would be rude to just grab his tray and leave, he said, "Thank you, Chef Zhu. Pearl Vanishing Cream has a skin-whitening effect. I'll bring you a jar later."
He meant it as a way to thank her for taking such good care of him for so long, to repay her with the cream.
But to the crowd, it sounded like: 'Tsk, tsk, is Mr. Chu really sacrificing his body for good food? We've never seen him offer to bring anything for a woman before, and to one of his former admirers, no less!'
But Zhu Yun's face fell. 'Is he taking a roundabout way to call me dark-skinned? Telling me to have some self-respect and stop having delusional fantasies about him?!'
'Don't get angry, don't get angry,' she told herself. 'Pretty boys are for looking at, not for causing trouble.'
Her expression turned indifferent. "No, thank you. Next!"
The crowd's gossipy hearts flared up again. 'I bet Chef Zhu is playing hard to get! It's a strategic retreat...'
'The way to a man's heart really is through his stomach...'
'Our Mr. Chu is so outstanding in every way. Why has he lost his mind and let himself be trapped by good food?'
However, the people behind him continued to cheerfully praise Zhu Yun, and her bad mood instantly evaporated as she went back to happily dishing out food.
After a few more people, it was the turn of Peng Meiyun, the heroine's best friend.
"I want one portion of the braised prawns, one portion of the corn with pine nuts, plus a bowl of rice and a bowl of congee," Peng Meiyun said haughtily, passing over her lunchbox and dropping her tickets into the wooden box.
'The braised prawns had little else besides some scallions and chili, and not much sauce, while the corn with pine nuts was made of small kernels. Even if Zhu Yun's hand "slipped,"' she thought, 'there wasn't much room for her to play any tricks.'
However, Zhu Yun shot her a glance and promptly pulled both trays from the serving line. "Sorry, these two dishes are sold out."
Peng Meiyun's eyes widened. "Classmate Zhu, are you telling a bald-faced lie? There's still so much left!"
Zhu Yun said with a gloating smile, "I just remembered. The director told me that the leadership from the office building is in a meeting, and I need to save these dishes for them."
Peng Meiyun knew she was probably telling the truth; after all, no one would dare use the leadership as a false pretext. She could only begrudgingly order the other two dishes, getting a beef and potato stew with no beef, hot and sour cabbage that was mostly chili peppers, the dregs of the rice from the bottom of the container, and congee that was nearly cold...
What could she do? She just loved Zhu Yun's cooking. Peng Meiyun gritted her teeth and accepted the humiliating portions. 'If I'd known that Vice Squad Leader Zhang was so incompetent,' she fumed, 'I would have never gotten involved.'
But the moment she turned away, Zhu Yun put the two trays right back on the line. "Oh, dear. I just realized that by the time the leaders' meeting is over, this food will be cold. Better to let everyone eat first. I'll just stir-fry some fresh dishes for them later."
Well, there you have it. It looked like Peng Meiyun had just been added to Chef Zhu's blacklist, right alongside Wang Xianbing. As for Vice Squad Leader Zhang, he didn't even have the standing to eat in the First Cafeteria in the first place.
And after what happened with Vice Squad Leader Zhang, it was unlikely anyone would ever dare try to get food for those two again.