Mr. Lin had already set up the kitchen for her, and all the ingredients were already there. However, he would not help her prepare the ingredients as she would need to cook the dishes herself.
“I don’t want to make things difficult for Ms. Zhou either. It’ll be asking for too much to ask you to prepare everything by yourself. You can simply choose to make a couple of dishes that you’re good at. I’ll leave the kitchen for you. We’ll be waiting outside.”
“Okay.”
Later, Mr. Lin entertained the agent and Luo Huimei with tea outside. He had very good tea-brewing skills, but it was a shame there was no one there who would appreciate it. The agent was not a refined person. His pose was awkward when he was serving the tea, though he was good at currying favor with people. After a sip, the agent immediately praised, “It’s good tea.”
Mr. Lin only smiled without saying anything.
Meanwhile, Luo Huimei was only thinking of her daughter and did not feel like drinking the tea. She heard what the agent had said earlier and thought that Mr. Lin was a passionate person. It would be understandable if he did not allow the store to be renovated. The rent was so expensive as the store was the only memory he had left of his late wife. However, after the assigned task, Luo Huimei felt that he was making life difficult for them. Her daughter, Yan, had never met his late wife before, nor did she hear of her before the agent mentioned it today. Yet, she was asked to recreate the dishes so that they tasted exactly like his wife’s cooking. It was mission impossible.
Luo Huimei had a strong feeling that the other party had no intention of lowering the rent. He only called them here to humiliate them. She thought of being impulsive, but her words stopped at her lips and she decided to hold it back when she remembered her daughter’s exhortations before they came. Fine. Yan is still cooking inside. I need to believe in her. Luo Huimei thought that whatever tantrum she wanted to throw could wait until the final result came out first.
As time passed by, the agent was uncertain how many cups of tea he had already drunk. Mr. Lin kept brewing the tea as he drank it respectfully. It was a cold winter day but he felt warm after drinking so much hot tea. The agent had drunk too much tea and wanted to go to the bathroom. However, it would be very awkward if he made a move now, so he could only force himself to sit there. Ms. Zhou would probably be done soon, right? However, the agent could not stand it after waiting for a few more minutes. He asked awkwardly, “Excuse me, Mr. Lin, Madam Luo, I drank too much tea just now and would like to go to the bathroom for a while.”
Mr. Lin gave him a polite, yet indifferent glance. “Go ahead.” After that, he glanced at the servant next to him. She immediately understood. While approaching him, she said, “Sir, let me lead the way.”
The kitchen door opened not long after the agent left. Luo Huimei was already very nervous before this. She immediately stood up and approached her daughter when she heard the sound. “Yan, how is it? Is everything fine?”
Yan was shocked by her nervous mother and took two steps back to put a distance between them. “Mom, my body smells. Don’t come too close to me.”
Luo Huimei was so angry that she reached out to pinch her ear. “You little brat, it’s not the time to talk about this. Quickly tell me how everything went.” After saying that, she turned around and took a look at Mr. Lin. Mr. Lin was still sitting there and he looked at them calmly.
Luo Huimei whispered, “I think this Mr. Lin is up to no good. He’s obviously humiliating you by asking you to do this. If you have no confidence in this, let’s just go and say goodbye to him now. I’ll ask your dad to find you a better shop when we head home. Besides, we can just open a restaurant further away. It doesn’t have to be around here.”
“Mom, it’s too late for you to say that now. I’ve finished cooking the noodles. How would you know if your daughter can’t make it if the other party has not tried it yet?”
Luo Huimei replied, “What are you talking about? Of course I trust you, but you heard his condition to recreate the dish so that it tastes the same as how his late wife cooked it. Did you even know his wife? Did you know what her name was? How is it possible for you to do that? He’s obviously trying to con you. Now I regret bringing you to see the shop in the first place. Otherwise, all these would not be happening now.”
Zhou Xiaoyan comforted her, “It’s fine. Things have already gotten to this stage now, so there’s no point discussing this anymore.” She then took a few steps forward and nodded to Mr. Lin. “Mr. Lin, the noodles are done.”
Mr. Lin lifted his chin, and the servant went inside the kitchen to get the noodles. A bowl of delicious-looking and aromatic noodles was served in front of him. In the beginning, when they met Mr. Lin, he always had a faint smile on his face, which made him look pleasant but slightly distanced. After he saw the bowl of noodles, the look on his face changed. The smile on his face faded a little. A moment later, he lifted his head to look at Yan and whispered, “Ms. Zhou, you’re quite the bright one. This dish was my late wife’s favorite.” His wife’s favorite, and also his.
Mr. Lin never thought Ms. Zhou would have such sharp and observant eyes to choose this dish. The chefs who came over previously were over-confident that they could make a dish better than his wife and chose to make their signature dish. Yan, on the other hand, had picked the one he liked today. For a moment, Mr. Lin’s eyes became more serious when he looked at Yan. This person is not ordinary to be able to pick this dish out.
Mr. Lin smiled slightly. He lowered his head and picked up the chopsticks to taste the ramen. He was stunned after the first taste of the noodles and took another bite.
Luo Huimei was nervously watching this from the side while holding tightly onto her daughter’s arm. She whispered, “Can you make it, Yan?”
The expression on Zhou Xiaoyan’s face remained calm even though she was actually not confident at all. Just like what Luo Huimei said, she did not know his wife at all, nor had she tried the dishes she made. How is it possible to remake them exactly the way his wife did? However… she had her own thoughts.
After a moment, the smile on Mr. Lin’s face faded away. A glimpse of sadness was on his handsome face, and there was deep darkness under his eyes. Yan took a few steps forward and sat in front of him.
Mr. Lin lifted his head and said in a deep tone, “Ms. Zhou, the taste of the noodles is incomparable to my wife’s.”
Luo Huimei, who was beside her, heard the words and did not show a shocked expression as if everything was as she predicted. She clenched her fists in anger but heard her daughter reply softly, “Mr. Lin, this dish is what I specially made for you. I’m sure you’ve realized that.”
Lovesickness was bittersweet. In addition to his wife who had passed away, the memory of him losing her was bitter. However, it was sweet when he thought of the past memories they spent together. Therefore, the noodles tasted bitter with a hint of sweetness. Even though it was not especially tasty… it was the exact reflection of his current state.
The hand with which Mr. Lin held the chopsticks paused. He looked at Yan and said, “You’re very smart, but I wanted the exact taste as my wife’s cooking. Unfortunately, you didn’t fulfill my condition.”
