Chapter 126: "For you.
It was a little after two in the afternoon, well past lunchtime. Shen Lu called Cai Su and Wang Daguo over for lunch. She didn’t make any extra dishes; they just ate the food they were selling.
She also packed two portions for Ye Fan and Lin Zhou.
She also shared all the fruit the Bai Family Siblings had sent over. It wasn’t a large amount, but Shen Lu was always generous with her own people and didn’t mind sharing some fruit.
As Shen Lu was about to head upstairs with a tray of food, a motorcycle pulled up to the entrance. A man with "Flash Delivery" written on his clothes walked in, holding a box.
"Hello? Are you here to eat?" Shen Lu asked.
"No, no, I’m here to make a delivery. Excuse me, does a Mr. Fu live here?"
"He does."
"Then which one of you is Miss Shen? Mr. Fu said Miss Shen could sign for it on his behalf."
"I am." Shen Lu placed the tray on the front counter. "What is it?"
"I’m not quite sure. That’s private customer information." The man held out his work Light Brain and showed Shen Lu where to sign.
After she signed for it, the man left in a hurry. Shen Lu tentatively picked up the box. It wasn’t particularly heavy, so she tucked it under her arm and carried the tray upstairs.
"Your package is here." Shen Lu placed the tray on the nightstand first. "Do you want me to open it for you?"
Fu Cheng gave a slight nod.
Not standing on ceremony, Shen Lu tore off the outer wrapping. Inside was a blue velvet jewelry box.
Surprised, she looked up at Fu Cheng.
The man brought up his Light Brain’s shared screen and typed on a blank document: "It’s for you."
She hesitated before opening the box. "You actually have money?"
She had assumed Fu Cheng was flat broke; she never imagined he would have the spare cash to buy her a gift.
Fu Cheng typed: A little.
He wasn’t dead, so of course the assets in his name were still his.
It was just that his condition had been poor before, and without a Light Brain to perform the necessary verification, his assets had been frozen.
But now that he had re-linked his Light Brain, his assets were unfrozen, and of course, he had money again.
In fact, Fu Cheng wanted to ask Shen Lu if she was interested in opening a shop in the Upper City District. He could give her a commercial property in a prime location, but her new restaurant had only just opened. He figured she wouldn’t agree even if he offered.
"Then let me take you to a hospital in the Upper City District," Shen Lu said seriously. "Your condition is much better now. I’m sure you’ll recover even faster if you receive treatment at a hospital."
Fu Cheng refused: No need. Going to any hospital is useless.
His recovery was entirely thanks to Shen Lu.
Otherwise, the military wouldn’t have sent him back before.
"How could it be useless?" Shen Lu didn’t understand. "You’re not scared of going to the hospital, are you?"
Fu Cheng: ...
Fu Cheng: I’m well aware of my own condition.
Fu Cheng: Look at the gift. Do you like it?
Shen Lu let out an almost inaudible sigh. She figured Fu Cheng must have his own reasons, and it wasn’t her place to interfere too much.
She opened the velvet box. Inside lay a hair clip shaped like deer antlers.
Its main body was gold, inlaid with a row of diamonds. At the tips of the antlers were two rubies of excellent purity.
’It looks incredibly expensive!’
’But it’s so beautiful!’
Swallowing the words of refusal on her lips, Shen Lu ran to the bathroom, fastened the clip beside her ear, and admired her reflection in the mirror.
’It really is beautiful. With the hair clip on, I look so much more elegant.’
No woman is immune to wanting to look beautiful, and Shen Lu was no exception.
Once she’d had her fill of admiring herself, she returned to the bedroom.
"This hair clip must have been very expensive, right? In that case, you don’t need to pay me back for the Light Brain."
The words were barely out of her mouth when her Light Brain blinked with a notification. Shen Lu opened it to find a money transfer from Fu Cheng.
After getting his Light Brain set up the day before, Fu Cheng had added Shen Lu’s new account. He originally planned to transfer the money last night but decided to wait until the hair clip arrived and present them to her together.
Fu Cheng: Keep it.
Shen Lu touched the hair clip, then glanced at the transfer notification. ’So, my fiancé is a real big spender,’ she thought wryly.
Well, if he was giving, she was taking. She didn’t feel the least bit guilty.
After all, she had been taking care of Fu Cheng for over a month. She hadn’t abandoned him; on the contrary, she had provided him with the best food and drink she could. This was something she had earned.
Shen Lu’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "Alright, I’ll accept it then."
After feeding him his meal, Shen Lu decided to take a nap. With everything that had happened over the past few days, she had been getting very little sleep, and dark circles were starting to show under her eyes.
She took off the hair clip, napped for an hour or so, and then got up and quickly washed her face.
She went down to the first-floor dining area and checked the takeout window.
There wasn’t much food left. Sometime during her nap, the daily mission had also been completed.
Wang Daguo walked over with a rag. "Boss Shen, dinnertime is in an hour and a half. We don’t have enough food left to sell. Should we make some more?"
Shen Lu shook her head. "We can’t make braised pork belly in just an hour and a half."
"Could we make some other dishes?"
"No need. We’ll leave it at that for today."
Her mission was complete, so Shen Lu couldn’t be bothered to start cooking again. Besides, she didn’t want to put too much pressure on the other restaurants on Gold Street.
’Who knows? She might just force another "Boss Cao" or two to pop up.’
She’d only dealt with Boss Cao so easily because he wasn’t particularly capable. If she ran into a real hard case, who could she go crying to?
Shen Lu went to the vacant lot behind the shop to take a look. She had placed the flowerpot with the green sprouts here, and she would come check on it and water it whenever she had a spare moment.
The green sprouts had grown much sturdier, but their growth speed was making Shen Lu impatient.
It was too slow. It felt like she still had a long way to go before she could eat the scallions she had planted herself.
"I’ve fertilized it, watered it, and given it sunlight. Why is it still growing like this?" Shen Lu muttered to herself.
Hidden in the shadows, Lin Zhou couldn’t help but reveal himself. "The fact that you got anything to grow at all is a miracle."
Shen Lu looked at him. "Is that so?"
"Yes. If the people at the cultivation bases knew you could grow plants, they would lose their minds."
For the past two days, Lin Zhou had spent most of his time studying this very pot of green sprouts.
Although he didn’t know what Shen Lu was growing, it had sprouted. It didn’t look sickly or weak; it was growing quite healthily.
What’s more, Shen Lu didn’t seem to be giving it any special care, just occasionally burying some food scraps in the soil and watering it when it got dry.
’To think such a simple cultivation method could actually succeed in growing a plant.’
What would all those researchers with their various reagents and perfectly simulated growth environments make of this? It was almost an embarrassment to them.
"Is it really that big of a deal?"
Shen Lu knew it was difficult for plants to grow naturally in this environment, but she hadn’t fully grasped the reality of the situation.
After all, growing scallions was incredibly simple.
"If Boss Shen took this pot of sprouts to the Biological Research Institute, she could become a Third-level Researcher without any assessment."
The researchers at the Biological Research Institute were ranked in five tiers. Level 5 was for the most senior members, while a Third-level Researcher was considered high-ranking, with a status in the Imperial City comparable to that of a princess.
"I’ll pass, then." Shen Lu politely refused. She had no interest in becoming a researcher.
Besides, her system wasn’t for agricultural research; she much preferred running a restaurant and cooking.
"I’m heading inside now," Shen Lu said with a wave. "Thank you for continuing to watch over my little shop."
She’d slacked off long enough; it was time to get back to work.
Lin Zhou nodded and silently disappeared back into the shadows.
Shen Lu returned to the back kitchen, planning to get a head start on prepping for tomorrow’s new menu item.