On the first day of operation, the new restaurant received a special reservation call. A fan was coming to celebrate their birthday and wanted the restaurant to prepare a birthday cake.

Mu Hua brought this up in the morning meeting. His gaze lingered between Du Xiaoruo and Fan Yingjiao. Making a birthday cake only requires one person. Who should be assigned to this task?

Fan Yingjiao smiled contemptuously, and seeing that Du Xiaoruo didn't speak, she assumed that Du Xiaoruo was simply incompetent and guilty.

"I'll make the birthday cake; I'll just make small cakes for fun in my spare time."

When she said this, Fan Yingjiao's nostrils were practically pointing to the sky, and her smug sense of superiority was so strong that you could almost smell it through the screen.

"Who are you talking to?" Xia Qing slammed her hand on the table in anger. "Don't take advantage of Xiaoruo's quiet nature. You're really something, comparing your own profession to other people's interests and hobbies."

Du Xiaoruo pressed Xia Qingye's hand under the table, signaling her not to get angry.

It was just making a birthday cake. Although Xiaoruo was low-key, it involved her profession, and since someone had provoked her, she might not be able to swallow her anger.

But shortly after arriving at the restaurant this morning, Qiao An sent her a text message saying that a customer would be coming to order a birthday cake today, and told Du Xiaoruo not to pay attention to it and to let Fan Yingjiao make it.

Given Qiao An's personality, he would definitely not let it go after Fan Yingjiao made him squat yesterday. Since this matter was arranged by Qiao An, Xiao Ruo can just wait and watch the show.

However, it was not something that could be discussed openly with others. Even after the meeting ended, Xia Qing continued to grumble and complain that Xiao Ruo was too weak. But Du Xiao Ruo just smiled and did not defend herself.

Du Xiaoruo and Fan Yingjiao took turns working in the dessert room. Since Fan Yingjiao was making cakes today, Xiaoruo was assigned by Mu Hua to work with the children at the small bar.

The restaurant has been upgraded, and the drinks served at the mini-bar also need to be upgraded. In addition to honey lemonade, Du Xiaoruo and the children discussed it and voted for mango pomelo sago as the winner.

To be honest, Du Xiaoruo had never tried mango pomelo sago before. She looked up a recipe online and found it to be quite simple: use mango, grapefruit, sago, and thick coconut milk as a base, then add mango and coconut milk blended into a smoothie in a cup.

Making drinks feels much simpler than making desserts.

Du Xiaoruo went to the refrigerator and took out some sago pearls. She then said to the children, "I'm going to start cooking the sago pearls now. Please step back behind the safety line."

Lele and Xiaoshu, thinking about how well the three of them cooperated with Xiaoruo, already knew what "outside the safety line" meant, which was to retreat to a place more than one meter away from Xiaoruo.

However, Jin Xingming was a new kid, and he didn't understand what Du Xiaoruo meant. While the other kids backed away, he stood awkwardly in front of the bar with his big, bewildered eyes.

Jin Xingming nervously twisted the hem of his clothes, his big eyes filled with helplessness, looking pitiful.

Xiao Ruo gently stroked his smooth bowl cut hair, half-squatted down, and asked with a smile, "Should I call you Xiao Xing or Xiao Ming?"

Jin Xingming answered cautiously, "My name is Xingxing."

"Wow, Star is such a wonderful name."

As Du Xiaoruo praised him, Jin Xingming gradually relaxed, and the corners of his tightly clenched lips slowly turned up.

Du Xiaoruo pointed to the other children's positions, "Because firing is very dangerous, would you like to stand over there with your older brothers and sisters?"

"Okay." Jin Xingming nodded obediently and ran over to stand with Lele and the others.

In the live stream room,

Xiaoruo is so warm and gentle. She didn't let the adults' grudges affect the children. For that alone, she deserves a big thumbs up.

There's absolutely no need for that. No emotionally stable adult would deliberately make things difficult for a three-year-old.

Sigh, with such a foolish mother, it's hard to imagine Jin Xingming not growing up to be a bad person.

Lele and the others stepped aside and watched for a while, then got a little bored. Lele ran over to ask Du Xiaoruo,

"Mom, can I have some hot coconut milk?"

"Okay," Du Xiaoruo replied, turning around to find a small saucepan and pouring half a saucepan of coconut milk into it. "Is that enough?"

"Yes." Lele nodded. "I want to make coconut milk jelly."

"Then remember to add gelatin."

"Um."

Du Xiaoruo almost never restricts Lele from doing what he wants. Although she herself has an insignificant family background, her adoptive aunt is a good person who gave her a lot of loving and tolerant love. With her aunt's encouragement, Du Xiaoruo explored many new fields and finally found what she loves to do most.

She had no experience as a mother, so she could only pass on the positive experiences she had gained from her aunt to Lele.

More than an hour later, Lele took out the coconut milk jelly she had made from the refrigerator, carefully scooped the jelly into a crystal goblet, and garnished it with blueberry jam.

The first cup of jelly was served to Mom.

Du Xiaoruo took the coconut milk jelly that Lele had made herself, scooped a spoonful with a small silver spoon and put it in her mouth. It was silky smooth and cool. Although the texture was rather simple, it was surprisingly refreshing.

Lele stood in front of Du Xiaoruo, her little hands fidgeting on the edge of the bar, as if she had something on her mind.

After a while, Lele mustered up her courage and whispered, "I don't want to share the jelly I made with Jin Xingming because I don't like his mother. His mother is a bad person. She bullies my father."

Du Xiaoruo ate her jelly in small bites, and instead of lecturing Lele like most parents would, she simply nodded to indicate that she understood.

Lele waited a while, but seeing that Du Xiaoruo didn't say anything more, this only piqued Lele's curiosity. He leaned on the bar counter, blinking his big eyes, and asked...

"Mom, aren't you going to discipline me?"

Du Xiaoruo was amused by him, "Why should I lecture you?"

"Because I don't know how to be considerate of my younger brother, I'm stingy, petty, and narrow-minded."

This not only made Du Xiaoruo laugh, but the entire live stream audience burst into laughter as well.

[Lele is hilarious! She's so cute and kind. She wants to "avenge" her dad, but then she gets soft-hearted.]

[Lele, when I get ruthless, I even criticize myself.]

[Actually, Lele's feelings are just like those of ordinary people. Sometimes, even when the other person is clearly in the wrong, we still feel guilty when we retaliate.]

Du Xiaoruo laughed for a while, put down her crystal glass, and leaned on the bar counter with Lele. She asked in a friendly, equal manner,

Did Jin Xingming help you when you were making the jelly?

Lele immediately shook her head and proudly replied, "I did it all by myself."

Du Xiaoru blinked. "You made the jelly yourself, so it's your private property. How you distribute it is your right. Sharing is supposed to be a happy thing, but because you think too much about it, it becomes a source of trouble."

Given Lele's language comprehension level, he only understood half of what he heard, but he roughly understood what his mother meant: that he could rightfully make decisions about his own things.

He ran off with a cheerful gait, then ran back a while later and spoke to Du Xiaoruo on his own initiative.

"I've decided to give Jin Xingming the jelly, because it's his mother who's bad, not him. I didn't understand that earlier."

"Okay, go ahead."

Xiaoru waved her hand and continued eating her jelly without a care, making no comment on Lele's behavior.

But her attitude garnered a lot of goodwill in the live stream.

I think Xiaoruo is the kind of mother who doesn't burden her child. She rarely comments on Lele, and their relationship seems more like that of good friends.

Honestly, who wouldn't want a mom who's like a friend? My mom's controlling nature is driving me crazy.

When our generation becomes mothers, will there be more and more mothers who are like friends to us?

After lunch, it was time to start business in the afternoon.

To complement the restaurant's elegant ambiance, Ni An also adjusted the menu to include light and clean dishes. The restaurant was transformed from a main course restaurant into a more relaxed afternoon tea and light meal restaurant focusing on light meals, desserts, and drinks.

Because the environment and dishes have been upgraded, the prices have naturally increased. Although the sales target has increased during this period, everyone's workload has decreased.

Compared to the previous chaotic scenes, the current pace is more like a healing, slow-paced variety show with a food-themed theme.

Around 3 p.m., many guests arrived at the restaurant, and light, pleasant music filled the elegant and sophisticated space.

Du Xiaoruo didn't want to face customers directly, so she was in charge of making drinks behind the bar, while the children were responsible for transporting the drinks to the tables in small carts.

Yingge is a very remote area, and most of the people who come here to eat are fans of the show. They eat and drink, tease the kids, and the atmosphere is generally quite nice.

The atmosphere in the hall became strange when Fan Yingjiao personally pushed out a red velvet cake on a trolley.

Almost everyone present knew about yesterday's events and didn't particularly like Fan Yingjiao. Now, seeing her pushing her handmade red velvet cake over with an arrogant expression, her haughty demeanor made her seem more like someone offering charity than a pastry chef.

She went straight to table number 8, where the birthday cake had been ordered, and personally carried the velvet cake out and placed it on the table.

This is a 10-inch red velvet cake customized according to the customer's request. The cake is a red chiffon cake base, covered with yellow whipped cream, and decorated with fruits such as strawberries and blueberries.

Velvet cake itself isn't particularly difficult to make, and Fan Yingjiao's cake was a fairly standard one, nothing particularly outstanding, but judging from its appearance alone, there was nothing wrong with it.

The birthday girl was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing a dark green Mori-style tulle dress, which matched the velvet cake quite well.

When the girl first saw the unassuming velvet cake, she was clearly disappointed, but she still maintained basic etiquette and thanked Fan Yingjiao politely.

After that, it was time for the normal wish-making, candle-blowing, and cake-cutting activities.

After delivering the cake, Fan Yingjiao stood at the bar and observed it. She was quite confident in the taste of the cake, since the ingredients used were all of good quality.

But after the girl took a bite of the cake, her expression clearly changed.

"It's sour." She frowned and complained to her companion.

My companion took a bite and said, "It tastes like something's gone bad. Let's call their manager over."

Upon hearing this, Mu Hua quickly went over. After some discussion, Mu Hua personally tasted the cake and found that it was indeed on the sour side.

Fan Yingjiao panicked for a moment, then realized it might be the yogurt. She argued shrilly, "This cake has yogurt in the filling, that's why it tastes sour."

The girl explained softly, "First, I didn't ask for yogurt. I personally don't like a sour taste, so this must be your mistake. Second, I've eaten yogurt before, but this cake doesn't taste like yogurt at all; it feels like it's really spoiled."

Fan Yingjiao picked up a spoon, tasted it, and answered confidently, "This is the taste of yogurt."

The two sides were deadlocked, and finally the girl seemed to compromise.

"Well then, Mrs. Jin, since you insist that the cake isn't spoiled, then you should eat it all. If you're fine, I'll believe it's not spoiled, and I'll publicly apologize to you."

"Eat it all? Are you crazy?" Fan Yingjiao roared. "This is a 10-inch cake, enough for 12 people. You want me to eat it all? Are you kidding me?"

The girl looked calmly into Fan Yingjiao's eyes, neither backing down nor losing her composure. She simply looked at her calmly, but in reality, she was putting pressure on her with her eyes.

Fan Yingjiao's not-so-bright brain suddenly realized that the red velvet cake and the corresponding red velvet high heels meant that this was a deliberate attempt to cause trouble.

The girl smiled gently.

"I don't know whether to address you as Mrs. Jin or Ms. Fan. I really can't understand why, with the power of such powerful families as the Jin and Fan families, they would allow you to damage the dignity of others in this way. Or do the Jin and Fan families think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with what you did? As far as I know, the Jin and Fan families have not offered any explanation for your foolish behavior yesterday."

"Who are you? Did Qiao An send you?" Fan Yingjiao's heavily made-up face gradually became distorted with anger.

The girl handed him a business card.

"I forgot to introduce myself. I am He Qian, a reporter from Minwang. I was not sent here by anyone. My actions today are simply a matter of professional ethics. I want the Jin and Fan families to give a definite explanation for this vile trend of publicly insulting people's dignity. Or is it that in today's society, money and power can make people run rampant?"

As He Qian finished speaking, a round of enthusiastic applause erupted in the restaurant. Some fans started cheering, and the live stream chat exploded with excitement.

[My God, this is directly targeting the Jin and Fan families. He Qian is incredibly audacious.]

This has forced the heads of these two families to respond, because this seemingly small, foolish move could trigger a major crisis in the stock prices of both groups.

[He Qian is a reporter for Minwang.com. Companies criticized by Minwang.com never fare well; even if they aren't seriously injured, they'll suffer greatly. Don't worry, the Jin and Fan families won't dare to do anything to her.]

[Fan Yingjiao is really stupid. She thinks she can do whatever she wants just because she has the power of her family. Now she's really messed up.]

At this point, even the most foolish Fan Yingjiao began to realize she had made a grave mistake. In truth, she had no idea how things had progressed to this point.

Originally, Fan Yingjiao only happened to see Beibei Restaurant's live stream and saw that Du Xiaoruo was very popular because she made a few simple cakes and ice creams.

Fan Yingjiao felt she could do better than Du Xiaoruo. By simply showing her face on the show, she could not only gain favor herself, but also impress her parents, who only liked her older sister.

It's all Qiao An's fault. If Qiao An hadn't called her first and embarrassed her in front of hundreds of millions of viewers, she wouldn't have done what she did later.

In fact, Fan Yingjiao didn't know that Qiao An would actually help her try on shoes herself. She just wanted to vent her anger and get revenge for being insulted, but she didn't expect Qiao An to be such a ruthless person, making her the target of everyone's criticism so easily.

Fan Yingjiao has long since lost her previous arrogance and is now preoccupied with figuring out how to salvage the situation.

In the office of Yase Design Department, several core members of Yase were watching the live broadcast in front of their computers.

Seeing this, Qiao An pointed to He Qian, whose expression was calm on the screen, and made a very pertinent assessment.

"Yu Pan is a good girlfriend; she'll really step up when things get tough."

Yu Pan blushed with embarrassment, but his eyes were filled with happiness and pride. "She's not my girlfriend yet, we just went on a blind date last night."

Secretary Jin casually added, "He Qian is a fan of CEO Qiao. She talked about CEO Qiao with Yu Pan all night last night. I just want to ask Yu Pan how he felt?"

Yu Pan's smile faded again. Spending the whole night chatting with other men while talking to the girl he liked was definitely not a good experience.

Qiao An raised her hand and slapped Secretary Jin hard across the face. Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about? Damn idiot.

After beating up Secretary Jin, Qiao An patted Yu Pan on the shoulder in a comforting manner.

"It's okay. Which girl doesn't have ten or eight husbands online these days? Besides me, she definitely likes other people."

Yu Pan, the entire victim of injustice, was almost brought to tears by their comforting words.

There wasn't much to see in the live stream anymore, so Secretary Kim happily ran to the front desk to retrieve the previously arrived package.

"Mr. Qiao, this is W's latest laptop. Take it to Lele tonight. He told me last time that he wanted to buy one."

"Okay, put it in my car."

Otto was focused on doing his hand care when he saw the computer that cost almost half a year's salary for an average person. He curled his lip and thought, "Why would a kid buy such an expensive computer?"

After watching the live stream for a while, Qiao An returned to his office. The procedures for acquiring shares were very complicated. He signed a huge pile of documents sent by Secretary Jin, and his hands almost cramped up when he left the office.

After leaving the company building, Qiao An received a message from Mu Hua.

[We're having barbecue at home tonight, wanna come?]

Joanne replied with a message.

[It will take an hour and a half to arrive.]

Sitting in the car, thinking about the hour and a half drive, Qiao An felt a little irritated and sent another message to Mu Hua.

[So annoying, living so far away.]

Mu Hua replied quickly: "Annoying. Just go back to your apartment in the city. You know perfectly well whether it's leaking or not."

Joan instantly lost her temper, turned on the car music, and obediently drove off.

Because Beibei Restaurant has now become more upscale and has a better environment, people can no longer eat down-to-earth foods like barbecue or hot pot in the restaurant, as it would make the restaurant smell bad. So, after buying the ingredients, they bring them to their dormitories to eat.

When Qiao An was almost at Yinge, he received a text message from Mu Hua containing the villa's password, telling him to open the door himself when he arrived and not to bother others to open it for him every time.

This shows they don't treat him like an outsider at all.

Upon entering the villa, Lele and Xiaoshu were playing checkers. Seeing the box Qiao An was carrying, they immediately jumped up from the sofa.

"My computer."

Qiao An handed the computer to Lele, looking around as if she were searching for something.

Xia Qing, beaming, came out of the kitchen with a plate of fruit. Seeing Qiao An looking around, a playful expression appeared on her face.

"Xiao Ruo is still at the restaurant and hasn't come back yet. Don't look for her anymore."

"Who said I looked for her?" Qiao An walked past Lele and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.

Xia Qing also placed the fruit on the coffee table, took a strawberry and put it in Lele's mouth, but her eyes were fixed on Mu Hua talking.

"Director Kang came by when you and Ni An went grocery shopping. He said that Fan Yingjiao has withdrawn from the show and that they will pick up her luggage here tomorrow."

Mu Hua sighed, "With her personality, she shouldn't have come on the show. She's made such a huge mess, and the Jin and Fan families don't know how much money they'll have to spend to cover it up."

Xia Qing also saw Qiao An walking over and casually gossiped a bit.

"Hey, Qiao An, the Jin family and the Fan family haven't contacted you? They should be rushing to apologize by now, their stocks have already started to decline, right?"

Qiao An, looking like she was in a daze, replied irrelevantly, "Why isn't Xiao Ruo back yet?"

Xia Qing was so angry she wanted to throw the strawberry in her hand at him. "Can't you even respect the person you're talking to?"

"Alright, alright," Mu Hua quickly intervened to mediate. "Qiao An, go pick up Xiao Ruo. It's uncomfortable for you to stay inside, and it's uncomfortable for us to see you like this."

[Mr. Ha, you're such a love-struck fool! Go pick up your wife; you're just an eyesore here.]

[I wonder how much psychological trauma Xia Qing is experiencing, hahaha...]

[Fan Yingjiao is gone. With a shout, my world is finally quiet~~~]

Xia Qing watched Qiao An's departing figure and sighed resentfully, "As expected, all the good men belong to other people."

Turning her gaze away, she saw Lele hunched over the coffee table, fiddling with his new computer. He was sticking his butt out and kissing a corner of the computer with his mouth.

Seeing Lele's strange behavior, Xia Qing was also puzzled. She asked curiously,

"Lele, what are you doing?"

Lele took out her phone, opened a chat window and showed it to Xia Qing, "They told me to kiss this part to turn it on."

Xia Qing also stared at the screen for a while. The chat box showed Lele's conversation with the computer's official customer service.

Visitor 77890: [Hello, how do I turn on this computer?]

Our customer service team is here to help you.

Momo, [Give me a kiss here.]

Momo, [Illustrative image.jpg]

Lele pointed to a spot on the notebook and confirmed with Xia Qing, "Auntie, he meant this spot, right?"

Xia Qing also carefully examined the picture, confirming that Lele had kissed the right spot. "This computer's startup method is so strange. Kiss it harder, is it not being recognized?"

Lele pouted and gave the computer a big kiss, but the computer still didn't react at all.

"Is this computer broken?" Lele was a little disappointed. What bad luck! The computer she had been looking forward to for so long was delivered to her in the first place.

Mu Hua stared at the chat box for a long time, then asked uncertainly,

"Could it be that he meant, 'Kiss, here.' Is 'kiss' a noun?"

Lele still looked completely bewildered.

Xia Qing was the first to understand Mu Hua's meaning. She stretched out her finger and pressed the spot indicated by the customer service representative. The computer immediately displayed the boot screen. It turned out that the computer had a hidden power switch in pursuit of a minimalist design.

Mu Hua sighed, "...Lele, your comprehension skills...it's a good thing your dad is rich."