Smiling Rakshasa
Yu Ran signed a simple contract, added the boss on WeChat, and got an extra key to the boss's house, successfully unlocking the new copy.
However, it wasn't even the first day of the probation period, and the boss Jiang Liu was too lazy to pretend—
That night, Yu Ran was woken up by a series of messages and realized that he had just been sleeping. In the past six months, he had been suffering from intermittent insomnia, and it had been a long time since he had fallen asleep as quickly and slept as well as he had just now.
Who could it be?
Yu Ran has changed his WeChat account and currently has three friends: his sister, his mother, and his boss Jiang Liu.
Yu Lei orders her brother around and doesn't have the patience to send messages; at this time, the only one who has the same bad temper as her sister but is not as close to her is Jiang Liu.
Yu Ran groped in the dark, turned on the screen, and saw Jiang Liu's monologue at around 2:00 in the morning:
"Tomorrow I'm going to have tomato and avocado salad, stir-fried shrimp in tomato sauce, and peach gum stewed in coconut."
"I want Busan 88 tomatoes, and black tiger shrimp."
"Just remember the variety first, I won't have to explain it to you next time."
"You can decide on the taste. I'll try the food first."
"Come back tomorrow at two o'clock after buying the ingredients."
"No, it's better to have breakfast. Stew the coconut first."
And, at about three o'clock, he added: "If you come and I'm not up yet, please keep your voice down and remember to close the kitchen door. I don't want to smell the fumes."
Yu Ran's eyes and temples were twitching with pain. Whenever his Adam's apple rolled and he wanted to curse, he would be blocked by the "positive infinite" "0" in his monthly salary of 8,000.
"You really are...! You don't need to sleep..."
Yu Ran moved his fingers, shifted his hatred, changed a note for Jiang Liu, and fell down again in a daze.
Sleep without dreams is always particularly short. Yu Ran's idle brain has unconsciously listed Jiang Liu's request as the top priority. Around eight o'clock in the morning, his biological clock rebelled and started to make trouble.
It fully demonstrates the awareness of workers.
Now that I'm awake, I'll think carefully about how to cook the dish. Yu Ran listed a few key points and went to the largest supermarket to do some shopping. Feeling hungry, he packed some pancakes and mung bean paste to eat while walking.
Although he might not be able to cook all the dishes Jiang Liu ordered, based on his past experience, it shouldn't be a difficult task.
Besides, does “tasting” mean letting him express himself freely?
Fortunately, it seems that Yu Ran's job currently pays well, has a good environment, offers flexible hours, does not require socializing, and allows for direct communication with his direct supervisor.
Although my direct superior is sharp-tongued, arrogant, and unpredictable, he is still better than those greasy and arrogant men.
Yu Ran happily believed that Jiang Liu was at most arrogant, had high standards, and loved to create a persona, but he was not a bad person at heart.
It's a good job any way you look at it.
"Is this a turning point in fortune, a turning point in bad times?" Yu Ran felt guilty and quickly stopped thinking, fearing a backlash.
…
He bought two large bags of ingredients for three dishes. Yu Ran was more cautious and waited until 1:50 to open the door, meeting the boss's request for "early" and taking into account his inhuman biological clock.
The decoration of Jiang Liu's house is low-key and luxurious. The luxury is not the expensive luxury goods, but Jiang Liu's extraordinary aesthetic vision.
Yu Ran walked in, not even glancing at the garden. He changed his shoes and walked barefoot, not wanting to wear Jiang Liu's slippers casually, lest he get himself into trouble. He took off his coat, put on an apron, and officially began preparing lunch.
He cut the coconut, soaked the peach gum, cooked the coconut juice with milk, peeled the shrimp and marinated them, while washing and arranging the fruits. He thought Jiang Liu liked sweet things, so he bought a bottle of each salad dressing, preparing for his extremely high standards in this regard. He was worried that he couldn't eat ice after just getting up, so he just covered the mixture with plastic wrap and didn't put it in the refrigerator.
Different from Jiang Liu who avoids cooking, Yu Ran enjoys the process of cooking very much: everything is done by himself, and it is a kind of happiness that can be held firmly in the hands and will not cool down for a long time.
Everything was going on in an orderly manner. The doorbell rang. Adhering to the principle of focusing on work and not prying into or interfering with the boss's private life, he continued to stir the pot with the spatula, pretending not to hear it, while at the same time hoping that Jiang Liu could hear it.
After a while, the doorbell rang again.
On the one hand, there was an unfamiliar stranger, and on the other hand, there was the boss who was likely to be in a bad mood. Yu Ran pondered for a moment and felt that the latter was more terrifying. He wiped his hands on his apron and went to open the door.
Outside the door——
"Jiang—um, hello?" The speaker was a girl.
"Um, hello..." Yu Ran and her looked at each other, hoping that the other party would take the initiative to explain their purpose.
"Hello, I'm a clerk from Yikoutian. I'm here to deliver dessert to Mr. Jiang. Is he home?"
"He's not awake yet..." Yu Ran stretched out one hand to receive it, and with the other hand he held the door frame, ready to close it at any time, when his shoulder was suddenly bumped -
"Who said I wasn't awake? Thank you." Jiang Liu put his slender arm on Yu Ran's shoulder. He didn't take the cake, but still thanked him.
Yu Ran wisely took the dessert.
Even after the door closed, Yu Ran's arm was still on his shoulder.
Yu Ran quietly took off his apron to prevent his nose from getting irritated.
Thinking about lighting the fire on the stove, Yu Ran tucked his feet in and walked away slowly. The weight on his shoulders did not decrease at all, and there was even a sense of oppression.
Jiang Liu's face was really good with him, and any expression he made was very pretty. At this moment, his eyebrows were raised. If it weren't for the dead silence at the moment, Yu Ran would have thought he was a little vase actor practicing his acting skills in front of the mirror.
"Why didn't you reply to my message? You're awake." Jiang Liu's awakening didn't just refer to waking up during the day, but also to the fact that he saw Yu Ran's message "The other party is typing..." in the middle of the night.
"?!" On the first day of work, the boss was trying to show off his power to the employees. How interesting... Yu Ran didn't answer, but he choked a little, took out his phone, and argued:
"I was asleep at the time, but I woke up in the middle of the night and saw it and replied at the same time. I said, 'OK.'"
"Uh—" The WeChat page popped up, and Yu Ran bit his tongue to avoid danger, rolling back his words of defense. His momentum suddenly decreased a lot—
The reply of "OK" lay in the dialog box, unsent; and his note to Jiang Liu was:
Smiling Rakshasa.
How could he forget to take notes?!
Yu Ran wiped the screen on her apron and said, "I was just looking up a recipe and spilled some oil... Um, sorry, I forgot to reply. There won't be a next time!"
The attitude of admitting mistakes is acceptable.
"Hmph, is the meal ready? I'm hungry."
Yu Ran returned to the kitchen. The tomato sauce had been a bit dry after being left unattended for a while. He tried to add some hot water to make the ketchup, but his hand touched the kettle and moved away.
…
Jiang Liu ate the salad first, and Yu Ran brought the shrimps in tomato sauce to the table soon after. The red sauce covered every shrimp. A cooking method popular in Guangdong and Guangxi is called "Soy Sauce King". Yu Ran has seen it in a cookbook but has never tried it. Simply put, it is to boil onions, ginger, garlic and a certain type of soy sauce together to reduce the sauce, which is used to coat, stir-fry, or pour over ingredients.
Today, his shrimps were first stir-fried in the soy sauce broth, and then tomato sauce was added for the second time to simmer.
The first bite was filled with a rich tomato aroma, and every time my teeth cracked the shrimp, the tomato sauce seeped into the meat. A second layer of soy sauce added a fresh, not salty, lingering aftertaste. Jiang Liu also detected a third layer: a hint of spiciness, barely teasing the taste buds before sliding into the stomach along with the overall flavor.
Jiang Liu's chopsticks left an afterimage, his mouth never empty: "Delicious!"
Yu Ran succeeded!
When the tomato sauce was too dry, he wanted to add ketchup, but instead he found a bottle of seasoning filled with English text: "TABASCO," a chili pepper sauce. He poured some in and took a sip. It was sour, spicy, salty, and fragrant, and it must have a chemical reaction with the tomatoes, so he tried adding a few drops.
The coconut and peach gum stew came out of the pot, and Yu Ran quickly cleaned up the kitchen. So far, Jiang Liu hadn't found fault with him. It seemed that as long as he didn't make mistakes in other things, with his cooking skills, Jiang Liu had no room for unreasonable trouble.
The first rule of survival for Smiling Rakshasa’s subordinates: shut his mouth with food!
Yu Ran packed up and waited for a while. Jiang Liu had no other instructions, so he prepared to go home.
"You can't leave!" Jiang Liu stopped him, "Wait and wash the dishes."
"Okay..." Yu Ran stumbled over his left foot and sat in the living room waiting. He sniffed twice to make sure there was no smell of cooking smoke on his body.
"It means I'm asking you to come and eat with me... stupid."
Yu Ran was flattered. He had eaten something when he came, but it was not digested yet. He refused to pick up his chopsticks and instead twisted his fingers.
"Tsk, do you dislike me?" Jiang Liu questioned.
Having said that, Yu Ran respectfully obeyed. He paid special attention to whether he smacked his lips and how often he picked up food... In short, the atmosphere of dining with the boss was quite harmonious.
Actually, the reason for the harmony was that Jiang Liu didn't even give him a glance. Yu Ran couldn't help it and asked tentatively: "Mr. Jiang, do you have work to deal with?"
Jiang Liu's phone had been ringing non-stop since the cake delivery girl left. He'd glance at it briefly before putting it down, rarely replying. Eventually, he'd just turn it upside down and leave it on silent.
"No. The studio is closing down."
Yu Ran bit his tongue again. He never expected Jiang Liu to be so frank! In that case, is it too much for the boss to pay his employees a monthly salary of 8,000?
"I……"
"I know what you are thinking. Don't worry, I can afford your salary. The original intention of opening my flower arrangement studio is not to make money." Jiang Liu's open-mindedness set an example for Yu Ran, who was in the same pessimistic situation.
"You should worry more about yourself. Did you leave the pot of coconut stew unwashed? The steam is emitting a strong smell. And the way you're wearing it today, the material of your top and pants are similar, but the colors are different. You didn't rush here because you were still half asleep, did you?"
Yu Ran regretted it so much that he wanted to slap himself left and right. He should never have violated the golden rule of workers: empathize with the boss.
After cleaning up everything, Yu Ran still didn't forget his job and asked people in detail what they wanted to eat in the evening.
Jiang Liu said that was not necessary and that he could just heat up the leftovers from dinner later. He also asked Yu Ran to take the dessert that was delivered in the afternoon home.
Yu Ran: “???”
He couldn't help but glance at the sky outside. It was still sunny like when he came. How could the owner of the house change his mood from cloudy to rainy at one moment and then to sunny at another?
Jiang Liu's phone rang off the hook the moment he left. He turned off the mute button, and the screen was lagging as the video requests kept popping up.
"What's the matter?" Jiang Liu knew that the other party was not serious.
On the other side of the screen is a boy with a dyed bob haircut, his unique aesthetic style truly proving the blood relationship between the brothers. His facial features and proportions are similar to his brother's, but Jiang Liu's three-point arrogance is transformed into seven-point youthful immaturity.
"Brother! You must be feeling guilty for not replying to my message. Tell me, is that true?!"
“It’s true…”
"Have you forgotten how he hurt you?! Woohoo, you're so stupid. What on earth do you like about him when your standards are so high?"
"Jiang Yu, you don't understand what happened."
"I don't understand... do you really understand him? I don't understand what happened, but don't I understand how long you've been sad?"
Jiang Liu turned his head away from the screen.
"Look, I'll go meet him!" Jiang Yu was only thinking about the cause of his brother's sadness, and ignored the consequences.
Jiang Liu was surprised, but it was too late to speak out to stop it. The video was disconnected and a blank WeChat chat page popped up, as if there was some barrier between them, waiting for someone to break the ice.
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