Du Xiaoruo put the ice cream she had made into the freezer, turned around and walked back to the counter, picked up her hand and glanced at it.
Huh?
Upon seeing Chen Ding's message, a look of confusion appeared on his face. What does ** mean? What are censored words?
For Du Xiaoruo, who rarely reads novels and relies entirely on her friends for knowledge about them, these two symbols were beyond her comprehension.
Lele brought a small stainless steel basket into the kitchen to collect lemons.
Du Xiaoruo stopped him, typed two symbols on her phone, and asked, "Lele, what does this mean?"
Lele, holding the small basket in her arms, tilted her head obediently and thought for a moment before answering very seriously.
"It is an operator that can be used in place of the multiplication sign."
Considering the context of Chen Ding's words, Du Xiaoruo felt that this was probably not what he meant, but seeing Lele's expectant eyes, she still thanked Lele sincerely.
Lele was praised and even had her head patted. Satisfied, she went to the refrigerator to get a lemon.
Little Shu suddenly appeared out of nowhere, clinging to the edge of the kitchen counter with both hands, hanging there like a pendant.
"Xiaoruo's mom, these are my little starry eyes that say I love you."
Du Xiaoruo, “…” You’re still the most unsophisticated one.
“Xiaoshu, you should call me Aunt Xiaoruo.” Du Xiaoruo bent down to be at eye level with Xiaoshu and gently corrected her, “You will have your own mother in the future, so you can’t call other people’s mothers randomly.”
Xiao Shu possessed incredible arm strength, hanging herself off the edge of the kitchen counter to chat with Du Xiaoruo.
"Then can't I call Mr. Ha 'Dad'? Because I have my own dad too."
Lele took the lemon and came over. He put down his little basket, took the little book off the counter, and affectionately patted his curly hair.
"Dad can, but Mom can't, because she's my mom all by herself."
Xiao Shu pouted, rolled her eyes unhappily, and ran after Lele, calling out as she ran.
"Does Mr. Ha's dad know how to make ice cream?"
Du Xiaoruo recalled Qiao An's elegant suit with an apron tied around her neck, her sarcastic manner as she diligently made ice cream, and quickly shook her head to clear the grime from her mind.
The ice cream was almost frozen, so Du Xiaoruo brought out the ice cream bucket. The gelato had a soft texture, and when scraped with a spatula, it felt like delicate, fluffy cream. Due to limitations in ingredients and space, Du Xiaoruo only made three flavors for the time being: pistachio, caramel sea salt, and Greek yogurt.
Mu Hua came in and took a look. He was a little disappointed with the ice cream, which was made with expensive materials. It looked like he was scraping putty on a white wall.
When new products are released, the first thing to do is to try them; this has always been a tradition at Beibei Restaurant.
Everyone sat down at the table, and Du Xiaoru brought out the portioned gelato. The adults received a larger portion, while the three children received a smaller portion because they couldn't eat too much ice.
Everyone began to enjoy the ice cream. Du Xiaoruo clasped her hands together, feeling a mix of trepidation and hope as she waited for everyone's feedback.
Xia Qing also used a small spoon to scoop up some smooth ice cream and put it in her mouth. The creamy texture was a little different from the ice cream she had eaten before.
"Why do I feel a sense of warmth from this ice cream?"
How strange, let me take another bite.
Du Xiaoruo explained, "Because the optimal temperature for eating gelato is between -8 and 15 degrees Celsius, which is about 4 degrees higher than the temperature of common cream ice cream, it won't have a very stimulating cold sensation when you put it in your mouth, so it will give you a warm feeling."
"I like it." Xia Qing blinked. "It looks like I can eat it even when I have my period."
Xiao Shu was eating ice cream with gusto when she heard this, and immediately answered loudly.
"My aunt is too old and her teeth might not be very good, so it's best not to give her that."
Mu Hua choked a little, quickly grabbed a tissue to cover Xiao Shu's mouth, his face showing utter embarrassment.
In the live stream room,
[Hahaha, Little Shu, I didn't expect you to be so eccentric at such a young age. It's such a shame.]
[I've already screen-recorded it; I want every single moment of Xiaoshu's character dying to be in high definition.]
I want to try this gelato. I'm really curious about what the warm ice cream Xia Qing mentioned feels like.
Fifty is a bit expensive; it just looks like an ordinary ice cream.
Fifty yuan is just two or three cups of milk tea, which isn't really a problem, but it depends on whether the taste is worth it.
Because of Xiao Shu's words, everyone at the table was in a state of utter confusion. Du Xiaoruo struggled in this sea of confusion for a long time, but still couldn't help but explain to Xiao Shu.
"Gelato is a healthy ice cream without cream or egg yolks. Its ingredients are very healthy, and older people can actually eat some in moderation."
The little book licked the spoon and shook its head.
"Older people shouldn't eat this, because there's not enough for children."
In the live stream room,
[Hahaha, as expected of Xiaoruo, the adorable girl who can still give a serious science lecture at a time like this.]
[The little book is hilarious; there aren't enough for all the kids, hahaha, do you even respect your elders?]
[Am I the only one who noticed? Xiaoruo is usually aloof, but she gets incredibly serious when it comes to desserts. She even pinpointed the exact temperature of the ice cream when she talked about it.]
[Xiao Ruo is so earnest and adorable. Just between you and me, I've already tagged Xiyou (a popular online retailer), and I hope they'll invite her to be their next brand ambassador.]
Wow, now that the lady upstairs says it, I also think Xiaoruo is a perfect fit to be the spokesperson for Xiyou. She's much better than that current actress who just pretends to be something she's not.
[Haha, sorry, I'm not a girl, I'm a guy who's about 1.5 meters tall, but I love sweets.]
After lunch, everyone took their places and began preparing for the afternoon's work.
Xia Qing and Mu Hua cleaned the front hall, and then went to the kitchen to help Ni An and Du Xiaoruo with some chores.
The three boys were diligently preparing lemonade in front of their water bar. With the recent hot weather, customers were drinking more lemonade. Fortunately, the three boys were now skilled and could easily handle such a large scene.
"Brother, give me some honey." Little Shu looked longingly at Lele, who was scooping honey from the honey jar, and begged her brother for some honey.
Lele found a chopstick, dipped it in the honey jar, and brought it to Xiaoshu's lips.
The little book stuck out its tongue and licked it, its sweetness making its little eyes squint.
After finishing the honey, Xiao Shu licked her lips again, missing the ice cream from earlier terribly. There wasn't enough of it; she hadn't had enough.
"Brother, think of your sister, do you want to eat ice cream?"
As soon as Xiaoshu spoke, Lele and Xiangxiang licked their lips and swallowed, seemingly reminiscing about the delicious food they had just tasted.
"There's so much ice cream in the freezer in the kitchen!" Xiao Shu continued to urge. "We can sneak a little bit and no one will notice."
“No.” Lele shook her head first. “You can’t steal things.”
"But those ice creams were originally ours, so it's not stealing, is it?" Xiangxiang frowned, trying hard to find an excuse for stealing the ice cream.
In the live stream room,
I have a bad feeling; these three are up to something.
[Hahaha, I couldn't resist the temptation of ice cream! They made me want some too. Since I couldn't buy gelato, I just grabbed a crispy cone from the convenience store downstairs.]
[It's time they got a little mischievous. They're too well-behaved; I don't even think they're children. Last season, around this stage, those naughty boys almost tore the restaurant apart.]
After accepting the theory that "eating your own food doesn't count as stealing," the three little ones crouched down and sneaked into the kitchen, smoothly making their way to the refrigerator along the counter.
Lele opened the refrigerator door. The ice cream bucket was too heavy, so the three little ones worked together to carry a bucket of Anmuxi yogurt flavored ice cream and then hid under the dispenser to sneak a taste.
The cameraman was also helpless; in this situation, he could only lie on the ground to film them.
Xiao Shu even generously stuffed a bite of ice cream into the cameraman's mouth, threatening, "Now that you've had some, don't tell anyone."
The cameraman, forced to feed the animals, was speechless.
[Haha, is it possible that this is a live broadcast and we've all seen it? Hahahaha.]
[Mu Hua, come quickly to see your son.]
[@MuHua, DuXiaoRuo, XiaQingye, your kids need to be disciplined.]
Mu Hua was washing tomatoes at that moment. After draining the water, the washed cherry tomatoes were to be put into the refrigerator to keep them fresh. He didn't see the cameraman lying on the ground at all. As he carried the tomatoes over, he tripped over the cameraman's body and fell flat on his face, spilling the freshly washed tomatoes all over the ground.
We're doomed.
The three children knew they had gotten themselves into a huge mess.
Ten minutes later, each of the three children had a note stuck to their back that read, "This child stole ice cream." As punishment, this humiliating note would have to be stuck on their back for the rest of the afternoon.
Ever since that humiliating note was posted, Lele has refused to go out. She stands pressed against the wall in the kitchen, not wanting anyone to see her; it's too embarrassing.
Guests started arriving outside, and Xia Qing came in to ask Lele to make lemonade. Seeing his expression, she gave him another merciless laugh.
Du Xiaoruo actually understood Lele quite well. It's normal for kids to be greedy and steal snacks, and Lele is introverted, so Mu Hua's punishment was really too painful for him.
She walked over to Lele and whispered something in Lele's ear.
Lele raised his big, watery eyes and nodded. In his eyes, it seemed that he had found salvation.
That afternoon, Lele and Du Xiaoruo were like conjoined twins. Lele would walk forward, and Du Xiaoruo would walk right behind him to prevent others from seeing the note on his back.
After walking around the restaurant, and sure enough, no one asked about the note, Lele's mood improved significantly.
After making the lemonade and returning to the kitchen, Lele solemnly apologized to Du Xiaoruo.
"Mom, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stolen the ice cream."
"Yes, it's okay."
Du Xiaoruo patted his fluffy head.
"You're a first-time child, and I'm a first-time mother. We all make mistakes, and that's okay."
Du Xiaoruo actually wanted to say something like not to make mistakes in the future, but then she thought, what child doesn't make mistakes? Their growth process is a process of constantly trying, making mistakes, and then correcting them. All adults can do is provide positive guidance and tolerance. So she pursed her lips and swallowed those words.
【Ahhhhhh~~~~ Du Xiaoruo is so gentle! I want a mom like that! My mom would have given me a good spanking by now.】
In fact, every child who makes a mistake hopes to receive forgiveness and understanding from adults. Constant punishment will only lead to children being unwilling to talk to their parents about their problems in the future.
[Exactly, I once washed one of my mom's nightgowns, and my parents, both of them, beat me. Why can't they be more understanding and forgiving?]
[Hahaha, upstairs, please boldly reveal your name, are you Huang Longyu? Hahahaha]
Secretary Kim, Yu Pan, and Otto were all glued to their computers, thoroughly enjoying the live stream.
Otto laughed until tears streamed down his face.
"Xiao Shu is so funny, hahaha, every time someone comes in, she has to explain to them, 'Sorry, I just ate ice cream,' hahaha."
Secretary Kim wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes.
"It was smarter for her to think about it; she used her mother's apron as a cape to cover up her humiliating note."
"Hahahaha." Yu Pan, who had been expressionless, suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Mu Hua tripped over the camera and fell flat on his face. It's so funny, hahahaha."
Secretary Kim and Otto's smiles vanished, replaced by stunned disbelief. Half an hour had passed since this scene began; could Yu Pan's reaction time be any slower? Watching the live stream with him was exhausting.
Footsteps sounded outside the design department, sounding like Berluti's handcrafted custom leather shoes stepping on the marble floor. The three people tensed up, quickly returned to their positions, and pretended to be working.
Joanne pushed open the glass door, her steps halting at the doorway.
"Stop pretending. I can hear your laughter all over the hallway. And Secretary Kim, is this your office? Why are you sitting in someone else's seat pretending to be something you're not? Do you even know how to use Illustrator?"
Secretary Kim looked up and, sure enough, saw that the computer screen displayed a fashion design software. After a long pause, she managed to come up with a reason for explaining it.
"We've been under a lot of pressure lately, so we'd like to watch some videos that can bring us joy."
Qiao An's clear blue eyes swept over the three of them with a half-smile.
"There are quite a few short videos that can bring you joy. I know of some, like trimming cow hooves, washing carpets, Indian food... what else?"
Yu Pan quickly answered, "And cutting soap, I prefer crispy soap."
Secretary Kim and Otto rolled their eyes simultaneously. Damn it, what an idiot.
Qiao An didn't argue with them much, but he just thought the three of them were kind of adorably stupid. He pointed at Secretary Jin.
"Come to my office."
He turned and walked out of the design department.
Qiao An tapped her long, slender fingers on her phone screen a few times before her gaze returned to the video Qiao Lele had sent of Du Tiancheng asking Du Xiaoruo for money.
He always felt that something was off about Du Xiaoruo. Qiao An had reminded her before that it would be best to keep the 20 million for herself, but at the time Du Xiaoruo felt that it was only natural to give the money to her family, and that it would be outrageous not to give the money.
Qiao An had always felt that Du Xiaoruo was being manipulated by the Du family, but judging from the video today, she seemed quite clear-headed.
Secretary Kim knocked on the door and entered Joan's office.
Qiao An instructed him, "Go and investigate Du Tiancheng, the more detailed the better. Also, contact the accessory factory we've been cooperating with, and have someone else make that batch of pearl buttons again, so as not to delay the new product launch."
"good."
After noting the matter down, Secretary Kim agreed and left.
Qiao An got up and locked the office door from the inside. She walked to the bookshelf, opened the mechanism hidden behind it, and the bookshelf, which was originally standing against the wall, slowly moved to the left and right, revealing a small safe on the wall.
Enter the safe's password, and with a beep, the door pops open. Inside, instead of cash and jewelry, are some important documents and several USB drives.
Qiao An walked back to her desk, plugged the USB drive into her laptop, and opened the folder on the USB drive, which contained some audio recordings.
He casually opened a file, and heard the voices of several women chatting inside. The file contained a recording of a rant session between the stepchildren of several stepmothers at the Evening Star Cafe.
Every time Du Xiaoruo attends this stepson's rant session, she records the content of the day and then gives it to Qiao An verbatim.
Qiao An analyzed the information and extracted what was useful to her. She then followed this line of investigation and uncovered some fatal weaknesses of the powerful figures behind these women. Two of these powerful figures were also shareholders of Jinse.
According to Qiao An's previous plan, he would use the information he possessed to threaten these bigwigs, forcing them to contribute money or shares to cover the shortfall in his share acquisition. This was precisely the somewhat dangerous method Qiao An had considered. However, if they countersued him, he would be guilty of extortion, and given the enormous amount of money involved, he could potentially face a life sentence.
But now Qiao An is listening to these recordings again, not to hear about the dirty secrets behind these seemingly glamorous big shots, but specifically to listen to the part where Du Xiaoruo speaks.
Although the things she complained about were all authorized by Qiao An to be said, in order to gain the trust of the wives and make them share information with Du Xiaoruo without reservation.
But Qiao An now felt something was off. These words didn't sound like something Du Xiaoruo would say, not even if she was faking it. Based on Qiao An's understanding of Du Xiaoruo over this period of time, she knew that Du Xiaoruo was very introverted and it was impossible for her to be so calm and talkative in front of others.
Qiao An turned off the recording and opened another surveillance video on the computer, which was the recording of the day Qiao Qingchuan broke into the house with a knife.
After reaching adulthood, Joan finally broke free from Kim Hee-jin's control, but long-term malnutrition and mental and physical torment caused Joan's body to become very weak. In order to strengthen himself as soon as possible, he found a private coach to train his body in a targeted manner, including Muay Thai.
In the video, Du Xiaoruo's punches were perfectly timed and powerful enough to subdue Qiao Qingchuan without being excessive in self-defense.
Qiao An had watched the video herself and also shown it to her private coach. The coach came to the same conclusion as Qiao An: without more than ten years of training, it would be impossible to achieve such precise control. However, Qiao An had never heard of Du Xiaoruo having practiced Muay Thai before.
He turned off the video and pressed his throbbing temples. His head had been pricked with a needle by Kim Hee-jin when he was a child, and now his temples would throb and hurt when he overworked his brain or was in a noisy environment.
Qiao An always says, "It's so noisy it's giving me a headache." Everyone thinks it's just a boast, but only Qiao An knows that he really does have a physical headache.
Feeling a bit stifled in the office, Qiao An packed up her things, stood up, and walked out of the office, where she ran into Yu Pan, who was carrying a large stack of fabric samples.
The stack of fabric was quite high, completely obscuring Yu Pan. As he walked, the two thick sample books on top wobbled precariously. Just as they were about to fall, Qiao An quickly stepped forward and caught them.
"Oh my, you startled me." Yu Pan brought his face close to Qiao An's. "Ms. Qiao, could you please adjust my glasses for me?"
Qiao An looked disgusted, but still stretched out her slender index finger, pressed it against the center of the glasses, and pushed them onto Yu Pan's nose.
The two walked side by side, and Qiao An asked, "Are you making sample garments?"
“Okay.” Yu Pan nodded. “These are all the fabrics we’ll be using. I’ll bring them back and check them against the samples to make sure there are no mistakes.”
As he spoke, Yu Pan's glasses slid down to his nose.
He naturally leaned his head closer to Qiao An, who glared at him impatiently and helped him adjust his glasses again.
"You're not short of money, just get some new glasses."
Yu Pan smiled sheepishly, "Hey, it's just material possessions, as long as they're usable."
Joanne, remembering something that had been swirling in her mind all afternoon, casually asked,
"Yu Pan, do you know anything about soul transmigration? It's when the body is still the same person, but the soul has changed."
Yu Pan's steps faltered, and he spoke cautiously.
"Mr. Qiao, you also know that I'm reading novels during work hours?"
Joan, “…”
The new gelato at Beibei Restaurant is selling quite well. They can make about 300 a day and sell them all. At this rate, the second phase of the task can be completed ahead of schedule.
I don’t know if the program team’s communication was effective, but the noise from upstairs has become much quieter. Although there are still some small noises from time to time, those who have experienced being stepped on by an elephant and having marbles bounce off their heads can now accept it.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, and everyone was able to relax and enjoy a big meal at the buffet restaurant. After returning to the community, they took a walk in the garden of Chenxiang Apartments to digest their food.
The Agarwood Apartment has a dedicated children's play area. When we strolled over there, the three little ones went in to play by themselves, while Du Xiaoruo sat down on a long bench made of anti-corrosion wood next to the play area.
Xia Qing also stood outside the amusement area for a while. The amusement equipment here looked quite safe, so she walked over to Du Xiaoruo and sat down on the bench.
"Oh, right." Xia Qing suddenly remembered something, opened her handbag, and took out a red velvet jewelry box.
"Xiaoruo, this is for you."
"Huh?" Du Xiaoruo was taken aback and subconsciously refused, "No, no, I can't accept your things."
Xia Qing also forced the jewelry box into Du Xiaoruo's hands.
"It's not a very valuable piece of jewelry, just a baby beaded necklace. I saw it on our website and immediately thought it would suit you perfectly. It has a kind of gentle and understated feel. Please accept this small gift."
Du Xiaoruo is actually very afraid of others being kind to her. Perhaps she has been used to relying on herself for everything since she was a child, so she feels very uncomfortable whenever someone is kind to her. Even if she accepts something from someone, she will try to repay it in kind later. It's a mentality of not wanting to owe others.
Seeing Xia Qing also hand over the small velvet box, Du Xiaoruo felt that refusing it repeatedly would make others feel awkward, so she reached out and took it, politely thanking her.
"I should be thanking you."
Xia Qing also said,
“If it weren’t for you, I don’t know how long I would have been fooled by Qiao Qingchuan. Now, the best outcome is to get out unscathed. Otherwise, if Han Nianwei’s matter were exposed, even our Xia family might be implicated. Do you know? Jinse’s stock price has dropped ridiculously low. If Qiao An wants to acquire Jinse’s shares, now is a really good time.”
Qiao An wants to acquire Jinse's shares.
Du Xiaoruo repeated the sentence in her mind, as if something very important had flashed through her mind. In a flash of inspiration, she tried to grasp this information, but was stunned by another sentence from Xia Qingye.
Xia Qing also said, "Xiao Ruo, don't you think Han Nianwei looks a bit like Kim Hee-jin?"
Du Xiaoruo felt as if she had been hit by something, her brain buzzing. Before Xia Qing said those words, Du Xiaoruo only felt that Han Nianwei's classical temperament was somewhat familiar. Now, upon thinking about it, she realized that Han Nianwei and Jin Xizhen did have some similarities: straight noses, small chins, and oval faces.
Xia Qing also took out her phone, opened the photo album, flipped through a few photos, and handed them to Du Xiaoruo to look at.
"These are the women I found who dated Qiao Qingchuan. Look at their photos, they all look a bit like Kim Hee-jin."
"My God, is this a mother complex?" Du Xiaoruo murmured.
Qiao Qingchuan's affair was like a domino effect, with one thing after another being revealed, each step unexpected.
Xia Qing also put away her phone and said in a low voice, "I found out about this by accident. Don't spread it around, it's too dirty. After all, he's Xiangxiang's biological father, I really..."
At this point, Xia Qing's eyes reddened a little. Who could have imagined that the person she once shared a bed with would be this kind of person?
Du Xiaoruo squeezed her hand back and comforted her, "It's all in the past."
Just then, a crying sound suddenly came from the children's playground. Du Xiaoruo and Xia Qing looked up and saw that Xiao Shu had fallen to the ground from the slide.
The two quickly stood up and ran towards the children's playground. Xiao Shu fell down, burying her head in the sand, but no injuries were visible.
Mu Hua, as if possessed, jumped over the small fence and rushed into the children's play area.
At the top of the slide stood a little boy of five or six years old, shouting, "I didn't push him, he fell down by himself, it wasn't me, you can't blame me."
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