Chapter 432 A Difference in Thought
"He's dead."
Nanzhi's answer made Zhou Bing stand up excitedly.
There was only half a cup of coffee left, and now it was completely spilled on him! The commotion here attracted the attention of many people around.
Nanzhi quickly spoke to comfort him:
"Chef Zhou, calm down."
How could Zhou Bing remain calm? He couldn't believe that his mistake, which was caused by a single thought, could never be undone! His eyes could not help but turn red, and deep regret kept rolling over him.
At this time, a small hand handed over a tissue.
"Grandpa, don't cry."
Nan Yi's sweet voice was like a gentle rain that extinguished the raging flames.
Zhou Bing slumped down on the sofa in a daze, then carefully took the tissue handed to him by Nan Yi and wiped his face:
"S-Sorry, I lost my temper."
Nanzhi: “It’s okay.”
Zhou Bing hung his head dejectedly, not daring to look at Nanzhi.
He just asked: "When did Master Nan die?"
Nanzhi gave an exact time.
"… not long ago, about five years ago."
Zhou Bing lowered his head even lower, wishing he could bury it in the ground.
He kept muttering:
"It's my fault. If only I had gone to see Master Nan earlier... If only I had spoken out earlier... If only I had been braver..."
There are always many regrets in life.
But now is the moment Zhou Bing regrets the most in his life.
This feeling of regret, I am afraid that he will chew on it over and over again and torture himself until he lies in the coffin...
Nanzhi comforted: "It's not your fault."
Zhou Bing smiled self-deprecatingly.
"Fourth Miss, you probably don't know what happened..."
"No, I know."
Nanzhi interrupted him softly but firmly, smiling at his stunned gaze, "I know everything."
Zhou Bing: "Could it be..."
Nanzhi nodded: "Yes, grandpa left a diary, and you were mentioned in it. That's why I came to find you."
Zhou Bing still couldn't believe it.
"You mentioned me? But you don't blame me? How could that be? It was because I refused to stand up and testify that Master Nan fell into such a predicament. It was obviously all my fault..."
He recounted the events of that year in a fragmentary manner:
That year, Zhou Bing was one of the most promising apprentices in Yongnianlou.
Because of this, he repeatedly received guidance from Nan Pingshan, the number one chef on the list, which was extremely helpful to him. His fellow apprentices were even more envious and jealous.
But Zhou Bing never imagined that a conversation he accidentally witnessed would become a turning point in his fate!
Because what he heard was exactly the conversation between Wang Yongnian and his son Wang De about plotting to destroy Nanping Mountain.
To be precise, it was mainly Wang De's idea.
Zhou Bing can still accurately recall Wang De's hysterical roar:
"...Dad! It's me who has the last name Wang, not him, Nanpingshan!"
"...Do you want to see me die? Or do you want to see Yongnian Tower and the Wang family destroyed?"
"...Nan Pingshan's abilities all depend on my Wang family! Now my Wang family wants him to pay something back, so why not?"
"...It was Nanpingshan who was ungrateful and betrayed his master! I just did what I should do as a member of the Wang family!"
"……"
After hearing these words, Zhou Bing's mind went blank and he could only cover his mouth desperately.
Then, choose to leave silently.
At that time, his father was seriously ill in bed, his mother carried the burden of the family on her thin shoulders, and he had a pair of younger siblings who were in school.
As an apprentice in Yongnianlou, he is the hope of the whole family.
Because Yongnianlou pays high wages, chefs who have worked as apprentices here are sought after in every restaurant.
What's more, being a chef is a job that becomes more popular as you get older, and you can even open your own restaurant in the future, so your future is promising.
Be it his mother, his siblings, or even himself, when faced with the hardships of life, all they thought about was to hold on a little longer and succeed.
Therefore, especially at this time, no mistakes can be allowed to occur.
It's like walking on a tightrope in the mountains. If you're not careful, you'll fall to pieces.
But he heard such a big thing.
Zhou Bing’s first reaction was to hide.
He took two days off and went back home on the pretext of feeling unwell.
But he couldn't sleep all night and could only pray that what he heard would not happen.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
The opposite happened.
His younger brother came home from school holding a newspaper and shared with him the news that had shocked the whole city.
Zhou Bing rarely got angry at his brother.
My brother cried.
He knew he was taking his anger out on others.
The real object of his anger was his own cowardice.
Soon, Nanpingshan came.
It turned out that Nan Pingshan guessed a hint of the truth from his abnormal behavior, so he came to ask him.
He chose to avoid it.
During those tormenting days, he did waver.
Several times he wanted to just rush out and tell all the truth he heard! As a result, Wang De also found him and threatened him viciously that if he dared to tell the truth, the Wang family would make him unable to mix in the circle and he would never be a chef again! Zhou Bing was scared.
Until Nanpingshan left Yanjing sadly, I never saw Nanpingshan again.
…
When talking about what happened back then, Zhou Bing burst into tears.
Nanzhi's expression didn't change at all, nor did she show any contempt or anger towards Zhou Bing.
Because she had already seen these things in her grandfather's diary.
"Actually, Grandpa knows your family situation and guessed why you didn't want to talk about it. He doesn't blame you. After all, there is someone else who did something wrong."
Nanzhi and his grandfather Nanpingshan share the same idea that Zhou Bing is innocent.
However, Zhou Bing choked up and shook his head:
"No, I was wrong... Do you know what the most ridiculous thing about this matter is? That is, I really believed Wang De's threats!"
To the young apprentice who had never seen the world, Wang De’s threat was like the sky falling!
He kept the secret trembling with fear and endured it for two years.
Finally one day, he couldn't bear it anymore, and resigned from Yongnian Building in anger, planning to find Nanpingshan to tell the truth.
When Wang De heard the news, he was furious and threatened him for the second time.
Zhou Bing didn't care at all.
He had already thought about it. At worst, he would stop being a chef and work as a bricklayer at a construction site! But...
Wang De's threat was not as terrible as he imagined.
His Wang family is in the limelight, but they cannot cover the sky with one hand.
Zhou Bing left Yanjing and went to a coastal city, where he easily found a new job as a chef.
No matter how angry Wang De was, it was useless because Zhou Bing's abilities and experience belonged to him.
The only pity is that Zhou Bing went to many places but couldn't find Nanping Mountain.
What happened back then has become a knot in his heart.
Zhou Bing said in a daze:
"It's just a matter of one thought, one thought..."