Era: You're asked to cook a home-style dish, but you cook Wellington.

As Lin Xiaoyu shouted, everyone suddenly remembered that there was another young man who wanted to swallow the pot.

Everyone turned to look.

Gao Yang waved the banknotes in his hand and said with a smile, "Brother, we just bet on ten shares. Do you want to count them? Look at this queue, are ten shares enough?"

The young man's face turned bright red, like a ripe persimmon, his hands clenched tightly, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He stammered in defense, "You, you're going too far! This was all their doing, it doesn't count!"

"Does it not count?"

An older man next to him laughed and joked.

"Young man, that's not what you said when you slapped your thigh to make the bet! A real man doesn't go back on his word, doesn't he? Aren't you ashamed?"

"Exactly! Trying to renege on a bet after losing is just not fair!"

"Either swallow the pot, or apologize to this chef and admit defeat!"

The onlookers were there to watch the spectacle, and now that a conflict has arisen, they are naturally quite relaxed.

Lin Xiaoyu's nose was practically pointing to the sky as she smugly gave him a disdainful look.

The young man was so angry that his nose was crooked. He raised his arm to yell at Lin Xiaoyu, but when he saw the looks in the eyes of the people around him, he swallowed his words.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Gao Yang quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Comrades, he was just joking with me. There's no need to take it seriously. If he hadn't made that bet with me, I wouldn't have been able to show off my skills."

Upon hearing this, the onlookers immediately softened their tone.

This also gave the young man a way out.

The young man took a deep look at the "Alley Hotel" signboard, bowed to Gao Yang, and turned to leave.

In no time, the stall became busy again.

Gao Yang was extremely busy.

When the twentieth serving was sold out, he didn't take any money from the line behind him, but smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, sir, we've sold out for today. Would you mind coming back tomorrow?"

"No, would you be stupid to not make money when you can?"

Upon hearing Gao Yang's words, the man immediately became anxious and hurriedly handed the money to Gao Yang.

"Look, I've been in line for so long, could you just cook me one serving?"

Gao Yang smiled and shook his head.

"Excuse me, comrade, we run a hotel business, this is just a side job. We only serve twenty portions of each dish per day."

Seeing Gao Yang's unwavering stance, the man had no choice but to back down, patting his thigh and lamenting the loss.

Seeing this, the people behind also mounted their old-fashioned bicycles and turned to leave.

The group came quickly and left quickly, disappearing in a flash, leaving only Gao Yang and Lin Xiaoyu at the scene.

Wow, it actually sold!

Lin Xiaoyu counted the bills of various colors and beamed with joy.

This amount of money was nothing to her, but it was the first time she had earned money outside of home.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but suppress her joy.

"Can I go buy some medicine for Grandpa first?"

Gao Yang nodded and carried the pots and pans back to the hotel by himself.

The sky had completely darkened, and only a few lights were on in the alleyway hotel.

"Xiao Gao, a girl is looking for you."

Grandpa, leaning on his cane, walked out of the room next door.

Gao Yang had a sudden thought.

I sent her my phone number as soon as I arrived, and she called right away. That's fast!

He answered the phone.

"Feed".

"Hmm, how was your day?"

Su Wanqing's voice was relaxed, and she sounded like she was in a good mood.

Gao Yang leaned against the mottled wooden table, the receiver pressed to his ear, and chuckled softly.

"It's alright, not too boring."

It seemed very quiet on Su Wanqing's side; one could faintly hear the soft rustling of papers turning.

Her tone was somewhat casual and tentative.

"I heard you set up a stall selling stir-fries on Yuncheng Old Street?"

Gao Yang raised his eyebrows slightly.

He knew that this girl hadn't been idle from the very beginning; she'd only been selling for a few hours when the phone rang.

"You're quite well-informed."

Gao Yang's tone was indifferent.

Su Wanqing gave a soft "hmm," her voice softening, losing the usual coldness of the icy boss and gaining a subtle tenderness.

"I'm just worried that you'll be mistreated outside."

Gao Yang paused for a moment, gazing at the old loquat tree in the courtyard, its branches swaying gently in the night.

Having the mind of two lifetimes, he's incredibly clever, his mind is as clear as a mirror.

The thief on the green train was real, but Lin Xiaoyu's chance encounter was fake. Even without that incident, Lin Xiaoyu would have had other ways to contact him.

This small alley hotel, which was on the verge of closing down, was arranged by Su Wanqing. The so-called grandfather was probably an elder of the Su family.

Gao Yang didn't point it out, but just went along with what she was saying.

"I haven't been wronged, I'm just a bit busy. Saving this hotel is proving to be a challenge."

"It's good to be busy."

Su Wanqing said softly.

"When you're busy, you won't overthink things."

She paused, her tone becoming more serious.

"I've almost finished handling things in Yicheng. Have fun in Yuncheng, and I'll come pick you up when you're done."

Gao Yang asked softly, "When are you coming?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a very soft laugh, like a gentle breeze rippling across water.

"I'll come over when you've managed to revive that little restaurant."

Gao Yang smiled slightly, his face full of joy.

"Then you'd better prepare early."

"Are you that confident?"

"Um."

His tone was firm.

"After all, someone went to so much trouble to set up this stage for me, I can't just mess it up."

Su Wanqing paused noticeably, as if she had been struck by something, her breathing quickened slightly, but she did not deny it.

She gave a soft "humph," a hint of smugness mixed with a touch of unease.

"Good to know."

Her voice softened.

"Don't overexert yourself, be careful of injuries."

"Know."

The two exchanged a few more casual words, but neither of them hung up first.

Only when he heard Lin Xiaoyu's skipping footsteps in the distance did Gao Yang say softly, "That's all for now, I have something to do here."

"it is good."

Su Wanqing obediently responded, and then added a sentence very softly, so softly that it was almost inaudible.

"Gao Yang... I miss you."

Without waiting for Gao Yang's response, she gently hung up the phone.

All that could be heard from the receiver was a busy tone.

Gao Yang stood in the dim light, holding the phone, and remained silent for a while before slowly smiling.

Su Wanqing wasn't the kind of person who would be bored; she must have had her reasons for arranging to come to this place.

Who are you talking to on the phone?

Lin Xiaoyu asked curiously.

"fine."

Gao Yang shook his head and remained silent.

"There's a ghost."

Lin Xiaoyu put the medicine bag on the stone table, leaned over and winked, her little face full of curiosity.

She had just seen Gao Yang standing under the light, holding the phone, with a sly smile on his lips. He looked like he was talking to someone very close to him.

Gao Yang rolled her eyes at him, then turned and went into the kitchen to finish cooking.

However, the Hongyun Hotel across the street was not so happy.

"Didn't you say those were hotel guests? Why are you setting up a food stall to cook for them today?"

The young man slammed his fist on the table, his expression one of resentment.

"Damn it, you dare ruin my career? I'll fucking kill you!"

"Go and change the price now, set it the same as theirs, I'm going to completely crush them!"

His subordinates sensed something was wrong and were about to say something when they saw his bloodshot eyes and quickly shut their mouths.

"yes!"