Chapter 331: A Lai Doesn't Eat Noodles

The first person whose eyes reddened was Ke Fu.

No one had expected this.

Ke Zhongying pressed her lips together. The once decisive and formidable head of the Ke Group, the stern father at home—was his heart actually this soft?

Ms. Nian came to her husband's defense: "That's what happens when you get older."

Just as she was about to squeeze out a few tears so her husband wouldn't be alone, he suddenly looked up at everyone and asked, "Are you not going to try one of these buns?"

Ke Zhongying already had one in her hand. She opened her mouth and took a bite, chewing away.

"Pfft!"

The bun came spitting out of her mouth.

"Water, water, water! My tongue is on fire, it's definitely on fire!"

Amid her frantic flailing, Ke Zhongyu calmly picked up the milk that had been ignored countless times right in front of her and passed it over.

Ke Fu silently turned the bun so the side he had bitten into faced outward, letting everyone see the filling clearly.

Mixed into the meat filling were bright red chili peppers—not even chili powder, but tiny chili segments.

Ms. Nian: "…"

So his eyes hadn't reddened because he was moved by his son—it was from the spice.

Ke Zhongyu asked calmly, "Aside from the heat, how is it otherwise?"

Ms. Nian caught on and asked her son, "You made this for Jiang Lai?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Mm."

Ke Zhongying, who had downed an entire glass of milk yet found only slight relief: "You're using us as lab mice!"

Ke Zhongyu gave her a glance, his look plainly saying yes.

Ke Zhongying: "…"

She sat back down, took a couple bites of plain rice noodles without any seasonings, and after recovering, asked, "What kind of chili did you use to make it this spicy?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Just grabbed one at random."

The kitchen maid spoke up at the right moment: "Which compartment did Young Master take it from?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Third from the left, counting from the left."

The maid: "…"

Dear ancestor, that was an authentic ghost pepper, and freshly delivered at that.

Though the Ke Family rarely used chili peppers throughout the year, the kitchen still had to keep all necessary seasonings stocked; expired ones that hadn't been used were tossed and replaced with new ones.

They might not need them, but they had to have them.

After hearing the maid explain that it was a freshly delivered ghost pepper at its maximum heat level, Ke Zhongying gave her own brother a thumbs up.

Ms. Nian smiled helplessly, but still reached out to take a bun, tore it open, removed the chili meat filling, ate the outer skin, and gave her son earnest feedback: "Can't speak for the filling, but the skin is mediocre—not fluffy or soft enough, and not very fragrant. If you truly want Jiang Lai to like the buns you make, or even only eat the buns you make, you still need to work harder."

Ke Fu suggested: "Hire a teacher."

Ke Zhongyu nodded.

Just as breakfast was wrapping up on this side, Ke Chi and his family of three arrived.

"Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt, cousin." Ke Zhongying was the first to greet them sweetly.

The Ke Family's fourth, Ke Yi, and his wife Yao Yuewen both wore smiles, looking the very picture of benevolence.

Their son Ke Chi, when he smiled, had a pair of peach-blossom eyes that gave him a rakish, untamed air.

What actually lay beneath those smiles, no one knew.

After the two families exchanged greetings, Ke Yi's gaze landed on Ke Zhongyu's bruised forehead and he said with concern, "I heard you were in a car accident. Are you alright?"

The person was sitting right here, safe and sound—whether he was alright or not was plain to see. It was just lip-service concern.

Ke Zhongyu: "I'm fine."

Ke Yi and Yao Yuewen sat down, while Ke Chi looked at the cousin he had always looked up to from afar and teased, "Big Brother's in a relationship? Which young lady has caught Big Brother's eye?"

"You haven't looked into it?" Ke Zhongyu lifted his eyelids slightly, gazing up at his cousin standing beside him, and exposed him in a single sentence.

Ke Chi acted as though he hadn't heard, sat down with a chuckle, and draped one arm over the back of the sofa: "Big Brother hasn't had so much as a female mosquito near him for years, and suddenly he officially announces he has a partner. I was just concerned about Big Brother and the Ke Group, so I asked the people around me."

Ke Zhongyu said coldly: "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

Ke Chi: "Right, I talked too much."

Ke Chi turned sideways: "Big Brother, I won't be going out anymore. Arrange for me to join the company and get some training."

Ke Zhongyu: "Fine."

Ke Yi and Yao Yuewen exchanged a glance—how had Ke Zhongyu become so easy to talk to?

Ke Zhongyu: "Come be my assistant for a while first."

Only with the person right under his nose could he feel at ease.

Ke Chi's family was stunned.

Yao Yuewen smiled and said, "Zhongyu, isn't that a bit much? Little Chi is your only younger brother, after all."

Ke Zhongyu: "Didn't you want training? Being an assistant trains people the most."

Ke Zhongying nodded repeatedly: "Mm-hm, especially being my brother's assistant. Those who make it into my brother's presidential office are one in ten thousand, and those who leave it have boundless prospects."

Take Assistant Zhou, Secretary Cen, and Secretary Guan—who knows how many headhunters had their eyes on them behind the scenes, how many company bosses secretly wanted to poach them, but only because her brother's surname was Ke, her mother's surname was Nian, and he was called Ke Zhongyu, they didn't dare poach at all.

"Headquarters is too busy," Ke Yi said with a smile. "Go to a subsidiary. Yuntu's business aligns with Little Chi's major."

Ke Zhongyu: "Being Xu Jing's assistant is indeed easier than being mine."

Xu Jing was Yuntu's general manager, a thirty-nine-year-old woman who was extremely shrewd and capable.

The smile on Ke Chi's face stiffened for a moment: "Big Brother, I graduated from a top school too. I can't just be an assistant, can I?"

"Assistant Zhou graduated from an Ivy League school, Secretary Cen and Secretary Guan are from top-five domestic universities, and Xu Jing's assistant is also top-tier." Ke Zhongyu stood up. "Whether you report to the Ke Group or to Yuntu is your decision."

He nodded at everyone: "Dad, Mom, Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt."

After shouting, he left immediately.

Ke Zhongying also stood up, and after greeting the elders she hurried to catch up with her older brother's steps—she couldn't stay at home.

Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt are thoroughly old‑fashioned; they will surely ask her again whether she's dating.

If she says no, they'll also complain, "What's wrong with a girl spending all day dealing with robots?"

She might as well spend that time finding a good man to marry—it would help the Ke Clan expand its territory and influence, and also let her inherit the family trust fund.

Ke Zhongyu caught sight of his sister keeping up in his peripheral vision, slowed his pace, and warned her: "Don't tell A Lai about the bun matter."

Ke Zhongying nodded: "I know, I know. After all, your buns are just so‑so these days, but brother, your rice noodles are delicious."

Ke Zhongyu: "A Lai doesn't eat wheat foods, except for buns."

Ke Zhongying's eyes filled only with envy: "If I ever fall in love…"

"What's there to talk about." Ke Zhongyu suddenly rebuked her.

Ke Zhongying pouted: "Oh, but I'm twenty‑three this year—I became an adult at eighteen!"

Ke Zhongyu's body stalled, as if only then realizing that his chatty sister had already come of age.

"Establish a career and start a family—what's the hurry?"

"Brother, why are you holding me to your standards?"

"We're born of the same mother—what's the problem?"

Ke Zhongying fell silent again, glanced back at the household scene, and guessed that Fourth Uncle's family had surely gone to give their parents a hard time.

Indeed, that was exactly the case.

Faced with his younger brother's family demanding lion‑size concessions, Ke Yue said only: "The Ke Clan was turned over to Ke Zhongyu eight years ago; everything is up to him."

Ke Yi: "Children always overlook things; as parents we should think more for them."

Ms. Nian: "He is an adult, an individual with independent thinking and absolute rights; Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt, as parents we have fulfilled our duty to educate and supervise before the child turns eighteen; after eighteen, the only thing to learn is to let go."

She looked toward Ke Chi: "Little Chi, what do you say—headquarters or branch?"

This is a choice we cannot avoid.

Ke Chi forced a smile as he looked at Ms. Nian; though everyone says she is gentle as water, in fact she grows stronger when confronted with strength.

He did not answer right away: "Let me think."

Ms. Nian smiled: "This requires careful consideration."