Chapter 1863: The Strange Father and Daughter

Zichen left as soon as he finished eating.

The father and daughter were surprised once again; they hadn't expected it.

Originally, they had assumed this rich man came over just like everyone else, wanting to pester them for their knife skills and recipes, and to throw money at them.

However, he did not.

This guy simply came over to eat, and left as soon as he was done.

Although Zichen had left, the father and daughter did not let their guard down; rich people had too many tricks and too many devious schemes.

The two of them were restless all day, but when it came time to close up shop... nothing happened at all.

The two of them brought their things inside the house, and Li Xue asked her father, "Dad, do you think that person will come tomorrow? Is he planning to pull some kind of stunt?"

Lao Litou glared at her: "Go practice your skills. Whether he comes or not has nothing to do with you. Even if he does come, don't you dare look at him twice, and definitely don't talk to him."

"Mm."

Li Xueer agreed readily, but in her heart, she kept thinking about the way he stood by the side of the street eating fried nest-buns and drinking porridge.

So handsome!

Everyone else was standing by the street drinking porridge too, but he was completely different from them.

His movements were elegant; he didn't make a single sound while drinking his porridge, unlike others who always slurped their porridge loudly.

She knew her family's fried nest-buns were delicious.

But this was the first time she had ever seen someone so focused on eating a fried nest-bun.

Because she was pretty, men would glance at her while eating breakfast; she had seen that kind of look many times and had long since gotten used to it.

Only that man was not like that.

He would look her way too, but what he was looking at wasn't her—it was the knife in her hand!

His gaze was very pure, just simple appreciation, without any impurities.

Li Xueer felt a bit bewildered.

Since she was a child, her father had instilled this idea in her—rich people are treacherous and profit-seeking; none of them are good people!

She had always felt that the gaze of a rich person should be lecherous, utilitarian, and full of deceit and calculation.

Yet Sheng Zichen was not like that. He was a rich person, and even among the rich, he was the richest of them all, so how could his gaze be so simple and pure?

Thinking too much, she suffered from insomnia that night.

She didn't sleep well that night, so when she woke up the next day, her eyes were dark-rimmed, and she had overslept.

Her old father didn't wake her up and was busy outside by himself; Li Xueer hurriedly washed up and went out to take over her share of the work.

Because they came out later than usual today, the queue was very long, with everyone waiting to buy their fried nest-buns.

Seeing Li Xue finally come out, someone teased: "Girl, you finally came out. Overslept, did you?"

"It's no good for a young girl to be so lazy. Your dad is getting on in years and has been working by himself for a long time; you need to know how to be considerate of your father..."

Everyone was a neighbor from nearby and a regular customer, so there was no malice in what they said; Li Xue knew this, so she didn't argue back.

Looking at the long queue, Li Xueer thought for a moment and took out another knife, preparing to cut with both knives at once.

This technique was her father's unique skill, which he had passed on to her, but she wasn't very proficient with it yet, and her father wouldn't let her practice it outside.

Because this kind of knife technique didn't just require exquisite skill, it required total concentration; one slip and something could easily go wrong.

She was holding knives in her hands, and if there was a mishap, it wouldn't be a laughing matter.

After she brought out the dual knives, Lao Litou knew what his daughter wanted to do.

"Can you handle it?" he asked worriedly, not really approving.

"I can handle it. You have to let me practice; if I don't practice, I'll never be able to do it."

His daughter insisted, so Lao Litou agreed.

Li Xue revealed her dual knives, and the people who had just been laughing and talking all shut their mouths, eyes wide with astonishment.

Good heavens!

What kind of god-tier operation was this?

One could only see the two knives in Li Xueer's hands spinning as if they were flying; at first, one could still see the speed of the blades, but soon they became invisible, and one could only see white light spinning, with the potatoes piling up into a small mountain on the cutting board at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Potatoes oxidize very quickly and need to be placed in clear water to keep them from turning black.

But the shredded potatoes Li Xue cut didn't need to be put in water at all; she was so fast that the potatoes didn't even have time to oxidize.

After she came out, Lao Litou started another stove; with two stoves and two large pots frying at the same time, the father and daughter worked in perfect coordination, and the speed at which the fried nest-buns came out of the pots more than doubled.

The queue quickly grew shorter, and Zichen gradually reached the front.

He handed over the money, took two fried nest-buns and a bowl of seafood porridge, and gave Li Xue a thumbs-up: "I admire you."

What he admired was her knife skills; even he felt inferior to such knife skills—they were far beyond his own.

Just now, he had secretly recorded Li Xue's near-performative knife skills, intending to take them back to study.

Li Xue pretended not to see him, but her heart was even more joyful.

She couldn't say why, but she was happy in her heart.

After Zichen finished his porridge, he didn't leave, but came to the front of Li Xue again...

There weren't as many people now, and she was sitting to the side resting.

Seeing Zichen walk over, she immediately stood up vigilantly: "What do you want?"

"Don't be nervous. I just recorded the scene of you using the knives, and I wanted to ask for your opinion—is it okay to film? If you don't agree, I'll delete it."

"I just want to watch it myself when I get back; I won't use it for any commercial purposes."

Li Xue:...

It wasn't just her; even Lao Litou felt surprised.

Isn't this a very normal thing?

Is there any need to ask for their opinion?

Nowadays, smartphones are ubiquitous, and people using their phones to film things has reached every aspect of life; Li Xue is pretty and has good knife skills, so people are almost constantly filming her.

But never has anyone specifically come over to ask for her opinion, let alone say they would delete it immediately if she didn't agree; this is something that has never happened before!

Li Xue felt respected, yet she still said without hesitation, "Delete it."

"Alright." So Zichen deleted the video right in front of Li Xue; although he felt it was a pity, he still had to respect the decision of the person involved.

After he finished deleting it, he prepared to leave.

But she was stopped by Li Xueer: "Wait, give me your phone; what if you say one thing to my face but do another behind my back, and you filmed more than just one video?"

Zichen was slightly stunned; was she doubting his character?

Fine.

He unlocked his phone and handed it over.

Li Xueer began to check it carefully; there were quite a few videos in the photo album, all of which were of cooking.

Those exquisite presentations and various kitchens opened her eyes.

She even forgot that this was someone else's phone, and holding it, she excitedly let her father see: "Dad, look, so many beautiful kitchens; have you ever seen them? I have never seen them before."

Lao Litou was also attracted by the various exquisite kitchens, and he said with a chuckle, "Modern kitchens are beautiful, but they either use electricity or gas, and simply cannot produce an authentic, original flavor."

This sentence struck a chord with Zichen; he also thought the same.

"Keep scrolling back; further back there are specialized firewood stoves, as well as different firewood from the north and south, and using different stoves—they are all there."