Chapter 133 - 109: Rebellious Youth
Chapter 133: Chapter 109: Rebellious Youth
At two in the morning, Ning He arrived right on time. Old Zhang’s car was already waiting.
A few meters away, in the shadows beyond the reach of the streetlight, a thin figure stood motionless. Ning He barely moved her lips as she called out.
"Come here!"
The figure paused for a moment before slowly emerging from the shadows, stopping again a few steps away from Ning He.
The young man was tall and thin, dressed in old clothes with his hands stuffed in his pockets. His head was tilted, his eyes fixed on the ground. He neither spoke nor looked at her, his displeasure written all over his face.
Ning He mentally rolled her eyes, then turned and opened the car door.
"Get in."
The young man hesitated for a moment but ultimately followed her into the vehicle.
Old Zhang’s vehicle was small. The passenger compartment wasn’t large, with two benches facing each other, just enough room for four people.
Ning He had already briefed Ah Huai and Connie on the situation, so they were very warm toward the young man.
"Hello, I’m Susan and Ding Xiang’s older sister. They go to the same school as you. It’s nice to meet you." Connie offered her hand in a welcoming gesture.
Unlike Ning He, who was just posing as a local, Connie and Ah Huai were genuine North Third District residents. They’d grown up hearing of the great Guer and held him in high esteem, so they naturally weren’t bothered by the boy’s past.
However, her warm gesture was met with a cold shoulder.
The young man didn’t move a muscle, leaning against the side of the car as if asleep, completely unresponsive.
Connie awkwardly withdrew her hand.
"Don’t mind him. Let’s get some rest. We’ve got work to do later."
After she spoke, Ning He leaned against the other side of the car, closed her eyes, and began to rest. Connie hesitated for a moment before deciding to rest as well.
The young man remained motionless.
His blond hair was long and messy, hanging over his forehead and obscuring half his face, giving him a dejected appearance.
The compartment soon fell silent, filled only with the sound of even breathing. He secretly opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the others for a few seconds before he quietly closed them again.
When they arrived at the academy cafeteria, San Shui and Ding Wang were already at work. They were both taken aback to see the young man trailing behind Ning He.
Ning He offered no explanation. She just told Connie and Ah Huai to get changed and start working, leaving the young man off to the side.
The others initially wondered if they should get him settled, but they quickly became too busy with their own tasks to spare him a thought.
"San Shui, we’re low on oil! Go open a new barrel."
"The chili powder isn’t ground finely enough. Run it through the machine again."
"How many steamers of thin noodles are ready? Twelve? We still need eight more, keep going!"
"Ding Wang, we don’t need your help here. Go roll the hand-pulled noodles."
In the kitchen, the five of them each had assigned tasks. While Connie was stationed at the counter, kneading dough nonstop, everyone else juggled a constant stream of jobs. Whenever someone finished a task, they would rush over to help Connie with the dough.
Ning He carried over a basket of vegetables and began her prep work on the chopping block.
Carrots, zucchini, and tomatoes all needed to be diced. Ning He’s knife skills had grown increasingly proficient, her movements fluid and seamless. The rhythmic THUMP THUMP THUMP of her knife was so steady it almost sounded melodic.
Once finished chopping, she lit the stove, heated oil in a large wok, and began to stir-fry the vegetarian topping. The cafeteria’s stove was powerful, its flames leaping as high as her face, but Ning He remained unfazed, cooking two batches in a row.
The young man stood to the side and slightly behind the noodle press, silently watching the bustling scene before him.
Fine beads of sweat dotted everyone’s foreheads.
The woman kneading dough had a medicinal patch on her wrist. The one doing the stir-frying didn’t have a patch, but her entire back was soaked with sweat, her clothes clinging uncomfortably to her skin.
And it was only six in the morning, an hour when most people were still in bed.
The young man’s expression flickered, and he clenched his fists.
But in the end, he stayed right where he was.
Ning He finished cooking the topping, San Shui had three hundred portions of vegetarian noodles rolled, Ding Wang and Connie had the hand-pulled noodles ready, and Ah Huai had prepared the scallion oil and the dry spices for the oil-splashed noodles.
With twenty minutes to spare before breakfast service began, they all needed to quickly eat something themselves.
In addition to a bowl of noodles for everyone, Ning He had also bought a few fried dough sticks, sweet cakes, and soy milk from Hai Hei, as well as a large order of chowder from Uncle Qin. They all gathered together to eat.
As she picked up her chopsticks, Ning He suddenly remembered something. She picked up a bowl of oil-splashed noodles covered with the vegetarian topping and walked toward the back of the noodle press.
The young man was still standing in the same spot, as if he hadn’t moved an inch.
"Here. Wash your own bowl when you’re done."
Ning He turned to leave, but a very quiet voice stopped her.
"I didn’t do anything."
"I don’t need your charity."
Ning He turned back. The young man across from her had finally lifted his head, revealing a pair of green eyes.
His mouth was pressed into a thin line, his entire face a mask of stubbornness.
"So, you can talk." The corners of Ning He’s mouth lifted. "This isn’t charity. You still owe me two thousand, remember? You can see how busy I am; I don’t have time to train you personally. Watch carefully, and once you’ve learned the ropes, you can help me out. Your wages will start as soon as you’re able to work. Oh, and I’m charging you for the noodles. They’re not free. Go on and eat. You couldn’t buy these outside even if you wanted to."
With that, Ning He went back to her own breakfast.
After working for hours, everyone was starving. They slurped down their noodles in just a few bites, followed by a fried dough stick or a sweet cake washed down with soy milk or chowder. Only then did it feel like they could finally breathe again.
Behind the machine, the young man stared at the vibrant red noodles in his bowl, which were piled high with the colorful, diced vegetarian topping. The rich aroma stimulated his nostrils, fully awakening his already powerful appetite.
He used to eat such sumptuous food all the time when he was a child.
But now, it had been a very long time since he’d tasted anything besides inferior nutritional powders.
Wade cradled the bowl and fiercely shoved a large mouthful of noodles into his mouth.
The spicy flavor shot straight up his nose, making him choke and his eyes instantly water.
He shoved another mouthful in. The firm, substantial noodles filled his mouth, forcing him to chew slowly. The spiciness intensified, making the corners of his eyes burn. Large, fat tears began to roll down his cheeks, splashing onto the floor.
While talking with Connie, Ning He discreetly glanced over. She breathed an inward sigh of relief at the sight.
’Cry. Go on and cry.’
’It’s better to let it all out.’
’Once you’re done crying, you can move forward again.’
After resting for a few minutes, the breakfast service officially began, and Ning He’s team was once again back to their frantic pace.
The young man remained at the back, but he no longer kept his head down. Instead, he carefully observed their actions.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ning He occasionally caught his focused expression and felt a degree of satisfaction.
’If he turned out to be a hopeless case, then she’d have no choice but to say her apologies and send him on his way.’
Once the last bowl of noodles was sold, everyone started cleaning up to close for the day.
"I’ll do it."
San Shui and Ding Wang were carrying a crate of utensils to the hot water sink to be washed when a hand reached out from the side and took the crate from them.
"Let him."
Ning He nodded, signaling them to let him.
The two let go and smiled warmly. "Thanks for your help."
The young man silently pulled on a pair of gloves and began washing the pots, bowls, and utensils in the crate.
Surprisingly, he was quite proficient.
"You’ve worked in a restaurant before?" Ning He asked, having pulled up a chair to rest nearby.
The young man said nothing, only giving the slightest of nods.
"Which restaurant? What kind of food?" Ning He asked, her interest piqued.
But this time, the young man didn’t answer.
Ning He shrugged it off and turned to speak with Connie.
Once everything was cleaned up, the group got back into Old Zhang’s car and returned to Heqi Chinese Restaurant.
Ning He gathered everyone for an introduction.
"...He’s helping out temporarily. Feel free to put him to work on anything he can handle. Don’t be shy."
She said that, but everyone already knew his story and felt only sympathy. None of them would actually order him around, so the young man once again became part of the scenery.
Ning He didn’t intervene.
She had too much on her plate to worry about it. He would have to figure things out on his own.
Fortunately, it turned out the kid knew his way around some basic vegetable chopping.
Dicing radishes was a piece of cake for him.
So, the next morning, Ning He took a rare break. She brought all the vegetables that needed to be pickled downstairs and had the young man do the work for her.
Radishes, cucumbers, napa cabbage, regular cabbage, green beans, amaranth—Ning He needed to prepare a lot of ingredients in advance for the upcoming first Gourmet Challenge.
The young man washed and chopped, steamed and sterilized the glass jars, and then dried them, his hands never stopping.
Ning He directed him from the sofa, munching on a sweet fruit radish she had grown herself. She even managed to take a nap, enjoying a rare, leisurely moment.
At noon, reasonably satisfied with the young man’s work, Ning He pulled a small portion of ground meat from the fridge, scooped a handful of pickled green beans from a jar, and used some leftover rice to make fried rice with pickled green beans and minced meat. She served up a bowl for each of them.
Hers was a normal-sized bowl, but the young man got a basin.
Since it wasn’t a free meal, he didn’t stand on ceremony, polishing off the entire basin without leaving a single grain of rice behind.
Afterward, the young man went with Ning He to help at the restaurant again, working straight through until closing at half past eight in the evening.
But he never once complained about being tired.
The next day, Cindy called.
The TV station had approved her project; they could start filming the commercial.
Once again, Ning He took the young man with her early in the morning, this time to the television station’s filming studio.
Cindy had already prepared most of the shooting plan using materials from William. Ning He just needed to strike a few poses and deliver a couple of lines.
The young man stood by and watched the whole process.
After Ning He, dressed in a standard chef’s uniform, delivered lines like "Out-of-Town Food Tour" and "Gourmet Challenge," a ripple of emotion finally broke the surface of the young man’s usually blank face. A hint of curiosity shone in his eyes.
On the way back, he seemed to want to say something several times, but he always stopped himself and held it back.
Ning He wasn’t worried. She had plenty of time.
More busy days at the academy followed. Then, one evening, Julie came to the restaurant for dinner, and she brought good news:
A site proposal for the food company was ready, and she needed to go check it out in person.
So, early the next morning, Ning He set out once again, the young man in tow.