Chapter 312: Pizza
Chapter 312: Chapter 312: Pizza
Going to Cai Su was a better idea than going to Shen Lu. Yang Jing stumbled through the greenhouse and knocked on Cai Su’s door.
Seeing her head covered in blood, Cai Su quickly had her sit down, then found a first-aid kit to clean and bandage the wound.
Cai Su wasn’t one for gossip. The entire time, she only asked if Yang Jing’s wound hurt and didn’t press for details on how she got it.
After tying the gauze, Cai Su explained some things to watch out for and reminded her to change the dressing in two days.
Yang Jing nodded silently, sitting on the sofa with her head bowed, lost in thought.
Cai Su cleaned up the used supplies and prepared to put the first-aid kit away.
"Little Deer... does she... hate us?" Yang Jing suddenly asked in a low voice.
Cai Su glanced around the room. It was just the two of them, so the question must have been for her.
"I don’t know." Cai Su thought that Shen Lu probably didn’t like them, but for various reasons, she had taken in the three members of the Liu Family. However, she wasn’t about to tell Yang Jing the truth.
"But, I don’t think she has time to think about things like that. She’s very busy."
’Busy?’
Yang Jing looked at Cai Su with a puzzled expression. Her world was usually limited to the metal shed and the greenhouse, so she had no idea what Shen Lu’s daily work was like.
At most, she’d catch a glimpse when she came to pick up lunch. It did seem busy then, with many customers looking for Shen Lu.
’But the restaurant only sells lunch. Once the lunch rush is over, what else is there to be busy with?’
"She’s basically the one who makes all the decisions in the restaurant, big and small. The boss... COUGH, our big boss doesn’t manage these things. He only cares about results. It hasn’t been easy for this place to get to where it is today."
Cai Su had almost let it slip, but luckily she caught herself in time and covered her tracks.
Yang Jing stood up. "Thank you for bandaging me up."
"It was nothing."
Yang Jing slowly returned to the metal shed. Liu Yaozu, bored, had already fallen asleep. Only Liu Qiang was still waiting for her.
"You didn’t let anything slip, did you?"
Yang Jing didn’t understand at first. "Huh?"
"You didn’t tell Shen Lu it was Yaozu who did this to you, did you?"
"...No."
"Good. You got this injury because you fell and hit your head by accident. You absolutely cannot tell Shen Lu anything else."
In truth, Liu Qiang had already noticed that out of the three of them, Shen Lu favored Yang Jing the most.
If Shen Lu found out that Liu Yaozu had done this to Yang Jing, he suspected she would throw his son out.
That was absolutely unacceptable. The weather was brutal; even if his son was perfectly able-bodied, he’d die out there.
’Besides, it was Yang Jing’s own fault for being so stubborn. She knew full well what kind of temper their son had, yet she still had to get in his face at that moment. Wasn’t she just asking for it?!’
’And on top of that, she failed to get them tomorrow’s lunch. She really is useless. No wonder their son has a problem with her.’
Liu Qiang sighed internally. ’If only Yang Jing were more savvy, she could have coaxed Shen Lu and won her over. Their lives would be so much better now.’
’Failing that, winning over Shen Lu might be difficult, but what about Shen Lan?’
’They’d raised her for seventeen years, but Yang Jing couldn’t even manage to sweet-talk Shen Lan. If she had, Shen Lan would have been begging and pleading to take our family of three to the Upper City District to fulfill her filial duties.’
’Whew, a life that good would be almost unimaginable.’
The more he thought about it, the more useless Yang Jing seemed—stupid, clumsy, and incapable of doing anything right.
Yang Jing felt a pang of sadness. She had already tried so hard to do everything right. How could it be that now, when she was injured, her family didn’t have a single word of comfort for her?
The wronged woman silently shed tears.
...
Shen Lu didn’t find out about Yang Jing’s injury until the next day, when she went to inspect the greenhouse in the morning.
Yang Jing was digging in the ground, but when she saw Shen Lu coming, she quickly lowered her head, not wanting her to see the wound on her forehead.
But Shen Lu had already seen it.
However, she didn’t ask anything. She just gave Yang Jing a cool glance, then went to get busy in the kitchen after checking that everything in the greenhouse was in order.
Shen Lu had always firmly believed in one principle: as long as you’re willing to suffer, you’ll find there’s no end to the suffering you can endure.
This saying was a perfect fit for Yang Jing.
It was useless for Shen Lu alone to want to help. Yang Jing herself was unwilling to escape her situation.
Not only was the wind strong today, but the sky was also a strange, dark red. Dark sand and dust were swept up into the air, resembling a giant beast opening its bloody maw, trying to devour the world.
Shen Lu could even feel the building shaking gently.
Shen Lu: "Tongzi, this unfinished building of mine isn’t going to collapse, is it?"
[Not a chance, Host! The shop’s defense is now Level 7. It’s far sturdier than you can imagine!]
Shen Lu pouted. "I’m having a little trouble believing you."
A Level 7 shop defense could only withstand a Third-level Superpower User. Shen Lu refused to believe that a red-alert sandstorm wasn’t more powerful than a Third-level Superpower User.
[The shop’s defense coefficient is higher against natural disasters!]
What else could Shen Lu say? She could only accept it.
No one came to deliver ingredients today. Everyone was idle in the morning. Xiao Lang and Xin Yu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, staring blankly outside.
"Why didn’t it ever seem this scary before?" Xiao Lang muttered under his breath.
Xin Yu glanced at Little Douding. "Did the house you used to live in have windows this big?"
"No." Xiao Lang shook his head.
"Well, there you go."
The house Xiao Lang used to live in only had two windows, one large and one small. During the sandstorm season, Cai Su would always draw the curtains. How could he possibly have seen what it was like outside?
Xin Yu sighed. His own house was old, and many things were deteriorating badly. He didn’t know if it could withstand this year’s sandstorm.
Unfortunately, he was trapped in the restaurant and couldn’t go back. If something unexpected happened, he wouldn’t be able to fix it in time.
’I won’t get back to find my whole house has been blown away, will I?’
"Xin Yu, Xiao Lang," Shen Lu called out from the doorway. "Don’t just stand there gawking. Come help in the kitchen."
"Coming, Boss," Xin Yu immediately replied, turning around.
Xiao Lang’s face lit up with excitement. "Sister Shen, can I help you cook too?"
"What we’re making today isn’t for customers; it’s for us." Shen Lu patted Xiao Lang’s head. "If you want to have lunch, you’ll have to work hard."
"Mhm, I’ll definitely work hard! Sister Shen, I can even cook for you!"
Shen Lu smiled but didn’t agree, thinking to herself: ’I appreciate the thought, but that’s really not necessary.’
Since everyone was pitching in, and the food still needed to be edible, the recipe couldn’t be too difficult.
The food Shen Lu chose was pizza.
Pizza could be savory or sweet, and the toppings could be added according to personal preference.
The first step in making pizza is to make the crust.
Shen Lu had Xin Yu do it while she stood to the side, giving technical guidance.
Xin Yu was surprisingly good at it. Shen Lu stroked her chin. ’The last time, Wang Daguo was also pretty good at kneading dough. Do the men around here have a talent for baking?’
The kneaded dough needed to rise until it doubled in size. After punching it down, it was rolled into a round disc about 25 centimeters in diameter, placed in a pan, and pricked with a fork to make small holes.
Then, it was left to rest for 10 minutes before being placed in a preheated oven on the middle rack at 200℃ for 5 minutes, with heat from both top and bottom, to set its shape.
And with that, the pizza crust was done.
Next up were the pizza sauce and toppings. Shen Lu had originally intended for Cai Su to make the sauce, but Xin Yu, now addicted to kneading dough, insisted on doing it himself.