Chapter Five: The Last Straw

"This 'Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce' is just too delicious!"
"The pork is so tender!"
"The wood ear mushrooms and green bamboo shoots still have that crisp, fresh snap, perfectly merging with the pork—what a symphony of textures!"
"And this sauce—aromatic, spicy, sweet, and sour—all at once! It’s so appetizing!"

Su Rui, eating with great gusto, showered her meal with unreserved praise.

Yet, engrossed as she was in savoring the food, she failed to notice that with every compliment she uttered, Li Can's mouth twitched involuntarily, his expression growing more and more pained—almost as if he had just swallowed something foul.

Something seemed off...

"Your acting is a bit over the top, don't you think?" Li Can untied his apron, looking at her with undisguised disdain.

"I'm serious! Try it for yourself if you don't believe me."

With her mouth stuffed, Su Rui handed her chopsticks to Li Can, urging him on with muffled insistence.

Li Can eyed the oily sheen at the tip of the chopsticks, wiped it clean with a napkin, then used the other end to pick up a morsel and taste it carefully.

"Oh my, you’re a neat freak too?" Su Rui teased.

"It’s not that—I just don’t like seeing that drop of oil..."

"That’s called being obsessive-compulsive!" Su Rui looked at him as if she’d discovered a new continent.

"Think whatever you like."

Li Can couldn’t be bothered to argue further. He frowned, focusing intently on the food.

What?

This is what she calls delicious?

He could tell there was too much starch in the pork marinade—it was sticky and gluey. The wood ear mushrooms hadn’t soaked long enough, and the bamboo shoots weren’t fresh. He’d chosen his ingredients well.

The heat control was decent, but the flavors of each ingredient didn’t shine; the dish lacked complexity.

And that sauce—awful! The balance between sugar and vinegar was a disaster. In other words, it was perfect—in being perfectly terrible.

The worst Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce he’d ever tasted. Assessment complete.

Setting his chopsticks down with satisfaction, Li Can happened to meet Su Rui’s eyes—bright and brimming with emotion.

No, that wasn’t affection in her gaze—it was the look of a predator watching its prey!

"Well? Was I right?" Su Rui asked expectantly.

"It’s just so-so," Li Can replied blandly.

Though he’d sabotaged the dish, he’d overlooked one simple truth: everyone has their own standards for food.

Back at the Imperial Court, his customers had been either high-ranking officials accustomed to the rarest delicacies, seasoned gourmets who traveled from one food paradise to another, or at the very least, die-hard foodies with discerning palates.

They all shared a refined, exacting standard for cuisine—able to detect everything from the freshness of the ingredients to the subtle differences in doneness.

But Su Rui?

Living long-term on Old Street, her standards had declined dramatically...

No, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t that her standards had dropped; rather, his own baseline for poor cooking was still higher than the upper limits she’d ever encountered.

Li Can silently lamented his miscalculation. If only he’d completely botched the sauce ratio, thrown in the barely-soaked mushrooms, left out the bamboo shoots altogether, and stir-fried the pork until it was tough enough to break teeth—then maybe...

"If this is just 'so-so,' then none of the restaurants on Old Street would dare serve this dish again!"

Unaware of Li Can’s inner machinations, Su Rui—ever the dreamy Pisces—was already envisioning customers bidding higher and higher just to secure a plate of Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce.

Fifty!
Five hundred!
One thousand!
Enough—all of you, I’ll pay a million!

"Keep bidding, don’t stop..."

...

"What are you mumbling about?"

The sudden question shattered Su Rui’s daydreams. She quickly wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and made up her mind.

"Li Can, you’re hired. Thirty-five hundred a month, meals and lodging included, triple pay on holidays. You start tomorrow!"

"What?" Li Can raised an eyebrow.

"What, not enough?" Su Rui’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Of course not."

Li Can refused to back down. Since his ‘culinary sabotage’ had failed, he’d have to negotiate on other fronts.

"Four thousand! That’s five hundred more than the average chef here on Old Street! Ask anyone if you don’t believe me." Su Rui slapped the table, her presence more intimidating than any man’s.

"You’ve seen my skills. Four thousand? Still too low."

"Fine, since you’re so confident and I’m sincere, I’ll go up another five hundred—forty-five hundred!"

"Still not enough."

"Li Can, don’t push your luck! Forty-five hundred is the highest on Old Street!"

"Still no."

"You—!" Su Rui ground her teeth, suddenly finding Li Can’s sunny, handsome face utterly infuriating.

Bang!

She slammed her fist on the table. "Five thousand a month! Not a cent more! Let me tell you, for a rookie chef like you, five hundred a month would already be generous as pocket money!"

On the surface, Li Can remained unmoved, but inside, he was overcome with conflicting emotions.

He knew that for a small, unpopular restaurant on Old Street, earning ten or twenty thousand net a month was already considered good business.

And Little Chef Next Door certainly didn’t fit that description.

But the problem was, he wanted nothing to do with that murderer!

"Ten thousand."

The air grew instantly heavy.

He’d killed the conversation dead—the figure was simply impossible.

Su Rui stared at Li Can in disbelief, as if he’d revealed himself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Ten thousand?
Why don’t you just rob a bank?

The dining hall was as still as death.

"Sigh."

After a long silence, Su Rui let out a weary laugh. "Li Can, I really do want you to stay and help me. But I simply don’t have the means—it’s impossible for me to meet your demand."

"That’s fine."

Li Can got the answer he wanted, yet a strange bitterness welled up inside him. Still, he had no intention of lingering, lest he give in at the last moment.

"Li Can."

Su Rui suddenly stood up.

"Sister Su, is there something else?" Li Can managed a strained smile.

Su Rui bit her lip, clearly struggling. "Even if I can’t meet your demand, I want to try one last time."

Li Can said nothing, his lips pressed in a bitter line.

"Six thousand! And don’t refuse just yet," Su Rui added sincerely, "plus thirty percent of the restaurant’s monthly net income!"

At those words, Li Can was left speechless—shocked beyond measure.

For a restaurant owner who barely made a profit to offer such terms—clearly, she placed immense value in him.

"Aren’t you afraid that even if I come, the restaurant still won’t improve? You’d only lose more."

"What’s there to be afraid of?" Su Rui shrugged. "Worst case, the doors close for good and I become the laughingstock of friends and family."

Li Can exhaled slowly, eyes closed. When he opened them again, a fervent light burned within.

He could hear the unspoken defiance in Su Rui’s last words—so like his own.

The only difference was—
She refused to be looked down upon.
He refused to fall from his pedestal.

...

"This job—I, Li Can, accept!"

(To be continued...)