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Lin Yuan cast a suspicious glance at him and received a big, bright smile in return, which made her involuntarily smirk.

"Boss, you’re here!"

Her mood, which had begun to improve, darkened the moment she saw Shopkeeper Xiao, whose complexion seemed quite poor today, with big bags under his eyes almost drooping to his mouth.

When she remembered how many silvers Shopkeeper Xiao had embezzled from her restaurant, the greeting she was about to utter choked back down her throat — she had no sympathy for thieves.

Upon entering the room, Liang Shiyou had already prepared breakfast, a whole tableful of dishes, all covered up, obscuring their contents.

"Heh," Lin Yuan said with a laugh as she sat down at the table, "It seems Master Liang is well-prepared today, looking at all these dishes. I haven’t even seen what they are yet, and I’m already starving."

Standing by, Liang Shiyou smirked proudly, as if he had everything under control.

Lin Yuan scoffed internally, well aware of Liang Shiyou’s capabilities. She truly had little expectation for what kind of food he could produce.

Xia Zheng also sat down, casually rapping on the table and addressing Shopkeeper Xiao, "Shopkeeper Xiao, it seemed quite lively at your house last night. Was there some kind of celebration?"

"Celebration?"

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She wasn’t curious about Shopkeeper Xiao’s family celebration, but rather curious about how Xia Zheng knew Shopkeeper Xiao’s house was lively.

Hearing Xia Zheng’s inquiry, Shopkeeper Xiao’s face instantly changed, turning paler as he stuttered, "No, nothing’s going on, no celebrations."

"Oh?" Xia Zheng shrugged and said, "I thought you were celebrating a new boss taking over the restaurant. Turns out I was mistaken."

Shopkeeper Xiao extended his neck laboriously, swallowing hard.

"Young Master Xia, Boss, may we start the meal now?" Liang Shiyou, anxious about his cooking, seemed oblivious to the unease on Shopkeeper Xiao’s face and pressed eagerly.

"Alright. We’ve been so caught up chatting that we’ve forgotten about the feast Master Liang has prepared." Xia Zheng nodded with a smile, signaling Liang Shiyou to proceed.

Liang Shiyou chuckled twice and lifted the lid from the first dish, smiling at the two of them, "Both of you, please try these soup dumplings I’ve prepared."

As Liang Shiyou’s hand withdrew, Lin Yuan saw the dish reveal four round, pale dumplings. However, possibly because they’d been sitting out too long, the dumpling skins were somewhat wrinkled, and not much steam was rising from them.

Just by their appearance, her appetite was hardly piqued. Xia Zheng, unobtrusively curling his lip, smiled at Lin Yuan, "I really like these dumplings; you don’t eat any, just leave them all for me!"

Lin Yuan frowned slightly in puzzlement. She wasn’t here for the meal today; her purpose was to test out Liang Shiyou’s culinary skills, but how could she test if Xia Zheng wouldn’t let her eat?

Before she could speak, Xia Zheng had already picked up a dumpling, slowly moving it towards his mouth as he leisurely said, "I’ve heard that Master Liang’s cooking is very good; naturally, I should be the first to taste such delicacies. You just watch."

Lin Yuan gritted her teeth, about to say something, but before she could open her mouth, Xia Zheng had already stuffed the dumpling into his mouth.

With a splat, Lin Yuan only saw a murky liquid spraying out from Xia Zheng’s mouth, followed by his loud cries of distress.

"Ah! Master Liang, what filling did you put in here? Did you forget to wash the meat properly again? Ouch, my tooth!"

Lin Yuan burst out laughing. Just as expected, it was disappointingly awful!

Liang Shiyou, who had been quite pleased with himself a moment before, suddenly wilted, his brow furrowed tightly. What had gone wrong? He had prepared so thoroughly!

"Young Master, Young Master, there might have been a mistake. Possibly, oh yes, possibly a bone!"

Liang Shiyou glanced at Shopkeeper Xiao, and seeing that he was just as puzzled, shook his head.

He opened the lid of the second dish, smiling apologetically as he said, "Young Master, Boss, please try these sweet and sour shredded radishes. I pickled them overnight myself. They’re guaranteed to be deliciously sweet and tangy. "

Seeing that neither of them moved to pick up their chopsticks, Liang Shiyou quickly assured them, "Please be assured, there’s absolutely nothing unusual in this. I washed it several times and even peeled them myself, so it definitely won’t jab your teeth."

After the soup dumpling incident, Lin Yuan had already figured out Xia Zheng’s intentions; he was worried about Liang Shiyou’s cooking skills and didn’t want her to taste the dreadful dish.

Similarly, Xia Zheng picked up his chopsticks before Lin Yuan again, cautiously selecting the cleanest and most appealing-looking strand of radish.

However, as soon as he put it in his mouth, he grimaced and spat it out hastily, waving his hands desperately.

Lin Yuan quickly handed him a cup of tea from beside her.

Once Xia Zheng had gargled vigorously, he weakly complained, "Master Liang, Master Liang, are you jealous that I’m younger and more handsome than you, so you deliberately tried to poison me with something saltier than salt?

No, no, not poison. I’d rather you actually poisoned me than made me eat salt! "

"How could that be? It was supposed to be sweet and sour!" Liang Shiyou rebutted incredulously, picking up a piece with his chopsticks and trying it himself.

"Ptui! Ptui!" Liang Shiyou spat repeatedly, feeling as though his mouth had been flooded with salt, even his tongue tip starting to go numb.

Having tried it himself, Liang Shiyou became even more perplexed. It had been fine when he tasted it earlier.

"Boss, Young Master, this was an accident. Please, try something else!"

As he spoke, Liang Shiyou opened all the lids on the dishes on the table. Lin Yuan glanced at them; indeed, they were a motley collection of pickled vegetables and various kinds of pastries. If it weren’t for the two previous failures, she would have eagerly started eating.

But this time, no one dared pick up their chopsticks.

"How about letting Shopkeeper Xiao try?" Xia Zheng suggested seemingly kindly, but Shopkeeper Xiao refused. He had tasted Liang Shiyou’s cooking before and didn’t care for another round.

Left with no other options, it fell to Liang Shiyou, the chef, to taste his own dishes.

"If you won’t eat, then I’ll eat. Those were just accidents; my cooking is definitely delicious... Ugh! Ugh!"

After taking a bite of the egg, Liang Shiyou vomited it out immediately; everyone at the scene could even hear the crunching sound of eggshells from his mouth.

Liang Shiyou was shocked. He tried every dish on the table—either too salty or too sweet, and even the steamed buns were undercooked.

With a clatter, Liang Shiyou’s chopsticks fell to the floor, and he slumped down, devastated. "What’s going on? I tasted them after they were made, and they were all delicious. How did the flavors change so quickly?"