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There weren’t many people in the room, so even when Liang Shiyou whispered, everyone heard him.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, finally understanding why this guy was so confident earlier—it seemed that all the dishes on the table were made by him!

However...

Upon further thought, Lin Yuan suddenly looked up at Xia Zheng. The guy had been acting so strangely just now, could it be that he knew something?

"Hey, what did Master Liang say? These dishes were made by someone else? Who were they?"

Xia Zheng’s lips curved into a wicked smile, making his already handsome face even more enchanting. However, in Liang Shiyou’s eyes, that smile sent a shiver down his spine.

"No, no, I made these, I made all of them!" If Xia Zheng and Lin Yuan found out that he had coerced others into making these dishes, wouldn’t they kick him out on the spot?

Liang Shiyou stretched his neck, determined not to admit that he had someone else do the work.

"Ah? So it really was you who made them, Master Liang!"

Lin Yuan knew what Liang Shiyou was thinking. Suppressing a snicker inside, she appeared very shocked, as if truly startled by Liang Shiyou’s words: "How could it be? Master Liang, isn’t your cooking supposed to be excellent? How could you make something so... distasteful?"

The word "distasteful" hit Liang Shiyou hard, shattering the last bit of hope in his heart.

Indeed, he had only thought about not admitting to using a substitute, but how could he have forgotten about this? By admitting these dishes were his own work, wasn’t he also admitting his poor culinary skills?

"I, I..."

Liang Shiyou stammered, unable to find the words. What could he say? Could he claim it was a mistake and ask Lin Yuan to give him another chance? Not even he himself believed such a lie anymore.

With his head bowed, Liang Shiyou was totally dispirited, unable to find any more excuses to defend himself.

Yet he was particularly puzzled. That morning, he had personally tasted each dish made by those people and then served them on the table himself. How could it have been switched by someone else?

His brows furrowed tightly, Liang Shiyou suddenly looked up, his gaze firm and suspicious as it landed on Shopkeeper Xiao.

Here, the person he trusted the most was his brother-in-law, Shopkeeper Xiao, so when he went to the kitchen to taste and serve the dishes, he had only left Shopkeeper Xiao to watch over the table.

If there had been a switch, it had to have happened with him!

Yes, it must be him!

"It was you!" Liang Shiyou’s eyes, filled with anger and bitterness, stared intently at Shopkeeper Xiao. If his eyes could shoot daggers, Shopkeeper Xiao would have been torn to shreds by now.

Feeling Liang Shiyou’s anger, Shopkeeper Xiao was stunned, completely unaware of why he was being treated this way.

Xia Zheng saw everything from between them, a smug smile appearing on his lips, and Lin Yuan, sitting opposite, caught it.

Lin Yuan arched her eyebrows. Although she didn’t know the actual process, she knew that Xia Zheng must have been playing tricks behind the scenes.

Since Liang Shiyou had already admitted the meals were his doing, there was no need for further discussion.

Lin Yuan coughed and said to him, "Master Liang, since you have admitted there’s a problem with the meals, what do you think about my earlier suggestion?"

The previous suggestion was merely to have him lower his status and become a helper, but even with Liang Shiyou’s cooking skills, Lin Yuan never planned on keeping him.

Moreover, Liang Shiyou was naturally quite bossy and unreasonable. He used to oppress other helpers by leveraging his master chef status, and now that he had become a helper himself, he definitely couldn’t swallow his pride.

As expected, just as Lin Yuan had predicted.

Liang Shiyou pursed his lips, untied his apron, threw it on the table, and said gruffly, "Have me become a helper? I’d rather leave!"

Lin Yuan raised her eyebrows; this decision was exactly to her liking.

But well...

"Wait a moment, Master Liang..."

Before Lin Yuan could finish, Liang Shiyou’s eyes lit up, and he interrupted her, "Boss, no need to say more. I will not stay. Of course, if you’re willing to change your mind and let me continue as master chef, I might consider what you just said..."

Pfft!

Xia Zheng almost spit his water onto Liang Shiyou’s face!

Lin Yuan couldn’t help but facepalm, interrupting Liang Shiyou, "Master Liang, you’ve misunderstood."

With a clack, the words that were about to leave Liang Shiyou’s mouth suddenly got stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, almost choking him.

As Lin Yuan watched Liang Shiyou like this, she shook her head secretly, clapped her hands, and Shui Xian immediately turned around and brought the ledger from the carriage to the table.

Upon seeing the ledger, Shopkeeper Xiao’s face instantly changed, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Liang Shiyou seemed still somewhat puzzled, skeptically eyeing those few ledgers, trying hard to understand why they had suddenly shifted from talking about him leaving to these ledgers?

Glancing at their faces, Lin Yuan smiled, tapped the ledger and looked at Shopkeeper Xiao half-amused, "Shopkeeper Xiao, don’t you have something to tell me?"

Being called out by Lin Yuan, Shopkeeper Xiao’s face grew even uglier, with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Liang Shiyou, noticing Shopkeeper Xiao’s discomfort, let his curiosity overcome his initial anger, and couldn’t help nudging Shopkeeper Xiao’s body with his elbow, whispering, "Brother-in-law, what’s wrong?

These are our shop’s ledgers, right? Why is the Boss asking you? Hey? Brother-in-law, speak up!"

Shopkeeper Xiao clenched his teeth tightly; he really wanted to kick this noisy brother-in-law aside. But he dared not, as if he really did that, his ’Mother Tiger’ of a wife would certainly strip him bare and throw him into the yard to freeze into an ice stick!

"Shopkeeper Xiao? Shopkeeper Xiao?" Seeing Shopkeeper Xiao lose focus, Xia Zheng waved his hand in front of him, and only continued when his gaze returned, "Oh, why isn’t Shopkeeper Xiao speaking? I heard you were quite lively at home last night!"

Hearing him mention last night, Shopkeeper Xiao’s lips began to tremble. Coming back to his senses without waiting for Lin Yuan to ask again, he hastily confessed to her.

"Boss, I, I have wronged you, these ledgers, there’s something wrong with them."

Just as Lin Yuan, still puzzled by Xia Zheng’s observation, suddenly widened her eyes. She had set up so much yet couldn’t get Shopkeeper Xiao to admit he’d embezzled silver, but how did Xia Zheng’s seemingly joking remark make Shopkeeper Xiao change his statement?

Shopkeeper Xiao bowed his back, looking like he had aged ten years, and began to ramble about all his deeds: "I was blinded by greed, seeing Young Master Xia come to Yi Ran Residence time and again showing little concern for the accounts, I harboured evil thoughts. I told him Mr. Accountant was incompetent, incited him to dismiss Mr. Accountant, and then took over the accounts myself so no one could supervise me. I thought Young Master Xia didn’t manage the accounts, and this could be hidden forever, but I didn’t expect, didn’t expect. .."