Guild Boss's Ambition

"It doesn't matter. I'm the only one who comes up here on weekdays. It won't make much noise if you come up here."

"It sounds like this rooftop is Miss Korolo's secret──"

I exaggeratedly showed a regretful expression, smiled and acquiesced to her coming: "Then, you discovered this secret──"

The little girl Lan Nong giggled, the curve of her lips was natural and cute without any deliberate modification or disguise. She was likable enough just by being herself. Unless you were jealous of her, you would like her. I just envied them from afar.

"Red bean buns won't taste good if they're cold—" I reminded her with a smile.

She took a bite politely, chewed it for a few times, and her red eyes burst into excitement: "Delicious! This red bean bun is delicious! I have never eaten such a delicious red bean bun in my life! But Miss Luoluo, where did you buy this?"

Looking at Miss Lan Nong's exaggerated expression, I couldn't help but feel a little amused and said, "No, it's just the red bean buns I made myself."

"Will you do it again in the future?" she asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling and very lovable.

"Although I made it this time because I had some leftover ingredients, if you like it, I can make it again when I have time."

"It's a deal then!" Her brows immediately lit up with joy, and her bright eyes curved into two crescents.

"Yeah, it's a deal, it's a deal."

After hearing that I agreed to her, Miss Lan Nong felt relieved and continued to eat the remaining half of the red bean bun in her hand.

She seemed to really like my red bean buns. She ate them very attentively, slowly and carefully, as if she was cherishing every moment of the taste and was reluctant to finish the bread too quickly. Even when there was a red bean stuck on the tip of her nail, she gently licked it away with her pink tongue.

There is no chef who would not like such an honest customer.

"Well, we're done. Anything else?"

She looked at me expectantly.

I glanced at the ten remaining red bean buns in the bag and touched her black hair.

It's so soft that it feels like what a girl should have.

I joked, "If you are too greedy, you will become fat and ugly!"

"Whatever! It's a blessing to eat!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she went straight to the red bean buns.

What a happy girl.

……

……

11. Chef disqualified?! (Little Blue)

(Ulu-Lannon)

Three days later, it began to drizzle.

After a food tasting, the turmoil in the kitchen came to an end.

The only one who is not perfect seems to be the sauna guy.

In the spirit of parting ways in peace, Sister Meng'er did not drive him away immediately, but gave him three days to prepare. On the morning of this day, following the instructions of the president, I went to the sauna's staff dormitory for a final inspection.

I came to his door, which was not locked and half open. I stopped there and shouted inside.

"Hello, is Sauna here? I'm Lan Nong, here to check the room."

"Is anyone here? Ah, please come in and help me, the door is not locked, you can come in by yourself, please!"

I heard Sauna's panicked cry from inside the door. I went in and saw that his room had been tidied up. Several cardboard boxes filled with sundries were piled in a corner, and Sauna, whom I was looking for, was lying on the window, with most of his body leaning out of the window...

"Is this guy thinking too much?"

"If someone dies, it will affect the property prices..."

For the future of the stone house, I immediately rushed forward and pulled the sauna, which had been hanging for half a day, back into the room.

He fell to the ground with a thud, and a black kitten rolled out of his arms.

"What are you doing? It's dangerous, you know?"

He blinked innocently and whispered, "Augustus jumped out of the window and climbed up the water pipe but couldn't jump down. I wanted to save him, but he struggled hard, and then my body was sticking out more and more, and I didn't know..."

It turned out that he was a kind-hearted boy who almost lost his life trying to save a cat.

I interrupted his explanation impatiently: "Okay, okay, I roughly understand what happened. Next time if you encounter a similar situation, remember to go downstairs to find the staff. Our windows are very old and may be in danger of collapse──"

As he spoke, a shocking crack suddenly appeared on the wall near the window.

"..." "..."

The sauna guy looked at me pitifully, as if he was worried that I would ask him to pay for the repairs.

I looked at his worn-out clothes, sighed, and softened my heart: "That wall has been in disrepair for a long time. It was originally one of the projects we planned to renovate. And it was only damaged because it bore the weight of an adult. It is definitely a quality problem. So, don't worry, we won't ask you to pay for it."

In fact, if it was President Ehard himself who came today, he would probably have to spit out at least half of the contents of his wallet before he could walk out of this door alive. After all, our Miss President's obsession with gold coins is as firm as ever.

"That's really a relief—"

Sauna let out a long sigh, then took out a key from his clothes and handed it to me.

"Miss Lannon, are you here to check the room? Here are my keys. I will move all my things out in a moment."

"Have you found a room yet?" I asked him.

The young man nodded and put on a complicated smile: "Miss Luo Luo helped me arrange a good place. Although his daily behavior is a little... um, different, he is really a very good person. He has helped me a lot all along."

"You seem to have a good relationship with him?" I deliberately used this ambiguous statement and tone.

The boy's expression suddenly became subtle, and he hurriedly replied: "It's... it's not that kind of relationship! But Miss Luo Luo only treats me as a younger brother at most. After all, he already has someone in his heart. Compared to that excellent, mature and wise senior, there is no way a fool like me who can't even make a plate of egg fried rice can win his favor!"

Wait, young man, do you know that the amount of information contained in your confession is enormous?

I smell gossip!

My curiosity immediately ignited, and I continued to ask indirect questions: "Well, Sauna, I remember that you and Ke Luoluo are both from the Water World. Is that excellent, mature, and wise senior from the Water World? Is he a man or a woman?"

"He is from Water World, for sure..." the boy answered unconsciously, then realized that he had let the cat out of the bag. He stopped talking hastily and shouted, "Miss Lan Nong, please don't ask me about Miss Ke Luo Luo's affairs. If you are interested, you can go ask him yourself. It is not a good behavior to discuss other people's privacy in the dark!"

"Fool!"

I righteously taught this ignorant boy a lesson: "An employee who doesn't know how to gossip is definitely not a good employee! Only when a group of people share a secret, can they truly be considered a group!"

"Is that so?" He looked at me with a confused look.

"That's right! That's it." I acted as if those who believed in me would receive eternal life.

"I see." He nodded seriously, as if he had understood something.

Seeing that the boy was teachable, and unable to find out about Miss Kololo's love affairs, I turned my attention to the boy himself: "By the way, since you were able to work in the water world before, your cooking skills should be pretty good, why now..."

Talking about the past, the young man suddenly revealed a gloomy look, pondered for a moment, and then slowly began to talk about the past.

"Half a year ago, there was an earthquake in Mopolis. I was processing frozen meat in the ice cave in the water world when the earthquake occurred. As a result, the cracked ceiling sealed the entrance to the cave. I couldn't escape, and the ice cave was extremely cold. Gradually, I lost consciousness."

"I don't know how long I stayed in the ice cave before being discovered, but when I woke up, it was already a week later. Fortunately, the severe cold didn't take my life, and my limbs are intact, but my brain seems to be possessed by a demon."

At this point, the boy's tone became excited and fearful: "When I first picked up the food that the chef specially prepared for me, I found that I could not only not taste the flavor of the ingredients, but I even had a serious confusion about the names and flavors of the ingredients. I thought apples were spicy, butter was snails, and frogs were oatmeal. I even forgot what kind of taste humans yearn for!"

"I have lost my qualification as a chef."

The boy’s background couldn’t be any grayer.

I felt that I had picked the wrong topic, and I was not good at comforting others, but in order to prevent the sauna guy from jumping off the building because of his depression, I still tried my best to persuade him: "When God wants to give a man a great responsibility, he must first make his mind and will suffer, his muscles and bones tired, his wifi shut down, his account stolen, and his network disrupted, so that he can say goodbye to decadence and increase his ability."

I tried to recite Mencius's teachings to the young man -

"I'm sorry, Miss Lannon, I have no idea what you're saying."

Facts have proved that this good boy was definitely listening to the book with all his heart. If I were Confucius, I would definitely be deeply moved by him.

I coughed awkwardly and replied, "In short, this passage tells us to work hard to fight the current difficulties. After the storm, there will be a beautiful rainbow. We should do our best and leave everything to fate. Then, Mr. Sauna, what are your plans for the future? Will you continue to be a chef?"

I simply downplayed the nonsense that no one from the other world could understand and shifted the focus of the topic back to the sauna.

The result was that his mood became even darker. "Yeah, I can't even tell the taste of the food anymore, so why am I still in the kitchen? Well, maybe it's time for me to change my career? It's not too late to become a craftsman or swordsmith or something like that? At least I can spend the rest of my life with a skill."

Judging from his depressed tone, is he still unwilling to give up his career as a chef?

As a stranger and a bystander, I shouldn't say too much, but...

Isn't it a pity to give up your ideals just like that?

I silently put the key into my pocket, patted the black cat that kept stretching its claws towards me, and left the boy with a final word of advice.

"It's almost time, and I should leave, but I want to tell you that when people share a secret, they are in the same group. Although I don't know why Stallone wanted to protect you at that time, he is a man with his own ideas. He wanted to keep you for a reason, and your dismissal was the president's intention..."

He was holding his black cat and gazing at me thoughtfully.

I gave him a farewell smile: "I believe we will work together again one day. Goodbye, Mr. Sauna."

I didn't wait for the young chef's response, I just went straight out of the guest room. Sister Meng'er was still waiting for my report. If I delayed too long, she would probably nag me again because she treated me like a child. The last time Bai Ye plotted against me, she was really scared and became a little neurotic. So every time I went out, I had to report to her again and again because she was worried about me...

……

……

12. I am looking at the scenery upstairs (Xiao Lan)

(Ulu-Lannon)

"Missing you is a pain that breathes..."

One night after get off work, I sat on the fourth-floor rooftop of the stone house in a dangerous posture, humming songs from my hometown in my heart.

The rooftop is a good place. In the autumn breeze of July, your tired mood will be swept away. What's better is that you can look north from here to see the Temple of Life and Death in the city of Mopolis. Although I don't know the gods here, I can appreciate the elegance of that magnificent building at sunset. It has been through wind and rain, and it is like a silent saint.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding

The bell does not come from the temple but from the bell tower in the south. It rings at 6:30 every day. After the beginning of autumn, whenever this bell rings, the sun in the west sinks into the horizon of the city wall, plunging the city into darkness and calling the naughty children home.

Home……

Ulan...

Even though it is a different world, the moon in the sky is still the same as the earth, covered with ugly pits. It reminds me of Su Shi from the Song Dynasty and his "Water Melody". I vaguely remember the tune, but I didn't sing it because my throat was choked up.

The boy does not cry easily.

Jiyi──

Someone came and pushed open the door to the rooftop.

Without looking behind me, I asked tentatively, "Miss Ke Luoluo?"

Another person who often comes to the rooftop to rest is Miss Kololo. She discovered this great place earlier than me and is happy to share the scenery with me. As a result, we often meet here occasionally, when we have some free time from our busy schedules.

"Sorry...did I bother you?"

However, what responded to me was an unexpected male voice, which scared me so much that I quickly pulled back my legs that had been hanging for a long time and stood up.

"Mr. Strom? Shouldn't you be working in the kitchen at that time? Why..."

"Nothing, I just finished my work and came up here to sleep."

"Eh? Could it be that there are not many guests tonight?"

Stallone yawned, walked over to where I had just sat, squatted down, and said, "Not only has it not decreased, but it has increased a little. The guys downstairs are already very busy. After a while, the guests will start to complain."

"Then what the hell are you still doing here?"

He picked out a fire crystal and lit a cigarette: "Let's enjoy the breeze, smoke a cigarette, and look at the scenery."

"Isn't that just laziness!" I complained loudly.

He exhaled a long stream of white mist and said calmly, "You only paid me a monthly salary of four gold coins, which naturally did not include my cooking skills. What you bought was another talent of mine, and now it's time for me to rest."

Another talent?

I looked at him deeply, frowned and said, "You must remember the agreement with President Ehard. The Stone House is her hard work. If you don't have the confidence that you can restore the reputation of the kitchen within two months, you'd better resign early."

Huh──

He exhaled another puff of white smoke.

He didn’t answer my question: “Do you like the view?”

He lay on his back on the rooftop, facing the night sky, wondering what he was thinking.