Chapter 67: Bro, Help Me

Chapter 67: Bro, Help Me Out

Zhao Yu shoved Gu Hansheng away with force, grabbing a little breathing room, and said in a low voice, "Come any closer and I'll bite you."

And he meant it. Under the moonlight, Gu Hansheng looked down at him, his features softened by a gentle glow, melting the cold hardness in his expression.

"Why'd you stick up for me?" Gu Hansheng asked.

"Since when does telling the truth count as helping you?" Zhao Yu said. "Don't get so full of yourself."

This time it was Zhao Yu's turn to call him out, so he could see how much it stung.

Gu Hansheng went quiet for a long beat before speaking slowly, his voice carrying a faint hint of weakness: "What do I gotta do to get you back?"

"I used to ask myself the same thing—what I had to do to get even a little of your love." Zhao Yu looked at him, still hating to bring up the past, but he had to say it: "Nobody told me what to do, so I've got nothing to tell you."

Zhao Yu never got an answer to that question from him, so how was he supposed to find one to give back?

They both figured out their own feelings at the wrong time, and so one mistake led to another, sending what could've been a meeting of hearts down different paths.

Zhao Yu now understood many things, and the only way he could find peace was to end it.

But Gu Hansheng wasn't ready to let go. He could feel Zhao Yu's feelings—even a tiny slip was proof he still loved him.

Even if Zhao Yu said he didn't love him anymore, Gu Hansheng wouldn't buy it.

Zhao Yu was a loyal guy; just look at how much he did for Guo Lin, who wasn't even blood. How could a guy like that just wipe out his feelings in a few days?

But Gu Hansheng was wrong about that too. Though Zhao Yu was loyal, it was Gu Hansheng himself who'd killed those feelings.

Zhao Yu's feelings for him were built on rubble from the start—with no trust or understanding as a foundation, no real connection as support. It was a love he'd patched together piece by piece from the wreckage.

So when it collapsed, all that was left in his heart was ruins too.

Asking him to love again was like asking him to rebuild a house from those ruins—too hard, too risky, and pointless.

Gu Hansheng's throat went dry, and his voice came out strangely tight: "Then let me be the one to find the answers. Just tell me what I did right and what you hated."

"Mr. Gu, I'm not here to be your guinea pig." Zhao Yu calmly pushed him away again, stepping out of that awkward closeness. "I came to ask how the dish thing got resolved. Is the Gu family gonna go after my master for this?"

"No, and it won't get out."

"Good, thank you."

With that, Zhao Yu turned to leave, but a hand grabbed his arm again.

He glanced down, about to pull free, when he caught sight of a gold cufflink on Gu Hansheng's sleeve.

He froze, a bitter-sweet ache rising in his chest.

Gu Hansheng liked him. But why couldn't he have figured that out sooner? A gift he'd casually set aside was only worth something once he'd decided to walk away.

When he was at rock bottom, why couldn't Gu Hansheng have just given him a hug? Why couldn't he have stuck up for him and tried to hold onto him like today, instead of telling him to get lost?

Zhao Yu shook off Gu Hansheng's hand and walked away again—no hesitation, no looking back.

A lonely summer breeze slipped through the vines, and the garden went dead silent. Moonlight stretched Gu Hansheng's shadow, painting a lonely gray across the ground.

...

The kitchen was a total mess. When Zhao Yu got back, Cao Xu told him the one who'd slipped in the potassium salt was Baldy—Gu Hui had paid him big money to be a mole. The Gu family had already hauled him off.

"Anyone who talks about what happened today is fired!" Che Shijie turned to look at Cao Xu: "Chef Cao, since you were in charge today, I won't say too much. But if you can't even keep the few people in this kitchen in line and let something like this happen, isn't that on you?"

Zhao Yu, already pissed from Gu Hansheng forcing a kiss on him, shot right back: "Aren't all the people in this kitchen your guys, Che Shijie? Now you're blaming my master? Have you no shame?"

"The head chef is speaking—what right does an apprentice have to interrupt?" Fatty chimed in with a snide remark, but a glare from Zhao Yu sent him shrinking back behind the others, utterly spineless.

Cao Xu had never been one to engage in these petty power struggles, but after such a major blunder, he couldn't hold back anymore: "Che Shijie, I can't be bothered to argue with you! If it weren't for your constant instigation, this kitchen wouldn't be such a mess! You don't deserve to be head chef!"

Once Cao Xu lost his temper, no one dared to speak, and only Che Shijie's face turned pale and red by turns.

"Chef Cao, I've been more than courteous to you, haven't I? It's your own bad temper that's alienated all your colleagues. How can you blame me? As a fellow head chef, whether I deserve it or not isn't for you to decide!"

"Pah! You're scum!" Cao Xu spat at him, then said to Zhao Yu, "Let's go!"

The master and apprentice left without another word, leaving Che Shijie standing there in shock. No matter what dirty tricks Che Shijie had pulled before, Cao Xu had always remained indifferent. This first outburst of rage had stripped him of all dignity in front of everyone.

After all, they would still have to see each other in the kitchen. The other chefs exchanged uneasy glances, not daring to say a word.

After leaving the estate, Cao Xu and Zhao Yu found a place for a late-night meal. They hadn't even eaten dinner before the incident, and both were starving.

They ordered three dishes and two bottles of beer. Zhao Yu couldn't drink, so he could only order a cola, but the owner strongly recommended the iced soy milk, and unable to refuse, he added a bottle of that too.

Cao Xu popped open his beer bottle and looked at Zhao Yu with a cola in one hand and soy milk in the other, chuckling: "At this rate, you'd have to sit at the kids' table. Though, you're still a kid anyway."

Zhao Yu stuck a straw into the soy milk bottle and took a sip: "Master, you have to admit, this soy milk is pretty good. Try it."

"Drink your own." Cao Xu shook his head with a smile and sighed: "You've been through a lot of grievances with me, haven't you? If you'd apprenticed under Che Shijie when you came in, with your talent, you'd have had smooth sailing and far fewer hardships."

"Master, are you already drunk without even drinking?" Zhao Yu said. "Someone like Che Shijie—if he were in today's situation, would he stand in front of me like you did and take full responsibility? He'd probably throw me under the bus as a scapegoat."

"I've been so hard on you—don't you resent me?"

"I've learned real skills from you. If I still resented you, I'd be an ungrateful bastard."

A smile crept into Cao Xu's eyes, and he clinked his beer bottle against Zhao Yu's soy milk.

"Zhao Yu, do you want to switch jobs?"

"Huh? Where to?"

"A friend of mine is a head chef at a Michelin restaurant. It's not as good as Yatai, but it's still solid. I can recommend you for a transfer."

"What about you, Master?"

"With my temper, it's the same anywhere."

Through the steam rising from the dishes, a hint of confusion flickered in Cao Xu's eyes. In middle age, because he refused to play the game of social politics, even with excellent skills, he found himself pushed aside.

When people are young, they fear nothing and charge ahead. Now with a family and responsibilities, every decision requires careful thought. He wondered if he had become cowardly or if society had forced him to bow his head.

A job change was a great option for Zhao Yu, but what he valued wasn't the platform of Yatai—it was Cao Xu, his straightforward master.

Zhao Yu was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Master, have you ever thought about opening your own restaurant?"

Cao Xu said, "I've thought about it. But running a restaurant is different from being a chef. I planned it for a while, but it never went anywhere."

Zhao Yu added, "I want to open a restaurant someday. I have some money saved up now—maybe in a few more years, I'll have enough."

"Why do you want to open your own restaurant?"

"I have an aunt who used to run a Chinese restaurant abroad. My dream back then was to help her keep it going. That dream never came true, so now I want a refill."

Hearing the word "refill," the manager enthusiastically walked over and asked, "Is the soy milk good? Would you like another bottle?"

Zhao Yu smiled and said, "Yeah, bring another one, please."

He got his soy milk refill, and Zhao Yu found that talking about Aunt Guo no longer made him sad—he could even smile about it now.

Cao Xu fell into thought for a moment. With Zhao Yu bringing it up, the idea of opening a restaurant started itching at him again, but he didn't make any promises right away. He would need to think it over carefully before deciding.

After the late-night meal, Cao Xu hadn't drunk much. Zhao Yu put him in a cab and grabbed one for himself.

Having eaten a bit too much, Zhao Yu yawned as he cut through the alley and noticed someone in a baseball cap sitting on the steps. He walked past the person but was suddenly blocked.

It was too dark to see the person's face clearly until he lifted the brim of his cap and called out, "Zhao Yu... bro."

If he hadn't been stone-cold sober, Zhao Yu would have thought he was dreaming—he'd actually run into Chen Xitong of all people.

Ever since he moved into this neighborhood, annoying people always seemed to randomly spawn downstairs. It was straight-up freaky.

Especially Chen Xitong—even though he had almost the same face as Zhao Yu, one look was enough to piss him off.

Chen Xitong's face was pale, and his body trembled involuntarily as he said, "I... I went to Yatai to find you, but Yatai was closed today. So..."

"How do you know where I live?" Zhao Yu scrutinized him, wondering what game he was playing now.

Having seen how fast Chen Xitong could flip his face, Zhao Yu was past being surprised by any face he threw.

Chen Xitong had a hard time getting the words out, hemming and hawing for a while before finally saying, "It was Zhou, the assistant, who told me."

"I told him not to tell anyone. He's so true to his word—he'd never tell you."

"...It was a private investigator who found out."

"Why are you having me investigated?" Zhao Yu frowned. "Everything I said before was fake. I have no interest in taking what's yours. If you're here to throw your weight around, then please get lost!"

Chen Xitong's lips trembled, and for a moment he felt deeply embarrassed, but fear quickly overwhelmed him as he said, "I know I was wrong about what happened in the hospital room. I was jealous of you, but I never expected Mr. Gu to show up suddenly!"

"What exactly are you here for?" Zhao Yu was getting impatient.

"Dad came to my house." Chen Xitong's face was full of lingering fear. "You lived with him for so long—you know him best. Help me."

"Who?" Zhao Yu was taken aback. "...Zhao Lianfeng?"