Gourmet: Twins' Father and Chef of the Kindergarten

Chapter 479 - 440: Oh No, There’s Trouble in Our Kitchen!

Early the next morning.

As the first gentle rays of sunlight quietly emerged over the horizon, not yet fully dispelling the depth of night, Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, two kitchen staff members, arrived at the front of Dorami Kindergarten, embracing the morning light.

At this moment.

The kindergarten gates were still tightly shut.

However, Uncle Li, who was already waiting in the guard room, immediately stood up upon seeing their figures, a warm smile spreading across his face as he skillfully opened the side door.

"Old Li, morning! You look great today, seems like you slept well last night!" Aunt Li greeted warmly as soon as she entered.

"Ah, Aunt Li, Aunt Lin, you’re early too! Look at you two, you seem more energetic than me!" Uncle Li responded with a beaming smile, picking up a bag of golden oranges from the small table in the guard room: "Come on, I bought some fresh oranges, knowing you like them, I saved some just for you, try them, they’re really sweet!"

Saying this, Uncle Li handed the bag of oranges to Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, gesturing for them to take some.

"Then we won’t stand on ceremony!"

Aunt Li and Aunt Lin smiled knowingly at each other, understanding each other’s thoughts, and each selected an orange from the bag, peeling it open.

Immediately.

A fresh fragrance of oranges spread out.

Aunt Li popped one slice of the orange into her mouth.

The sweet and sour taste burst on her tongue, filled with juicy goodness, mouthwatering.

Of course.

She did not forget the implication behind this unexpected treat, so she laughed and said to Uncle Li: "Old Li, these oranges are sweet to the heart. But you know, we’re people of principle, ’accepting gifts makes one short-handed, eating food makes one soft-hearted,’ I understand. Rest assured, today’s breakfast will be delivered on time, and I’ll try to prepare a little extra for you too, as our way of returning your kind gesture!"

Uncle Li: "..."

Oh, Aunt Li, your straightforward nature is so endearing yet leaves me feeling helpless.

Isn’t it enough that we understand this between ourselves? Why say it out loud and make me look like I’m bribing you?

He smiled awkwardly, waving his hand: "Aunt Li, listen to you, it makes it sound like I’m bribing you..."

Aunt Li looked at him with a "Isn’t that so?" expression.

After all, she never had this kind of treatment before...

Uncle Li chuckled: "Aunt Li, you’re wronging me, it’s just seeing you two work so hard every day from morning till night, I thought I’d let you try some fresh oranges as a refreshment."

"Since you don’t mean it that way, Old Li, then from now on I won’t bother preparing extra snacks and meals..." Aunt Li teased him deliberately with a "know but won’t say" expression.

Uncle Li: "..."

No, please don’t...

If that’s the case, it won’t be satisfying to eat...

"Aunt Li, just pretend I never said that..."

"Alright, got it..."

Aunt Li chuckled, and together with Aunt Lin, walked along the familiar path toward the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, as usual, they began by sterilizing, donning clean aprons and masks, before entering the workspace.

However...

As they opened the door to the workspace, the sight before them froze them in place.

The workbench was a bit messy, with scattered eggshells and stains.

Even though they had cleaned everything up inside and out before leaving yesterday, how could this strange scene appear this morning?

Could it be their eyes playing tricks, seeing wrong?

The two of them rubbed their eyes instinctively, looking again...

It was still the familiar scene, the messy workbench...

This time.

The two of them felt entirely at a loss, and the first thought that came to their mind was: the kitchen was burglarized last night?!

With this thought, their spirits became heavy.

They quickly checked the large crocks one by one, and in one of them, they did find that the amount of spiced eggs was indeed slightly less compared to the others.

Looks like... the kitchen was indeed burglarized last night...

"It’s not good, not good, it seems like our kindergarten was attacked by thieves last night." Aunt Li, flustered by this "once in a century" incident, spoke with an anxious tone, her voice trembling slightly.

Aunt Lin, facing this unexpected situation, also seemed a bit awkward, her brows knitted, glancing around trying to discover more clues: "What should we do? We must hastily inform Director Liang, to see if anything else was stolen in the kindergarten!"

"Yes, yes, find Director Liang..." Aunt Li, coming to her senses, rushed off to find Liang Yinqiu in the director’s office.

But she forgot that at this time, Liang Yinqiu hadn’t yet arrived...

Just as she met Qian Guoxiang coming toward her, Aunt Li anxiously pulled Qian Guoxiang: "Assistant Qian, something’s wrong, there’s been an incident in our kitchen!"

"An incident? What incident?" Qian Guoxiang had a bewildered look.

Aunt Li urgently said: "It seems like there was a burglar in the kitchen last night, the workbench is a mess, and I’ve discovered that there’s a discrepancy in the number of spiced eggs in one of the large crocks, clearly fewer. Aunt Lin and I both confirmed that last night we carefully cleaned and locked the door before leaving, this is very odd."

Upon hearing this, Qian Guoxiang’s face also became serious, he swiftly analyzed the situation: "Don’t worry, Aunt Li, first let’s stay calm. You and Aunt Lin should refrain from touching anything in the kitchen to avoid disrupting any potential clues. I’ll head to the guardroom right now to check the surveillance footage, and I’ll also inform Director Liang immediately, to let her know about this situation and provide further instructions."

"Alright, alright, I’ll go back and wait for you to check," Aunt Li nodded repeatedly, turning quickly to return to the kitchen, filled with concern about the security of the kindergarten.

Qian Guoxiang turned quickly toward the guardroom, dialing Liang Yinqiu’s phone with somewhat clumsy fingers.

On the other side, after a few crisp rings, Liang Yinqiu’s slightly lazy yet somewhat surprised voice came through: "Hello, Assistant Qian, do you have something urgent this early?"

"Director Liang, hello, very sorry to disturb you so early, but there’s an emergency I need to report immediately."

Qian Guoxiang directly got to the point: "Here’s the situation, this morning Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, while preparing kitchen work, discovered signs of intrusion, the workbench is a mess, and the number of spiced eggs in one of the large crocks is visibly reduced, suspecting a burglary occurred in the kitchen last night..."

What?

A burglar in the kitchen?

This information was like a splash of cold water, instantly dispelling all of Liang Yinqiu’s drowsiness, her mind buzzing.

After a moment’s stupefaction...

She immediately realized: it must be that when leaving last night, she was in too much of a hurry and forgot to tidy up, leading to this misunderstanding...

If the other teachers and kids in the kindergarten knew, they’d the principal sneaked some spiced eggs, she’d probably be laughed at...

She awkwardly laughed and said over the phone to Qian Guoxiang: "Um, Assistant Chef Qian, I already know about this, but don’t worry, it isn’t that there was a burglar in the kindergarten. Could you ask Aunt Li and Aunt Lin to help clean up, and please don’t spread this around to avoid unnecessary fuss."

Listening to Liang Yinqiu, Qian Guoxiang belatedly caught on to the meaning of her words.

Uh...

Turns out it was a false alarm...

Uh...

So the burglar was Director Liang...

But since Liang Yinqiu already instructed, he didn’t have much else to say.

He responded softly: "Okay, Director Liang, I’ll let Aunt Li and Aunt Lin know, don’t worry."

After a few courtesy exchanges, Qian Guoxiang hung up the phone, turned back to the kitchen, and conveyed Liang Yinqiu’s message to Aunt Li and Aunt Lin.

After hearing it, Aunt Li’s worry gradually dissipated, replaced by a relaxed smile: "So that’s how it is, we misunderstood. But really, Director Liang, sneaking a snack, nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Saying this, she lightly tapped her chest, soothing her heart that just experienced a scare.

Aunt Lin nodded in agreement, showing a relieved smile: "Yes, this early in the morning really made our hearts skip a beat. But since the truth is out, we can rest easy. Director Liang is human too, having a little craving is normal!"

Seeing the atmosphere relax, Qian Guoxiang joined the conversation too: "Indeed, it was just a false alarm. Let’s not worry about it and tidy up the kitchen quickly, so we don’t delay today’s work..."

With that, everyone got busy again...