Gourmet: Twins' Father and Chef of the Kindergarten

Chapter 369 - 341: Unexpectedly Boosting the Local Economy…_2

Huang Jun responded with a smile, "It’s okay, it’s not your fault."

Then, Liu Suyu turned to Xie Jianing and the other teachers, gently reassuring them, "Teachers, don’t worry too much. I’ve already communicated with Director Liang. She completely understands our intentions and won’t pursue the issue with the osmanthus trees."

Upon hearing this, Xie Jianing and the others finally relaxed, releasing the burden from their hearts.

After briefly bidding farewell to Huang Jun, they left, heading toward the teaching building.

Liu Suyu stepped forward, willingly lending a hand to Huang Jun, saying, "Chef Huang, let me help you carry this inside."

Huang Jun nodded gratefully and responded with a smile, "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

"It’s not hard, it’s what I should do," Liu Suyu replied.

While everyone was busy...

"Ding-a-ling~"

The internal phone in the kitchen suddenly rang.

Aunt Li saw the caller ID, immediately recognized the caller, and quickly picked up the phone, "Hello, Old Li, what’s up?"

Uncle Li’s voice came from the other end, "Aunt Li, is Chef Huang there?"

"Yes!" Aunt Li looked up and saw Huang Jun and Liu Suyu having a cheerful conversation while busy with the osmanthus, and felt it was impolite to interrupt. She continued talking to Uncle Li on the phone, "Old Li, Chef Huang is busy right now! Why don’t you tell me first, and I’ll pass it on to him!"

Uncle Li said anxiously on the phone, "Aunt Li, a group of parents came to the entrance. They brought some osmanthus and lotus roots, saying they want to give them to Chef Huang to make osmanthus glutinous rice lotus roots. I tried to persuade them to take them back, but they insisted I call and ask for Chef Huang’s opinion. So, should we accept these things or refuse them?"

This question left Aunt Li in a predicament!

She couldn’t make that decision!

"Old Li, don’t worry, let me ask Chef Huang and I’ll get back to you."

With that, Aunt Li placed the phone on the table and quickly ran to Huang Jun to convey Uncle Li’s message.

Huang Jun listened, and couldn’t help but be stunned.

He truly didn’t expect these parents to be so enthusiastic, actually sending ingredients over.

The problem is...

He’s currently not lacking osmanthus and lotus roots...

He’s already worried about having too many osmanthus!

But on second thought...

Those parents’ osmanthus must have been specially picked. If they don’t accept them, they’ll likely go to waste...

Then that would be too much of a pity!

And a waste of the parents’ good intentions!

After a brief consideration, he said, "We should certainly appreciate the parents’ thoughtfulness, but we do have more than enough osmanthus and lotus roots right now, maybe even too much. How about this: we’ll accept the osmanthus and I will make more osmanthus honey, then give some to the parents later on, since they also contributed. As for the lotus roots, I assume those were specially bought, so let them take them home to cook themselves to avoid unnecessary waste."

"Okay, got it, I’ll let Old Li know?"

Aunt Li nodded.

Returning to the phone, she picked it up again and relayed Huang Jun’s intentions to Uncle Li.

Uncle Li received the instructions and hung up the phone.

He walked to the gatehouse and passed Huang Jun’s words verbatim to the waiting parents.

The parents understood Huang Jun’s real intention of accepting only the osmanthus and not the lotus roots from Uncle Li’s message.

Qu Qing sighed quietly, "I’m guessing Qingqing’s dad is worried that we’ve spent too much money on these lotus roots, which is why he’s not accepting them?"

Mai Linjie responded optimistically, "Never mind, since Chef Huang has already decided, let’s respect his choice."

Xu Sijun looked at the several large bags of lotus roots on the ground and worried, "But, there’s so many lotus roots, we can’t possibly finish them at home."

Ni Shujing suggested, "How about we just go ahead and send both the lotus roots and osmanthus inside. If Qingqing’s dad doesn’t accept them, we’ll just leave them behind, that way he has no choice but to keep them. Maybe he can make more osmanthus dishes and we can get extra when it comes time to divide them."

"That’s a good idea!" Qu Qing immediately agreed.

The other parents also expressed no objections.

So, Qu Qing smiled and turned to Uncle Li, "Uncle Li, could you please open the door so we can help deliver the osmanthus and lotus roots inside? That way, Chef Huang and the others won’t have to specially make a trip and won’t interrupt their work."

Uncle Li considered for a moment and eventually nodded, "Alright then, you can send them inside. But remember, once you’re done, come out immediately, don’t stir up any trouble. Otherwise, next time I won’t be this easygoing."

"Don’t worry, Uncle Li," Qu Qing solemnly promised.

"Go on in!"

Uncle Li opened the door and allowed Qu Qing and the other parents to enter one by one.

Qu Qing and the others each carried a large bag and marched into the kitchen.

When Huang Jun saw the piles of osmanthus and lotus roots, his face showed a look of disbelief.

The osmanthus and lotus roots brought by the parents piled up like a mountain, far exceeding his expectations...

I mean.

Did you guys really go and take all the osmanthus from nearby trees and all the lotus roots from the market?

Turns out...

Huang Jun guessed right!

The parents not only picked osmanthus along the way but also took all the osmanthus from their own residential areas.

All of them were picked clean.

This large-scale "osmanthus harvest" operation left the residential security guards no choice but to sound an alarm, but it was too late, they could only watch as the parents ran off with the osmanthus...

As for the lotus roots!

They didn’t miss out on those either!

The nearby market’s lotus roots were almost entirely bought out by them, and this sudden large order made the lotus root vendors extremely happy, grinning from ear to ear, counting money until their hands cramped, and wishing they could sing "Happy Days" to express their joy.

Huang Jun truly never expected that a casual remark would stir up an "osmanthus storm" and a "lotus root shopping spree."

Not only did they clean out all the osmanthus nearby but unexpectedly boosted the local economy...

This is absolutely beyond ridiculous—beyond words!

Looks like in the future... it’s better to be careful with what I say...

To prevent these enthusiastic parents from doing something crazy again!

He tried to have the parents take the extra lotus roots back, but they firmly refused and ran off leaving the things behind.

Since that’s the case, might as well accept it graciously, and give the kids an extra treat at lunch...

...

At the kindergarten entrance.

After seeing off Qu Qing and the other parents, Uncle Li was about to close the gate, when he suddenly noticed a pretty girl standing not far away.

She was holding a tripod and her phone, seemingly focused on filming something.