Shen Lingqing decided to make an overall makeover to Savory Alley. With the remaining amount from what SY Holdings gave to the restaurant once they took over, she hired a professional interior designer to change the layout of Savory Alley’s dining hall, giving it more of a refreshing and minimalist look.
The staff had been in a better mood compared to the first time they met the Shen princess. During the first three days they worked with Shen Lingqing, they were inspired to do their best when they saw how she worked hard to make their restaurant better than it was before, not aware that just like her father, Shen Lingqing was a workaholic.
Not only did she work in the confinement of her office, but she actively helped the others to clean the restaurant whenever she was bored with her paperwork. Unlike her father, Shen Lingqing didn’t spend her free time in the kitchen to accompany her mother because being there only reminded her of more work. She would rather go outside and do something fulfilling than watch her mother like a love-struck fool.
Shen Lingqing had already been used to seeing her parents being lovey-dovey to each other since she was young, but that didn’t mean she had to endure seeing it every time. It wasn’t like she abhorred the idea of being in love, but in fact, she also wanted that kind of connection her parents had with each other.
Her father—Shen Yi—rarely professed his love towards her mother, but Shen Lingqing could clearly see it in his eyes—how much he adored her mother. The two rarely got into a fight, and they would always find a way to fix the problem offending each other.
So how could Shen Lingqing just date any man that sought her? If she couldn’t find the love her parents had in her prospective partner, then she would rather stay single for the rest of her life!
As for the restaurant, because of their limited budget and while the restaurant was closed for renovation, the staff agreed to help with the menial work: helping discard the garbage and cleaning the place before the interior designer arrived to oversee the progress of the renovation.
That morning, Liu Jinfei was momentarily stunned for a moment when he spotted Shen Lingqing painting one part of the wall inside the restaurant. She was dressed casually in a white loose shirt, dark gray capri pants, and a pair of white shoes. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail, keeping it away from her clean, bare face.
Seeing her like this, Liu Jinfei thought that she appeared less intimidating than her usual look in business suits. People used to say that she was the female version of her father, Shen Yi; but seeing her this close, Liu Jinfei couldn’t help but notice some resemblance she had with her mother.
“Director Shen, please let me do that.” He made his presence known to the Shen princess who was oblivious that he’d been standing there for a few minutes now.
Shen Lingqing removed the headphones on her ears and regarded him. Liu Jinfei wasn’t wearing his chef uniform this time and was wearing a gray shirt and slim-fit pants as if he was going somewhere.
“Did you say something?” She asked, bringing down the paint roller on her hand. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“I said please let me do that, Director Shen. The paint could mess with your clothes.” Liu Jinfei repeated. He had no doubt that her clothes were expensive and weren’t ideal to wear while repainting the walls of the restaurant.
Why did others allow her to do this anyway? He looked around and saw no one, but he could hear some voices outside. It seemed that someone was also working to beautify the front and fix the signage of Savory Alley.
“There’s no need for that.” Shen Lingqing returned to her task. “I’ve done this a lot of times and already lost count of it.”
Since her elder sister—Shen Yuyan—was an artist, she had once taught Shen Lingqing how to paint to alleviate her boredom during her younger years. Whenever it was school break, the Shen princess had a hard time doing nothing but wait for her classes to resume again. Those attempts by her sister weren’t unwelcome, but Shen Lingqing would always find herself dirty, with her clothes smeared with colorful paint at the end of the day.
“Then, let me help you,” Liu Jinfei replied, not giving his boss a chance to deny him as he already picked up a paint roller and helped her paint the walls.
Shen Lingqing eyed him for a moment and shook her head. There were just some people who couldn’t leave her alone. At least Liu Jinfei didn’t attempt to strike a conversation with her, unlike others, and worked in silence next to her. She also noticed that there wasn’t much of a difference in their heights as he stood next to her.
Because of his help, Shen Lingqing was able to paint the base color of the walls. Her eyes swept around and found that the tables and chairs were stacked neatly at one side of the dining hall as new cooking equipment that had just been delivered was placed in the middle. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
It was that moment when Qiao Lian came back with the new sets of uniforms Shen Lingqing asked her to pick up from their tailor. Not only would the place receive a new look, but also the rest of their staff would receive new uniforms.
“Secretary Qiao, welcome back.” Liu Jinfei greeted her politely and bowed. One reason why he and the staff like the new management was because Qiao Lian proactively ate with them and joined their conversations in the kitchen.
The moment Qiao Lian found her miss in Liu Jinfei’s company, she gave Shen Lingqing a teasing grin. She was only gone for an hour, and yet Shen Lingqing was able to monopolize Chef Liu’s company?
“Oh, Chef Liu. Thanks for helping Miss Qing. My miss has a hard time asking others for help, so most of the time, she would rather do everything on her own,” she told their newest chef with a Cheshire Cat grin plastered on her face.
Shen Lingqing shot her a glare as a warning, knowing what kind of absurdity was going on in her assistant’s head. She didn’t want Liu Jinfei to get the wrong idea by listening to Qiao Lian’s nonsense rambling.
“Lian, if you don’t stop this nonsense in this instance…” She warned her assistant. Qiao Lian should stop bothering her about good-looking men they met at work.
“Okay. Okay. I yield. You don’t have to glare at me like that.” Qiao Lian scoffed and brought down the box she was holding, the one containing the new sets of uniforms.
“I just went to the bank earlier and confirmed that the restaurant had owed them seven thousand dollars plus interest.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
“Seven thousand dollars? That’s a huge amount of money. Just where did it go?” Liu Jinfei was surprised that there were other problems with the restaurant he and the others were unaware of.
“Who applied for it?” Shen Lingqing asked, taking the water bottle she left earlier and drinking from it. Her pale, smooth skin slightly glimmered with a thin film of sweat on it.
“The Zhang Brothers, even before the previous owner sold the place to SY Holdings,” Qiao Lian replied.
Shen Lingqing only found out about the loan under the restaurant’s name when she accidentally found a letter demanding the restaurant manager to settle their monthly dues that were overdue for about three months now. Hence, she sent Qiao Lian to confirm it.
“I see.” Shen Lingqing then patted off the sweat on her face and neck with a towel. “That’s another case I could charge towards those two idiots.”
“But, Qing, the bank suggested that we should settle the amount due as soon as possible,” Qiao Lian reminded her. With the restaurant closed for days, it meant that their expenses were rising, but no income was coming in to balance the cash flow.
“I know, Lian. You don’t have to tell me,” the Shen Princess replied before stepping outside to see the progress of the others. Liu Jinfei and Qiao Lian followed her shortly.
“Director Shen, look! This signage looks way better than the previous one, right?” Chef Lin laughed and looked proudly at the new signage that was recently installed in front of their restaurant.
“Indeed, it is.” Shen Lingqing nodded in agreement. Since the signage was one of the first things she noticed on her first day, she couldn’t wait to get rid of it. Finally, she didn’t need to worry about diners being hurt by that previous, loosely hanging signage.
The walls were washed and cleaned, now being painted by the other staff of the restaurant. Overall, the front was more pleasing to the eye and didn’t look outdated anymore. It was as if Savory Alley was reborn.
