Baguettes and Macarons

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Yu Chen said in a low voice: "It's nothing, I was just thinking that your skills should be considered excellent among Reynolds graduates. Why don't you work in a high-end hotel during the internship at Reynolds?"

Louis handed him the empty glass: "If I go to Michelin, who will open my dad's shop?"

"So that's how it is." Yu Chen said thoughtfully.

Louis put the unanswered teacup on his forehead, seeing him back away in shock, Louis smiled triumphantly: "You don't need to pity me, I open my own shop, I can do whatever I want, and I also decide when I go to and from get off work. Very comfortable."

Yu Chen echoed: "This is the advantage of being your own boss. It just so happens that today is a tea party between bosses. We can talk freely without worrying about being deducted from wages by the boss."

The third shop owner present - Ms. Mary was amused. She carefully tore off a croissant, chewed and swallowed it slowly, and then said: "It would be great if I could eat bread baked by Louis every day. It's a pity that it's inconvenient for me to go out, and I can't go out to buy by myself in the morning."

Louis racked his brains to think of a way: "Then why don't you come to buy in the afternoon? Anyway, my bread won't be sold until four o'clock."

"Alright, I'll buy it at four o'clock in the future, and I can take it home for breakfast the next day."

Louis suddenly changed his color: "How can that be? The bread will not be fresh overnight. Why don't you get up early."

Yu Chen stretched out his hand to press his shoulder: "Why bother?" He turned to Ms. Mary who couldn't laugh or cry, "Do you live on Shepherd Street?"

Ms. Mary said: "Yes, my shop is in the middle of the street. If you are a young person, you can walk there in 5 minutes."

Yu Chen smiled and said: "I have an idea. Since your home is very close to the bakery, why don't you ask Jean-Luke, who delivers the newspaper, to buy bread for you when you want to eat bread, and just give him some consumption. gone?"

Louis curled his lips and said, "Why do you always want to help that kid earn money?"

"I also want to help you earn money, but you are not interested." Yu Chen replied without thinking, "Besides, Jean-Luc is the first customer of my branch, so of course I have to take care of him."

Louis scoffed.Grandma Mary joked, "Will you help me earn money from now on?"

Yu Chen closed the binder and pushed his glasses: "To be honest, that's exactly what I mean. Can I accompany you to your clothing store later? After I help you match your clothes, I also want to see you Can the clothes you wear be used as a single product for customers in Shepherd Street in the future?"

Grandma Mary said pleasantly: "I was just joking, but I didn't expect a business to come."

"Of course, the clothing store on this street is the most suitable for the residents here, no matter the distance or the price. I should have visited you earlier." Yu Chen stood up, "I have finished asking all the questions I want to know , how about we go directly to your store to match clothes now?"

Grandma Mary said: "I'm sorry, my clothing store hasn't been cleaned up for a long time, I want to go back and clean it up before I invite you over."

"You don't have to be so polite." Yu Chen said warmly.

Grandma Mary raised her finger: "This is not being polite, it is my new attitude towards life starting today. You must respect women's wishes."

Yu Chen chuckled and said, "Then it's up to you. When will you be free next week, we can make an appointment in advance now."

Ms. Mary said: "Then next Tuesday morning, I am always at home. Louis knows my shop, you can ask him to take you there."

"Why should I take him there? I'm very busy." Louis said dissatisfied.

Ms. Mary turned her wheelchair and turned outside the store: "I can just go home by myself. I want to bask in the sun by myself, and there will be no danger. Thank you, Asdale, and thank you Louis for the delicious bread. I wish you all today joy."

"I wish you a happy day too." Yu Chen followed her out of the store, and came back after a long time, sitting on the sofa and drinking tea.

Louis asked, "Why don't you recommend Ms. Mary to buy some incense... Nell?"

"It's vicious to sell luxury goods to customers with average incomes." Yu Chen squinted at him, "Of course we recommend suitable price solutions based on the income of customers. So you don't have to worry about money. As long as you are willing to entrust me to remodel the image, I can come up with a plan that costs at least [-] Euros."

"Using clothes from Grandma Mary's shop?"

Yu Chen couldn't help laughing: "If you want, you can. But I suggest that you at least wear mid-range clothes that are slim and slim, which is in line with your status as a chef who graduated from a prestigious school, and also shows the quality of your dim sum."

"It doesn't need to be so detailed." Louis interrupted him, "I'm just asking casually, I don't have any money."

He crossed his legs and poured himself a cup of tea unceremoniously: "However, people are so strange that the criterion for judging a good bread is not its own taste and quality, but the chef's clothes. What kind of bread do they eat? Just eat a suit and forget it."

Yu Chen smiled and said, "This is a human being. Are you willing to think about this question because you were moved by my dedication?"

"Are you too narcissistic?"

Yu Chen shrugged: "I moved next door to you to change your mind. I have put in a lot of hard work for this, so there should be some rewards, right?"

"No, you won't get anything in return."

Yu Chen picked up a croissant and tore it open from the middle: "Then why did you bring a different croissant today? Could it be that you made this considerate change because you thought that a croissant is more suitable for black tea than panna cotta? I am very grateful for your carefulness, think about it carefully, the taste of milk jelly and milk tea will affect each other."

Louie suddenly exclaimed, "Ah."

"what happened?"

Louis turned to him: "I forgot to bring the finished panna cotta, it's all because of your talking."

"...you listened to my conversation with Ms. Mary, and when you heard that you forgot the business, you blamed me?"

Louis stood up: "I don't blame you, do I blame myself? I have no choice but to make it dessert for tonight. I'll go back to the shop and close it. Remember to come here on time for dinner."

Before Yu Chen could speak, the phone on the table rang.He picked up his phone, walked to the door, and made a goodbye gesture: "It's one of my regular customers. I'll answer the phone and I won't see you out."

Lu Yi was too happy to be polite to him, so he went back to his store and locked the door, and went into the back kitchen to prepare dinner.He also bought clean and tender carrots and gherkins in the supermarket, which can be used as a jar of pickled vegetables, or with Provence sea bass tonight.

He washed all the vegetables, and after a few minutes, footsteps were heard on the stairs.

Yu Chen took off his suit jacket, wore only his shirt, stepped on the pair of plush slippers and went downstairs, complaining: "You are too careless, you didn't close the balcony door. I closed it for you."

Louis concentrated on slicing the carrot, and said casually, "I drove it on purpose to wait for you to get down, or would you have climbed in through the window?"

"It's not safe to open the balcony door. What if a thief comes in?"

Louis put the cleaned cucumbers and carrots into a bowl, filled it with water, added coarse salt, and started scrubbing with the basin: "You're right..."

"I'll ring the doorbell in the future, and you can open the door again."

"That's too troublesome." Louis held up the basin with one hand, fumbled in his trouser pocket for a long time with the other hand, and took out a key, "This is for you."

Yu Chen narrowed his eyes: "Could it be your house's spare key? Let me refuse. After all, I am a stranger. If something happens in the future, I will not be able to explain clearly."

"What could happen?" Louis raised his eyebrows, "Are you interested in me for money, or for sex?"

As he spoke, he forced the key into Yu Chen's hand, and the latter quickly pushed it back: "Although I have no desire for your property or body, the relationship between neighbors is still clearly divided..."

As the two pushed and pulled, the water in Louis's arms shook violently, and as it should, spilled out, spilling all over the two of them.Louis was wearing an apron, so there was nothing serious about it, but because of his position and height, Yu Chen was unfortunately soaked through.

Yu Chen took two steps back: "I'm sorry, I'd better go home and change my clothes before coming back."

Louis took a step across, stretched his legs and kicked on the door frame, blocking his way: "Wait, I'm a little bit interested now."

He cast his meaningful eyes on Yu Chen's white shirt which was wet by water, and whistled.

Yu Chen said calmly, "Why are you making such a silly joke again?"

"No, it's etiquette to blow a whistle to express your thanks when you are entertained by others." Louis started talking nonsense.

Yu Chen lowered his face: "Please step aside, I'm going home."

Louis didn't put down the legs that blocked the way at all: "Don't be angry, it's windy outside, you can go upstairs and change my clothes first."

Yu Chen stood still, Louis provocatively said: "We are not gay, there is nothing to be afraid of, right?"

"My house is next door, there's no need to borrow someone else's bathroom."

Louis himself didn't understand why he insisted on playing this hooligan, but he had already reached this stage, if he let Yu Chen go home, he would lose face, so he simply played the hooligan to the end, put the vegetables aside, and grabbed Yu Chen's shoulder , whispered: "Don't you want to change my image? Treat me with your attitude towards work, and obey me. Maybe I'm in a happy mood, so I will take care of your business."

Yu Chen calmly said: "I am not obedient to my clients. Besides, although I really want to design an image for you, I don't intend to sleep with you for this."

Louis snorted and said, "Just kidding, I don't plan to sleep with you either. You go home and change your clothes. I still have to deal with the perch. Dinner at eight o'clock."

Yu Chen quickly squeezed out through the crack of the door: "I hope you will stop joking around in the future, I will take it seriously."

After he finished speaking, he went up the stairs and went back to his own house.Louie refilled the vegetable bowl with water and sighed in exasperation.

What was he going crazy just now?