"That’s good." Ke Yong personally poured a cup of tea for Du Xixi, and then handed the fruit juice that Susu liked to Susu. "I remember Grandpa Du said that Miss Du enjoys green tea the most? Try my skills."

"Thank you." The conversation between Du Xixi and Ke Yong was neither cold nor warm, mostly polite, especially after that moment of heart palpitations that made Du Xixi embarrassed to look at Ke Yong, avoiding eye contact, which in turn made the atmosphere a bit quiet.

Ke Yong sat beside, with Ke Su, who was curiously looking at a piece of pastry, sitting next to him. Looking quite adorable in a silly way, he reached out and patted his brother’s head, then pondered for a moment and said, "Does Miss Du have any plans afterwards? After the God Chef competition, there should be many people willing to pay you to create culinary delights?"

"Indeed there are." Mentioning this made Du Xixi’s mood more lively, but she only showed a little more smile, "But I still want to stay at home and hone my culinary skills more. Maybe later, if I’m interested, I’ll go out and earn some extra cash?"

Her words were playful, and Ke Yong immediately laughed. With the Du Family’s assets, even if Du Xixi squandered for a lifetime, she couldn’t spend it all. The idea of earning extra cash with culinary skills seemed unrelated to Du Xixi, but Ke Yong did not dampen the mood by saying so and continued along the topic instead: "Then, can I have the honor of knowing if our Du God Chef has come up with any new dishes lately? Last time, Susu tried a ’Coiled Dragon’ and was boasting about it to me for quite a while."

Du Xixi smiled with her eyes squinted; ’Coiled Dragon’ was a dish she created herself, not the commonly known ’Loach’ or ’Coiled Dish’. It was simply a sudden inspiration she had, and it took her three days to develop it.

After chopping various ingredients, mixing them together, laying a sheet of yellow vegetable leaves, and carving dragon scales, claws, horns, and tail out of yellow vegetables, she steamed it and poured sauce over, the steam swirling around made it look just like a coiled dragon.

Not only did it look realistic, but the taste also had a fresh fragrance, especially favored by the elderly grandpas of the Du Family who preferred a lighter palate.

"There isn’t for now, but whenever I come up with something, you’re welcome to come to the Du Family to taste it and give me some feedback."

"I’ll be waiting for it!"

"Hahaha..."

"..."

Over the years, Ke Yong’s communication skills had finally been honed. Under his intentional easing, the atmosphere gradually improved. They chatted from Du Xixi’s culinary skills to Ke Group, and then from Ke Group to the current world situation... Although the topics later on diverged a little, Ke Yong was quite satisfied.

It’s better than having nothing to say.

As the conversation went on, Ke Yong found two hours wasn’t enough. Seeing it was almost half past ten, he even considered messaging Special Assistant Shen to delay the meeting. But just as his finger touched the phone case, Du Xixi spoke first: "Mr. Ke, you probably have business to attend to next? I’ll take my leave now, and next time you’re free, you’re welcome to bring Susu to the Du Family."

"Certainly!" Ke Yong nodded helplessly, stood up to see her off together with Ke Su. The two brothers, one big and one small, followed behind Du Xixi, looking quite well-behaved and attracting the attention of many Ke Group employees along the way.

Seeing most of onlookers’ eyes being inquisitive, Du Xixi turned to Ke Yong and said, "Mr. Ke, why don’t you take Susu back? I can find my way out."

"Alright." Ke Yong understanding that Du Xixi wasn’t too keen on being escorted further, sighed regretfully but waited until Du Xixi nodded and continued walking. He suddenly opened his mouth again, "Miss Du..."

Du Xixi turned around puzzled, only to hear Ke Yong saying with a sincere expression, "May I ask, next time we meet, could you not call me Mr. Ke, but directly by my name?"

"Why?" Du Xixi was even more puzzled. She thought, although her relationship with Ke Yong had gotten a bit closer, it hadn’t reached the point where they could call each other by their first names.

Ke Yong seemed hesitant to answer Du Xixi’s question, but as her beautiful eyes calmly gazed at him, he suddenly blurted out, "Because I want to call you Xixi!"

He wanted to call her by her name, not Miss Du. He wanted her eyes to look at him not so indifferently... he really did!

Ke Yong’s voice was really loud, and at this moment, with people coming and going, when he said, "Because I want to call you Xixi," everyone present heard it.