The Unveiling of Secret Queen-Chapter 117: When Paths Cross_1

Amadeus Yancey’s culinary skills were better than she had imagined, with the Hot Pot soup base rich with the scent of beef fat, chili peppers fried until their aroma melded with the peppercorns, topped with a fiery layer of red oil—it was clearly professional.

She tasted it, and as she had assessed, the flavor was indeed authentic; the spicy and crisp tripe that had been simmered in the rich buttery broth was delightful.

Ghania added beef rolls and then tripe into the pot, enjoying the hot pot to her heart’s content, sweating profusely from the meal.

After finishing, the man beside her opened a can of Herbal tea and placed it by her hand.

"Have some water."

Ghania, feeling overwhelming spiciness, grabbed the Herbal tea and gulped it down; the icy herbal drink mingled with the spiciness of the hot pot, and halfway through the drink, her tongue felt significantly less on fire.

Content and satisfied, she leaned back in her chair, not wanting to move, while Audrick Zachmann, nearly as drenched in sweat as she was, slouched contentedly in his seat and gave a thumbs up to the man beside Ghania, "Amadeus, with skills like these, you should consider a side hustle, maybe open your own Hot Pot Restaurant!"

Ghania, also intrigued, tilted her head, her dark eyes blinked, "I think so too."

It really was super delicious.

At least in McKinney, she hadn’t found any hot pot that tasted better than his.

Amadeus Yancey intended to retort, but hearing her husky, soft voice, his thin lips suddenly curled up, and the retort that was at the tip of his tongue turned into, "We’ll see when the time comes."

Alfred Garland’s eyes nearly popped out in amazement, unable to fathom why he would agree.

Wasn’t Amadeus busy enough with his day? Of all the businesses to consider, he was thinking about opening a hot pot restaurant just because Ms. Quinlan casually mentioned it in the conversation.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine the expressions on the faces of people in Beijing when they would find out that Amadeus was opening a Hot Pot Restaurant; he reckoned jaws would drop.

*

Nathalie Quinlan, with her hand injured, had the perfect excuse to legitimately skip school, but after Nancy Sullivan granted her a two-week leave, she eventually could not resist pressing her to return to school.

Nathalie attended the second big morning class before leisurely making her way to school.

Before she could reach her classroom, she bumped into Ghania Quinlan and a few girls from Class B walking together.

Today, Ghania wore a puffy beige dress that looked like it was from a women’s clothing brand under Seven. Mrs. Ingram had previously sent her a catalog to pick from, but she found the clothes too fussy and didn’t want any of them.

However, this particular dress on Ghania left a deep impression on her. Even though they weren’t the same type of designers, the disaster of Ghania’s dress design was memorably appalling.

The excessive use of lace and the puffiness of the skirt made her doubt, when she first saw the photos, that anyone could wear such an extravagant dress outside.

Until she saw it with her own eyes—tsk, just as she had thought, pretentious and ostentatious, not suitable for everyday wear at all.

Especially for Ghania, whose facial features were inherently delicate—if that’s putting it nicely, she had a certain elegance. But frankly, her features were nondescript, rather plain.

Yet, she insisted on wearing a dress completely at odds with her temperament; her delicate features couldn’t hold up against the dress’s intricate design. The effect of the brand name clothes on her was worse than the usual tea-style outfits she put together.

Ghania herself didn’t seem to mind, Seven’s items were hard to come by, even for a sub-brand from Seven, one would need to pre-order well in advance, which was particularly troublesome.

Not many in McKinney could get their hands on something from Seven.

This particular dress was acquired for her by Zayn Fisher pulling some strings, and she had almost worn it immediately after receiving it.