Applaud for Happiness

After finishing the first mission, Shen Qi took a whole day to regain his composure. In the past, when he went out on a mission, he only needed a milk tea before he placed the matter in the back of his mind.

 

This was the first time that he took so long to calm down.

 

It is also the first time he accompanied the mission character through life. In the past, he would leave after changing the plot, even if it took hundreds of years for an immortal world, he would never accompany a person until they died.

 

This was the first time he grew old, watching himself grow wrinkles and gray hair, watching his nephews and nieces grow up, get married and have children.

 

Thirty years of living together, it was impossible not to have feelings for him. Shen Qi was also a character of the world, so when Jiang Changshen died, he was really sad.

 

He was in a trance for the entire day. He went to the basement to bring up the boxing gloves and viciously vented, only to recover his mind a little. Then spent the second half of the day to calm himself down, and then slept, woke up the next day, as if nothing had happened, and began his second mission.

 

    —

 

Yan Chenglu’s family, a famous family rich in the upper class. In this generation, they had a son and a daughter, the eldest son, Lu Zhuo, and the second daughter Lu Jun.

 

Their mother died early, and their father had been bedridden in recent years. The Lu family was presided over by grandpa Lu, until the last two years, he finally let go, and handed the business over to his grandson, Lu Zhuo.

 

In March, when the sun was bright and the grass was long, Shen Qi dragged his suitcase, following behind his eldest uncle, and entered the Lu family.

 

Uncle Shen was the housekeeper of the Lu family. He has worked for the Lu family for nearly forty years, and was deeply valued by Grandpa Lu, almost equivalent to a family member.

 

He never married in his life, and used the money he earned to finance his younger siblings, and when they started a family, he would support his nephews and nieces.

 

Shen Qi was his fourth brother’s grandson, his only grandchild. Shen Lao Si 1 died early, and his only son also died early, also bringing along his wife, leaving a son who has not yet reached adulthood. Originally this son was also supposed to die, but since Shen Qi came, he was now alive.

 

Shen Qi’s grades were average, but like father Shen, he is very talented in cooking, and learned a lot from his father. After the death of his parents, he had to learn to feed himself at a young age. Uncle Shen waited for him to graduate from high school, and sent him to become an apprentice chef. This lasted for four years before the chef died suddenly at an old age, and Shen Qi was forced to leave the apprenticeship early.

 

It just so happened that the chef for the Lu family had an accident in his old home and needed someone to take over for two months, so Uncle Shen called Shen Qi over to help.

 

There were not a lot of male servants in the Lu family. Although the house was a mid-mountain villa, it was not very big. The scenery is beautiful, since it was situated on the mid-mountain side. Looking down, the view on the landscape was beautiful.  

 

The villa is flat VV-shaped, the main family lives in the middle of the inverted V, two slashes on either side, the left is the servants building, while the right is the guest room.

 

Uncle Shen took Shen Qi and first went to the servants building to find his room and put down the luggage before taking him to meet Master Lu.

 

“Don’t be nervous, the old man is actually very kind and will not give you a hard time. Answer honestly.”

 

Shen Qi nodded obediently.

 

Uncle Shen was satisfied, smoothly introducing the Lu family: “There are not many people in the family. The young lady went out early, the young master is not well and is in bed. There are specialized doctors and nutritionists to take care of him. You are not responsible for their three meals, you only need to take care of master, young master and young miss.”

 

“Little Miss and you are around the same age, just graduated from college, she is lively, treats people kindly. The young master…” Uncle Shen paused, “The young master has some mobility problems, although he seems cold on the surface, in fact, he is really nice, you do not need to be afraid.”

 

“And.” He hesitated, as if debating whether to say it. After thinking a little, he still mentioned, “The young master and master recently had an argument, so if you hear or see anything, pretend you don’t know.”

 

“Okay.” Shen Qi hurriedly made a serious face to express that he remembered, only missing the part to pull out a small notebook and writing it down.

 

Uncle Shen was even more relieved. In the Lu family, the most important thing is to obey their words.

 

In fact, he wanted to introduce Shen Qi to master Lu, so that he could offer a path for him. Even if he was offered a restaurant run by the Lu family as a helper chef, he was still happy. Anywhere was fine.

 

Shen Qi was the only remaining bloodline of his fourth brother’s lineage, unlike other sons and nephews, he had to take care of him, and give him a safe pathway.

 

Uncle Shen led Shen Qi all the way to the study on the third floor. While passing by each floor, he introduced to him each room, what they were for, which one the master family lived in, etc.

 

“The young master’s legs are not good, so his room is now on the first floor.”

 

Shen Qi then glanced at the tightly closed room door.

 

This young master was the target of his mission in this world.

 

The young master’s name wass Lu Zhuo. He met Bai Yueguang during his teenage years. Due to fate, they slowly developed feelings for each other. Yet before they could date, the elders separated the two, and because of an accident, Bai Yueguang went back to his hometown, while both Lu Zhuo’s legs were paralyzed.

 

But in truth, Bai Yueguang approached Lu Zhuo with hatred in the beginning, originally intending to take revenge through Lu Zhuo, but did not expect to be exposed early, and had to deliberately play a victim act, so that Lu Zhuo and his family broke apart. The incident with Lu Zhuo’s legs was an accident, so he took the check and left.

 

Time flies, and in a span of eight years, Lu Zhuo was officially in charge of the Lu family. Just then, Bai Yueguang came back, and because of him, Lu Zhuo died due to a car accident.

 

Shen Qi: ……

 

Did the protagonist take the wrong script? Shouldn’t the plot be that Bai Yueguang comes back and the two go through a bitter relationship, before letting go of past hatred and starting anew? Or perhaps, because of Bai Yueguang’s absence, the male lead finds a new lover, and goes through an angsty relationship, before finally exposing Bai Yueguang’s true motive, and ending with a happily ever after?

 

Well, in short, Shen Qi’s task, needless to say, was to change Lu Zhuo, by changing the ending of his bad ending, and give him a successful love, or a successful life, so that his happiness value reaches 100 percent.

 

According to the rules, he did not have a way to meet Lu Zhuo before Bai Yueguang, even if he had long entered the world, he could not immediately meet him, only able to his first half in his selected iidentity. Finally, waiting eight years for this opportunity. But the eight-year waiting period was not useless, at least he focused on cooking, and has rarely remembered anything from the last world.

 

According to the timeline of the outline, it is now the seventh year that Bai Yueguang has left, and in another six months, he will appear again, so he must take down Lu Zhuo within six months, or at raise his favorability value to 90%, happiness value is secondary.

 

Master Lu was indeed like what Uncle Shen said. He looks very kind, wearing a Tang suit (traditional Chinese jacket)2 with a pair of round glasses, while carrying a brush, making him look more benevolent.

 

After listening to Uncle Shen’s introduction of Shen Qi, he smiled and said, “No need to be so formal, you are Ah’Gui’s nephew, just like Zhuozi and his sister, just call me grandpa.”

 

Uncle Shen hurriedly said, “How can this be? Ah’Qi is here to help, it’s only right to call you Master.”

 

Master Lu seemed to like Shen Qi very much and waved his hand: “It’s a new generation now, not the same as before. Besides, Ah’Qi is your nephew, not like the others. It’s just a title, not worth anything, and I like Ah’Qi very much. He looks much better behaved than Zhuozi.”

 

Shen Qi was wearing a simple white shirt with jeans, his face was clear and delicate like the grass had just grown in early spring. His eyes were clear, and had a cute and bashful expression, a look that the elders would like.

 

When Elder Lu said this, Uncle Shen stopped insisting and smiled and said towards Shen Qi: “Since Elder has given the word, address him quickly.”

 

“Grandpa.” Shen Qi obediently called out.

 

“Good, good.” The more master Lu looked at Shen Qi, the more he liked him, especially when he thought of his own grandson. “Sit, sit down. I heard your uncle say that you learned cooking from Master Liang of the Imperial Kitchen before?”

 

“Yes.” Master Lu’s kindness and affability soothed Shen Qi’s previous apprehension and anxiety, and his heart was relieved as he sat down and smiled coyly, “Not really, just helping out.”

 

Just as he was about to become his apprentice, Chef Liang suddenly died, and left his little disciple to learn on his own.

 

Master Lu laughed: “With Master Liang’s skill, being a helper for him is already an accomplishment. To ask you to cook for me is actually a waste.” 3

 

“No, no, no ……” Shen Qi shook his head repeatedly, “I’m happy to cook for grandpa ……” feeling that this was a little hypocritical, and not convincing enough, he whispered, “and uncle ……”

 

The old man laughed, looked at Uncle Shen, teasingly said: “A’Qi was trying to pay respect to you. Guess I have benefited from you.”

 

Uncle Shen happily replied: “A’Qi called master ‘grandpa’, naturally he should also be filial and respect you.”

 

Shen Qi nodded and said seriously, “Grandpa, if there is anything you need me to do in the future, just tell me.”

 

If other people had said this, it would have made master Lu feel like they were deliberately trying to flatter him, but Shen Qi’s clear eyes made him feel incredibly sincere and convincing. Master Lu was so happy that he talked with him until the sun was setting, but because Shen Qi had to go prepare dinner, he had to let him go.

 

Because it was his first meal, Shen Qi made a full effort, afraid that the Lu family was not satisfied, not only losing his own face, but also Uncle Shen’s face.

 

He was only responsible for the three masters of the Lu family, and Uncle Shen, and of course himself, their notes on allergies and dislikes were given from the last chef has long been sorted out to Uncle Shen, Shen Qi studied, and prepared eight dishes.

 

Master Lu had strong teeth, but because he was old, he usually ate more porridge. Shen Qi prepared him a mushroom and chicken porridge 4, plus a stir-fried egg tofu with black fungus 5, and a vegetable mix dish.

 

For Lu Zhuo and Lu Jun, according to their habits, one likes all grains, while the other likes red beans and barley rice.

 

The five dishes Shen Qi made are divided into three hot dishes and one cold dish plus a soup, which avoided all of their hated ingredients, and are all Shen Qi’s best dishes.

 

However, only little Miss Lu Jun was at the dinner table, while Lu Zhuo was nowhere to be seen.

 

Shen Qi and Lu Jun met, Master Lu personally called him over to make an introduction, saying that he thought the two were around the same age, and could be great friends.

 

Lu Jun was exactly how Uncle Shen described her. She was a very lively and open-minded girl, and was very nice to Shen Qi. Directly asking him for his contact.

 

Shen Qi smiled shyly.

 

Uncle Shen was worried that Lu Zhuo would come back later to eat, instructing Shen Qi to wait for him to return before going to sleep. Shen Qi simply took a small bench, sitting in the kitchen with headphones to watch movies.

 

He did not know how long he had to wait. The kitchen sliding door suddenly pulled open, Shen Qi looked up and saw the man sitting in a wheelchair.

 

At first glance, eight words ran through his head: “Your presence brings light to my humble being.”

 

Obviously a simple back kitchen, the man appeared, but the small space brightened up three saturations. A handsome face perfectly illustrated the word “expressionless”, his two thick, black, fierce eyebrows, and a pair of eyes that were long and mysterious, that most people did not dare to make eye contact with him.

 

Shen Qi was at the emotional part in the movie, so his eyes and nose were red. When he raised his head, two tears fell.

 

The author has something to say: Lu Zhuo: …… (what is happening)

Footnotes

(Lao Si is his title, since he is the fourth brother)  https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0479/6340/6492/products/IMG_9110.jpg?v=1631401467 (The phrase they used here was 大材小用 which means to use a talented person in an insignificant position, not sure how to word that here though) https://foodfornet.com/wp-content/uploads/Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Mushroom-Congee-Final-2.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lL0fi0zmAf5q8Y-tgAnvVDUomq4TZuqw9vV2NnsbvGcEIxcf6KK4qroIYpeL-SGGKw-ALP9LdBTBU56LRbxCXSU=w1440-h1080-c-rj-v1-e365