Chapter 331: Persistent

“Thank you for the noodles, pretty sister! They were so yummy!” Mingyu happily exclaimed.

Nana laughed. “My pleasure.”

Mingyu’s ears turned red. He quickly pecked on Nana’s cheek, blushing hard.

Jinhai gnashed his teeth. He really wanted to throw this boy out now!

“You are so cute.” Nana kissed on his cheek too. Mingyu stuttered. “T-this one too!” He pointed at his other cheek. He glanced at Jinhai and grinned.

The nerve of that boy!

Jinhai was almost ready to grab him and kick him out of Natsukashi.

Nana chuckled and kissed his other cute chubby cheek too.

“Bye, pretty sister! Bye, sister Serena!”

Mingyu happily dashed to his house, taking the tiffin of delicious lunch Nana had prepared for his family.

Nana saw the sour expression on Jinhai’s face, but she didn’t understand the reason behind it. 

She shrugged it off and quickly got busy in the usual rush hour.

The bell dinged, and the door opened. A man wearing a casual white shirt and jeans entered. Serena just glanced at him and went back to her work.

The man looked around and found Nana just coming out of the kitchen. She was holding a tray of plates and bowls in her hands.

He walked towards her and greeted her. “Hello.”

Nana raised her head to look at him. She recognized him as one of her customers who she had seen here a few times having his meal in Natsukashi.

She smiled. “Hello.”

“My name is Pei Yuan, and I just wanted to appreciate you. I really like this place, and your food is simply awesome. I have never found that taste anywhere else. You are doing a good job.”

Nana brightened. “Oh, thank you so much. I’m really glad you like it.”

Pei Yuan nodded. “You are worthy of every praise. There is really magic in your hands.”

Nana felt embarrassed.

“Thank you…but you are exaggerating.”

He shook his head. “Not at all. True talent should always be appreciated and recognized. Actually, I also came here for another thing too.”

“Yes?”

He took out his card and handed it to her. “I am a food blogger, and I have tie-ups with many culinary magazines and TV shows. I wanted to offer you one episode with one of the popular TV shows, ‘Cooking with Chef’.”

Nana had heard about it.

“It’s where we invite chefs, and they prepare a dish with the ingredients the directors and the cast decide. The chef cooks live in front of an audience or sometimes we also have a cook-off with other chefs. The format is later decided. I came here to invite you as a guest chef.”

Nana was surprised. She had never been a part of any show like that. It sounded interesting to her, but…

Nana smiled. “I am really thankful for your offer, and I am glad that you chose me to be a part of it. But as you can see, I am pregnant…”

Pei Yuan’s brow twitched a bit.

“I am working in Natsukashi too. Since I have opened my restaurant after a long time, I am jam-packed with work. There are so many things I have to do. And it’s hard with my pregnancy. I really cannot come as a guest.”

Pei Yuan immediately said, “We can work out the schedule as your wish. But please don’t say no. It is a good chance for Natsukashi to get more exposure too.”

“Umm…”

“How about next month?”

Nana widened her eyes. “It will be impossible because by then, it’s my due date. Then my child will have all my attention, so the next few months are going to be very hectic.”

But Pei Yuan didn’t give up. “Please, Miss Nana. Think about it.”

“I…”

“Don’t worry. I will talk to the director and adjust to whatever time and date suits you.”

“No, no, really! It’s too much. You don’t have to trouble the staff because of me.”

“But it’s a good opportunity! It will be a good experience. It’s no trouble at all. In fact, for you, it’s all worth it.”

Serena frowned when she saw that man was too persistent. 

I should help Nana out. There should be a limit of trying to convince.

She slowly got up from her seat.

Nana felt troubled. She felt a little bad for constantly rejecting his offer, but she really didn’t want to take any extra work at this time.

“You must be tired of holding that.” Pei Yuan was about to take the tray from her hands.

Nana quickly said, “No, leave it. I-“

But a figure swiftly came by and pulled Nana behind. He took the tray from her hands and placed it aside.

The temperature seemed to drop. Pei Yuan felt a robust murderous gaze at him.

When he looked at the man who just helped Nana out, his mouth twitched a bit when he sensed his threatening glare.

Pei Yuan was about to say something to Nana, but he cut him off, “Didn’t you understand when she rejected your offer?”

His voice was low, but it carried an air of bloodthirst.

Even Serena gulped, feeling the aura surrounding him.

“Jinhai!” Nana whispered and glared at him. “He is a customer. It’s fine.”

Pei Yuan asked, “Who are you?”

“None of your concern. Get out.”

“Excuse me?” Pei Yuan gritted his teeth. “You are just a waiter here. Why are you interfering?”

The air around Jinhai turned even colder. It suddenly felt so gloomy inside.

Nana didn’t understand why the situation suddenly took this turn.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” Jinhai calmly said. “You offered. She rejected. How difficult is it for you to understand such a simple thing?”

Nana said, “Jinhai, stop.”

She wanted to faint. She awkwardly smiled at Pei Yuan and said, “Please don’t mind him. I apologize.”

“No, miss Nana. It’s not your fault. I just hope that we get a chance to work together.”

Nana said, “I appreciate the thought, but if I could make it, then I would definitely have.”

“Can you please think about it once more?”

Pei Yuan took a step forward, taking something out from his pocket.

Jinhai stepped in between them, clutched his collar and threw him back hard.

The customers suddenly panicked, seeing a fight erupt in Natsukashi. They started whispering with each other.

Nana looked at Jinhai, shocked. “What are you doing!”

Serena was also taken aback.

Jinhai dragged him up from his collar again and growled. “Don’t you understand that you are pestering her now?”

He got possessive when Pei Yuan tried to come closer to Nana.

Pei Yuan glared at him. “You…Who are you to interfere? How dare you hit me?”

Nana quickly said, “I am really sorry! I…”

She furiously glared at Jinhai. “Jinhai. I told you he is a customer. You cannot hit him like that!”

“He is harassing you.” 

Huh?

“He is just trying to convince me. You cannot hit him for doing that. He is just doing his job!”

Pei Yuan said, “Please don’t accuse me like that. Harassment? You are crossing the line!”

Jinhai slowly smiled. “I didn’t, until now, but I won’t mind crossing it if you don’t leave.”

Jinhai is making it worse!

Pei Yuan gritted his teeth. He took out his card and said to Nana, “If you change your mind, then this is my card. Please contact me anytime you like.”

Jinhai’s temper was flaring for the worse.

Nana quickly took the card. “Thank you. I am really sorry for what happened.”

Pei Yuan shook his head. “Like I said, it’s not your fault. But I think your waiter really needs to learn some manners.”

Nana stiffened.

“I hope we meet again.”

Nana politely smiled.

When he left, Nana shot a deadly glare towards Jinhai. She held his hand and dragged him inside.

“What do you think you were doing!?”

Jinhai said, “He was pestering you.”

“I admit he was a little persistent, but it didn’t bother me. It wasn’t like he was forcing me. I rejected, he tried to convince me more. That’s it. He was just trying, and that is his job. Plus, he is also a customer. And you hit him. That was so rude!”

Jinhai frowned. “I didn’t hit him just because of that. He was interested in you.”

“What?”

“Yes. He likes you, and that made me angry.” 

Nana got a headache. “That is just your assumption! What likes me? We don’t even know each other!”

“You are beautiful. How many…” he felt irritated even with the thought of that. “men crush on you? I saw so many of your customers staring at you, and I had the urge to gauge their eyeballs out!”

It was really hard for him not to make a scene with those customers. But with Pei Yuan, he couldn’t control himself. He was going way too many steps ahead.

Nana looked at him, dumbfounded.

“Harm customers? How will you work with that attitude here? You are an accident just waiting to happen!”

Jinhai suddenly felt a threat to his job here.

He stiffened and coughed. “No. I mean, I don’t mean that. I’m just a little uncomfortable.”

To the point that you want to gauge their eyes out?

Nana grimly warned, “Jinhai. This is the last chance. If you misbehaved with any of my customers again, then you can bid your job goodbye!”

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