Chapter 1496: We Can Be Poor, But We Cannot Lose Our Values And Principles
“Let’s eat,” Mag said with a smile to the people hustling in the kitchen as he took out the last dish, spicy grilled fish, from the oven.
“Tonight will still be very busy, so dig in,” Mag told everyone with a smile as he put a piece of fish meat in Amy’s bowl.
“Thank you, Father,” Amy said happily. She poked the fish meat with her chopsticks. She put her mouth to the edge of the bowl, and blew on it carefully before pushing it into her mouth with her chopsticks.
“Ooh… It’s so good,” Amy exclaimed with delight as she beamed blissfully.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks. The table full of food gave them an enjoyable eating experience other than just filling their stomachs and giving them enough energy for work later. It was probably the best time of their day.
Rena ate in small mouthfuls as she watched everyone enjoy their food and chatter merrily. It was a happy and harmonious scene that made the corner of her lips curl up.
Even though their workload was quite heavy, the happiness and satisfaction she got from working at Mamy Restaurant were incomparable to her previous jobs. In addition, she was fully respected here.
After dinner was the start of the long evening operating hours.
Mamy Restaurant’s designated hot pot area was almost as crowded as their usual dining area. There would probably be nothing as blissful as being able to sit around a warm hot pot, having some spicy hot pot with two or three good friends on a cold winter day.
Rena was in charge of the designated hot pot area. She was busy almost the entire night. She was the one who made every hot pot base, and served it to the different tables. That made her the source of the delicious hot pot.
Rena leaned against the wall during a break, and used a towel to wipe the perspiration off her forehead. After that, she opened her thermal flask, and took a few sips of water.
Her gaze landed on Mag, who was still busy around the stove. He was taking care of three metal woks and two pots, all with food cooking in them. In addition, there were various cooking utensils around him.
He was just like a divine being that could switch between each wok and pot. His actions were smooth and graceful, which didn’t look like he was flustered. Instead, she felt like she was enjoying a beautiful cooking showcase.
“The new table wanted one insanely spicy serving. Also, the people for the other table are here. They want two servings of clear soup, three servings of medium spicy, three servings of super spicy, and a serving of insanely spicy,” Yabemiya told Rena, who appeared a little distracted, as she walked into the kitchen.
“O-okay.” Rena quickly put down her flask, and continued working.
It was 9 pm. The restaurant was closed, and the customers had left.
“It has been hard on all of you tonight. I’ve prepared a sinful set meal for everyone: durian pizza and beggar’s chicken. Have supper before you go back to sleep,” Mag told the staff busy cleaning up with a smile as he brought a tray out from the kitchen.
“Boss, I think I will become fat if we have supper every night.” Yabemiya caressed her tummy.
“Yeah. I feel like I’ve already started putting on weight. Don’t you think that my face got rounder?” Connie poked her cheek.
Everyone noticed that her face did seem rounder, and they could not help but let out a chuckle.
“You look rather cute,” Mag said with a smile.
The sinful supper was still finished amidst the laughter and refusals. After that, everyone bade their farewell and left.
“Goodnight, see you tomorrow.”
Rena said goodbye to Miya and the rest before opening the door gently with her keys.
The room was still brightly lit. Clarince was sitting at the table, mending clothes, and there was a basket full of clothes beside her.
“Mother, didn’t I tell you to turn in early? Why are you still mending clothes?” Rena said with some frustration as she closed the door.
“I just can’t fall asleep, so I’m doing some things to burn the time while waiting for you to come back.” Clarince tied a knot, and bit the thread to break it. She turned around, pointed at a small wooden square box on the table at the side with a smile, and said, “Someone sent this wooden box over, and said that it was from your friend.”
“Shanshan?” Rena walked to that table, and picked up that exquisite brown wooden box that was slightly larger than her palm. It felt a little heavy. She had been too busy these few days, and had only seen Shanshan once in the canteen. Other than the people from the restaurant, her only friend was Shanshan, so she opened the box without thinking.
“It was not Shanshan. It was a middle-aged man. He left after dropping it here.” Clarince looked at the box in Rena’s hand.
“A middle-aged man?” Rena’s hands paused. However, the box was already opened.
A striking golden glow was emitted from within the box. Inside, there lay a golden bangle with jade embedded in it.
“W-what is this? Who gave you something so expensive?” Carla walked over and looked at that shimmering golden bangle. The golden glow reflected off the jade, resembling a wave.
Below the bangle was a check for 100,000 copper coins.
“This…” Rena could already guess whom this box was from. She closed the box immediately, and put it back on the table as she slightly awkwardly said, “It’s from someone I don’t know very well. I’ll send it back tomorrow. Don’t worry, Mother.”
Clarince watched as Rena’s gaze shifted, and looked at the wooden box on the table. She sat by the table, and her expression slowly turned grave. “Rena, are you hiding something from me? Who is that man? Why would he send you something so expensive?”
“Mother…” Rena looked at Clarince and met her strict gaze. She hesitated for a while before spilling the beans. “He is the owner of a hot pot restaurant. I met him on the way back today. He told me to be the shop manager at his restaurant, and said that if I agreed, he would give us a house at the wealthy estate. In addition, he would give me 30% of the hot pot restaurant shares.”
“How did you reply to him?” Clarince continued to ask strictly. Her expression did not change because of the deal.
“I rejected him,” Rena quickly answered.
Clarince’s expression softened a little. She pointed at the wooden box at the side, and asked, “What about this?”
“I don’t know why he would give me something so expensive after I rejected him. However, I’m going to return it to him tomorrow morning.” Rena shook her head. It was the first time she saw something so expensive. Furthermore, the check for 100,000 was an amount she had never owned before.
“You did the right thing, child. We can’t accept this money or gift,” Clarince said gladly with a nod.
“But if I agreed, you would not have to work so hard to mend clothes anymore,” Rena said sorrily as she looked at Clarince.
“If you go to his shop, what are you going to do? Help him earn money with whatever Mr. Mag taught you about hot pot? Then isn’t that akin to robbery?” Clarince looked at Rena, and said in a low tone, “We can be poor, but we cannot lose our values and principles, or do things against our conscience. Even if you did earn a lot of money, I would definitely not spend a single cent of money earned this way.”
“Mother, I understand.” Rena’s gaze became ever clearer and more resolute. She reached towards the wooden box on the table, and said, “I will return this right now, and make things clear with him.”
After saying that, she walked straight out of the door.