Chapter 4

This was definitely not good news.

Half an hour later, Chi Zhihan finally realized.

She no longer cared about how the Spring Noodles she had spent four hours making were received, because the bowl had been placed in a food container and left untouched.

Half an hour later, even the most delicious noodles would have turned into a soggy mess.

Besides, there were more pressing matters to deal with.

“Do I really have to live here for a whole month? What about grocery shopping?” It took five to six minutes just to drive into this place, and walking out would probably take half an hour. She was required to be on call 24/7, which meant she had to live in this remote wilderness for a month?

“The menu is usually given to you a day in advance. You just need to write a shopping list, and someone will deliver the ingredients the next day,” Qi Ning said, sitting in the living room where the aroma of roast duck still lingered.

Qi Ning was restless, still worried about Qi Cheng, who had locked himself in his studio. But this time, she was the one who had triggered his episode. To maintain a safe distance, she forced herself to sit across from Chi Zhihan and discuss the contract.

However, Chi Zhihan’s meticulous questioning of every clause was starting to wear on her patience. As far as she knew, Lin Jingwu had already reviewed the contract for the Qi family’s private chef position. Why did Chi Zhihan still have so many questions?

“How many people am I cooking for?” Chi Zhihan had observed when she arrived that the three-story villa had only two doors: one led to the kitchen where she was now cooking, and the other was a larger door with a peculiar window. There was no shared staircase, and the two rooms were completely separate.

If this side was for the chef, then how many people lived on the other side?

“One,” Qi Ning replied, her brow furrowing.

…

So, she was going to live in this remote wilderness with a stranger for a month.

“Male or female?” Chi Zhihan felt this was a necessary question.

“…Whether it’s male or female is none of your concern,” Qi Ning said, taking the contract from Chi Zhihan and flipping past large sections to a specific page. She tapped it twice. “You just need to memorize these few clauses.”

These were far from just “a few clauses.”

The workflow for the Qi family’s private chef was as follows: three meals a day—lunch, dinner, and a midnight snack. The menu for each day would be given to her a day in advance, and she would need to prepare a shopping list accordingly. Every day at 5 PM, someone would come to collect the list.

The meals were for one person, delivered to the opposite room at fixed times.

Here was the kicker: Chi Zhihan read it four or five times to make sure she wasn’t misunderstanding.

The strange little window on the door actually served a purpose. Every day, when delivering meals, she only needed to open the small window, place the food container inside, and ring a bell.

The person inside would take the container and leave the next day’s menu.

…

But that wasn’t the most bizarre part.

The most bizarre part was that if the chef had any issues with the menu—if she felt a day wasn’t enough time to prepare—she could include a note with the next meal and wait outside the door for a new note.

…

…

Exchanging notes… Even middle schoolers wouldn’t bother with this.

As Qi Ning had said, it didn’t matter whether the person she was cooking for was male or female, because she would never see them or speak to them.

No wonder the previous chefs who left were so vague. They had no idea who they were serving.

To summarize: she was going to live in this remote, desolate place for a month, cooking meals for a person of unknown gender, age, and condition, who could only hide inside their room.

And she would be under 24/7 surveillance.

The place she was about to live in for a month had its largest space as the kitchen, equipped with four cameras, clearly marked in the contract. The living room had two cameras, also clearly marked.

The only places without cameras were the bedroom and bathroom, and to get from the bedroom to the bathroom, she had to pass through the living room.

Although it was a three-story villa, the first floor had a ceiling over six meters high, and the rooms upstairs were locked.

She was going to live in this vast, luxuriously furnished place under constant surveillance…

No wonder the pay was so high…

These bizarre conditions were borderline insane.

“Is the surveillance also 24/7?” Chi Zhihan had already sensed Qi Ning’s impatience. She didn’t want to hesitate either—this salary would allow her to pay off half a year’s worth of debt in one go. But it was just too strange.

“In principle, the surveillance is never turned off,” Qi Ning said, crushing Chi Zhihan’s last hope. “However, no one will be watching you 24/7. The cameras are set up to observe the cooking process from various angles. Outside of cooking hours, you can treat them as decorations.”

…

So, the weirdo across the hall was only interested in watching the cooking process?

What a bizarre interest.

“If you have no objections to the contract, there’s also a confidentiality agreement you need to sign,” Qi Ning said, handing over another document while Chi Zhihan was still frowning and hesitating. “It’s a standard NDA. I know you need the Qi family private chef title to boost your reputation, but after the contract ends, you cannot disclose any menu details without permission. If the collaboration goes well, we will notify you when you can publicly share your experience as the Qi family’s private chef.”

She actually had objections—to everything.

“Before hiring a private chef, we always provide the contract to your agent for review. Only after confirming there are no issues do we proceed with the interview,” Qi Ning finally lost her patience. “I don’t understand why Miss Chi is still hesitating when she already knew the terms of the contract.”

Chi Zhihan remained silent. Lin Jingwu never thought she would pass the interview, so he probably didn’t even mention the contract to her…

“Fine, I’ll add 15% to the monthly salary stated in the contract. This is the final offer. I’ll give you five more minutes to think about it.” Chi Zhihan’s unexplained silence finally pushed Qi Ning to her limit. She didn’t have time to waste here. Chi Zhihan was just a chef. Chi Zhihan was just a chef, and if it weren’t for her typical looks, she wouldn’t even need to participate in this interview.

The private chef would have no opportunity to interact with Qi Cheng. Besides Qi Cheng, the well-trained security at the entrance also monitored the chef’s activities. They had taken every precaution to ensure Qi Cheng’s safety.

Greedy people tend to cause trouble. If Chi Zhihan didn’t know when to stop, then she wasn’t worth hiring.

The feeling of being looked down upon by the wealthy… actually wasn’t that bad.

Chi Zhihan lowered her head, hiding the shame rising in her heart, imagining how the extra 15% could help her replace the completely deformed sofa at home.

She didn’t want to be someone who didn’t know when to stop. She wasn’t the Qi family’s first private chef. If others could do it, so could she.

After signing the contract, Qi Ning efficiently stamped it and stood up. Just then, she heard Chi Zhihan speak in a tone that was both reluctant and unavoidable. “Um, I have one last question.”

Qi Ning paused and looked at the girl.

She was indeed quite pretty, with smooth skin and striking features. Her lips naturally curled upward when she relaxed, giving her a non-threatening beauty. Now, with a hint of embarrassment, her eyes flickered slightly, just enough to evoke pity.

She was very good at using her natural advantages to get what she wanted.

“Go ahead,” Qi Ning said, though her impression of Chi Zhihan had already soured. Her expression was no longer as friendly as before.

This was also a problem with the Qi family. Because of Qi Cheng, everyone instinctively disliked this type of girl.

“…” Chi Zhihan felt even more embarrassed but still asked, “What’s the Wi-Fi password here?”

…

Qi Ning closed her eyes.

Indeed, she had zero understanding of this type of girl.

…

Qi Cheng recovered faster than expected.

By the time Qi Ning finished explaining the daily routines and returned to Qi Cheng’s side, he had already left his studio and was downstairs, staring blankly at the surveillance feed.

Afraid of triggering him again, Qi Ning stood at the door, not daring to approach.

“I’m fine,” Qi Cheng said, his voice tired, a flash of self-doubt in his eyes.

They always treated him this way—carefully, as if he might break at any moment. And the sad truth was, at nearly thirty years old, he could only be treated like a patient.

In his eyes, he had no value. He was just a burden to the Qi family.

Even his grandfather, now in his seventies, didn’t dare hold his hand when he was sick.

When he wasn’t having an episode, he tried his best to act normal, hoping that people would remember him as he was during those times.

After all, he was an adult man, longing to live but unable to find a reason to.

“The contract is signed,” Qi Ning said, ignoring the emotions in Qi Cheng’s eyes, pretending nothing had happened.

The root of social anxiety was low self-esteem, but no matter what the Qi family did or what methods Dr. Zhao used, they couldn’t make Qi Cheng understand his own worth.

Without addressing this root cause, everything else was just treating the symptoms, not the disease.

“I heard,” Qi Cheng also played along, pretending nothing was wrong. He even offered an evaluation. “She’s interesting.”

He could tell that Chi Zhihan’s hesitation after seeing the contract wasn’t about negotiating a higher price. She genuinely found the situation absurd.

Out of all the private chefs, Chi Zhihan was the first to wear her disbelief on her face.

When Qi Ning raised the offer, the way Chi Zhihan quickly lowered her head and signed made him smile slightly. The previous information wasn’t wrong—she really did love money.

He liked her directness because all he had to offer was money.

So, strangely, he felt relieved.

This was an interesting woman with a sweet face who would live across from him for a month, providing him with thirty days of manga material.

He might not even eat the food she prepared. What he wanted was the process of her cooking. His meals were always prepared by his housekeeper, Auntie Liu, with strict procedures and balanced nutrition.

But..

“Let’s have Spring Noodles for lunch tomorrow,” Qi Cheng decided. The noodles that had taken four hours to make were probably a soggy mess by now, but he actually felt a little regretful.

That vegetable broth must have been delicious.