Chapter 318: The Invitation

Yun Zijin nodded, very pleased with the Chinese chef’s cooperation.

"I just made some pastries. I’ll go get them now."

In the kitchen, besides preparing Yun Zijin’s three daily meals, the chefs would also make snacks and pastries they excelled at during their downtime.

Once made, if they tasted good, they would be requisitioned. Yun Zijin could find something she wanted to eat in the refrigerator at any time.

The ones that didn’t taste as good ended up in the stomachs of the chefs or the other household staff.

The ingredients were all high-quality; it was just that the final flavor wasn’t quite right. Throwing them out would be a waste, so it was a bonus for them.

Of course, "not tasting good" meant the chefs felt the flavor wasn’t authentic, not that they tasted so strange you had to brace yourself to eat them.

Soon, the Chinese chef emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of Chinese pastries.

"This is freshly made osmanthus cake. Miss, please have a taste."

Yun Zijin sat on the sofa, casually selected a piece, picked it up with her chopsticks, and took a bite.

The fragrance of osmanthus and the flavor of glutinous rice blended together ingeniously. It was moderately sweet with a fragrant, smooth, and delicate texture. Yun Zijin fell in love with it instantly.

"It’s delicious. It’s even better than the last time I had it."

Osmanthus cake was one of the desserts the Chinese chef was best at making, and Yun Zijin had eaten it more than once.

But every time she ate it, it felt different. In any case, she never got tired of it.

Sensing Yun Zijin’s enjoyment, a smile unconsciously spread across the Chinese chef’s face.

For a chef, the greatest hope is for their food to be acknowledged and enjoyed by others.

＊

That evening, after Mei Lin returned, she gave Yun Zijin an invitation.

Yun Zijin had received quite a few banquet invitations recently, but Mei Lin would filter out the unnecessary ones, so Yun Zijin had attended only a handful of them so far.

’For Mei Lin to personally deliver an invitation to me, could this be a banquet hosted by some important bigwig?’

Yun Zijin opened the invitation and read its contents.

It was an invitation from the Situ family.

Situ?

’Aren’t there any prominent families in Dijing with a two-character surname?’

Reading on, Yun Zijin learned that the Situ family’s business was primarily based in France, and nearly all their family members were also in France.

Recently, however, for some unknown reason, they had shown an interest in expanding into the domestic market.

This invitation was mainly extended to the prominent families of Dijing; the likes of the Four Great Families and the Five Small Families would all receive one.

As for why Yun Zijin received an invitation, it was probably because the sheer amount of real estate she owned was enough to place her directly on Dijing’s list of top billionaires.

Otherwise, Yun Zijin couldn’t think of any other reason why she would receive this invitation.

After all, even though she was Dijing’s landlady extraordinaire, her roots in the city were still rather shallow.

"Do you think I should go?"

Yun Zijin asked Mei Lin.

Not knowing what the Situ family was up to, Yun Zijin wasn’t sure if she should attend this banquet.

"If you want to go, Miss, then go. If you don’t, we can decline."

It wasn’t the first time Mei Lin had declined a banquet on Yun Zijin’s behalf. After all, for Yun Zijin, these events were basically pointless socializing.

"Leave the invitation with me for now. I’ll ask around before I decide."

Yun Zijin planned to ask Lu Yunque. As the CEO of the Lu Family corporation, he would surely know things she didn’t.

"Understood."

"You can go then. The work is endless, so you need to pay attention to your own rest time, too."

For Mei Lin, rest was equivalent to shutting down and hibernating.

In response to Yun Zijin’s words, Mei Lin merely nodded without explicitly agreeing.

After Mei Lin left her room, Yun Zijin took out her phone, snapped a picture of the invitation, and sent it to Lu Yunque.

—Qingqing Zijing: Do you know what’s up with this Situ family?

They were living just fine in France, and now they’ve suddenly announced they’re expanding back into the country without any warning. It’s hard not to be suspicious of their motives.

On Lu Yunque’s end, it was unclear whether he was still working or something else was going on, but after several minutes, a reply finally came.

—L: Rumor is they’re back to find someone, but there’s no information on who specifically they’re looking for.

Seeing Yun Zijin’s question, Lu Yunque told her everything he knew.

After reading Lu Yunque’s message, Yun Zijin frowned slightly.

’Looking for someone? Does that mean they’ve been back to the country before?’

Yun Zijin felt like her own CPU was about to fry.

—Qingqing Zijing: Have you had any contact with the Situ family? What are they like?

If they were the type of people who were difficult to deal with, Yun Zijin would just decide not to go. It wasn’t a mandatory event, after all.

She wasn’t a businesswoman, and she didn’t necessarily have to get to know them.

—L: No formal contact yet. Babe, are you worried you’ll get bullied at the banquet?

Lu Yunque replied almost instantly.

—Qingqing Zijing: Shouldn’t you be more worried about everyone else?

Yun Zijin was confident that with Zero One and the others around, no one would dare to be disrespectful to her.

—L: That’s true. Our Zijin has Sister Yun, leader of what’s known as Dijing’s number one bodyguard team. You’re the one who does the bullying.

—Qingqing Zijing: We’re getting sidetracked. I was asking whether or not I should go to this banquet.

—L: The Situ family is a major family in France. You should probably show them some respect.

Although Lu Yunque didn’t explicitly say whether she should attend, Yun Zijin understood his meaning.

Regardless of what the Situ family was planning, they were, at the very least, a major family from France. Since they had gone to the trouble of sending an invitation, she should at least be polite enough to attend.

As for whether there would be any collaboration in the future, that was a matter for later.

Since Lu Yunque had said as much, what else could Yun Zijin do? Naturally, she confirmed the date and had people arrange for a gown and a styling team.

The banquet was set for Saturday evening. The timing was a bit tight, but that wasn’t a problem for Yun Zijin.

However, before Saturday arrived, Yun Zijin received a call from Yan Shutang. The next day, instead of going to school, she went to the Cybersecurity Center.

This place served as a sort of "middleman" between Yan Shutang and Yun Zijin.

"Minister Yan."

"Miss Yun."

The two of them had just met. They shook hands and exchanged some pleasantries before finally sitting down.

"I’ve already taken care of the permits for you, but these past few days, I haven’t seen the slightest sign of construction on that plot of land. What’s going on?"

It wasn’t that he was impatient, but that Mr. Tang might not have the patience to wait this long.

If Yun Zijin’s side kept delaying the start of construction, then the permits he had moved heaven and earth to acquire couldn’t just be left to gather dust.

"We have to pick an auspicious day to begin construction. We also need to draw up a list of attendees for the groundbreaking ceremony. Putting it all together is no small undertaking."

Yun Zijin was worried Yan Shutang didn’t understand all the intricacies, so she offered a simple explanation.

"So have you picked a date yet?" It wasn’t that he wanted to rush her, but Mr. Tang was asking him about it a hundred times a day.

He had no choice but to pass the pressure Mr. Tang was putting on him onto Yun Zijin.