CH 30

Are you avoiding me?

After Brother Chang passed the probationary period, Chang Hao can start going to school.

That night, Grandpa Chang took Chang Hao to visit Yu Xiucai with gifts, leaving Yu Qingze and Chang Le to work in the kitchen.

Yu Qingze has been paying attention to the change in Chang Le’s attitude towards him in the past two days, and was thinking of finding something to talk about. He started two topics and talked for awhile, but Chang Le just smiled and didn’t give him one gestures; he seemed to have no intention to communicate.

This is so awkward.

Yu Qingze was a little bit shocked, he kneaded the dough under his hands vigorously, thinking it was Chang Le’s little butt, and he was beaten for disobedience!

Yu Qingze didn’t even have any experience with love in his previous life, so his skills in chasing people were not not good at all.

In the kitchen, only the sound of the two of them working could be heard, and the atmosphere was a bit dull and awkward for a while.

The more Yu Qingze thought about it, the more he couldn’t figure it out. He simply patted the dough on the cutting board, turned around, and called Chang Le, “Brother Le.”

Chang Le turned around, glanced at him, looked away again, and put his eyes on the chopping board.

Yu Qingze walked over, looked down at Chang Le, and threw a straight ball out: “Brother Le, do you have any problem with me?”

Chang Le raised his head suddenly, shook his head vigorously and shook his hand, how could Big Brother Yu ask such a question, how could he have any problem with him, he just, just…

“Then why are you always avoiding me these days?” Yu Qingze shook his head subconsciously when he saw Chang Le, and said first, “Don’t say no, you have been. You see, you don’t even look at me.”

Chang Le’s movement of shaking his head stopped, his face was flushed, and he lowered his head; he didn’t dare to look at Yu Qingze.

Seeing him bowing his head again, Yu Qingze didn’t care about the flour in his hands, he directly lifted Chang Le’s delicate chin and pinched it, making him have to look at him before asking again, “Brother Le, do you know what you been like for the past few days? You look haggard. You seem down, and you avoid me. Did I do something to make you feel uncomfortable? You tell me.”

The chin was pinched, and this ambiguous action made Chang Le’s face even redder. Originally, he didn’t dare to look at Yu Qingze, his eyes were dodging, but now he doesn’t even dare to move.

It was not until he heard the last sentence that he looked up at Yu Qingze in panic and shook his head seriously.

“Really not?” Yu Qingze asked.

Chang Le nodded. Brother Yu didn’t do anything that made him feel uncomfortable. Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com. On the contrary, he couldn’t help but think of those intimate contacts, which made him feel embarrassed.

“Then why have you been avoiding me, tell me, eh?” Yu Qingze said softly, his eyes locked tightly on Chang Le’s face, observing his expression.

Chang Le’s eyes began to wander again. The secret in his heart must not be known by Big Brother Yu. If he knew it, he didn’t know how to look at others. Big brother Yu must think he was a toad who wanted to eat swan meat.

Yu Qingze didn’t know at all that he had become a swan in Chang Le’s heart. He wanted to push Change Le further, but he didn’t want to. At this moment, the voices of Grandpa Chang and Chang Hao came from the yard. They went to visit Yu Xiucai and now came back.

Yu Qingze also heard the voices, but he didn’t let go until the voices got closer and closer and he had already heard Chang Hao saying, “I always thought the Master was so serious, but he was actually quite nice.” Seeing the panic on Chang Le’s face that was afraid of being seen by his grandfather and younger brother, Yu Qingze felt sorry for him. He put down his hand and said, “Let’s talk when we’re free.”

As if receiving the amnesty, Chang Le hurriedly turned around, lowered his head, and started becoming very busy; he picked up the plate and poured the steamed Liangpi on the cutting board, cut it with a knife, and put it in a dustpan to dry.

As busy as he may seem, his mind was all occupied by Yu Qingze’s words, “Let’s talk when we’re free”, which scared him enough.

He didn’t want to talk with Big Brother Yu at all!

So the next day, Yu Qingze found out that Chang Le hid from him even harder. He didn’t even dare to look at him occasionally, and even when he called him, he didn’t dare to look up at him.

Yu Qingze: …

Brother Chang thought carefully, and found that the two of them were a little strange these days. When Chang Le went to Boss Li’s shop to fetch water, he took the opportunity to ask Yu Qingze: “Boss Yu, are you making Brother Le angry and now he’s ignoring you?”

He still remembered that when he came to work on the first day, Chang Le and Yu Qingze got along very well.

Yu Qingze was helpless and said, “I don’t know either, and he wouldn’t say even if I asked him.”

Brother Chang blinked, seeing that Chang Le coming back, he stopped asking.

When they went home that day, another matchmaker came to propose Yu Qingze. This time, the matchmaker was invited by Chang Le’s uncle, Wen Li, who specially found a matchmaker to propose the marriage for his son, Brother Yue.

Yu Qingze couldn’t help laughing when he thought of brother Yue, who was obviously still very young. He remembered this boy who had followed behind Wen Li before.

He told the matchmaker again that he already had someone he liked, and then sent the other party away.

After the matchmaker was sent away, Yu Qingze suddenly had a flash of light in his head. He remembered that Chang Le became strange since the last time the matchmaker Liao came to propose him, Chang Le didn’t sleep well that night, and then began to hide from him until now.

Well, what does this mean?

Chang Le is afraid of being misunderstood by others, which will influence his future marriage prospects?

But……

Yu Qingze thought of the blushing and shy expressions on Chang Le’s face even when he had no intention of flirting with Chang Le before. He couldn’t help but guess, is it that Chang Le actually likes him, but he is too shy so he hides from him?

Or, he found out that the person the matchmaker proposed was a good ger, and then felt that his conditions were not comparable? Chang Le felt inferior and avoided himself?

Yu Qingze went through the context and felt that the last possibility was the most likely.

This discovery made him half happy and half worried.

Chang Le also likes him, which is indeed a good thing. But if he feels inferior because of his physical condition, gets into his own downward spiral thoughts, shrinks into the turtle shell, and then dares not approach himself, then it will be troublesome.

In short, he has to confirm if Chang Le also having interest in himself and the reason behind him hiding.

After dinner, a few people were working in the kitchen, Yu Qingze made cold noodles while thinking about how to solve the problem.

Suddenly, someone outside the house called Brother Le.

Chang Le heard the voice and went outside the house.

Yu Qingze walked to the door and took a look, it was Da He.

The voices were not very loud; Yu Qingze couldn’t hear them clearly. He only saw Da He caressing the back of his head, his eyes dodging from side to side, not looking at Chang Le, and he said something while laughing foolishly while Chang Le looked up at him seriously and listened to him.

Yu Qingze: …is this person here to pry his corner again?!

Thinking of the time when he met the gangsters before, Da He looked at Chang Le a little awkwardly. When Chang Le looked at him, he didn’t dare to look at the other party, but when Chang Le didn’t look at him, he would stare at Chang Le.

This, is this having a crush on Chang Le?

Yu Qingze was stunned, thinking of a new but very serious problem, there is another possibility for Brother Le to hide from himself!

It’s entirely possible that he hides from himself because he has someone he likes and is afraid of being misunderstood by his sweetheart?!

And that person is … Da He?

A bad premonition rose in Yu Qingze’s heart, and a sense of crisis rushed into his mind, causing him to wake up suddenly.

He made a preconceived mistake. Hearing Wen Li say that no one wants to marry Chang Le, he thought that no man really likes Chang Le.

Moreover, he never thought about the possibility of Chang Le having a sweetheart!

This is a big mistake!

How come no one likes a good person like Chang Le?! He is in his youth, isn’t it normal to have someone he likes?!

And all this time, he was still wanting to take it slow, earn money, solve the household registration problem, and only afterwards, he was going to tell Chang Le that he likes him, taking it real slow.

Great, now if he continues to be slow, the person will become someone else’s!

He has to find a good time to tell Chang Le.

When Chang Le returned from talking to Da He, Yu Qingze pretended to inadvertently asked, “Is it Da He? Does he have something to do so late?”

Grandpa Chang also turned his head to look at Chang Le.

Chang Le made a gesture.

Grandpa Chang looked at it, nodded and said, “Oh, I know about this, I’ll go tomorrow.”

Yu Qingze only understood half of it. He asked Grandpa Chang, “Grandpa, what’s the matter?”

Grandpa Chang said: “Tomorrow is the first day of the new year. Next month, it’s our turn to herd cattle in the afternoon. It’s fine. I’ll go tomorrow afternoon.”

It turned out to be this matter, Yu Qingze calmed down and said to Grandpa Chang: “By the way, Grandpa, I want to tell you something, I went to Liu Ji Noodle House this morning, and saw Boss Liu and the others making the dough, I guess they are about to be able to figure out recipe for cold noodles.”

In the morning, he heard from Boss Liu’s son that when Boss Liu was drinking porridge, he found that the rice texture in the porridge was very similar to Liangpi, so he thought that the noodles for Liangpi might be steamed. They failed to steam it directly using flour at first. Now, they’ve figured it all out.

Boss Liu is quite smart.

Grandpa Chang was surprised: “Boss Liu, they figured out the recipe?”

Yu Qingze nodded: “They have figured out the correct method, and it is estimated that they have already made it.”

Grandpa Chang said again: “Then if they launch Liangpi, our business will be affected.”

Yu Qingze nodded and said again: “Boss Liu, it’s hard to say, maybe he will take into account the other noodle recipes I taught him and not sell Liangpi. But it doesn’t matter, cold noodles and Liangpi are seasonal food. At most, after another month, the weather will become cold in August, and the business will gradually slow down. So, in the end, it doesn’t really matter whether they sell.”

He didn’t even think about relying on cold noodles to make a fortune. The food stall is just an initial accumulation of capital, opening a restaurant is his ultimate goal.

“That’s true. It would be cold soon and everyone would then want to eat something hot.” Grandpa Chang said.

Yu Qingze added: “So, grandpa, there is one more thing, we can sell oden the day after tomorrow, but there are a lot of things to prepare and a lot of work, I guess we won’t be able to do it ourselves, I want to divide some of the work. Find some villagers and hire them to make the time-consuming things like the doughs, and we can pay them when the time comes. We can make tofu puffs, tofu skewers, and meatballs. These are sold separately and can also make money. So, what do you think?”

(T/N: I previously wrote as udon, but it’s actually oden )

Previously, Yu Qingze did an Oden test, simply made kelp knots, tofu puffs, gluten, meatballs, radishes, etc., served with chili sauce and garlic sauce. Chang Le and the others said they were delicious, so he decided to sell it.

Grandpa Chang thought about it for a while. The few of them are already very busy making noodles every day. During the day, he has to take care of the fields again. He really doesn’t have a better idea, so he asked, “Okay. Who do you have in mind?”

Who to hire? This is indeed a good question.

Yu Qingze thought of the gossip he heard on the road when he went to the village chief’s house before. Some people were saying that Grandpa Chang favors outsiders and when there was a way to make money, he would rather give it to others than his own son. So, he said: “We can give the cold noodles to Brother Chang’s house. As for Liangpi and fried doughs, do you want to give to your son’s house?”

Recently, everyone knows that they are making money, and there are more gossips in the village. It’s just that they are not in the village during the daytime, so they don’t hear much.

On the other hand, recently, Wen Li didn’t try to matchmake Chang Le anymore, but he would always make excuses to come over at night, wanting to see how Liangpi and jelly were made. Every time Yu Qingze had to guard against him, it was really inconvenient to do things.

Since Liangpi recipe is no longer a secret and the hot weather appropriate for cold noodles is almost over, it doesn’t matter if the recipe is given to Wen Li. It can stop the gossip in the village, and moreover, if Wen Li is busy, he will not come bother them all the time.

Yu Qingze felt that it was worth it to be able to solve two troublesome problems with a small recipe of Liangpi.

Grandpa Chang was silent for a while, sighed, and said, “Don’t bother with him. I don’t think this is a problem.” He knows his own son; Wen Li is not an honest and trustworthy person, “In case something goes wrong over there…”

Yu Qingze smiled and said, “Grandpa, if Uncle is smart, he wouldn’t spread this recipe. Moreover, even if he sells the Liangpi recipe, it doesn’t matter. We won’t be selling Liangpi anymore soon. We can make this recipe public, and when everyone knows it, the secret recipe would no longer be a secret.”

After a pause, Yu Qingze added: “Of course, you have to talk to him clearly for this matter. If he can do it honestly, we can also give him other jobs in the future. After all, we are a family. If we don’t give him some opportunities to make money, it would not make us look good in the village. But if he destroys our trust, then we won’t give him any more opportunities in the future. “

When Grandpa Chang heard the words, he was silent for a while before he said, “Aze, in the end, you are very benevolent.”

The old man sighed with emotion, as Wen Li said, Chang Sheng is also his son, how can a father not look after his family, and how can he not think about them if there are good things.

(T/N: I’m a little confused. Who is Chang Sheng? If you remember, from previous chapters, please tell me in the comment.)

However, Wen Li, alas, he was indeed a little worried. Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com. Moreover, although their Chang family and Yu Qingze are partners in this business, in fact, it was all because of Yu Qingze’s abilities, and their family was just benefiting from him.

Now that Yu Qingze has taken all of these things into consideration, no wonder the old man was very emotional.

Yu Qingze smiled, half joking and half earnestly saying: “Anyway, we have to give the recipe to someone regardless, but if uncle is busy with something, he won’t keep coming to matchmake me.”

Grandpa Chang felt that his face was a little unbearable, so he hurriedly said, “I’ve caused you trouble, I’ll apologize to you on his behalf. I’ll go to him tomorrow to make everything clear!”

Yu Qingze said in a haste: “No need to apologize, grandpa. It’s all right, no big deal.” Then he glanced at Chang Le and said, “But what I told the matchmaker about having someone I like is true. I just want to request uncle not to continue trying to set me up with brother Yue.”

Chang Le’s hand holding the batter paused, then continued.

Grandpa Chang saw Yu Qingze’s eyes, then looked at his eldest grandson, sighed in his heart, and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him tomorrow.”

After finishing this matter, Yu Qingze finally felt relieved. He was afraid of being targeted by Wen Li, which wasn’t annoying enough. He doesn’t have time to deal with him every day now, he still has to make money, and he has to find a good opportunity to confess to Brother Le.