"Oh, I see. That's really thoughtful of you, coming all the way over so early," Lu Fan said with a smile, then added, "Why don't you come in and sit for a bit?"
"Oh, right—let me introduce you," he said, turning slightly. "This is my aunt, Han Ke. Auntie, this is the one I told you about—Qin Qiu, the daughter of Mayor Qin. We met in the wild a few days ago and even cleared a dungeon together."
Both women were stunned by the introductions.
"What?! You're Lu Fan's aunt?"
"You're the mayor's daughter?"
Neither had expected the other to be such an outstanding beauty.
Qin Qiu was quicker to recover. She flashed a sweet smile and said, "You're just so young and beautiful. At first, I thought you were Lu Fan's sister… or maybe even his girlfriend. It didn't even cross my mind that you might be an elder."
Han Ke's cheeks flushed a little, and she replied with a shy smile, "Well, I'm not really much of an elder. I'm actually the youngest daughter in my family—not much older than you two."
Lu Fan chuckled. "Yeah, my aunt's only twenty-six."
Qin Qiu stuck out her tongue playfully and said, "Honestly, you don't even look twenty-six. Early twenties at most. And seriously—you're so gorgeous…"
"Hehe…" Han Ke was a little embarrassed by the compliments. She quickly invited Qin Qiu inside. "Don't just stand out there—come in and have a seat."
Meanwhile, at Jianghai City Airport…
Qin Shanhai had arrived with a small entourage of Qin family staff. A luxury business vehicle was waiting outside—everything prepared to welcome the princess from the Kingdom of Taiji, who was coming to study abroad.
The plane had landed, but the princess hadn't appeared yet. Qin Shanhai was growing a bit anxious.
After quite a wait, several individuals wearing traditional Taiji garb finally emerged from the arrival gate and walked directly toward him.
At their lead was a well-dressed middle-aged woman, who looked like a high-ranking secretary. She came right up to Qin Shanhai and shook his hand.
"You must be Mayor Qin? Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm Secretary Cui, in charge of all arrangements for Princess Jin Zhu's stay. We can head to the hotel now," she said, her face expressionless and her tone devoid of emotion.
Qin Shanhai blinked and glanced behind her. All he saw were assistants and bodyguards—no sign of any royal princess.
With a slight frown, he asked, "Secretary Cui, weren't we supposed to welcome your country's princess? Why isn't she with you?"
Secretary Cui's voice was cold: "The princess has already left. She has business to attend to in Jianghai."
"She's already gone?" Qin Shanhai's frown deepened. So it's true—the Taiji princess must have her own secret agenda in coming here.
"…All of these dishes have enchantments on them?!" Qin Qiu stared, wide-eyed, at the table full of food. "The hidden class Enchanted Chef can do this too?!"
By now, Han Ke had brought over bowls and chopsticks, placing them in front of Qin Qiu with a warm smile. "So you see, I really have to thank you and Lu Fan. Without you two, I never would've become such a powerful hidden-class chef."
Qin Qiu had already eaten breakfast before coming over, but faced with such a spread—so fragrant, colorful, and flavorful—and on top of that, able to permanently increase attributes—she couldn't resist staying for a few bites, cheeks slightly flushed.
Upon tasting the dishes, she realized they weren't just magical—they were absolutely delicious, far better than anything cooked by the Qin family's chefs.
"These are seriously amazing…" Qin Qiu closed her eyes in delight. Then she looked up and said, "Auntie, once you learn more cooking blueprints, you'll probably be able to make more dishes that give permanent stat boosts, right?"
"In that case, once I get back, I'll ask the Qin family to comb through all of Jianghai City and collect every cooking blueprint we can find—and send them all to you. How does that sound?"
Han Ke immediately shook her head. "I couldn't possibly accept that. You already gave me and Lu Fan ten million—that was already way too generous. If you send me blueprints on top of that, I really wouldn't feel right taking them…"
Lu Fan smiled and interjected, "It's fine, Auntie. Cooking blueprints aren't all that expensive—we can afford them ourselves. But if you're talking about collecting all the blueprints in Jianghai, that's something only the Qin family could pull off."
"We could work with them. They give us the blueprints, and you make dishes with permanent stat boosts. We send some of those dishes back to them to help improve their strength."
Qin Qiu nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! That's a great idea. The blueprints themselves aren't worth much—but food that boosts stats is insanely valuable. If you look at it that way, our Qin family actually profits from this."
"Well then…" Han Ke thought it over, and finally smiled. "If you both think it works, I've got no objections."
"Great! I'll talk to my dad about it when I get back!" Qin Qiu beamed. She'd only come here to deliver money to Lu Fan, but unexpectedly, she had uncovered a treasure like Han Ke.
Now, the Qin family could not only get a steady supply of stat-boosting food, but also deepen their ties with a prodigy like Lu Fan. It was a win-win.
Just as the three of them were enjoying their conversation, the half-open shop door was suddenly pushed open again.
A cold voice echoed through the room:
"Would someone I'm looking for be in a dump like this?"
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。