"Wow~ Yuhao, this is so delicious!"
Watching Tian Meng munch on grilled fish with a goofy grin, Huo Yuhao covered his face, wondering whether he had made a mistake.
"Eat a little less! Don't gobble them all up before we've sold a single one!"
Despite his words, Huo Yuhao didn't actually care how much Tian Meng ate.
"Ahem, so you know what to do now?" Huo Yuhao asked after finishing Tian Meng's employee orientation.
Tian Meng nodded. "Got it! If anyone dares skip out on paying, grab them!"
"Good." Huo Yuhao reclined in his chair and covered his face with the Recipe Book. "Brother Hao's going to take a nap. If customers come, sell that pile of cooked fish first. Wake me when they're gone."
"Got it, Yuhao!" Tian Meng promised, then immediately went back to sneaking bites of grilled fish.
In his current state, he didn't actually need to eat; he ran on Huo Yuhao's energy. Unfortunately, the grilled fish smelled so good that he simply couldn't resist.
The sweltering weather had thinned the foot traffic outside the academy considerably. Two figures approached from the distance.
They were a boy and a girl, both around eleven or twelve years old.
The boy had blond hair, handsome features, and a much taller, broader build than most his age. The girl had long black hair and a quiet, delicate beauty.
The girl spoke softly. "Huabin, I'm a little hungry."
The blond boy asked, "Lulu, shall we grab something to eat here first?"
The dark-haired girl looked around but found no stalls that interested her. When her gaze swept over Tian Meng, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed excitedly in his direction.
"Look, Huabin! There's actually a Brother Hao's Barbecue branch at Shrek Academy!"
"There really is!"
The blond boy's eyes lit up too, and he took the girl's hand and walked over.
"Hello, welcome! Grilled fish is five copper coins each."
Seeing customers arrive, Tian Meng hurried to greet them, though he still didn't put down the half-eaten fish in his hand.
This was the first sale he would bring in for Huo Yuhao. He absolutely couldn't mess it up.
The blond boy made himself right at home, casually picking up two grilled fish from the table and handing one to the girl beside him. "Just grilled fish is too dull. Do you have any substantial dishes?"
"Huh? What are substantial dishes?" Tian Meng was a little bewildered. None of the customer-service lines Huo Yuhao had taught him covered such concepts.
The boy asked between bites, "Do you have Greedy Scaled Crocodile, for example?"
"Uh... no."
"Then do you have Brown-Blooded Ox Tendon?"
"Uh... not that either."
"Surely you at least have milk tea?"
Disappointment gradually crept into the blond boy's voice as he lowered his expectations to rock bottom.
But Tian Meng still answered awkwardly, "Uh... we don't have that either..."
The blond boy sighed softly. "That's something you could have."
"We really don't..."
Unwilling to give up, the boy asked one last time, "...Then what else do you have?"
"Nothing. Just grilled fish..."
"You..."
The blond boy felt an inexplicable flame of anger rising in his chest.
The dark-haired girl beside him, however, didn't mind at all. "It's fine. Grilled fish is enough. It's my favorite."
She bit into her fish, a blissful smile spreading across her face, looking just like a sweet little black kitten.
"It's delicious. Eat yours too, Huabin."
Hearing her say that, the blond boy held his temper. As he ate, he cast a suspicious glance at the sign beside them. It did indeed read "Brother Hao's Barbecue," and the fish tasted perfectly authentic too, which meant this wasn't a fake shop.
He sized up Tian Meng, then shifted his gaze to the person reclining behind him with his face covered.
That must be the owner, right? Why does he seem so familiar?
He wasn't the only one who found Huo Yuhao familiar. Tian Meng found him familiar too.
He secretly studied the boy's eyes. Those deep-blue eyes actually had double pupils.
He seemed to have seen the pair before in Huo Yuhao's memories, but he had forgotten them after a glance and never really taken them to heart.
The blond boy's tone was less than friendly. "You're using Brother Hao's Barbecue's sign. Is this stall a franchise of Brother Hao's Barbecue? Let me see your franchise certificate."
Tian Meng stammered, "Uh... we don't have a certificate..."
"Why don't you have anything?" The blond boy sneered. "No franchise certificate means you're a fake!"
"Don't worry about that..." Tian Meng said. "We're absolutely the most legitimate..."
"Heh, I'm a Diamond-Level Member who spends over a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins a year across your chain stores. You can't fool me!"
The blond boy looked smugly at Huo Yuhao. "I'm guessing you used to be an apprentice at Brother Hao's Barbecue, right? You stole a few tricks and decided to strike out on your own, but you couldn't make it in the Star Luo Empire, so you came running to Shrek City and set up a stall under Brother Hao's Barbecue's name."
He looked rather pleased with himself, apparently believing his deduction was seamless. "Still, you did a pretty good job stealing their techniques. Even if you only have grilled fish, I'll consider patronizing your business more often."
With that, he continued eating his fish, his expression full of mockery and disdain.
But a moment later, he suddenly froze, his eyes widening slightly as all that mockery and disdain turned to shock.
His jaw forgot to close, and two pieces of fish escaped from his mouth.
The dark-haired girl beside him was so startled that she too stopped delicately chewing.
"Huabin..."
Looking thoroughly annoyed, Huo Yuhao removed the Recipe Book from his face and gave the blond boy a cold stare.
"It's only been two months. Since when did you dare talk to Brother Hao like that?"
"You... you..."
The boy had just started to speak when the grilled fish in his own hand stopped up his mouth, and he reflexively took a bite.
"Keep calling me Brother Hao when we're out in public. I'm no longer part of the Duke's Mansion, so don't tell anyone about our relationship," Huo Yuhao said evenly.
Naturally, he knew the boy and girl before him.
The tall, strapping blond boy was his half-brother, the White Tiger Duke's youngest legitimate son-Dai Huabin.
The girl beside him was Zhu Lu, a daughter of the prestigious Zhu Family, which had longstanding ties to the White Tiger Duke.
Four years earlier.
The main hall of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
"I won't accept it! Why should I have to live with a bastard like him from now on?"
The White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao, sat in the center of the hall, his expression dark as he watched Dai Huabin shout below him. The Duchess sat beside him, looking equally displeased.
Although she disliked Huo Yuhao, she loved and feared her husband more, and dared not defy his decision. She knew Dai Hao was truly furious this time.
She kept signaling Dai Huabin with her eyes, warning him not to question his father's decision, but Dai Huabin was still young. How could he have learned to read people's expressions so well?
"I won't accept it!"
With that, Dai Huabin stormed out of the hall.
Some servants tried to follow, but the White Tiger Duke barked at them to stop.
"None of you are to interfere!"
At his furious roar, the people around him could only withdraw, trembling with fear. Only the White Tiger Duke himself slowly followed.
The Duchess sat in her chair, gritting her teeth for a long time before finally letting out a deep sigh.
After storming out of the hall, Dai Huabin went straight to Huo Yuhao and unleashed a torrent of abuse. "You bastard! What kind of bewitching potion did you feed Father?"
"Bastard?" Huo Yuhao looked coldly at Dai Huabin. "You think being a bastard is that easy? To be a bastard, your father has to dare to dream and act, and your mother has to dare to do it and own up to it. Most people don't have that kind of nerve!"
"If you want to be a bastard, I'm afraid your mother might lack the courage, and your father might lack the guts!"
Dai Huabin flew into a rage. "You're asking to die!"
Though still young, he had already shown a vicious, ruthless streak. He immediately activated Martial Soul Possession and charged at Huo Yuhao.
Someone tried to step forward and separate them, but the White Tiger Duke glared them back. "Let them fight!"
Dai Huabin was already at rank ten, and his Martial Soul was the White Tiger lineage's powerful Evil-Eyed White Tiger. Huo Yuhao was only at rank two. How could he possibly be a match for him?
Everyone thought the same thing, but the outcome defied all their expectations.
The one left lying on the ground was Dai Huabin!
"Do you accept it now?"
Huo Yuhao looked down at Dai Huabin, his eyes shining with an icy blue light as he spoke calmly.
"Then from now on, I'm your older brother."