Money Can Buy Access to Others' Kitchens

The waitress behind the cash register puffed out her chest, tilting her chin toward the gold-framed certificate on the wall.

"That's a Le Cordon Bleu certificate! Our boss is a genuine French pastry master. You won't find many with her skills in all of Yangcheng!"

Lin Mo glanced at the Le Cordon Bleu certificate, indifferent to whether it was real or fake.

He walked straight up to the counter, curled his fingers, and knocked lightly on the surface.

"Hello, is the boss in? I have some business to discuss with her."

The waitress's gaze immediately grew wary. She looked Lin Mo up and down before her eyes drifted to the person behind him.

The girl following closely behind him had a smoking hot figure, but her expression was timid, like a frightened little rabbit.

A somewhat handsome young man bringing along a cute girl with an explosive figure, opening his mouth to talk business?

She muttered in her heart, but still turned and pushed open the door to the back kitchen.

"Boss, there's a guy outside saying he wants to talk business with you."

Soon, a slightly exhausted and impatient female voice came from inside.

"What business? Tell him to just say it, I'm very busy."

Lin Mo directly pulled out a bank card.

"Thirty thousand. I want to borrow your kitchen and ingredients to make a birthday cake."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was extremely piercing, carrying clearly into the back kitchen.

The noise in the kitchen came to an abrupt halt.

The waitress at the register was also dumbfounded, staring blankly at Lin Mo.

What was going on? Which rich young master was playing this kind of game, spending thirty thousand just to rent a kitchen to play with mud?

The next second, the kitchen door was pushed open violently from the inside.

A woman wearing a tall white chef's hat and a matching chef's uniform walked out. The lines of her neck and shoulders were sharp, but a lingering exhaustion was gathered between her brows.

Her gaze was as sharp as a knife. She first scraped it over Lin Mo, then landed on Chu Miaomiao, her frown instantly deepening.

"Make a birthday cake? You two?"

"Thirty thousand," Lin Mo said concisely, repeating the number.

The woman acted as if she had heard a joke. She wiped her hands and shook her head.

"No. My kitchen has my rules. I don't allow outsiders to make a mess of it, especially novices."

She paused, her tone softening a bit, carrying a trace of a professional's pride.

"You can just order directly from me. Any style is fine, and it won't cost thirty thousand."

It was clear that this person didn't intend to rip Lin Mo off; she seemed to have her own principles and bottom line.

It was a well-spoken response. It showed her principles without completely offending the God of Wealth.

Lin Mo, however, didn't even bat an eyelid.

"Forty thousand."

The woman's breath hitched, her brows twisting into a knot. "I said, this isn't a matter of money..."

"Fifty thousand," Lin Mo spat out the two words, as casually as if he were commenting on the nice weather.

The woman's slightly parted lips now completely failed to close.

She felt that the bottom line she had been holding onto was like glass struck by a heavy hammer, cracking with fine lines one after another.

The waitress behind the counter already had stars in her eyes. She looked at her boss, the anticipation in her eyes almost overflowing. She even couldn't help but step closer, lowering her voice to urgently remind her:

"Boss, our shop's revenue this month..."

The sentence was left unfinished, but the meaning couldn't be clearer.

The woman's tense shoulders finally slumped down. She let out a long breath, a breath containing deflation, helplessness, and a trace of the humiliation of bowing to reality.

"Fine, use the kitchen however you want." She gritted her back teeth and added, "The money must be settled right now."

The shop's financial embarrassment could no longer be hidden.

Although the decor and equipment were very high-end, doing business wasn't entirely about being professional, or rather, it wasn't just about professionalism.

Still, it was obvious that the shop's business was not doing well.

Otherwise, the waitress wouldn't have frantically promoted the boss's status the moment they walked in.

And this boss wouldn't have abandoned her principle of keeping outsiders out of her kitchen in the face of money.

Lin Mo directly slapped the card onto the table. "Just transfer the money."

The waitress immediately picked up the card and began operating the card machine.

Lin Mo turned to look at Chu Miaomiao. "Go do it. We don't have much time left. When appropriate, let the shop boss help you out."

Chu Miaomiao nodded heavily. "Okay!"

As soon as she spoke, she pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from her pocket.

Unfolding it, it was filled with plans written in elegant handwriting. From the type of cake base to the cream recipe, and then to the specific style of the frosting, every step was clearly planned out.

She carefully confirmed it once more, then took a deep breath and pushed the door open to enter the back kitchen.

Actually, this kitchen wasn't considered too big, but it had all the necessary equipment.

There were also many ingredients Chu Miaomiao could use.

Lin Mo checked the time, casually leaned against the counter, and observed the cakes and pastries in the dessert display case.

Every pastry was made exquisitely, with complex designs and a strong Gallic style. It was obvious at a glance that a lot of hard work had gone into them.

The premium feel was there, and the prices naturally followed suit.

The unit price of a single macaron was twenty bucks.

How big was a macaron? Just the diameter of two finger joints.

Nearby were Basque cakes, tiramisu, Black Forest cakes, and some uniquely shaped lemon tarts, easily costing fifty or sixty bucks each.

Lin Mo chuckled softly to himself. The title of a Le Cordon Bleu pastry chef could indeed bluff quite a few people.

The dessert shop's back kitchen was semi-open. Through a huge glass window, one could clearly see the activity inside.

From the outside, there was a window to look into the back kitchen.

You could see what was being done in the back kitchen.

Lin Mo stood leisurely outside the window, watching as the female boss, true to form, couldn't hold back and followed into the back kitchen.

She asked for the list in Chu Miaomiao's hand, the word "professional" practically written on her face, and prepared the required ingredients for her while reading it.

After all, the female boss didn't want Chu Miaomiao to actually mess around in her kitchen.

Meanwhile, Lin Mo pointed to a few desserts in the cabinet and said to the waitress, "You can get a few for me to taste, right?"

The waitress was clearly taken aback, probably having never seen such an unceremonious customer.

But the moment she remembered that the person in front of her was a big spender who casually swiped fifty thousand bucks, her slight hesitation immediately vanished into thin air.

Besides, the shop had quite a few unsold desserts that had to be thrown away every day. Letting a major client taste a few pieces wouldn't earn a scolding from the boss even if she found out.

She nimbly opened the display door, carefully selected a few signature desserts, placed them on a paper tray, and handed them over along with plastic utensils.

Lin Mo took them, looked around, and frowned slightly.

"You guys... don't even have a place to sit here?"

The waitress nodded, looking a bit embarrassed: "The boss said she wants to use all the space to showcase her best works."