Righteous and Confident.jpg

He had explained it clearly enough, but he had no intention of interfering with any of Billy Chen's decisions.

The path has been pointed out for you. Whether you take the broad open road or the single-log bridge, the choice is yours.

The next time he came, if this guy had turned into a mindless, vengeful spirit, he wouldn't mind shooting out another bolt of lightning.

After saying this, Lin Mo brought him back into the house.

He pulled a new yellow talisman from his pocket and stuck it to the inside of the door.

The talisman paper fluttered without any wind, emitting a faint golden glow that enveloped and protected the entire room.

"This talisman will protect you, allowing you to safely absorb Yin energy inside the room. If you want to go out, just tear it off."

"But remember, the talisman only works once. If you tear it off and stick it back on, it will be useless."

Dropping these words, Lin Mo skillfully fished out the yellow talisman containing the old woman that he had previously left in the drawer, casually put it away, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Billy Chen grew anxious and blurted out, "Then what am I going to eat and drink?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he froze.

Right, he was already dead. He was a ghost. What the hell was he supposed to eat or drink?

His face turned pale and green in turns, and his soul form became a bit unstable.

Lin Mo paused his steps and looked back at him with a gaze that seemed to be looking at an absolute moron.

"I'm leaving. Figure it out yourself."

He waved his hand and disappeared through the doorway without looking back.

The door slammed shut with a bang, and the entire world instantly fell silent.

Leaving only Billy Chen, a lone soul, standing solitarily in the spacious living room.

Without the oppressive presence of Lin Mo nearby, the outrageously thick Yin energy surrounding him was now frantically drilling into his soul form.

The feeling was dizzying and floaty, like soaking in warm water. Every cell was expanding, feeling so good that it almost made him moan out loud.

Logically speaking, he no longer had cells, yet he still felt this way.

Safe... and comfortable.

However, his gaze remained fixed, looking through the window at the residential building across the way, partially hidden in the black mist.

That was the true source of power.

Comfort could allow him to drag out his feeble existence.

But could comfort allow him to get his revenge?

Billy Chen looked down at his own illusory hands, then looked up at the talisman paper radiating a warm golden light on the door.

A trace of determination rose from the bottom of his heart.

System: People intend to do good deeds, yet they commit all sorts of evil along the way.

On July 5th, the wind chime on the door of the Cabras Pastry Shop let out a crisp and melodic jingle.

Yue Yiqing was just placing some freshly made desserts into the display cabinet. Hearing the sound, she instinctively looked up, and her welcoming smile froze for half a second when she saw who had come in.

You again.

Lin Mo walked in familiarly, as if strolling through his own backyard.

"Why are you here again?" Yue Yiqing's tone carried a hint of helplessness that even she hadn't noticed.

Lin Mo walked straight toward the back kitchen, casually taking an apron off the hook in one smooth motion, as if he were the boss here.

"I'm here to borrow the kitchen," he said, turning back to toss out the words.

With complete justification.

Yue Yiqing felt a breath catch in her chest. She followed him and leaned against the doorframe, watching him skillfully wash his hands and prepare the ingredients. "Do you really treat my place as your own private kitchen?"

"Not exactly."

Lin Mo took butter and milk out of the fridge without looking up. "However, I helped you bring this shop back to life. You should at least give me a chance to let you repay me, right?"

...

This single sentence directly choked back all the words Yue Yiqing wanted to say next.

She looked around.

The originally deserted lobby now had several exquisite small round tables.

A few sharply dressed white-collar workers were holding up their phones, frantically taking pictures of a uniquely styled dessert platter, wearing satisfied smiles.

That platter was casually designed by Lin Mo the last time he came over.

It wasn't a lot of food, but it won on aesthetics, specifically meant to entice people to take photos and post them on their social media.

Lin Mo indeed hadn't used this place for nothing; he had given many useful little suggestions.

Combined with the group-buy packages he suggested, and having the staff ask friends to post a few fake customer reviews...

The results were so good they felt a bit unreal.

This little shop that was on the verge of bankruptcy had unexpectedly taken on the early form of an internet-famous store in just a few days.

Even though in this era, the trend of internet-famous stores hadn't even taken off yet.

At first, Yue Yiqing scoffed at these methods, viewing them as cheap tricks.

Did she, an authentic pastry chef who had returned from studying in France, need to rely on such things to attract customers?

But the two young girls in the shop who were about to lose their jobs didn't think so. Behind her back, they secretly used their own wages to buy cakes and called their friends over to help take pictures and boost the sales numbers.

When Yue Yiqing found out later, she had mixed feelings and returned the money to them.

Yue Yiqing didn't lack money. A family that could send someone to France to study pastry making couldn't possibly be an ordinary family.

It was just that she had an agreement with her family: if the shop she opened failed, she would have to go back home and inherit their traditional dim sum business.

"Did you go change the store name?" Lin Mo's voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of beating eggs.

Yue Yiqing snapped back to reality and frowned. "Why should it be called Sweetheart? It sounds so tacky."

"Tacky?"

Lin Mo's hands didn't stop moving; using a hand tool to beat the eggs directly seemed more effective than using a machine.

"It's still better than Cabras. Besides you, how many people know that this name belongs to some obscure French location? You're running a business; the focus should be on being easy to understand and catchy."

He paused, then added, "Also, what about the street sign I told you to set up at the door? 'I miss you so much at Sweetheart', what a great advertising slogan."

But Yue Yiqing still outright refused, "No, I don't want to. It's doing just fine right now."

"You really have zero marketing sense." Lin Mo, with flour on his hands, pointed outside. "Believe it or not, once you put that sign up, within three days this place will become a holy ground for confessions. When the young couples come, won't they order the most expensive combo to set the mood?"

Yue Yiqing turned her head away, not looking at him.

She couldn't refute it, because she felt like what Lin Mo said might actually happen.

"Why are you making so much cake? Didn't you just make some a few days ago?"

"Last time was my landlady's birthday. Today is Miao Miao's birthday. It's different."

Landlady?!

Someone who could casually throw around fifty thousand yuan actually had a landlady?

Yue Yiqing didn't quite understand.

But what was most incomprehensible was why Lin Mo's cake-making techniques were so proficient, even more so than the girl named Miao Miao who had come last time.

This time, Lin Mo was making a Black Forest cake.

The full name of the Black Forest is Black Forest Cherry Cake.

The main ingredients are dark chocolate and cherries.

And early July was exactly the season when cherries hit the market.

Watching Lin Mo's practiced movements in making the cake made Yue Yiqing suspect that Lin Mo was actually a very experienced pastry chef.