’I will absolutely not agree to this!’
Seeing Boss Su open his mouth to speak, Cui Yufen took Su Chen’s hand and patted it. "Boss Su, don’t you worry about the budget. Every single one of my disciples is quite wealthy! I’ll have them each contribute two thousand. What do you think?"
Two thousand per person wasn’t much for a birthday celebration for an old lady.
But with twenty people, that was forty thousand!
According to Delicious’s rules, adding a ten percent service fee would bring the total to forty-four thousand!
Su Chen snorted coldly and replied without a second thought, "Of course, that’s no problem! The entire staff of Delicious eagerly awaits your arrival!"
Cui Yufen nodded in satisfaction. She chatted idly with Shang Mingke and the others for a few more moments, then left her gift and departed from the City Construction Group.
The moment they left, Ah Bao’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest as he looked at the bullet comments in the live stream.
[Lu Yongliang: What happened? Why didn’t a fight break out?]
[Lu Yongliang: Cui Yufen is ruthless! Is she afraid she can’t win alone, so she’s bringing people to fight Boss Su?]
[Lu Yongliang: Holy shit! Cui Yufen’s lineage makes up half the world of Lu Cuisine chefs. This woman is seriously ruthless! I really shouldn’t have instigated this, sigh!]
[Lu Yongliang: Things are getting more and more interesting! This old man wants to go celebrate Yufen’s birthday too, hahaha!]
Liu Ahbao quickly kicked the old man out of the live stream. ’Please, just stop talking,’ he thought.
’If Boss Su finds out about this, you might not be in Jingzhou, but I am!’
’Are you trying to send me to an early grave?’
After seeing off Cui Yufen and her disciple, Shang Mingke said apologetically, "Sorry, Boss Su. I didn’t expect to cause you so much trouble."
Su Chen shook his head. "This has nothing to do with you. Besides, I could have refused."
Shang Mingke said softly, "If it’s alright, I’d like to go and give Old Mrs. Cui a gift then, too."
"Don’t you get involved in this mess!" Su Chen said, shaking his head. "This is probably going to be troublesome. Luckily, there’s still half a month. I need to hurry up and prepare."
"Boss Su." Old Shang took his hand, a rare gesture. "If you can pull this off, your name, and your company’s name... I can’t speak for the whole country, but at least here in the Capital City..."
Shang Mingke gave him a big thumbs-up. "Good luck!"
On the way back to Jingzhou, Su Chen just went ahead and bought business class seats for everyone.
He didn’t want to deal with any more of that annoying crap. He had enough on his plate as it was.
’Lu Cuisine, Lu Cuisine...’
’This isn’t just about cooking...’
Su Chen felt like his head was about to explode. He forced himself to calm down and decided to just sleep on it for now.
...
「Jingzhou City.」
Seven days had passed. Ling Shuyu stood at the second-floor elevator entrance, looking at how the once-bare floor had been transformed into the spitting image of her design blueprints.
"President Ling, I just showed the videos and photos I took to the parents. Everyone is very satisfied," Director Li said. He was there too.
He had really gone to great lengths to solve his son’s schooling problem.
For this renovation project, Li Mingtao had contacted over thirty parents from the group chat. They had handled almost everything themselves, from materials to labor.
In the end, the renovation of the five-hundred-square-meter floor ended up costing only about 500 yuan per square meter.
And the total bill of 250,000 yuan was fronted by the parent in charge of the renovation. Ling Shuyu, on behalf of the company, signed an interest-free loan agreement with that parent, promising to pay it all back within a year.
At Ling Shuyu’s urging, hundreds of workers had practically worked around the clock, finishing the entire project in just seven days!
Of course, this was also largely due to the relative simplicity of the overall renovation.
Aside from the somewhat laborious tile-laying, most of the other work simply involved installing pre-fabricated components.
Ever since the project was declared complete, the parents would come by from time to time for a look. A few of them had even picked out beds for their children and laid down the mattresses!
"Director Li, you’ve worked hard these past few days."
"Not as hard as you have." Li Mingtao finally understood what a true workaholic was.
For the entire week, Ling Shuyu hadn’t gone home at all. Often, late at night, just as the workers sat down on the floor for a cup of water, Ling Shuyu would serenely ride the elevator down from the 19th floor and walk in.
The workers all admired this young woman.
They worked in two shifts, but this young woman supervised both shifts all by herself. She was incredible!
If Ling Shuyu hadn’t been keeping such a close watch, the project would have been delayed by at least another week.
Li Mingtao was still lost in a daydream. His son’s schooling would be so convenient now. He could drop his son off at the kindergarten on his way to work in the morning.
At noon, his son could come over for lunch and a nap, and in the evening, he could pick him up on his way home from work. It was absolutely perfect—even more perfect than before!
It was all thanks to Boss Su for agreeing to his proposal.
A sudden sentence from Ling Shuyu broke Li Mingtao out of his fantasy. "Director Li. If I’m not mistaken, your probationary contract with Xinghui is about to end. It’s time to make a choice."
Li Mingtao froze for a moment.
That was right. As the new rental year for Delicious began, his contract was set to terminate, and his contract at Xinghui would convert to a permanent employment agreement.
’Hmm... I guess it really is time to make a choice!’
’So much pressure!’
"Yes, I’ll think it over carefully." Li Mingtao had nothing to hide from this President Ling; back at Xinghui, Ling Shuyu had already used this very issue to threaten him.
The two chatted for a few more sentences, and then Ling Shuyu glanced at her watch.
"Ha, the boss and the others should be back soon."
"Ah, then I’ll be going." Li Mingtao knew how to take a hint. He didn’t want to run into Su Chen at a time like this; he was afraid it would be awkward.
The two of them entered separate elevators, one going up, the other going down.
Back on the 19th floor, Ling Shuyu rubbed her stomach. "Damn it, I’ve gotten so skinny from hunger these past few days without the boss around!"
’Since I handled the entire second floor all by myself, the boss should at least reward me with a fantastic meal, right?’
’Hmm...’
’I’ll have to think about how to drop him a hint!’