Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Company’s First Big Business Deal
To say Li Mingtao was stressed right now would be an understatement.
He had just gotten back from lunch with Zhou Kai when a few of the younger staff and some of the older employees immediately swarmed him, insisting they had to throw a dinner party that evening to welcome the new director, claiming it was a time-honored company tradition.
Whenever a new employee joined, their department would always get together for a meal.
Li Mingtao didn’t mind this sort of thing, but the problem was, just a few days ago, Zhang Yali had signed their kid up for some bilingual program, insisting that age three was the "golden age" for language acquisition!
The two-month program cost over eight thousand yuan. On top of that, it had been a brutally hot summer, so Li Mingtao had paid to install air conditioners in his parents’ home, as well as at his in-laws’ place in their old housing complex.
With all those expenses, the salary Su Chen had just paid him a few days ago was completely wiped out.
There was no way he could afford a dinner in the city. A run-of-the-mill restaurant for ten people would cost close to a thousand yuan, and with drinks, it would easily be more than that.
Feeling completely cornered, Li Mingtao had resorted to texting He Shuting.
’Boss Su, I’m so sorry for this...’
’Looks like this one meal will eat up that twelve hundred yuan. That’s fine. After this, we’ll be even! I can finally work at my new company with a clear conscience!’
Li Mingtao continued to rationalize his actions.
Even so, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt toward Su Chen.
Torn between the guilt he felt toward his old company and the mess of problems waiting for him at the new one, Li Mingtao felt like his head was about to explode.
...
"So, Director Li went out and landed another big account this afternoon?" Su Chen murmured, looking at the message on He Shuting’s phone. He was starting to have his doubts.
’Could I have really misunderstood Li Mingtao?’
"Of course he did!" Bai Xiaobo tore open the packages of ingredients for the fish with pickled cabbage. He had pretty much memorized Su Chen’s instructions from the morning and was getting ready to start "massaging" the black fish fillets.
’Hmm... I kind of like the feel of it.’
"Director Li really knows his stuff! He’s landed two accounts in a single day. I’m never badmouthing him behind his back again," Liu Shengnan said as she prepped the pickled cabbage.
Everyone’s mindset hadn’t shifted yet; their vocabulary still revolved around "company business" and the like.
Su Chen found it a bit depressing. ’What business? Aren’t we just turning the company into a restaurant?’
’I’ve become the head chef, and my former employees are now playing the part of servers.’
’But why does it seem like the employees are more into this than I am? They even look like they’re having fun.’
"Brother Chen, how much white pepper should I add to these fillets?" Bai Xiaobo asked, dumping twenty packages of fish fillets into a giant basin all at once.
"Add... No, wait, let me do it. This is too large a quantity to control properly. First, divide the fillets into five portions."
Twenty-two pounds of fish with pickled cabbage was too much to cook at once. Besides, they didn’t have a pot big enough.
"Boss, what about these? I’ve washed all the pork knuckles. I don’t think we’ll need this many, will we?" Aunt Fang asked, squatting on the floor in a pair of plastic gloves.
"Yesterday, five knuckles made over seventy buns, so this is about right. We need to leave a few for ourselves to eat, anyway. We’ll have them for breakfast tomorrow."
"Brother Chen! Brother Chen! Look! Is this okay for the eggplant I tore up?"
At some point, Xiaobin had also joined the kitchen crew.
"Are you a gym-class jock or something?" Su Chen asked, stunned to see how violently Xiaobin had torn a mountain of eggplants into shreds.
"Nah, I just pretended the eggplants were my homeroom teacher."
’What is with these people...’
"The tearing is fine. But everyone, let’s have some order. We’ll braise the pork knuckles first, then make the fish with pickled cabbage. The braised eggplant and potatoes will be last."
Su Chen didn’t even realize that, swept up by his employees’ enthusiasm, he was starting to get into the spirit of things. He simply rolled up his sleeves and joined in.
Even though they were only making three dishes.
The main staple was pork knuckle buns, the main course was fish with pickled cabbage, and the hearty side dish was braised eggplant with potatoes.
But the sheer quantity was immense.
Under Su Chen’s direction, ten pork knuckles were divided between two stainless steel pots and set to braise over medium heat. Aunt Fang was in charge of monitoring them, turning off the heat every twenty minutes to let them steep for ten minutes before turning it back on.
The twenty-two pounds of black fish fillets were divided into five portions for marination, and Bai Xiaobo was having the time of his life with the "massaging" task.
A few other employees squatted on the floor, peeling potatoes and making small talk.
"Emma, this shift is actually pretty awesome."
"Tell me about it. If you ask me to compile data, I won’t want to lift a finger all day. But ask me to peel potatoes? I could peel a hundred of ’em!"
"You peel a potato down to half its size and you have the nerve to brag about it?"
"I wish work was like this every day. We get to learn how to cook, eat amazing food, and the day just flies by while we’re all laughing and having fun~"
Su Chen listened to their chatter, feeling his exasperation grow.
’So you’d be unhappy if I told you to be a restaurant server, but you’re thrilled to come to the office for work and just happen to do a server’s job on the side?’
’But now that I think about it, that logic actually kind of holds up...’
’Back in school, whenever we had to move desks or something, the boys in class would be incredibly eager to help—as long as it got them out of class.’
’But if they had to do it every day, you can bet none of them would be happy about it.’
As everyone bustled about, the braising pork knuckles slowly began to release an intoxicating, meaty aroma.
Su Chen began stir-frying the pickled cabbage to make the soup base.
Without any fish bones to work with, he had to resort to using fried eggs again to make the stock. He had to repeat the process five or six times before he finally managed to produce a large pot of milky-white broth.
Then, an idea struck Su Chen.
"Aunt Fang, when the pork knuckles are done, let’s soak these fried eggs in the broth. It would be a waste to throw them out."
"I was just thinking what a waste this would be! Leave it to me!"
Su Chen kept stir-frying the pickled cabbage, getting the soup base ready. Then he called some others over to help knead the dough, and the kitchen instantly became a whirlwind of activity.
Around five in the afternoon, the pork knuckles were finally cooked to Su Chen’s satisfaction.
He then started the process of deboning the knuckles, dicing the meat, and stir-frying it to make the bun filling, just like before.
Drooling, Bai Xiaobo snatched up all the bones Su Chen had just removed from the pork knuckles. He then holed himself up in a corner of the dining area to gnaw on them.
"Hmph, those bones are picked clean. I don’t see what’s so great about gnawing on them," someone commented.
With his mouth glistening with grease, Bai Xiaobo retorted, "What do you know? When you’re gnawing on bones, the hardest-to-reach bits of meat are the most delicious! It’s like dating—the one you can’t have is always the best!"
He Shuting scoffed at his theory. "You’re just asking for it, aren’t you... Stop gnawing on that and come help make the buns."
"But I don’t know how..." Bai Xiaobo froze.
Making buns, making dumplings—in his mind, those were skills reserved for master chefs. The difficulty was practically hell-level.
"Tch... How pathetic!"
What He Shuting didn’t mention was that, in truth, she didn’t know how either.
Su Chen and Aunt Fang became the main bun-making force. The others gave it a try, but after a few failed attempts, they were all gently discouraged from continuing.
Time always flies when you’re busy.
By five-thirty, Su Chen and Aunt Fang had finished two whole steamers of buns. They made a smaller batch this time, considering that while there would be many guests, the buns weren’t the only thing on the menu.
Once Su Chen put the eggplant and potatoes on to braise and divided the fish with pickled cabbage among five separate pots to cook, the main work was done.
Suddenly, everyone found themselves with nothing to do.
Liu Shengnan sat in the dining area, picking at her fingers. "I’m getting a little nervous..."
Bai Xiaobo kept unlocking his phone only to immediately lock it again. "I don’t know why, but me too."
The others remained silent, but it was clear that a sense of apprehension had fallen over the group.
Su Chen clapped his hands. "Alright, Shengnan, you’re in charge of calculating today’s bill, whether we put it on Director Li’s tab or something else."
’Nervous?’
’They’re nervous because they don’t have anything to do!’
"Bai Xiaobo, you and Xiaobin, gather up the trash in the kitchen and take out anything that needs to be thrown away."
"You got it!"
Su Chen continued assigning tasks. "He Shuting, don’t start the livestream. For now, just sit in the dining area and keep an eye on our guests. Make sure none of our things go missing."
"Got it!"
"Everyone else, help Aunt Fang clean the kitchen. Afterward, anyone who wants to go home can leave. Those who want to stay and eat can do so, just make sure to get an overtime slip from Shengnan."
Once everyone had a job to do, the lively atmosphere returned.
...
"Director Li, do you have any dietary restrictions? I’m about to book a restaurant."
With half an hour left in the workday, Zhou Kai walked into Li Mingtao’s office.
Li Mingtao put down his pen with an air of nonchalance. "Ah, Director Zhou. What did you think of that fish with pickled cabbage we had for lunch?"
At the mere mention of the fish, Zhou Kai’s eyes lit up.
"Delicious! I even posted about it on my Moments feed. If we’d had more time, I could’ve eaten another whole portion! The flavor was leagues better than any of the restaurants around here!"
Li Mingtao nodded. "Exactly. I’ve noticed our department has a lot of young people, and the Gen Z crowd isn’t really into that formal drinking culture. Booking a restaurant feels too stuffy, and it won’t help me connect with everyone. I was thinking we could just have a casual meal at my friend’s company cafeteria."
Zhou Kai drew in a sharp breath. "The food there is incredible, I’ll give you that, but... going to another company’s cafeteria for our own department dinner? Isn’t that a little... strange?"
’A department dinner at another company’s cafeteria?’
’Setting aside whether they’d even agree, doesn’t that seem incredibly disrespectful to Director Li, our new leader?’
Li Mingtao waved his hand dismissively. "It’s decided. Boss Su and I are good friends. A small thing like this is no problem at all."
Since he put it that way, Zhou Kai couldn’t really object.
Just as he was about to turn and send out the announcement, Li Mingtao added, "One more thing. Tell everyone that dinner is just dinner. No one is to discuss work. Once we step out of this building, I’m just another one of their friends."
"Understood."
Zhou Kai left, completely baffled and muttering to himself.
’Director Li is so easygoing, isn’t he?’
’He doesn’t put on any airs as a leader at all. He even went out of his way to choose a cafeteria, of all places, just so everyone could relax and enjoy the meal.’
’To arrange such a comfortable dinner for us, he must have had to call in another favor from that company’s boss, right?’
But the thought of eating that company’s fish with pickled cabbage again soon pushed all his other messy thoughts aside. His stomach couldn’t help but let out a couple of rumbles in anticipation.
