Free Web NovelChapter 138: Chapter 112: Can’t Think of a Good Title
"Sicong, what’s the deal with this Yun family? I’ve never even heard of them. Why are you so shocked?"
Unable to contain his curiosity, Chen He finally voiced the question on everyone’s mind.
Qin Fen, Deng Chao, and Yu Qian all turned to look at the grim-faced Sicong.
Sicong registered their stares, then glanced at Su Chen, who was calmly sipping his tea as if he hadn’t a care in the world. After a long moment of contemplation, he slowly said, "You’ve all probably heard the saying, ’A single cloud over the northwest heavens,’ right? Well, that’s them!"
"Hiss..." Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
Yu Qian, the eldest and most worldly-wise of the group, especially understood the immense weight behind that phrase.
’He was inwardly stunned, shocked that Su Chen had enough influence to get a piece of the pie from a family like that!’
For a moment, everyone’s expression grew complicated.
After a long while, once Su Chen felt they had more or less processed the information, he set down his teacup. "Alright, let’s get down to business."
Everyone took a deep breath, trying to suppress their shock.
"Chen He pitched a hot pot franchise to me before, and I turned him down. Now, I’m the one doing the pitching. But I’m extremely optimistic about this grassland beef and mutton restaurant concept!"
Sicong was a top player in the investment world, after all. He knew the most critical element was the supply of raw materials.
"Old Su, just tell us the purchase price for the Wuzhumuqin sheep. Everyone here has invested in a restaurant project to some extent, so we have a rough idea of the numbers."
’Hearing this, Su Chen remembered that while these guys were out making a fortune, he was still just a kid playing with marbles.’
"I’m buying the Wuzhumuqin sheep from the herdsmen for 15 yuan a pound. For live sheep!" Su Chen added for emphasis at the end.
"15 for live sheep?? That’s the price of pork!" Sicong’s eyes, normally small, seemed to double in size.
Yu Qian shot up from his stool. "How could it be that cheap? A purchase price of only fifteen?"
As a gourmand, Yu Qian knew his lamb prices. He had even specifically researched Wuzhumuqin sheep. In the Imperial Capital alone, the price was usually over eighty yuan, and premium cuts like the shank were in the triple digits.
’A purchase price of fifteen a pound for live sheep... even if it yields only half its weight in meat after butchering, the profit margins would be insane!’
Even the others, with less business acumen, understood now that there was a fortune to be made.
"Mr. Su, just tell us how the franchising works! We’re all in!" Chen He, ever the entertainer, showed an award-worthy level of enthusiasm.
"We’re in too!" Sicong, Qin Fen, and the others quickly agreed.
Seeing their high spirits, a smile touched Su Chen’s lips. "You can discuss the operational details with the head of the restaurant division. What I need from you is your influence in your respective circles to quickly make a name for our brand."
"It happens to be winter, the peak season for lamb sales. Whether or not you can make money is up to you."
"Old Su, enough with the hype," Sicong said, having figured it out. "Just tell us where this restaurant manager is, and we’ll go talk to them directly!" Su Chen was offering them the pie, but how they got to eat it depended on the one slicing it up.
’If that’s the case, why are we just standing around here? We can just contact the manager directly. Then we won’t have to endure Su Chen’s constant flexing.’
Su Chen froze. ’Wait, my restaurant manager should still be in Xilinhot right now!’
"Ahem. I’ll arrange for my private jet to pick her up from Xilinhot right away. When she gets here, you all can..."
Su Chen was cut off before he could finish.
"Why bother picking her up? We’ll just take your private jet to Xilinhot ourselves. Besides, it’s a good chance to taste how delicious the local Wuzhumuqin lamb really is!"
"Yeah, that’s a great idea! We can call it a due diligence trip before we franchise!"
One after another, Sicong and the others chimed in, quickly settling the matter among themselves.
Su Chen could only shake his head with a helpless smile. ’Looks like my sales pitch needs some work.’
Sicong and his group had arrived in a hurry, and they left just as quickly. Once the decision was made, they followed Chen Fei and drove directly to the Imperial Capital airport.
All six of them went, without exception—not even Chen He and Deng Chao, who had to film a variety show the next day.
Just as Jiang Hui finished setting the table with all the dishes, he saw the group leaving and walked in, confused. "Sir, why is everyone leaving? Aren’t they staying for a meal?"
’There’s no way the three of them can finish that huge spread!’
"Never mind them. Is lunch ready?" After a busy morning, Su Chen’s stomach was rumbling.
"It’s ready!"
Su Chen got up and strode toward the dining room. When he saw the table packed with over a dozen dishes, a helpless expression crossed his face. It would take the three of them two days to finish it all.
Throw it out? Su Chen wasn’t the type to waste food. Reheated leftovers tasted just fine!
’Eating leftovers isn’t embarrassing, right?’
"Damn it! Next time someone shows up right at mealtime, I’m kicking them straight out!" Su Chen grumbled, then gestured for Jiang Hui and Aunt Tang to sit down and eat.
***
There’s a saying: sleepy in spring, tired in autumn, drowsy in summer... and hibernate in winter!
People get sleepy after a full meal, especially in winter.
Su Chen had just taken off his thick clothes and settled into bed when his phone rang.
’What great timing,’ Su Chen thought irritably as he threw back the covers, sat up, and grabbed his phone.
He was about to answer and let them have it, but when he saw the caller ID, he instantly deflated.
The person interrupting Su Chen’s winter nap was none other than his mother, Chen Shufen, calling from a thousand miles away. "Mom? Why the call? Is something up?"
"So I can’t call my own son unless something’s wrong? You little brat, you just love making things difficult. Leaving this whole operation behind while you run off and have fun... you really are Mommy’s ’good boy,’ aren’t you!"
Su Chen gave an awkward laugh at the anger in his mother’s voice. ’What does she mean "leaving this whole operation behind"? Wasn’t I creating income for the family?’
"Mom, what’s wrong? Did you catch Dad sneaking a cigarette again? When I’m back for New Year’s, I’ll help you set him straight!" Su Chen was a master of changing the subject, and he immediately tried to shift the focus.
"Hmph! Nice try changing the subject, you brat. No chance! Your father has already quit smoking!"
"Huh?" Su Chen was stunned. He never thought his father, Su Zhuyun, a lifelong chain-smoker, would ever actually quit.
’Did he suffer some brutal domestic abuse? Mom’s special brand of "tough love"?’
Instantly, a twenty-minute-long family drama PSA played out in Su Chen’s head.
"You have no idea how busy the hot pot restaurant is back home. Your father’s been so swamped his feet barely touch the ground. He’s even lost five pounds!"
"What? The family’s hot pot restaurant is doing that well?" Su Chen was surprised. For them to be that busy... he could only imagine how red-hot business must be.
"Hmph, of course it is!" Chen Shufen said proudly. "We’ve already expanded into the main urban center of Wudu. Shufen Hot Pot now has six branches—three in Fuzhou and three in the city. Business is booming at all of them. Last month’s profit was 1.5 million yuan!"
When she said "1.5 million," Chen Shufen’s voice couldn’t help but rise by several decibels.
"1.5 million?" The figure genuinely surprised Su Chen.
He knew the hot pot business was lucrative, but he didn’t realize it was *this* lucrative. That was an average of 250,000 yuan per month for each of the six locations, which broke down to around 8,000 yuan per day.
Eight thousand might not sound like a huge number, but considering each table only generated one to two hundred yuan in profit, it meant they were serving at least fifty to sixty tables every day. For a hot pot place that had only been open for a couple of months, that was extremely good.
"Son, at this rate, we can open two more branches in the city this month. Our profit should hit at least two million before the New Year. Why don’t you come back and manage it?"
Su Chen rejected his mother’s proposal without a second thought. "Me? Come back and run it? Forget it, Mom. You just keep managing it. I really don’t have the time for that."
Chen Shufen knew her son had bigger things going on. During the National Day holiday, Su Qingya had come home from Shanghai for a visit, and it was from her that the family learned just how wealthy and successful Su Chen had become there.
He was living in a mansion by the Huangpu River worth hundreds of millions. When Chen Shufen and the family heard this, they were utterly stunned. Su Qingya had to call out their names several times to snap them out of their daze.
Chen Shufen knew Su Chen looked down on this small family business, especially since he was the one who funded it to begin with. She only made the offer for her own peace of mind.
The three Su family brothers had gone from being overworked grunts to heads of well-to-do households. The sudden affluence was a little hard for their families to fully grasp.
This was especially true during their review meeting at the end of last month. The second brother, Su Zhiqi, had remarked that it was a good thing they’d all lived through difficult times; otherwise, making money this fast would have made their heads swell.
"Xiaochen, Mom wants to discuss something with you," Chen Shufen said, her voice turning a bit hesitant.
Su Chen was surprised by her tone. In his twenty-five years, he had never heard his mother sound so hesitant.
"Discuss something? What is it, Mom? Just tell me."
"Well, things have been going so well for our family lately... I went to see your grandma and your second maternal uncle a while back, and I was thinking... shouldn’t we help them out a bit?"
Hearing this, Su Chen slapped his forehead. ’How could I have forgotten about that?’
His second uncle had been so good to him when he was young, always giving him red envelopes with a hundred yuan inside. It was only as he grew up and visited his grandmother’s house less frequently that they’d drifted apart a little.
’Besides, the last time I visited Grandma’s, my uncle spent a fortune just to buy me some river fish!’
"Of course we’ll help! Why wouldn’t we? As for how... Mom, you can decide!" It was better for Chen Shufen to take the lead on this. As siblings, it would be easier for them to talk, and it wouldn’t make his uncle feel like he was receiving charity.
Su Chen expected his mother to thank him, but instead, her booming voice erupted from the phone, clearly not directed at him. "Su Zhuyun, did you hear that? Our son said to let me handle it! So it’s settled. We’ll spend a few tens of thousands to open a hot pot restaurant for him in town!"
After yelling at Su Zhuyun, she explained the reason to Su Chen. It turned out she and her husband had been debating whether to have her brother come work at Shufen Hot Pot and train to be a manager, or to just pay to open a branch for him in their town.
They couldn’t reach an agreement, so they decided to call Su Chen. Reporting their recent success was just a pretext; the real issue was about his uncle.
It only took Su Chen a moment to understand his mother’s line of thinking. If his uncle came to work in their restaurant, he would make money, sure, but he would be difficult to manage. It would also compromise the integrity of the business.
If he made a mistake, what could they do? They were family. Even Su Chen’s paternal uncles and their wives had to respectfully call him "Brother."
What would happen if his first and third maternal uncles saw him working there and then asked for jobs too?
It was far better to set his uncle up with his own restaurant. On paper, he’d be earning a share of the profits, but in reality, it was just a way to give him a stable and respectable source of income.
Su Chen looked at the ended call on his phone, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"The world of business really does sharpen a person," Su Chen mused with a smile. "Even my loudmouthed mom has learned to use strategy."
