Free Web NovelChapter 52: Chapter 52: Time for a True Display of Skill
"Boss Su skipped town with his sister-in-law!"
Bai Xiaobo’s shout left both He Shuting and Liu Shengnan feeling rather glum. Not because they were worried about why Su Chen had run off, but because... frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
’Boss Su has a sister-in-law?’
"Never mind that. Put the things away first, and don’t let the fish in your tank die." As the ’Financial Director,’ Liu Shengnan methodically assigned tasks to the other two.
"Isn’t there still stuff in the car? Let’s go down and make another trip."
The scene was bizarre, but Liu Shengnan was right. The priority was to properly store everything they’d bought. Whether the boss had actually skipped town with his sister-in-law was a matter for later.
The three of them trudged dejectedly through the office area and headed back to the parking lot. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
This was too strange.
They had only been gone for a day, so why had the company changed so much?
Suddenly there were twenty or thirty more people, none of whom they recognized. The previously somewhat dilapidated and desolate company now looked vibrant and full of life. Even the tangled mess of wires on the floor had been tidied up.
Weird. Way too weird!
He Shuting suddenly thought of something.
"Xiaobai, did anyone contact you to place an order these past few days?"
Bai Xiaobo stopped in his tracks. "Dunno!"
"What do you mean, you don’t know?" Liu Shengnan also stopped. "You’re the product manager. How can you not know if anyone placed an order with you?"
Bai Xiaobo scratched the back of his head. "But I keep my personal WeChat separate from my work WeChat!"
As he spoke, he pulled out a phone. "This is my work phone. I turned it off when I left that day. I don’t like being bothered by people after work hours."
Seeing that Liu Shengnan was about to explode, Xiaobai quickly explained, "Don’t worry! I sent a mass message to my clients before turning it off, telling them I wouldn’t be taking orders for two days. The boss agreed to it, didn’t he?"
It was true; that had been the arrangement at the time.
Because the company was short-staffed, and Su Chen also needed to be fully prepared, they had temporarily decided not to take any orders for a few days.
While they were talking, Xiaobai turned on his phone.
DING DONG!
DING DONG!
DING DONG!
The moment the phone connected to the network, WeChat notifications started chiming non-stop.
"Let me see!" Liu Shengnan leaned in for a look.
[Zhang Li: Understood, sir. Here’s to a pleasant collaboration. The budget has already been paid. One more thing, our management hopes that in addition to dining at your company, we can also work there.]
"You missed such an important message?"
Being stared down by Liu Shengnan, Bai Xiaobo felt a little scared. If it had been He Shuting, he could have retorted, but Sister Shengnan was too fierce. He didn’t dare.
"In other words, the people upstairs are the employees from this company, but you didn’t pass this information on to the boss?" He Shuting twisted the knife.
"Hey, isn’t everything fine now anyway!" Bai Xiaobo said, trying to force an explanation.
He kept reading.
[Boss: Xiaobai, where are you? Be safe on the road.]
’Hmm, the boss really does care about me!’
[Boss: Did you know the other company was coming to work here?]
’Boss, I was wrong...’
[Boss: Did you not tell them we aren’t providing three meals a day for the next few days?]
’Boss, let me explain...’
Bai Xiaobo’s mind went blank.
Leaving town a day ago had gotten him too excited. Even though he knew it was for work, the crisp, spontaneous nature of the trip gave him the urge to show off.
He had turned off his work phone right away and even posted several Moments on his personal account—stuff like "Youth has no price tag."
Amidst the envious likes from countless old classmates and friends, Bai Xiaobo had lost himself for a while and completely forgotten to turn his work phone back on.
And now, this. Although Su Chen hadn’t said anything harsh on WeChat, Bai Xiaobo could already feel the "Wrath of Su Chen"!
He kept reading.
[Xiaobin: Brother Xiaobo, you’d better be careful when you get back. The boss said your bonus for this month is gone.]
HISS!
’Just as I thought!!!’
Liu Shengnan and He Shuting saw this message too. They both gave an awkward laugh. "Let’s move the stuff, move the stuff~~"
Leaving Xiaobai standing there, completely dumbfounded.
Carrying a box of lotus roots, He Shuting turned her head as she reached the elevator and asked, "Xiaobai, can’t your phone run two WeChat accounts at once?"
Bai Xiaobo silently pulled out his Apple phone. "Useless piece of crap!"
「Elsewhere.」
Zhang Li was hiding in a corner of the kitchen. After finishing two steamed buns, she let out a contented burp.
"Boss Su’s cooking is seriously amazing!"
To protect her food, Zhang Li had gone to great lengths. After buying the buns in the morning, she first delivered a portion to President Ling, then happily hunkered down in a corner of the kitchen to eat hers.
The two buns never left her sight for a moment.
"Time to get to work~"
The cute girl rolled up her sleeves and joined the great garlic-peeling army.
Some of the Xinghui employees were already starting to envy this work model.
"To be honest, our usual workload isn’t that heavy. If I really focus, I can finish my whole day’s work in an hour."
"Tell me about it. But if you finish quickly, won’t management just assign you more work?"
"Sigh, if only everyone could be like Boss Su. Work when there’s work to be done, and do whatever you want when there isn’t. I’m finding that I actually kind of like cooking, hehe~"
"I think you just like eating Boss Su’s food, don’t you? I see through your little scheme."
About six or seven people were in the kitchen processing ingredients—all things they would need for their lunch.
Originally, Su Chen hadn’t planned on making eggplant with garlic sauce, but due to everyone’s strong requests, he finally decided on the dish.
"Seriously, though, this client seems hard to deal with. If we lose this project, our whole month of hard work will have been for nothing."
"I heard from some people in the industry that they’ve dealt with this client before. They said the client went to their office, didn’t even look at the proposal, just drank a cup of tea and left. Super arrogant!"
"Hmph, if you ask me, whether the project succeeds or not has absolutely nothing to do with how well we do our jobs. It all depends on how the higher-ups grease the wheels. Shh, stop talking, someone’s coming."
As Liu Shengnan and the other two walked into the kitchen carrying things, the room immediately fell silent.
He Shuting pouted, displeased. "They’re acting like we’re the outsiders!"
"They’re the clients. Keep your voice down," Liu Shengnan whispered, turning her head.
The three of them finished putting away all the ingredients. Xiaobai and Liu Shengnan found a place to rest, while He Shuting went to the locker room to shower. The company returned to normal again.
It wasn’t until noon that Su Chen finally came out of his office.
Bai Xiaobo tried to speak up several times, but Su Chen just rushed into the kitchen, mixed the eggplant, prepared three large pots of fish with pickled greens, and then ran back to his office.
He didn’t say a single extra word to them.
This left Xiaobai and the other two a bit confused.
They waited in a daze until the end of the workday, but Su Chen still didn’t reappear.
"Go on home and eat today. The boss said he’s going into ’secluded cultivation’," Aunt Fang said, seeing the three of them to the elevator. "You head back first. I’ll finish cleaning up."
Bai Xiaobo asked nervously, "Aunt Fang, the boss isn’t going to fire me, is he? He’s not going to hire someone new to replace me, right?"
"What are you talking about!" Aunt Fang patted him with a smile. "The boss is under a lot of pressure. He has to cook and also plan for tomorrow’s reception. Don’t overthink it. You three just go home and find something to eat."
After sending the three of them off, Aunt Fang checked the power for all the office appliances one more time before leaving the company, reassured.
「The next morning.」
At six o’clock, Su Chen woke up naturally. He reached for the glass of lukewarm water on his bedside table and took a sip.
"Fifteen dishes, eight of them S Level."
At this hour, no one else had arrived at the company yet.
Su Chen went into the kitchen alone and methodically checked all the ingredients he would need from start to finish.
"The clients arrive at the airport at 11 AM and get to the company at 12 PM."
He took out some ingredients and placed them in a large stockpot. Some of the dishes required a rich broth, which had to be simmered over low heat for a long time in advance.
Not only that, but Su Chen had also created a schedule in advance, organized chronologically.
He had timed everything down to the minute: when to start preparing each dish and how long it would take before it could be served.
The biggest order since Meiweilai Company’s transformation was about to begin. Far from feeling the slightest bit of nervousness, Su Chen was actually brimming with confidence.
’It’s time to show them what I’m really made of!’
