Chapter 64: Generous Compensation

But a problem was a problem. That was an undeniable, unavoidable fact.

An Chongwen quickly came to Li Xiao’s side and explained the situation.

After hearing the explanation, Li Xiao was a little speechless.

An Chongwen:

"But no matter the reason, it’s an indisputable fact that there was a problem with a dish from our kitchen."

"We absolutely cannot charge you for this meal."

Seeing An Chongwen bowing at a ninety-degree angle before him, Li Xiao hesitated for a moment before quickly coming up with a solution.

’If I insist on paying now, we’ll probably end up arguing about it for a long time.’

’Ten thousand yuan might be a drop in the bucket for me, but for most of my viewers, it’s a huge amount of money.’

’But I don’t want to lose my credibility over ten thousand yuan, either.’

’They won’t take it, and I can’t force them.’

’So, the best solution is to donate the money.’

Li Xiao nodded with a hint of resignation.

"Alright, Executive Chef An. Let’s just drop it."

"Since you’re willing to comp the meal, I won’t insist."

"However, I have to remind you that in addition to making excellent food, you also need to properly train and manage your staff."

"Otherwise, it’s easy for one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch."

An Chongwen apologized profusely once more before leaving.

The stream’s chat had already exploded.

"Well, well, well. He got a free meal in the end."

"He nitpicked two things about one meal and finally got it comped. What a clever trick, streamer, huh?"

"Are the people above being sarcastic? Did you forget the streamer just got 200,000 in cash vouchers and gave away 90 Pine Needle Crabs to everyone???"

"They didn’t forget, they’re just hating for the sake of it. It’s disgusting!"

"Exactly! Taking the streamer’s giveaways and still being passive-aggressive. If you don’t like it, get the hell out!"

"The streamer gives away hundreds of thousands without a second thought, and you think he’s desperate for 10,000? Some people must have rocks for brains!"

···

Seeing the comments in the chat, Li Xiao wasn’t surprised.

He had expected some people to react this way when he accepted the apology and the comped meal.

He quickly spoke up to stop the argument from escalating.

"All you haters, don’t be so quick to start barking. It’s true they wouldn’t take my 10,000 yuan, but that doesn’t mean I can’t spend it."

"Ten thousand yuan might be a lot to some of you trolls, but to me, it’s just the cost of a meal. Who would go through all this trouble just to save money on dinner?"

"I’m the kind of person who calls it like he sees it. If a dish is good, I’ll praise it. If there’s a problem, I’ll criticize it."

"I’ll point out issues when I see them, but I won’t invent them just to cause trouble."

"Besides, the restaurant definitely isn’t taking this 10,000 yuan, but I’m not keeping it either."

As he spoke, he opened an app on his phone.

Xia Country Charity

After opening the app, he quickly found the project he was looking for.

The Red Cross Love and Compassion Public Welfare Fund.

He turned his phone around, showing the screen to the camera.

"I don’t care how much the meal actually cost. Let’s just round it up to 20,000."

"I’m donating 20,000 directly to the charity fund."

As he said this, his finger tapped the confirm button.

Twenty thousand yuan was donated, just like that.

Seeing the "Donation Successful" notification, the trolls who had been looking for another opportunity to attack immediately shut their mouths.

After dinner, Li Xiao drove his three dorm mates back to the university.

Back in his dorm, he sent the recording of that evening’s livestream to Zhou Shishi on WeChat.

Then he opened his laptop and started playing a game.

After two matches, his phone screen lit up, and he raised an eyebrow.

’It’s been less than two hours since I sent the video to Zhou Shishi. I didn’t expect her to be so fast.’

He opened the video and checked it carefully, nodding in satisfaction.

Zhou Shishi’s video editing skills were even better than he’d expected. While it wasn’t on par with a professional team’s work, it was far better than what an amateur like him could do.

Li Xiao sent her a message directly.

"I’m very satisfied with the video edit. Also, your reminder in the stream today was spot-on."

"So, you’ve passed the interview. I saw from your resume that your home address is in Yangcheng. Are you in Yangcheng right now?"

Zhou Shishi hadn’t expected to pass the interview so easily, and her heart leaped with joy.

When she first got the call from Li Xiao, she worried he might be a scammer. But after watching the entire livestream, she immediately realized her fears were completely unfounded. Her new boss was definitely a super-rich heir.

After all, anyone who could give away hundreds of thousands in gifts during a single stream couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person.

She wasn’t a fool. For the same monthly salary of 10,000 yuan, working for such a generous boss meant that on top of her fixed pay, the perks were sure to be plentiful.

After all, if her boss was so generous to outsiders, he certainly wouldn’t be stingy with his own assistant.

She quickly typed a reply:

"Thank you for your approval, Boss! I live right here in Yangcheng. Is there an errand you need me to run for you?"

Li Xiao was pleased with her quick-wittedness.

"Since you’ve passed the interview, I’ll contact my lawyer and have him draw up a contract tomorrow. I’ll send you the address of the law firm; you can just go and sign it when you have a moment."

"The terms will be what we discussed today. Additionally, I might occasionally need your help with some daily errands, like mailing packages and things like that. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?"

If the salary for this job weren’t high and the work itself was very demanding, Zhou Shishi definitely wouldn’t have been so proactive.

But this job offered a high salary, a light workload, and short hours. More importantly, it offered a great deal of freedom with very few restrictions.

Therefore, Zhou Shishi wasn’t too concerned about Li Xiao’s additional requests.

"I’ll be at the law firm to sign the contract before 2:30 PM tomorrow."

"As for errands, as long as they’re not too far, it shouldn’t be a problem. I only have a small scooter, after all."

Li Xiao was no slave-driving capitalist. He knew full well that you have to feed the horse if you want it to run.

And if you wanted it to run fast, you had to feed it good grass.

’Mailing packages is such a pain. It would drive me crazy to do it myself. It’s better to spend a little money and have my assistant help.’

"Don’t worry, I won’t have you running errands all the time. Besides, that kind of work is outside what we originally agreed on."

"I’ll give you an extra fee for your trouble each time you run an errand. And you can just take a taxi or a rideshare for the round trip."

"Just keep the receipts or payment screenshots. I’ll reimburse you in full for these travel expenses when I pay your salary."

"Oh, and one more thing. From now on, your salary will be directly deposited into your bank account on the first of every month. Is that okay?"

Staring at the words on her screen, Zhou Shishi fell silent.

’Suddenly, she felt a little grateful that her previous company had fired her so unceremoniously.’

’Otherwise, she never would have found such an amazing job.’