Chapter 389: Cafeteria Conversation

“Mm, everything looks great so far. It’s exactly the effect we were aiming for,” Wang Bin said with a nod.

“That’s good to hear,” Luo Xiao replied, nodding as well. The two of them stepped into the elevator together.

Inside the elevator, they happened to run into Wei Yan and Li Shen, who were coming down from the upper floors.

After arriving at the Mingri Group Cafeteria, the group got their meals and found an empty table to sit at.

“I heard that over the past couple of days, a lot of employees from other companies have been trying to eat at the Mingri Group Cafeteria?” Wei Yan said casually as he looked down at the delicious food on his tray.

“Yeah, I heard about that too. Some people even offered to pay their way in,” Zhao Bowen said, taking a bite of rice and then sinking his teeth into a chicken drumstick.

“I know exactly what happened,” Wu Yu chimed in after swallowing a large shrimp, smiling as he spoke. “It was someone from our group who took a photo of the cafeteria meals every day and compiled a full month’s worth of menus. Then they posted it all on a short video platform.”

“The next day, the post went viral. People from all over the city found out about it.”

Wu Yu was well-informed because the employee in question worked at Boring Short Video.

That employee had a lot of time on their hands. Every day, with six dishes served, they’d prepare six plates, carefully portion out each dish, arrange them neatly for a photo shoot, and take close-up shots of every item.

They did this for an entire month, then compiled all the photos into a collection and uploaded it to the short video platform.

The video was made with surprising dedication. Each photo was labeled with the exact date it was taken.

“So that’s what happened,” the others said with a chuckle after hearing Wu Yu’s explanation.

When it came to the food at the Mingri Group Cafeteria, no one knew it better than they did.

Top-quality ingredients, combined with chefs poached from five-star hotels—every one of them a seasoned professional. Of course the food was amazing.

Unfortunately, President Chen had already issued a directive: the Mingri Group Cafeteria was strictly for internal use. No outsiders allowed, not even if they were willing to pay.

If anyone really wanted to eat at the Mingri Group Cafeteria, there was only one way—join Mingri Group and become one of its employees.

The company managers at the table couldn’t help but wear proud expressions.

Once the cafeteria topic was wrapped up, Luo Xiao turned his gaze to Wei Yan.

“Manager Wei, President Chen assigned me a new project, but I don’t think it’s going to make any money. Can you take a look and see what’s going on?”

“Go ahead,” Wei Yan said, setting down his utensils and looking up at Luo Xiao.

Since it involved a new venture, he naturally took it seriously.

“Well, it’s like this…” Luo Xiao began, briefly explaining the situation with the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe.

As he listened, Wei Yan lowered his head and fell into deep thought. The others at the table also began speculating about President Chen’s true intentions behind establishing the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe.

After a while, Wei Yan came back to himself and looked up at Luo Xiao.

“President Chen’s decision to create the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe has a strong element of public welfare. After all, if he really wanted to form a high-quality troupe, he could’ve recruited seniors with actual dance or singing experience.”

“But he didn’t. Instead, he chose to bring in elderly folks from the community, which clearly shows a focus on welfare.”

Luo Xiao listened to Wei Yan’s analysis and suddenly understood. A flicker of admiration passed through his eyes.

“So that’s it. President Chen set up the troupe purely as a public welfare initiative, with no intention of making a profit.”

“Not quite,” Wei Yan said, shaking his head.

“President Chen is indeed doing public welfare, but that doesn’t mean he has no interest in profit. What he wants is to achieve both—doing good while also generating income. That’s the ideal win-win situation.”

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked you to hire professional instructors and carefully select elders who meet the troupe’s requirements. That shows he still wants the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe to have a certain level of performance ability, to be able to go out and perform.”

“If it were purely about public welfare, he could’ve just recruited the seniors, given them honorary titles, and called it a day. There’d be no need to go through all this trouble.”

“So, President Chen is still hoping that the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe can bring some value to the group.”

Wei Yan laid out all his thoughts and deductions.

“But if the goal is to make money, then how exactly are we supposed to do that with an Elderly Song and Dance Troupe? How many people would actually want to watch a performance by a group of seniors? Even if we put on a show, I doubt many would be willing to buy tickets,” Luo Xiao said, clearly troubled.

He was just a director, after all. When it came to business operations and management, he was still very much out of his depth.

Wei Yan fell silent at those words. Making a profit from an elderly song and dance troupe—so far, the only idea he could come up with was staging performances. But just as Luo Xiao had said, how many people would actually want to watch a group of elderly performers?

“I heard there are competitions for Elderly Song and Dance Troupes. I think we could try signing up for one. As long as the troupe becomes more professional and manages to place in the competition, it’ll build a name for itself. Once the reputation is out there, holding performances should attract a good number of spectators.”

Li Shen, seated nearby, offered the suggestion.

Luo Xiao thought it over, then slowly nodded.

“That’s a solid idea. Worth a try.”

As for this Elderly Song and Dance Troupe, he really had no clue where to start. Li Shen’s suggestion, while uncertain in outcome, at least pointed them in a direction worth pursuing.

Besides, the troupe hadn’t even been officially formed yet. There was no use overthinking things at this stage.

Right now, the priority was to find someone capable of managing the Elderly Song and Dance Troupe. Once that person was in place, he could hand over the reins. As for himself, his main focus still had to be on preparing for the new film.

…………….

Linshui City,

Teacher-training university Student Dormitory.

Yang Yaoyao looked at the barrage of comments in her livestream and smiled as she spoke.

“Auntie Wang, based on your child’s current learning progress, two practice books should be enough. Buying ten would just put too much pressure on them.”

“Auntie Li, your child’s only in third grade, and you’re already buying fifth-grade practice books? That’s way too advanced!”

“Trying to study directly in the livestream and doing exercises at the same time isn’t ideal. It’s better to give kids a bit of breathing room. You can’t push them too hard.”

“Uncle Li, this stream is only covering math right now. For English, you might want to check out some of the other livestream channels.”

“It’s eight o’clock. If no one has any more questions, I’ll end the stream here.”

Yang Yaoyao glanced at the chat. Seeing no new questions, she ended the livestream.

“Yaoyao, four more people took on the promo task today! That means Boring Short Video is spreading even faster. We’re one step closer to moving our livestream earnings up to Tier Three!”

Just after she ended her stream, Liu Weiwei wrapped up hers as well and came running over, excitement written all over her face.

“That’s great news!”

Yang Yaoyao couldn’t help but smile too. Reaching Tier Three would definitely be a big step forward.

“Hehe, it’s only eight o’clock. Let’s go out and celebrate—”

Liu Weiwei had only gotten halfway through her sentence when her phone suddenly rang.

She glanced at the caller ID. It was a call from Boring Short Video. She quickly picked up.