Chapter 291 - 199: Building a Core Team

Chapter 291: Chapter 199: Building a Core Team

"Oh, right, Brother Hui. I see you’ve gotten jobs for the whole Zhao family combo, so how come you haven’t arranged one for your own father?"

Zhao Xiangjun shot him a look. ’The "Zhao family combo"? Seriously?’

Zhao Hui just chuckled. He knew Chen Xiao was just teasing him.

As the Vice President of Junxiao Square, it was naturally easiest for him to arrange jobs at the mall. But with his First Uncle, Third Uncle, and Fourth Uncle all squeezed in, bringing Mr. Zhao in too would immediately form a Zhao family clique.

So, worried about the potential repercussions, he had let Mr. Zhao rest at home for a while. Besides, Zhao Hui’s income was very high now; he didn’t need the little bit of money his father would earn.

Chen Xiao wasn’t actually pressuring him to find a job for Mr. Zhao; he was just kidding.

"Are Third Uncle and First Uncle at the mall today? If so, let’s have them join us."

Zhao Hui stepped aside to make a call. He phoned his Fourth Uncle, telling him that their group was heading to the restaurant first and that he should bring Fourth Aunt over later. He also asked if Third Uncle and First Uncle were around today.

He could have had the office check the duty roster, since it was the weekend. If they weren’t on duty, they wouldn’t be there.

Third Uncle was in the Logistics Department and First Uncle was in Engineering. Their offices were in a separate area on one of the mall’s floors, not in the same office area as Zhao Hui.

Fourth Uncle said he’d ask, so Zhao Hui didn’t bother having the office staff check.

He followed Chen Xiao down to the underground parking garage. Chen Xiao tossed him the keys, telling him to drive his Brabus G900.

He then pulled Zhao Xiangjun into the second row with him.

Zhao Hui had only driven this car once before, back when it was first picked up, but he had never forgotten its silky-smooth handling and surging power.

Just as he settled into the driver’s seat, his Fourth Uncle called back.

Hearing that Xiangjun’s boyfriend was there, First Uncle—who happened to be on duty at the mall today—was in. Third Uncle wasn’t, but he insisted on rushing over anyway, repeatedly saying he would bring someone to pay the bill so that Fourth Uncle wouldn’t have to spend any money.

Zhao Hui was taken aback. ’Third Uncle is just being ridiculous,’ he thought. ’Bring someone to pay? This is a family dinner, why would you bring an outsider?’

He knew his Third Uncle had been poor for so long it had scarred him. For Third Uncle, if he could bring someone to foot the bill, why bother with trivial etiquette?

Since he was driving, he instructed his Fourth Uncle, "Don’t let Third Uncle bring any outsiders. It’s a family dinner tonight. I’ll pay."

After hanging up, he drove toward the restaurant. It wasn’t far, but the roads were already congested at this hour on a weekend. It took them almost forty minutes to get there.

He had booked a private room for ten people, which was just the right size.

On their way up, they brought two cases of Maotai and a carton of Venerable Emperor cigarettes from Chen Xiao’s car. These were now standard essentials in his vehicle.

The others hadn’t arrived yet. Zhao Xiangjun took charge of making tea while Chen Xiao and Zhao Hui sat and chatted.

Zhao Hui looked at the radiantly handsome Chen Xiao before him, his heart swelling with emotion. ’In life, if you want to get ahead, hard work alone isn’t enough. You have to meet a benefactor.’

Take him, Zhao Hui, for example. If he hadn’t met Chen Xiao, no matter how hard he worked, he would have been nothing more than a struggling laborer on a construction site. The life he had today would have been completely unattainable.

Zhao Hui thought about his life now, then about the old drinking buddies he occasionally kept in touch with. They were living in completely different worlds now.

And the source of it all was Chen Xiao.

It wasn’t just him. Liu Haoran, who had grown very close to Zhao Hui, often expressed the same sentiment: if it weren’t for President Chen, where would he, Liu Haoran, be today?

He probably would have been crushed by Peng Yu’s attacks long ago, suffering losses in both performance and profit this year, and ended up being criticized or even reassigned by the group company.

But now, Liu Haoran had not only been promoted to Group Vice President and Regional President of the Hanjiang Special Zone, but he’d also heard the group was planning to assign him several more branches to form a fifth major region in the country. When that happened, his position as Regional President would be truly glorious.

Liu Haoran was a smart man. He was now heavily grooming Xu Jia, the person at Yino Group closest to Zhao Xiangjun. During the recent brand restructuring, he had handed all the high-end brands over to her.

He hadn’t revealed this to anyone else, but while drinking with Zhao Hui, he had mentioned—and Zhao Hui wasn’t sure if it was intentional—that he was preparing to support Xu Jia in taking over as the General Manager of the Yinuo Jiangzhou Branch after some time.

Of course, since the regional headquarters was located in Jiangzhou, Liu Haoran would still be working from there most of the time, allowing him to personally watch over and guide Xu Jia.

A rising tide lifts all boats, as the saying goes. Xu Jia herself probably never imagined that a mere shop clerk from years ago would, after a series of meteoric promotions in recent months, have yet another huge leap awaiting her.

Zhao Hui told Chen Xiao that the renovations on the house next door were almost finished.

Because the budget was so generous, the construction team worked day and night to rush the job, drastically shortening the project’s timeline.

Chen Xiao nodded. He had given them a 500,000 yuan budget for renovations and furniture, an amount completely unheard of for a resettlement apartment. Zhao Hui added with a laugh that after seeing the newly renovated place, the kids at home were already starting to complain about their current house.

"It’s just a temporary place," Chen Xiao said. "I was mainly considering that your parents have a lot of friends over there. I was worried they’d get lonely if they moved into the city."

"Eventually, you’ll all have to move into the city. It’ll be more convenient for Xiangjun to visit. I’ll start keeping an eye out for a suitable place."

Zhao Hui was shocked. ’Is he going to give us another house?’ he thought. ’We just bought one and it’s barely finished with renovations.’

Chen Xiao just felt that the one-hour trip for Zhao Xiangjun to go home each time was too much of a hassle.

And she was so attached to her family; if she weren’t worried about him being lonely here, she’d probably be living at home every day.