Chapter 328 - 143: Infighting Among the Socialites, Someone’s Going to Lose Face

Chapter 328: Chapter 143: Infighting Among the Socialites, Someone’s Going to Lose Face

Su Chen wasn’t worried about salaries. Although he only paid Zhang the Second and Liu Ahbao a base salary of just over six thousand.

But as the boss, Su Chen knew very well.

The revenue from just the 2nd and 19th floors would generate bonuses large enough to make them grin from ear to ear.

As for letting them buy shares, that was completely out of the question for Su Chen.

’My company is my company. No one else gets a hand in it!’

This was Su Chen’s fundamental, unshakable principle.

Chen the Eighth felt as though Su Chen had just rejected him, and a look of disappointment was hard to hide in his eyes.

Su Chen clapped him on the shoulder. "Eighth Senior Brother, don’t be anxious about this. I can make you a promise: as long as the company has a pastry category in its development, you will be the one to run it."

"Really?" Chen Wenliang’s expression immediately turned to joy.

"Yes. I never lie."

"Great! I’ll hold you to that!"

With that, the two shared a smile and got busy in the kitchen.

Pastries also required prep work. Take the lotus flower crisps, for example. As long as they timed it to the customers’ dining schedule, preparing them an hour in advance and then refrigerating them was no problem at all.

The Imperial Consort Cakes were the same.

They could be baked ahead of time and set aside. In fact, Imperial Consort Cakes were meant to be eaten cold to be crispy, and their color would be whiter and more translucent that way.

Compared to various culinary cuisines, pastries were relatively easy in this regard.

「...」

「Jingzhou City. The villa district.」

Four good friends were gathered together.

"Whose car are we taking today?"

Zhang Jiayi, applying a light-colored lipstick, said, "We can take mine. There’s nobody over in the Development Zone anyway, so it doesn’t matter what we drive."

Duoduo crossed her arms. "Jiayi, you have to go live today and teach that Sweet a lesson! I’ll call a few of my buddies. If she dares to do a co-stream with you, we’ll bury her with gifts!"

Just thinking about it gave Zhang Jiayi a headache.

"We’ll see when the time comes. I don’t really feel like going live..."

"You have to! Besides, you can help your little lover promote his company~ Hehe."

Seeing Duoduo’s cheeky grin, Zhang Jiayi playfully smacked her on the butt. "What do you mean, ’my little lover’? I think you’re the one who’s got a crush on him, right? I have his WeChat, you know. Want me to send it to you?"

"Really?" Duoduo perked up instantly. "You really have it? Quick, give it to me!"

Zhang Jiayi just snorted. "I knew it. I don’t have his contact. What I have is his company’s product manager’s WeChat. If I need anything, I have to go through the manager to contact the boss."

"Hmph." Duoduo waved a hand dismissively. "Forget it. It’s about time anyway, let’s just take your car."

The four of them went downstairs together and piled into Zhang Jiayi’s black G-Wagen.

The villa district was quite a distance from downtown, which in turn was a long way from the Development Zone. Given the total distance, Zhang Jiayi drove straight onto the highway to make better time.

Duoduo fiddled with her phone out of boredom. "Tch, I hate hanging out with this Beijing Circle crowd. Every one of them acts so high and mighty. Do they really think living at the foot of the Imperial City makes them royalty?"

Zhang Jiayi felt a bead of sweat form as she gripped the steering wheel.

’Back when your old man bought up an entire street in the Capital City, those young masters from the Beijing Circle never bragged about how awesome they were... Weren’t they all just saying how awesome your dad was?’

’You say you don’t like to hang out with them, but me...’

"But this event actually seems kind of interesting. Look, it’s starting!"

Duoduo had a TikTok live stream open on her phone. "The first segment is a cooking competition. Pfft, Master Sui will definitely win. There’s no point in even competing."

"What are the other segments?" Zhang Jiayi asked, her question not interfering with her driving.

"The second segment is a ’You Request It, I’ll Make It’ thing. A guest has to pick a streamer, then the guest and their friend do a co-stream where they request dishes for each other to cook!"

Interesting.

This kind of event was more about publicity than anything else; the entertainment value was more important. It didn’t matter if streamers like that one with the surname Bai couldn’t cook. If they burned the food, it would actually make for better content!

And those "friends" who could co-stream with the guests were mostly people with connections to TikTok’s official side. It was an opportunity to leech a ton of traffic, which was why this segment existed in the first place.

"I’m so screwed!" Zhang Jiayi suddenly got agitated. "Sweet is definitely going to try and co-stream with me during this segment! She knows we’re going out to eat today and there happens to be a kitchen we can use. She just wants to see me make a fool of myself!"

Duoduo was dismissive. "What’s there to be afraid of? Just stick to your naive-and-helpless persona. Burn the food, trip while pouring water—all the domineering CEOs eat that stuff up these days!"

Zhang Jiayi unconsciously pressed harder on the accelerator.

’I am NOT naive and helpless!!!’

Fueled by her anger, she completed the forty-minute drive in just half an hour.

After parking in the underground garage, the four lightly-dressed Jingzhou socialites had just called the elevator when the doors opened to reveal five workers inside, carrying tools and bed frames.

"Uh... what’s going on?"

The worker in the lead apologized, "The company’s rushing to finish a big project, so even their own employees are taking the stairs. Sorry for the trouble, ladies."

Then he closed the elevator doors.

Leaving the four young women standing there, stunned.

"What floor is the restaurant on?"

Zhang Jiayi swallowed hard. "The... nineteenth floor."

Damn it!

Duoduo glanced at their outfits. They were all wearing ten-centimeter high heels and light gauze dresses. Wouldn’t their perfect makeup be completely ruined by the time they climbed to the nineteenth floor?

"Let’s... let’s go! We’ll just walk slowly. Consider it an early workout for the day," Zhang Jiayi said, completely mortified.

She had considered every possibility, but never imagined something this ridiculous would happen.

Although the other three were displeased, they were already at the entrance, so they didn’t say anything.

"After we get up there, the boss had better give me a shoulder rub himself! Otherwise, I’m not letting this go!"

Fifteen minutes later, Duoduo stood at the entrance of Delicious on the 19th floor.

A look of pure vexation on her face!