Chapter 1679 - 1607: Taking Back the Restaurant

"The winter in South River isn’t as cold as in the North. The village doesn’t have central heating, but there’s air conditioning installed. However, the estate has underfloor heating," Marcus Quinn chuckled softly.

"There’s underfloor heating in the estate?" Athena was a bit pleasantly surprised. She didn’t like using the air conditioning in winter, finding it too drying for the skin and leaving hands and feet cold. With underfloor heating, she wouldn’t mind going barefoot.

"Yes." Marcus thought that even if there wasn’t underfloor heating, he would renovate to install it.

"Regarding the return of Fragrance Tower, it’s better if you don’t personally intervene. Just assign a lawyer," Athena thought for a moment and suggested, "As long as the losses on paper aren’t too severe, just take it back directly."

After all, they were father and son. Even though Duncan Senior was an embarrassment to fatherhood, Marcus was honest and not good with words. Athena herself couldn’t bring herself to do something like demanding assets, so after some consideration, she decided to delegate it to a lawyer.

"Alright, if there are any issues, we can intervene then." Marcus nodded.

That evening, Marcus entrusted Lawyer Wei, who had handled the matter before, with retrieving the management rights to Fragrance Tower.

Lawyer Wei had no cases these past two days, so he cleared his schedule and personally visited the Duncan Family.

The next morning, Marcus received a call from Lawyer Wei, indicating that there were some complications with Fragrance Tower. He suggested finding an esteemed intermediary to coordinate.

Lawyer Wei briefly explained the issue with Fragrance Tower. Over the years, Duncan Senior hadn’t sold the restaurant but secretly made deals with rivals, taking 50 million and selling the management rights and revenue of Fragrance Tower for twenty years. In essence, Duncan Senior took the money and washed his hands of the matter, while the rival, Imperial City Hotel, used the 50 million to acquire Fragrance Tower’s management rights, ruining its reputation as Imperial City’s top restaurant and poaching all the chefs, meanwhile establishing Imperial City Hotel as the top position in the industry.

Now, with the twenty-year term not yet expired, the issue has become rather troublesome; otherwise, Imperial City Hotel could cause a stir. The rival is now an industry heavyweight, not to be underestimated.

Marcus furrowed his brows, recalling last night’s dinner with Athena, and no wonder the business at Fragrance Tower was so poor—it had become the biggest pitfall in Imperial City’s dining scene. It turned out rivals were sabotaging it.

"Lawyer Wei, I’ll find the intermediary, let’s arrange to meet at Fragrance Tower," Marcus said seriously, "Also, be sure to invite Uncle De, who holds a twenty percent stake."

Uncle De was an outside disciple of Elder Quinn. Elder Quinn’s culinary skills were a family tradition, passed down to descendants but not outsiders. Uncle De was originally Elder Quinn’s assistant, having learned some real skills over the years, considered a disciple from outside the family.

When Elder Quinn moved to the countryside in his later years with Marcus, Fragrance Tower was basically operated by Uncle De. Seeing his loyalty and honesty, and having followed for so many years without setting up his own establishment, Elder Quinn allowed him to buy shares.

"Alright, Mr. Quinn." Lawyer Wei hung up the phone.

After hanging up, Marcus pondered who to find as the intermediary. In Imperial City, someone well-respected who could pressure both the Duncan Family and Imperial City Hotel had to be a heavyweight figure.

"Should we get someone from the Howard Family?" Athena asked after understanding the situation.

"Uncle Howard is in the political scene, getting involved in this might not be good for him." Marcus shook his head, feeling it’s somewhat inappropriate to repeatedly trouble the Howard Family.

"Then let Yeats Howard help find an intermediary. We don’t know others in Imperial City," Athena suggested.

Marcus smiled slightly, nodding, unable to resist embracing her, feeling she was like his little strategist.

"Find an intermediary? Someone who can handle the political scene as well as the business sector?" Yeats Howard, upon receiving the call, immediately thought of his family but saw Marcus directly rejected the idea. He scratched his head and pondered for a long time before slapping his thigh and laughed, "I’m such a genius. I know someone whom everyone in Imperial City has to respect."

"Duncan Family can’t stir up anything now, they have no power. The key is sorting out the Imperial City Hotel people. Do you remember the shop that sold pink diamonds?" Yeats Howard said.

"I remember," Marcus replied.

"In terms of business, finding Constantine Stewart is definitely right."

"Is the owner of that shop that impressive?" Marcus had the speakerphone on, and Athena couldn’t help but ask.

"Why are you two so clueless about the Imperial City’s situation? Don’t say you’re my brother and sister-in-law if you talk about it." Yeats Howard teased.

"A Frenchman?" Athena smiled knowingly.