The subordinates who had gone outside to distribute food were coming back, chatting excitedly with the people inside.

“A handsome guy just showed up outside. He’s really tall, I think he’s almost 1.9 meters.”

“Yeah, he looks very aristocratic, just standing there and glowing. He’s even more handsome than the male lead in that popular drama recently. I didn’t dare go close, just looking at him makes it clear he’s not someone from our world.”

“It’s amazing that someone like him is here to get our Mingde tangyuan. Hehehe, Mingde is really something now.”

“It’s a shame there are only a few leftover tangyuan left. I really didn’t want to turn him away. I even wanted to go in and make a few more for him. But he seemed cold and distant at first, yet he was actually very easygoing, didn’t even mind the leftover tangyuan.”

Jin Yaotiao, who had been dealing with a few unruly elderly people, raised an eyebrow upon hearing such compliments. She leaned slightly to look outside.

Outside the nursing home’s iron gate, the cold wind was howling, while the people who had received free meals on the commercial street happily walked away, some even lifting their phones and cameras to take pictures of the courtyard.

She didn’t see the “shining person” her subordinates had mentioned.

Her brow furrowed slightly.

Meanwhile, Jin’s mother, who was wiping her hands and chatting with her father on a video call, looked a little embarrassed after hearing the comments.

She spoke to the subordinates, “How rude. It’s the Winter Solstice, how could you give someone these poor tangyuan? Plain boiled tangyuan without filling? Who would want that? It wouldn’t take much to make a few more with filling.”

One of the subordinates quickly remedied the situation, “That guy even drank the whole bowl of soup!”

Jin Yaotiao withdrew her gaze and calmly turned her head away.

---

Mingde’s dumplings and tangyuan on Winter Solstice received an overwhelmingly positive response. The next day, major media outlets in Linjiang praised the local business for its social contributions and encouraged other companies to follow their example.

The review process for Mingde’s new restaurant, Hidden Feast, sped up noticeably across several new locations in Linjiang.

Honestly, this level of attention was a bit excessive.

After all, which media outlet didn’t promote good deeds every day?

The public usually praised things briefly and then forgot. Jin’s father had even gone to the mountains in his early years, and his popularity wasn’t anything exceptional.

However, the people who received free food on the commercial street made quite a stir. Tourists from all over the country, with different tastes, had been pleasantly surprised to enjoy such flavors on a holiday so far from home.

They immediately shared their feedback online.

The two groups handing out dumplings and tangyuan even got into a heated debate over what should be eaten on Winter Solstice.

The regional rivalry quickly became a popular topic among netizens, spreading to cities beyond Linjiang.

One group argued that eating tangyuan on Winter Solstice was a cultish practice, claiming that dumplings were the proper food for the holiday.

Another group countered, saying dumplings were nothing compared to the long tradition of eating tangyuan in their hometowns, urging others not to be narrow-minded.

The argument was heated, but Linjiang netizens had a unique response. Many happily stated that if Mingde could make both dumplings and tangyuan taste that good, it didn’t matter what they ate on Winter Solstice.

On Winter Solstice itself, besides the nursing home, all of Mingde’s restaurants launched special holiday menus.

With the one-week limited offer, many locals, having watched the online debate, were drawn to try the food, and the three-flavor dumplings and meticulously made tangyuan received glowing feedback.

Out-of-town visitors, amazed by the menu photos, couldn’t believe the prices—88 yuan for a serving of dumplings and 68 yuan for a bowl of tangyuan.

They were shocked, saying, “You could eat until you’re stuffed for just 20 yuan back home!”

But the lucky few who had tasted it first-hand defended the prices.

“It’s not like that. We eat dumplings back home all the time, and we make them ourselves, but honestly, the taste isn’t even close to this restaurant’s.”

“Exactly! The three-flavor filling is amazing, the dumpling skins are packed with rich, fragrant broth, and you can tell it’s made with care. And their homemade chili oil—wow, I can still taste it!”

“The tangyuan is so soft and chewy, with the sesame filling—so fragrant! It’s nothing like those supermarket brands. If they sold the finished ones, I’d buy ten kilos to take home.”

Their comments had everyone drooling, and as the argument continued, more people became curious to try the food.

At the same time, a strong impression was being formed: there was a company in Linjiang called Mingde, and their restaurants served amazing food that made even the simplest dumplings and tangyuan taste extraordinary.

As a result, many local travel agencies began receiving inquiries from tourists about including a visit to Mingde’s restaurants in their travel plans, eager to try the local delicacies.

These inquiries were so frequent that they caught the attention of the Linjiang Tourism Bureau.

Linjiang, known for its scenic spots, was a major tourist destination, but food wasn’t its strongest selling point. However, now, it seemed that a restaurant from Linjiang had made a name for itself even in other provinces.

The tourism bureau quickly launched an investigation into the Jin family’s background and discovered that Linjiang was home to a family of renowned chefs.

Why not use this as a selling point?

At a meeting, the tourism bureau’s leaders used Mingde as an example to inspire others to dig deeper into the city’s other tourism potential.

Linjiang, a thousand-year-old city, had never stopped evolving and adapting to the times. After all, if they didn’t keep up with progress, they would eventually be left behind.

A week after the meeting, the approval process for Hidden Feast’s new store was fast-tracked.

Soon after, someone sent a favor to the Jin family, revealing that certain individuals had tried to block the progress of Mingde’s new locations. However, this unexpected turn of events rendered those efforts useless.

Though the identity of the person behind it was never revealed, Jin’s father, who was not in Linjiang at the time, had left all matters to his daughter, Jin Yaotiao.

She thanked the person for their kindness, already knowing who it was.

To be honest, she wasn’t angry at all—she was actually quite pleased.

The Cheng family had reached a point of desperation, and it was clear that the appearance of Hidden Feast was causing them a lot of anxiety.

Mingde was on the rise.

At the same time, she received an unexpected phone call.

On the other end of the line, a director who claimed to be surnamed Jia said he wanted to meet her.

He wanted to discuss collaborating on a food documentary.

---

When Cheng Chen received the notification from Lin Miao about the meeting, he sensed something was wrong, and instinctively the words “no food, no clothes…” echoed in his mind.

Half an hour ago, an old acquaintance, with whom his family had been cooperating smoothly in recent years, had contacted him.

The first thing the person said was a complaint:

“Xiao Cheng, do you know you almost caused me a big problem? If I hadn’t been too busy to give orders to my subordinates, I would have been in serious trouble. You should take that money back; I can’t accept it.”

After a round of complaints, Cheng Chen felt very passive. However, the money could definitely not be returned.

After calming the person down, he checked the information he received, and nearly got infuriated.

How did Mingde get so lucky?

They even got noticed by the Tourism Bureau during the winter solstice?

He had seen the success of the Yingyan restaurant after it opened and heard that Mingde was already planning new branches.

With Yun Ding and Yingyan having such similar positioning and such a small market, while he appeared calm on the surface, secretly, how could he not be anxious?

If he wasn’t concerned, he wouldn’t be spending large amounts of money working behind the scenes just to secure that film crew from Beijing.

It seemed like the tactics for Mingde’s new store were not working, and now, the documentary crew was calling again. What was this about?

“Enemies will come on their own…”

Cheng Chen blinked hard, shaking off the tune in his mind, his expression unpredictable. Could it be that the Jin family was trying to interfere again?

When his assistant came to find him and saw his unpleasant expression, they instinctively asked, “Mr. Cheng, what’s wrong?”

Cheng Chen blurted out, “Is there some kind of flag on me?”

The assistant was confused: “What?”

Cheng Chen snapped back to reality, feeling irritable, and asked, “What happened?”

“Mr. Jin is here,” the assistant said. “He brought little Mr. Jin with him.”

Mr. Jin referred to Jin Laosan, and little Mr. Jin naturally meant Jin Jiarui.

Cheng Chen felt frustrated just hearing their names. There were already so many issues, and Jin Laosan was always making things worse for him.

When they met, Jin Laosan immediately got to the point: “Xiao Cheng, you’ve been dragging your feet on Jiarui’s job for so long. When are you going to resolve it?”

Cheng Chen adjusted his glasses and gave Jin Jiarui a half-smile: “Didn’t I have him transferred to the logistics department?”

Jin Laosan nearly exploded with rage: “I sent my son to the Cheng family so he could work in logistics, moving ladders every day?”

Cheng Chen replied, “There are no other suitable positions for him at the company right now.”

He wouldn’t feel comfortable giving a position to anyone from the Jin family, especially someone who could even manage to handle their own company, let alone guarantee that they wouldn’t cause trouble for him one day.

Jin Laosan didn’t believe a word of it: “Xiao Cheng, don’t try to fool me. At least give my son a good starting point. He’s well-educated, how can he be sent to logistics? When he was at Mingde, he was in one of the most important project teams…”

Cheng Chen, thinking about the documentary, couldn’t be bothered to argue: “Mingde is Mingde, and the Cheng family is the Cheng family. If you think Mingde is better, you can send him back.”

Jin Laosan was left speechless.

Return him to Mingde?

Was that even possible?

He was so furious that his voice rose by two octaves: “Cheng Chen! I’ve invested so much money into the Cheng family, and I’m at least a shareholder here! Are you really going to treat me like this? Don’t you care about how others will see this?”

Cheng Chen found it amusing: “Don’t forget, those stores were ones you insisted on investing in. As for why you did it, I don’t need to remind you, right? With Yun Ding’s current position in Linjiang, we don’t need this investment. My father only agreed to let you join out of respect for our old relationship. How have you managed to get everything reversed?”

Jin Laosan stood there stunned.

He had invested in the Cheng family, partly to compete with his older brother, but he couldn’t understand why Cheng Chen would speak to him like this.

He said, “Xiao Cheng, you weren’t like this before.”

Cheng Chen glanced at his watch, stood up, and said, “When you were in the Jin family, we were in a partnership. But now, things are different. You’d better stop trying to act like the elder in front of me. I’ve got things to do. I’m leaving now. Feel free to do as you like.”

Jin Laosan, like the wind, left. He looked ten years older.