After Jin Yaoqiao finished her task, she suddenly came across a post shared by Shen Qiming on his WeChat Moments and stared at it for three seconds.

She rarely uses this social media to post updates, and Shen Qiming does the same.

Actually, Shen Qiming seems even more dull; his WeChat profile picture is simply the logo of Jingmao Group. Therefore, his account looks like the official spokesperson for Jingmao.

Jin Yaoqiao clicked on the profile she hadn’t checked in a while.

On that official-looking page, she scrolled down, and everything was full of re-shared posts:

【”Huaxia Delicacies” is now showing, tune in every night at 8:50 PM on XX channel…】

【”Huaxia Delicacies” breaks online viewing records…】

【”Huaxia Delicacies” Episode 1 discusses what? Explore the infinite charm of food in Linjiang…】

【”Huaxia Delicacies”…】

【”Huaxia Delicacies”…】

……

Jin Yaotiao rubbed her forehead.

Meanwhile, the assistants and executives at Jingmao Group, who were part of the WeChat group of the boss, stared at their screens in silence.

After the silence, they all quickly scrambled to like the post.

At first, they weren’t sure if the boss’s account had been hacked, but upon looking at the comments, they found that one of the featured comments was from an employee whose profile picture they all recognized. It turned out they had done their homework recently.

The employees immediately understood.

The old chef from another province was quite pleased after the meeting.

He said to her, “I’ve gotten so many new followers and messages, and the new fans are so friendly, none of them are criticizing me for being clickbait.”

He had been tirelessly screening comments every day.

Jin Yaotiao smiled: “Really? That’s great.”

The initial meeting hadn’t really discussed much; it was just a way for people from all over to get to know each other.

However, there was a small incident during the meeting.

Halfway through, President Lu received a call.

When he saw the caller ID, he immediately showed a displeased expression and hung up the phone.

Jin Yaotiao, sitting nearby, noticed the call and glanced at the name. It seemed to be a company from the Shenzhen Restaurant Association.

After President Lu hung up the phone with a cold face, she casually asked, “Uncle Lu, did the restaurant association run into some trouble?”

She hadn’t heard of any problems in the industry, except for some issues with the Shang family.

President Lu sighed after a while and said, “It’s just a fight over fame and profit. You don’t need to worry. I still have a say in Shenzhen. They can’t influence me easily.”

Jin Yaoqiao felt that, despite his vague words, from his attitude, she had a sense that the issue might be related to Mingde Group.

But President Lu wasn’t willing to elaborate, and just smiled it off, telling her not to bother with such troublesome matters.

In Shenzhen, a member of the association looked at the phone that had been hung up and turned to ask a few friends beside him, “Are you sure President Lu went to Shenzhen Radio and TV to talk about the program cooperation today?”

“Mr. Wu,” one of his friends advised, “You should probably give up. President Lu has made it clear that he won’t change his mind, and besides, this is his own network of contacts.”

Mr. Wu furrowed his brow. “But this is an opportunity for Shenzhen to be represented. Our companies have been operating here for so many years—how is Mingde worse than us? Why should they steal the spot?”

One of his friends sighed and replied, “Actually, I don’t think Mingde is trying to steal it. They didn’t even take the Shang family’s recipes, and instead, they persuaded Chef Ma and the others to donate them for the benefit of the industry. They don’t seem to be greedy.”

This was why Mingde’s reputation in the industry had been high recently.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Wu fell silent for a moment.

“Then how did they end up getting the spot?”

His friend thought for a moment. “Maybe it was President Lu’s initiative to give it to them?”

Mr. Wu sneered, “Then they must have a lot of influence.”

Everyone fell silent for a while.

The program “Food is Heaven” was highly coveted by major enterprises in the industry.

In the information age, all industries are trying to expand their visibility, and the food and beverage industry is no exception.

Even the most traditional restaurant operators are striving to keep up with the times.

Everyone knew that President Lu had a recommended spot for Shenzhen, and while nothing seemed to be happening on the surface, secretly, many companies had been vying for it for a long time.

Before the turmoil with the Zhenlong family, the Shang family had already made a lot of efforts to secure the spot. They were even about to reach into local government affairs. If it wasn’t for President Lu’s strong position in the Shenzhen industry, known for his stubborn temperament, the local government probably wouldn’t have dared to offend him. It’s possible that the Shang family might have succeeded.

This situation was what many industry members found awkward in Shenzhen.

In other cities, you could invest some money and get ahead, but in Shenzhen, there was a major figure like President Lu.

While his presence brought conveniences to them, it also made it much harder to get things done when it came to networking.

Apart from trying to earn President Lu’s favor, there were no shortcuts.

So, when President Lu suddenly announced that the spot would go to Mingde, internal tensions in the association began to rise.

Those who initially thought they had no chance were fine, but people like Mr. Wu, who felt they had some leverage, were left unsatisfied.

If you looked at it objectively, his company wasn’t worse than the Shang family’s, even though the Shang family had a long history of being imperial chefs, which gave them a solid foundation in the local market.

But Shenzhen was a first-tier city, and it was full of rising stars.

There were many companies in the association that could compete, such as Mr. Wu’s, whose chain of restaurants had already expanded to surrounding provinces, and was now ambitiously preparing to go nationwide.

For companies like his, a channel to boost their visibility was incredibly valuable.

Therefore, after hearing the news, members like Mr. Wu couldn’t sit still.

The methods they had previously hidden began to become clearer, and they all tried to reverse the outcome before the spot was officially finalized.

President Lu, who had probably been annoyed for some time, had recently blown up about it, and now he wasn’t even answering his phone.

After the meeting, the staff member who had guided Jin Yaotiao earlier asked, “Ms. Jin, would you like to visit the studio to watch the show?”

She handed Jin Yaotiao a work badge, one that Ning Shun had given her.

Ning Shun had specifically come up to the top floor earlier, panting and seemingly unsure of what he was there for.

In the end, he left the badge for Jin Yaotiao, allowing her to enter the studio at any time after the meeting, without waiting for her to refuse before turning to leave.

Jin Yaotiao almost forgot about it, but the staff member’s reminder made her recall, though she had no interest: “I still have work to do.”

The staff member seemed a little regretful: “The tickets for the live show are really expensive, you know. The scalpers have marked them up to several thousand per ticket.”

Jin Yaotiao was somewhat impressed by the wealth of the fanbase, and she picked up the work badge to examine it, but still had no interest in going to the show.

As they passed by another meeting room on the top floor, where a financing discussion was happening, the staff member lowered their steps and nodded at the assistants waiting outside.

Many of them were focused on Jin Yaoqiao behind them. As she raised her head after inspecting the badge, they greeted her, “Hello, Ms. Jin.”

Noticing they were Shen Qiming’s assistants, Jin Yaoqiao nodded at them after putting down the badge.

She then heard them hesitantly speak, “…Ms. Jin, Mr. Shen’s meeting is almost over.”

Jin Yaotiao didn’t know why they were telling her this: “Okay, you wait for him. I have something to do, I’ll leave first.”

After saying this, she left without a second glance.

The assistants who heard part of the conversation exchanged glances with tears welling up in their eyes—

Oh my god, the boss lady is holding a work badge from a young man. Is she going to watch him record the show?

What about Mr. Shen?

A while later, Shen Qiming received a message in the meeting room.

He didn’t like being disturbed by his subordinates during work hours, but upon glancing at his phone, his pupils immediately shrank.

The leaders from the Shenzhen Broadcasting Corporation, noticing his sudden stiff expression, were startled and asked, “Mr. Shen, is there an issue with the financing plan?”

Shen Qiming spoke in a deep voice: “Sorry, the meeting will pause for now. I need to step out for personal reasons.”

He stood up and walked out.

His actions left the people in the room who knew him somewhat shocked.

Jin Yaotiao had politely refused when the staff offered to escort her to the parking lot.

She waved them goodbye, and as the elevator door slowly closed, she suddenly saw Shen Qiming striding toward her, followed by a large group of assistants, like sheep being herded.

He was tall and walked quickly, but still didn’t catch the elevator door before it closed.

Outside the elevator, a group of assistants stared at the descending number on the elevator display and looked back at him: “Mr. Shen?”

Shen Qiming paused for a moment, then looked straight at the safety exit door, yanked it open with incredible speed, and leapt from one staircase to another with a hand on the railing.

His suit jacket flew with his movements.

The assistants, left behind in shock, couldn’t believe he would make such an impulsive move, frozen in place.

After a moment, some of them looked at each other and held their hands over their hearts.

Oh my god!

So inspiring!

Go, boss!

After the elevator descended a few floors and stopped, the doors opened, and Jin Yaotiao was stunned to see Shen Qiming standing outside.

Shen Qiming entered, his clothes somewhat disheveled, his neatly styled hair now falling in strands, his sharp features cast in shadows, his eyes exceptionally bright, and his voice unsteady: “Yaotiao.”

The elevator doors closed slowly, and Jin Yaotiao looked at him: “Aren’t you in a meeting?”

Shen Qiming met her gaze: “I stepped out temporarily.”

He then quietly asked, “Are you going?”

“Going?” Jin Yaotiao was confused for a moment.

Shen Qiming’s eyes shifted to the work badge she was holding.

Jin Yaotiao, following his gaze, looked at the badge and remained silent: “You ran out just for this?”

Shen Qiming nodded.

Jin Yaotiao remembered his tone when he greeted her and Ning Shun earlier at the meeting room, feeling speechless: “…Was it necessary?”

“I remember him,” Shen Qiming said. “He was in Linjiang, and there were rumors about him with you.”

Jin Yaotiao was puzzled for a moment—did that really happen?

After a while, she remembered an event from years ago when she had asked Ning Shun for a ride and had been photographed.

At the time, she found it absurd, especially when people started spreading pictures of him standing by her car.

However, not long after, she refreshed the news, and those articles were suddenly gone.

She hadn’t thought much of it back then.

Now, however, she realized why those photos had disappeared.

So much time had passed, and she pursed her lips, looking at Shen Qiming with a complicated expression.