The New Year quickly passed by, and the employees at Mingde received their annual red envelopes.

At the front desk of the branch office, Xu Wan had special treatment—aside from the red envelope, she received a gift box from Jin Yaotiao.

Upon opening it, she found a cookbook, specially designed for beginners.

Jin Yaotiao explained, “The dishes I usually make are a bit complex, and I don’t teach them in great detail, so they might not be suitable for you. This cookbook has recipes that are friendlier for beginners and can be a helpful reference.”

Xu Wan felt a little embarrassed.

Despite her hard work on New Year’s Eve, the dishes she made were only passable, and after tasting her own water-boiled goose, she realized her significant mistakes.

Jin Yaotiao had been teaching her cooking recently, and in a sense, she had become her mentor.

Xu Wan felt ashamed, recalling the box of dumplings her son had sent. “Were the dumplings not good enough? Qingming… even though they looked like that, he still gave them to you.”

Jin Yaotiao smiled and reassured her, “Not at all, the pork and cabbage filling was actually fine. It wasn’t bad.”

---

After the New Year’s Eve, Xu Wan’s dinner invitations became more frequent.

Sometimes, Shen Qiming would go, sometimes not, but either way, they met much more often than before.

One day, when Shen Qiming entered the door, he saw his mother particularly happy.

The aroma of scrambled eggs with tomatoes wafted from the kitchen.

Xu Wan, holding a cookbook, said, “Qiming, Yaotiao really ate the dumplings we made! She even said they were pretty good.”

Shen Qiming, holding a thick file from the company, was momentarily stunned.

He glanced down, and a barely noticeable smile appeared on his face. “Mhm.”

Xu Wan set the cookbook down, placed the scrambled eggs with tomatoes onto a plate, and looked at the finished dish with a sense of pride. “You know, the dishes in this cookbook are really easy to follow.”

As she spoke, she noticed that Qiming’s gaze was not on her but on something behind her.

Confused, Xu Wan turned around, but other than the cookbook on the table, she couldn’t see anything.

---

At the Jingmao campus during office hours, the special assistant was called into the office.

He thought there was some business for him to handle, but as he entered, he saw his boss working at his desk as usual.

Suddenly, the deep voice of Shen Qiming broke the silence, “There’s a book I couldn’t find at two bookstores. Can you have the assistant team look for it?”

The assistant immediately perked up.

If the boss couldn’t find it, the book must be something very special—perhaps an ancient text?

The special assistant quickly nodded and said, “Understood. I’ll get right on it.”

Two minutes later, he walked out of the office, seemingly in a daze.

His colleagues, concerned, observed him, asking, “Did the boss scold you?”

The special assistant shook his head and returned to his desk, opening Taobao.

His colleagues, realizing the situation, asked curiously, “Did the boss ask you to buy something?”

The assistant nodded. “Yes.”

“What is it?” they asked.

He typed slowly into the search bar: “Beginner’s Guide: Don’t Be Afraid, Learn Cute Home Dishes in Three Minutes!”

His colleagues stared in disbelief. “…What?”

---

At Mingde, Jin Yaotiao led Second Senior Brother and Ma Le through the formalities of joining the company.

At the time, she had been hesitant to accept Ma Le, especially when they were short-handed.

However, her decision was based on the uncertain attitudes of Second Senior Brother and others, and the fact that Ma Le and his generation were still tied to Shangjia due to family reasons.

In hindsight, her caution had been well-founded.

It seemed that even Second Senior Brother and the others hadn’t anticipated that Shang Rong and the old matriarch, Mrs. Xia, would treat their years of hard work so dismissively, taking them for granted without any gratitude.

Had it not been for her careful division of boundaries, she feared the uproar caused by Mrs. Xia would have tarnished Mingde’s reputation in the industry, even if the matter was eventually cleared up.

But now, with Second Senior Brother and the others publicly severing their ties with Shangjia, there was nothing to worry about.

Their collective departure would be seen as simply a career move, and no one could argue on moral grounds.

In fact, those who knew the situation privately might even commend them for their loyalty.

Jin Yaotiao could see that they had truly let go of Shangjia, and she also noticed her father’s deep affection for them.

Given this, she saw no reason to refuse their request to join Mingde.

The company was in desperate need of personnel, and having experienced professionals join would undoubtedly be beneficial.

Her initial hesitations seemed misplaced now.

With the addition of Ma Le and his peers, the pressure on the new training project she had been working on with Master Tu could now be eased.

The upcoming new stores would also have plenty of skilled workers, relieving her from having to slow down the company’s growth due to staffing shortages.

When Second Senior Brother and the others came this time, they also brought the certificates, medals, and trophies they had won from participating in various major competitions over the years.

Everything was carefully registered one by one, and the more it was logged, the more astonishing it became.

Working in a catering company, they were definitely familiar with some of the industry’s awards.

The honors that Second Senior Brother and the others carried, while not necessarily rare internationally, were enough to rank highly within the country and Shenzhen.

Where did Chairman Jin find such a group of big shots?

Second Senior Brother and the others, on the other hand, didn’t feel much about the honors they brought.

After all, no matter what awards they had won over the years, it had never changed their marginal position in the Shang family.

The reason they came to Mingde was because of the Senior Brother’s presence here. Mingde, after all, wasn’t as large in scale as the Shang family, and they hadn’t expected to receive better treatment here than at Shang’s.

However, they didn’t expect that after they arrived, Jin Yaotiao actually gave each of them a detailed explanation of the company’s policies.

The group of senior brothers initially thought she was being too businesslike, but when they opened the details and looked at the compensation section, they were all stunned.

“The head chef of a first-tier restaurant can receive a 5% share of the restaurant’s dividends each year…” Second Senior Brother slowly read out this section, finally landing on the last part: “…A chef with outstanding personal contributions may receive dividends from the company’s stock during their tenure…”

Sixth Junior Brother, dumbfounded, asked, “Does that include us?”

Jin Yaotiao naturally replied, “Of course. But, Master Uncle, given your experience, it’s a bit of a waste to stay in a first-tier restaurant in Shenzhen or Linjiang. Mingde recently established several new project teams, and I plan to let you all handle more important tasks. If the progress is successful, in a few years, you’ll receive returns beyond your salary.”

Sixth Junior Brother, unable to make sense of it, raised his head and asked Jin Yaotiao, who was standing across from him: “We’re not even close relatives, so why would Mingde give outsiders stock dividends?”

The atmosphere in traditional industries differs from that of emerging industries.

Although they were disciples of the old Master Shang, they couldn’t be considered true heirs of the Shang family.

Therefore, even though they had been with the Shang family for many years, their salaries and bonuses had always been decent. But they had never thought of being part of the company’s dividends.

Jin Yaotiao said, “Everyone here at Mingde, especially those who joined through apprenticeship, might end up staying here for life. Since that’s the case, we’re all family, so how could we be considered outsiders?”

Hearing this, the group of senior brothers looked up.

Jin Yaotiao smiled at their gaze.

As society has progressed, the ties between master and disciple, and between family, have become weaker.

It was only the older generation like Master Tu and Second Senior Brother who, starting from the old society, held onto their beliefs and cautiously gave up their own opportunities for development to dedicate their lives to a family that had no connection to their interests.

But no matter how they viewed the world, Jin Yaotiao didn’t plan on using this sincere loyalty.

To stay out of duty and to stay willingly were two different concepts.

In a traditional industry like Mingde, the first-tier chefs were the foundation, more important than anything else.

And with the lengthening of their careers, these people would only become more skilled.

When one day, the importance of the bonds between master and disciple faded, the only reason they would stay would be if they were unwilling to leave.

The stock dividends were both a financial benefit and a gesture of affection.

Only those who were considered true members would unwaveringly protect the stability of the company.

After completing the formalities, Jin Yaotiao got busy with other matters, and the group of senior brothers stayed behind, continuing to read the documents in their hands that they had already looked through several times.

Sixth Junior Brother, regaining his senses, smiled at Lao Er, who was sitting next to him. “After all these years, I never thought there’d be a day when we’d be treated as one of their own.”

Second Senior Brother after a while, responded with a hum, carefully stacking the documents he had already looked through, making sure the corners were neat, and he carefully tucked them into the inner pocket of his coat.

When Master Tu heard that the staffing issue had been resolved, he was overjoyed and came to the company to see the situation.

He had thought that Jin Yaotiao must have hired new workers from somewhere, but to his surprise, when he entered the company, he saw several familiar faces.

They were all peers, so how could he not recognize the prominent figures from the Shang family in Shenzhen?

When the two sides met, Master Tu couldn’t believe his eyes.

Jin Yaotiao had said the new recruits were here, but could it be that these were the big shots?

Usually full of confidence in front of his disciples, Master Tu was now stunned, his previously imposing figure shrinking into something that seemed almost fragile.

What he didn’t realize was that many of the big shots in front of him were looking at him as if he were a life winner.

Ma Le secretly introduced him to his father and several uncles: “This is Mingde’s Master Tu, the first master with shares in Mingde. Jin Yaotiao and my Senior Uncle are especially kind to him. He’s like family to us, much better than how the Shang family treats us.”

Master Tu, now feeling like a withered plant under the intense gazes, later heard gossip about the treatment these big shots had received within the sect.

His dark old face was immediately touched, with ripples appearing in his small eyes: “For the same work in the sect, I really don’t deserve such kindness…”

Even if it was only for the affection of Mingde, he would have to work even harder in the future.

After the staffing problem was solved, Mingde’s expansion plans for its branches in Shenzhen were finally officially put on the agenda.

Everything was progressing steadily, but there was one issue that hadn’t been resolved: the Shang family recipes that Lao Er and the others had brought with them.

The news of their mass departure from the Shang family had finally spread.

Regardless of how much Old Madam Xia had cried over the matter, the relationship between the two sides had completely broken, and naturally, Second Senior Brother and the others would not leave the recipes behind.

This time, both sides had truly severed ties.

It seemed that, unwilling to let such an important heritage fall into someone else’s hands, soon Jin Yaotiao felt the Shang family’s struggles.

On the internet, people initially discussed the chaos within the Shang family.

Due to Second Senior Brother and the others leaving, a large number of remaining apprentices at Shang family couldn’t get any answers and had been on strike since the end of the previous year, leading to almost half of the Shang family restaurants in Shenzhen being unable to operate.

The few restaurants that were still in business had standards far lower than before.

Zhenlong still had some reputation in the industry, so many people who didn’t know the inside story were curious about what had happened to the Shang family.

After some time of speculation, suddenly someone came forward and revealed that the oldest apprentices left by the Shang family’s old master had all jumped ship to Mingde, taking with them the valuable family recipes.

This immediately caused a huge uproar.