Xinghe, the big boss, only frowned after hanging up the phone.

He actually knew that his request might be rejected by Mingde.

After all, Xinghe had recently used Mingde for self-promotion.

In any industry, when two competing companies go through such significant conflicts, unless there is a massive interest to resolve it, a deep enmity is bound to form.

But what huge benefit could he offer Mingde?

Not to mention that he had nothing to offer, even if he did, he wouldn’t want to give it.

The most he could give Mingde was access to markets outside of Shenzhen, but doing so would essentially create a future competitor.

Moreover, for a large-scale group like Xinghe, when they take the initiative to reach out, even if the intention is just not to offend the industry leader, a new competitor would usually step back out of understanding.

However, he never expected Mingde to reject him outright.

Thinking about the size gap between the two companies in the industry, he suspected this might be the reason for their previous conflict.

When he had agreed to repeat the same tactics in Shenzhen, he hadn’t thought it through thoroughly. He had focused on the buzz around Mingde, and back then, he even thought he was lucky.

After all, Mingde had just entered the industry and was a newcomer.

Compared to other established industry giants, this newcomer seemed like a stepping stone for Xinghe, someone who could be easily manipulated without considering the consequences.

After all, both companies didn’t primarily operate in the same industry—after Xinghe stepped on Mingde, what could Mingde do to retaliate?

But unexpectedly, this “newcomer” had actually managed to withstand Xinghe’s tactics, and had even easily captured the Shenzhen market that Xinghe had long been eyeing.

Given Xinghe’s market share in the country, abandoning Shenzhen wasn’t impossible. The foundation in other cities was strong enough for Xinghe to dominate.

However, in business, if you don’t advance, you fall behind. While other competitors fought for the profitable markets, if Xinghe didn’t follow suit, they would lose.

The big boss tapped his fingers on the desk.

The Shenzhen manager, who had just been reprimanded, looked bitter as he crouched and said, “Brother-in-law, I wasn’t lying. The local competitors in Shenzhen are really tricky; they don’t take us seriously.”

The big boss snorted and took out his phone. “It’s just a new company. If they don’t take us seriously, we have ways to make them.”

The manager paused, confused. “How?”

The big boss gave him an irritated glance.

The manager immediately ducked, but noticed that his boss wasn’t going to hit him. Instead, the big boss calmly explained, “Although Xinghe hasn’t taken Shenzhen yet, we are one of the top companies in the country. You might not know this, but do you really think the people in Shenzhen would dare to ignore me?”

The manager nodded blankly. The big boss was definitely more respected than him in this regard.

He asked, “So, brother-in-law, who are you going to ask for help?”

The big boss found a number and dialed it. “I met a local businessman here during a wine gathering. I heard he has good connections. With Xinghe’s scale, we don’t need to handle some things ourselves. Just get someone else to do it, and these local businessmen will bend over backward to help us if they want to associate with us.”

The manager, having seen his brother-in-law’s influence in other cities, immediately became convinced.

The call connected, and the local businessman was very enthusiastic.

The big boss, remembering the man’s previous courteous attitude at the wine gathering, spoke with a confident tone, “Hello, Mr. Xia?”

---

Mr. Xia had been busy recently negotiating with the shareholders.

Most of the restaurants under the Shang family were now semi-closed, and the company seemed on the verge of collapsing.

With relatives scattering, he was worried about his future when he received the call from the big boss of Xinghe.

He was overjoyed, “Mr. Xing, I heard the magpies singing early this morning. I wondered what good news was coming. How did the wind bring you to personally contact me?”

He had hoped to build a relationship with Xinghe, though the chances were slim.

So when he heard that Xinghe wanted him to do something, he was even happier.

For him, it was a start to establish a connection, and if he could associate with Xinghe, it would be a great opportunity.

He immediately promised, “Please, just tell me!”

However, as he listened, his expression changed.

After the big boss finished speaking, he was waiting for a response when the local businessman’s voice turned dry, “Mr. Xing, I have some things to attend to, so I may not have time to help you. Let’s talk later.”

He hung up the phone and sighed bitterly.

Mr. Xia looked down at the bowl of Mingde tangyuan in front of him.

He sighed deeply and picked up a tangyuan to eat.

The soft, sticky skin melted like clouds, and the rich, slightly sweet filling filled his mouth with a fragrant taste.

The aroma was so strong it filled the entire room.

He never wanted to deal with Mingde again.

Back then, he was a social butterfly, well-connected locally, but just because of Mingde, he lost a friend and ended up in such a miserable situation that he couldn’t even get someone to eat with him. Now, he could only make tangyuan at home by himself.

But Mingde’s tangyuan was really delicious.

It was worth it for him to stock up on ten bags before the supermarket’s limited purchase policy took effect. Sigh.

Xinghe, the big boss, stared blankly at the phone that had been hung up.

“…I told you Shenzhen was a tricky place, didn’t I?” The little brother-in-law squatted on the opposite side, thinking for a moment, then spoke, “Brother-in-law, how about we go burn some incense first?”

Mingde, Jin Yao, and others were waiting for Xinghe’s tactics, but who knew that after the phone call, there was no further sound.

No one came to bother her, and sales continued to rise.

With the new cold storage and production lines in place, the following product output met demand, and the tight purchasing limits were finally eased.

Mingde’s new industry had entered the right track.

Recently, she began thinking about new things, like relocating her subsidiary’s office.

As frozen products expanded, the small department in the subsidiary couldn’t keep up, so her preliminary decision was to separate the department and establish a new subsidiary that would focus on this business, different from the restaurant operations.

This required a lot of manpower and space, and the current facilities were insufficient.

After handing the task to her staff, she had to rush to Shenzhen Broadcasting and continue with the production of a new program.

At the Shenzhen Broadcasting and Television station, as soon as she got off the car, Jin Yaotao spotted a row of business cars with the Jingmao logo parked not far away.

The staff member who came to pick her up explained: “It’s the new channel we’ve been promoting recently. Various investors have been coming to meetings here.”

Jin Yaotao nodded.

At first, she didn’t think much of it, but when she was taken to the lounge to rest, she saw a familiar assistant of Shen Qiming standing outside. She didn’t know how long he had been waiting.

When the assistant saw her, his face lit up with a smile: “President Jin, you’re here?”

Jin Yaotao was surprised: “Were you waiting for me?”

The assistant carefully handed her a thermos flask: “President Shen is in a meeting. I brought this for you.”

Jin Yaotao instinctively took it, and before she could ask what this meant, the assistant had already dashed off.

She walked into the lounge, paused for a moment, and then opened the thermos.

As she lifted the lid, the light aroma of chicken soup wafted up.

It was black-bone chicken.

It looked familiar.

The chicken pieces were unevenly chopped, but much more uniform than the small image she had seen on WeChat a few days ago.

There were also a few tiny goji berries in the soup, which had soaked up the liquid and looked plump and cute.

She stared at it for a while. Before she could think more, a message from the production team came in, so she closed the lid and went out to the meeting room.

To her surprise, as soon as she stepped out, she bumped into Shen Qiming, who had just exited the elevator from the other end of the corridor.

She stood at one end of the corridor while Shen Qiming stood at the other. As she opened the door, he had turned to the side, looking at the elevator display, but then turned to face her.

At such a distance, it was hard to see clearly, but Jin Yaotao could have sworn she saw Shen Qiming smile briefly. His eyes reflected the light from the elevator.

Then, he reached out, pressed the elevator’s door-open button, and seemed to gesture for her to wait.

Jin Yaotao did need to go upstairs.

Shen Qiming slightly lowered his head, withdrew his finger from the door-open button, and moved upward. His perfectly pressed dark gray suit exposed neat cufflinks and a watch, with slender fingers that seemed meticulously cared for.

He exuded the same indifferent, ethereal aura as his personality.

“The meeting hasn’t started yet. I heard you were here, so I came down,” Shen Qiming spoke in a low, steady voice. “Going to the top floor?”

Jin Yaotao nodded, and he pressed the button for the top floor.

The elevator doors slowly closed in front of them.

Shen Qiming lowered his eyes and looked at her.

Jin Yaotao remained quiet for a few seconds, then raised the thermos she was holding in her right hand: “What is this?”

Shen Qiming looked almost innocent: “Black-bone chicken soup. I made it. I heard you were coming today, so I brought it.”

It was really him who made it…

And he spoke quite a lot…

Jin Yaotao felt as if something had just crumbled inside her: “When did you start taking an interest in cooking?”

Shen Qiming didn’t answer immediately. He looked at her, and then suddenly smiled.

He spoke again, his voice still deep and calm: “Yaotao, there are many things I’m not good at.”

“But now, I’m going to learn them one by one,” he said, “Learning how to pursue you.”

In the meeting room, the provincial representatives who had met her before were already there, staring at Jin Yaotao as she entered: “President Jin, you’re here?”

Jin Yaotao smiled at them, placed the thermos on the table, and some people looked surprised: “Did you bring food?”

Someone checked the time and said: “It’s the afternoon, you should have some snacks. It’s fine, President Jin. The meeting hasn’t started yet, just go ahead and eat, don’t mind us.”

Jin Yaotao was about to refuse, but the old chef who had asked her to share his WeChat account multiple times insisted that she shouldn’t worry about them. When he saw she wasn’t refusing, he eagerly opened the thermos for her.

When the thermos was opened, the aroma of chicken soup filled the room.

Jin Yaotao hesitated for a moment, then drank a sip after the old chef handed it to her.

The others were seasoned professionals. The old chef quickly recognized the quality of the soup: “This isn’t made by you, President Jin, is it?”

Jin Yaotao nodded.

“The chicken pieces are cut fairly unevenly, looks like a beginner,” the old chef remarked, then sniffed the soup again, “But it smells good. You picked the right black-bone chicken, it’s an old hen, ah, I once wrote about how to choose black-bone chicken…”

He went on for a while, then realized he was talking too much. After a brief cough, he added: “It’s clear you put effort into cooking this, the taste should be pretty good.”

Jin Yaotao slowly closed the lid.

The fragrance of the chicken soup lingered in her mouth, and of course, it couldn’t compare to her own cooking.

But she had to admit, it was surprisingly good.

The harmony in the meeting room was soon broken as the representatives from other cities who had failed to be selected in the previous meeting were brought in by the staff.

Jin Yaotao saw a familiar face – it was Mr. Wu, the general manager who had attended Mingde’s new store opening. After making eye contact, Mr. Wu smiled and nodded at her.

Jin Yaotao also nodded back.

She had noticed something odd at the opening event—there seemed to be some tension between the club president and the association members.

Later, she found out that recommending her to the program had put a lot of pressure on the club president.

The old man was very stubborn, unwilling to back down even if it meant offending members. This caused a lot of unrest in the association.

However, the leaders from Linjiang were also resolute.

After hearing about the situation, they worked together to smooth things over.

There was a lot of behind-the-scenes tension within the Shenzhen restaurant association over this slot, leading to some disharmony.

The club president, of course, couldn’t have been entirely unaffected.

As a result, there was a new opportunity for competition, and Mr. Wu had finally emerged victorious.

When it came to comprehensive strength, he was indeed one of the top members of the Shenzhen association, otherwise, he wouldn’t have had such strong opinions about Mingde.

But now, his attitude had completely changed. When he saw Jin Yaotao in the meeting room, he felt a sense of gratitude and excitement.

Earlier, due to some misunderstandings regarding Mingde, Mr. Wu had said some things outside, but now, if Jin Yaotao wanted to bring him down, she could easily do so by using the club president’s recommendation, which would have been enough to ruin him.

After all, it didn’t matter whether they were recommended by Linjiang or the club president, to Mingde, it would have been the same.

But in the end, she didn’t pursue it, and seeing that he had been chosen, it became clear that Mingde had not specifically tried to eliminate their company’s chance.

This move had actually increased the overall goodwill towards Mingde within the Shenzhen restaurant association.

Mr. Wu, of course, was no exception.

He wanted to buy Jin Yaotao a drink, but in the end, he just waved from afar.

One reason was that he still felt a little guilty about his previous behavior.

The second reason was that, honestly, Jin Yaotao was a bit too attractive…

Without any familiar association members around, and since their companies weren’t particularly close, he felt awkward about approaching her alone.

But because his greeting seemed a little too distant, Jin Yaotao didn’t respond with much enthusiasm. Mr. Wu watched as she neatly placed her thermos in the corner of the lounge, regretting not having been more enthusiastic when he greeted her.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from one of the city representatives: “Are you Mr. Wu from the Shenzhen Restaurant Association?”

Mr. Wu turned around: “Who are you?”

The representative smiled: “I’m from Xinghe Foods, recommended by them. My last name is Liu.”

Mr. Wu shook hands with him, wondering why this person had approached him first.

The representative glanced in Jin Yaotao’s direction and gave him a knowing look: “Mr. Wu, I know how you feel. Mingde tricked you, but thankfully, they didn’t succeed in the end.”

Mr. Wu: “…”

He thought, “What the heck, someone must have heard me complaining before. Otherwise, why would they bring this up?”

In an instant, Mr. Wu’s biggest concern was that Jin Yaotao might overhear this conversation. If she did, he would have no face left.

He was about to explain, but before he could speak, the representative leaned in closer: “To be honest, I’ve never liked Mingde either.”

Mr. Wu was stunned.

Thinking of the complaints and instructions from the president of Xinghe before coming, he smiled faintly.

Pressuring Mingde wasn’t difficult—just pull together a few competitors from the industry, and it would be enough to make Mingde’s production lines fall into chaos and beg for a truce.

His own restaurant business in Shenzhen was one of the largest, and Mingde had forcefully snatched away a program slot that should have been his.

As long as they stood in the same place now, it was obvious that the two sides had been secretly at odds for a long time.

The representative, Liu, smiled at the thought. He was ready to move things along by talking badly about a common target—wasn’t that the start of any friendship?

But before he could continue, Mr. Wu abruptly withdrew his hand, his face hardening, signaling that he wanted nothing to do with him.

Liu froze for a moment, feeling humiliated. He quickly left and made a phone call.

“Boss Xing, these people in Shenzhen are so strange…”

Big Boss: “???”

Liu explained everything, feeling utterly embarrassed.

His brother-in-law, after hearing the full story, suddenly stood up, full of indignation: “I know! They must look down on outsiders!”