Chapter 94

Near noon, Song Yue found a new email in her mailbox.

It was from Ruan Hao: [Mr. Song, the court has set a date for the trial against Ai Tao: Wednesday, the 17th. Attached is the court summons, please review it.]

Song Yue was about to reply with a "OK," but then changed her mind and replied, "OK, remember to call all the other colleagues from the legal department on Wednesday for a spot study session."

In addition to Ruan Hao and the male colleague from the Legal Department who accompanied him last time, there are two other colleagues who have no on-site experience so far. Song Yue feels it is necessary to let them observe and gain some practical experience.

On Wednesday, Song Yue was invited to attend an industry salon and was unable to go to court, so she asked Xiao Peiyan, the financial manager, to take charge of the case.

She took Secretary He to the salon.

The salon was quite large, as the mayor invited more than 40 companies in the industry, including Luo Baohua's Baohua Company.

When Song Yue entered the room, she found him in the corner.

Unlike his previous heroic posture, Luo Baohua now looked like a defeated rooster, with all his momentum gone.

Despite losing completely, Song Yue saw that he had no intention of giving up. There was a vicious gleam in his eyes, as if he wanted to expose her and her company.

Song Yue was too lazy to look at him again, so she turned her head and walked into the hall.

When the time came, the mayor began to give a speech, and everyone looked at the screen attentively at the names of past companies and their related introductions displayed one by one.

When it came to the page of "Boyue Office Co., Ltd.", Song Yue clearly felt that there were more ambiguous gazes around him.

"Is she the one the mayor singled out for praise a few days ago? She doesn't look that great."

"It's just a blind cat catching a dead mouse, are you taking it seriously?"

"They're just here to make up the numbers. There aren't a few of these last-place companies every year. Don't take them seriously."

It was basically not a good thing, and Secretary He felt very uncomfortable after hearing it.

She was just about to speak to comfort Song Yue and tell her not to take it to heart, but in the blink of an eye, she found that her boss was staring at the dessert next to him, with no sign of discomfort on his face.

Secretary He: ...

She was worrying too much.

After the mayor finishes his speech, everyone in the audience can chat freely and expand their network.

There was nothing Song Yue needed to expand her horizons. Boyue was currently flourishing, and in the eyes of her peers, he was a thorn in her side. Even if she wanted to make friends with him, those people would most likely not treat her well, just like what happened just now.

In that case, she could just eat as much as she wanted.

The desserts in City M are superb. She noticed it when she entered. There were all kinds of desserts on both sides of the hall, including macarons, pine cones, puffs, sabayon, Sacha Cake... Not to mention the background of this salon, Song Yue felt that this was simply a dessert feast!

So he ate happily without paying any attention to the mocking or contemptuous looks from others.

During this time, the waiter saw that she had eaten half of the cupcakes and considerately filled the plate: "Miss, you really like this little cake~"

Song Yue smiled and said, "Yes, this cake has a rich flavor and a dense texture. It doesn't feel greasy at all. Oh, and it doesn't matter if you feel greasy. There's black tea next to it. One sip will help you get rid of the greasy feeling."

As he said this, he drank the black tea in one gulp and gave the waiter a satisfied smile.

The waiter also smiled and said that as long as she liked it, then walked away.

After eating and drinking for half an hour, Song Yue finally gave up because he couldn't hold on any longer.

Looking at the untouched desserts on both sides, her heart ached.

She was thinking of buying them all up when an old man in a white chef's uniform came up to her.

"Miss, I heard from my apprentice that you really like the cupcakes I made?"

Song Yue was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

The old man smiled kindly and said, "Would you be interested in buying some, young lady? You can buy as much or as little as you want, the prices are very cheap."

After that, the waiter from before came over and kept helping, "Yes, miss, if you like it, you can buy some. My chef's craftsmanship is very good. There are not many people who can make this kind of cupcakes now."

The dessert business in City M is developing very fast. Cupcakes are considered a relatively traditional dessert here, and the market is not large. There is even a trend of shrinking year by year.

When Song Yue first came to this world, she bought 10 boxes of local coffee in bulk. During the purchase, she passed by a stall run by a young girl, which was selling these cupcakes.

She bought two at that time, but unfortunately the taste was not good.

So I thought that people in M ​​City couldn’t make authentic cupcakes.

But after tasting it today, I found that it’s not that there is no authentic taste, but that it does exist, but it is buried by other colorful desserts.

Inexplicably, Song Yue thought of the traditional delicacies of her country: mung bean cake, radish cake, osmanthus cake, pea yellow, almond tofu, golden cake...

So many old-fashioned desserts have been gradually squeezed out of the market by Western cuisine during the development process, and some have even disappeared from the public eye and become history.

Whenever Song Yue thought about losing this tradition, he felt regretful.

Now, looking at the old man with gray hair in front of her, she felt even more helpless.

"Master, can I ask how much your cupcakes cost?" She suppressed the sourness in her nose and asked politely.

It seemed that it was a rare sight to see a customer wanting to buy something, and the eyes of the old chef and the waiter lit up.

"If you buy one cupcake, it's 5 yuan each. If you buy 3 or more, the price is 4 yuan each. How many would you like to buy, miss?"

After listening to the waiter's introduction, Song Yue was surprised: "So cheap?"

Prices in M ​​City are not cheap, and they've been rising like crazy for the past half month. What can you buy with 5 yuan? You can't even buy a bottle of drink, but you can buy handmade cupcakes!

Are veteran craftsmen so worthless?

Song Yue felt a little distressed.

The waiter didn't notice her expression and said, "It used to be cheaper. Everything's been going up in price lately, so I asked the chef to raise the price by fifty cents. By the way, miss, you haven't told me how much you want to buy yet?"

No matter how much, even if you only buy one, it is a recognition of his craftsmanship.

The waiter's eyes were full of stars, showing strong anticipation.

Song Yue turned around and pointed at the filled iron plate: "Can I have 30 plates like this?"

Thirty plates?!

The master and the waiter were both shocked!

There are 10 in this plate, and 30 plates means 300!

How long had it been since they received such a large order? Last year? Or the year before?

No, it seems to be even earlier.

It was so long ago that the waiter couldn't remember when it happened.

His eyes suddenly turned red, he turned around, and his voice suddenly choked: "Master, your persistence was not in vain."

You see, there are still people who like to eat the little cakes you made!

Every year, as soon as he learned that City M was holding a salon like today, he would come to the scene to apply for a waiter position, and then take the opportunity to sell his master's cupcakes to those bosses.

But those people never even looked at him, let alone listened to his sales pitch. Once, he was even complained about and had to leave the scene on the spot.

He suffered a lot, and many times he wanted to give up.

But every time he took off his chef's uniform and wanted to say goodbye to this field, he turned around and found that the chef's kitchen was still brightly lit in the middle of the night.

At that moment, he swallowed all the bitterness.

He swore that he would keep making cupcakes unless there was no one left in the world who ate cupcakes anymore!

When attending salons, even though he knew that these bosses focused on socializing and almost no one cared about the desserts on both sides, he always had a thought in his mind: what if, what if someone noticed the small cakes made by his chef?

Even if there is only one, it is a recognition of their hard work and persistence.

Unexpectedly, today, he really waited for this opportunity.

He sniffed and saw the master wipe his hands, straighten his clothes, and then bow solemnly to the person in front of him.

"Thank you for your love for the cupcakes, Miss~"

After saying this, he straightened up, a smile flashing across his weathered face: "I wish your company's business will be prosperous and flourish."

The master quickly left the stage under the guidance of his apprentice.

This scene was still seen by many colleagues.

"Tsk, isn't this the cupcake maker? He's here to sell his wares again?" Someone sneered, shaking the wine glass in his hand.

"It seems that Mr. Song agreed. How foolish! This thing has no commercial value at all. I wouldn't even want it if it was given to me, let alone spend money on it."

"Oh, maybe he got a taste of the sweetness from the charity project last time, so he's probably trying to attract attention with a little cake this time."

"She doesn't think she can repeat the same thing twice, does she? Haha, if doing business was that easy, everyone would be rich."

"Forget it, why bother with her? A brainless woman like her will become our meal sooner or later."

A group of men gathered not far away and began to imagine how Boyue’s resources would be divided among them one day in the future.

After the salon ended, Song Yue took Secretary He's car back to the company.

At that time, the case against Ai Tao had already been decided.

The answer is no surprise, they won.

Ai Tao was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling public funds without authorization, involving a huge amount of money and serious circumstances.

Looking at the results sent by Ruan Hao, Song Yue curled up the corners of her lips and smiled.

You want to get away with sucking the company's blood? Dream on.

A day later, the ordered cupcakes arrived.

300 small cakes are neatly placed on the table, emitting the unique rich aroma of a mixture of milk and eggs.

A female employee who had never eaten this kind of cake couldn't help but feel curious, so she secretly took a photo and posted it online.

#Excuse me, what kind of cake is this? Our boss bought it, it looks delicious~[Picture]#

Soon I received a reply from an enthusiastic netizen:

This is a cupcake! A very old-fashioned and traditional dessert. How come I've never tried it?

The female employee blinked and replied: [No, this is the first time I’ve seen this.]

Netizen:

I used to eat this as a kid. It's incredibly delicious if it's well made! It's just that I rarely see it sold these days, sigh.

[By the way, where did you buy it? Can you recommend it?]

The female employee enlarged the picture, ready to see which company's logo it was. Secretary He came over and asked everyone to share the small cakes: "Six per person, everyone, bring your work badge to get one. This one is super delicious, Mr. Song personally tested it~"

A group of people were already extremely greedy, and they rushed over when they heard the sound, without any hesitation.

"Sister He, I'll do it!"

"I want one too!"

"Ah, don't fight with me!"

The employees who received it first couldn't wait to taste it, and to their surprise, this plain-looking little cake tasted amazing.

"Oh my god, I saw that this cake didn't have anything added to it, so I thought it would taste just ordinary, but I didn't expect it to be so delicious!"

"To be honest, I am... my eyesight is poor."

"A dessert of this quality must be very expensive, right? Mr. Song is spending a fortune."

"Let me see which dessert shop it is from. If the price is right, I'll buy some for my family next time."

Someone started searching online and found...

"Oh my god! Only 5 bucks each!!! Buy 3 and the price drops to 4 bucks!"

Is this price serious? Is it reasonable?

Do dessert shops still make money?

The employee shouted out the price, which immediately attracted attention.

"Are you kidding me? Only 5 bucks each?"

"I'll give you one more chance to reframe your words. Tell me the actual selling price!"

Since the price of goods has increased by 60%, they usually have to pay 7 or 8 yuan for a simple small loaf of bread. But this cake is big in size and tastes good, and it’s only 5 yuan? It’s really a conscience!

A group of people started placing orders while talking, and there was no sign of frugality from the outside world.

On the other side, Xiaoxi rode his tricycle back to the store. He parked the tricycle in the backyard and quickly took out his mobile phone to check messages.

On the way back, his phone kept vibrating, and he didn't know who was looking for him.

When I opened it, I was dumbfounded.

29 orders?!

And every order must be at least 3!

Oh my god, business is so good today!

He rushed into the store, waved his phone at the chef through the glass, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Chef! So many orders!"

On this day, Xiaoxi didn't know what was going on. The orders in the store never stopped coming in, and the computer would make a ding sound almost every few minutes.

He and his master were busy from morning till night, and only had time to check the news online when the shop closed in the early morning.

You won’t know until you see it, and you’ll be shocked when you see it.

The name of his master’s shop was actually on the trending search list!!!

#CupcakeShop: I declare this is my childhood#

His hand shook violently, and when he clicked on it, the comment section exploded.

[I would be really upset if you guys missed this one, understand?]

[The address has been given away, whoever doesn’t go will regret it]

[For 5 yuan, you can't buy a drink or a small bread, but you can buy a fragrant paper cupcake! I love this value for money]

I heard the store manager is an old man who has devoted his entire life to making cupcakes. I was moved to tears after hearing that.

This is a true craftsman, unfettered by worldly vanity, always pursuing a career they love. Just based on this spirit, I want to place an order with this old man too!

…

There were so many messages, Xiaoxi was so moved that tears came to her eyes when she saw the words of support.

Song Yue would never have thought that her kind gesture at the salon would directly boost the master chef's shop and lead to a significant increase in the turnover of the entire dessert industry.

The mayor looked at the recent industry data presented by his subordinates and couldn't help but wonder: "What's going on in the dessert industry? Has any company invested recently?"

With the current economic downturn, he really couldn't imagine which group boss would make such a decision.

Faces kept flashing through his mind until his subordinate spoke, and he was stunned for a moment.

"Mr. Mayor, no one has invested. However, I did find out that at the salon you hosted a few days ago, Ms. Song, the CEO of Boyue, ordered 300 cupcakes."

Mayor: ???

"From that day on, cupcake sales skyrocketed, and then similar products like chiffon cakes, mille-feuille cakes, cheesecakes... sales followed suit."

Mayor: ???

So, this boom in the dessert industry was ultimately brought about by the CEO of Boyue who was invited by him to the salon?

The mayor took a deep breath and then said seriously, "Please arrange a one-on-one meeting for me. The inviter will be Ms. Song from Boyue."

The author has something to say:

Cupcakes are just one example. In reality, many old traditions have been lost.