Su Yan smiled and said, "Satisfied, very satisfied, thank you, Boss Zhu."

She had already decided on the shape of the plaque, which would definitely cost twenty or thirty yuan; Zhu Gongcheng's sincerity was more than enough.

Zhu Gongcheng followed up by asking, "Then, Mr. Su, could you leave your contact information? I can communicate with you anytime if I have any questions."

Su Yan did not answer him immediately.

She might not be able to answer Zhu Gongcheng's call, after all, the phone booth is far away, and what if she's not home?

After thinking about it, I decided that it would be more convenient to install a telephone at home.

"My house doesn't have a telephone yet. How about this, Mr. Zhu, if you have anything urgent, just send me a telegram. I'll send you the number once I get the phone installed. How about that?"

Zhu Gongcheng readily agreed and said enthusiastically, "It's nice to meet you all. Let me treat you to a meal. If you have any business in the future, please remember to introduce me to your business, Mr. Su."

Su Yan didn't refuse, and smiled, saying, "How could I let Boss Zhu, who just broke my bone, spend money? If anyone should treat, it should be me."

"No way." Zhu Gongcheng refused outright. "I don't have the habit of letting ladies pay for meals. Besides, you're not locals, so I have to do my best to be hospitable. It's settled then."

"All right."

It's just a meal; I'll treat you to a meal next time.

As luck would have it, the place where Zhu Gongcheng took Su Yan and her group to eat was Dian Dian Sheng Hui.

Su Yan and Feng Caixia exchanged a glance.

Su Yan blinked and teased, "Is Boss Zhu taking me to scout out our competitors' businesses beforehand?"

Zhu Gongcheng raised his eyebrows in noncommittal expression, "I think you're quite satisfied with my arrangement."

Su Yan remained silent.

Since she was going to open a restaurant, she needed to find out everything about her rivals.

She originally planned to eat at Dian Dian Sheng Hui tonight and at Garden Restaurant tomorrow, and also find someone to inquire about the two restaurants in detail.

I didn't expect Zhu Gongcheng to be so sensible.

To facilitate their conversation, Zhu Gongcheng requested a private room with a window so she could observe the layout of the restaurant.

Su Yan glanced at it and roughly understood what was going on.

The decor of Dian Dian Sheng Hui is almost identical to that of Mr. Chen's restaurant. The only difference is that Dian Dian Sheng Hui has better lighting and is not as dark, making it feel better than Mr. Chen's restaurant, but not by much.

It was lunchtime, and business at Dian Dian Sheng Hui wasn't good. There were only about ten tables occupied, and the waiters were all lazy and even dared to talk back to customers while serving the food.

Upon seeing this, she lost interest.

How long can a restaurant survive if it can't even do the most basic service properly?

In the end, if the business goes bankrupt, the boss can't blame anyone else; he can only blame himself for mismanagement.

"Holy crap! How can it be so expensive?!" Qiu Xiaorou exclaimed, holding the menu. "One yuan for a serving of vegetables? Are they robbing us?!"

"It's alright, it's my treat today. Don't worry about the prices, order whatever you like," Zhu Gongcheng said generously.

Upon hearing this, Qiu Xiaorou looked at him as if he were a sucker.

Zhu Gongcheng could no longer laugh, "..."

Su Yan looked away, picked up the menu on her side and glanced at it briefly, her eyelids twitching slightly.

Chicken feet 4 yuan (4 pieces per serving)

Beef balls: 5 yuan (3 balls per serving)

Pork rice noodle rolls: 3 yuan (3 rolls per serving)

Steamed pork ribs with taro, 6 yuan...

...

Aside from vegetarian dishes which cost 1 yuan, all other meat dishes start at 3 yuan. A few dishes can easily cover the food for an average family for three months or even half a year.

People with stable jobs may not be able to afford it, or rather, they are unwilling to spend the money on this meal, and the portion is pitifully small.

"Mr. Chen, aren't the dim sum sold in the restaurant made by the chef? How can they be priced so high?" she asked, puzzled.

This price is acceptable, but the portion size needs to be generous.

Otherwise, if it were a few big, strong men who could eat a lot, they would still be hungry even after eating a dozen or so baskets of dim sum. For that price, they could easily find a roadside stall and eat a dozen or so meat dishes.

Mr. Chen scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and said, "Mr. Su, you don't know, making them fresh takes too much time and manpower, and with manpower comes wages. So some of the pastries are made in factories and delivered to the restaurant. We just need to heat them up before serving. It's cheaper than making them by hand, and..."

"And they make a lot of money, right?" Su Yan said with a smile, "They sell simple snacks like shrimp dumplings for 5 yuan for 3, tsk, they're making a fortune, aren't they?"

Three shrimp dumplings cost less than one yuan to make.

Mr. Chen coughed lightly and said awkwardly, "Doing business is meaningless if you don't make much money."

No business can succeed without cunning.

That's all there is to business.

If you're working yourself to the bone for just a few tens of thousands of dollars, who would want to do it? Doing business isn't charity.

This is Mr. Chen's philosophy on business.

Feng Caixia found Mr. Chen's words unpleasant, but they made sense from a businessman's perspective.

However, seeing Su Yan's ambiguous expression, she knew that this girl did not think that way.

Qiu Xiaorou didn't understand these things and remained silent.

The atmosphere wasn't good.

Zhu Gongcheng quickly changed the subject, "Let's not talk about business over dinner. Let's just treat this as a friendly get-together. Boss Su, what would you like to eat?"

Su Yan ordered a few dishes without changing her expression, and then changed the subject to talking about buying furniture for the restaurant.

Mr. Chen said, "I've taken away all the tables and chairs from the restaurant. If you want to buy, you might as well buy mine. I was just about to sell them anyway, and they're still very new."

Su Yan has no special requirements for the tables and chairs; she can just use them if there are no cushions or decorations.

How many are there in total?

"Eighty sets, each set includes four stools and a square table, all black," said Mr. Chen. "I paid 1,500 for them back then, I'll sell them to you for half price, how about that?"

He originally planned to sell it for a thousand yuan.

"Great! Mr. Chen is so generous!" Su Yan said happily.

Before long, more than a dozen baskets of pastries were served.

It looked limp and the taste was just so-so.

Su Yan, Feng Caixia, and Qiu Xiaorou all felt the same way.

At the dinner table, all three tactfully refrained from commenting on the taste.

After leaving Dian Dian Sheng Hui and saying goodbye to Boss Chen and Boss Zhu, they took a taxi back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, Su Yan and Feng Caixia talked about what had just happened.

Qiu Xiaorou complained, "Those chicken feet aren't even as good as Aunt Juan's. How dare he sell them for such a high price? He must be crazy for money!"

"Ayan, if we price it that high, business won't be very good," Feng Caixia said worriedly.

Although a dish at Yunxiang Restaurant isn't cheap, it's generous in portion size.

"To be honest, I wasn't very full just now."

Su Yan stroked her chin thoughtfully and said, "Those pastries don't deserve the price. Pastries must be made to order. It wouldn't be wrong for our restaurant's pastries to be priced the same as Dian Dian Sheng Hui's, but I would give generous portions and guarantee a satisfying taste."

Feng Caixia was at a loss. "Why don't we go back and hear Tang Li's opinion?"

Seeing the glimmer of business, her confidence began to waver.