June was fast approaching, and Feng Haidong had already planned to bring his wife and children to the provincial capital for Children's Day weekend.

On the one hand, it's to let the children celebrate Children's Day, but more importantly, it's to celebrate my son's birthday.

In 1997, it was his son's tenth birthday, and Feng Haidong felt he should give his son a proper celebration.

In his previous life, Feng Haidong didn't pay much attention to things like celebrating his son's birthday when he was a child.

Most of the time, it's my wife and her family who remember my son's birthday.

Feng Haidong now feels that he spends most of the month away from home and cannot spend enough time with his son, so he still wants to make sure his son has a proper celebration on such an important occasion as his tenth birthday.

While Feng Haidong was making his plans, he didn't see his waiters being poached, but instead, someone wanted to poach Song Rui.

Song Rui stammered as he recounted the events to Feng Haidong.

This didn't surprise Feng Haidong much.

"Song Rui, don't be nervous. Actually, I'm not surprised at all. If no one tries to poach you, it would mean our store isn't successful enough."

Upon hearing Feng Haidong's words, Song Rui immediately replied, "Brother Feng, don't worry, I definitely won't leave. I'm not the kind of person who forgets kindness."

Feng Haidong patted Song Rui and said, "I know you are the only one I brought from home. I trust you, which is why I brought you to the provincial capital and taught you a lot about the kitchen, so you can know how to make grilled fish, crayfish and some barbecue."

Song Rui said, "I know, Brother Feng, you're good to me, and I know that too, so I definitely won't go to other stores."

Feng Haidong smiled and said, "What if I wanted you to go?"

Song Rui was stunned for a moment, and looked at Feng Haidong in disbelief.

"Brother Feng, what... what do you mean? You're not going to let me work for you anymore?"

Feng Haidong said, "Of course not. I hope you can go out and see other stores, see how they operate, and also bring some technology so that other stores can also have business, so that your brother-in-law Jianxing's crayfish can have a stable sales channel."

Song Rui was still somewhat puzzled after hearing Feng Haidong's words. He didn't understand Feng Haidong's specific plans.

Feng Haidong smiled and said, "Song Rui, you should be able to see that the market in the provincial capital is huge, and it will be even bigger in the future because many people will flock to the provincial capital. The large influx of people will make the market in the provincial capital continue to grow, so my store alone can't handle the business."

Since other business owners want to poach you, I hope you'll go. Going out there might open up a wider world for you, and you'll be able to better promote crayfish, making it more acceptable and appealing to more people. This way, your brother-in-law Jianxing's income from crayfish farming will be more stable.

This time, Song Rui finally understood. He realized that Feng Haidong's decision to have him poached seemed to be part of a larger scheme.

Feng Haidong could tell that Song Rui was beginning to understand what he meant.

He continued to say to Song Rui, "You'll see a bigger world when you go out there. Look at you, staying in my shop, always wandering around in the kitchen, spending your days either in the shop or going home. I don't think that's good. You're a man, and you're so young. I don't want you to stay cooped up here with me."

I hope you go out and see more of the world, so you can have better career prospects, and maybe even open your own shop and be your own boss someday.

Looking at Feng Haidong, Song Rui realized that Feng Haidong did not treat him as an employee.

From the moment Feng Haidong brought him out of his home, he hoped that he could go out into a wider world.

Therefore, in Feng Haidong's eyes, Song Rui was not his employee, but his friend and younger brother.

Song Rui bowed deeply to Feng Haidong: "Brother Feng, thank you. I understand what you said. I will get out of this situation."

Then Song Rui asked, "But Brother Feng, after I leave, you'll be all alone in this back. Will you be able to manage?"

Feng Haidong laughed and said, "What's wrong with that? I'll just find someone else to come and help."

At this point, Feng Haidong suddenly said, "You've reminded me. I think instead of letting others come to my shop to learn from me and poach my staff, I could open a training class to teach people how to cook crayfish and grilled fish. Then my kitchen won't be short-staffed."

Song Rui was amused by Feng Haidong's sudden idea.

"Brother Feng, if you do this, won't the streets be full of crayfish restaurants? Won't they steal all your customers?"

After a pause, Song Rui continued, "Isn't there an old saying, 'Teach your apprentice, and you'll starve'?"

Feng Haidong chuckled and said, "What's there to be afraid of? At worst, your brother Feng will go back and raise shrimp with your brother-in-law Jianxing. Then we'll supply the shops in the provincial capital that have learned my skills. If I want to raise prices for them, I can raise them however much I want, right?"

Song Rui was terrified: "Brother Feng, that was a really ruthless move of yours!"

Feng Haidong said, "This was just a joke between my brother and me. How could I possibly monopolize the crayfish supply? If the crayfish business really becomes even more booming, many people will definitely start farming them. At that time, I simply won't be able to control the market. So I'm just daydreaming."

Song Rui said, "Brother Feng, but I believe you can still make money."

Feng Haidong smiled and said, "Of course."

Next, Feng Haidong gave Song Rui some advice, teaching him how to negotiate with the boss who wanted to poach him, so that the boss would not only pay him a monthly salary, but also give him a 10% or 20% cut.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!