After the new employees completed their training, Xia Enruo assigned them tasks.
The position of manager of the Medical University Hotel was handed over to Tian Xiuli.
Zhao Minghui became her secretary and driver. Besides delivering goods, his other job was to accompany Xia Enruo to various business meetings.
The sweltering heat of August made Xia Enruo, whose belly was growing bigger and bigger, realize the pain of pregnancy.
Fortunately, they now have a car, so Zhao Minghui can give her a ride wherever they go, which is much more convenient. If it were before, she would have to walk or take the bus, and then this business would simply not be possible.
Xia Enruo bought a three-story villa with its own courtyard near the Yongning City Retired Cadres' Home. This is the only villa area in Yongning City, mainly a residential area for retired cadres. The environment is not only beautiful with a very high greening rate, but most importantly, it is very quiet and not as noisy as the military family compound.
The new house is mostly renovated, and the work was handed over to Meng Fei's construction team. Since the two were already familiar with each other, they communicated more smoothly.
Xia Enruo designed the interior of her new home in a distinctly Chinese style. She completely abandoned the currently popular light wood furniture and interior decorations, and specially asked Meng Fei to order a batch of rosewood-colored Chinese furniture from a factory in another city.
Gu Shaoxuan had been away from the military for a month due to routine military exercises.
Xia Enruo called him and made an appointment that he must come home on his birthday next week.
To prepare a birthday gift for Gu Shaoxuan, Xia Enruo ordered a top-of-the-line Toyota Crown from the Beijing office of Toyota Motor Corporation half a month in advance.
Because I had left my business card with the staff at the Yongning City Auto Show a few months ago, it wasn't difficult to contact them. The final price we negotiated, including the car transportation fee, was 216,500 yuan.
On her birthday, Xia Enruo found a newly opened Sichuan restaurant near Swan Lake Park.
Since becoming pregnant, she has developed a craving for spicy food. Even though the weather is hot, she still craves these foods whenever she thinks about eating.
However, she didn't invite anyone else to Gu Shaoxuan's birthday party this time. She mainly wanted to spend some time alone with her husband. After dinner, they could take a walk at Swan Lake and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
She directed Zhao Minghui to park the newly bought car on the road next to the park, preparing to give her husband a surprise.
He then took the cake and went to the restaurant first.
This birthday cake is a new design that she and her apprentices developed, and it is not currently sold in Yongning City.
As Xia Enruo sat down at her reserved table in the restaurant and placed the cake on the table, the other customers in the restaurant all turned their attention to her.
The waiter came over, poured water, and said:
"Comrade, is this a birthday cake?"
Xia Enruo smiled and nodded.
The waiter continued:
"It's so beautiful. I've never seen a birthday cake like this before in my life."
A couple of days ago, it was my boss's child's birthday, and they bought a pink box-shaped one from a state-run store. I thought it was really pretty.
Now that I see this, it's incomparable to the old one; this is practically a work of art.
When Xia Enruo was teaching her apprentices how to make cakes, she specially made a cartoon soldier image on the cake, which she designed herself based on her husband's appearance in military uniform.
They also painted some flowers, trees, and plants around it, and even made a machine gun, making it look exactly like military training.
This also celebrates the successful completion of his exercise.
"They're not available in the Yongning market yet, but they'll be soon."
The waitress's eyes lit up as she listened; she clearly really liked it.
"Where can I buy it? I'll be the first to go and buy it, no matter how expensive it is."
“A large Like Wan Jia supermarket will soon open on Yongning Central Street, and it will sell these products there. You can go and buy them when it opens.”
Xia Enruo took over a three-story restaurant that had gone out of business near the department store on Central Street. Since three restaurants had previously opened there, all of them had gone out of business, so no one dared to take over the business and it had been vacant for a long time. Therefore, she bought it from the owner without spending too much money.
The original owner of the house repeatedly emphasized that once you buy it, you shouldn't regret it, and he wouldn't refund the money if the business failed.
Xia Enruo analyzed the location and concluded that the main reason why restaurants here couldn't succeed was the wrong positioning. There were many restaurants on the central street, ranging from mid-range to high-end to low-end, and many of them were long-established restaurants that were close to saturation. The customers were too much diverted. New restaurants here simply couldn't succeed without a novel style and unique flavor.
Moreover, this shop occupies a large area and has high costs. If the customer flow can't keep up, it's only a matter of time before it closes down.
The central street has state-run stores and department stores, and most of the citizens who come here are there to shop, so there is no worry about not having customers if you open a supermarket on this street.
"You said a new Like Wan Jia Supermarket is going to open on Central Street? When will it open? The one near my house is always too crowded. I've been there several times and my legs are sore from queuing."
When it was my turn, many of the items I wanted to buy were sold out. It was really disappointing.
Xia Enruo was surprised to learn that the customer was a loyal customer of her store.
It seems that opening this large supermarket on Central Street was the right decision; the current four supermarkets are indeed too small.
"It will open in two months. This new store is huge, it's three stories high, and you'll definitely find everything you want to buy then."
"That's great! I'll have to tell my parents when I get home, and we'll go on opening day."
Xia Enruo ordered three hot dishes and one cold dish, and the restaurant also gave her two bowls of longevity noodles as a complimentary dish.
When Gu Shaoxuan arrived, all the dishes had already been served.
He was carrying a military bag and could see his wife sitting alone by the window from afar.
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