"The day I came to your house for breakfast half a month ago?"
Aunt Ling asked in surprise, "What serious thing happened? Was something stolen?"
"Part of the surveillance footage from that day was damaged. It was so badly damaged that it couldn't be repaired. We have so much stuff at home, we don't even know what's missing."
Si Jiuyin clutched her chest: "I always feel uneasy when I think about these strange things."
“Aunt Ling, your guest room is very close to the monitoring room. I remember you have good hearing, so perhaps you heard something.”
Aunt Ling was extremely worried upon hearing this, but due to her advanced age, she couldn't easily recall what had happened two weeks prior.
"I can't remember right now. I'll think about it when I get back."
She held Si Jiuyin's hand and comforted her, "You've survived so many ups and downs over the years."
"Don't be afraid, Aunt Ling is here."
"Even if I'm an old man, I won't let outsiders harm the Si family in the slightest."
Si Jiuyin gratefully squeezed Aunt Ling's hand back: "Luckily, Aunt Ling, you are my guardian angel here."
After breakfast, Aunt Ling massaged Si Jiuyin's bones. Her skills were truly superb. Si Jiuyin felt as if her whole body had been opened up, and she felt refreshed.
After the massage, Si Jiuyin changed her clothes and went out.
Seeing this, Li Han asked, "Mom, do you have any plans for today?"
Si Jiuyin then recounted what had happened the previous night.
"The head of the fast food project contacted three new suppliers, and these three held a showcase."
The food brands under the Si's Group have a huge demand for chili peppers. The suppliers' bases are all in other provinces, and the chili peppers are needed urgently. So the three suppliers decided to compete for the best at the exhibition.
"I'll go and check them out to see which one to choose."
Li Han stood up: "Wait for me, I'll go with you!"
......
On Sunday, the mother and daughter, along with their driver, Xiao Liu, inspected the suppliers of three chili peppers.
They sampled the 723 convenience store's signature stir-fried pork with chili and spicy braised pork rice bento boxes, made with ingredients supplied by the two suppliers.
"How does it compare to the original signature bento?" Si Jiuyin put down her chopsticks after tasting it. To be honest, she thought it was quite delicious. After all, this was her first time eating it since she transmigrated into the book, so she had no idea what the original tasted like.
"I feel like the taste is different from the original bento box."
Although driver Xiao Liu said that, he never slowed down his cooking speed.
"Yes, it's not that it tastes bad, it just doesn't have the original soul."
Li Han agreed with Xiao Liu's statement: "Maybe it's because I'm used to the original taste."
723 convenience store's bento boxes are delicious and cheap, and Li Han has eaten them many times since starting university.
Li Han suggested, "How about we go and take a look at that supplier who has been supplying the Si Group for many years?"
“That’s what I thought too. The supplier is in Gansu Province, which is almost 4,000 kilometers away.”
Si Jiuyin felt that the person behind this matter had planned it very well, and that there were many obstacles to her side in trying to completely solve the problem.
However, she was just waiting for the other party to make a move, because only by making a move could they reveal a weakness.
It's unclear whether this matter stems from business competition or has anything to do with He Qinqin Shiyao.
Upon hearing this, Li Han fell into deep thought. After a while, her eyes suddenly lit up: "When I was working in the student union in college, there was a junior from Gangu in Gansu Province. Her family was in the agricultural trade business."
"I'll ask her about it!"
Si Jiuyin raised an eyebrow. She had forgotten that the original owner's loyal guardian was also a socially adept, all-around warrior.
Not only did he have an amazingly high GPA in school, but he also served as the president of the student council.
"Okay, just tell Mom if you need anything."
Driver Xiao Liu exclaimed, "Miss Li, you truly live up to your reputation!"
Just as the three were discussing, a simply dressed, dark-skinned couple appeared at the entrance of the exhibition. They were cautious and lingered at the entrance, each carrying a burlap sack.
The security guard at the entrance put his arm around the couple and said, "Hello, this is a private exhibition. Please show your invitation."
"I...we don't, but we have something urgent to discuss with Mr. Si!"
The couple looked flustered as they faced the security guard, their faces pleading: "Please help us find Mr. Si."
"This is a matter of our family's livelihood!"
The security guard hesitated, saying, "Please wait here, I'll go in and talk to Mr. Si."
After saying that, he changed to another colleague for a job rotation and went to find Si Jiuyin himself.
After listening to what the security guard said, Si Jiuyin's eyes flashed with doubt: "Is it related to their family's livelihood?"
The security guard nodded: "Yes, they said they came from Gangu in Gansu Province. I guess it's related to the chili peppers."
"Please invite them over."
Si Jiuyin replied after thinking for a while.
Before long, the unassuming couple was asked to come over by security guards.
Both of them were quite flustered when they saw Si Jiuyin. The man spoke first, saying, "Hello, boss. My wife and I are from Gangu in Gansu Province. We grow chili peppers for the Liyuan Chili Pepper Base."
A look of surprise flashed across Si Jiuyin's eyes. The Liyuan chili pepper base was the very chili pepper supplier who had broken the contract.
"What happened?"
"We don't know either. They just said that the wages wouldn't be paid and the boss had run away."
“We don’t know what to do. There’s such a big batch of peppers in the base, they’re growing so well, it would be a shame not to plant them, but we don’t get paid.”
"Later I heard that people from your Si Group also came to cause trouble for the boss, but they couldn't find him and were in a hurry for chili peppers."
The woman chimed in, "We all came up with an idea: take over the base. We can still operate without the boss, but the profits will go into our pockets. Anyway, the boss owes us wages."
As she spoke, she untied the burlap sack she had brought, revealing a sack full of chili peppers. "Anyway, even though the boss ran away, the chili peppers at the base are still exactly the same."
"If you're worried, we can make a batch of bento boxes using the ones we brought."
Upon hearing this, Si Jiuyin's worries vanished instantly, and just as she felt sleepy, someone handed her a pillow.
However, Si Jiuyin did not give a direct answer, but instead chatted with the two of them casually: "I haven't asked your names yet."
The man quickly replied, "My name is Mi Fu, and my wife's name is Liu Guixiang."
Li Han secretly noted down what the two said.
Si Jiuyin reassured the two: "Don't worry, as long as the finished product tastes the same as the original flavor of the changed brand, we will contact you immediately."
The couple were so moved that tears streamed down their faces. They stood up and were about to kowtow to Si Jiuyin: "You are our savior! We traveled for a whole day and night in hard seats to get here. The people in the town even pooled together the money for our tickets."
Si Jiuyin quickly stopped the two of them and, after making the arrangements, instructed her assistant to prepare a hotel and dinner for the couple.
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