44. Onboarding
Mr. Jian arrived at the company half an hour early by accident, only to find it deserted, with not even the cleaning lady present. He had to make his own tea by pouring water for himself.
After taking bottled water from the Changbai Mountain cold spring in the office tea room safe, Mr. Jian moved the purple clay teapot aside and simply poured the bottled water into an ordinary glass kettle.
When the water reached 82 degrees Celsius, Jian's father took out a porcelain jar containing tea from the safe and used pure gold tweezers to pick out the Da Hong Pao tea from the mother tree inside.
Soon, a rich aroma of charcoal and the sweet scent of ripe fruit filled the 20-square-meter tea room.
Mr. Jian drank the first brew of tea in one gulp, and the fragrance lingered in his mouth.
He opened his phone's memo app to jot down the details of the relief sculpture's adjustment. After the high-level meeting, he would immediately notify the relevant departments to negotiate a specific plan for the adjustment.
However, as soon as he typed the first word, a news push notification popped up on Toutiao: "3 men fight over 1 woman! The fiancé of a billionaire pancake heiress brutally beats up a fried food tycoon in the street; a fried chicken prince joins the fray; the heiress tearfully pleads: 'Stop hitting her!'"
Jian's father paused, swiped open Toutiao (a Chinese news and information platform), and continued editing.
After typing the second character, Baidu popped up a news push: "Exclusive report! Billionaire fiancé and his mistress engage in a street brawl (with video). Pancake heiress defends her 'new love' and roars: Don't go too far!"
Mr. Jian rubbed his temples, opened Baidu News, and continued editing.
After typing the third character, a news notification popped up on Weibo: "[Breaking News] #ThreeMenBattle! Pancake Heiress's Fiancé Stolen by Fried Chicken Prince, Street Brawl Arrests Police"
Upon seeing the words "alarmed the police," Jian's father clicked on the notification with a grim face—
Yesterday evening, Leng, the fiancé of the heiress of a billion-dollar pancake conglomerate and the young master of a cold noodle conglomerate, got into a violent physical altercation outside a high-end restaurant in the city center with Ji, the heir to a fried chicken conglomerate, and You, the head of a fried skewer conglomerate. Bodyguards from both sides joined the fray, and the situation briefly spiraled out of control, eventually requiring police intervention. According to witnesses, the conflict appears to be related to the pancake heiress's romantic entanglements.
Full Reconstruction of the Conflict
Time: 18:30 yesterday
Location: Outside the Michelin three-star restaurant on Hexie Road
Act One: A Narrow Encounter
The cold-faced young master Leng and the pancake lady are on a date at a restaurant when the fried chicken prince Ji suddenly barges in, holding a bouquet of "golden fried chicken flowers" to express his love to the lady.
Leng's face darkened immediately, and he demanded, "What do you mean?" Ji sneered in response, "She likes crispy things; your cold-faced style has no chance!"
Suddenly, an advertisement appeared on all the advertising screens along Hexie Road, professing love to a fried skewer tycoon named You. He then pulled out a "diamond fried skewer necklace" and put it on the young lady's head, saying, "My skewers are tough and flavorful!"
Act Two: From Verbal Dispute to Full-blown Fight
Leng angrily stomped on the golden fried chicken flower, Ji angrily tore the diamond fried skewer chain, and You angrily smashed the crystal wine glass. The three of them immediately started fighting.
Bodyguards quickly joined the fray: the cold noodles group's bodyguards grabbed unsharpened knives and attempted a close-range attack, the fried chicken group's bodyguards swung folding chairs for front and rear defense, and the fried skewers group's bodyguards frantically sprinkled chili powder for a long-range attack, making the scene comparable to a pornographic movie.
The pancake lady tried to mediate the fight, but was escorted outside by bodyguards to watch from the sidelines, crying helplessly the whole time.
Act Three: Police Intervention
After onlookers called the police, three police cars quickly arrived and separated the three parties.
Since no one was seriously injured, the police only registered the incident and did not arrest anyone, but warned: "If you cause trouble again, you'll be invited to the station for tea!"
Mr. Jian quickly skimmed through the news, then closed it with a dark expression.
He took another sip of Da Hong Pao tea, forcibly suppressing his inner anger.
Since Jian Bing graduated, she has been indulging in romance all day long and has been reluctant to join the Jianbing Group to familiarize herself with the business, which has made Jian's father dissatisfied.
This time, the jealousy and rivalry among several lovers made headlines in the social news. As the central figure in the incident, Jian Bing did nothing but cry and showed no courage or responsibility as an heir. This made Jian's father completely disappointed in his eldest daughter.
That evening, instead of going on a romantic date with any lovers as it had been a long time, Mr. Jian returned to the old Jian family house in the North District and had dinner with his youngest daughter.
The dishes on the table were still the same four.
The cold dish consists of drunken crabs marinated in century-old Shaoxing wine for 49 days in the cellar of Lingyin Temple, with monks chanting sutras daily to purify and liberate the soul.
The main dish was steamed grouper, made from wild grouper that had just been airlifted from a high-end fishing ground in Indonesia two hours earlier.
The vegetarian dish uses the tenderest three-inch bok choy hearts selected from Jianjia Organic Family Farm for blanching.
The soup is made with cordyceps flower and old duck soup, simmered for 4 hours with natural low-deuterium glacial water sourced from 5100 meters above sea level in southern Tibet.
"..."
Seeing the familiar plating, the familiar recipe, and the familiar taste, Chu Xiao almost thought that time had turned back.
This meal, exactly the same as the one at the Yu family's house, successfully awakened some less important memories that she had gradually forgotten due to writing books for too long.
For example, when she was writing the book, she was lazy and only wrote about these four fixed dishes for all the scenes of dining for two people, without even changing a few words of the description of the dishes.
Now that I've transmigrated into my own novel, this lazy plot point has been faithfully reproduced.
Chu Xiao sat down in her seat with mixed feelings.
After seeing that his daughter was seated, Jian's father began to eat: "Xiao Fei, I heard that you recently invested in a business in Black Continent?"
Chu Xiao nodded, not surprised that Jian's father knew about his recent situation: "Yes, he's a bit interested in the mining industry over there."
Mr. Jian took a platinum ring box out of his pocket and handed it to Chu Xiao.
Chu Xiao felt that the ring box looked familiar. When she opened it, she found that it was indeed the "Pink Star" that she had auctioned off more than two months ago!
She didn't think much of it when she was bidding, but now that her father has bought it back and given it to her, she feels guilty.
Father Jian patted Chu Xiao's head: "If you need money, just tell Dad. Dad has money. You don't need to auction off gifts."
Chu Xiao tentatively asked, "The mansion in Bitley Hill, USA..."
Mr. Jane nodded: "I took the picture, it's still yours."
"..."
Chu Xiao sensed that something was very wrong.
For someone like Jane's father, who rarely comes home more than twice a year, to suddenly return specifically to have dinner with his daughter, and to do so with such extravagance, shows he's no ordinary person.
She asked directly, "What do you want me to do?"
Mr. Jian looked at his youngest daughter with a look of satisfaction, saying, "She's a promising young lady." He was very pleased with her reaction: "Come work at Jianbing Group. Your position will be COO and General Manager of the Supply Chain Business Unit."
Chu Xiao really wanted to refuse.
But having just been forced to accept her father's startup funding, she didn't have the confidence to refuse.
So she reluctantly accepted Jane's father's arrangement.
She remembered that Jian Bing's position was vice president, but she hadn't seen Jian Bing go to work in the past few years.
So even if she accepts, she doesn't necessarily have to go to work obediently... right?
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