Jiang Tao watched gloomily as even his own employees, having nothing to do, stood at the entrance looking toward Ye Chen’s Hot Pot Restaurant.

"President Jiang, I think we should just give up. This Younger Martial Brother of yours is too formidable; we can’t beat him."

The partner was starting to buckle under the pressure.

He only had a total of over twenty million in assets. If they continued playing this game, let alone going public, he’d likely lose everything.

Although Qianmian had lost some money, he could still start over from scratch.

But if he truly lost everything, it would be the end.

Jiang Tao took a deep breath.

He had never failed in an investment before, yet today he had actually lost to a freshman.

Jiang Tao was indignant. He took another deep breath and said, "You’re right. We’re closing this shop."

The partner breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Jiang Tao continued, "We’re closing this shop, and then we’re going to open another one."

The partner was instantly stunned.

He stared blankly at Jiang Tao.

Jiang Tao said, "The Kyoto market is so large. Even if we can’t compete with him here, we still have the entire Kyoto market. We need to expand first and occupy the whole market. By the time Ye Chen notices, it’ll be too late."

The boss felt his vision go dark.

He had already lost so much on one shop, and now they were going to open more.

But since Jiang Tao’s capital was substantial, the partner naturally didn’t dare to voice any opposition.

Looking at Jiang Tao’s high-spirited expression, the partner whispered, "What if that Younger Martial Brother of yours also wants to expand?"

Jiang Tao sneered, "He expands? What would he use to expand? Don’t forget, I have more money than he does."

That evening, a post appeared on the Peking University forum.

"I Found Love While Eating Hot Pot

The poster was the same boy from before.

Although he hadn’t made it to a hotel with his girlfriend last night, they had officially established their relationship after eating Hot Pot.

After returning, the boy couldn’t suppress the excitement in his heart.

He usually liked browsing the forums, so he made this post.

"I have Hot Pot to thank for my love. It allowed me to kiss the goddess of my heart and find love. Most importantly, the Hot Pot was free."

"I’ve had a secret crush on my goddess since freshman year but never dared to confess, until we encountered the kissing event at the entrance of the Hot Pot Restaurant. I’m grateful to the owner for coming up with such a romantic event. Because of the Hot Pot, the goddess has officially become my girlfriend."

...The boy’s post was very long.

He wrote down everything from how he met the girl to coming to the Hot Pot Restaurant together and encountering romantic love.

After the post was published, it quickly became a hit.

"As a single dog, I actually cried reading this."

"So romantic! I’m going to invite my goddess to eat Hot Pot too."

"I’m going too."

"Are there any girls who want to go with me? I’ll treat you to free Hot Pot."

"Could it be that their Hot Pot has magic? Eating it leads to finding love."

The post spread rapidly. Not just at Peking University, but even at Huaqing University and many other Kyoto colleges, the legend that eating Hot Pot leads to love spread everywhere.

Many people had already made up their minds that as soon as the Hot Pot Restaurant opened tomorrow, they would take their goddesses to participate in the event... Ye Chen’s kissing event was a massive success.

The post was spreading quickly across various universities.

The story of Hot Pot love was becoming more and more mystical as it was passed around.

Ye Chen and Xia Yingluo were looking at the post.

"Yuyu said many couples came to our Hot Pot Restaurant today to confess their love."

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment. "How’s the success rate?"

Xia Yingluo smiled and said, "Not bad."

Ye Chen gave a faint smile. "A high success rate is certain."

After all, almost every college student knew about this event now.

If a girl wasn’t interested in a boy, she definitely wouldn’t go with him.

So, there was a logical reason why the success rate for confessions at the Hot Pot Restaurant was high.

However, many people treated it as something metaphysical.

They felt the Hot Pot Restaurant had magic.

"By the way, how about our slogan for the next branch be: ’If you love her, take her to eat Hot Pot’?"

Hearing Ye Chen’s suggestion, Xia Yingluo’s eyes lit up.

Ye Chen said, "Now we need to ride this wave of popularity and open a few more Hot Pot Restaurants."

Currently, the popularity of Ye Chen’s Hot Pot Restaurant was soaring.

Ye Chen knew that popularity would soon fade.

So they had to seize the moment.

Now was the best time for the Hot Pot Restaurant’s expansion.

Song Yuyu’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.

She seemed to see a lot of dividends coming her way.

One should know that the first wave of branch managers would all come from her shop.

How much in dividends would that be?

Song Yuyu could almost feel countless dividend bonuses floating toward her.

Ye Chen said, "However, we need to set up a head office now to make things look professional."

...After all, for a company to have scale, it must have a head office.

Right now they could run to the Hot Pot Restaurant, but what would they do when there were more branches in the future?

They couldn’t possibly visit every single one.

Establishing the company was simple; it just involved getting a license.

Ye Chen was the Chairman, and Xia Yingluo was the General Manager.

Xia Yingluo was very suited to be the General Manager.

She was studying Economics and Management, so she could handle everything.

Ye Chen was about to go abroad for a competition. By the time he returned, the company would be fully established... Film Academy.

Ye Chen and Li Sitong were walking on campus.

Li Sitong looked at Ye Chen carrying a Guitar and was a bit puzzled.

"Ye Chen, are you planning to play a song for me?"

"Of course not. As your Agent, I naturally have to make you famous."

Li Sitong gave a bitter smile. "I’m just a freshman. I have no fame and no works. It’s too hard to become famous."

Ye Chen nodded. "It is indeed difficult to get famous through acting, but we can take an indirect route."

An indirect route?

Li Sitong was stunned for a moment.

Ye Chen nodded and said, "To be a star, you don’t necessarily have to be a movie star. Isn’t being a singer the same?"

In fact, Ye Chen didn’t really like Li Sitong acting in movies.

He didn’t want his woman to be touched by others.

So Ye Chen thought of another shortcut: becoming a singer.

Hearing Ye Chen’s words, Li Sitong gave a bitter smile. "Although I’ve studied vocal music, I feel becoming a singer is even harder than being a movie star."

Ye Chen smiled faintly and said, "Who says it’s hard? With me here, becoming a singer will be easy for you." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The two of them arrived at a small grove. Ye Chen and Li Sitong sat on the grass.

Under the moonlight, Li Sitong leaned against Ye Chen’s shoulder.

Ye Chen said, "Let me tell you a story."

Li Sitong nodded. "Mm."

"In the north of China, there is a place called Mo City. There was a young man there who met a girl who also loved to dance. They fell in love and their favorite thing was to go to a ballroom to dance. But later, a once-in-a-century fire occurred, and the girl was consumed by the flames. Afterwards, people often saw a man at that ballroom, dancing alone, and he danced like that for decades."

Hearing Ye Chen’s words, tears were already welling up in Li Sitong’s eyes.

"Is this story true?"

Ye Chen nodded. "Mm, of course it’s true. That old man still often dances alone today. Your first song will be about the story of him and her!"