Chapter 15: Chapter 15: First Meal Under the New System, Golden Soup Sauerkraut Fish

After breakfast, Su Chen took a short break.

He got bored again, and since Li Mingtao was pretty flaky, he decided not to wait for him and just called a meeting with everyone else.

When Su Chen announced his idea, everyone in the company (all seven of them) immediately raised their hands in approval.

’Hmph. When we talk about work, they all look so gloomy.’

But when the topic turned to food, they all got incredibly excited. So much so that the six young people—everyone except Aunt Fang—came up with a complete plan in a very short time.

And, at Bai Xiaobo’s suggestion, the six of them formed the "Foodie Committee."

The main purpose of this committee was that whenever Su Chen announced the day’s menu and prices in the work group chat, committee members could raise objections to the prices. Of course, the final decision still rested with the chairman, Su Chen.

Its second purpose was to help Su Chen prepare the three daily meals.

For example, Bai Xiaobo and the other male employee could be responsible for fetching various ingredients from the warehouse.

The other women could help Su Chen with things like cleaning up.

Su Chen didn’t object to the committee’s formation. In fact, he thought it was a pretty good idea.

The group of young people didn’t have much to do every day anyway. Since they all thought cooking was fun, they might as well have some fun together. The company was going to go bankrupt soon, so being happy was what mattered most right now.

So, after Su Chen announced the lunch menu...

The Foodie Committee immediately began to research an appropriate price.

"I had it at Wanda Plaza once. I remember the fish was 38 yuan per half-kilo. A one-and-a-half-kilo blackfish would cost 108. And that’s not including the side dishes."

"At a regular restaurant, a serving of Fish with Pickled Greens costs at least 58 yuan, and they skimp on the fish slices."

"But restaurants outside use freshly killed fish. We don’t have any live fish, do we?"

"Oh, get real! You really think they kill it fresh for you? Restaurants these days just use pre-packaged stuff. I’ve seen it before—a waiter took a fish to the kitchen and then brought it right back out and tossed it in the tank."

"No way, seriously? Which restaurant? I need to know so I can steer clear."

Su Chen shook his head.

’So the committee’s main job is just to shoot the breeze.’ As the chairman, he felt it was necessary to get them back on track at critical moments.

"Our company’s storeroom only has frozen blackfish fillets. I remember the purchase price was 20 yuan per half-kilo. Setting the price for the Fish with Pickled Greens at 30 per half-kilo isn’t too much, right?"

Su Chen proposed a relatively moderate price.

After all, everyone eating was an employee. There was nothing wrong with charging them a price close to cost.

"Not at all!" He Shuting was the first to raise her hand. "Boss, when can we eat?"

Bai Xiaobo nodded. "That price is very reasonable. A normal person can’t even finish a half-kilo of fish, especially since there are side dishes and soup. With rice, even I could probably only eat a half-kilo at most."

Liu Shengnan was busy suppressing a laugh and didn’t say a word.

’A normal person can only eat two big meat buns, but He Shuting ate four all by herself!’

’When the boss is cooking, are there any "normal" people? Everyone becomes a bottomless pit, okay?’

"Since everyone agrees, today’s lunch menu will be Fish with Pickled Greens, priced at 30 yuan per serving. Grains like rice will be free, as usual."

Su Chen clapped his hands. "Alright, everyone, let’s get moving! Bai Xiaobo, you’re in charge of getting ten... no, twenty half-kilos of blackfish fillets from the warehouse."

"Wait a minute!" Bai Xiaobo stood up, his previously excited expression turning into one of righteous indignation. "Boss, I have a new proposal."

"Oh?"

"I’m just saying, aren’t some people in this company going too far? Everyone else is working hard for their three meals a day, but some people can’t even stick to their posts for a single day and only show up at mealtimes. And it’s one thing to show up to eat, but to bring so many family members along? I object!" After speaking, Bai Xiaobo felt smugly pleased with himself.

’That’s what you get for acting all cool and ignoring me this morning, hmph!’

"Er, um... Xiaobai, my Xiaobin can pay the market price," Aunt Fang said, a little embarrassed.

Bai Xiaobo quickly waved his hands. "Aunt Fang, I wasn’t talking about you. You’re the busiest person in our company right now—we’re counting on you for all the cleaning in the kitchen. How could I be talking about you? Besides, Xiaobin even helped me rank up this morning..."

"Brother Bo!" Xiaobin tugged at the hem of Bai Xiaobo’s shirt.

’You promised you’d help me with my homework in the office! How could you sell me out so fast?’

"Rank up?" Aunt Fang asked, confused.

"Oh... it means to study and then take a quiz to see if you can get a higher score," Bai Xiaobo said without batting an eye.

Su Chen was starting to get a headache. These guys were always going off-topic.

"I understand what you mean, but the problem is..."

No matter what, Li Mingtao was still a member of the company. It wouldn’t be appropriate to single him out for special treatment.

"I have an idea!" Seeing that everything was out in the open, He Shuting decided to make her suggestion. "Then let’s have employees enjoy an internal price, and family members pay market price. As for Aunt Fang’s son... why don’t we just have him join the company today? As a summer intern!"

"Great idea!" Liu Shengnan also raised both hands in agreement.

"Yeah, that works! At worst, he’ll just be an unpaid summer intern, hehe!" Bai Xiaobo winked at Xiaobin.

Su Chen clicked his tongue. ’Why does it feel like this company, despite having so few people, is constantly staging a palace drama?’

"It’s not a big deal anyway, you guys can decide for yourselves. Let’s get back to what we were doing. Liu Shengnan, you’re in charge of cutting the dried chilies into small pieces. He Shuting, you’re responsible for soaking the pickled greens and then washing them."

After assigning tasks to everyone else, Su Chen returned to his office, feeling quite pleased with himself.

He placed [Pickled Greens] and [Blackfish] into the synthesis slots.

’Wait, something’s not right...’

Just as Su Chen was about to synthesize, he felt something was off.

Based on the Fish with Pickled Greens he’d tasted before, eating the fish was one thing, but drinking the soup was also a very important part. A truly delicious soup had to be a "golden broth," a creamy, milky-white golden broth at that!

So here was the problem...

’I only have fish fillets. How can I make a milky-white broth?’

Su Chen thought for a moment, removed the ingredient "words" from the synthesis slots, and replaced them with new ones.

[Pickled Greens] + [Blackfish Fillets] + [Egg] + [Enoki Mushrooms] + [Glass Noodles]

He put in five "words" all at once!

"Synthesize!"

Admittedly, Su Chen was taking a bit of a gamble.

The main ingredients for Fish with Pickled Greens are pickled greens and fish. Adding other ingredients meant it would no longer be the purest form of the dish. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But given the circumstances, many dishes had to be modified.

As the shimmering light faded, a purple box appeared.

[Fish with Pickled Greens in Golden Broth]

"It worked!"

Su Chen pumped his fist. His gamble had paid off!

Unfortunately, his time in the Gourmet Practice Room for the day was already used up. Su Chen could only lie back in his chair and mentally review the recipe, contemplating how to make the dish.

’Being the boss is pretty sweet...’

As he mulled it over, Su Chen found it somewhat amusing.

At his own company, he could delegate all the tasks he didn’t want to do, like prepping ingredients and washing vegetables, to his employees. Even washing the pots after eating was handled by someone else.

And since the employees were the ones eating, this was even better than running a restaurant.

After all, the employee isn’t king.

’If only things could stay like this forever...’

Getting to enjoy the fun of making delicious food and also eating it... this was the good life!

It had to be said, the allure of good food was a powerful motivator. Everyone worked with great energy.

In just half an hour, Bai Xiaobo called Su Chen to the kitchen.

As he passed the dining area, Su Chen noticed that someone—he didn’t know who—had used the office printer to print an A4 sheet of paper and taped it to the door.

[Show Employee ID for Staff Discount]

[Today’s Lunch: Fish with Pickled Greens]

[Price: 30 Yuan (Staff Price) / 48 Yuan]