"Boss Su, may I ask one last question?"

"Please, go ahead."

Lu Yongliang took a deep breath. "If I may be so bold, which school of culinary arts are you from?"

He truly couldn’t believe that Hubei Cuisine of such exquisite skill could come from someone without a school or a master.

Su Chen shook his head with a wry smile. "Sir, I just follow recipes and add a little of my own thinking."

He wasn’t lying, just omitting the existence of the practice room.

But to Lu Yongliang’s ears, this took on a different meaning. ’He’s unwilling to reveal the existence of his master!’

As the number one figure in Hubei Cuisine, Lu Yongliang had been wanting to promote and popularize it for the past few years.

In order to bring Hubei Cuisine into the national spotlight, he had even proposed changing its name from "Hubei Cuisine" to "Chu Cuisine."

He constantly adapted and revised various Hubei Cuisine recipes. Logically, at his age, he should have retired long ago to enjoy life.

But he had still accepted the National Guest House’s invitation, traveling thousands of miles to the north just so Hubei Cuisine could have more exposure at major events.

But now, his prized steamed fish had actually been bested by a young man in such an accidental encounter. He didn’t feel defeated, though. What Lu Yongliang was thinking was...

’How can I lure Boss Su to E Province?’

"Boss Su, this is my business card. If I have the chance, I would love to visit your master. Oh, right, I was wondering if you have any time recently, Boss Su? E Province will be holding a culinary exchange conference. If you could attend, this exchange would surely be much more meaningful."

Shang Mingke frowned slightly.

’I haven’t heard of any exchange conference...’

’Could it be that the old man made this up on the spot just to invite Boss Su?’

Su Chen shook his head. "I can’t get away right now; the company can’t run without me. If I have the chance in the future, I will come and visit you."

As he spoke, he glanced down at the business card.

[Professor of Hotel Management, E Province College of Economics]

Hearing this, Lu Yongliang was quite regretful, but you couldn’t force such matters. "In that case, thank you for today, Boss Su!"

"It was my pleasure." Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

’Is this bizarre meal finally over?’

’Originally, it should’ve just been me hiding in the kitchen, cooking up a storm, and the customers out there chowing down. After they finished eating, they’d just up and leave, and that would be that.’

Instead, this professor turned the whole thing into some kind of culinary skill exchange, which was honestly a bit tiring for Su Chen. Not only that, but what Su Chen was truly worried about was...

’I’ve kind of stolen the spotlight!’

’Delicious’s client this time was Ling Shuyu!’

Ever since they entered the cafeteria, these two distinguished guests had barely exchanged a few words with Ling Shuyu. They had been talking to him the entire time. How embarrassing.

’I wonder how things are going with Ling Shuyu’s proposal...’

Seeing Su Chen’s silence, Lu Yongliang called out, "Mingke, let’s get a photo, the three of us! This is a rare opportunity!"

"Okay." Shang Mingke took out his phone and tapped it a couple of times. His assistant from outside quickly came into the kitchen.

"Shouldn’t we call President Ling over too?" Su Chen suggested kindly.

’I’ve been the main character for half the day. Not including Ling Shuyu in the photo would be too unfair.’

Lu Yongliang paused for a moment. "Sure."

Only then did Su Chen run to the cafeteria. He saw Ling Shuyu still sitting at the dining table, staring blankly into space for some reason. "Come on, come on! Your clients want a group photo, hurry up!"

"Ah..." Ling Shuyu still hadn’t recovered from her earlier setback.

Her proposal had failed, her worldview had collapsed—a blow like this... no one could understand.

She was numbly dragged into the kitchen by Su Chen. The four of them stood in a row. Lu Yongliang craned his neck to look and said, "You’re the boss, you have to stand here!"

He pulled Su Chen into the middle, with Shang Mingke and Ling Shuyu standing on the far ends.

CLICK!

A photo of the four of them was taken by Assistant Xiao Zhang. In the picture, Su Chen was smiling shyly. Beside him, Lu Yongliang was giving a thumbs-up in his direction.

On one side, Shang Mingke stood very formally. On the other, Ling Shuyu looked a bit dazed and out of it...

The group exchanged a few more pleasantries.

Shang Mingke then prepared to leave with his group.

Standing in his office, Su Chen watched them get into the car, then looked at the photo Assistant Xiao Zhang had sent him on WeChat.

And the 3,000 yuan transfer.

The note read: "Thank you for your hospitality today. President Shang specifically instructed this. Please be sure to accept it."

’A group photo... honestly, they could have just transferred more money.’

Su Chen accepted this unexpected windfall without any hesitation.

This big order was finally over. Now he could start taking stock of his rewards!

But before taking stock of his rewards, there was one more thing Su Chen had to do.

Take a nap first!

Waking up early and working until almost three o’clock was exhausting.

...

"I’m telling you, that group came and went in such a hurry. We didn’t even hear them eating. How come there’s nothing left in the dining room but empty plates?"

"Who cares? As long as we got paid. Oh, right, Zhang Li, did your President Ling’s deal go through?"

Zhang Li picked at her fingers. "I dunno. President Ling went straight back to her office after seeing them off. She didn’t say anything!"

Bai Xiaobo pursed his lips. "If it went through, the celebration banquet had better be held at our company!"

Liu Shengnan nodded to herself in satisfaction. ’Xiaobai is really getting better and better. He even knows how to develop follow-up customer service.’

"I finally finished my videos! I posted three today~" He Shuting stretched, completely unaware of how busy her videos had made her boss.

DING-DONG~

He Shuting’s phone chimed.

"Huh? Director Li?"

Zhang Li was very curious. "Director Li? You mean Director Li Mingtao?"

"Shuting!" Bai Xiaobo shot to his feet. "Not Director Li Mingtao. We don’t know what you’re talking about."

Bai Xiaobo added, "The guests have left, so we should go clean the kitchen and cafeteria. We can’t let Aunt Fang clean up by herself."

"Let’s go, let’s go." Liu Shengnan and He Shuting immediately stood up. The three of them went to the cafeteria together. Xiaobin was still in a separate meeting room, grinding through practice problems.

Zhang Li speechlessly watched the three of them leave. ’What’s with them acting so weird all of a sudden?’

Once they were in the cafeteria, Bai Xiaobo finally gritted his teeth, full of frustration. "You almost blew his cover, you know that!?"

"Blew what cover!?" He Shuting was utterly confused.

"You still don’t get it? Director Li is undercover in the rival company, drumming up business for us! First, he got their employees to come over to us, and now he’s landed us this huge deal. If you expose Director Li, who’s going to get us big deals like this in the future?" Bai Xiaobo was genuinely angry.

The last time Liu Shengnan had reminded everyone that their customers all seemed to be from the building across the street, Bai Xiaobo had paid special attention.

The next day, he deliberately followed Li Mingtao after he clocked in and discovered that the guy clocked in again at the building across the street!

At the time, Bai Xiaobo had been ready to report him, but he got busy and forgot. Later, Li Mingtao came back to the company and told them about the big deal.

Bai Xiaobo was so glad he hadn’t reported him. It turned out he had misunderstood Director Li!

To protect Director Li, Bai Xiaobo had hidden that secret deep in his heart. But just now, He Shuting, that blockhead, had almost let it slip.

How could he not be angry!

How could he not be frustrated!

He Shuting felt she was being wrongly accused. "How was I supposed to know all that..."

"Alright, alright." Bai Xiaobo waved his hand impatiently. "What did you say about Director Li just now?"

"He sent a WeChat message!"

The two of them huddled around He Shuting’s phone to look.

[Director Li: Shuting, is the boss around? I have something very urgent to report to him. I sent him a WeChat message, but he hasn’t replied.]