Li Mingtao had been very troubled for the past two days.

He watched as employees from the new company all ran over to the old company’s cafeteria to eat. The design department’s case was even more ridiculous; the entire department had basically relocated there.

Moreover, according to his "informant," Wang Rui, the reception banquet had been a huge success. When the two executives left, they had even taken a group photo with Boss Su and President Ling.

For the past two days, whenever Li Mingtao went to the cafeteria for a meal, he found it completely empty!

Only he and Zhou Kai would show up at mealtimes. They’d have a bite if there was anything remotely edible, but if it was truly awful, they’d just eat their own pre-packaged food.

That’s right. Every day at mealtime, they were the only two in the cafeteria. Everyone else had gone to Delicious to eat.

This strange occurrence soon caught the attention of the cafeteria owner, Sun the Second.

When Li Mingtao went to eat lunch today, Sun the Second was hanging around him.

"So, what did you find out?"

"Boss, I tailed those sons of bitches today. They all went to the building across the street to eat! No wonder no one’s been coming to the cafeteria."

Sun the Second stroked his chin, pacing back and forth. He then spoke to Li Mingtao.

"Director Li, what’s the deal with that building across the street? When did a restaurant open over there?"

The cafeteria staff weren’t in the company’s group chat, so Sun the Second had no idea Li Mingtao was connected to this matter.

"I’m not sure. Old Sun, if you ask me, you should improve the quality of your food. Who would be willing to give up their meal subsidy to eat out if the food here was better?"

Li Mingtao had intended to use this opportunity to put some pressure on Sun the Second, but to his surprise, the moment he finished speaking, Sun the Second spat on the ground.

"Those sons of bitches are lucky they have anything to eat at all, and they still dare to be picky! They get a ten-yuan subsidy per meal, and for that ten yuan they expect to eat shark fin and abalone?"

Seeing Li Mingtao’s dark expression, Sun the Second immediately forced a smile. "Director Li, I wasn’t talking about you! Here, here, I had the kitchen make something special today. You shouldn’t be eating this stuff."

And so...

As Li Mingtao ate the special meal, he overheard something.

Sun the Second had arranged for someone to find a local food vlogger and teach that restaurant on the 19th floor a harsh lesson!

He didn’t care if they served others, but Sun the Second wouldn’t stand for them serving Xinghui’s employees.

If no one came to eat, the cafeteria wouldn’t get the company subsidy, nor would it make money off the employees.

After his meal, Li Mingtao mulled it over.

He still had to wait over twenty days for his probation at Xinghui to end before he could sign a formal contract. Meanwhile, his contract with Delicious was set to automatically expire in just over ten days.

And Su Chen had just deposited his subsidy again.

In his current predicament, he couldn’t afford to offend either side. He had to stay in both of their good graces.

After much deliberation, Li Mingtao decided to contact Su Chen. When he didn’t get a reply after a short while, he opted to contact He Shuting instead.

Li Mingtao: Shuting, the cafeteria over here at Xinghui knows its employees are all going to our cafeteria to eat. It looks like the owner wants to stir up some trouble.

In the WeChat message he sent, Li Mingtao had deliberately used the words "our cafeteria."

’Yeah, we’re all one family!’

At the Delicious cafeteria.

He Shuting showed the message to the others. After a moment of silence...

Bai Xiaobo slammed his fist against the wall. "Damn it! The company’s finally starting to pick up, and someone already wants to mess with us? Bring it on!"

With Su Chen in charge, Bai Xiaobo was fearless!

"No, we need to be careful with this," said Liu Shengnan, instantly demonstrating her broader perspective. "It’s easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. If someone is really trying to trip us up, it could hurt the company’s growth." Her words left the other two stunned.

"Then what do we do now?" He Shuting asked.

Liu Shengnan pondered for a moment. "Okay, here’s the plan. First, ask Director Li what exactly they’re planning to do to us. If we know in advance, we can prepare a defense."

"Okay, okay!"

He Shuting: Director, what’s the situation? What are they planning? What do they want?

A reply from Li Mingtao came back quickly on WeChat.

I’m not sure about the specifics, but I did hear something was up. I’ve been a little busy lately and can’t make it back, so you guys watch out for yourselves!

Li Mingtao was being deliberately vague.

’I’ll tell you that something is happening, but I can’t say exactly what.’

The shrewd Li Mingtao knew very well that if he revealed everything he knew, it would be easy to guess that he was the leak. After all, when Sun the Second had discussed it that day, the only people present besides his own staff had been Li Mingtao.

But if he just gave a vague warning, there wouldn’t be a problem.

Sun the Second couldn’t go after his own company’s employees. He couldn’t very well control where people chose to eat, could he?

His only option was to go after his competitor.

Seeing that even Director Li didn’t know the specifics, the three in the cafeteria looked at each other in dismay. In the end, it was Sister Shengnan who made the call.

"Let’s put this aside for now, and don’t tell anyone! We’ll report this to the boss after he’s had a good rest. Right now, our top priority is to get the kitchen and dining area cleaned up."

"Shengnan’s right," Bai Xiaobo nodded.

"Alright then! I gained a new follower from the video I posted today, hehe~" Even while cleaning, He Shuting couldn’t resist showing off her achievement.

After all, even one follower was hard to come by.

’Especially since this fan seems pretty old. He definitely wasn’t here for the thigh-highs; he was just here to watch the cooking, right?’

Hmm...

On a flight from Jingzhou to E Province, Lu Yongliang took out his phone, followed the Meiweilai Company’s Douyin account, and rewatched the three videos they had posted several times.

"Uncle Lu," Shang Mingke said, turning his head, "with a talent like Boss Su, I thought you would want to take him on as your disciple."