Chapter 72: Chapter 66: Counter Soldiers with Generals and Dam Floods with Earth, Fearless

"Brother Chen, this is from Xinghui. Where do you want me to hang it?" Liu Shengnan asked, holding out a picture frame.

"Xinghui is pretty efficient. Have they all moved out already?" Su Chen glanced around. The once bustling office had returned to its former quiet and spacious state.

The frame was quite large and held a group photo of the four of them. After a quick look, Su Chen casually placed it on the table. "Those are their clients. What the hell does that have to do with me?"

"I’ll put it away later, then! I’ll put it with the other stuff over there," Aunt Fang said, taking the frame. This office could lose anyone, but without her, it probably wouldn’t last a day.

No one would be able to find anything!

Su Chen nodded. "The cafeteria and the kitchen..."

Bai Xiaobo quickly cut in, "Brother Chen, the cafeteria and kitchen are all cleaned up. All the usable ingredients have been stored, and the rest of the trash has been taken care of. You can rest assured."

Very good.

Su Chen was very satisfied. "There’s still half an hour until we close. Have you all eaten yet?"

He Shuting leaned back in her chair. "Aunt Fang made us some pan-sizzled noodles. We’ve all eaten!"

"Okay, there probably won’t be any more business tonight. Let’s have a quick meeting, and then everyone can head home."

Just as Su Chen was about to sit down, Liu Shengnan cautiously asked, "Boss, should we have the meeting in the conference room?"

’The conference room?’

’The conference room was just an empty space before. It only started looking decent when Xinghui moved in, and now they’ve left. They couldn’t have just left their stuff for us, could they?’

’But from the way Liu Shengnan said it...’

Su Chen walked toward the conference room and pushed open the door.

Whoa!

The oval conference table, the leather chairs, the projector, the coffee and tea station—nothing had been touched!

"President Ling said it wasn’t worth much altogether, and it’d be a hassle to move, so she told us to just consider it a gift..."

HISS!

’So generous!’

"President Ling also said she couldn’t be bothered to move the things in the break room. If she ever comes over for a meal in the future, she’ll just eat in there."

"Well, I’ll be damned!" Su Chen exclaimed. "So she set up her own private room here? Fine, let’s have the meeting in here."

It had to be said, having a meeting in a proper conference room felt completely different from just meeting wherever. As Bai Xiaobo sat in one of the chairs, he unconsciously started to feel a little nervous.

The casual atmosphere from outside the room was completely gone.

"Liu Shengnan, start by reporting our revenue as of today."

This was the matter Su Chen was most concerned about. Although he had a rough idea of the numbers himself, it was certainly not as comprehensive as what the finance department would prepare.

"As of tonight, the company has used 8,180 yuan worth of inventoried ingredients and spent 4,709 yuan on new ingredients. Our operating revenue is 57,200 yuan."

Su Chen nodded with satisfaction.

’If you exclude the large order from Ling Shuyu, the profit from the existing inventory isn’t that high,’ he thought. ’That’s mainly because we bought those ingredients at a higher price back then.’

’Once you factor in rent, utilities, and labor, we haven’t made a damn thing!’

’Looks like raising the menu prices has to be a priority.’

Su Chen jotted this down in his notebook.

’The good news is, even though the profit isn’t much by that calculation, at least we made good use of the inventory that would have just rotted otherwise. Thinking about it that way felt much better.’

"Bai Xiaobo, tell us about the client situation."

Xiaobai perked up and sat bolt upright. "Because Xinghui’s employees were all busy moving, there were no orders for tonight. For tomorrow morning, all 78 Xinghui employees have placed an order, specifically requesting meat buns and millet congee. The same 78 employees have also placed an order for lunch tomorrow, with a budget in the 30-yuan range. There are no orders for the evening."

Su Chen’s pen tapped against the tabletop.

’This is going to be a problem,’ he thought. ’There’s hardly any eggplant or raw fish fillets left in the storeroom. We definitely can’t meet demand if we keep making Pickled Cabbage Fish and Garlic Eggplant. And people can’t eat pan-sizzled noodles every day. Even an S Level dish gets tiring if you eat it daily!’

*Item 2: Develop new dishes, prioritizing use of existing inventory.*

Su Chen continued to write. "He Shuting, how about you? Do you have anything to say?"

’To be honest, Su Chen still hadn’t figured out Shuting’s exact role in the company. But she was one of the original employees, someone who had bravely stayed behind to struggle alongside him. There was no reason to fire her.’

’Besides, He Shuting wasn’t just pretty; she was also a diligent worker.’

"Boss! I got a message from Director Li today. He said the owner of Xinghui’s cafeteria wants to cause trouble for us!"

"Huh?" Su Chen put down his pen. "What do you mean?"

He Shuting leaned halfway over the table, fuming. "Director Li said that the owner of the cafeteria over there found out his own employees were coming here to eat, and now he wants to target us. But nobody knows what dirty tricks he might pull."

"I see..." Su Chen cupped his chin in his hand.

’There was one thing he didn’t understand, though. How would Li Mingtao know about the rival cafeteria owner’s plans?’

Just then, Bai Xiaobo began to stammer, "Brother Chen, it’s just... a few days ago..."

After Xiaobai finished explaining that Li Mingtao was now working for the competition, Su Chen sighed.

’No wonder!’

’I always felt something was off, but I never thought in this direction. If that’s the case, then everything makes perfect sense.’

"Alright, I’m aware of the situation." Su Chen didn’t write this down in his notebook, but committed it to memory. "Aunt Fang?"

"I don’t have anything to report," Aunt Fang said, waving her hands quickly.

She’d never been able to set foot in this conference room before, except to clean up after everyone else’s meetings. The awkwardness of sitting here still hadn’t worn off.

As for Xiaobin, he was still busy drilling practice questions...

"Alright, meeting adjourned! Business as usual tomorrow. Let’s all stay sharp."

"Boss, what are you going to do about the issue with the other cafeteria?" Liu Shengnan asked, a little worried.

Su Chen seemed completely unconcerned. "Let them come. We’ll handle whatever they throw at us. Meeting adjourned!"

The third all-hands meeting of Delicious was officially over!

And Su Chen had a new task to attend to.

The choice for his new main quest.

One was to sell 100 portions of a dish priced at 88 yuan; the other was to sell a single portion of a dish priced at 9,999 yuan.

And the rewards for the quests were the Skill, White Jade Hand, and the item, the Kitchen God’s Knife.

Although he coveted both rewards, Su Chen already had a plan of his own!