That point of view...

HISS!

Ling Shuyu drew in a sharp breath. "Boss Su, thank you for your hospitality. I’ll be leaving now."

"Okay. Take care. I won’t see you out."

CLICK-CLACK, CLICK-CLACK~

Listening to the sound of Ling Shuyu’s high heels fading into the distance, Su Chen rubbed his chin. ’Why’d she arrive and leave in such a hurry?’

Oh well.

He tidied up the office a bit and checked his watch. It was already getting late.

Su Chen washed up and flopped contentedly onto his bed.

「A few days passed.」

Everything was business as usual at Meiweilai Company. Every morning, the seventy-odd employees from Xinghui would reliably come to buy steamed buns and millet congee, and their lunchtime routine was just as consistent.

Some of them would have the pickled fish, while others would opt for the stir-fried noodles.

As for the garlic eggplant, it had completely disappeared from the Delicious menu due to a severe shortage of ingredients in the storeroom.

All told, each Xinghui employee was spending at least 40 yuan at Delicious every day!

Seven days went by. With only a week left until rent was due, Su Chen finally started to get nervous.

"Our daily revenue is steady at nearly 3,000 yuan, which means our turnover for the whole week hasn’t even hit 30,000. Shengnan, how much cash do we have on hand?"

Liu Shengnan, who had been called into Su Chen’s office, consulted her small, handwritten ledger. "Counting the 55,000 we had before, our total cash on hand is 83,000."

"We’re still 70,000 short," Su Chen said.

When they had landed that big 30,000-yuan order, the entire staff of Delicious had been filled with hope for the future. But now, a week later, it was clear that everyone was starting to panic.

Because of their peculiar location, getting any walk-in customers was simply unrealistic.

He Shuting’s efforts on her TikTok account hadn’t attracted any new customers, either.

Earning 70,000 yuan in a week—an average of 10,000 a day—seemed like a complete fantasy given their current situation.

The storeroom was down to its last few durable ingredients, like napa cabbage and potatoes, which weren’t enough to make any meaningful dishes on their own.

There was, however, one other thing that Su Chen found rather strange.

A week had passed, and he still had no ideas for the 88-yuan dish he was supposed to develop. Strangely, the system mission hadn’t timed out; instead, it was listed as ’Not Yet Started’.

’That’s a little interesting.’

It seemed the mission wouldn’t officially start until he actually developed the dish.

Suddenly, the mission didn’t feel so urgent anymore. Even if he failed, Su Chen felt it wouldn’t be a big deal. The worst that could happen was missing out on one Skill, and a new main quest might have even better rewards. The crucial thing right now was figuring out how to pay the rent.

Both Su Chen and Liu Shengnan lapsed into silence, lost in their own thoughts.

A knock at the door shattered the office’s silence.

"Brother Chen? Boss?"

"Come in," Su Chen called out.

It was Bai Xiaobo’s voice.

"Boss," Xiaobai said, scratching the back of his head as he entered. "When did you hire someone new?"

"Hired someone?" The out-of-the-blue question left Su Chen completely baffled.

"Yeah! How did you poach their Design Director? We’re a small-time operation; can we really afford someone of her caliber?"

Huh???

Su Chen shot to his feet. "Who?"

"Director Ling! She just got here. Says she’s reporting for duty. She also said you promised her the job, that she’s been busy handing off her old work for the past few days, and now she’s here to officially start..."

What the hell?

Su Chen was completely floored.

’Wait... you can’t take things said while drinking seriously, can you? Besides, I never explicitly agreed!’

"What’s wrong, Brother Chen? Don’t you want to go take a look?"

"Let’s go see!" Su Chen hurried out of the office.

Holy cow!

Ling Shuyu had already found herself a workstation and was starting to get settled. Today, she had swapped her usual stylish attire for a simple sweatsuit, and her fashionable, loose hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked full of youthful energy.

He Shuting stood to the side, eyeing the uninvited guest warily, feeling that her own good looks were being somewhat overshadowed.

’Damn it!’

"Hi, Boss Su. I’m here to report for duty." Ling Shuyu’s face broke into a rare smile.

"You... but... this..."

"What’s wrong? Is Boss Su a man who goes back on his word? I’ve already resigned from Xinghui."

’She’s trying to force my hand!’

’Does she really think I, Su Chen, will fall for this?’

"I can’t afford to pay you a high salary, you know," Su Chen said, deciding to use money as his out.

In truth, adding one more employee wasn’t a huge problem; the kitchen did get overwhelmed at times.

The main issue was Ling Shuyu herself. She had been one of Delicious’s biggest customers, and now she suddenly wanted to be an employee. The contrast was a little hard to swallow.

"Then what are you prepared to offer me?" Ling Shuyu asked, tilting her head.

Su Chen held up three fingers and wiggled them.

"Thirty thousand? Hmm... it’s not as much as I was making, but it’s manageable. Thank you, Boss!"

At that number, the entire staff of Delicious lost their minds.

Thirty thousand?

He Shuting picked at her fingers, calculating. ’Are you kidding me? I only make 1,800 a month, and she gets 30,000 right off the bat?’

Liu Shengnan’s eyes went wide. ’Is he serious? The company only has a few tens of thousands in cash, and he’s just going to offer her 30,000? Is he trying to bankrupt us?’

Bai Xiaobo was also stunned. ’Thirty thousand... Do you have any idea how hard we worked for thirty thousand?! That’s how much I earned from that whole trip to E Province!’

Su Chen cleared his throat awkwardly. "That was three thousand."

PHEW...

You could clearly hear a collective sigh of relief from the Delicious employees.

’Three thousand? Okay, that’s more like it.’

"Three thousand is fine, too. Like I said, as long as you provide meals... yes, staff meals are perfectly fine." Ling Shuyu seemed completely unconcerned with the salary, calmly sitting down at the workstation she had just tidied.

Sweat dripped from Su Chen’s brow.

For the first time, Su Chen felt completely outmaneuvered. But what’s said is said. He could only try to console himself.

’Hiring a waitress for three thousand... It’s a good deal! A really good deal!’

"Shengnan, please fill her in on the company’s situation. As for her position... let me think about it."

"No need." Ling Shuyu’s smile vanished as she stood up. "I’ve already familiarized myself with everything. This is a proposal I’ve prepared. Would you care to look it over, Boss?"

"Why are you so fond of making proposals?" Su Chen grumbled as he took it. "And how did you find out about our company’s situation anyway?"

"I simply told Li Mingtao that if he didn’t tell me the truth about Delicious’s situation, I’d tell his big boss what he’s been up to."

HISS!!!

The entire Delicious staff sucked in another collective gasp of cold air, nearly turning the July heat into the dead of winter.

’Even a sly fox like Li Mingtao got played by this woman?’

’It suddenly feels like a palace intrigue drama, doesn’t it?!’

Su Chen felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. This woman was a little terrifying.

But this proposal...

Right from the start, it addressed Delicious’s current predicament: the rent payment.

Then, it laid out what Ling Shuyu considered to be the optimal solution.

As he read through it carefully, Su Chen found it to be surprisingly sound. If they could actually pull this off...

Honestly, hiring a talent like Ling Shuyu for three thousand a month was an absolute steal!

"Meeting! Meeting, everyone!" Su Chen waved the proposal. "Ling Shuyu, right now, I want you to explain your plan to the team."

The other employees were still dazed, but they all swarmed into the conference room.

After sitting down, Liu Shengnan asked abruptly, "President Ling, did you leave all this conference room equipment behind because you knew you’d be coming to work here?"

"Uh!"

Ling Shuyu touched her forehead. ’I honestly didn’t think that far ahead... I just thought moving all this worthless stuff would be a waste of time.’

She didn’t answer the absurd question.

Ling Shuyu might not know the first thing about cooking, but when it came to presenting a plan, she was an absolute pro.

"The company’s biggest problem right now is the rent. We don’t have much time left. This is the most viable solution I’ve come up with for now."

Ling Shuyu plugged in a USB drive and turned on the projector. A polished PowerPoint presentation appeared on the big screen.

The other Delicious employees gulped.

’Lady... do you have any idea how useless you’re making the rest of us look by being so professional?!’