Chapter 111: Once Again, Voluntarily Delivered Only to Be Trampled Upon!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

At the farm, Chu Lin woke up early and checked the WeChat group for the restaurant. Cai Yao and his eldest sister were already chatting away enthusiastically.

Eldest Sister: "Yao Yao, I’ve prepared all the contracts. We can head over to Tianhui Plaza today to get them signed!"

Miss Cai: "Sorry for the trouble, sister. Once we're done, let's go shopping."

Eldest Sister: "It's a date!"

Chu Lin looked at the chat. Why did he feel like an outsider in his own three-person group? This group was created specifically to discuss the Lin Yao Restaurant contract, and he was the main boss, yet nobody even tagged him.

As he was thinking this, Miss Cai finally tagged him: "We’ll see you at Tianhui Plaza later!" After sending that, she tagged his sister: "Sister, I’ll drive over to pick you up later!"

Eldest Sister: "Sounds good, call me when you arrive."

Chu Lin watched the two women continue chatting, feeling like he was only there to be notified of the results. What was most surprising was how they had become as close as best friends in just three days. She was already calling her "sister."

After moving the freshly refreshed Atlantis prawns, oysters, and blue-ringed jellyfish out of the game, Chu Lin drove to Tianhui Plaza. Over the past three days, the sign for Lin Yao Restaurant had already been hung. However, because this was a three-party investment with a unique equity structure for Tianhui, the contract was quite complex.

Inside the restaurant, employees were undergoing training in an orderly fashion. Although the contract wasn't signed yet, Cai Yao had wasted no time getting the preparations underway.

"Boss," a woman in her thirties wearing a uniform approached him quickly when she saw him enter.

"Manager Han, don't mind me, carry on with your work," Chu Lin said, waving her off. She had been a procurement manager at Zhizhen, and Cai Yao had recruited her. Beyond her, the warehouse manager, store manager, supervisors, and shift leaders had all been poached from Zhizhen as well. After Miss Cai made a single phone call, they had all defected. It was clear that her management skills were exceptional. Since the restaurant spanned 3,000 square meters, the flagship store at Zhizhen wasn't enough to fill all the management roles; she had to poach from several other flagship stores to meet the demand.

Before long, Cai Yao and his sister arrived with a stack of contract documents. Cai Yao immediately called over the HR manager and handed her the stack. "These are the contracts for your team. Look them over carefully. Once we finish signing our part, you can finalize the contracts with everyone else."

"Understood, Ms. Cai," the HR manager replied with a beaming smile. The other managers looked on with anticipation. These people were poached not only because they recognized Cai Yao's ability but also because this was a high-end restaurant with better pay and benefits than their previous jobs. Everyone was working hard, and who didn't want a higher salary?

Chu Lin, Cai Yao, and Chu Yan sat at a table and called Lin Quan, the general manager of Tianhui Plaza, to come over and sign the contract. Lin Quan arrived shortly after. Seeing that the restaurant was essentially ready to open, he couldn't help but praise, "Ms. Cai, you are truly impressive. In such a short time, the morale of these employees is better than what we had for so long."

"That's because you trained them well, Lin. I'm just building on your foundation," Cai Yao said with a polite smile, though she was inwardly rolling her eyes. If she hadn't promised to keep the waitstaff, she would have poached them from Zhizhen too. She had realized in the last three days why the previous restaurant failed: apart from the food, it was the service. In the catering industry, the customer is god. The management and staff needed to understand that clearly. The people Tianhui had originally put in charge didn't care about this at all. They were mostly internal staff who had never worked in service; they were used to being landlords collecting rent, and their service attitude was arrogant. That was a fatal mistake in the food industry.

Lin Quan, however, was pleased by the flattery. "Haha, we spent half a month training those servers."

"..." Cai Yao awkwardly changed the subject. "Mr. Lin, let's sign the contract. Once signed, we can file it with the industrial and commercial bureau and try to open the restaurant in the next two days."

"Good, good, let's sign." Lin Quan was eager as well. They had previously thought they could manage the restaurant themselves and hadn't allowed other high-end restaurants into Tianhui Plaza. Now, the lack of high-end dining was an embarrassment, so he hoped this place would open soon and become a hit. Because the order had come directly from Mr. Wu, Lin Quan was extremely cooperative, and the signing went off without a hitch.

After the contract was signed, Miss Cai asked, "Boss Chu, shall we head to the industrial and commercial bureau now?"

"Yes, let's go," Chu Lin agreed. Being a gentleman, he acted as the driver and led Miss Cai to his car.

"A Cullinan? Did you get a new car, Boss Chu?" Cai Yao asked with surprise. Even in the circles of the second generation, few could afford an eight-million-dollar car.

"It's a company car from Linfeng," Chu Lin explained. Just as he was about to get in, he noticed a note tucked into the windshield wiper. He picked it up and saw a WeChat contact along with a message: "Big brother, my sister and I would love to make friends with an elite like you. Could we add each other?"

Chu Lin was stunned. He had seen videos of supercar owners finding notes on their windshields, but he hadn't expected to encounter it himself. Then again, with an eight-million-dollar car parked here, it wasn't exactly surprising.

"What are you looking at, Boss Chu?" Miss Cai asked suspiciously.

"I don't know who left a note on the car," Chu Lin said awkwardly.

Cai Yao took the note with sudden interest. "I heard Chen Feng say he ran into this once and ended up dating a girl for a couple of days. I thought he was lying, but I never expected to see it in person."

Chu Lin was stunned and didn't respond. Anything a man said in this situation would be wrong. Once inside the car, he was surprised to see Miss Cai take out her phone and search for the WeChat ID. A moment later, she said in surprise, "Boss Chu, look at this girl's WeChat Moments. They really are sisters, and they’re quite pretty!" She held the phone out for him to see.

Chu Lin saw photos of two sisters in tight skirts. The skirts were very short, and they were indeed beautiful. Looking at the photos, he felt a twinge of regret—why had he handed the note to Miss Cai? If the photos weren't heavily filtered, they were definitely prettier than Shen Lu or Lin Nian—total goddesses in the eyes of an ordinary man. And the best part was that they were offering themselves up on a silver platter.

"Are they trying to accompany a man together? Tsk, tsk!" Miss Cai seemed incredulous.

Hearing this, Chu Lin regretted it even more. A specific term flashed through his mind: "One dragon, two phoenixes!" If he had known, he would have hidden the note.

Cai Yao tossed the note out the window. Chu Lin watched as it flew away, disappearing onto some other car. He sighed and started the engine. It seemed he wasn't destined for these sisters. Still, he had to admit, these were the kind of beauties who would usually ignore an average man, yet they were throwing themselves at the owner of this Cullinan. It was quite ironic.

When they left the bureau, a high-end restaurant was now officially under Chu Lin's name. As they drove back, Cai Yao was editing a post for her WeChat Moments. "Make sure to post this later. We open in two days."

"So soon?" Chu Lin asked, surprised. "Aren't we doing any promotion?"

Cai Yao looked at him like he was an idiot. "I’ve already used the Tianhui Plaza channels to promote it for the last three days, and I’ve used my own channels too. Do you think I wouldn't have thought of that? You just haven't been paying attention to the restaurant at all. I've never seen such a hands-off boss."

Chu Lin laughed awkwardly.

Cai Yao continued, "Promotion is one thing, but we still need guys like Chen Feng to post about it. The second-generation circle is one of our biggest sources of customers. Of course, if you could get Mr. Wu to post about it, that would be even better."

"I'll talk to Mr. Wu later. After all, he holds a 10% stake," Chu Lin nodded with a smile. He had planned to visit Mr. Wu anyway, as the 100 jin of bone-soaking wine he was preparing was almost ready. The wine was useless to a vibrant young man like him, so he planned to sell some to Mr. Wu and his associates. He had already ordered custom bottles and was just waiting for them to arrive.

Cai Yao finished her post and added all the familiar second-generation members, including Chu Lin, to a new WeChat group. She tagged everyone: "The high-end restaurant I'm opening with Boss Chu opens the day after tomorrow at Tianhui Plaza. Everyone, remember to come and show your support, and be sure to post it on your Moments!"

The group instantly became lively. Those who had been invited to Linfeng Company by Chen Feng knew who Boss Chu was, and they were surprised. Rumors had been circulating that Cai Yao and "Brother Lin" were involved.

At Linfeng Water Pets, Chen Feng was looking at documents when Liao Hai and Zhu Xin ran in.

"Big news," said Liao Hai.

"Huge news," said Zhu Xin.

"What's going on?" Chen Feng asked, puzzled.

Liao Hai immediately said, "Remember the rumors? About Cai Yao and Brother Lin having a thing, and that Brother Lin was going to help her with a project?"

Chen Feng frowned. "You know what kind of person Cai Yao is. How could that be possible?"

"Check the WeChat group Cai Yao just created!" Zhu Xin reminded him.

Chen Feng, suspicious, checked his phone and saw the group. When he saw the news about Lin Yao Restaurant, he jumped up. "Holy crap, they really are together?"

It wasn't just Chen Feng and his friends who were surprised. As soon as Chu Lin pulled into the parking lot at Tianhui Plaza, Cai Yao received a message from her best friend, Liu Ling: "Are you and Boss Chu together?"

"What?" Cai Yao was confused.

Liu Ling explained, "I heard from others that you were kicked out of Zhizhen, and Boss Chu cut off their supplies, which caused their downfall. And that he helped you open this high-end restaurant just to see you smile."

"???" Cai Yao was stunned. Who was spreading these rumors? It wasn't like that at all. She glanced at Chu Lin with a guilty conscience. Didn't these people know that spreading such rumors was incredibly awkward?

Chu Lin, unaware of the gossip, heard two excited voices nearby after he parked:

"Hey, I found a girl's WeChat on my car!"

"Really? On your beat-up A4?"

"What's wrong with an A4? ...Holy crap, it's a pair of sisters! They're beautiful."

"Add them fast, maybe we can each take one."

"Damn, she accepted instantly! But why is she calling me 'Cullinan Brother'?"

Chu Lin and Cai Yao exchanged startled looks. The note he had discarded was apparently still in the parking lot. They didn't care about that, though, and headed straight into the restaurant.

As soon as they entered, Cai Yao called the managers into a meeting. With the opening in two days, they had to be prepared. Fortunately, most things had been prepped, and the managers were professionals, so there was little pressure.

A moment later, Lin Quan hurried in. "Mr. Chu, are you really opening in two days?"

"Mr. Lin, you heard?" Chu Lin asked, surprised.

Lin Quan explained, "I saw a post from one of the second-generation kids." He then handed Chu Lin a document. "But take a look at this application for a gourmet tasting event. Yunhe seems to be targeting you, and they've even tried to bribe one of our supervisors."

Chu Lin took the document, puzzled, and froze when he read the contents.

Lin Quan chuckled. "Yunhe doesn't seem to realize that our plaza also owns 10% of your restaurant, so their application, which is clearly malicious, is laughable. We won't be approving it."

"Approve it. Why wouldn't we?" Chu Lin said quickly.

"What?" Lin Quan was dumbfounded. "Boss Chu, you can't joke about Yunhe's culinary skills. The three best chefs in Min City work for them."