Business Information Identity

Chapter 12: The Dinner Party

The Starlight Building is the core of the core of Wanlian International. The second floor of the Starlight Building is the staff canteen, which is different from the university cafeterias. The staff canteen offers a variety of options including Chinese cuisine, Western cuisine, Japanese cuisine, Thai cuisine, fast food, etc. Based on their position, staff receive different lunch allowances. Any additional cost beyond the allowance must be paid by the individual. In addition, the cafeteria also offers a coffee shop, tea house, etc.

The staff cafeteria also has its rules. People dining here must not disturb others, because it's not only the CEO and board members who eat here, but also Liu Ziping. Liu Ziping, in his lifetime, hated being disturbed while eating, so he established this rule. After Liu Ziping's second son took over as CEO, he added another rule to the staff cafeteria's guidelines: talk less about work, and don't talk about political affairs.

The staff cafeteria also has an unofficial hierarchy based on position levels. This is an unspoken rule, not an official one. Generally, top-level people like the CEO and board members dine in the No.1 cafeteria. The staff in the No.1 cafeteria are very well-groomed, and the cafeteria charges an additional 20% service fee. It caters to those who are well-off.

Nie Zuo and Huang Yu are in dining hall number four, where regular employees and lower-level management, basically supervisors, usually eat. It's very clean—clean tablecloths, clean floors, and very clean tableware. Nie Zuo was shocked when he opened the menu: 'Huang Yu, are you sure these are staff cafeteria prices?' A bowl of egg fried rice costs fifteen yuan!

Huang Yu smiled, enjoying Nie Zuo's surprise, and said, raising his hand: 'I'll have an escargot.'

Escargot, two hundred and seventy yuan, Nie Zuo noted. With a fifty yuan lunch subsidy, he'd have to pay two hundred and twenty yuan out of pocket. For a twenty-two-day work month, the lunch expenses would amount to four thousand eight hundred and forty yuan. Haha, either someone else is paying today, or Huang Yu's intentions are not as simple as they seem. Or maybe both? Nie Zuo said, 'Australian sirloin, medium rare, borscht.' Haha, five hundred and eighty yuan. This banquet spells trouble!

Sure enough, after Nie Zuo's order, Huang Yu seemed unexpectedly surprised, as if thinking about something. Then the two engaged in some casual, polite conversation for a while, when Huang Yu suddenly extended his hand: 'Here.'

Hi! A young man greeted them and approached Huang Yu and Nie Zuo, waving his hand. This young man was tall, about 1.78 meters, two centimeters taller than Nie Zuo. He had the popular hairstyle seen on TV talent shows—a small, fair face that met TV appearance standards perfectly. Indeed, this young man was quite... beautiful. Handsome? No, Nie Zuo believed that 'handsome' was a masculine term, and there was no connection to beauty without masculinity. Nevertheless, girls nowadays were very fond of such delicate-looking young men. As this young man walked by, three ladies at two nearby tables greeted him.

It seemed that not only was he beautiful, but this pretty boy was also likely a celebrity at Wanlian International.

'Let me introduce, Chen Fan, Nie Zuo. Chen Fan and Mai Yan are real colleagues, both working at Hengyuan Real Estate... well, I should say not for long, as Manager Chen will be promoted to the Venture Capital Department the day after tomorrow. A very promising future indeed.' Huang Yu gestured: 'Please sit, please sit.'

Nie Zuo knew about the Venture Capital Department. Since Liu Ziping was the first generation venture capitalist, the Venture Capital Department was also the most important and profitable department at Wanlian International. It made money not only for the company but also for the individuals working there. The Venture Capital Department had ten teams, with team sizes ranging from five to thirty people. Simply put, if Liu Ziping gave you one million and you could make five hundred thousand within a year, two hundred thousand would be your team's bonus. If you could make one million, five hundred thousand would be your team's bonus. If you could make two million, one million and two hundred fifty thousand would be your team's bonus. Venture Capital often involved investments of hundreds of millions or even billions, so entering the Venture Capital Department meant entering the millionaire class.

Of course, if you only made one hundred thousand or even less within a year, the department would be dissolved, and everyone would be kicked out. Those capable would transfer to other teams, while the less capable would have to find new jobs.

Huang Yu continued to praise Chen Fan: 'Manager Chen has a very unique vision and is highly praised by Chairman Liu. For example, in January, Manager Chen went against opposition and bought a piece of land at a high price when others weren't optimistic about it. Just half a month later, because the municipal government decided to add a new maritime terminal nearby to cope with the increasing container throughput in City A, the value of this land immediately quadrupled. Turning wasteland into treasure, only our Manager Chen could achieve this.'

Chen Fan humbly said, 'It was mostly the efforts of my colleagues. I did very little, and at the time, I acted on my own, which was quite frightening to think about now.'

Huang Yu said, 'This has nothing to do with your colleagues. You withstood the pressure and took responsibility, even being suspended for ten days to undergo an investigation by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department. It's laughable that those police officers thought you had received some benefit for buying such an expensive piece of wasteland. The truth is, the truth is only known by a few.'

'It wasn't just me. Without the support and help of Miss Mai, if she hadn't worked overtime with me for two days over the weekend to figure out the numbers, I probably would have offered 40% more.' Chen Fan looked around: 'Where's Miss Mai?'

Why didn't you invite her to come over?

“Well, I mentioned that we would have lunch at the Starcloud Building. We've been having lunch together every day, so there's no need to invite her. I think she must have been busy.”

After saying this, Chen Fan and Huang Yu cast a sidelong glance at Nie Zu, who just happened to yawn deeply. His expression showed no influence from the two's conversation. From Huang Yu's attitude in introducing their names, Nie Zu knew the meaning of the meal. Huang Yu talked about Chen Fan's brilliance and future prospects, but didn't mention anything about himself, not even being introduced as Mai Yan's boyfriend.

Haha, little ghost, what should I do? It's making me uneasy. If I respond as you would, I'll lose face, but if I don't, the two of you will keep up the act, and I won't be able to enjoy the $580 Australian beef steak in the best mood. Well, although Huang Yu isn't very considerate toward me, he's decent to Mai Zi, so I'll give Mai Zi a favor.

The two continued their act. Chen Fan mentioned countless times about Mai Yan's help and encouragement to him, as well as eating together in private, etc. Huang Yu, on the other hand, intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that Chen Fan's intelligence is higher than that of an ordinary person, he is a graduate of Cambridge University with a quite good family background, drives a luxury car, and lives in a villa, etc.

Nie Zu seemed to be on a bus, as if he didn't know the two at all. Although he was looking at them as well, it was like on a bus, either looking forward or to the left and right. Finally, Huang Yu couldn't hold back and asked, 'Nie Zu, Mai Zi is so tired from working every day, have you considered buying her a car?'

Nie Zu suddenly woke up from a dream-like trance as he pondered Huang Yu's question for a moment: 'Oh... No need, Mai Zi said she would be promoted soon, and she would have a car then. I can tag along.'

Chen Fan smiled and said, 'Is it not improper for a woman to own a car while the man uses it?

'That's right, in the future she will drive and I will sit in the car,' Nie Zu nodded, showing appreciation for Chen Fan's suggestion and raised his hand: 'Mai Zi, over here!'

ps: The reason why this book is categorized as urban fantasy is that there is no better choice. This book has nothing to do with the supernatural.

ps2: Tomorrow is a new day, a new ranking challenge, and everyone's recommendation votes are very much needed. To win the clicks and votes of everyone, there will be an extra update late at night.

ps3: If there's no update after 12 o'clock, that means I'm sleeping, so you don't have to wait.

ps4: Due to some reasons, perhaps in a few days, we will adopt a two-by-two-by-two... update method.