Chapter 29 General's Villa
Seeing that Zixuan had no objection, the manager took them to see the manager.
In Hexi, Jinling, in addition to the well-known "snack street" Duoluo Street, there is also an old street from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Originally, the old street was to be demolished to make room for other uses. Due to the need for cultural relics protection, the old street was preserved after many efforts. Later, the residents nearby built new houses and intentionally renovated them in the original style, so the scale became larger and larger. Therefore, the relevant departments took the opportunity to develop it into a pedestrian street in the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which became a new tourist attraction.
Since it is a commercial pedestrian street, there are round marble pillars placed at the entrance of the street. The marble pillars are placed every several tens of centimeters, and pedestrians can pass through. As for cars, they can only be parked in the square outside.
……
afternoon.
A red Audi slowly drove over from a distance and stopped in the square outside the pedestrian street.
The door opened and three people got out of the car one after another. They were Zixuan and her group.
"Sister He, are you here?" Zixuan asked.
As they chatted along the way, the three of them were naturally not as polite as before. The store manager's real name was He Yingjie, so Zixuan affectionately called her Sister He.
"Yes, the caller said it's here." He Yingjie said.
"He Yingjie! He Yingjie!"
As they were talking, He Yingjie heard someone calling her.
The three people turned around and saw a middle-aged man in a suit and tie walking towards them.
"Li...General Manager!"
He Yingjie was obviously a little surprised. She didn't expect that the general manager was waiting for them here.
As he spoke, the man had already walked close to the three people.
He Yingjie was confused, but still calmly introduced them to each other.
"This is our company's general manager, Mr. Li Sidaner!"
"This is the chairman of Qianqiu Group, Ms. Bai Zixuan, and this is her sister, Ms. Cao Xiaojing!"
"Hello, Ms. Bai! Hello, Ms. Cao!"
The three of them shook hands and greeted each other.
Li Sidaner is tall, with naturally curly brown hair, a high nose bridge, and blue eyes. He looks like a mixed-race person.
He Yingjie looked at Li Sidana with excitement. In fact, Li Sidana was very kind to her because it was he who recommended her to manage the Jinling store of "Fish Juice and Fish Flavor".
Li Sidan is a professional manager who currently manages Bailey's catering company. His father is Chinese and his mother is British. He was born and raised in China and studied in the UK. He can be said to have a thorough understanding of both Chinese and Western cultures.
He Yingjie had heard his speech when she was attending the store manager training. He was sharp-tongued, enthusiastic and charming. During the training, she consulted him many times, and some of her ideas and concepts about business were praised by Li Sidaner.
"I'm really sorry for asking you to come all the way here. Thank you for your hard work!" Li Sidan said apologetically, "I have a house on the pedestrian street not far ahead. Shall we go there to talk?"
Zixuan and the others naturally had no objections.
"Boss Li, where's Manager Hu?" He Yingjie suddenly remembered and asked, "Are you not waiting for him?"
Manager Hu is her direct supervisor and is responsible for Baili’s business in Jinling.
"Oh, Manager Hu is busy, so he didn't come." Li Sidana answered casually.
After taking two steps forward, he thought for a moment, then suddenly stopped and said to He Yingjie, "Yingjie, how about this? Why don't you go back first? I can stay with you here."
"Oh well."
He Yingjie is a smart person and naturally knows that such inter-group cooperation negotiations are not something she, as a store manager, should participate in.
So, she exchanged a few polite words with Zixuan, Xiaojing and the others and left.
It was afternoon and there were not many pedestrians on the pedestrian street.
Zixuan and Xiaojing walked and looked around, confused about something, and Li Sidana introduced it from time to time, just like a tour guide.
After walking for a distance on the pedestrian street, Li Sidana led them into an alley next to the street.
The alley is only four or five meters wide, with bluestone walls on both sides and a flying eaves gate at the end, which is antique.
A pair of stone lions squatted outside the gate, staring at them with boredom.
"It's right here." Li Sidana smiled. Then he quickly stepped forward to open the door. With a creak, the door opened. Li Sidana led the two people in.
As we walked further in, we saw that the courtyard gradually deepened, with rockery, flat grass, flowers and shallow water, and the scenery was quite elegant.
Zixuan and Xiaojing looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.
"Oh, this was a general's villa more than a hundred years ago, and it was spared from the war. Later, it was passed down to me for some reason."
Li Sidana seemed to see through the two people's thoughts and said with a smile, "On weekdays, planting flowers and grass here does have some meaning..."
Xiao Jing secretly laughed in her heart, planting flowers and grass? Men also like this?
Zi Xuan praised him profusely, "Mr. Li is entangled in many business affairs, but he never forgets to return to nature. His mind and bearing are far beyond the reach of ordinary people!"
"No, no, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Miss Bai." Li Sidana said modestly.
While chatting and laughing, the three of them walked into the inner courtyard.
The furnishings in the inner courtyard were the same as before, but the main seat was empty, and two people were sitting at the lower right.
One is an elderly woman with gray hair on her temples, kind eyes, a bun on her head, and wearing a light-colored Tang suit. She gives people the feeling that she comes from ancient times.
The other one is a middle-aged man with a solemn face and regular features. One can tell from the way he looks that he has a serious temperament and never smiles.
"Mr. He! Mr. Yin!" Li Sidana saw them and said respectfully, "Chairman Bai and his partner are here!
"Thank you for your hard work, both of you!"
The middle-aged man called Mr. He nodded and greeted.
Then, he helped the elderly woman Yin Lao to stand up and meet Zi Xuan and the others.
Zi Xuan thought to herself that this middle-aged man named He Hongguang and her mother, Old Lady Yin, should be the real culprits behind this.
Elder Yin looked Bai Zixuan up and down, and then said in a somewhat unclear tone, "I heard that Miss Bai Zixuan of Qianqiu Group is a rare talent. After meeting her today, I can see that her reputation is well-deserved!"
"You are too kind, senior! I am just taking advantage of the good fortune from my ancestors." Zi Xuan said calmly.
Mr. Yin nodded, asked Zixuan and the other girl to sit down, then turned to Li Sidana next to him and said, "Manager Li, please bring two cups of coffee to the two ladies!"
"Okay, Mr. Yin!" Li Sidana nodded and went to work.
"I heard from Manager Li that he wants to cooperate with our Baili Company? However, as far as I know, since Qianqiu Group acquired Future Star Catering Company in full two years ago, its turnover last year has reached 2 million. It can be said to be thriving. I wonder why they still have such an idea?"
"It seems that Mr. Yin knows a lot about us. Yes, after acquiring and integrating Future Star, Qianqiu seems to have achieved good results with the support of Qianqiu Department Store and Qianqiu Hotel." Zixuan said with a smile, "However, in my opinion, the food provided by Qianqiu lacks sufficient customer stickiness. After tasting your company's grilled fish, I feel that you have unique advantages in the operation and management of restaurants and individual products. I took the liberty to come here today because I think there may be a lot of room for cooperation between us."
After hearing this, Elder Yin laughed and said, "Ms. Bai, you really have good taste."
Zixuan smiled without saying anything, knowing that she would continue talking.
Mr. Yin continued with a smile, "We have many catering projects in Baili Company, but the 'fish juice and fish flavor' grilled fish is a product I made by myself for more than 20 years, and this is my first time..."
"More than 20 years? Have you never taken any action before and have been living in seclusion?" Xiaojing suddenly asked.
"Xiao Jing..." Zixuan's face changed slightly and she said dissatisfiedly.
It is indeed inappropriate to speak like this in this situation.
"I--"
"It's okay, it's not a problem!"
Old Yin didn't seem to take Xiaojing's recklessness to heart. She waved her hand to stop Xiaojing from saying anything else. She smiled and said, "It's good for young people to say what they want to say! I like Xiao Cao's straightforwardness!"
The old woman didn't seem to want to explain why, but her words did avoid embarrassment.
At this time, Li Sidaner came over with a few cups of coffee, one for each person.
"Try it! But my coffee here is without sugar."
Elder Yin picked up the cup and gestured, "Maybe you will find it a little strange."
Zixuan took a sip and said with a smile, "It's good without sugar! It's bitter at first, but after the bitterness comes a mellow and quiet sweetness. As the saying goes, after all the bitterness comes the sweetness! This is true for coffee, and so is life!"
"That makes sense." Old Yin smiled with his eyes half closed.
However, she seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly sighed:
"If we want to cooperate, then there is no problem! But I'm afraid the grilled fish with 'fish sauce and fish flavor' can't be included in it..."
(End of this chapter)
