Chapter 26
The pleasant surprise came so suddenly that Qin Cheng was fortunate years of serious illness had taught her not to show every emotion on her face. At least she managed to remain composed instead of suddenly grinning like a fool.
She had already prepared herself for the possibility that Shengtang’s senior management held a poor impression of her little shop.
After all, ever since Shengtang’s founding, its public image had been built on keeping its reputation clean and letting its work speak for itself. Preventing trouble before it could take root and refusing to overlook even the smallest warning sign had always been a certain person’s standard way of doing things.
Director Jin’s previous actions had been somewhat thoughtless—one could even call them willful. In a single move, he had involved three of the company’s most valuable people from three different departments.
Although it had not caused any major trouble, based on Boss Qin’s understanding of a certain ex-girlfriend, she was certain it had bothered her.
Yet now, that woman’s trusted assistant had still returned to make another purchase.
Not only had she come back, she was making an additional request.
Did that mean the way Qin Cheng had handled the incident had been to her satisfaction?
There was no time to get distracted for long.
Although nothing showed on Qin Cheng’s face, countless possible responses raced through her mind. In less than a moment, she had made her decision.
“Oh, so you’re one of Director Jin’s colleagues too?” She accepted the business card and pretended to brighten with excitement. “Of course. My younger sister is a huge fan of Shengtang’s productions!”
It was not exactly a lie.
Nuonuo truly was a little fan of Director Jin and several of the films and television series he had made.
Qin Cheng conveniently used this to explain away the special treatment she had shown several well-known Shengtang employees. On that basis, she readily agreed to Jiang Rong’s request and promised to provide her with something more substantial to eat.
“Since you’re one of Director Jin’s acquaintances, our shop will naturally do its best to serve you. You don’t have to limit yourself to the menu. Feel free to tell us what you need.”
Boss Qin smiled as she spoke.
Afraid she might appear overly enthusiastic, she quickly added, “Besides, we’ve been planning to develop a few new items and could use some opinions and suggestions.”
Jiang Rong noticed that the employee was more talkative than usual, but she did not find it strange.
Fans were usually like this.
She merely nodded to show she understood, then asked whether there were any similar new items available today.
In truth, there were none.
But how could Qin Cheng possibly say that?
Just as she hesitated, her employee pushed open the door and returned. An idea immediately came to her.
“Yes, there are, but I’ll need you to wait a few minutes.”
Then she called toward the entrance, “Nuonuo, please look after this customer. She’s also a friend of Director Jin’s.”
After giving that instruction, she paid no attention to either of their reactions. Boss Qin turned around, hurried into the kitchen in several quick strides, and casually shut the door behind her.
Once the kitchen door closed, the shop fell silent.
There were no other customers at this hour.
Jiang Rong looked helplessly at the young employee standing near the entrance, only to find that she had apparently not yet processed what had happened.
Her eyes blinked blankly. She looked at the kitchen, then at Jiang Rong, as though slowly digesting the situation.
A few seconds later, she seemed to finish processing it.
The young employee finally moved.
Without speaking, she went behind the counter and took out a glass pitcher and a cup. Then she walked directly to the counter-height table opposite, pulled out a round stool, looked at Jiang Rong, and smiled.
“Please sit.”
For some reason, Jiang Rong froze for several seconds.
She had not intended to sit, but under that unwavering gaze, she still walked over and took the seat.
The young employee moved on to the next step.
She set down the cup, carefully filled it with lemon water, then looked over again and smiled.
“Please drink.”
Jiang Rong wanted to say she was not thirsty and did not need water.
But faced at close range with those direct, expectant eyes, she once again found herself strangely unable to refuse.
She had no choice but to lift the cup and take a sip.
After that, the gaze stopped lingering on her.
As though she had completed the standard procedure for receiving a customer, the young employee went behind the counter and began occupying herself.
She touched this, adjusted that, then finally washed a large apple. Sitting opposite Jiang Rong, she lowered her head and began eating it in small, careful bites.
Jiang Rong looked toward the kitchen, from which not the slightest sound emerged, then at the employee absorbed in eating her apple.
Even a seasoned senior assistant skilled at handling every type of situation and personality could not help feeling somewhat dumbfounded.
Forget it. She said it would only take a few minutes. It shouldn’t be too long.
In the end, Jiang Rong simply remained seated and continued sipping her lemon water.
Qin Cheng had no idea how Nuonuo was entertaining their distinguished guest outside, nor did she have the attention to spare.
She had already seized the silver hairpin and entered the small realm as quickly as possible.
Only after her vision shifted and her feet landed on solid ground did she begin seriously considering what she should prepare for Jiang Rong to take away.
The request had come far too unexpectedly.
Even amid her excitement, Qin Cheng had made no preparations.
Although Jiang Rong had shown her the photograph Director Jin had posted, she did not intend to make the same dish.
Pan-fried shredded potato and egg pancakes were not particularly easy to digest. Once packed into a takeout box, steam would also soften the crisp surface and turn it limp.
She certainly could not give that to the person in question.
So what would be suitable?
Hiding beside the lake gave her more time to think.
Qin Cheng luxuriously spent three or four minutes organizing her thoughts.
It could not be too home-style or too traditionally Chinese. The nature of the shop had to be taken into account.
The food had to feel reasonable and natural.
More importantly… it had to be something she would like.
Six minutes passed without notice.
Just as Senior Assistant Jiang, who had been completely ignored by Nuonuo, was beginning to grow impatient, the kitchen door finally opened again.
Boss Qin stepped out briskly, carrying two fully wrapped sandwiches.
“This one is a garlic, tomato, and chicken sandwich. It’s freshly made and still warm. Please eat it within fifteen minutes if possible. That’s when the texture will be best.”
As Qin Cheng placed them into bags, she explained each item to Jiang Rong.
“The other is a potato salad and egg sandwich. It can be refrigerated and eaten whenever convenient. It can be reheated or eaten cold, but it’s best consumed today. I generally don’t recommend keeping it overnight.”
Before Jiang Rong could get a clear look at them, the two kraft-paper boxes were swiftly placed into separate bags and handed over.
Fortunately, the obvious difference in temperature made them easy to tell apart.
Jiang Rong hesitated, then decided to place a certain amount of trust in the shop.
Even if they did not suit her superior’s taste, she could always eat them herself.
With that thought, Senior Assistant Jiang paid without complaint and left.
As an extra precaution, she also bought a box of freshly cut fruit for her immediate superior.
At the time, she had no idea that the fruit box—the item she had originally expected to suit her superior best—would ultimately be the only thing left uneaten.
After returning to the company, Jiang Rong remembered the recommendation that the warm sandwich be eaten within fifteen minutes.
As dutiful as ever, she quickly entered the general manager’s office, took out the food, and presented it with both hands.
Then, adopting the same determined stare the young shop employee had used on her, she supervised her superior’s meal.
Perhaps most of the day’s work had already been handled.
Her superior did not make things difficult for her this time.
She accepted the paper box, opened the package, and revealed the still-warm sandwich inside.
“This is… tomato and chicken? Is it from that shop again?”
There was no written label, but the aroma released when the packaging opened explained everything.
The generous filling was also clearly visible from the side.
Beneath the toasted golden bread were bright red tomato slices. Between them was a generous amount of shredded chicken mixed with sauce.
There was so much filling that the center of the sandwich bulged noticeably. The toasted crust had cracked slightly, releasing wisps of steam.
“Yes. It’s called… right, a garlic, tomato, and chicken sandwich. Apparently it’s a new item still in development.”
“The quality of that shop’s food has always been good, so I bought it for you to try.”
Seeing no leafy vegetables she disliked, the woman’s faintly furrowed brows relaxed.
The aroma also stirred a genuine trace of hunger, so she took an experimental bite.
The first bite did not feel like eating a sandwich at all.
It tasted more like French garlic bread.
The toast, crisp on the outside and soft within, had absorbed the rich aroma of butter and garlic paste, along with a small amount of crushed basil.
Because it was no longer fresh from the oven, the scent had not seemed especially powerful at first.
But the moment it entered her mouth, it aggressively conquered every taste bud.
As she chewed and the soft toast blended with the filling, the other flavors gradually emerged.
The richest was still the shredded chicken mixed with sauce.
First, there was enough of it to fill the mouth with meat.
Second, the chicken itself seemed to have been roasted, giving it a smoky aroma. Mixed with the sauce, it became even more flavorful and paired perfectly with the garlic.
The large tomato slices tucked between the bread and chicken contributed both sweetness and acidity, enriching the overall flavor.
Their abundant fresh juice also kept the sandwich moist, ensuring it was neither dry nor greasy and elevating the entire texture.
For such an unassuming sandwich to be nearly flawless in every detail was rare enough.
Even more remarkable was that the seasoning, flavor profile, and even the proportion of meat and vegetables all happened to suit her preferences remarkably well.
That kind of coincidence was genuinely surprising.
After finishing the warm sandwich bite by bite, the executive did not immediately return to work.
Instead, she considered for a moment, then instructed, “Let me see the other flavor too.”
Seeing her superior eat with such a good appetite, Senior Assistant Jiang was delighted.
She immediately presented the second sandwich with both hands.
Alongside her anticipation, however, she felt a little uneasy.
After all, this one was cold.
The concern proved unnecessary.
Although its name sounded plain and old-fashioned, the potato salad and egg sandwich appeared no less appealing than the chicken sandwich.
Naturally, Jiang Rong did not know that its main ingredients—the mashed potato and shredded cucumber—had been made from freshly harvested potatoes and fruit cucumbers grown in the small realm.
The chopped egg and ham paste had not come from the lakeside, but they had still been carefully selected.
As for the seasoning and preparation, every aspect had been calibrated precisely to match a certain person’s tastes.
So when Jiang Rong watched her superior, who normally had little appetite or interest in food, voluntarily finish two generously filled sandwiches without any reminders or urging, she felt both astonished and overjoyed.
An almost maternal smile of relief appeared unconsciously on her face.
“President Chu, President Chu… would you still like the fruit afterward?”
Although she had little hope, she still tested the waters.
Even if the answer was no, she would not be too disappointed.
In truth, Chu Qinyi did not dislike the idea of eating more.
Even she was surprised by how good her appetite was that day.
It had been a very long time since she had eaten with such satisfaction.
She refused the fruit only because she wanted to avoid overeating.
After finishing the meal, she sipped her strong coffee and settled back into her comfortable chair.
Then she looked thoughtfully at the discarded packaging in the wastebasket.
“Jiang Rong, tell me more about that shop.”
“For a place to attract so many people from my company and even make Director Jin promote it voluntarily, it must have something exceptional about it.”
“Who opened it? Is there an owner behind the scenes?”
“Hmm… there are only two female employees inside.”
“From what I’ve seen now, I think the older one is probably the small investor-owner who started the business. There’s an eighty percent chance it’s a shop run by sisters.”
“The atmosphere is very relaxed, even a little casual and willful. It doesn’t feel as though there’s a hidden owner behind it.”
Although Jiang Rong did not understand why her superior cared, she naturally answered everything she knew.
She first described in detail how the two employees interacted with customers, then mentioned that they were fans of Director Jin and, by extension, seemed quite fond of Shengtang.
“I think they’re fine.”
“Although the sisters are fans, they’re very rational about it. The way they handled the previous incident also showed they aren’t the type to chase quick fame and profit.”
“There shouldn’t be any problem with them getting along with Director Jin and the others, right?”
“What are you worried about, President Chu?”
“No. Nothing.”
The woman shook her head.
“Perhaps I was simply wary because the shop seemed to appear from nowhere, rise too quickly, and attract so many of our people in such a short time.”
“And…”
She paused slightly.
A trace of confusion entered her eyes.
Then she closed them and rubbed the bridge of her nose, as though trying to dispel something.
“No. I’m probably overthinking it.”
“In any case, don’t worry about it. Buy from them when you feel like it. The food really is good.”
Jiang Rong could not always follow her superior’s train of thought.
That was normal. She was only an assistant.
So she did not think much of the answer. She smiled, nodded, and began considering how to revise the meal schedule.
From then on, Senior Assistant Jiang began visiting the little alley shop more frequently.
Especially after noticing that her superior always ate with a good appetite whenever the food came from there—and seemed more energetic afterward—she became increasingly convinced she had made the right choice and found a genuinely excellent shop.
On Qin Cheng’s side, seeing Jiang Rong appear so often naturally filled her with delight.
To avoid attracting suspicion, she officially added the two sandwiches to the menu.
Unexpectedly, they became quite popular, indirectly confirming that customers wanted savory staple foods as well.
Of course, they were popular because the food was genuinely appealing.
The garlic, tomato, and chicken sandwich was especially well received.
Qin Cheng deliberately bought a small heated display cabinet so the sandwiches could remain warm and be available for immediate purchase.
At the same time, to ensure quality, only a few sandwiches were ever displayed for sale.
Her public promise was that she would prepare a new batch only after the previous one sold out, preserving maximum freshness and flavor.
In truth, Boss Qin was not exactly deceiving anyone.
Even when she prepared them in advance during busy periods, she stored them in the small realm.
Her promise to preserve maximum freshness and flavor was therefore entirely genuine.
In this manner, another month passed amid constant activity.
When Qin Cheng closed the books at the end of the month, she discovered that July’s total revenue had nearly tripled compared with the previous month.
This was due to the visitors drawn by the photograph incident, the release of the new products, and the steadily increasing number of returning customers generated by word of mouth.
In other words, the shop’s recorded profit for July had already exceeded twenty thousand.
Once she excluded the fictional purchasing costs for the majority of fruits and vegetables that were actually free, the true net profit was nearly fifty or sixty thousand.
This level of revenue still could not be called an enormous success, but it was enough to show that everything had entered the proper track and the future looked promising.
Perhaps because she felt the same way, after this month-end accounting, Qin Cheng’s mother—who had quietly supported her daughter all along—brought up the idea of returning home.
Qin Cheng knew this day would come sooner or later.
After all, the main reasons her mother had stayed were concern for her health and her business.
Ever since the shop opened in early June, she had insisted on bringing meals to the shop.
Part of that was because she had promised the landlady she would help care for Nuonuo.
More importantly, she was worried about her daughter’s health.
Now two months had passed.
Nuonuo was becoming more and more like an ordinary young woman, while Qin Cheng was no longer as frighteningly thin as before. Her complexion looked increasingly healthy.
The supposed anorexia had naturally “recovered” without treatment.
With the little shop clearly established and functioning smoothly, it was entirely natural that her mother would begin thinking of home.
After all, an old man was still waiting there alone.
There had been a time when Qin Cheng feared being discovered and wished her mother would leave sooner.
Now that the day had actually arrived, she inevitably felt reluctant to part with her.
But whether she had once hoped for her departure or now wished she would stay, Qin Cheng remained deeply grateful that her mother had come to her side during this period.
Many events had begun only because of that accidental chain of circumstances.
So once she learned that her mother intended to leave, Qin Cheng did not try too hard to stop her.
Still, during the days before their farewell, she sat down with her and talked for a long time.
In the end, she stubbornly persuaded her mother to take one hundred thousand yuan for emergencies.
The five hundred thousand yuan she had originally planned to leave to her parents in a single sum after her death had already been broken apart by the many changes that had occurred.
Aside from the one hundred thousand she now gave her mother, more than one hundred thousand had also been spent on the shop’s start-up costs, including commercial rent, residential rent, renovations, and other expenses.
She now had only a little more than two hundred thousand left on hand.
Of course, that calculation did not include the shop’s earnings over the past two months.
If the previous month’s profit had not left much to save, this month she could now put several tens of thousands back into savings.
At some point, Qin Cheng had formed a new idea—one that could even be called a goal.
She wanted to save up exactly five hundred thousand yuan again.
Why had she formed such a goal?
And what would she do after she had saved the full amount?
She had never examined those questions carefully.
Or rather, she did not want to think about them.
There was no need to think too far ahead.
For now, she would simply keep going.
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