"I've thought it through!"
A smile flashed across Chen Tianming's eyes at Duan Fei's confirmation.
"As you wish!"
After saying that, Chen Tianming's gaze landed on Su Xiaonuan. He waved at her and said, "Ms. Su, that's all for today. We can go home now."
Su Xiaonuan understood the meaning behind Tianming's words, so she quickly packed her things and planned to leave with him.
Jiang Lianlian started to feel unhappy when she saw this. She hadn't had a chance to face off against Su Xiaonuan properly, so how could she let her leave so quickly?
If she let Su Xiaonuan go today, what would happen to her reputation in the future?
With this thought in mind, Jiang Lianlian was about to stop Tianming from leaving when the manager beat her to the punch.
"Young Master Chen, please calm your anger. He can only speak on behalf of the Duan family, but he doesn't speak for our entire restaurant. So please give us another chance, Young Master Chen."
And with that, the manager all but knelt in front of Chen Tianming.
He had a couple of reasons for not doing so. For one, there were so many people here. If he knelt, he might lose the respect of his staff, and if so, how could he manage them in the future?
The other reason was due to Chen Tianming. He felt that Chen Tianming was not heartless and would probably give them a chance.
Actually, the manager was taking a risk on Chen Tianming's character. After all, it was his first time working with Chen Tianming, so he was unsure of his nature.
Chen Tianming knew what the manager was hoping for.
However, it would not benefit him to stay.
The price the restaurant had requested at the start was beyond Chen Tianming's expectations. He could wait until the restaurant's situation deteriorated and they were forced to lower their price, but who knew what would happen then?
Chen Tianming had chosen to come here early on to avoid any future problems that may crop up.
Now, not only did Duan Fei's actions not cause any harm to him, but they also helped him. If he played his cards right, he would soon be able to take down the restaurant project at a lower price.
Since Duan Fei had given him this opportunity, why would Chen Tianming throw it away?
Hence, Chen Tianming waved his hand and said, "Forget it! I'm afraid our small corporation has little to offer this fine establishment. Let's end our discussion here."
And with those words, Chen Tianming left with Su Xiaonuan.
The manager couldn't say anything more to make him reconsider, so he silently looked at Chen Tianming's departing figure, his mind filled with thoughts of the day's incident.
'The Chen family had been willing to invest in our restaurant and offered the highest price among all the investors.'
'Originally, as long as the taste test was successful today, the collaboration would be successful.'
'But now, because of this b*stard son of the Duan family, our cooperation with the Chen Corporation was ruined. This won't benefit the restaurant at all.'
'Moreover, I didn't have a say in this matter. If the boss blames me, what would I do?'
Nevertheless, all the manager could do now was push this matter onto Duan Fei. It couldn't be considered shirking responsibility because this current disaster was caused by Duan Fei alone.
The manager had done all he could to salvage the situation but to no avail. If he didn't let the boss know about the Duan family's interference in the matter, he would shoulder the responsibility and probably lose his job.
The manager then looked at Duan Fei and said coldly, "Young Master Duan, you better look out for yourself!"
After saying this, he left the private room.
He had just started to walk away when he happened to meet the head chef, who was pushing a trolley of food toward the room.
When the head chef saw the manager's dark expression, he was confused and asked, "What's wrong, Manager Wang? Shouldn't you be serving our esteemed guest? Why are you out here?"
The manager wanted to blow up in anger when he heard those questions, but in the end, he only said spitefully, "Esteemed guest? What esteemed guest? There is no esteemed guest! Hurry up and take these back and continue as usual!"
The head chef was puzzled by Manager Wang's angry words. However, this matter had nothing to do with him, so he did as ordered and left with the food trolley.
As the head chef had taken the food with him, Duan Fei and the others would be waiting in vain for the dishes to be served.
After all, the taster dishes were made for Chen Tianming, not for them.
Jiang Bei and the others waited in the private room for a long time, but no one came in with their food. Jiang Bei couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Where are the staff?"
Since his future brother-in-law asked, Duan Fei would do his best to sort out the issue. He turned to Jiang Bei and reassured him, "Don't worry, Jiang Bei. I'll go and see what's going on. This is no way to treat guests; these people are just asking to be fired!"
Duan Fei left the private room and saw a staff member passing by. He stopped him and asked, "What have you guys been doing? We've been here for a long time. Why haven't you served the dishes yet?"
The staff thought they'd been negligent in their service, so they respectfully apologized, "I'm sorry, sir. It's our fault; if you could tell me your room number, I'll notify the kitchens to hurry up with your order!"
Duan Fei gave them his private room number. He thought he would get a positive response from the staff, but he didn't expect them to just coldly inform him, "The manager had instructed us to ignore that private room!"
The staff member immediately went away after that. When he left, a trace of disdain flashed across his eyes.
News of what happened in that private room had reached the staff members' ears.
Their salaries would be raised when the restaurant went public, but thanks to Duan Fei's stunt, that won't be happening. Naturally, they didn't have a good impression of him.
Duan Fei was quite displeased by the staff's tone and attitude. He didn't bother to think about the reason behind their hostility; he just went straight to the manager's office.
'How could he treat me like this? I'll have him fired for this!'
Duan Fei strode up to the manager's office. Just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard the manager complaining inside, "Chairman, the Duan family has gone too far. They've ruined our investment plan."
"Especially that good-for-nothing son of the Duan family. He's the reason why everything fell through. Chairman, if we don't punish the Duan family, our restaurant will be finished."
Duan Fei was furious; ever since he was young, it had always been Duan Fei who complained about others, and he was never the complainee. How dare this manager point fingers at his betters?
Duan Fei was young and hot-tempered and couldn't stand this. He kicked open the office door and walked in:
"Well, go on! Why aren't you saying anything!"