The next morning, Li Zhi passionately embraced Mu Xiaomei once again.
"It's all because of you." "How am I supposed to explain when I go back?" Sitting in the car, Mu Xiaomei complained to Li Zhi with a red face, the blush on her cheeks still evident. They had classes at eight in the morning, and she had been urging Li Zhi to go back, so they didn't even have breakfast!
Li Zhi touched his nose. Wasn't it her idea to go to KFC yesterday?
"No laughing!" Mu Xiaomei blushed and reached out to pinch Li Zhi.
After dropping her off at the university gate, as she was getting out of the car, Mu Xiaomei looked at him with a blush, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. She muttered softly, "Pay attention to the rhythm." If needed, you can take a day off at least once a week. "But if you come too often, you have to call in advance; otherwise, I won't have time to accompany you." With that, she opened the car door and walked away.
What does that mean?
Li Zhi looked at Mu Xiaomei's back disappearing into the campus, feeling bewildered. He shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Damn, what a fateful encounter!"
Suddenly, his gaze fell on someone who made Li Zhi grit his teeth.
Without a word, he opened the car door and jumped out!
When Fang Guoxiang saw Li Zhi's car, she realized something was not right. She was about to run, but Li Zhi had already exited the car and blocked her path.
With several classmates by her side, Fang Guoxiang's courage was bolstered. She looked at Li Zhi and asked, "What do you want?"
Li Zhi looked at her with a sardonic smile and said, "Oh, Miss Fang, are you trying to back out after pulling up your pants?" We should have a serious discussion about what occurred a couple of days ago.
A hint of panic flashed in Fang Guoxiang's eyes as she glared and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?" There's nothing between us. Hurry up and get lost, or I'll call my friends to teach you a lesson, believe it or not?
"I believe you!" Li Zhi walked up to Fang Guoxiang, not caring about the onlookers. He leaned in closer, almost touching her face, when he stopped and said, "Don't think that just because time has passed, you're off the hook." Our account has not been settled.
After saying that, Li Zhi took two steps back, smirked, licked his lips, and said, "With such a great figure, why do you always wear such androgynous clothes? When you miss me, remember to call me. "I'm always available."
Watching Li Zhi's back, Fang Guoxiang stomped her foot in frustration. This individual was clearly doing it intentionally, and the last few sentences were intended to create misunderstandings among the classmates.
Back in the car, he turned around and drove back towards the city. In public, Li Zhi didn't dare to do anything to Fang Guoxiang.
After the grudge from the last encounter at the 9718 bar, Li Zhi was determined to find an opportunity to settle it. Oh, and the pair of sisters, what were their names again? Sun Jiao and Sun Rao. They looked good, but a bit malicious. Compared to Sun Rao, the older sister was better; at least she had some conscience.
He found a well-known decoration company in Haicheng and invested five million dollars. The three-story storefront across from the Star Moon Bay Hotel didn't need to be overly luxurious, but it had to be tasteful. In simple terms, it had to be low-key, luxurious, and high-class. The clientele that Falling Star Tower would host in the future would be top-tier in Haicheng, so the positioning was very high-end, and the prices wouldn't be inexpensive.
Falling Star Tower was initially intended to be a top-notch restaurant, as per Li Zhi's vision.
The goal of establishing Falling Star Tower was very clear: to attract the high-end customer base of Star Moon Bay Hotel and challenge the prestige of the Zhao family.
The purchase of the storefront cost over four million dollars, and the renovation of the restaurant cost another five million dollars. With some additional expenses factored in, the total investment in Falling Star Tower would definitely exceed fifty million dollars, which was no small amount. The Zhao family had also invested a similar amount to bring down Happy Fish Balls.
If it weren't for the Super Fish Ball Company, No. 5 Fishing Port, and Bei Daozhi joining forces, Li Zhi wouldn't have been able to gather such a large sum of money to compete with the Zhao family.
The Zhao family had a significant investment in the Happy Fish Balls project, and their advertising and promotion were very sophisticated and well-planned. Although the investment was substantial, the future profitability was very promising. Of course, it might be a bit small for just one market in Haicheng. The Zhao family's establishment of the "Happy Fish Balls" chain company was driven not only by profit but also by the desire to surpass Li Zhi's "Happy Fish Balls."
As long as the Zhao family didn't lose money on the Happy Fish Balls project, Li Zhi couldn't do it. He had to transport high-end customers from Star Moon Bay to Falling Star Tower while ensuring profitability.
In addition to humiliating the Zhao family, Li Zhi also had to ensure that Falling Star Tower was profitable.
During the following week, Li Zhi was extremely busy. It would be best if he could poach from the Huang family, but if he couldn't, he couldn't let himself be tied to one tree. Sharpening the knife doesn't waste the wood, and a good restaurant requires skilled chefs.
Since Falling Star Tower's positioning was a top-tier restaurant, the required chefs were not ordinary chefs.
There were only a few top-tier restaurants in Haicheng. Therefore, if Li Zhi wanted to recruit chefs from Haicheng, he had to risk offending several top-tier restaurants in order to secure the best chefs.
For now, Falling Star Tower was still too young and shouldn't make too many enemies, so Li Zhi decided to shift his focus away from Haicheng to the entire province.
Three top-tier chefs and ten high-level chefs would be sufficient.
Despite Falling Star Tower's relatively small size, the back kitchen team that Li Zhi had assembled was definitely top-notch. Just poaching these people back cost him a lot of money.
He still needed a head chef. If Huang Pangzi were willing to come, the position would be his. He was capable and could also embarrass Zhao Xueying, which was perfect.
If Huang Pangzi didn't come, Li Zhi would figure something out later.
Li Zhi also recruited top-tier waitstaff from several prominent hotel restaurants in the region. Their appearance, physique, temperament, and smile were all top-notch. A top-tier restaurant should have a top-tier atmosphere.
Falling Star Tower's service team consisted of twenty waiters and ten servers, all aged between 18 and 28, exuding youthful energy.
Meng Ruping was a head waiter at a mid-range restaurant. Her education was not very advanced, and her family's circumstances were not very favorable. She dropped out of school early and started working. At just twenty years old, she had been working for four and a half years, two of which were at this restaurant. Starting as a waiter, she worked her way up to team leader and then head waiter, with her salary increasing to 4500.500.500.50.,500.50.
Due to her attractive appearance and physique, she was highly favored by both customers and colleagues, attracting numerous suitors, including the restaurant manager.
However, she had always been very self-disciplined. She knew better than anyone about her family's situation. Besides being good-looking, she had no reason to be proud. Love was also a "luxury" for her.
In her somewhat self-deprecating heart, Meng Ruping never accepted the "kindness" of customers or anyone's pursuit. She just wanted to work steadily, earn money, and find someone in the future who wouldn't mind her family background and marry her.
She wasn't devoid of vanity or dreams, but she didn't want to become the kind of person she currently disliked.
Until one day, a young man of similar age appeared in front of her.
Smiling, he told her, "I have a job here for you." "Would you like to give it a try?" It's similar to what you're currently doing - working as a head waiter at a restaurant, earning a monthly salary of twenty thousand. The address is Falling Star Tower, across from Star Moon Bay Hotel. It hasn't opened yet. "If you're interested, you can come and try it out."
Meng Ruping initially thought he was dealing with a scammer. Is a monthly salary of twenty thousand reasonable? That was five times her current income for the same position. She found it hard to believe.
The young man was Li Zhi by nature, and Meng Ruping was recommended by a small headhunting company. Li Zhi had come to inspect her in person and was immediately drawn to the girl named Meng Ruping. He was particularly fond of the genuine smile on her face.
Very clean!
It seemed untouched by the world, warming people's hearts, different from a professional smile, very special.
"Why choose me?" Meng Ruping asked Li Zhi.
This question has been asked by others as well!
Li Zhi didn't hesitate and smiled, "Because I like the smile on your face." Rest assured, this is just a service-oriented job, and the nature of the work is no different from what you are currently doing. At Falling Star Tower, there are twenty girls who are similar to you, but their salaries are only half of yours. That's the difference. Take two days to consider it. If you agree, give me a call!
Although Meng Ruping was considered one of the best-looking among the twenty waiters that Li Zhi had recruited, she was not the most beautiful one.
Among the twenty waiters, there was a girl named Qingzi who was the most beautiful, like a painting. Compared to the big stars on TV, she was no less beautiful. Her name was Yang Yuqing, and she was only seventeen years old. Li Zhi had "picked her up" on the street.
Girls from affluent families typically wouldn't work in service jobs like this. Thanks to Li Zhi's financial strategy, he successfully recruited all twenty attractive waitresses. As for the servers, they were all attractive, and finding a job with a monthly salary of over ten thousand was not easy.
Whether it was the back kitchen team or the service team at Falling Star Tower, Li Zhi personally selected them based on their abilities and appearance. If someone didn't catch his eye at first glance, no matter how talented or beautiful they were, Li Zhi wouldn't choose them.
That's how stubborn he was, being the boss and all!
Falling Star Tower has three floors. The first floor has been converted into the back kitchen and the front desk, while the two upper floors serve as the dining area. The second floor was designated for public dining, suitable for groups of two to four people, with an area exceeding 140 square meters. It could accommodate approximately fifty diners at full capacity. The third floor had seven private rooms, each over twenty square meters. The space wasn't very large, and the conditions were like this for now. Li Zhi was also considering buying the adjacent two storefronts, but he would have to wait and see after the opening!