I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Besides being speechless and excited, Dong Baitao thought of something else that made him even more excited, with a hint of schadenfreude: "So, a young couple went to Jule Foods to discuss business, only to run into the big boss, Zhou Man, who is also the woman's mother... Sounds exciting!"

Then, Dong Baitao asked impatiently, "And then what? Did Zhou Man get angry on the spot?"

He could guess with his own eyes that Zhou Man would most likely get angry. Even if she didn't openly express her anger because her daughter was present, she certainly wouldn't give him a pleasant look; the icy atmosphere would freeze Shen Kang solid.

Otherwise, would Zhou Man really speak so kindly and smilingly to Shen Kang?

"Tsk tsk, it's terrifying just thinking about it... Did Shen Kang run away in a panic?" Dong Baitao continued, practically wearing the words "watching the show" on his face.

If he could, Dong Baitao would really like to rush to the scene immediately to see what was going on.

Upon hearing Dong Baitao's follow-up question, Meng Chengjiao's expression became even stranger: "No. Zong Shijie said that Zhou Man not only didn't get angry, but also seemed to have a very close relationship with Shen Kang, and even introduced all the management personnel of Jule Foods present to Shen Kang."

"..."

Dong Baitao was stunned.

After a long pause, she said, "This is... a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law and liking him more and more? It sounds to me that Zhou Man is grooming him to be her successor?"

Meng Chengjiao nodded silently, "It seems so."

Dong Baitao remained silent for a long while, finally muttering to himself, "A bit like science fiction..."

Based on their understanding of Shen Kang, he was from a family slightly above Guo Pinyan's level.

For the average person, they could be considered second-generation rich, but compared to the Shengyuan Group, they are far inferior. They could easily be considered an ordinary family.

As a result, this child from an ordinary family got involved with Zhou Man's daughter and was even accepted by Zhou Man...

This isn't just about avoiding a few decades of hard work; it's about avoiding hundreds of years of hard work.

While Dong Baitao was muttering to himself, Meng Chengjiao was also pondering silently.

At this moment, Dong Baitao spoke up again: "Should we have Zong Shijie become friends with him?"

The implication was that they wanted to actively bring Shen Kang into their circle.

Meng Chengjiao nodded. "Yes, I'll talk to Zong Shijie about it."

As he spoke, he lowered his head and started sending text messages.

For ordinary families, acceptance is optional, but since Shen Kang has this connection and is likely to become one of the heirs of Shengyuan Group in the future, they naturally want to bring him in so that everyone can get to know him and become friends.

……

Jule Foods Shuilin District Factory Area

Zong Shijie received a text message from Meng Chengjiao, then glanced at Shen Kang: a group of managers from Jule Foods were still gathered there, so he couldn't go over for the time being. He could only wait and find another opportunity to get closer to them.

After introducing everyone to Shen Kang, Zhou Man said, "Shen Kang, what business are you here to discuss today? Tell everyone about it."

Shen Kang was a bit annoyed, so he had no choice but to repeat himself.

Lu Hongde and his group were a little confused about the situation before, but now that they heard it, they understood.

Lu Hongde thought about it a step further: this was just a small matter, yet President Zhou came personally and introduced everyone… It seemed the beans were just a pretext; the most important thing was actually to let everyone get to know Shen Kang. So, did this mean Shen Kang wanted to enter Shengyuan Group through Jule Foods?

As Lü Hongde was speculating, Zhou Man continued, "Shen Kang, I know you quite well. You're always thorough in your work. You must have already thought through the specific details of the cooperation, right?"

Before Shen Kang could speak, Ding Ling interjected, "Yes, President Zhou, President Shen has already discussed it with me. The specific plan is as follows..."

She explained Shen Kang's plan in detail.

Shen Kang watched the two of them singing in unison and felt extremely annoyed, truly feeling that trouble was piling up everywhere.

Guo Pinyan, who was listening nearby, was quite surprised.

In the concept that Shen Kang instilled in Guo Pinyan, Shen Kang was able to get cheap beans by virtue of his status as a "young master"—of course, Guo Pinyan now knows that Old Shen is not a "young master" but a "prince consort," but the result is actually the same—but now, when she hears Ding Ling talk about that plan, Guo Pinyan realizes that there is still a twist in the story.

It turns out that Lao Shen did not intend to use his connections to get cheap beans. Instead, he planned to make up the price difference himself so that neither Jule Foods nor he would lose money, and only Lao Shen would lose money!

Guo Pinyan was somewhat dazed: No, Old Shen was actually this good to his brother, this great? And he did something like this without letting her know.

Guo Pinyan was so excited that she almost cried, feeling that Lao Shen was a true brother.

Old Shen had teased him so many times before, but it never really mattered.

If Lao Shen is a true brother, what's wrong with letting him do it dozens or hundreds more times? He's a true brother!

Lu Hongde, who was listening from the side, was also somewhat surprised.

He thought it was just a small matter of Mr. Zhou's son-in-law wanting to get some cheap beans from Jule Foods. He never expected that Mr. Zhou's son-in-law would come up with such a plan.

It might seem like making a mountain out of a molehill, but Lü Hongde still felt quite favorably disposed towards Shen Kang's actions.

To take another glimpse, if Shen Kang, this imperial son-in-law, does indeed join Jule Foods and then rise through the ranks, that would be quite good. At least from this incident, it's clear that Shen Kang's style is to not be selfish and to make sure everything is arranged properly, even if it means taking a loss himself.

People like to work with altruistic people.

The other members of Jule Foods' management team also had their own agendas.

After listening to Ding Ling's report with feigned interest, Zhou Man nodded and said, "That's definitely your style, Shen Kang. This plan looks good, but I'm not entirely satisfied."

"?"

Shen Kang looked at Zhou Man.

Zhou Man thought for a moment and then slowly said, "How about this, I'll propose a solution."

"If you are successful in selecting the beans this time and plan to purchase them from Jule Foods, then you will sign a long-term contract with Jule Foods under your coffee brand, for a period of five years or more. In return, regardless of the quantity you purchase, all prices will be based on Jule Foods' bulk wholesale price. As for warehousing and logistics, you will not need to bear these costs; Jule Foods will take care of them."

Then Zhou Man looked at Lü Hongde and the others, "What do you think?"

Lu Hongde was the first to speak: "I think it's excellent. Although I've only known President Shen for a short time, his previous proposal alone demonstrates his outstanding abilities. I believe that your coffee brand will rise rapidly and grow bigger and bigger."

"From the current perspective, according to your plan, Mr. Zhou, we may incur a small loss temporarily. However, in the long run, we are very likely to gain a major client. This is a strategic contract, and I think this strategy is good. I agree."

Several other key members of the management team also spoke up, saying that President Zhou's plan was excellent and visionary. Everyone thought it was great and was optimistic about the future of Shen Kang's coffee brand, as if Jule Foods had already secured a major client.

It's all nonsense.

They haven't even looked at the other party's business plan, so what can they possibly see?

But when it's time to be optimistic, you should be optimistic.

Seeing everyone's reactions, Zhou Man nodded to herself.

She came over today to bring up this proposal, partly because she was annoyed with the young man, and deliberately came to dismantle his attempts to distance himself from him—she even had a slight urge to tell him, "Even though your status as a rich second-generation has a time limit, you're still a rich second-generation! How can you be so stingy and petty? Where's the semblance of a top-tier rich heir? You don't want it? I'll give it to you anyway!"

In addition, Zhou Man's public mention of this proposal also had another meaning.

Now that we see the management of Jule Foods making statements, her intention has been achieved.

"It seems that everyone agrees on this plan..."

Before Zhou Man could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a voice.

"I object!"

Lu Hongde and his men were shocked, thinking, "Who dares to oppose this? What are you opposing? If you dare to oppose now, we don't even want to think about what you might do next!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Shen Kang raising his right hand as if he were about to blow up a bunker.

"..."

Lu Hongde and the others were speechless, thinking to themselves, "What's going on between you two, mother-in-law and son-in-law?"

Zhou Man stared at Shen Kang, feeling a bit annoyed. She thought to herself, "You're determined to draw a clear line between us, aren't you?"

Thinking of this, she felt a little sad and fell silent for a moment.

Ding Ling was very perceptive and had been following Zhou Man for quite some time, so she noticed something and quickly said, "President Shen..."

Before she could finish speaking, Shen Kang interrupted, "Mr. Zhou, I can accept the overall plan you proposed, but some details need to be modified. I'll handle the logistics myself. Accordingly..."

Shen Kang grinned and asked, "Could the price be lowered a little more?"

Zhou Man's expression shifted, and looking at the boy's grinning face, the slight discomfort she had felt earlier vanished instantly. She asked, "Have you thought it through?"

"I've made up my mind."

Zhou Man nodded, "Alright then, that's the general direction. You can discuss the specific details yourselves later."

Shen Kang, however, wasn't finished speaking. He pressed on, "President Zhou, I actually have another project that requires a long-term supply of various snacks. Although we only have one store right now, like the coffee shop, the second one is opening soon. If Jule Foods also has the goods I need, could this plan also be applicable?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Man was indeed even happier and had Lü Hongde and the others coordinate the product categories with Shen Kang.

Watching Shen Kang and Lü Hongde chatting and coordinating on the spot, and seeing Shen Kang's current appearance, Zhou Man felt quite satisfied.

She knew that Shen Kang had set up Anjia, and yesterday she also learned that Shen Kang had other projects at the university, but she had never seen Shen Kang working as a boss before.

During the summer vacation, I did have Shen Kang come to clean the house, but that time Shen Kang came as a cleaner.

This is the first time Zhou Man has seen Shen Kang working as a boss.

Hmm, it actually looks pretty convincing...

As she watched, Zhou Man's lips unconsciously curled into a slight smile.

Meanwhile, Shen Kang quickly finalized the deal regarding the snacks.

The snacks he was referring to were in Study Room 302—the amount of snacks consumed in Study Room 302 is quite large.

Although the consumption is high, the variety is actually not that many, just a few types such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, potato chips, and nuts.

These are also mainstream snacks, and Jule Foods had them all after the two parties connected. Therefore, from then on, these snacks were all sourced from Jule Foods.

Previously, Shen Kang would personally go to several wholesale stores in Beilu District to purchase these snacks.

From now on, these snacks will be included in the Jule Foods chain, just like coffee beans.

Given their current coffee bean consumption, a single delivery truck would likely waste a lot of space, resulting in relatively high average logistics costs. However, adding snacks would significantly reduce these costs. Furthermore, their initial strategic plan integrates the 302 Study Room with the coffee shop, eliminating the need for separate deliveries and further reducing logistics costs.

Seeing that everything was settled, Zhou Man said, "Alright, things are settled, you can continue picking beans."

After saying that, she turned to look at He Qiuzhu and smiled gently, "Qiuzhu, it's quite boring here. Why don't you come with me? I'm almost done with my work over there. We'll go shopping later."

She hadn't seen the child for a while, and she missed him quite a bit.

He Qiuzhu was somewhat tempted, glanced at Shen Kang again, and then nodded, "Okay."

Zhou Man then took He Qiuzhu's hand and walked out.

Lu Hongde and his group naturally followed suit, and soon everyone left, finally making the room less crowded.

Guo Pinyan, who had been holding it in until now, finally couldn't contain herself any longer. She excitedly grabbed Shen Kang's shoulder and squeezed hard, "Old Shen, I didn't expect you to have planned to do that! Why didn't you say so sooner! Don't you consider me a brother anymore?!"

Shen Kang looked at him and sighed, "If you're really touched, you can call me godfather, that wouldn't be so bad."

"..."

Guo Pinyan hesitated for a moment, then cursed, "Get lost!"

He hesitated for a moment because, in his excitement, he had just wanted to satisfy Old Shen's perverse desires—it was just a title of godfather, but compared to the touching things Old Shen had been secretly trying to do, what was that?

However, Liu Jing was right next to him, along with Zong Shijie, Zhao Ruyuan, and the other people from Jule Foods. He felt embarrassed.

Liu Jing, who had been playing dumb the whole time, finally breathed a sigh of relief and spoke up: "Old Shen, you've already met her parents? That was quick!"

That's why men and women have different focuses.