I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Shen Kang and Jiang Chengle spent half a day going back and forth between appetizers and desserts. Every "love dish" that Jiang Chengle suggested was successfully replaced by a corresponding "friendship dish" by Shen Kang.

After the entire "friendship dinner" was planned, the two finally stopped.

"Although I still don't quite understand why you college students like to bury your heads in the sand, I really admire your quick wit, Mr. Shen," Jiang Chengle said sincerely, looking at Shen Kang.

In this "matching couplets" game, he actually cheated because all those "love dishes" were slightly modified from the ones he already had in his stomach, which is why they came out so quickly and were so complete.

Shen Kang handled everything on the spot, and he was able to complete the "friendship skin" of all the dishes, matching them perfectly in terms of name and meaning. This truly impressed Jiang Chengle.

"You flatter me." Shen Kang chuckled.

After observing for a while, Dong Baitao finally managed to get a word in edgewise and asked, "What were you doing just now?"

Shen Kang explained, "Oh, we're discussing the menu for our 'Friendship Dinner'..."

After his simple explanation, Dong Baitao finally understood what the two men's abstract behavior meant.

After Shen Kang finished explaining, Jiang Chengle asked, "Then, Boss Shen, will this 'Friendship Dinner' follow the menu we just prepared?"

Shen Kang thought for a moment, then nodded, "Okay. I think this menu is pretty good."

These days, college students still consider "high-end Western food" to be the most prestigious. And under cultural promotion, "high-end Western food" has become synonymous with "romance."

On Valentine's Day, if a guy takes a girl to a fancy Western restaurant for a candlelight dinner, that's the most romantic thing ever, bar none.

This is the current cultural environment.

Zhong Tang Hui is a Chinese restaurant, which is inherently disadvantageous in this respect, but its "Western elements applied to Chinese cuisine" approach makes up for this very well.

The so-called "Western form with Chinese application" refers to the practice of serving dishes in a series of courses, such as appetizers, soups, and main courses, following the model of high-end Western cuisine. Many high-end Chinese restaurants in later generations have also followed this approach.

It is precisely because of this approach that Zhongtanghui has been able to establish itself in the university town and become synonymous with the most upscale restaurants.

Now, Jiang Chengle's proposed "friendship dish" follows the same approach, fitting the definition of a "romantic dinner" for college students, so Shen Kang thought it was a good idea.

"What about the venue? Does Boss Shen have any suggestions?" Jiang Chengle asked again.

"Do you have any private rooms? The kind specifically for couples?"

"have."

"How about we use one of those private rooms? Is that alright?"

"no problem."……

After everything was discussed, Shen Kang and Dong Baitao were about to meet up with the group of rich kids.

Just as they were about to leave the room, Dong Baitao suddenly said, "Shen Kang, you go ahead. I suddenly remembered that I have something to say to Manager Jiang."

"Okay." Shen Kang didn't ask anything and just went out.

Leaving the teahouse, before I had taken two steps, I saw Ye Jintong and Ji Chunfu squatting in the corridor next to me, whispering to each other about something.

As he got closer, Shen Kang heard what Ye Jintong was muttering to herself.

"...I was so stupid, really. I thought he was bluffing me, that he saw through me and I was on the second level, while he was only on the first level. I never imagined he was on the third level..."

The contract was signed, and a turning point had indeed appeared, so she had already lost the bet, which made Ye Jintong extremely regretful.

Ji Chunfu simply listened without uttering a word, continuing to conceal his merits and fame.

Shen Kang, who had walked up to them, spoke up: "Don't regret it."

Upon seeing Shen Kang arrive, the two of them stood up.

Shen Kang looked at Ye Jintong and said, "Regret is useless, but there's still a chance. How about this, let's make another bet, with the same stakes as before. If you lose, it'll just double; but if you win, it's all settled. How about that?"

Having learned her lesson, Ye Jintong didn't even listen to the details of the bet and decisively refused: "No bet!"

"Are you really not going to reconsider? At least let me know what the bet is, okay?"

"Not considering it!"

As they talked, the three of them headed toward the room where the group of rich kids were.

On the way, Shen Kang repeatedly suggested making another bet, but Ye Jintong always firmly refused.

This made Shen Kang very gratified: Look, he had successfully helped another good young man quit gambling; he had truly done a great deed...

At the same time, in the tea room

Jiang Chengle looked at Dong Baitao in front of him, pondering the matter.

It wasn't that Dong Baitao suddenly had something to tell him; rather, he gave Dong Baitao a look, which is why Dong Baitao let Shen Kang go first.

The relationship between Jiang Chengle and Dong Baitao is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

In the Zhongtanghui chain of upscale restaurants, all the senior executives are currently divided into three factions: one faction is close to the eldest son, another faction is close to the second son, and the last faction is the neutral faction, which focuses on doing their job.

On the surface, Jiang Chengle is a neutral party.

But in reality, Jiang Chengle is very close to the eldest son, Dong Baitao.

After some deliberation, Jiang Chengle spoke up, revealing some information to Dong Baitao: "Ma Lei won't be here for long. There's already someone to replace Ma Lei as deputy manager, and he won't be like Ma Lei. When I take over, this new deputy manager will take my place."

Upon hearing this, Dong Baitao's face lit up with joy.

He knew that Jiang Chengle and the others were truly his own people, and they were slowly kicking his brother's people out of all the Zhongtanghui businesses. Zhongtanghui was a very important business for their family, and once most of the people in Zhongtanghui were their own, it would be a great asset.

But then Dong Baitao remembered what had just happened and couldn't help but mutter a small complaint: "Brother Jiang, you should have told me sooner."

If I had known about this sooner, I wouldn't have lost my composure when facing Ma Lei, and I wouldn't have had to shoulder this responsibility.

Jiang Chengle gave a wry smile.

The reason he didn't tell Dong Baitao about this before was because he was worried that Dong Baitao was too young to keep things to himself. How could he have known that such a sudden incident would happen today? So he could only try to salvage the situation after the fact.

"It's not too late for you to know now," Jiang Chengle said. "But knowing is one thing, but don't show it, or it might cause a little trouble."

Dong Baitao nodded, "Understood."

After finishing that story, Jiang Chengle brought up Shen Kang: "By the way, how did you meet Shen Kang?"

Dong Baitao then told him everything he knew about Shen Kang.

Jiang Chengle then realized that Shen Kang was also the future son-in-law of Shengyuan Group. "Future son-in-law? Is he reliable? After all, you said he's only a freshman in college."

Dong Baitao was quite certain, "I think it's pretty reliable. Zong Shijie was there the whole time and saw the whole thing. He said that Shen Kang's car was a gift from Zhou Man, and even the vehicle registration was changed to Shen Kang's name. And Zhou Man's driver also directly calls him Young Master Shen..."

After hearing some details, Jiang Chengle felt it was quite plausible and nodded, "I guess Zhou Man only has one daughter, which will be difficult to manage later, so she chose a son-in-law she's satisfied with in advance and started grooming him."

"Looking at it this way, what happened to you today turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Even if you suffer a loss in the end, he will still owe you a favor. Compared to Shengyuan Group, we are still far behind. If Shengyuan Group can lend a hand at a critical moment, it will be a great help to you."

Dong Baitao quickly replied, "That's what I think too."

After chatting with Jiang Chengle for a while, Dong Baitao went over to Wei Minglun and the others.

After entering the room, I saw that everyone was already chatting with Shen Kang.

A group of boys sat in a circle, while the female companions they brought sat around in groups of two or three, chatting idly.

The boys were still excited, reminiscing and boasting about how their convoy had just crashed the streets.

Finally, Meng Chengjiao interrupted everyone's boasting, "Everyone, we've come here on serious business today, let's get down to business first."

Only then did everyone calm down.

Meng Chengjiao also looked at Shen Kang and asked, "Shen Kang, how much does your GG cost?"

"Um, how about I first explain the prospects of our event to you?"

Meng Chengjiao adopted a "I believe you" attitude, saying, "Since it was you who did it, the prospects must be bright. Just invest directly, and you'll make a profit. No need for further explanation."

The others nodded in agreement.

In fact, they did not think that Shen Kang's activity would have a bright future, nor did they think that this GG would be effective.

They came purely for the purpose of throwing money around.

Their goal was to spend money and establish contact with Shen Kang; the outcome was irrelevant.

Ye Jintong and Ji Chunfu, who were sitting behind Shen Kang, exchanged a glance upon hearing this, both feeling quite frustrated: when they were trying to solicit sponsorships, they had talked themselves hoarse to no avail, but now the boss didn't even need to introduce the event, and the other party was eager to invest money.

Seeing this, Shen Kang could only say, "Alright. We can currently offer two slots. Each slot costs 400 yuan per period, with eight periods per month. That means to secure a slot, it would cost 3,200 yuan per month, and 38,000 yuan per year."

These rich kids, despite their nonchalant attitude and "just name your price, I'll pay for it" demeanor, are all just putting on a show. Only now, hearing the price Shen Kang quoted, did they truly breathe a sigh of relief.

It's only 38,000 a year. Let alone having their company pay for this fee, even if they themselves only use their pocket money, it's more than enough.

Let alone 38,000, even 76,000 isn't much.

Immediately, a man named Tong Enkang spoke up: "Okay, that's a great deal, I'll take both spots!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than someone voiced their dissatisfaction: "What? You want both of them? Shen Kang said there were two, so naturally they're to be shared. You can only take one at most!"

"That's right, that's right."

Although they are spoiled and dissolute, they have gained some understanding of things like interests and relationships through their upbringing, and their understanding is deeper than that of children from ordinary families.

Now that there's an opportunity to connect with and strengthen ties with the future son-in-law of the Shengyuan Group, everyone naturally wants it and can't let Tong Enkang have it all to himself.

Seeing this, Tong Enkang grinned and said, "Okay, then I'll take one."

"What? You only took one? There are several brothers here, it's hard to say whether you'll get any or not."...

The crowd started arguing and discussing, but they still couldn't reach a conclusion.

As the saying goes, in a group of three, there is bound to be one who comes up with the best ideas.

Meng Chengjiao was the master of this idea.

Seeing that no one could reach a conclusion, Meng Chengjiao came up with an idea: "This arguing isn't going to work. Let's do the fairest thing: bidding! Whoever bids the highest gets it. That's the fairest way!"

Everyone found it interesting. In particular, many of their female companions were there, and it would be quite a spectacle if they started bidding against each other.

Immediately, Wei Minglun took the lead and agreed.

However, two people objected, mainly because their families were not wealthy enough, and if it came down to bidding, they probably wouldn't have much of a chance.

But it was no use for just the two of them to object. They were outnumbered and outmatched; at best, they could only follow the principle of majority rule and begin bidding.

Meng Chengjiao, the master of ideas, enriched the bidding rules again. Instead of calculating each period, which would require conversion and be too troublesome, he simply calculated the bidding based on a year. This is more intuitive and allows everyone to clearly understand at what level they should stop bidding based on their own strength.

Once no one bids anymore, the two highest bids will be used to allocate the GG slots.

Wei Minglun was the first to bid: "Fifty thousand!"

The price of a single GG slot was originally 38,000, but he immediately added 12,000, which shows he's really rich.

Of course, this is indeed a negligible amount compared to Shuanglong Group's annual GG fee.

Tong Enkang made his second bid: "Fifty-one thousand!"

Then came the third, and the fourth.

"Fifty-two thousand!"

"Fifty-three thousand!"

……

Ye Jintong and Ji Chunfu looked at each other in bewilderment, feeling the vicissitudes of the world: they couldn't sell their products, but now, these people not only wanted to buy them without asking any questions, but even took the initiative to bid and raise prices.

The female companions brought by the rich kids, who were originally chatting idly in twos and threes and were quite bored, finally found something to do when they saw the commotion and all gathered around to watch.

These girls are, after all, the girlfriends of rich second-generation heirs. Their personalities may not be good, since they don't plan to get married anyway, but they must be presentable, so they are all quite pretty.

In other words, they are all beautiful women.

Surrounded by beautiful women, these rich kids got even more excited, shouting at each other like bulls.

"Sixty-two thousand!"

"Sixty-three thousand!"

……

Finally, after a lot of shouting, some people reluctantly gave up, and the final result was achieved.

The two highest prices were offered by Wei Minglun and Tong Enkang, respectively.

Wei Minglun called out 88,000, a very auspicious number.

Tong Enkang, on the other hand, shouted out 86,000, which is also a pretty good number.

They managed to raise the price of a GG spot from 400 yuan per period to 900 yuan per period, more than doubling it, which naturally made Shen Kang happy.

Feeling the gazes of the beautiful women around them, the two victors were in high spirits.

Next, Shen Kang inquired about the specific arrangements for the GGs and also learned about the family businesses of the two new friends: "...After all, this event is aimed at college students, so the GGs who participate should ideally be close to the lives of college students."

Shen Kang gave another example: "If someone were to throw a fertilizer bomb during this event, that would be a bit inappropriate, wouldn't it?"

That makes sense. Wei Minglun and Tong Enkang then revealed some of their businesses and discussed with Shen Kang which one to put on the screen to beat GG.

After discussing it, the three of them finally settled on a preliminary plan: Wei Minglun would use the "GG" spot to give a "GG" to a beverage brand of a fast-moving consumer goods company under Shuanglong Group, while Tong Enkang would use the "GG" spot to give a "GG" to a sportswear brand owned by Tong Enkang's family.

Beverages and sportswear are also quite suitable for college students' lives.

At this point, all the male contestant slots for the "If You Are the One" event have been sold. Of course, the male contestants for beverages and sportswear will be finalized after contracts are signed, but Wei Minglun and Tong Enkang both assured that there wouldn't be any problems, so it shouldn't be a big issue; it's just a matter of going through the formalities.

In this regard, Shen Kang doesn't need to get involved anymore. They can just have the two of them send people, and Ye Jintong can handle the coordination.

After finishing the business and getting all that fuss, it was getting late, so someone suggested going out for dinner.

Naturally, no one had any objections to this.

Perfect timing! This is Zhongtanghui, a place of high quality, so we didn't need to look for another place. We set up a table right here, ate and drank to our hearts' content, and got to know Shen Kang a bit better over the meal.

By the time the meal was finished, it was already past 8 p.m.

These rich kids lead such a rich life, it's impossible for them to go home so early, that would be too boring.

"Let's go, let's go!"

Meng Chengjiao immediately greeted them, even saying to Shen Kang, "Old Shen, why don't you call your girlfriend out?"

He wanted to take things a step further and get to know the princess of Shengyuan Group as well.

After saying that, Meng Chengjiao didn't want to make his intentions too obvious, so he added with a smile, "Or we could find one for you. Don't overthink it, it's just going to a nightclub to have some fun."

Shen Kang smiled and declined, "Never mind, you guys go have fun. I prefer quiet and usually like to read books or something. I'm not really comfortable in places like nightclubs."

Perhaps due to his personality, whether in his past life or this one, he has never been interested in nightclubs and finds them quite boring.

Meng Chengjiao and the others tried to persuade him a few more times, but Shen Kang's attitude was quite firm, so they had no choice but to give up in the end.

After Shen Kang left, Meng Chengjiao began arranging their trip to the nightclub.

Several rich kids also got together.