I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

The four were chatting when someone knocked on the door.

Some people were puzzled, but they still called out, "Please come in."

As the sound rang out, the door opened, and a man in his thirties, wearing a suit, pushed in a food cart. He stopped beside them, smiled, and said, "Good afternoon, distinguished guests. I am the manager of the hotel's executive lounge, here to serve you tea and refreshments."

Niu Haisheng said, "It seems we didn't order any tea or snacks."

The executive lounge manager smiled and said, "Yes, this is a complimentary gift from our hotel to Mr. Shen."

Was it a free gift for me? Shen Kang hadn't expected this. The scene of being greeted at the hotel entrance flashed through his mind, along with the man smiling at him from afar in the lobby.

Did he do it?

Shen Kang was right.

After Sun Hongjun returned to the monitoring room, he soon learned that Shen Kang had gone to the executive lounge with someone.

……

Sun Hongjun sat in the monitoring room, and Sun Yu sat next to him.

From the surveillance footage in front of them, the two saw Shen Kang and the three people who were with him.

"It's that Mr. Niu Haisheng."

Sun Yu stretched out his finger and pointed to a person on it.

Sun Hongjun nodded.

It was this Mr. Niu who had previously approached them to arrange an industry conference at their hotel. Therefore, the two men knew each other.

"The other two people seem to have attended that meeting, and they should both be business owners," Sun Yu added, offering his analysis.

Sun Hongjun also agreed.

After saying this, Sun Yu asked, "So, Mr. Sun, is there anything we need to do?"

At first glance, his words seemed reasonable, just a simple question. But upon closer examination, one would find a hint of sarcasm, as if he were saying, "Mr. Sun, is it time to flatter him again?"

This was indeed Sun Yu's true thought. Although his uncle's previous words made sense to him, they conflicted with his long-held beliefs, and he couldn't fully accept them for the time being.

Once you open your mouth, you inevitably reveal your true thoughts.

Sun Hongjun understood, thinking to himself, "If you were an ordinary person, I really wouldn't bother with you. But what can I do? I don't have a son, and you, my nephew, are the only male heir in the Sun family right now."

Then, he spoke, but instead of responding to Sun Yu, he brought up another matter: "Actually, something similar happened before at the Huawan store..."

Sun Hongjun calmly recounted the incident of "Meng Shaoping playing background music when Shen Kang took the stage during the city-level competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition".

Sun Yu's expression turned strange after hearing this.

He thought his uncle's flattery was already pretty outrageous, but little did he know there were always people more outrageous than him. Playing background music when Shen Kang went on stage? What a ridiculous idea!

After recounting the case, Sun Hongjun said, "Although I don't know the specific effects of what Meng Shaoping did, judging from the results, it was obviously ineffective and had the opposite effect. That's why the higher-ups temporarily changed the venue from the Huawan store to our store."

Sun Yu already disliked this kind of behavior, and upon hearing this, he seemed to have found a legal basis for it and became excited. "Right? So, Mr. Sun, I still think there's no need to do those things. We should just do our own jobs properly and conscientiously."

Sun Hongjun shook his head, "The specific situation needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis."

Then I patiently analyzed it for my nephew, and as for how much of it my nephew could take in, I left it to fate.

"At the time, it was a university innovation and entrepreneurship competition, an academic competition, and the participants were all from universities. These people, in terms of personality, are rather aloof. So Meng Shaoping's attempt to put pressure on them may have backfired."

"But now, these people are all business owners."

"In business, demonstrating strength is actually advantageous. This can be seen from the fact that many bosses buy luxury cars. It's not that they really enjoy driving or riding in them, but rather that a luxury car can often demonstrate a certain level of strength, saving them a lot of words."

"That's what it means: 'My Bentley will speak for me'."

"Therefore, given Shen Kang's current situation, helping him demonstrate his abilities and providing support from the sidelines may actually have the best effect."

Sun Yu's intelligence and comprehension were actually fine. After listening to Sun Hongjun's words, he understood what Sun Hongjun was saying.

But because of his differing views, he still felt speechless.

"..."

Sun Yu felt that his uncle had really gone a bit overboard in this regard, analyzing every little detail like this.

Wouldn't it be great if we could put that energy into a proper job?

Sun Hongjun glanced at Sun Yu and knew that it was impossible to expect his nephew to change his mind all at once.

So, after explaining and teaching, he didn't talk to Sun Yu anymore. Instead, he picked up the walkie-talkie and started arranging the next steps.

At Sun Hongjun's instruction, the executive lounge manager personally stepped in and temporarily served as a waiter.

……

In the executive lounge's private lounges

After some thought, Shen Kang raised his right hand in a gesture without making a sound.

The executive lounge manager then personally took the initiative to remove the items that were almost taken off the food cart and placed them one by one on the coffee table in front of him.

As they picked up and arranged the items, the executive lounge manager continued to explain.

"Our hotel is presenting our distinguished guests with a complimentary 'Ancient Tree Black Tea with Miao Silver Tea Box - Three Flavors' crafted using intangible cultural heritage techniques."

"The main beverage is cold-brewed Leishan Baimiao ancient tree black tea."

As the manager spoke, he took a pot of tea from the food cart and began pouring tea for the guests.

"This tea is selected from the Leishan Bai Miao area. Nowadays, only three villages in the entire Leishan Bai Miao settlement still produce ancient tree black tea. The first flush of tea is specially supplied to the Foreign Affairs Office of Qianlin Province for reception purposes. Our hotel also obtained it through the Ethnic Affairs Commission."

"This tea is cold-brewed for 6 hours using chilled Qianling Mountain spring water, resulting in an amber-colored tea liquor with no astringency and a wild honey aroma. It is best enjoyed in a handcrafted bamboo-joint cup from Leishan..."

After pouring the tea and giving the explanation, the manager started setting out refreshments.

"This is a prickly pear candied fruit roll with gold leaf, made from the puree of wild prickly pears from Pingxi, and wrapped with 0.1 grams of edible gold leaf and shredded bamboo fungus from Qianbei..."

"Dong-style oil tea pastry is made by freeze-drying oil tea from the ancient Dong villages of Sanjiang into powder, then pressing it into sesame pastry with a diameter of 3 centimeters. It melts in your mouth without leaving any residue..."

"Miao embroidered water chestnut cake, colored with Luodian red dragon fruit juice, and made with edible glutinous rice paper inlaid with Miao broken thread embroidery patterns..."

The four people present remained silent, watching the manager serve tea and snacks and listening to his explanation.

In the private room, only the manager's voice echoed for the time being.

Each of the four people had their own thoughts.

Niu Haisheng's expression remained unchanged, but his heart was filled with surprise.

Who exactly is this Shen Kang?

It's one thing for the hotel to send him something, and it's quite normal for a regular guest to do so, but it's a bit strange that the executive lounge manager came to deliver it personally.

Moreover, it's quite obvious that the hotel values ​​Shen Kang highly, as evidenced by the gifts they gave him.

This set of tea and snacks may not be particularly expensive, but the sentiment behind it is overflowing. Wow, it's made using intangible cultural heritage techniques, and the tea trees are found in only three villages in the entire Qianlin Province...

Chen Kexu, too, kept his eyes fixed on his nose and his nose focused on his heart, remaining unmoved.

He knew that Shen Kang was Zhou Man's son-in-law, but he didn't expect this to happen.

Chen Kexu had always thought that Haobo Hotel was an independent hotel group, but now it seems that it is also related to Shengyuan Group? Maybe it is a company directly under Shengyuan Group.

If that's the case, then Zhou Man is truly quite satisfied with her son-in-law. This satisfaction is even known to many insiders—the hotel's overtures are proof of that.

Xiang Lingdong is different from the other two.

This businessman, who looked like an old scholar and indeed seemed to have the air of one, was very interested in the intangible cultural heritage crafts mentioned by the executive lounge manager and was watching with great interest.

In their hearts, they thought, "Good heavens, Old Chen has really introduced me to a 'big shot' this time." Old Chen's move was indeed quite clever; without it, they wouldn't be sitting here "enjoying the performance" and having any further interaction with the other party.

Unlike the other three, Shen Kang's thoughts were much simpler now. He felt that the person who developed this tea set had a good storytelling ability. They touted its scarcity and the "intangible cultural heritage" label—very good, really good. To sell something at a high premium, you have to tell a good story.

With each of the four having their own thoughts, the executive lounge manager finally finished his service, smiled, and left, closing the door behind him.

The four of them also began to sample the snacks and tea.

Niu Haisheng was very obliging and was the first to praise, "This water chestnut cake is really delicious. It's definitely the best water chestnut cake I've ever eaten."

Chen Kexu and Xiang Lingdong also offered their comments, both praising the performance.

Then Niu Haisheng laughed and said, "President Shen really has a lot of influence. I've stayed at this hotel a few times before, but I really didn't know that this hotel offered these things. Today, thanks to President Shen, I've really broadened my horizons..."

The group ate, drank, and chatted.

As the conversation went on, someone, who was being indecent, started the conversation, and the topic began to turn risqué.

Seeing that Shen Kang wasn't averse to it, everyone became even more risqué and started telling dirty jokes—actually, what Niu Haisheng really wanted was to change the venue and go straight to karaoke, with a row of girls in front, everyone politely deferring to each other, and then start picking people. How fast would that be to build rapport?

Unfortunately, in this situation, we can only indulge in verbal venting.

Niu Haisheng and Chen Kexu, having seen many such situations, were seasoned veterans in this field, and their jokes were all quite effective. After the three finished, they asked Shen Kang to do one as well.

Shen Kang didn't put on airs. After thinking for a moment, he made a decision.

"Xiaoming met a senior female student at school. The senior female student's hometown is Inner Mongolia, and her family raises a lot of cattle and sheep."

"The two hit it off immediately, and their relationship progressed quickly, but they were just one step away from breaking through that barrier."

"With his senior about to graduate, Xiaoming was getting anxious. Finally, one day, Xiaoming mustered up his courage and asked his senior a question—Will you raise sheep after graduation?"

"My senior said yes. So, the two went to a hotel and crossed the final line, and the lovers finally got married."

After Shen Kang finished telling the joke, Niu Haisheng and the other two were stunned, completely missing the funny part of the joke—the senior from Inner Mongolia had only said that she would raise sheep after graduation, so how did she suddenly go to a hotel?

Shen Kang glanced at the question and explained, "The key point is Xiaoming's question—will the senior raise sheep after graduation?"

His accent sounded strange this time.

As soon as the accent changed, Niu Haisheng and the other two immediately understood—"Senior, will you raise sheep after graduation?"

"Hahahaha..."

Niu Haisheng and the other two burst into laughter.

Chen Kexu laughed until tears streamed down his face, pointing repeatedly at Shen Kang, "Hahahaha, President Shen, you're so talented, so amazing, hahahaha..."

After Xiang Lingdong finally stopped laughing, he pondered to himself: He had initially thought that the son-in-law of Shengyuan Group would be arrogant and need to be fawned over, but after getting to know him, he found that the son-in-law was quite approachable. He had only spent a short time with him, but he already felt very comfortable…

After chatting for a while, the four of them finally returned to their previous topic—after introducing each other's industries, they naturally started talking about the current economic crisis.

Now this topic has been brought up again.

"...Our companies are actually all suppliers for OEMs in eastern Guangdong. Now that the economic crisis has hit, exports have plummeted, and those factories have far fewer orders, which has also affected us. I really envy Mr. Shen; he works in the service industry and isn't affected by exports, so he's living a comfortable life."

Chen Kexu said this.

Xiang Lingdong sat to Shen Kang's right, holding a tea snack but not putting it in his mouth for a long time, as if he was studying the structure of this intangible cultural heritage snack.

Hearing Chen Kexu say this, Xiang Lingdong put down his tea and snacks, sighed softly, and said, "Yes. Sometimes I think about it, doing business in manufacturing is really not for humans. It's tiring, the profits are small, and when faced with changes in the macro environment like this, it's even more precarious. It's really not as comfortable and carefree as President Shen's service industry!"

Shen Kang was drinking tea when he heard this. He put down his teacup and said, "You're all joking. Housekeeping, to put it bluntly, is just about serving people. There's no technical barrier; anyone can do it. But can a housekeeping company, no matter how big, make a country rise? No. The real rise of a nation depends on your manufacturing industry. You are the true backbone of the nation, the pillars of the country..."

The group flattered each other, and the conversation was quite enjoyable.

As they talked, Chen Kexu also mentioned their meeting: "...Right now, those of us in the supporting industries aren't having the best time, so Boss Niu suggested that we hold an industry conference to bring everyone together to discuss and see if we can find areas for cooperation, a way to stick together and weather the storm. Boss Niu paid for all the expenses of this meeting, which is really generous of him."

Niu Haisheng was slumped in the sofa, one arm resting on the armrest, the other holding a cup.

Hearing Chen Kexu's words, he raised an eyebrow and gave a slightly knowing look, but still humbly said, "I've just been lucky; things are alright for me now. This meeting is related to everyone's vital interests, so it's very meaningful. It's only right that I contribute some money. If even a few companies can reach a cooperation agreement through this meeting, then it'll be worth it!"

Shen Kang also praised, "President Niu is magnanimous and has a broad vision!"

Xiang Lingdong also praised it.

The three of them flattered Niu Haisheng so much that his eyebrows twitched several times, and he was overjoyed.

After offering a couple more compliments, Chen Kexu suddenly slapped his thigh as if he had just remembered something and said, "Coincidentally, Mr. Shen, you've been here these past few days too. Why don't you join our meeting? Although we're all in different industries, we might be able to find some areas for collaboration. It's good to brainstorm together."

As soon as Chen Kexu spoke up, Xiang Lingdong chimed in, "Yes, that's a good idea. Putting everything else aside, all the bosses attending tomorrow's meeting need domestic services at home. They're all Mr. Shen's guests, so it's good for them to get to know each other better."

After speaking, Xiang Lingdong looked at Niu Haisheng and asked, "Mr. Niu, what do you think?"

Niu Haisheng glanced at the two of them.

He didn't know beforehand that the two wanted to invite Shen Kang to tomorrow's meeting, but upon reflection, it was a good idea: this Shen Kang was quite capable and worth befriending.

He immediately laughed and said, "Of course that would be great."

The three of them reached a consensus and all looked at Shen Kang.

After a moment's thought, Shen Kang smiled and agreed, "Since everyone has said so, it would be impolite of me to refuse. I'll go and broaden my horizons."

"Then we are truly honored to have this place!" All three were delighted.

Shen Kang then added, "Furthermore, I have another idea."

Chen Kexu quickly replied, "Go ahead and say it."

Shen Kang then said, "Actually, I am a very shy and introverted person."

As she spoke, she gave an embarrassed, shy smile.

"..."

The three remained silent.

Although they had only met Shen Kang today, all three of them had the same feeling from their interactions with him before and after that—this guy was neither humble nor arrogant in his speech and behavior, and he was both calm and talkative. He was definitely not an ordinary college student, but a seasoned businessman.

Now, this guy says he's shy and introverted?

Who was that guy who just said "Will the senior raise sheep after graduation?" in such a serious tone?

Niu Haisheng even felt that if they were really in the business right now, Shen Kang might be more playful than the three of them.

However, once Shen Kang said that, they simply accepted it and no one objected.

Shen Kang continued, "A psychology teacher at the school has always told me that someone like me needs to practice more to improve. So I was thinking, could I give a short speech at the meeting to practice?"

Upon hearing this, Niu Haisheng and the other two immediately understood—they wanted to steal the spotlight at the meeting.

Hey, I thought it was something serious.

If it were any other boss wanting to get a speaking opportunity at tomorrow's meeting to show off, Niu Haisheng might need to think twice. But with Shen Kang, based on what he had seen and heard before, Niu Haisheng felt that he could definitely use this opportunity to befriend Shen Kang.

"no problem!"

Niu Haisheng, the organizer, immediately agreed, "Then Mr. Shen, you should prepare yourself and go on stage to give a speech to get some practice."