Divorced Dad's Gourmet Shop

Chapter 416: Chapter 415: My Husband Knows Finance, Too?

Song Yan nervously clenched her fists on her trousers, her heart pounding. Forcing herself to speak, she said, "President Jun, the company doesn’t seem to be in a good state lately."

Cao Xin gathered her thoughts and continued, "Compared to the year before last, our order volume has dropped by a third. And with less work to do, many in management have grown increasingly corrupt. They frequently suppress the company’s new hires..."

"For example, some male supervisors are even using their position to coerce female employees..."

The father and daughter pair perked up their ears behind the counter, eavesdropping in perfect, unspoken agreement.

After listening to them, Jun Qingmeng’s coolly indifferent expression remained unchanged.

"Hm. Anything else?"

As a privileged heiress with access to the finest resources, her life experiences were completely different from those of an ordinary person.

If she could get a better grasp of the situation, she could deduce the specific problems and formulate a plan to solve them.

The three women went on to tell Jun Qingmeng many other things.

Jun Qingmeng offered a few pieces of advice in return.

The three of them benefited immensely from it.

Finally, Song Yan cautiously revealed their true purpose. "President Jun, we’re begging you to come back to the company. Is there any chance you would?"

"So many of the women you mentored back in the day want to keep working under you. We don’t want to follow anyone else..."

Jun Qingmeng’s exquisitely beautiful, yet impassive, face grew even colder.

If she had been the cute, sweet girl next door before, she was now the ice-cold President.

Jun Qingmeng shook her head slightly. "I’m not interested in company matters. I won’t be going back."

"If you’re here to eat at my husband’s restaurant, you’re more than welcome. But if you plan to continue talking about the company, then I’ll have to ask you to leave."

’She would never leave Jiang Liu.’

’No one could understand the pain of loving someone you couldn’t have.’

’She had waited so many years, and she had finally, finally managed to marry the man she loved.’

’And now, someone was telling her to abandon Jiang Liu and go back to the company.’

’She would never agree to that.’

’If she went back to the company...’

’...a mountain of work, like overseas business trips and research, would be waiting for her.’

’It would be normal to go months without seeing her husband.’

Still unwilling to give up, Song Yan hesitated for a moment before mustering her courage. "President Jun, please come back! The company really needs you!"

"Hm?"

Jun Qingmeng’s beautiful eyes narrowed.

Her long, curled lashes partially hid the gentle curve beneath her eyes. It was a beautiful sight, but the three women across from her felt a sudden chill, as if they had been plunged into an ice cave.

Song Yan immediately lowered her head. "I’m sorry... President Jun. I—I won’t bring it up again..."

Jun Qingmeng watched her for a few seconds before sighing. "Just stay seated. I’ll treat you to a meal in a little while. If you want to come again in the future, you’ll have to wait in line like everyone else."

"Okay!"

"We understand, Sister Jun."

The three women were as meek as schoolchildren who had just been reprimanded by their teacher.

Jiang Liu and Tongtong exchanged a glance. Sharing a silent understanding, the father and daughter neither interrupted nor asked any questions.

「A short while later.」

The steamed buns were ready.

Under the envious stares of the crowd of bigwigs outside,

the three women got to eat the piping hot steamed buns.

The three women finished their meal quickly, afraid they might displease President Jun.

"We’re leaving now, Sister Jun."

"Goodbye, President Jun."

The three women forced smiles as they said their goodbyes.

Their eyes were filled with weariness and disappointment.

Once the shop was empty save for the family of three,

Jiang Tongtong tugged on Jun Qingmeng’s dress and couldn’t help but whisper, "Mama, what were you and those three aunties talking about? Is Grandpa not making money anymore?"

As a "little baby" of one year and fifty-three months, she didn’t yet know words like "operations" or "project orders."

But Jiang Tongtong was a very clever girl. From the few simple words she could understand, she had managed to piece together that Grandpa’s company wasn’t doing very well.

’It’s like it’s not making money anymore.’

Jun Qingmeng, who seemed to be in a poor mood, stroked Tongtong’s soft hair. "It’s not that it can’t make money anymore, just that there’s too much internal strife at the company, so it’s not making as much as it used to."

"Ohh, I get it."

Jiang Tongtong thought for a moment, then said in her sweet, childish voice, "Mama, if Grandpa can’t make money anymore, can we save a room for him here?"

"Tongtong doesn’t want Grandpa to have to collect garbage."

Her big eyes were full of sincerity.

Jun Qingmeng paused for a second, a smile touching her lips. "It’s alright, Tongtong. We don’t have to worry about him. He could support himself even if he had to collect garbage."

"Oh, is that right?"

Jiang Tongtong only seemed to half-understand.

"Well, Mama, remember to tell Grandpa that if he can’t make money and doesn’t want to collect garbage, he can come live with us. Papa earns money, so he can support us forever!"

In the kitchen, Jiang Liu heard his daughter’s words, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

’Looks like my daughter is dead set on me supporting her for the rest of her life!’

’It’s tough being a father!’

"Alright, I’ll tell him," Jun Qingmeng said with a smile.

She bent down to scoop Tongtong into her arms. Tongtong wrapped her arms around Jun Qingmeng’s neck, and they nuzzled affectionately.

Jiang Liu suddenly spoke up, asking casually, "A drop in company performance must bring a lot of other problems, right? Like falling stock prices and employees leaving."

Jun Qingmeng was inwardly surprised.

’I didn’t expect my husband to know about finance.’

’If the stock price falls, investors will pull out.’

’That would trigger a chain reaction. Potential new investors would hesitate, and the company would shrink rapidly, like a punctured balloon losing air faster and faster.’

’In the end, it would be chewed up and swallowed, bones and all, by the competition.’

’So many collapses start from a single, seemingly insignificant point.’

Jun Qingmeng was happy to explain things to Jiang Liu. "You’re right, it causes a lot of problems. But if the company has sufficient capital and a lot of fixed assets, it can work with the banks. The issues should be resolvable."

’Mortgaging fixed assets, huh...’

Jiang Liu sighed inwardly.

He reflected on his journey: from a happy family to losing everything, struggling just to eat, and finally arriving at where he was today—owning a small villa and two commercial properties.

Only he could truly understand the heartache of such a roller-coaster journey.

’If he had to mortgage this old shop, it would be like carving a piece of his own flesh.’

After a moment’s thought, Jiang Liu said, "What if I asked my father-in-law to invest in me to open more restaurants?"

He had an idea.

’Jun Xinghe could invest in him to open a chain of branded restaurants. He would be in charge of operations, management, and training the chefs, and they would each hold a fifty percent stake.’

’He could teach a few simple, delicious recipes for his chefs to make with ordinary ingredients. If needed, he could provide some of his Premium Seasonings.’

’As long as he had money, he could continuously purchase items from the Gourmet Album.’

’That would allow him to build a rock-solid reputation for the restaurants.’

"Hm?" Jun Qingmeng paused, taken aback.

Jiang Liu continued to lay out his plan.

"You know our new restaurant? The profits are quite good right now; it has a lot of potential. I was thinking we could partner with my father-in-law, split the shares fifty-fifty, and register a new restaurant brand."

"I have enough people on hand now to staff two more locations. I’ll speed up training more staff after that and aim for rapid expansion."

Jiang Liu could feel his own face flush as he continued,

"It’s just... it probably won’t make that much money at first. My current restaurant is doing well, with a daily profit of around 120,000. If we go by that estimate, Uncle Jun would only be making 60,000 a day..."

He felt a little awkward after saying it.

He had some idea of Jun Xinghe’s stature; the man casually dealt in tens or even hundreds of millions.

Why would a man like that even glance twice at a paltry profit of a few tens of thousands?

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