Under the whirling shadows of the trees, Miao Xiaoxia's pretty face blazed red as if aflame. She felt somewhat shy about meeting Shen Qiang's gaze, coyly turning her head aside while her slender, fair hands involuntarily played with the willow branches hanging down from the tree.

Shen Qiang smiled, looking at her and said, "Do you stay on campus? If you're in the dormitory, it doesn't seem very convenient to prepare breakfast, does it?"

She was taken aback, then spoke with a bit of nervousness, "My parents run a restaurant near Engineering University, and we live nearby as well. The initial plan was to stay on campus, but the dormitory conditions weren't that great, so I'm staying at home."

Shen Qiang uttered an 'oh' and asked, "What about Zhang Jing?"

Miao Xiaoxia replied, "Her family lives here as well, on the east side of the Normal College, but she stays on campus."

Shen Qiang smiled again, "Then it's convenient for the two of you to get to school."

Miao Xiaoxia hummed in agreement, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Does that woman who's always walking beside you live with you?"

Shen Qiang was startled.

With some nervousness, Miao Xiaoxia continued, "It's not that I mean to pry into your privacy, but I saw you entering the residential area with her."

Oh?

He brightened up, "You live in the Gardener's Residential Area?"

Miao Xiaoxia hesitated before answering, "Yeah, my family is just west of the building you live in, at Unit 3, Apartment 301."

Shen Qiang was astonished, "Then why didn't you wait for me downstairs instead of coming to the front of the Graduate School building?"

Miao Xiaoxia, nervous, said, "That girl... the two of you…"

Shen Qiang laughed, "Ah, she's my distant cousin."

"Cousin? She looks a lot older than you," Miao Xiaoxia said with a puzzled look.

Shen Qiang smiled and explained, "She just looks more mature."

Miao Xiaoxia visibly relaxed.

Just at that moment, Shen Qiang's phone rang. He saw that it was Boss Ma calling.

Shen Qiang politely answered the call, "Boss Ma, what's up?"

"Qiangzi, the manager of your restaurant wants to resign. I've tried talking to him, but he's set on leaving. I reckon there's no keeping him," said Boss Ma succinctly.

Shen Qiang was unfazed, "If he wants to leave, let him. Settle his account and let him go."

Boss Ma laughed on the other end of the phone, "Qiangzi, you're such a hands-off boss. Really easygoing, aren't you? But let me tell you, don't underestimate that restaurant. It's not just the manager who wants to leave; three supervisors and seven or eight waiters also want to go. If you really let them leave, when customers come and you don't have a single waiter, what kind of shop will you be running then?"

Turning to look at Miao Xiaoxia, who was curiously looking on, Shen Qiang turned away before speaking into the phone with a cold voice, "So, Boss Ma, do you have any good suggestions?"

Boss Ma advised, "Qiangzi, you're the boss, so it's up to you to decide on this matter. Everyone is out for profit. If that manager and the supervisors are looking to change jobs, it's all about money. Why not just give them a raise and be done with it?"

Hearing this, Shen Qiang couldn't help but laugh.

In fact, at its best, Datong River restaurant only made about ten million a year. A manager, three supervisors, and seven or eight waiters, all making noise about changing jobs—giving them a raise to keep them wasn't an issue.

The problem was, if their salaries went up, what would the others say?

To raise or not to raise?

And by how much?

After the increase, would they stop causing trouble?

And what if after a while, they started making noise about changing jobs again?

What then?

Before, Shen Qiang had already sharply noticed that his Body Refinement was slowing him down on the basketball court, and he was preparing to start Body Refinement.

However, the restaurant staff were clamoring to switch jobs.

In such a situation, leaving everything to Manager Ma to handle was simply not an option.

And Shen Qiang himself was in no mood to deal with these trivial matters.

So after a moment of silence, Shen Qiang said, "Let them continue to work for one more week, in seven days I will pay them their full salaries."

"Are you insane?" Manager Ma exclaimed. "Even if you really plan to replace people, finding a manager, three supervisors, and seven or eight qualified waiters in seven days is no easy task, you ..."

"Listen to me," Shen Qiang said. "It's fine, it's settled then."

And that was that.

Shen Qiang hung up the phone.

The suddenness of the situation had directly diminished Shen Qiang's enthusiasm.

After sending Miao Xiaoxia back to class, Shen Qiang immediately called Lv Shuyao and, after telling her about the situation, he straightforwardly proposed that he wanted Lv Shuyao to persuade her mother to work at Datong River too, with the same terms of ten percent of the net profit from Datong River.

Such generous terms made Lv Shuyao somewhat incredulous.

Furthermore, Lv Shuyao expressed that the reason her parents didn't work in the same establishment was to avoid arousing the suspicion of the proprietors.

Hearing this, Shen Qiang laughed.

After thinking for a long time, he directly said to Lv Shuyao, "Actually, I bought Datong River to give you something to be proud of, to let your parents hold their heads high as well. So it's not just your parents who will get ten percent of the net profit, but also thirty percent of the net profit for you."

Lv Shuyao was astonished. "Shen Qiang, have you gone mad? Datong River is worth tens of millions, and you're giving away half of the shares to me and my parents so casually?"

Shen Qiang was silent for a moment before saying, "Money is good, but it can't compare to loyalty. When I was in my toughest and most downtrodden time, you stayed by my side. I can't say what the future holds, nor do I want to make empty promises about it, but at least for now, I'm in charge of Datong River."

With that, Shen Qiang chuckled, "So think carefully, huh? If your mother's ability is not up to it, as the major shareholder, you'd better hire someone else, because if Datong River goes under, you won't be able to get a single cent in dividends."

Hearing this, Lv Shuyao retorted with feigned annoyance, "Sheesh, you're really underestimating my mother. She worked her way up from being a greeter to a hotel manager. Not to mention a small Datong River, she can manage five-star hotels without a hitch. Just you wait, I'm going to call her right now."

End of call.

Shen Qiang quietly waited for Lv Shuyao's response.

In fact, Datong River's net profit for a year was around ten million or so.

That was under good management.

This meant that Datong River's annual profit was roughly equivalent to one-thirtieth of what Shen Qiang earned in a week from Wanxin Hesheng, Cheng Xinyi, and selling Gathering Qi Powder.

For Lv Shuyao and her parents, getting fifty percent of the profits was a considerable sum, but for Shen Qiang, that amount of money was not even enough to buy the ingredients to refine a Pei Yuan Pill.

So he might as well let them manage the restaurant; it was kind to do so, saved him worry, and whether it made money or not, Shen Qiang didn't need Datong River's little bit.

After waiting for about two hours,

Shen Qiang finally received a call from Lv Shuyao. She said, "My mom agrees, but there's one condition, in terms of restaurant management, she must have the final say, no one else can interfere, otherwise she'd rather stay at the hotel."

Upon hearing this, Shen Qiang immediately agreed to it.

Being a hands-off owner had its perks, letting Shen Qiang meddle in managing servers? Dealing with their daily trivialities?

Forget about it!

Because Shen Qiang had to not only aim for the Nascent Soul Stage but also continue with Body Refinement!

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