Pei Qian grew angrier and angrier as he thought of a name in his notebook.
Thinking about this, he took out his cell phone and sent a message to Assistant Xin.
“Contact Teacher Qiao and ask if he’s interested to try out our new game. Sign a contract with him saying that during the development phase, he would be the professional games tester. He has to play the game eight hours a day, and we will give him 500 yuan daily.
“En, he has to play the game for eight hours a day until the game is released. If he cannot take it and is in breach of contract, he wouldn’t get a single cent.”
Assistant Xin immediately went to make arrangements. Thinking about how Teacher Qiao would probably happily rush over to suffer together with him, Pei Qian felt much better!
Why was Pei Qian so sure that Teacher Qiao would come? That was because Pei Qian had already done his research.
After Teacher Qiao went to Aili Island – although his finances were in a better state, one would never say ‘no’ to earning more money.
Pei Qian’s offer would be attractive to Teacher Qiao in three aspects:
First was the monetary benefit. If there were twenty working days a month, Teacher Qiao would earn 10000 yuan.
Second was that Teacher Qiao could get a head start on experiencing Tengda Games’ new game. Regardless of whether he wanted to do a video on this game in the future or brag to his fans, Teacher Qiao would be ahead of other UP Masters.
Third was that Teacher Qiao would be able to see the real Tengda and Boss Pei.
He could earn money just from playing games; where else could he find such a good deal? Hence, Teacher Qiao would definitely accept the offer and come.
After playing for a few more minutes, Pei Qian tossed the controller on the desk; he had had enough suffering today. Although he wasn’t making much progress in the game, as he had already settled the matter with the special weapon, as long as he could continue grinding the game; reaching the six realms of rebirth and existence conclusion was just a matter of time.
As it was still a while before the game’s official release, he wasn’t in that much of a hurry.
Pei Qian held onto the express delivery he had received today and was prepared to return home to rest.
When he was at the entrance, Assistant Xin’s message reached him: “Boss Pei, Teacher Qiao has agreed. He said that he can come over this weekend. I will arrange for accommodations, meals, and transport expenses.” Pei Qian was very happy; things were moving very smoothly. It seemed like Teacher Qiao had not even taken time to think and had immediately agreed once Assistant Xin had finished speaking.
Pei Qian immediately replied, “Alright, we will cover all meals and accommodation; everything must be the best.”
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Teacher Qiao was coming all the way here to suffer and for his mental state to be severely tested; Pei Qian naturally had to provide some material compensation.
Assistant Xin sent another text: “One more thing, Boss Pei. Zhang Zuting sent a Weibo message indicating his thanks to us. I have arranged for someone to use our official Weibo account to reply to him. “However, do you want to consider verifying your personal Weibo account?”.
Pei Qian had his own personal Weibo account. However, he just used it to surf the net and occasionally look at pretty girls. As it wasn’t a verified account, not one knew that it belonged to Boss Pei. Tengda, however, had an official Weibo account. However, it had just been created and someone from the administrative team was responsible for managing it; it wasn’t very popular yet.
Pei Qian declined decisively: “There’s no need.”
He did not intend to become a popular personality on Weibo; he wasn’t interested in this.
Pei Qian kept his phone and prepared to head back home to rest. After walking two steps, he felt that something seemed to be amiss.
He took his cell phone out again and opened Weibo to search for ‘Zhang Zuting’ and located the message he had sent.
“Due to work reasons, I have made a trip to Jingzhou. This time, I will be collaborating with a game company. Perhaps everyone would be able to see me online soon. Also, at a private kitchen in Jingzhou, I ate the most sumptuous meal in recent years; I strongly recommend it! If any of you guys are heading to Jingzhou, you must not give it a miss!”
Chapter 239 - Luckily, My Assistant Remembered the Location
Pei Qian, “???”
Zhang Zuting, I had treated you so well; this is how you repay me! Pei Qian hurriedly took a look at the comments on Zhang Zuting’s Weibo account and ascertained the seriousness of the situation.
If the response was good, there was going to be trouble.
Zhang Zuting had already revealed the keywords ‘Jingzhou’ and ‘private kitchen’. If someone really was interested and started to ask around, what was Pei Qian going to do?
Although Zhang Zuting was no longer that popular, he still had his die-hard fans. If a few of them were coincidentally in Jingzhou and wanted to try a ‘Zhang Zuting dinner’, wouldn’t Pei Qian’s restaurant be exposed?
While Zhang Zuting’s popularity had tankedsince he posted this message a few days ago, more than five hundred comments had been left on it.
Pei Qian hurriedly took a look.
“Sponsored partnership? This is good, this is good.”
“Hahaha, why didn’t you say earlier?! If I knew you were in Jingzhou, I would have gone to meet you!”
“What a pity; I missed an opportunity to meet my idol.”
“With a game company? Which game company has such great foresight and has found a treasure like Uncle Zhang?”
“Uncle Zhang, are you helping this restaurant to publicize? No worries; please send us the location so that we can go and support it!”
“So, where can we find this private kitchen?”
“This restaurant is a little unprofessional. Since it had enlisted Uncle Zhang’s help to publicize it, it should at least provide a few nice photos. There isn’t even a single one now; who would go and try it?”
Everything else was similar to the above.
Pei Qian was a little more relaxed now.
Evidently, most fans had caught the gist of the message, that Zhang Zuting was ‘collaborating with a game company’ and were all trying to guess which company it was, what type of collaboration this entailed.
Only a minority was fixated on the second half of the Weibo message.
The crux was that there weren’t any pictures attached.
For gourmet food and delicacies, pictures were the most persuasive; they were after all worth a thousand words and could instantly catch everyone’s eye.
Of course, if someone was a writer and could use words to describe mouth-watering food, that was a different case.
Zhang Zuting evidently wasn’t such a skilled writer.
Hence, although a few were asking for the private kitchen’s address, most did not pay much attention to it.
Zhang Zuting had also selected a few more popular comments to reply to.
“The partnership collaboration is currently still confidential; I will update everyone shortly.” “As it was a hasty trip to Jingzhou this time, I will definitely find a chance in the future to meet my friends in Jingzhou!”
“It isn’t publicity; the food is really, really
good.”
“I am actually not sure of the exact location as well; my partners had sent a car to bring me there. I can only recall that it was in a rather secluded villa district. It was rather quaint, and the scenery was beautiful.”
“I don’t have any pictures. This private kitchen forbids any photo-taking as they feel that photo-taking would rob the whole gourmet food experience and details would be missed out. I strongly recommend locals in Jingzhou to go and try it! Also, it might be extremely pricey.”
If Zhang Zuting didn’t reply, things might have died down. However, after he did, his fans were even more confused.
He didn�
�t know the location. He didn’t have any pictures. He didn’t even know the price of the food items there.
The only clue given was that it was in a secluded villa district that was very quaint.
However, there were so many such districts in Jingzhou!
Jingzhou City had seven or eight scenic districts; each of them had at least six to seven villa sections. Besides these districts, there were some scattered villas around as well. Even after filtering ‘secluded’, ‘rather quaint’, and ‘the scenery was beautiful’; there were at least twenty to thirty places that fit this description. Furthermore, each of these places had so many villas; how would the fans know where exactly this private kitchen was hidden?
Without any leads or any pictures, how were they supposed to look for this restaurant?
They couldn’t possibly go door-to-door and ask ‘hello, are you a private kitchen’, right?
That was a little ridiculous.
Naturally, if everyone knew that it was a semi-commercial villa, that would definitely help to eliminate many possible places. The problem was Zhang Zuting didn’t know about this, and so his fans were in the dark as well.
Zhang Zuting didn’t even know the name of the private kitchen.
Even as his fans kept asking, as Zhang Zuting himself didn’t know the answers, how could any answers be found? After seeing all the comments, Pei Qian sighed out in relief.
All is good, all is good. A false alarm!
Pei Qian had made the right choice by not revealing the location of the restaurant and not allowing Zhang Zuting to take any pictures. Zhang Zuting was after all a star and had experienced much in life. He wasn’t like bumpkins who would want to take pictures to boast if they were having delicacies. He also wouldn’t pay particular attention to the restaurant’s location.
Pei Qian was very emotional; he was very grateful that Zha Zhuti had not caused him much grief!
From the looks of it, Ming Yun Private Kitchen was not in danger of being found-out yet.
He had just wanted to put his cell phone back into his pocket when-‘ding’. He received a message alert. Zhang Zuting had sent a new Weibo message. “I have the location! I had asked my assistant. Luckily, he had noted down the location! Location: Jingzhou City-Ming Yun Villas”
“Pfft!”
Pei Qian nearly spat blood out.
Done for; I have been made by this assistant!
Zhang Zuting indeed had not recalled the location; however, his assistant had!
Come to think of it, that assistant had seen the table filled with delicacies, particularly the King Crab dish; and his eyes had glistered. He obviously was not going to forget that sight.
Pei Qian had not thought of much; he had just asked the assistant not to take pictures.
However, he had actually noted down the location of the restaurant; Pei Qian couldn’t possibly have noticed that!
Soon, the comments section grew noisier.
“Ming Yun Villas? That is indeed rather secluded. Thank you for the recommendation, Uncle Zhang. I’ll drive by someday to have a look.”
“Wow, that’s far. Even by car, it takes one hour.”
“It is really that good, that Uncle Zhang is full of praise? Can someone go try it out? If it really is that good, I could consider flying to Jingzhou and try it and take in the sights as well. Who knows where it’s nice to go to in Jingzhou?”
Pei Qian scrolled the Weibo account page as he froze.
The previous message had been alright; most people had focused on Zhang Zuting’s commercial partnership.
This message was bad; it had specifically stated Ming Yun Private Kitchen’s location.
That was too eye-catching! People were going to come knocking!
Pei Qian scratched his head.
What could I do to dissuade these people?
He definitely couldn’t maliciously do something to turn them away.
“Calm down. Things should not be that bad. Even if a few people found their way here, that won’t be a problem. This place is so expensive, and most people would not be able to afford it.
“Zhang Zuting only had over four thousand likes on his previous message; his fans are also scattered around the country. Even if a small number of them really found Ming Yun Private Kitchen, that would only be tens of people. Some might not be able to afford the prices as well.
“En, Ming Yun Private Kitchen is making huge losses monthly. Even if one wave of customers came-in the long run, this would not be able to cover the losses.”
Pei Qian had been a little flustered at the start. However, after calming down a little, he felt that things were not as bad as he thought.
After all, Ming Yun Private Kitchen still had a few lines of defense. It was rather secluded and far while the dishes were priced so exorbitantly; most of the rare ingredients in dishes had to be preordered beforehand. These would definitely dissuade ordinary customers.
Of course, while that might be true, Pei Qian couldn’t sit still and do nothing.
He thought for a moment and decided to give Chef Lin a call.
Chapter 240 - No Explanation
The call went through almost immediately. Lin Canrong probably did not expect Boss Pei to give him a call. He sounded uneasy as he said, “Boss Pei! Do you have any instructions?”
Pei Qian nonchalantly said, “It’s nothing huge. I just want to ask if there have been many customers at Ming Yun Private Kitchen recently.”
Lin Canrong did not answer at once. He felt embarrassed.
It was not a question of how many customers there were… but if there were any customers at all.
From the day it opened for business, Ming Yun Private Kitchen had hosted Tengda’s employee gatherings and Zhang Zuting when he visited. Apart from that, there had been no customers.
That was to be expected. They had no publicity or exposure. Of course, no one would patronize Ming Yun Private Kitchen.
Some employees had mentioned Ming Yun Private Kitchen to their friends. However, it was too deserted and far away. Without anyone leading the way, it would be extremely difficult for these friends to locate the restaurant. Most people were not willing to come and look for it themselves. Furthermore, Tengda’s employees had just had a meal here. None of them wanted to come a second time for no special reason.
Thus, there had been no customers at all recently.
Although it would look like he had not been doing his job, Lin Canrong pondered for a while and decided to tell the truth. He could not possibly lie to Boss Pei anyway.
Boss Pei had incredible foresight. If Lin Canrong lied to him, the consequences would be dire.
“Boss Pei, we have not had a single customer this entire time. I need to reflect on this. We probably have not done enough publicity for the restaurant. I’ll get someone to focus on publicity now…” Lin Canrong took the initiative to admit his mistakes.
Once Pei Qian heard this, he interrupted immediately. “No, no, no. That’s not what I meant. You’ve been doing a good job. Your primary task is to provide the best food and service. You shouldn’t be worrying about something like publicity.
“I’m calling because I want to emphasize certain things.
“There might be some people visiting Ming Yun Private Kitchen soon. You must inform all the waiters to focus on the following: first, don’t allow any customer to take photos. Second, do not over-explain anything. Third, do not make an exception for anyone.
“Do you understand?”
Lin Canrong, “Er…” He obviously did not understand fully.
Pei Qian briefly explained further. When he said ‘do not over-explain anything’, he was referring to if customers asked why they lacked so many ingredients or why everything had to be pre-ordered.
Waiters should just answer: “The ingredients are very precious, and we have to import them from overseas.” That would suffice. There was no need to explain why they were so precious or from where they were importing these ingredients.
Customers might also ask why their food items were so much more expensive than other places.
In that case, waiters could simply say: “We use better ingredients and provide a better dining experience and service.” That would suffice. There was no need to explain why their ingredients were better or the merits of the dining experience and service.
All in all, they should not boast too much.
As for not making an exception for anyone, Pei Qian was referring to if any bosses were to visit the restaurant. Even if they were willing to spend a huge sum of money, they had to make a reservation, just like everyone else. At the same time, waiters could not especially explain anything more to them.
Of course, that was not to say they were to provide bad service.
They should still provide a certain standard of service to the customers—they just should not over-explain unnecessary things.
“Do you understand?” Pei Qian asked again.
Lin Canrong answered, “Er… I understand, Boss Pei. I will keep strictly to these instructions.”
Lin Canrong did not ask any more questions. Pei Qian was satisfied. He left several more instructions and reminded Lin Canrong to call him as soon as something went wrong. Then, Pei Qian hung up the phone.
Although Lin Canrong did not ask any questions over the phone, he fell into deep thought the moment he hung up. What was Boss Pei planning to do? Could he be trying to pull the legendary ‘sales without explanation’? No matter what questions customers asked, they could not explain too much? Should their attitude say ‘just eat, why do you have to ask so many questions’?
Of course, they could not be so harsh in terms of their attitude. According to Boss Pei, waiters still had to serve customers as if they were serving royalty. However, the only catch was that they could not answer the royalty’s questions in too much detail.
This was completely opposite to what Lin Canrong was used to.
For some reason, he felt that something was not right! People had to communicate in order to dispel misunderstandings. If customers were unhappy in any way, waiters had to do their best to clarify their doubts and ensure that customers understood as much as possible. If they did nothing but smiled and laughed, the misunderstandings might deepen.
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