Chapter 89 The Welcome Feast
The next day.
Guofeng Grand Hotel.
In the luxurious private room on the top floor of the Guofeng Grand Hotel, Old Mrs. Liu, along with the rest of the Liu family, sat around the round table, warmly welcoming Su Ya.
Originally, it was supposed to be Liu Ran who hosted the welcome banquet for Su Ya. However, the Liu family was eager to use this opportunity to allow Liu Xuhui to interact more with Su Ya.
At the same time, Su Ya was also happy to forge a connection with the Liu family, hoping to glean information about the Celestial Venerable from them.
Chen Yang rode his electric scooter and arrived at the private room with Liu Ran.
After all, as the director of Tianliu Commercial Building, it was only natural for Liu Ran to attend this welcome banquet.
Upon entering the private room, Chen Yang merely nodded slightly to Old Mrs. Liu and the others.
Su Ya beckoned, saying to Liu Ran and Chen Yang, "Liu Ran, Chen Yang, come sit here."
There were still two empty seats beside Su Ya.
Liu Xuhui had originally wanted to sit in this spot, but Su Ya politely declined.
Now that Liu Ran and Chen Yang were seated beside Su Ya, Liu Xuhui snorted in annoyance.
However, there was nothing he could say about it.
Liu Xin, who was sitting beside Su Ya, chuckled and said to Chen Yang and Liu Ran, "Director Liu, Manager Chen, are you two arriving empty-handed?"
Liu Ran blushed upon hearing this and replied, "We weren't informed beforehand that gifts were necessary. If we had known, Chen Yang and I definitely would have prepared something!"
Liu Xin chuckled, "My dear cousin, you are truly stingy. As the director of Tianliu Commercial Building, and with Su Ya being your subordinate, you don't even have to pay for this meal. Yet, you can't even prepare a decent gift. Do you think we Liu family members don't know how to behave? Moreover, look at this private room. It's the most luxurious one in the Guofeng Grand Hotel, costing a staggering 188,000 just for the room fee. In this room, you can enjoy the most beautiful Guofeng music and directly witness the performances from the mall below. This room itself is a gift from us Liu family to Miss Su. You two are truly penny-pinchers!"
Old Mrs. Liu seized the opportunity to snort coldly and said, "Miss Su, please forgive us. My granddaughter has always been ill-mannered, and frankly, she's quite poor, married to a good-for-nothing like Chen Yang. It's understandable that she can't produce a gift."
Su Ya was surprised by the immediate hostility. She quickly smiled and said, "Old Mrs. Liu, you are too kind. Liu Ran is my superior, and she has bestowed upon me the grace of opportunity. Her allowing me to work at Tianliu Commercial Building is already the greatest gift to me. No other gifts are needed. Now that everyone is here, why don't we begin the meal?"
Liu Xuhui stood up at this point, with a hint of showing off. He cleared his throat and said, "Miss Su, I will be introducing the dishes to you. To entertain you properly, I've used all my connections to book this Guofeng private room. I've requested them to play local Qingzhou's renowned music, and the dishes that will be served are also the most delicious and time-honored cuisines of Qingzhou."
Then, Liu Xuhui clapped his hands and called out to a waiter outside, "Serve the dishes quickly. Before each dish is served, its history, preparation method, and how to eat it must be explained clearly."
The waiter immediately agreed and left.
Chen Yang sat beside Liu Ran and couldn't help but chuckle at Liu Xuhui's earnest display, despite his scarred face.
Hearing the laugh, Liu Xuhui abruptly turned his head, then glared furiously at Chen Yang and said coldly, "Useless trash, what are you laughing at?"
Chen Yang quickly waved his hands and said, "I apologize, I couldn't help myself just now. I just want to eat now."
Liu Xuhui snorted, "You're only here because of Miss Su. Otherwise, as a delivery person, you wouldn't be able to taste these things in your lifetime."
Then, the dishes were served one by one. As signature dishes of the Guofeng Grand Hotel, each was exquisite and tasted excellent, indicating that Liu Xuhui had indeed put considerable effort into entertaining Su Ya.
Following this, Old Mrs. Liu and the others tried their best to curry favor with Su Ya, while subtly and openly slandering and suppressing Liu Ran.
They wanted to make Su Ya understand that Liu Ran was merely an abandoned outcast in the Liu family, a useless wretch.
Furthermore, their words implied that Liu Ran's position as director wouldn't last long, and that it would soon be filled by someone else.
Liu Xin smiled and said to Su Ya, "Miss Su, please rest assured, no matter who becomes the director of Tianliu Commercial Building, we will continue to employ you as the head of the public relations department. Your recent performance has been commendable, and Grandma and all of us are very pleased. Even if Liu Ran makes a mistake in a few days and is no longer the director of the commercial building, you will still be the most outstanding employee of our Tianliu Commercial Building."
Su Ya was taken aback by these words and didn't reply.
At this point, half of the eighteen dishes had been served.
Just then, with a bang, the door of the private room was pushed open. A portly man with two waiters walked in. The name tag on his chest read Hao Dong, the general manager of Guofeng Grand Hotel.
Hao Dong glanced at the people in the private room with disdain in his eyes. He waved his hand and said, "My apologies, everyone. Your dining time in this private room has expired. Please leave immediately."
Everyone in the private room was stunned, especially Liu Xuhui, whose face turned red. He had gone through immense trouble to get this room from a scalper, and now, with only half the dishes served, they were being asked to leave. This was outrageous.
Liu Xuhui angrily said to Hao Dong, "What do you mean? We are customers, and we have paid. You're asking us to leave before all the dishes are served. How do you do business? Call your manager."
A waiter behind Hao Dong chuckled and said, "Look carefully, the person in front of you is our general manager. Now our general manager has personally ordered you to leave."
Another waiter crossed his arms and said, "Honestly, why are you pretending? This most luxurious private room isn't meant for ordinary people. It's enough that you had the chance to see it. We will arrange another table for you downstairs, where you can continue eating. Why occupy such a luxurious private room?"
Liu Xuhui's face turned ashen with anger. He pointed at Hao Dong and said, "Is this how you do business? It's too much!"
Hao Dong paced back and forth, not looking at Liu Xuhui directly. He waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and leave. How about this, I'll give you a 5% discount on this meal today. How's that? That saves you nearly ten thousand yuan on the bill, so you can have some face, right? The waiters will then move your plates and dishes to a table in the main hall downstairs, where you can continue eating. Don't worry, we won't let it affect your dining. This is quite fair, isn't it? After all, Guofeng Grand Hotel never offers discounts to ordinary people. Go on, hurry up."
Hao Dong impatiently waved his hand as if swatting away flies, instructing the waiters to start clearing the plates.