At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

Li Xiao didn't urge him. He picked up the purple clay teapot again and poured himself half a cup of tea. "You just said that your old man has seen too many people build tall buildings, hold banquets, and then have them collapse. You should also know why buildings collapse. Nine out of ten times, they don't fall at the hands of foreign enemies, but at the hands of their own people. Unclear accounts, lax legal oversight, and treacherous partners—any one of these is enough to hollow out a building from the root."

"I spend ten million to buy a piece of land, and another five hundred thousand to hire a trustworthy partner to keep an eye on compliance for me. No matter how you look at it, I'm the one who profits. Don't keep thinking about how much you're taking; think about how much trouble you're saving me."

Zhou Yanhuai remained silent, but the hand that was pressing on the agreement stopped pushing it away.

Zheng Hao, who had been listening for a while, finally couldn't help but interject, "Fatty, stop being so stubborn. Don't you know what kind of person Brother Li is? If he wanted to scam you, would he bother arguing with you like this? Wouldn't it be easier to just put you in a sack and throw you into the river to feed the fish?"

"Shut up." Zhou Yanhuai and Li Xiao spoke almost simultaneously.

Zheng Hao shrank back, picked up his teacup, and pretended that he hadn't said anything.

Zhou Yanhuai was jolted out of his previous unease by his nonsense.

"Brother Xiao, now that we've come this far, it would be pretentious for me to refuse again, but I have one condition."

"explain."

"I can accept the dividends from this 5% of the shares, but I don't want the voting rights. From now on, you and Haozi will make the decisions about the company. I'll only be responsible for telling you which lines to avoid, which documents have pitfalls, and which accounts can't withstand scrutiny. If I say something is unacceptable, you can veto it."

"It's a deal." Without any hesitation, Li Xiao pulled out a pure black fountain pen from his pocket, gently removed the cap, and pushed it across the table to Zhou Yanhuai's side. "As long as you, Young Master Zhou, say that this debt cannot be settled and this contract cannot be signed, Haozi and I will absolutely not say a word and immediately overturn it and start over."

Without further hesitation, Zhou Yanhuai turned to the last page of the agreement and solemnly signed his name in the partner section.

"All done!" Seeing Zhou Yanhuai put down his pen, Zheng Hao excitedly slapped his thigh, making the teacups on the table shake.

"Now we're completely in cahoots! From now on, wherever Brother Li points, I'll go; Fatty'll be there to cover for us. Looking across Jiangyang County, let's see who can touch us now!"

"Alright, stop showing off here."

After Zhou Yanhuai signed the papers, his tense nerves finally relaxed completely. He patted his round belly and complained with a bitter face, "I haven't even had a hot meal since Grandpa started nagging me before I left. Brother Xiao, with all this fuss about Guilan, you're not providing lunch?"

"No problem! Enough to fill them up! My own brothers come to eat here, how could I let them go hungry?"

Li Xiao snapped his fingers, and the manager, who had been waiting on the outer corridor of the waterside pavilion, immediately came in with a beaming smile and bowed slightly: "Young Master, shall we serve the dishes now?"

"Let's go, bring out the kitchen's specialties, a lot of hearty dishes to stave off hunger. Can't you see my brother is getting thin from hunger?" Li Xiao jokingly pointed to Zhou Yanhuai's belly, which resembled that of Maitreya Buddha.

Upon hearing this, the manager's shrewd eyes swept over Zhou Yanhuai's round belly, and he immediately understood. He turned around and whispered a few instructions into the walkie-talkie.

A few minutes later, accompanied by a series of very light footsteps, several young girls dressed in moon-white Suzhou embroidered cheongsams filed in.

The girl in the lead brought out a blue and white porcelain casserole. As soon as the lid was lifted, the rich aroma of meat mixed with the heavy scent of seafood instantly filled the entire waterside pavilion.

This is fifteen premium abalone stewed with black-haired pork. The color is bright red and tempting. The trembling pork belly is fatty but not greasy. The abalone, which has soaked up the broth, is as big as half an adult's palm. It looks so appetizing.

Crispy glass pigeon, its skin roasted to a golden and translucent amber color. The girl gently slices it with a knife and fork, and with a crisp cracking sound, abundant juices flow down the crisp skin, releasing a rich, fatty aroma.

Braised premium sea cucumber with scallions: Three plump, upright sea cucumbers from Liaoning Province lie on a plain white porcelain plate.

Stir-fried beef and snowflake beef cubes with dried mushrooms.

The top-grade M9 Wagyu beef is cut into uniform diced pieces and then instantly cooked over high heat to lock in the juices. The outer shell is slightly charred, while the marbled fat inside has just melted. Paired with wild dried mushrooms freshly picked from the high mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou and transported by air that day, a subtle chemical reaction occurs between the two, ultimately creating this top-grade delicacy.

Finally, what was served was a hearty staple food that he had specially ordered the kitchen to make yesterday: crab roe oil mixed with Imperial Rouge Rice.

The crab roe from female crabs and the fat from male crabs in Taihu Lake are simmered together over a low flame to make crab roe oil, which is then poured hot over specially supplied red rice that is distinct in grain and has a faint reddish hue.

The rich, golden crab oil coats the plump, chewy rice grains, creating an ultimate experience that's high in cholesterol. Just looking at it makes you feel like your gout levels are about to skyrocket.

Although Zhou Yanhuai complained of being hungry, he was, after all, a child raised in a compound. He had attended social gatherings with his elders during holidays and had seen all sorts of top-notch delicacies.

But he had indeed been interrogated by the old man all morning, and his stomach was growling with hunger. Now that the contract was signed, the huge weight on his heart was finally lifted, and the hunger pangs immediately returned.

Without any hesitation, he scooped up a spoonful of rouge rice coated in golden crab oil and put it in his mouth.

After taking his first bite, he couldn't help but give Li Xiao a thumbs up.

"Brother Li, I'm not exaggerating, but the kitchen at your Guilan restaurant is truly top-notch. Is this crab roe sauce made with pure Taihu double-lobed crab roe? There's not a single bit of salted egg yolk mixed in to fool people, and the cooking time is just right—fresh without being fishy. Last month, when I went to the provincial capital with my grandfather, we ate at that so-called 'Black Pearl Three-Diamond' restaurant, and the ingredients here were far inferior."

Li Xiao smiled, picked up a piece of roasted pigeon from the glass, and put it in his mouth. "Since it suits your taste, eat more. There are no elders watching over us today, so eat as much as you want."

[Ding! Detected that the host's state of mind perfectly matches the nature of a chaebol. Reward: Happiness Points +50!]

Outside the bamboo curtain, the old copper bell tinkled in the breeze, and koi fish occasionally leaped out of the water, splashing light that shone through the curtain and onto the three of them, much like the youthful spirit of a June afternoon—hot, bright, and with a touch of untamed arrogance.