Knowing Oneself

"Oh…"

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes in a daze and felt a sharp pain in his head.

"Just how much did I drink yesterday?"

He remembered that he was in a bad mood yesterday and drank one more, two more, three more glasses… Forget it, he couldn't remember how many glasses he had drunk.

"Is this the feeling of being hungover? I haven't experienced it in a long time…"

It had been a long time since Zhao Zhen had drunk so much since he became the Deputy General Manager of Prosperous Flavor.

"Prosperous Flavor…"

Zhao Zhen clenched his fists tightly at the thought of this extremely familiar name.

Li Xin's words from the board of directors meeting still echoed in his mind.

"Due to Zhao Zhen's recent work attitude, the company has decided to suspend all of his positions but retain his salary. We will deal with this matter later."

"What does he mean by suspending my position but retaining my salary?"

Zhao Zhen knew very well that Li Xin was just trying to hold him in high regard before deposing him.

"Did you kick me out because you felt that I was blocking your way…"

Although he knew very well that nothing was more important than profits in Li Xin's eyes, his personal feelings still pained him greatly.

After all… this was the best decade of his life.

"I really got thoroughly drunk."

Zhao Zhen raised his head and drank a cup of water. Then, he abruptly placed the cup on the table and made a 'bang' sound.

"But I still think that I'm right!"

"Blindly exploiting their employees would only lower the quality of customer experience."

"To be honest, employees are easy to find these days."

"However, if one person does his job with all his heart, while the other does it half-heartedly, how can the experience that they bring to the customers be the same?"

Zhao Zhen laughed bitterly and sighed.

Unfortunately, Li Xin did not listen to him.

Instead, Li Xin kicked himself away mercilessly when Li Xin felt that he was getting in the way.

"It's no use saying anything unless you're the boss."

From this matter, Zhao Zhen understood something.

Workers would always only be workers.

In the eyes of the boss, he could always let them go.

"Something else seemed to have happened yesterday. I seem to have promised someone something?"

He had almost forgotten about what happened after the hangover and only had a vague memory of it.

He switched on his phone and saw that it was past 11am. When he looked at his phone again, there were seven or eight missed calls.

Seeing these missed calls, Zhao Zhen suddenly woke up and remembered something.

"I promised him that I would be the manager?"

"What nonsense."

Zhao Zhen laughed and decided to call Ye Feng back and explain.

After the incident with Prosperous Flavor, he was already a little disheartened.

Moreover, the savings he had accumulated over the years allowed the single Zhao Zhen to have sufficient money.

Hence, Zhao Zhen decided to take a trip to relax before moving to another city and starting anew there.

"No matter what I promised you yesterday, I can only disappoint you now."

The phone rang and the call was quickly picked up.

There was some noise on the other end of the line. Then, there was a rush of voices, accompanied by the sound of the door closing. After that, there was silence.

Zhao Zhen was about to speak when he suddenly recalled that he did not know the other party's name.

As he was hesitating, a voice came from the other end of the line.

"Is this Boss Zhao?"

The young voice proved that the owner of the voice was a young man.

"Boss Zhao? I'm just an unemployed civilian now. Just call me Zhao Zhen."

Zhao Zhen thought for a moment and felt that he should be older than the other party. Thus, he said, "Little brother, I'm really sorry about what I promised you yesterday. I…"

However, before he could speak, the other party interrupted him.

Ye Feng held his phone while looking at the notebook in his other hand. Then, he took a deep breath.

"The name of the restaurant is Hedilao. It is a hotpot restaurant that focuses on customers. My business model is as follows…"

"The promotion channels are as follows…"

"The employee benefits are as follows…"

Upon listening to the voice on the phone, Zhao Zhen was originally thinking of how to interrupt him. However, as time passed, his eyes gradually lit up and his breathing gradually hastened.

"Isn't… isn't this the development plan that I've decided on?"

"No, it's even better than what I've planned!"

As the former Deputy General Manager, Zhao Zhen quickly realized how feasible Ye Feng's words were!

"However, this way, your profit margin will be reduced."

"Furthermore, if the sales do not meet expectations, you will not be able to make ends meet with such high benefits."

Zhao Zhen calmed himself down and spoke.

At this point, he had no intention of hanging up.

"For some reason, I don't really care about money."

Ye Feng said honestly.

His words came from his heart.

Perhaps it was because his money had come too easily, but he did not feel much psychological pressure spending it.

Furthermore, Ye Feng knew very well that this was only his own trial store. Even if he suffered a loss, he could accept it.

At most, if he really didn't have any business talent, he could just sell his shop in a few years. Then, he could randomly start a company and pay himself a salary. He would still be able to live a comfortable life.

"A lot of people say that."

However, Zhao Zhen didn't agree with Ye Feng. Many people said that they didn't care about money, but in the face of profit, they would often choose to forget their words.

"Therefore, I plan on inviting you to be the manager."

"At the same time, you will be given full autonomy over the management and personnel."

"In fact, I can even allow you to have a certain amount of fiscal authority to use funds within a certain amount without my consent."

"If you are not satisfied with the future progress, you can leave at any time. I will still pay you for the entire year."

"This can be reflected in the contract."

Ye Feng spoke very clearly.

He knew very well that he was just a student and had no experience. He could only rely on his start-up capital of 50 million.

At the same time, he did not think that he was a genius who could understand everything with just a touch.

His advantage was that he knew himself well.

Therefore, he knew very well how important it was to let professionals manage the industry.

As for whether Zhao Zhen would betray him…

Ye Feng chose to believe in multiple-choice question.

He believed that the gold-standard store manager he chose had a good character.

"You…"

Zhao Zhen's heart skipped a beat. Even though he had been in the industry for a long time, he still felt a warm feeling in his heart.

He knew very well what Ye Feng's words meant.

"Are we very close?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"We were still strangers until yesterday."

"Then why did you—"

"I have confidence in you, so all I need to do is show some sincerity."

"My sincerity is right here. It's your choice now. Do you want to believe me?"

"Can I trust you?"

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "My salary is very high."

…

"Done!"

After hanging up, Ye Feng rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Next up is to sign the contract. Once the contract is signed, this matter will be settled!"

When he thought about how he had obtained the gold-standard store manager, Ye Feng was extremely excited.