Lei Ming saw Penguin Ma, Jack Ma, and others personally starting to clean up the dishes and quickly called for help to clear the food.
Besides Lei Ming and Su Taoming, who didn't know who Xia Feng was, everyone else present showed him utmost respect.
Su Taoming, in particular, had no idea who Xia Feng was and had never heard of such a prominent figure in China.
Su Taoming, who was considered a significant figure himself, was truly clueless about Xia Feng.
Watching the busy scene, Su Taoming was somewhat stunned.
He really wanted to grab Jiang Quanshui and ask who this Xia Feng was and why there was such a big fuss. When they arrived, they had spoken of Xia Lin's exceptional status with great respect, but had not mentioned her brother, Xia Feng.
Judging by their behavior, Xia Lin's noble status was entirely due to her brother, Xia Feng.
Many hands make light work, and with everyone's joint effort, the dining table was cleaned spotlessly.
Jack Ma tied on an apron and stood by the kitchen counter, calling out to Lei Ming, "Mr. Lei, do you have any tofu and scallions?"
"No," Lei Ming shook his head. His place was stocked with high-end ingredients, and he truly didn't have these simple ingredients.
Lei Ming thought for a moment and then continued, "The vegetable market is right next door, I'll have someone go buy them."
"Little Wang, Jiang Xin, you two go buy them. I don't trust others to buy," Jack Ma called out to the national Little Wang and Jiang Xin.
"Okay," the two responded and quickly walked out.
Seeing everyone so busy and serious made Lei Ming's heart pound. He felt that even when hosting international foreign guests, he hadn't experienced such high protocol and sense of urgency.
Due to the absence of tofu and scallions, Jack Ma decided to stir-fry other dishes first. Jiang Quanshui, Old Wang, and Dula Bide helped out.
As for the three Michelin chefs, they were all pushed aside. If Xia Feng didn't like a dish, it didn't matter if you were an eight-star chef.
Jack Ma was particularly pleased. The key was that Xia Feng liked the food he cooked, which was the secret to his success.
He was fortunate to have developed good cooking skills when he first started his business.
As he thought of this, Jack Ma, while slicing vegetables, bragged, "When I started my business, there were over twenty people in the company. I went out to buy groceries myself every day, and I cooked meals for all twenty-plus people. Thinking back to those times, it really brings a tear to my eye."
"Fortunately, I worked hard back then, which led to my current culinary skills and career achievements. You guys can't possibly understand the hardships I endured back then."
As Jack Ma reminisced about his past struggles, he truly felt a pang of sadness.
He was not someone who relied on his looks. When the company was just forming, he traveled everywhere, all over the country, just to attract more investment and expand the company.
Seeing Jack Ma start to boast, Penguin Ma couldn't stand it and said disdainfully, "You make it sound like everyone achieved success from the start. Haven't I suffered? What hardships have you faced?"
"What hardships have you faced? You were born into a wealthy family. What is a scallion, honestly, do you even know? Have you ever eaten one?" Jack Ma retorted when he saw Penguin Ma was a bit unconvinced.
"Even if I didn't know, that doesn't mean anything. Haven't I suffered when my company started? When Penguin was just founded, I pretended to be a woman and added people online, chatting with them. I chatted with dozens or hundreds a day, just to get them interested in the Penguin software."
"Many times, those men I chatted with found me through their IP addresses, which scared me so much I didn't dare to go out."
Penguin Ma also began to recount his own hardships. Regardless of whether it was good or bad, he was determined to argue with Jack Ma.
He had to win the argument.
Everyone else: ...
That was truly ruthless.
Jack Ma was left speechless.
"What are you guys even talking about? You make it sound like no one has suffered. When I first retired, I started my business carrying a sack of goods by myself. When I first started my venture, I encountered a funding crisis and went to all the banks, but none of them offered any help."
"To solve this problem, I couldn't sleep for nine days and nights. Neither sleeping pills nor injections had any effect, and eventually, I started to become mentally unstable."
On the tenth morning, I collapsed during a meeting and was rushed to a major hospital in the capital for treatment. If it weren't for the timely treatment by the doctors in the capital, there wouldn't be the current Yida, and there might have been another patient in a mental hospital."
Seeing the two begin their bragging contest, Old Wang also joined the bragging convention.
"Who doesn't have a past that's memorable?"
In fact, the Chinese economy wasn't doing very well at the time, and the banks were not very astute, which led to many large enterprises being bought out by foreign capital.
This included the current Ababa Group and Penguin Group.
However, these two companies were relatively fortunate. The foreign capital only had dividend rights, not participatory rights.
Dula Bide listened quietly from the side, not saying a word as they bragged.
After all, they had succeeded. This bragging was for their own satisfaction.
If they hadn't succeeded, people would have accused them of being unprofessional and told them to get a proper job.
Before anyone succeeds, don't expect others to understand you.
This is how society is. When you succeed, even your farts are considered wise by others. Conversely, if you haven't succeeded, all the profound reasoning you speak is mere nonsense.
"What's with this turn into a bragging contest? Do you want me to join you guys too?" Jiang Quanshui said, watching them brag so loudly, each claiming to have suffered more than the other.
"Get lost, you had it the easiest," Old Wang said dismissively, waving his hand at Jiang Quanshui.
Compared to them, Jiang Quanshui had indeed had a much more comfortable life. He grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and after inheriting his father's assets, the business grew larger under his management.
"Pretending to be a woman, that Little Ma, have you finished washing the vegetables? You're the slowest." Jack Ma shouted.
"Let me tell you, you'd better be polite to me," Penguin Ma turned around and warned.
"Jack Ma: I won't be polite. What are you going to do about it?"
"What can I do?"
It seemed like he really couldn't do anything.
They were already rivals, so what else could they do, fight?
After preparing all the required vegetables, they handed them all over to Jack Ma, who started stir-frying them all by himself.
Jiang Quanshui had just returned to the dining table and sat down. Su Taoming, who had been full of questions, tugged at Jiang Quanshui's sleeve and asked, "Old classmate, tell me, who exactly is this Xia Feng?"
"Why are you acting like such a busybody? I really can't say. Just show him a hundred thousand times more respect."
Jiang Quanshui glanced back at Su Taoming and instructed him.
"A hundred thousand times more respect?"
Su Taoming was speechless. He hadn't even shown such respect to Elder Huang during the meeting.
Meanwhile, Lei Ming had been eavesdropping from the side.
In the end, he heard nothing.
What was wrong with these people? They were all tight-lipped, as if saying something would kill them.
Wasn't this a typical case of them acting high and mighty?