Gu Yingxiong had prepared a way to humiliate Xiao Xun on the way over. He hadn't expected to be greeted with an empty preparation upon entering.
Xiao Xun's mother clapped her hands, "You speak of this brat, a leader of such stature went through such great lengths to get him out, yet he refuses to even meet them. Truly outrageous."
Gu Yingxiong sat down at the head of the table. "It's nothing, just a small matter, not as difficult as you say."
He then raised his hand to Laty, who was standing behind him, "Have them serve the dishes!"
Since he failed to humiliate Xiao Xun, he sat there speechlessly, his expression fluctuating between happy and gloomy.
"Young man, what's your surname? What do you do for a living?"
Xiao Xun's mother, with an air of familiarity, pulled a rosewood chair, similar to a small sofa, and sat next to Gu Yingxiong.
The servers felt heartbroken but, due to Gu Yingxiong's presence, could only watch. They couldn't even step forward to remind her.
Gu Yingxiong was stunned. In his life, no one had ever spoken to him like this.
Liu Shijia was scared out of her wits, the sweat beads on her forehead clearly visible. "Auntie, this is our biggest leader."
Gu Yingxiong glanced at Liu Shijia, raised his hand to stop her from saying more, and then looked at Xiao Xun's mother. "Hello, my name is Gu Yingxiong. I'm in a small business."
Xiao Xun's mother beamed. "Little Gu looks very talented, and speaks nicely. How old are you this year?"
Liu Shijia wanted to stand up and stop her, but was intimidated by Gu Yingxiong's gaze. "Around thirty!"
Xiao Xun's mother actually grabbed Gu Yingxiong's hand and patted it gently. "You're not young anymore, are you married yet?"
Gu Yingxiong instinctively wanted to pull his hand away, but the woman in front of him had a surprisingly strong grip. "No, not yet, not yet."
Xiao Xun's mother sighed. "Young people in big cities get married late. When your uncle and I were your age, our brat was almost done with primary school."
Gu Yingxiong opened his mouth, unsure how to respond. His train of thought was completely blocked by the woman in front of him.
"Do you have a partner?"
Liu Shijia could no longer hold back and cried out, "Auntie!"
Xiao Xun's mother turned to look at Liu Shijia, her eyes curved like crescent moons. "My niece, isn't she pretty! She's not young either and still doesn't have a partner. She's too picky, she can't even be bothered with the eldest son of the top family in our hometown."
"Auntie, why are you saying this?" Liu Shijia seemed to have guessed what was coming next, her face now matching the tablecloth in front of her.
Gu Yingxiong looked towards the door, thinking: Why aren't they serving the food yet?
Xiao Xun's mother gently stroked Gu Yingxiong's hand, as if caressing silk. "Little Gu!"
Gu Yingxiong quickly responded, "Yes!"
"I heard from my niece that you are a big leader in the company. Do you think you could let my son join your company?"
Gu Yingxiong couldn't believe his ears, his eyes wide open.
Xiao Xun's mother, thinking Gu Yingxiong disagreed, said earnestly, "Family companies should only be entrusted to family members. Look at your uncle and me, we opened a restaurant in our hometown. Although it's not big, we employ two or three people, mostly relatives. Only our own people will help us. Don't you agree?"
The table was large, and each seat was far apart. Liu Shijia couldn't even reach out to hold Xiao Xun's mother's hand. "Auntie, please don't talk nonsense."
At this moment, Liu Shijia's forehead was covered in sweat, as if she had a serious illness. She truly wished she could find a hole to crawl into.
Gu Yingxiong, with a smile, said, "If you can let Xiao Xun come to my company, I will definitely let him earn more than he does now. And..." Gu Yingxiong pointed to the ceiling, "from now on, this restaurant will be managed by you. Any profits will be yours, and any losses will be mine. How about it?"
Xiao Xun's mother looked unconvinced and glanced around. "This big restaurant must be worth several million, right? You're just giving it to us?"
The server behind them snickered, then quickly regained composure. She didn't want to laugh, but she couldn't help herself.
Seeing the server's expression, Xiao Xun's mother realized that her previous estimate of the value was far too low.
Xiao Xun's father also couldn't believe it. "If what you're saying is true, is this restaurant yours?"
Gu Yingxiong clasped his hands. "How should I put it? Not entirely mine, but I hold a considerable stake, and I have a say in who manages this place."
The couple exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.
At this moment, over a dozen servers began serving dishes simultaneously. In an instant, the entire table was filled with beautiful and delicious food. The three of them had never seen such ingredients, let alone eaten them.
The seafood included lobster, abalone, shark fin, and sea cucumber. The lobsters were Boston lobsters, the abalone were double-headed, the shark fins were yellow fins, and the sea cucumbers were imported Japanese sea cucumbers.
In addition to seafood, there were also mountain delicacies and representative dishes from various regional cuisines. Each dish was served in a small portion, but on exceptionally large plates, with meticulous presentation, truly achieving perfection in color, aroma, and taste.
In the center of the table, a crane with outstretched wings was placed. The plate beneath it emitted mist, as if the crane was about to take flight at any moment.
Xiao Xun's father said dismissively, "All show and no substance."
Xiao Xun's mother, however, said, "These dishes are so beautiful, how can we bear to eat them?" In her mind, she thought: they're placed so far away, how can we reach them?
As she spoke, she used her chopsticks to pick up food for Gu Yingxiong, who was beside her. "Eat quickly, eat quickly."
She even waved to Laty behind Gu Yingxiong. "Little La Di, you've been busy all afternoon, come and sit down to eat with us!"
Laty waved her hands. "No, Auntie, please eat, please eat."
Liu Shijia's head was spinning, and she lowered her head, too embarrassed to pick up her chopsticks.
Gu Yingxiong, having grown up with strict family education and various etiquette lessons, found that although he enjoyed himself with his "bad companions," their inherent fear and submissiveness towards him always made him uncomfortable.
Experiencing such warmth for the first time made him cautious. He hesitantly said, "Thank you, please eat," and so on. He paid no attention to the fact that Xiao Xun's mother did not use serving chopsticks and occasionally slurped the soup from her chopsticks.
Xiao Xun's father ate with a furrowed brow, only tasting two or three bites of each dish.
Finally, he clapped his chopsticks together. "Leader, thank you for your kindness."
Gu Yingxiong looked at Xiao Xun's father. "It's nothing. Since you're willing to let your son join my company, then we're family from now on. Family doesn't hide things from each other."
Xiao Xun's mother was overjoyed to hear this. She stood up and reached for the crane to serve Gu Yingxiong, thinking: such a beautiful dish must also be delicious.
The server finally couldn't help but remind her, "Auntie, this dish is for decoration."
But the crane had already been ruined. Most of it had been picked up by Xiao Xun's mother with her chopsticks and placed on Gu Yingxiong's plate, which had already formed a "small mountain."
The overflowing portion was directly placed into Liu Shijia's bowl. "Eat quickly! You haven't eaten much all afternoon."
Xiao Xun's father continued, "I don't mean it that way. I mean, we will not accept this restaurant, and we cannot accept it."
Xiao Xun's mother glared at his father and muttered something under her breath. Although no sound came out, her expression suggested it wasn't something pleasant.
"Get out. You don't need to come anymore."