Chapter 99

The next morning, Wang Yong drove Yuan Yuan’s family of three back to the city. Thinking about how Zhuang Yaosheng was getting married tomorrow, he decided to call and see if there was anything he could help with.

Just as he took out his phone, it rang. It was the fatty.

"Hey, fatty, where are you?"

"I’m at Lao Zhuang’s place! Right now, some brother-in-law of the bride is causing a fuss, saying that a thousand yuan per table is too cheap and insisting that Lao Zhuang should make it two thousand yuan per table." The fatty was furious.

Wang Yong immediately got angry. Wasn’t this just making things difficult? After all, in their area, a wedding banquet of three to five hundred yuan per table was already quite good. This was just a third-tier city, and it couldn’t compare to the first-tier cities where a table could easily cost thousands of yuan.

Moreover, Du Zhiyou had even pulled some strings. Otherwise, they would have asked for two thousand or three thousand yuan per table without any problem. Hosting a wedding banquet at the International Hotel wasn’t something you could just do. Thinking about this, Wang Yong said to the fatty:

"Why don’t you let Lao Er tell him to make it two thousand yuan per table, and then have Lao Er talk to the hotel to smooth things over?"

"Forget it, Lao Zhuang is unlucky. The bride’s brother is a chef at the International Hotel, and he’s even a head chef," the fatty said helplessly.

"Really? What a coincidence! Wait, that’s not right!" Wang Yong suddenly felt very strange.

"What’s wrong? That’s strange?" the fatty asked curiously.

"Fatty, you said this guy is a chef at the hotel. Do you think he doesn’t know what it means to book a wedding banquet at the International Hotel?"

"Right! This guy must have lost his mind! What do you think?"

"There are two possibilities. The first is that this guy is an idiot. But if what he said is true, and he’s a head chef at the International Hotel, he can’t be that stupid, right?" Wang Yong analyzed.

"Yeah, that’s true. So you think someone is backing him up and telling him to do this?" the fatty quickly thought of another possibility.

"I think so. Go and try to get some information from him. Where are you now? I’ll come over."

"You’re in the city?"

"Yeah, I just came from my wife’s place," Wang Yong replied.

"Come to Forest City, Building 5, Unit 6, Room 301."

"Got it, I’ll be there soon. You start talking to him." Just as Wang Yong hung up, his phone rang again. It was Yuan Yuan. What’s up? Wang Yong quickly answered.

"Wife, what’s up? Missing me already?" Wang Yong said boldly.

"Ha! You wish! You’re in the city, aren’t you going to visit your classmates?" Yuan Yuan reminded him.

"Wow! You’re so thoughtful. I almost forgot. Let me pick you up, and we’ll go together. You can meet my classmates."

Sure enough, as Wang Yong expected, Yuan Yuan thought for a moment and agreed. She asked Wang Yong to pick her up, and she would wait downstairs.

Yuan Yuan was a bit introverted and shy. If Wang Yong didn’t use some tactics, he was sure she would refuse. Dealing with strangers was what Yuan Yuan feared the most. Actually, Wang Yong was the same, but life had forced him to change.

When Wang Yong arrived at Yuan Yuan’s building, she was already waiting downstairs. Clearly, she had dressed up carefully. A long sweater covered her shapely buttocks, tightly hugging her body, showing off her perfect upper body curves. She wore a matching black woolen pants and black mid-calf boots, and held a white long down coat.

Dressed like this, a beautiful and vibrant young woman stood there, looking around. When she saw Wang Yong’s car, her face lit up with a radiant smile, making Wang Yong’s heart race and his desire rise.

"Why don’t you put on your coat? You’ll catch a cold."

"I’m fine! I just came down, and you arrived right away," Yuan Yuan said softly as she got into the car. But seeing her red cheeks, Wang Yong knew she was lying.

"Did you wait long? Are you cold?" Wang Yong asked with concern.

"It’s okay, let’s go. Where are we going?" Yuan Yuan, feeling a bit embarrassed by Wang Yong’s gaze, lowered her head and spoke gently.

That shy look when she lowered her head made Wang Yong speechless. A line of poetry came to his mind: "The most beautiful is that gentle bow, like a water lily trembling in the cool breeze."

"Let’s go!" Yuan Yuan said playfully. They say a woman dresses up for the one she loves, and seeing her boyfriend react this way, Yuan Yuan was very pleased.

Picking up Yuan Yuan, Wang Yong drove straight to the Forest City neighborhood in the west of the city. This was one of the hottest neighborhoods currently, with prices around 6,000 yuan per square meter. However, the city’s housing prices had risen sharply in the past two years. A few years ago, houses for around 3,000 yuan per square meter were everywhere, but now you could only find them in the suburbs.

On the way, Wang Yong chatted with Yuan Yuan about his high school life and introduced her to his friends, the fatty, and the groom, Zhuang Yaosheng, and Du Zhiyou. Of course, he also introduced the fatty’s wife, Xiao Qiao, in detail. Yuan Yuan was very interested in how a girl as beautiful as Xiao Qiao could marry a fatty weighing several hundred pounds.

Half an hour later, Wang Yong and Yuan Yuan arrived at Zhuang Yaosheng’s new apartment in the Forest City neighborhood.

The fatty opened the door and, seeing Wang Yong with a girl, was surprised for a moment. Then, recognizing Yuan Yuan, he smiled and teased, "Oh! Isn’t this Yuan Yuan? It’s been so long! You’ve become even more beautiful."

After saying this, he winked at her in a lecherous way. Wang Yong glared at him and then whispered, "How did it go? Did you get any information?"

"Come in and talk." He led them into the house.

Inside, only Zhuang Yaosheng and Du Zhiyou were there. They greeted Wang Yong and Yuan Yuan, and then got to the point.

The fatty explained the whole situation to Wang Yong. To Wang Yong’s surprise, there was no one backing the guy up. The reason for his actions made Wang Yong’s impression of the bride’s brother, Liu Mei, even worse.

It turned out that this guy was just a villager from Liu Mei’s village, two years older than her. He had learned by chance that Liu Mei and her boyfriend had booked their wedding banquet at the hotel where he worked. This guy, who was very self-centered, never thought that someone he looked down on from his village would have their wedding banquet at his place, where he would have to serve them.

He usually cooked for high-ranking officials and business tycoons, people with status. The idea of cooking for a bunch of country bumpkins made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

When Liu Mei’s parents and relatives came over, this guy rushed over and started ranting, confusing Liu Mei’s relatives and convincing them to ask Zhuang Yaosheng to upgrade the wedding banquet. He even came to Zhuang Yaosheng personally to talk about it.

"What a weirdo! This guy is not just a fool, he’s insane!" Wang Yong said sarcastically.

"Ha, luckily Liu Mei explained to her family about the status of the International Hotel and the local consumption level. Once they understood, they realized they had been fooled. Liu Mei’s brothers were so angry that they wanted to go after this guy. When he heard about it, he ran away in a hurry," the fatty added.

"We can’t let this go. I was thinking of dealing with him after the wedding, but I’m worried he might cause trouble during the banquet. We’re discussing this now. Fatty said you have a plan. What do you think?" Du Zhiyou asked angrily.

Wang Yong thought for a moment. Just as he was considering who to ask for help, Yuan Yuan tugged at his sleeve and said softly, "Why don’t we call Uncle?"

The three of them, not knowing Yuan Yuan’s uncle’s identity, looked at her and Wang Yong in surprise.

Wang Yong shook his head. This was too much respect for this guy who had lost his mind.

"No need. This is just a small fry. Even your brother would be lowering himself to deal with this. Let me call Da Wei first." Without further explanation, he took out his phone and called Da Wei.

After explaining the situation, Da Wei assured Wang Yong that he would take care of it. He promised to make sure the guy was fired and suggested that they could directly complain to the hotel. The hotel would not tolerate anyone who tarnished its reputation, especially a hotel that was like a government reception center and a foreign-affairs hotel.

After Wang Yong told the others about Da Wei’s plan, Du Zhiyou slapped his forehead and said angrily, "I was so angry that I lost my head. This guy made us all panic."

Zhuang Yaosheng also smiled, nodding his head. The gloom on his face disappeared, and he thanked Wang Yong.

Just then, Wang Yong’s phone rang again. It was Da Wei. Could he have done it so quickly, or was there a problem? Wang Yong quickly answered the call to find out.

"I’ve taken care of it. This guy has probably already received a notice of termination."

Hearing this, Wang Yong was completely relieved.

"How did you do it so fast? Who did you call?" Wang Yong asked, puzzled. In such a short time, it seemed like just a phone call, and the guy had already been fired. It seemed he needed to reassess Da Wei’s status in the culinary world.

"It’s a bit of a coincidence. The executive chef at the International Hotel is one of my seniors, and he’s also participating in the competition. He’s here to see my master. After you told me, I mentioned it to him, and he made a call. That guy was done for!" Da Wei said proudly.

"Alright, don’t get too cocky. You didn’t fire him, so why are you so happy?" Wang Yong said bluntly.

"Hey, do you have any respect for me?"

"Stop joking. When will you and Old Zhang be back?" Wang Yong wanted to learn the skills for making hotpot base from Old Zhang as soon as possible to impress his father-in-law.

"Probably in a few days. We’ll fly to the city, and I’ll definitely call you in advance. Remember to pick us up."

"Got it. The executive chef at the International Hotel is my friend’s senior. They’re together. That guy has been fired. Big Brother, give them a call and put some pressure on the hotel. Maybe it will save Lao Er some money."

As Wang Yong predicted, the hotel management was very accommodating. They apologized repeatedly, announced the firing of the troublemaker, and promised to upgrade Zhuang Yaosheng’s wedding banquet from 1,000 yuan per table to 1,500 yuan per table.

The matter was resolved satisfactorily. It was almost noon, and they decided to have lunch together. However, Zhuang Yaosheng, the groom-to-be, was too busy. In the end, Du Zhiyou drove the Ford F-150 with the fatty, and Wang Yong drove the Land Rover with Yuan Yuan to the International Hotel for a celebratory meal. (To be continued.)