The girl in the swimsuit, with her prominent curves, was astonished and bewildered, her brows furrowed tightly, seemingly dissatisfied with the white-dressed beauty's approval of Shen Qiang.

So, she remained silent, pouting and staring at her phone.

It was then she saw a message from the chat group's admin pop up on her screen.

"Zhong Yongxi, when you have time, bring your great-uncle into the group so we can conveniently exchange ideas and maybe make a new friend."

Having just been scolded by the woman in the white dress, she seethed with anger and immediately sent a message.

"I'm against Shen Qiang joining the group. He's not from a distinguished family, his cultivation is low, and he's arrogant and overbearing. We don't want to associate with someone like him."

No sooner had her message appeared,

than Zhong Yongxi jumped in.

"Tsk, your objection is pointless. My great-uncle's acupuncture technique is divine, his strength awe-inspiring. Are you blind? Can't you see the admin has already acknowledged him?"

Several others quickly followed suit.

"Wow, Shen Qiang, huh? He looks handsome and a bit naughty—I like that! Besides smashing the Life-extending Hall's signboard, he also commanded them to leave Provincial City within three days. Such a domineering man should have been added to our group long ago."

"Exactly, wow. Even if he claims to be a loose cultivator, he's still Zhong Yongxi's great-uncle. He totally deserves to join."

"Mhm, mhm, yeah. Shen Qiang does have strength. Otherwise, Life-extending Hall wouldn't have just let him smash their signboard. And more importantly, Xu Nan from Wan Xin Hesheng and Bai Jiao from Cheng Xinyi recognize his abilities. Making friends with him... their family backgrounds are much more formidable than most of us here."

"That's what I'm saying! This badass guy, bringing him into the chat can't be wrong."

"Yeah, I'm quite curious about Shen Qiang now. Huaxia is so vast, I'm over 1,500 kilometers away from where he is, so meeting him isn't really practical. Chatting in the group is a good alternative."

"He's talented."

"Anyway, I think we should invite him to the group chat."

Messages like these instantly filled the screen.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred messages scrolled by.

The usually overbearing group admin commented, "Well, since everyone agrees, that's settled then. Zhong Yongxi, go ahead and bring your great-uncle into the group."

Ecstatic, Zhong Yongxi sent a message, "No problem!"

Seeing the concerted effort of the members of Pill Pavilion to get Shen Qiang into the group, the curvaceous girl in the swimsuit pouted angrily, "Jerks! Hypocrites! A bunch of fair-weather friends. Just because he smashed up some third-rate family's signboard? What's so great about that?"

Hearing her rant, the beauty in the white dress laughed, "Life-extending Hall is somewhere between the lower second-tier and upper third-tier among Hua Xia Cultivation World families, which is quite powerful. If Shen Qiang didn't have the backing of Cheng Xinyi and Wan Xin Hesheng, let alone smashing Life-extending Hall's sign, even if the Zhong Family weren't smashed by them, they would consider themselves lucky."

"So, don't underestimate Shen Qiang's strength," the woman in the white dress seriously told the girl in the swimsuit. "If it really came down to a fight for survival, Shen Qiang alone might not beat even a minor family's warrior, but with Xu Nan and Bai Jiao supporting him, plus his mysterious backing, no ordinary cultivator would dare to cross him."

In the seaside villa, the woman in the white dress spoke with conviction.

Meanwhile, at the Datong River restaurant. After enjoying a splendid meal, both Xu Nan and Bai Jiao looked deeply satisfied.

"Deserving of the vice-champion title from a cuisine contest, the taste is really amazing," Bai Jiao commented with a smile, looking at Shen Qiang. "But this also makes me look forward even more to trying the food you prepare yourself."

Shen Qiang smiled.

Seated next to him, Xu Nan said gravely, "I'll keep an eye on the Life-extending Hall people for you. If they still refuse to leave after three days, how do you want to handle it?"

Hearing Xu Nan sounding him out, Shen Qiang smiled faintly and replied earnestly, "I will crush them without mercy."

After lunch.

Xu Nan and Bai Jiao left, along with the people from the Zhong Family.

Shen Qiang lingered by the Datong River for a while.

He strolled around aimlessly.

The Datong River Restaurant was an independent three-story building. Although located within the second ring road, the area was not prime. While facing a street with a fairly decent environment around, according to the current real estate prices in Provincial City, the highest price for properties in this location wouldn't exceed 12,000 RMB per square meter.

Comparing to the shops in the antique market, even the residence at Jinyu Huacheng where Shen Qiang lived was more valuable than this place.

Overall, if one didn't take into account the restaurant's added value, this independent three-story building facing the street was not even as valuable as Shen Qiang's own residence, being worth at most about 20 million.

Therefore, the true value of this restaurant lay in its reputation and the chefs.

However, Shen Qiang couldn't deny that the Datong River Restaurant was indeed making a hefty profit!

Take the truffle steak, for example. During the competition, the French chef used imported truffles from Italy, which were costly.

But the truffle steak sold in the restaurant for 1,888 RMB a portion used domestic truffles.

260 RMB per kilogram.

While quite cheap, the truffles were surprisingly small. A single one was only about 2 to 3 centimeters in diameter, roughly the size of a one-yuan coin.

As for the steak, it was indeed imported from Australia, as advertised.

One hundred seventy-five RMB per kilogram.

One kilogram could be cut into six portions.

In that case, the total cost for one portion of truffle steak, even including labor, was only about 50 RMB.

Selling one portion for 1,888 RMB, the profit was 1,800.

After securing the runner-up position in the competition, the restaurant now sold about 350 portions of truffle steak per day.

Just this item alone netted a pure profit of over 600,000 RMB.

Including other dishes and beverages, Datong River's gross profit for one day could even reach 1.7 to 1.8 million RMB.

But at the same time.

Datong River's operational costs were also quite high.

The most significant expense was labor.

Especially the salaries of the four main chefs at Datong River, which were frighteningly high.

For instance, the French head chef responsible for the truffle steak was paid 35,000 US dollars a month, which translated to about 260,000 to 270,000 RMB in Chinese currency. In other words, his daily wage was nearly 10,000 RMB.

And there were four such individuals at Datong River.

Beyond the main chefs.

There were also Senior Chefs, Ordinary Chefs, Cleaners, Security Guards, Waiting Staff, Managers, and other employees.

All mixed together, the daily operational costs were also around 300,000 RMB.

Now, riding the momentum of the runner-up title from the competition, business had improved by twenty to thirty percent compared to usual.

With that in mind, after carefully considering all expenses, if the hype of winning the runner-up title in the competition were absent, under normal circumstances, the average monthly net profit of Datong River Restaurant, when operating normally, would be just a little over one million RMB.

If operations went smoothly throughout the year, roughly over ten million RMB could be earned.

Such income.

In the eyes of ordinary people, this might already represent the pinnacle of life, but for Shen Qiang, it was hardly worth mentioning; therefore, if purely for making money, Shen Qiang had no need to bother with this restaurant.

He purchased this restaurant simply to give Lv Shuyao's father an opportunity to hold his head high, whether he could grasp that opportunity was his own problem.

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