Chapter 347

Minister Lin became anxious. “Please don’t cry, Manager Tong. You are holding down two positions by yourself and are a model worker. Nobody would say anything ill about you!”

Minister Lin was going to ask her to just give away her recipe. Now that she was crying, he had a hard time asking that of her.She was but an 18-year-old girl who was not only holding down two positions but also taking care of her younger siblings. If he asked her to give away her recipe now, he would sound like an @$$hole if words got out.Tong Xuelu wiped away her tears. “No wonder everyone said that Minister Lin is the modern day King Solomon. You are such a fair person. I feel so much better now that you have said that!”Placed on a high pedestal, it was even harder for Minister Lin to say out loud what was on his mind for the sake of maintaining his image of being a fair person.Tong Xuelu carried on saying, “Minister Lin had suggested for my restaurant to sell spice packets. For certain I would not be able to do that on my own. That being said, I can solicit the employees of the restaurant to help. However, they would mean they would be doing two jobs. Do you think we can pay them extra for their effort?”Minister Lin frowned. He was just about to say that extra pay was not an option.Their wages came from Finance Department. Where was he supposed to come up with this extra money?Tong Xuelu did not wait for him to speak. “You don’t need to pay out of the Commerce Department’s budget. As long as e get to set the price when the other restaurants buy from us, the extra money can go to my employees as supplements. What do you think about that idea, Minister Lin?”Minister Lin pondered about it long and hard while holding up his ceramic mug.If he went along with that, the Commerce Department would not need to pay them anything extra and he would also be able to take care of the issue of other restaurants being able to serve malatang.The restaurants could make purchases from the CSMS, so they could also make purchases from Manager Tong’s restaurant. That was not against the rules.With the sales numbers going up, he could also answer to his bosses.As for letting her decide on the prices, he would be the one giving the final approval. He trusted that someone as smart as her would not come up with some ridiculous amount.That’s three birds with one stone.The more Minister Lin thought about it, the better the idea sounded.“That sounds like a pretty good idea, Manager Tong. But why don’t you put together a proposal for me. I will give you an answer after I read it.”Tong Xuelu could see right through Minister Lin. She nodded repeatedly. “Sure. I will put together a proposal with Minister Lin’s idea!”Tong Xuelu phrased that as Minister Lin’s idea.If someone had problems with that later on, they could go speak to Minster Lin.Walking out of the office, Tong Xuelu invited Secretary Zhuo to visit her at her restaurant in the future.Seeing the relaxed smile on Tong Xuelu, Secretary Zhuo figured that Tong Xuelu had her issues resolved already.She would not mind having a capable friend liked Tong Xuelu. As such, she smiled and agreed.Stepping out of the Commerce Department, Tong Xuelu’s lips curved upward.With the other restaurants buying from them, they would not need to hand the profit in to the country.Granted, she would hand the money over to the Commerce Department and had them dispersed it back to them in the form of supplements.That could avoid issues in the future.***An unwelcomed guest arrived at the restaurant today.It was none other than Fang Wanyuan, Fang Jingyuan’s dog poop brother.After arriving, Fang Wanyuan placed an order for malatang and ate it quietly at the restaurant.He did not try anything the entire time.As such, Tong Xuelu didn’t pay him much attention either.She ran a restaurant. Anyone could come to eat there as long as they were willing to pay.Low and behold, after he had finished eating. Fang Wanyuan walked over to her, stammered for a little, and said, “My birthday is in two days.”Tong Xuelu rolled her eyes. “And that concerns me how?”Fang Wanyuan looked at her in disbelief. “……”He was disturbed by that for a long time after he returned from the restaurant. He had a hard time believing that Tong Xuelu had a change of heart.He recalled how Tong Xuelu would put a lot of effort in preparing his birthday gift in the past.This time, he had waited for days and still nothing from Tong Xuelu. That was the reason he made a special trip to the restaurant to remind her. That was not the response that he had expected!