The Game of Life

Chapter 545: Chapter 543 Another Way to Solve the Problem

By the time Jiang Jianguo, Jiang Jiankang, and others were let out of the kitchen by Sir, even more people fell into deep thought in the dining room.

A group of people, fat and thin, men and women, all sat together, propping up their chins and sinking into deep thought, looking from afar like a cult gathering.

Apart from Jiang Jianshe, who was playing chess with Professor Li, and a few people in the living room, everyone else in the dining room was trying to solve this extraordinary problem. No one had come up with a solution, not even a direction for approaching one.

“I think we can look at this problem from a different angle,” Jiang Feng suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence, “Since we can’t think of a solution, why not change our perspective and look at the problem from the point of view of the person who set the problem?”

“The problem setter?” Zhang Guanghang straightened up and looked towards Jiang Feng, “From Roland Reiner’s perspective?”

“Right,” Jiang Feng’s thoughts suddenly widened, “Since we can’t think of any countermeasures for the time being, let’s consider what Roland Reiner and the restaurant he works for are aiming for by going to such great lengths to open a restaurant in Beiping.”

The recently enlightened Mrs. Jiang was somewhat bewildered, “Isn’t it to show us up?”

“No, the cost is too high just to show us up; they must be seeing profits to go to such lengths,” as the former tailor shop owner, the great-aunt realized the matter was not so simple.

“Running a restaurant in Beiping itself is quite profitable, isn’t it?” said Jiang Jiankang, who neither liked to study nor watch schemes in TV dramas, with a blank look.

“You really have a pig’s brain. Their Michelin two-starred restaurant in America is not making money?” Wang Xiulian gave Jiang Jiankang a disdainful look, “They definitely came here because they can earn more.”

“However, these Michelin-starred restaurants’ branches have always struggled here, opening and closing, with no foundation, even if they dispatched the head chef over, the profits would not be as high as those native to the area,” Jiang Feng also couldn’t quite understand.

All of us are capitalists, with making money being of utmost importance, why go to such lengths for petty reasons, making it bad for both you and me.

“But what if they are seeing profits, and substantial ones at that?” said Zhang Guanghang.

Everyone looked at him in amazement.

“Zhang, did you hear some kind of news when you came back to the country?” Jiang Feng asked.

“When I was dining with my dad, he casually complained that the business in the restaurant had not been good the past year, with profits down by 20%,” said Zhang Guanghang, “The economy has been down in recent years, and high-end dining in the West has been generally poor. When I came last year, I heard colleagues complaining that the returns weren’t as good as before. Although Europe is different from the Americas, our restaurant is Michelin three-starred, and even our restaurant’s revenue has dropped this much, so I suppose the starred restaurants in America can’t be faring much better.”

“You mean…”

“They might not have come to show us up; they have come to expand into the Chinese market,” Zhang Guanghang speculated, “In recent years, China’s economy has grown rapidly, and the West has long been covetous of this market. As you all know, in the past few years, many Michelin restaurants have tried to open branches in Beiping but to no avail.”

“Mrs. Wang is right; they took over the top floor of the shopping mall and spent a lot of money on promotion, they must be seeing profit. If it were only about the Michelin ranking wanting to send a capable chef over here to put us in our place, they wouldn’t have need to go to such lengths and great expense,” the more Zhang Guanghang analyzed, the more he felt he had missed the point earlier, “We’ve fallen into a misconception, getting the sequence of events in this matter mixed up.”

“We believe that there was first the Michelin selection, then came Roland Reiner to Beiping. But what if Roland Reiner was already planning to come to Beiping, and just happened to coincide with the Michelin evaluation, wanting to seize the opportunity to also show us up in passing?”

Jiang Feng, upon hearing Zhang Guanghang speak like this, was so startled that his eyelids involuntarily twitched.

“If you think about it that way, everything can be explained. The Western economy is in a slump, and the restaurant industry is also in a downturn. On the contrary, here, especially in Beiping, the restaurant industry is very prosperous and thriving. The West wants to seek new avenues and break into new markets, so they sent Roland Reiner, because he is the most suitable. He knows how to cater to the tastes of the diners, he is a vanguard officer, and he has a strong army behind him, providing him with the best resources and armed forces,” said Zhang Guanghang calmly.

Everyone felt that it made a lot of sense and nodded in agreement.

“Exactly, that explains it. I was wondering why this whole thing seemed a bit odd. Turns out we were thinking about it wrong,” Jiang Jianguo said, nodding repeatedly, the typical post-event strategist.

“Yes, that’s right,” Jiang Jiankang exclaimed, slapping his thigh excitedly. “That Rolan isn’t just targeting our restaurant, he’s after all the restaurants in Beiping. He’s here to compete with us for our livelihoods and business.”

The restaurant industry in Beiping is a huge piece of cake, and everybody would want to take a bite.

“But if that’s the case, doesn’t this make things even more difficult?” Jiang Feng couldn’t help but throw a wet blanket over everyone’s spirits. “If they just came to give us a warning, they might retreat after a setback. But if they’ve come with firm resolve and clear goals to compete with us for food, getting them to give up… doesn’t seem easy.”

A well-fed tiger, upon hearing the enemy’s warning roar, might just wag its tail and walk away. But a hungry wolf, hungry and desperate, will not give up until it rips off a piece or two of flesh.

The dining room once again fell silent.

After putting themselves in the enemy’s shoes, not only did they fail to come up with any solutions, but they also realized the enemy was stronger, more tenacious, and harder to deal with than they thought.

While everyone collectively cosplayed as thinkers, Chen Suhua walked into the dining room carrying a tray of fruit by mistake.

“I was wondering why I couldn’t find anyone. Why are you all sitting here? If you want to chat, go to the living room. Sitting on these stools is hard on the backside. I’ve cut some fruit; let’s go to the living room and eat it together,” said Chen Suhua.

“Enough with the wild guesses; thinking alone won’t solve anything. How does that saying go? ‘Meet the soldier who appears with a block; when the water rises, contain it with earth.’ Back when the city was building the dam, they had no machines or vehicles; it was all human effort carrying the bags. But didn’t they build the dam all the same, and with such good quality that it’s still fine? With so many of us here, are we really afraid of one man surnamed Rolan? Let’s all go to the living room and eat, and not think about these annoying things during the festival,” Mrs. Jiang stood up, filled everyone’s bellies with a dose of motivational talk, and started herding people out.

“What happened? What’s going on?” asked Chen Suhua, visibly confused.

Mrs. Jiang waved her hand, in fact, she didn’t really understand what had happened either. She hadn’t really grasped Zhang Guanghang’s analysis: “It’s no big deal, just scaring ourselves.”

Just as everyone was about to leave the dining room and go to the living room to eat fruit, Jiang Weiming came out of the kitchen with a bowl of something, coincidentally running into everyone.

“Why are you all here?” Jiang Weiming asked with a smile. “Zhang is here too. Perfect, I made quite a lot; everyone, have a taste.”

Jiang Feng looked at the bowl in Jiang Weiming’s hands. The contents… somehow appeared to be…

A bowl of douhua, it’s just that it seemed a bit too watery.