The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 514 - 513: Shen Xiangnan Causes Trouble

Chapter 514: Chapter 513: Shen Xiangnan Causes Trouble

"Shenji, receiving goods!"

Shen Xiangnan was instructing the head chef and the sous chefs on preparing the ingredients for the day when he heard the call and headed towards the back door.

Outside the back door, two workers from Rixing Marine Products Shop were unloading a large blue water tank from the delivery truck.

After the water tank was lowered to the ground, Shen Xiangnan bent over to check it, but one worker handed him a delivery slip and a pen.

"President Shen, please sign here. We have a lot of deliveries today, and we still need to rush to the next location."

Having dealt with each other for a while, everyone was familiar.

Seeing the worker sweating profusely, Shen Xiangnan also understood the hardships of labor, took the pen, and swiftly signed the slip.

Once Rixing’s delivery truck had left, Shen Xiangnan didn’t check the tank but instead had it carried straight into the kitchen.

Soon it was eleven-thirty, and customers began arriving at the restaurant for a meal.

Shen Xiangnan donned his work attire and had the king crabs in the water tank scooped out, ready to be processed for cooking.

"President Shen, how come this big crab is dead?"

Shen Xiangnan turned around and saw that all four pairs of the king crab’s legs were hanging straight down.

The legs of a live king crab are stretched out sideways.

Shen Xiangnan had never encountered this situation before and, after a shocked pause of two seconds, promptly had the remaining three crabs scooped out as well.

Out of four king crabs, two were alive, and two were dead.

"What do we do now? The customers are here, and there’s not enough time to go back to the marine products shop."

The seafood market was in the east of the city, at least an hour for a round trip, plus butchering the crabs and cooking them, the guests might have to wait until one o’clock to eat.

Shen Xiangnan was both guilty and panicked.

In the long course of cooperation with Rixing Marine, there had never been a problem until today, when he took a shortcut and didn’t check the goods, resulting in the death of two king crabs.

He was so flustered he couldn’t even determine if the king crabs had died before arriving or after.

If they were dead before arrival, then Rixing was responsible, and they would compensate.

If they died after arrival, then it was unrelated to Rixing, and Shenji would have to bear the cost.

Two king crabs weren’t cheap—that was a loss of several hundred bucks.

"Should we call the boss’s wife?"

"No need."

His little sister would surely scold him to death if she found out.

Maybe these two crabs had only recently died and were still edible.

With a bit of wishful thinking, Shen Xiangnan instructed his staff to start working.

...

Shen Mingzhu had just finished lunch when she received the phone call.

She immediately drove to Tianxiangyin.

As she got out of the car, she saw Shen Xiangnan pacing anxiously outside of the restaurant.

"Little sis!"

Upon seeing her, Shen Xiangnan rushed over as if he had seen his savior.

"Little sis, I..."

"Are the customers okay?"

Shen Mingzhu interrupted Shen Xiangnan’s attempted explanation.

Shen Xiangnan quickly shook his head, "They barely touched the dishes. These people have sharp tastes and could tell from the first bite."

Shen Mingzhu glared at Shen Xiangnan, but said nothing.

She didn’t have the time to settle accounts with Shen Xiangnan just then.

As he inquired about the situation, he quickened his pace into the restaurant.

Today at noon, a total of four tables had been booked, and the main dish was king crab.

The first table arrived early, and Xiangnan had already served the dead crab to them, which was when the problem arose.

For the remaining three tables, Xiangnan didn’t dare to serve the dishes, as he could no longer tell which of the three prepared king crabs was the dead one.

The good news was that the customers did not experience any health issues after eating the dead crab.

The bad news was that one table had the dead crab and was waiting for an explanation, while the guests at the other three tables were left sitting and waiting.

This was the first time that such a serious incident had occurred since the opening of Shenji.

Upon entering the restaurant, he saw several customers losing their temper, with Julie and the waiters trying their best to calm them down, though it was clearly not very effective.

A few kitchen staff members gathered in a corner to watch the excitement.

Mingzhu instructed Xiangnan to take the kitchen staff away while she briskly walked towards the guests.

"I apologize, everyone. I am late."

"President Shen, you’re finally here. I specifically brought my clients to your restaurant today. We’ve been sitting here for an hour without being served, and my clients have all left angrily. What do you have to say?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am truly sorry for today’s oversight on our part, which has caused inconvenience to you all. How about this: I’ll have Manager Julie take everyone to Zhenwei Restaurant across the street to have lunch. The meal will be at Shenji’s expense. After everyone has finished eating, I will come and personally apologize to you one by one. Would that be acceptable?"

They were all regular customers. With Mingzhu’s sincere attitude and promise of a satisfactory explanation, the customers did not continue to make a scene.

All being seasoned businesspeople, they would not escalate the situation to the extreme.

Having smoothly resolved the issue with the three tables who were left hanging, Mingzhu led Xiangnan to the private room where they had served the dead crab.

"Sister, I..."

"Shut up!"

On the way, Xiangnan tried to explain something but was directly interrupted by Mingzhu.

She was so angry she could have slaughtered him right then and there.

But now was not the time for placing blame.

"After we go in, unless I ask you to speak, keep your mouth shut."

"Oh."

In the private room sat three men and two women, with the middle-aged man and a young man at the main seats being strangers, their demeanors clearly indicating that they were officials.

The other three, one man and two women, were the manager and salespeople from Jingcai Electric Appliance Factory.

When they saw her enter, the five of them stopped their casual conversation and all looked towards her.

Compared to the other three tables of customers, the guests in this private room seemed quite calm.

Mingzhu did not let their seemingly calm demeanor fool her and made sure to approach the situation with a very respectful attitude, bowing deeply at ninety degrees as soon as she entered.

Seeing her gesture, Xiangnan followed suit with a deep bow.

"I really apologize for making you all wait, my name is Shen Mingzhu, the owner of Shenji."

Having said that, Mingzhu approached Chen Jun, the manager of the electric appliance factory, and apologized while bending slightly:

"Manager Chen, today it was Shenji’s fault for serving you and your guests crab that was not fresh. I am deeply ashamed for not living up to the trust you’ve placed in Shenji. As the responsible party, both I and the Executive Chef sincerely apologize again to you and your guests."

The female public relations officer next to Chen Jun scoffed, "Your Shenji charges such high prices for dishes but serves dead crab at the table. Do you think a simple apology will suffice?"

Mingzhu immediately responded, "At Shenji, we cooperate with the seafood market, and the seafood we order every day is absolutely fresh. It may have been the heat that caused improper storage on our part, leading to the death of the crab. Of course, this is our inescapable responsibility. We are truly sorry."

"Manager Chen, how about this proposal? If you and your guests are still willing to dine at Shenji, I will personally prepare a seafood feast for you all this evening. Additionally, Shenji will offer compensation three times the amount of the meal cost. This is our sincerity, and we also hope for your and your guest’s understanding."

Chen Jun smiled falsely and nudged his chin towards the middle-aged man across from him, "President Shen, it’s not up to me today. Secretary Li is the one in charge."

Mingzhu followed his gaze to the middle-aged man.

From Chen Jun’s behavior and the way he addressed him, it was clear that this Secretary Li was no ordinary person.

"Secretary Li, it’s an honor to have you visit our Shenji. It’s our failure that has disappointed you, and I am truly sorry. The solution I’ve just proposed, do you think it would be acceptable?"

Secretary Li seemed to be a very mild-mannered person, but his words were anything but mild.

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