Daily Intelligence System: Financial Independence

The renovation cost for just this private room alone ran into several million, which was more than enough to show how luxurious it was.

After a bit of casual chit-chat, Xiang Huabin told the client manager in charge of the room to start serving the dishes.

"It’s Xiao Jiang’s first time here at our Huabin Manor, so I had our executive chef make every single one of our restaurant’s signature dishes."

"All the vegetables and meat we use are fresh for the day, you will never see any broccoli with a two-year shelf life here."

"Every dish is stir-fried over fierce heat on the spot—if there’s no wok hei, it absolutely won’t make it to the guests’ table."

Xiang Huabin looked at Jiang Tao with a big grin, his attitude toward him clearly even warmer than when they’d first met.

"Thank you for the hospitality, President Xiang. I’ve long heard that the chefs at Huabin Manor are top-notch; I finally get to taste it for myself today."

Jiang Tao also replied with a cheerful smile, giving Old Xiang full face.

Du Taoming chuckled and joked, "Old Xiang, I heard you’ve especially got a ton of good wine here. You can’t be stingy today."

"Hahaha, but of course! Entertaining you gentlemen today, there’ll be more than enough good wine and good food!"

"Xiao Lu, take some people down to our wine cellar and bring that case of Maotai from the 50-year vintage over."

Xiang Huabin spoke as he instructed his secretary to go fetch the wine.

"Understood, President Xiang."

Xiao Lu looked to be in her early thirties, wearing a pair of slightly heavy wine-red glasses that gave her a bit of a scholarly air—or rather, made her look a bit dazed—a middle-aged woman.

Hearing Xiang Huabin’s instructions, Xiao Lu turned and headed for the door to go get the wine.

"Maotai, 50-year vintage! I’m really basking in Xiao Jiang’s glory today—what a treat! It’s still your face that carries the most weight, Xiao Jiang!"

Hearing Xiang Huabin’s words, Du Taoming turned to Jiang Tao with a smile, teasing him.

"Haha, I don’t have that much face on my own. President Du and Chairman Zhang’s face is definitely bigger than mine."

"No, no, Mr. Jiang’s face is still a bit bigger."

"Let’s not get hung up on that, not on that. The fact that we can sit together and drink is fate; all that talk about face or no face, who cares."

"Exactly, it’s fate. Later everyone should drink to their heart’s content. Since you’re here at my place today, there’ll be good wine and good dishes in endless supply!"

"Brother Jiang, was that really your first time playing golf? It’s honestly hard to believe!"

The few of them joked and laughed, the atmosphere at the table very harmonious.

Soon, several waiters pushed in serving carts, bringing one steaming, exquisitely prepared dish after another to the table.

Even though Jiang Tao had attended quite a few high-end banquets ever since he started making money lately—

the spread today still featured quite a number of dishes he didn’t recognize at all!

Coming in along with the waiters was a man in his forties, wearing white chef’s whites, a tall chef’s hat on his head, and a name badge on his chest that read "Yingbin Tower Executive Chef."

Xiang Huabin turned his gaze to the chef and joked with a smile, "Xiao Qian, all our dishes today were done over high flame on the spot, right?"

Qian Mingli smiled. "Yes! They must all be cooked over high flame on the spot. Our Yingbin Tower absolutely does not allow any pre-prepared dishes."

"Hahaha, Old Xiang, Old Xiang, don’t keep wildly cueing Old Jia like that. Old Jia is probably already scrambling around in a panic right now."

Du Taoming was amused by Xiang Huabin and his own chef’s banter.

"Hahaha, just trying to liven up the mood. Xiao Qian, go ahead and introduce these specialty dishes of Yingbin Tower to everyone."

Seeing that he’d made his point, Xiang Huabin stopped dragging Old Jia into it, and instead had the chef introduce today’s spread.

Honestly speaking, Xiang Huabin was only raising the specs this high for tonight’s table because of Jiang Tao’s face!

With a banquet laid out to such a high standard, if you don’t let the head chef give an introduction, you can’t properly show off the class.

"Certainly, President Xiang. Dear distinguished guests, I’ll now introduce the dishes we have on the table today."

"First of all, these four dishes are the signature items we at Yingbin Tower use specifically to welcome guests."

Chef Qian pointed at the four dishes on the table and began his introduction:

"The collective name of these four dishes is ’Mountain-and-Sea Delicacies: Four Welcome Treasures.’"

"This dish is called Golden Broth Crab Roe Soufflé Imperial Swallow’s Nest."

"For this dish, we select blood-red swallow’s nest from Indonesia, then slow-braise it in a top-tier clear stock made from Jinhua ham and old hen until fully tender and infused."

"It’s then topped with a golden broth simmered from freshly cracked Yangcheng Lake hairy crab roe and crab meat, and finally garnished with ’soufflé petals’ formed from hand-whisked minced chicken."

"The swallow’s nest is silky, the crab roe intensely rich and fresh, the broth thick and mellow—luxury captured in a single spoonful."

As Chef Qian spoke, Jiang Tao and the others followed his gaze to the tureen of golden-hued Golden Broth Crab Roe Soufflé Imperial Swallow’s Nest on the table.

Who knew how it tasted, but in terms of "appearance and aroma," it was absolutely spot-on.

"This dish is called Black Truffle Tribute Vegetable Tossed Geoduck."

"We select Canadian geoduck and only use the most tender siphon portion."

"For the black truffle, we use shaved Italian Alba white truffle."

"Of course, both the geoduck and the black truffle for this dish are imported from overseas—they couldn’t possibly be same-day fresh."

Du Taoming let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha, understood, understood, that’s perfectly understandable."

"This one is Five-Year Sturgeon Caviar with Smoked Quail Egg Tart..."

"This dish is Traditional Salt-Baked Tasmanian Black-Lip Abalone..."

"This dish is Sunflower-Fragrant Chicken Jus Steamed East Star Grouper..."

"This is Bluefin Tuna slices..."

"And this is Red Willow-Grilled Wagyu Tenderloin Cubes."

Chef Qian went through and introduced every single dish on the table one by one.

To prepare this table’s dishes, he’d spent more than two hours.

A total of twenty dishes, each one the cream of the crop.

The value of just this one table’s dishes today already exceeded thirty thousand yuan!

The case of Maotai from the so-called 50-year collection that Xiang Huabin’s assistant had fetched from the wine cellar was worth an even more astonishing amount.

Although Xiang Huabin didn’t say it out loud, everyone knew perfectly well that this lavish banquet tonight was prepared especially for Jiang Tao.

"Xiao Jiang, in this vast sea of people, the fact that the two of us can meet here at our Huabin Manor and sit together drinking is truly a rare stroke of fate."

"And you know, I felt an instant affinity with you. From now on, you can call me Brother Xiang, and I’ll call you Younger Brother Jiang, how about that?"

After personally pouring Jiang Tao a glass of wine, Xiang Huabin picked up his own, grinning at him, his attitude more cordial than ever.

"I object!"

Off to the side, Xiang Yiwei raised her hand in protest:

"Dad, if you and Brother Jiang start calling each other brothers, won’t that mean I have to call him Uncle Jiang whenever I see him?"

"Hahaha..."

"Hahahahaha..."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter at Xiang Yiwei’s remark. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t wrong.

It’s just that she was only a few years younger than Jiang Tao, so calling him Uncle Jiang really was a bit hard to get out.

Besides, ever since Jiang Tao started using the Nourishing White Mask lately, his skin had become much more delicate and fair.

On top of that, with his constitution far surpassing normal people’s, plus the effects of items like the Divine Five Sons Inheriting Pill and Immortal Holly—

Jiang Tao now was brimming with energy, looking even more vibrant than those guys in their early twenties.

If you didn’t reveal his age, when he stood next to Xiang Yiwei you really couldn’t tell who was older.

"Hahaha, now that you put it that way, that’s true. Xiao Jiang looks so young, so let’s each stick to our own: when you see Xiao Jiang in future, just keep calling him Brother Jiang."

Xiang Huabin’s gaze shifted back and forth between Jiang Tao and his daughter, and he suddenly felt that his girl and this Younger Brother Jiang of his were actually quite a match.

The man was handsome and striking, played golf incredibly well, and was definitely bound to be somebody in the future!

Plus, his precious daughter kept calling him Brother Jiang so warmly, like she was rather interested in Xiao Jiang too.

Before today, Old Xiang had never heard of his darling girl being this enthusiastic toward any guy.

"Then it’s happily decided just like that! What do you say, Brother Jiang?"

Hearing her dad’s suggestion, Xiang Yiwei nodded in agreement with a sweet smile.

Asking her to call Jiang Tao Uncle Jiang was really something she just couldn’t bring herself to do.