Chapter 150: Malicious Competition

This is simply too outrageous!

Had they not witnessed this scene with their own eyes, they probably would have never believed that such a massive issue could be resolved by Jiang Hao with such effortless ease.

Inside the Qingli Health and Wellness Restaurant, Jiang Hao casually tossed his phone back to Li Dong.

"Res... Resolved?"

Li Dong looked at Jiang Hao in absolute disbelief.

He simply could not fathom that with just a single phone call from Jiang Hao, Zhao Tianlong had immediately agreed.

What kind of terrifying power and influence was this?

A single phone call was equivalent to three million?

Turbulent waves crashed within Li Dong's heart, leaving him unsettled for a long time.

With a faint smile, Jiang Hao asked, "What else did you expect? If you don't believe me, go back and see for yourself with your own eyes!"

Li Dong and Chen Wei exchanged bewildered glances, completely at a loss as to what to do.

Su Qingli spoke up, "You two, shouldn't you be leaving now? Our restaurant is about to close."

Since Su Qingli was effectively showing them the door, Li Dong and Chen Wei had no choice but to leave.

Filled with trepidation, they returned to the Tianlong Grand Hotel and entered the private dining room, only to discover that Zhao Tianlong had already left along with Huang Ya and the security guards. Only their old classmates remained in the room, and Li Dong's ID card was still resting on the table, left in the exact same spot.

Huang Qian walked over and said, "Just now, Jiang Hao made a phone call, and Zhao Tianlong immediately changed his attitude. He's not going to take our money anymore."

"He's not even charging us for the meal?" Li Dong asked in astonishment.

"Mm-hmm," Huang Qian nodded.

Naturally, that was the case. Since Zhao Tianlong was even willing to waive three million, why would he care about a mere three thousand and something?

After all, Jiang Hao had already given him a promise.

With Jiang Hao's promise, it was equivalent to having an extra life-saving talisman. That was far more precious than three million!

Li Dong let out a long sigh of relief, then said with a gloomy expression, "Jiang Hao has changed. He is definitely not just some nobody in Maple Leaf City. We misjudged him completely."

Hearing Li Dong's words, everyone present wore shifting expressions on their faces—a mix of helplessness, regret, and remorse.

They originally could have used the high school reunion as a prime opportunity to grow closer to Jiang Hao, and perhaps even latch onto this powerful and influential figure.

However, they had now offended Jiang Hao, drawing a clear and permanent boundary between themselves and him.

Such behavior could not even be adequately described by the word "foolish"!

Hesitantly, Huang Qian said, "We should leave quickly. Let's not stay in Maple Leaf City, and we must never provoke Jiang Hao again. Jiang Hao... he is someone we can't afford to cross!"

Hearing this, although the others remained silent, they all nodded heavily.

Back at the Qingli Health and Wellness Restaurant, Su Qingli had already pulled down the rolling shutter door and locked up.

As for Jiang Jingru, she had returned to her temporary hotel after finishing her meal.

"It's time to go to sleep, Wife," Jiang Hao said with a cheerful smile, making a polite gesture welcoming her to bed.

Su Qingli's cheeks instantly flushed slightly, but without saying much, she immediately climbed onto the small single bed.

Jiang Hao turned off the lights, climbed into bed beside her, and naturally reached out to pull Su Qingli into his embrace.

"What are you doing?" Su Qingli asked, looking at Jiang Hao with guarded vigilance, her face burning with shyness.

Had the lights not been turned off, one would have seen that her cheeks were completely red.

With immense joy, Jiang Hao said, "Although today's reunion was quite unpleasant for me, you spoke a lot of good things on my behalf. Qingli, I never expected that I mattered so much to you... It seems your words are sharp, but your heart is soft after all!"

Hearing Jiang Hao's words, Su Qingli's face turned even redder, and her heart began to beat wildly against her ribs.

She hurriedly explained, "I—I wasn't doing it for you... We are legally husband and wife, after all. If they mocked you like that, it was the same as mocking me. Of course I had to speak up for you, so don't go getting any wild ideas."

"Is it really just a wild idea?" Jiang Hao asked as he leaned in closer to Su Qingli.

Though he did not kiss her, the faint, delicate fragrance emanating from Su Qingli's body continuously drifted into his nostrils.

At the same time, Su Qingli could clearly catch the faint scent of tobacco and masculine presence coming from Jiang Hao.

She grew even more nervous instantly, feeling as though a frightened little deer was leaping about in her chest.

"You—you mustn't try anything funny, or I won't sleep with you anymore. I'll sleep on the floor," Su Qingli threatened.

"I won't do anything reckless. Don't worry, I'm not in that much of a rush. Whenever you figure things out and have a change of heart, I'll devour you then!" Jiang Hao said with a smile.

Hearing Jiang Hao's laughter, Su Qingli's heart raced even faster. She touched her face with her hand and found that her cheeks had grown scorching hot.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

In addition to the original location, Su Qingli's Qingli Health and Wellness Restaurant had opened two more branches in Maple Leaf City, as well as one in Donglin City.

Furthermore, Jiang Jingru had already traveled to Donglin City to assume her role as the manager of the Donglin City branch.

All four establishments were now operating normally, and the three newly opened branches were vigorously running grand opening promotional events.

At the same time, Jiang Hao had provided another sum of money to rent an entire floor in Maple Leaf City's Central Tower for Su Qingli. This floor would serve as the headquarters of the Qingli Health and Wellness Company and Su Qingli's future office.

With the number of restaurants increasing to four, the daily administrative workload had grown substantially, especially regarding financial matters.

Therefore, Su Qingli stopped working on the restaurant floor and instead moved directly into the company headquarters at the Central Tower to oversee the overall operations.

To alleviate Su Qingli's burden, Jiang Hao also hired two fresh university graduates to assist her as administrative aides.

Having developed to this stage, Su Qingli's wellness restaurant business had finally taken initial shape, establishing a proper corporate structure and framework.

However, a new problem arose.

While the three newly opened branches faced no trouble, the original flagship store was being targeted by competitors.

At this moment, Su Qingli and Jiang Hao were walking together along the street near the restaurant. Her brows were tightly knitted, and one could tell at a glance that she was deeply troubled.

"Look at that restaurant over there. Are they running some kind of promotion?" Su Qingli said, pointing to a restaurant not far away.

It was a Sichuan restaurant, and next to its signboard hung a promotional poster with four large characters clearly written on it: Sixty Percent Off!

Sixty percent off!

That was absolute suicide in business!

One had to remember that when the original Qingli Health and Wellness Restaurant first opened, it only offered a fifty percent discount storewide, and that lasted for only three days.

Yet this restaurant's promotion offered a staggering sixty-percent discount without even specifying an end date. This was nothing short of malicious competition!

At this moment, because of the promotion, the restaurant was packed with diners and enjoyed overwhelming popularity.

"And look at that place too... seventy percent off."

As she spoke, Su Qingli let out a succession of sighs.

Jiang Hao looked in the direction she was pointing and indeed saw that a nearby bakery was also running a promotion, offering a thirty percent discount on everything.