139. He was startled.

Xiao Yao looked Li Wenxuan up and down a few times, making Li Wenxuan feel a little uneasy.

"Why are you looking at me like that? It's kind of creepy."

"I'm estimating how much your hundred-plus pounds of flesh might be worth, and all things considered, it's not going to be much more expensive than pork. With the paltry amount of money you made today, you wouldn't even be able to afford a few meals at my place. If you want to help me boost my sales, I'd be happy to accept, but I'm afraid you'd eat yourself into bankruptcy. If you started showing up at my place every single day for meals, I'd take a massive loss," Xiao Yao said with a look of utter disdain.

"Are you running a rip-off joint? I just made tens of thousands of yuan from Yuanfeng! Even if you're trying to fleece someone, there's a limit! Once customers realize they've been scammed, who's ever going back?" Li Wenxuan asked, looking quite astonished.

Xiao Yao said smugly, "Our establishment operates with integrity, genuine goods at fair prices, and treats the young and old with equal respect. We have a full house of guests every single day. These people have more money than they know what to do with, and they actually *want* to come here and let me fleece them. When people literally deliver money to your doorstep, you'd be foolish not to take it, and they wouldn't even be happy if you didn't. What else can I do?"

"That little dump of yours is barely over a hundred square meters. What was it called again?" Li Wenxuan tried to recall. "Ah, right, I remember now. It has a rather peculiar name, 'Savor Pavilion', right? That's just a street-side joint. You're telling me a single meal costs several thousand yuan? Am I supposed to believe that?"

"Who do you think I am? Can you lump me in with ordinary people? Forget about a street-side eatery; even if I were running a roadside food stall, I could still sell meals at the price of rare delicacies if I wanted to," Xiao Yao retorted. "Sure, it started out as a little street corner shop when we first opened, but that's ancient history. My Savor Pavilion has already moved to Taikoo Tower. The entire floor—over three thousand square meters—belongs to me."

Since Li Wenxuan was going to be stationed in the city from now on and would frequently dine at Savor Pavilion, Xiao Yao had no way of keeping it a secret anymore. Besides, he didn't really want to hide it either, so he decided to use this opportunity to tell him the truth.

"Where is Taikoo Tower? I don't seem to recall it. But to occupy an entire floor of over three thousand square meters, you've really gone big time. Judging by what you're saying, business is booming?" Li Wenxuan was very concerned about his old classmate's first venture into entrepreneurship.

"Reservations are fully booked every day. If you don't reserve in advance, you definitely won't get a seat when you get there. I run high-end dining, so the prices are relatively steep. An ordinary single meal starts at three or four thousand yuan. I'll get a card for you later so you can eat whenever you want, and I'll comp your bills. Otherwise, you really might eat yourself into bankruptcy," Xiao Yao explained simply.

"That's incredible, Xiao Yao!" Li Wenxuan exclaimed in shock. "How long has it even been? You turned a little diner into a grand restaurant! I always thought you were a bit lazy and easygoing before, but I never expected you to have such grand ambitions and such formidable capability. Compared to you, the rest of us classmates really ought to feel ashamed of ourselves."

The noise inside the private dining room was quite loud, but Gao Yuanfeng was sitting right next to Xiao Yao, so he heard every single word Xiao Yao said loud and clear.

Ever since they met today, he had felt that Xiao Yao was vastly different from the past. Although Xiao Yao hadn't said much and had kept a very low profile, his overall demeanor didn't resemble that of a recent university graduate at all.

After catching sight of the luxury watch worth over ten million yuan on Xiao Yao's wrist, he became even more certain of this intuition.

In the past, he and Xiao Yao were merely ordinary classmates, and he didn't know much about him. No matter how hard he tried to rack his brain, he couldn't think of any prominent tycoons in the city surnamed Xiao.

Hearing Xiao Yao mention Savor Pavilion just now and realizing that he was the owner of the establishment came as a profound shock.

Over the past period, the name Savor Pavilion had set the entire local elite circle ablaze. Propelled by promotional efforts from figures like Provincial Chamber of Commerce President Ding Songqing and others, virtually every high-end wealthy individual in the city had patronized Savor Pavilion at least once.

One had to admit that while Savor Pavilion's prices were exorbitant, it truly offered value for money. After his very first visit, he had been completely captivated.

In the span of just over a week, he had already dined there five times. Savor Pavilion had now become the premier venue for wealthy circles to host guests. Whenever they had the time, many wealthy individuals were more than happy to make a special trip just to dine there alone.

Having visited so many times, Gao Yuanfeng naturally acquired some understanding of both Savor Pavilion and its mysterious owner.

Presently, Savor Pavilion was an absolute cash cow. Rumors in the outside world suggested that Savor Pavilion's daily profits exceeded ten million yuan. Among the wealthy who knew anything about the place, not a single one failed to feel envious.

Savor Pavilion was already immensely impressive, but its owner was even more enigmatic. At gatherings of the city's elite nowadays, people frequently brought him up in conversation.

Everyone knew very little about the owner of Savor Pavilion, but the guests who attended the opening ceremony after Savor Pavilion launched all knew one thing: the entire Taikoo Tower was property belonging to the owner of Savor Pavilion.

That was truly terrifying!

A few months ago, the market valuation of Taikoo Tower was at least five billion yuan. Ever since the rental rates for Taikoo Tower skyrocketed and sparked a bidding frenzy, people's valuations of the building had climbed significantly, with the appreciation alone amounting to at least one billion.

Even if the owner of Savor Pavilion possessed no other assets, the market value of Taikoo Tower alone already exceeded six billion yuan.

With just this single asset, the owner of Savor Pavilion was already among the preeminent tycoons of the city.

And now, he suddenly discovered that this mysterious owner of Savor Pavilion was none other than his old classmate.

Gao Yuanfeng was genuinely thunderstruck!

No wonder Xiao Yao had casually pulled out four bottles of fifty-year-old Moutai wine. For a billionaire worth several billion, that truly wasn't worth mentioning, and the man certainly hadn't had any intention of showing off his wealth.

Seizing the moment as Xiao Yao finished speaking, Gao Yuanfeng quickly chimed in, "Xiao Yao, you're actually the owner of Savor Pavilion? Taikoo Tower belongs to you too?"

Xiao Yao quickly gestured for him to keep it down. "Don't speak so loudly. In order to preserve this sense of genuine camaraderie for future class reunions, it's better if this news doesn't spread too widely."

"I'd always heard that the owner of Savor Pavilion was extremely mysterious, and countless people wanted to make his acquaintance. I never imagined that the mysterious boss of Savor Pavilion would turn out to be my own classmate." At this moment, Gao Yuanfeng was filled with deep emotion. "Sometimes, this world really is quite small."

"Yuanfeng, is Savor Pavilion really that famous? From the sound of it, Xiao Yao actually owns an entire skyscraper?" Li Wenxuan genuinely wondered if he had misheard.

Gao Yuanfeng sighed with emotion. "Our old classmate here is truly too low-profile. Sitting on billions in assets and keeping it completely under the radar—if Savor Pavilion hadn't become so famous, and if the timing hadn't worked out so coincidentally today, our old classmate probably would have kept us in the dark for the rest of our lives."

"Is this for real? Yuanfeng, you aren't messing with me, are you?" The impact of this revelation was simply too monumental, and Li Wenxuan found it difficult to process all at once.