Chapter 86: Shen Mo Stunned

After eating a few hasty bites, Shen Mo and the others called the server over to settle the bill.

The private-kitchen manager said with a smile, "The bill has already been taken care of for you all, and a designated driver has been arranged. It's been paid."

Boss Zhao patted his belly and said sentimentally, "This must be Young Boss Liu's doing."

"Comfortable."

The bath center was recommended by Boss Zhan. It wasn't particularly big, and the service couldn't be called great, but its selling point was few people and quiet.

In Boss Zhan's words: "No matter how clean the water is, once too many people soak in it, it stops being clean."

"This Wanhao Bath Center has hardly anyone during the day, the water is freshly changed, the sauna is decent, and the scrubbers are pretty good too."

Sure enough, the moment they went in, the whole pool was empty.

They stripped off, rinsed themselves, and the six of them got into the big pool. After soaking for a while, the six of them headed to the sauna room together.

Each wrapped in a towel, eyes closed as they steamed in the sauna, Boss Yang said slowly, "Little Shen."

Shen Mo: "Here."

"Do you know where the five of us made the decision to leave the head office and start our own business back in the day?"

Shen Mo opened his eyes and said softly, "I saw on the group's history wall that some small brands had problems back then, so a split was needed. The five of you resolutely went out on your own, and the group put up the money."

It didn't answer the question, but it did flatter the five men.

White-haired Boss Liu laughed and said, "History's a funny thing. It turned us begging Xinhua in tears not to abandon us into some heroic sacrifice."

"The truth is, a few small brands blew up back then. The group couldn't bear to throw them away, so they let us go out and run them ourselves."

"Xinhua treated us to a meal, a bath, and a massage, and that's how it was decided."

"The five of us were stunned. We hadn't done anything wrong, and we were Xinhua's childhood friends to boot."

"We begged him every way we could."

"Looking back now, it's pretty funny."

"Old Zhan, I remember you were the first to step out, weren't you?"

Shen Mo smiled and looked at Boss Zhan beside him.

The dark, chubby man kept his eyes closed and said unhurriedly, "Of course. Xinhua took a knife for me once, so naturally I had to back him up."

Listening to the old bosses' account, Shen Mo saw what things had been like decades ago.

The brands under Liu Group had recklessly entered the mid-tier market and come under attack from rivals, plunging into a credibility crisis and seeing their market shrink dramatically.

But those brands still had a certain base of loyal customers at the time.

It was a case of being unable to bear letting them go, yet keeping them would affect Liu Group itself.

To deal with this, the operations manager of Liu Group at the time—now a vice president—came up with a plan.

A split.

Separate Liu Group from those troubled brands.

Support the subsidiaries.

The five Boss Yangs were the ones kicked out back then.

But they didn't want to leave. Staying inside Liu Group was so much more comfortable; going out was basically starting from scratch all over again.

In the end, Liu Xinhua told them, brothers, the group has hit a crisis. If you won't help me shoulder it, no one will. I'll give you subsidiary shares, I'll give you resources—whatever you want, I'll give it to you.

All I want is for you to revive these brands and build the subsidiaries up.

And Liu Xinhua delivered on his word.

As those brands took off, the five old bosses all became billionaires. Compared to their peers, their lives were absolutely fantastic.

So much so that countless people envied them.

Shen Mo said with feeling, "Five uncles, you're awesome."

The five Boss Yangs opened their eyes and stared at Shen Mo in shock.

You're not praising your father-in-law, but us?

Once the steam session was about done, everyone went out, washed up, and headed to the third floor for massages.

Boss Zhan waved a big hand and ordered six girls.

They were all quite pretty, in their twenties, and their hands clearly had no strength.

The five old men and Shen Mo each went into a private room.

Shen Mo had the girl keep him company chatting, asking whether Boss Zhan came here often.

After ten-odd minutes, someone came to tell Shen Mo that all five old bosses had gone to the lounge.

Shen Mo curled his lip. Sure enough, they're old and past it. When Shen Mo entered the lounge, the five old bosses were smoking and feeling their age.

They were also making faces at Shen Mo.

Shen Mo smiled. "I didn't do anything. I'll pay for my own bill later."

Boss Zhan curled his lip and teased, "No need. Unless something unexpected happened, your wife has already settled it."

Shen Mo was instantly horrified, but didn't say much more.

Boss Liu tossed Shen Mo a cigar and picked up where they'd left off.

"Honestly, we don't hold any grudge against the group."

"Just like you said at the start, it's the personnel system. It's been running for decades, and we've used it for decades. The problems popping up now are all minor ones."

"Besides, we're deeply rooted inside the group. These little problems can be sorted out easily."

Shen Mo nodded.

After finishing their cigarettes, Shen Mo chatted with the five old bosses about life some more.

The five old bosses told Shen Mo about how high-spirited they'd been when they went out to start their businesses back then.

They really had been unstoppable heroes.

President Yang said, "Do you know about the cooperation between the Group and the Zhou Family?"

Shen Mo nodded. He knew.

The hotels under the Zhou Group had been ordering furniture from the Liu side year-round.

The Liu Group even held shares in the Zhou Group.

Both sides were shareholders in each other.

President Yang said proudly, "I was the one who closed that deal back then."

As they chatted, a series of stories from those years unfolded before Shen Mo.

They chatted so enthusiastically that by the time they went out, it was already dark.

Shen Mo treated the five bosses to a meal at a small restaurant nearby.

From these five bosses, Shen Mo learned something new.

Truly successful people can eat top-tier private cuisine, and they can also eat a bowl of eight-yuan hot-and-sour noodles on the street.

Likewise, they can drink a thirty-thousand-yuan bottle of fine liquor, and they can also drink a six-yuan bottle of Beibingyang on the street, and even sigh that the taste has changed.

A real man knows when to bow and when to rise.

When Shen Mo got home, Liu Yue was sitting on the sofa reading emails.

On the dining table sat warm porridge and a little pickled vegetable.

【A feeling of home.】

Shen Mo sighed.

After sitting down at the table, Shen Mo gave a detailed account of the day's meetings. Liu Yue nodded and said with a smile, "I get it. They're not dissatisfied with the personnel system. What they want to say is, we've earned merit for the Group, we've shed blood for Old President Liu. Now the subsidiary's performance is poor — partly because we can't keep up with the times, partly because the head office's support has weakened. So, give us some time, and ideally give us some perks."

Shen Mo was stunned.

【How did you read all that into it?】

Liu Yue began to explain it to Shen Mo word by word, sentence by sentence.

When they first told Shen Mo they wanted to hire extra people and the Group wouldn't allow it, it meant the Group's support for them had shrunk, because they used to enjoy those perks.

When they went on to say the Group's hiring standards had raised their costs, it meant the broader environment wasn't great.

When they reminisced about the bathhouse center's past glory, it meant they were loyal to the Liu Group, had given a great deal to it, and now they were older, less capable — but the Liu Group couldn't just cast them aside.

When they finally mentioned the certain cooperation they'd secured for the Liu Group, it meant they still had the drive to advance, and hoped the Group would give them another boost.

And that final roadside stall meal at the very end meant that, just like decades ago, they were still heroes who could endure hardship.

【Holy crap, there was that much in it?】

"Honey, I'm really not cut out for work. I didn't pick up on any of that."

Shen Mo meant it from the bottom of his heart.

People's hearts — so many twists and turns.

Liu Yue gave a slight smile and said calmly, "Work you must, because you have real potential."

"If you can't understand it now, you can slowly learn to in time."

(End of Chapter)