Chapter 544

Guan Shengjie was stunned, then reacted: "My mistake, my mistake. Should we switch brands?"

Du Youwei asked, not understanding: "Is there some significance to this?"

Guan Shengjie said with a smile: "This is a Korean brand."

Du Youwei suddenly understood and waved at the waiter: "Please change our beer to another brand."

The waiter walked over: "What brand would you like to switch to?"

Guan Shengjie said: "Anything is fine, as long as it's not a Korean brand."

"Very well!" The waiter took the beer away and soon returned with a six-pack of Stella Artois.

"This should be fine now, right?" Guan Shengjie put the beer in front of Zhou Andong, "When did you become so pretentious?"

"Is this a matter of being pretentious?" Zhou Andong picked up the beer and took a sip, "Every time I think of those Koreans now, I feel fucking disgusted. Making me drink their beer is no different than setting two bottles of Dichlorvos in front of me to drink."

Guan Shengjie's mouth twitched: "Tell me what happened, in detail."

Zhou Andong took another sip of beer and recounted the incident in detail.

Guan Shengjie and Du Youwei were so angry their faces turned livid. They knew about the incident, but it wasn't as detailed as the account from someone who was actually there.

"Damn Koreans!" Guan Shengjie couldn't help but curse, "And they have the nerve to file a complaint first."

Zhou Andong fanned the flames: "Tonight, you two need to rush out the draft. It must be in the paper tomorrow; we absolutely cannot let them control the narrative."

"Control the narrative?" Du Youwei looked at Zhou Andong in confusion, then immediately understood, "You mean guiding public opinion?"

Zhou Andong nodded. Du Youwei smiled and said: "Control the narrative—that's a very unique description, but it's certainly vivid."

Guan Shengjie said with schadenfreude: "The incident happened yesterday at noon. By evening, neither Beijing Normal University nor the relevant departments had made any moves; they clearly want to handle it quietly. Even if we write the draft, it won't get published. I expect someone will come looking for you to pressure you into apologizing."

Zhou Andong curled his lip: "Do you take me for a child? If the Korean side only protested, this matter would definitely be handled quietly. But they held a press conference. It's impossible that only domestic reporters were there; there must have been foreign media too."

"If we do nothing while they control the narrative, doesn't that amount to admitting that what they said is the truth? Especially now, during this critical period of reform and opening up, we are opening our doors to look at the world, and the world is looking at us."

"Even if we value our relationship with the Korean side, we cannot remain indifferent while they smear us. We must clarify the facts and show them to the world."

Guan Shengjie opened his mouth, but finally sighed: "You kid, it's a pity you didn't go into politics."

"It's boring!" Zhou Andong said: "Being an official has too many restrictions. It's not as good as doing business—making tons of money, doing whatever I want, and no one can control me."

Guan Shengjie said with disdain: "You're full of the stench of money."

"Heh!" Zhou Andong laughed: "Are you envious? If you are, you can quit your job and let me take you for a ride, to see scenery you've never seen before."

Guan Shengjie sneered: "Forget it, I'm afraid of falling off."

Du Youwei smiled and raised her beer bottle: "Come, come, let's clink glasses."

Zhou Andong said: "Bottoms up?"

Guan Shengjie rolled his eyes: "You're the one soaked in a vat of alcohol. If you want to drink it all, go ahead; we'll drink at our own pace."

"That's no fun." Zhou Andong put the beer down, "How am I supposed to drink like this?"

"If you don't want to drink, then don't." Guan Shengjie wasn't falling for his tricks.

"Hey, Brother Dong, Ningning!" a voice came from the entrance.

Zhou Andong turned his head and saw Tang Lin and Zhang Zuo walking in with a group of people.

When Lao Si saw Tang Lin, she wiggled her little bottom as she climbed off the chair and ran over with a cheer.

"Brother Tang Lin!"

Tang Lin laughed out loud as he squatted down and hugged Lao Si: "Damn, how did you get heavy again?"

"Nonsense!" Lao Si said indignantly: "It's your strength that's gotten weaker."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Seeing Lao Si was angry, Tang Lin quickly surrendered, "It's Brother Tang Lin's strength that's gotten weaker."

Zhou Andong shook his head slightly. Every time Tang Lin went to the hospital, he would bring Lao Si something delicious, completely bribing the girl.

"Come over here, let me introduce you to a friend."

Tang Lin gave instructions to the group behind him, then called a waiter to take them to the back.

Once arranged, Tang Lin walked over holding Lao Si and placed her on the chair.

"Who doesn't know the great reporter Guan? It's just that he doesn't know me."

Zhou Andong introduced both sides: "How did you end up coming here to hang out?"

Tang Lin said: "This bar is our own."

Zhou Andong was stunned: "You set this up?"

"That's right!" Tang Lin said: "We bought so many courtyards here, and we can't rent them out. Leaving them empty isn't a solution, so I set up this bar."

Zhou Andong said: "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tang Lin made a bitter face and said: "Business isn't good, so I was embarrassed to tell you."

Zhou Andong looked around: "It just opened, and having this many people isn't bad."

Zhang Zuo laughed heartlessly: "It's all fucking people we know supporting us."

Zhou Andong remembered the line of small cars parked outside and finally understood what was going on.

"It's fine. This place has a good environment; take it slow, business will get better."

Tang Lin sat down: "Do you have any ideas?"

"What kind of ideas could there be?" Zhou Andong pondered for a moment, "However, you could try a different approach."

"What approach?" Tang Lin perked up; he knew Zhou Andong would definitely have an idea.

Zhou Andong said: "Have a word with the district, set up a pier at the entrance, and build a two-story painted pleasure boat. In the summer, guests can sit on the boat, drinking, listening to music, and enjoying the scenery of Houhai."

"Snap!" Tang Lin slapped his thigh excitedly, "That will definitely work."

Zhou Andong said with a smile: "That will definitely make our 'First Bar' famous, but if you want to keep customers, you still have to put effort into service and style—it needs to have its own characteristics."

Du Youwei said: "Hearing you say that, I'm also looking forward to drinking and listening to music on a pleasure boat."

Tang Lin said with a smile: "The day the boat is launched, I'll be the first to invite Sister Du and Brother Guan to drink."

Zhou Andong asked: "How far along is the supermarket?"

Tang Lin said: "The windows facing the street are all done, and the concrete for the second-floor slab and stairs was only poured a few days ago. I estimate it will be another ten days or half a month before we can start the interior renovation."

Zhou Andong nodded: "What about the wall advertisements?"

Tang Lin said: "Sister Jing arranged for three students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to paint them. Because the area is so large, if they want to finish by the end of April, they'll probably have to work overtime at night when the weather gets warmer. But I gave them a thousand yuan each, so they're quite motivated."