As soon as she said this, the person on the other end of the phone was predictably stunned.
Xu Yanxia continued, "When I was very young, he sacrificed his life during disaster relief. My brother and I were raised by our grandparents. They are now in their eighties. If something had happened to me this time, can you imagine what my family would have to face?"
"Furthermore, the reason this didn't result in serious consequences wasn't because Lin Hengnan suddenly found his conscience and stopped his harmful behavior in time, but because of my boyfriend's strong protection."
"Professor Zhou, I respect you very much."
Xu Yanxia said calmly, "But I believe that every adult should bear the appropriate responsibility and pay the price for their own choices."
"Everyone should respect and revere the law."
After she finished speaking, there was a brief silence on the other end of the receiver.
"I'm sorry, Student Xu."
Professor Zhou finally spoke again. "I really shouldn't have made this call today. I understand now. Please let me apologize once again to you and your family as his mentor."
Xu Yanxia smiled slightly. "You don't need to do this. This matter is not your responsibility."
With that, she politely said her goodbyes and hung up the phone.
Right at that moment, the boarding announcement echoed from the gate.
Lu Jingming reached out his hand to her and said gently, "Let's go."
"Mhm."
She smiled, took his hand, and together they boarded the plane.
...
By the time they arrived in Rong City, it was almost noon.
Uncle Li hadn't started his shift yet, so it was Uncle Zhao who came to the airport to pick them up.
After returning to the Lu family's mansion and dropping off her luggage, Xu Yanxia changed her clothes and immediately headed to Jiu Shan.
Naturally, the currently unoccupied CEO Lu, who hadn't resumed work yet, tagged along as her family support group to inspect the work.
It was almost one o'clock by the time they arrived at the restaurant. The lunch rush hadn't passed yet, and the main dining hall and private rooms were still packed with people.
Xu Yanxia immediately switched into work mode. She checked the kitchen's food dispatch situation for a while, then went to the dining hall to observe the guests' dining experience.
Next, she reviewed the work logs of various departments from the past few days.
Two hours later, when the lunch service ended, she convened a wrap-up meeting with her colleagues as usual.
On the conference room table lay the specialty pastries she had brought from her hometown, along with numerous cups of milk tea from a famous brand, and a dazzling array of snacks.
Xu Yanxia smiled and greeted everyone first, "You've all worked hard these past few days while I was away. Here are some small pastries I brought from my hometown, as well as milk tea and snacks that Mr. Lu specially ordered for everyone. Please, don't be shy, enjoy."
"Wow! Thank you, Director Xu."
"Thank you, Mr. Lu!"
The atmosphere in the conference room instantly livened up.
While everyone was drinking milk tea and eating snacks, Xu Yanxia smiled and continued, "Today can be considered a small tea party. I mainly want to report our achievements from the trial operation until now. During the past holiday period, we achieved a 100 percent occupancy rate for both lunch and dinner services, and our table turnover rate reached 2.5. It's safe to say that, thanks to the hard work of all our colleagues, we fought a beautiful turnaround battle this time and reclaimed our top-tier position among high-end Chinese restaurants in Rong City."
"I believe that even after the holidays, when foot traffic levels out, as long as we maintain our standards of service and food quality, we can still secure our frontline spot. Of course, correspondingly, every one of our employees will receive their well-deserved performance bonuses."
This was a given. In the service industry, everyone's compensation was always tied to foot traffic. If the restaurant's revenue was good, everyone's salaries would definitely increase.
Therefore, good business was something everyone was happy to see.
As soon as Xu Yanxia finished speaking, General Manager Cui immediately followed up, "In the end, Director Xu deserves the most credit for all of this! If it weren't for your hard work and dedication in guiding everyone and helping the restaurant reform, we definitely wouldn't have this excellent situation today."
"Let's give Director Xu a round of applause!"
As his words fell, a round of applause immediately echoed in the conference room.
Especially with the big boss, Lu Jingming, standing right there, the applause was exceptionally enthusiastic.
A few female supervisors from the front-of-house service department who had a good relationship with Xu Yanxia even smiled and praised, "Director Xu seems even prettier since she came back!"
"This is what they call being nourished by success! So many guests came specifically because of your reputation!!!"
"Director Xu is our lucky star!!!"
They praised Xu Yanxia so much that she actually felt embarrassed.
When the applause subsided, Lu Jingming spoke up, "Manager Cui is absolutely right. Our ability to reclaim the top spot this time is inseparable from Director Xu's hard work. In light of Director Xu's outstanding performance, the group has also made some new adjustments."
"Effective immediately, Director Xu is appointed as the Regional Food and Beverage Director for the entire group. We hope she will continue to contribute to the future expansion of our group's operations."
"Wow!!!"
As his words fell, another round of applause erupted in the conference room. Everyone congratulated Xu Yanxia, "Congratulations on your promotion, Director Xu!!!"
"Congratulations, Director Xu!!!"
You have to understand, going from a Quality Director of a single store to the Regional Director of the entire group was indeed an incredible promotion.
After all, from now on, all the group's stores would be under her management, and all store general managers would have to report to her.
This was truly an impressive leap!
Xu Yanxia also smiled and thanked everyone, "Thank you all for your support, and thank you, Mr. Lu, for your trust. I hope that through hard work and collaboration with all my colleagues in the future, we can continue to carry forward our brand and bring even greater value to the group."
"Great!!!"
With that, the conference room once again erupted into enthusiastic applause.
...
After the brief meeting concluded, everyone took their milk tea and snacks and went to take a break.
Xu Yanxia also led the big boss, Lu Jingming, back to her office.
Who knew that the moment the door was closed, she would fall straight into Lu Jingming's embrace.
She heard him sigh above her head, "It's not easy. Half the day has passed, and I finally get to hold our Director Xu."
"What are you saying,"
Xu Yanxia blushed and said, amused, "You make it sound like I was subjected to your casting couch rules."
"I wish,"
Lu Jingming sighed helplessly. "But the moment you came back, you only had eyes for work. I couldn't even find an opportunity."
"Oh, come on!"
Xu Yanxia laughed helplessly. "Can you be a bit more serious?"
"Alright."
Lu Jingming put on a more serious expression and told her, "Now that they have stabilized, you don't need to keep an eye on them every single moment. You can relax a bit."
"That's true,"
Xu Yanxia nodded, then added, "I've actually been thinking about looking for an apartment recently."
"What apartment?" Lu Jingming didn't quite understand.
But he saw her smile and say, "I'm no longer working as a private family chef, so I definitely can't keep living at your house. Besides, my brother and sister-in-law have already gotten their marriage certificate and set their wedding date. It's better to let them live together."
"So I've decided to rent an apartment for myself."
