Everyone's been reborn, so who would bother finding a wife on their own?

Chapter 294 The Art of Deception

That evening, Song Huan booked a restaurant by the Qinhuai River.

Outside the window, you can see the Qinhuai River, its waters illuminated by lights in the night. Tour boats pass under the bridges, their red lanterns casting streaks of light across the water.

Several dishes were laid out on the table: braised crab meat lion's head meatballs, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, Nanjing salted duck, stir-fried dried tofu with watercress, and a pot of warmed Shaoxing wine.

Wu Tian sat by the window with a glass of yellow wine in front of him, barely touching it.

He held his chopsticks cautiously, only picking up the watercress from the plate in front of him.

Chen Fei sat next to him, pouring him drinks non-stop. "Brother Wu, try this lion's head meatball. It's their signature dish."

Song Huan sat opposite him, holding Wu Tian's resume in her hand.

Chen Fei sent it to him earlier, and he has already read it several times.

Wu Tian, ​​32 years old, graduated from the Computer Science Department of Nanjiang University of Science and Technology and worked as a backend developer for five years at a small company called "Hongyuan Technology".

Monthly salary of four thousand.

His resume lists the projects he has worked on: two enterprise internal management systems, the backend of an e-commerce website, and the database architecture for an online education platform.

Song Huan placed the resume on the table.

Four thousand yuan.

With this level of talent, earning a salary of four thousand yuan at a small company like Hongyuan Technology is truly a waste of his abilities.

He must take down this person.

Wu Tian sat there, twirling his finger around the rim of his wine glass.

He looked at the young man in his early twenties in front of him, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Mr. Song, Chen Fei told me that you want to create a food delivery platform?"

Song Huan leaned back in her chair and asked, "Brother Wu, what do you usually eat for lunch at the company?"

Wu Tian paused for a moment, "The cafeteria, or I can go downstairs and buy a boxed lunch."

"What if I get tired of the food in the cafeteria, and also tired of the restaurants downstairs?"

Wu Tian thought for a moment, "Let's go a little further away, to another store."

"How far?"

"About ten minutes."

Song Huan nodded. "What if there was an app that, once opened, showed all the restaurants in the area? You could just order whatever you wanted, and it would be delivered to your table in half an hour. No need to walk, no need to wait, no need to make a phone call."

Wu Tian pushed up his glasses. "Isn't this just ordering food by phone?"

"no the same."

Song Huan held up one finger. "When you order food by phone, you need to have the merchant's number first. And you can only order from restaurants you're familiar with. But food delivery platforms are different. You put all the merchants online. When users open the app, they don't see just one restaurant, but hundreds of restaurants around them. Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, fast food, snacks, milk tea, barbecue—it's all there. Users aren't ordering takeout; they're browsing an online food court."

Wu Tian was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why would a merchant be willing to put their menu on your platform?"

"Because they need orders."

Song Huan's tone was flat. "A small restaurant's table turnover rate at lunchtime is just that high. If it's full, it's full. But takeout is different. Takeout is an increase. If you do thirty dine-in orders and another twenty takeout orders, that's fifty orders in total. The kitchen is still the same kitchen, and the staff is still the same staff. The extra twenty orders are the extra money you earn."

Wu Tian's brow twitched slightly.

Song Huan continued, "Moreover, the platform can handle delivery for merchants. Brother Wu, do you know how troublesome it is for merchants to deliver food themselves? Hiring a delivery person costs several thousand yuan a month. The delivery range is limited, and they can't deliver to far places. When it's busy, they can't deliver, and when it's slow, they're idle. But if we handle the delivery, merchants can just focus on cooking, and we'll take care of the delivery. Efficiency doubles, and costs are actually lower."

Wu Tian's chopsticks were suspended in mid-air; he forgot to put them down.

He looked at the young man in front of him, opened his mouth, and said, "Then this platform you mentioned..."

"Website, plus a client application."

Song Huan leaned back in her chair. "Users can browse merchants, order food, place orders, pay, and check delivery progress. Merchants can see orders, manage menus, and process refunds. Delivery personnel can accept orders, navigate, and settle payments. The three platforms are integrated, and information is synchronized in real time."

Wu Tian's eyes lit up.

He lowered his head, picked up his wine glass, and took a sip.

He put down his cup. "Mr. Song, what you're talking about is too large a scale. I can't do it all by myself..."

"You're not alone."

Song Huan interrupted him, "You go first and set up the backend architecture. We'll hire frontend developers, product managers, and operations staff one by one later. Salaries aren't an issue."

Chen Fei, adding fuel to the fire, raised his glass and clinked it against Wu Tian's. "Brother Wu, let me tell you, working for the boss is absolutely the right choice. Look at me, two years ago I was fixing computers in an internet cafe, now I have two shops and dozens of people working for me. The boss is a man of his word."

Wu Tian held the wine glass and tapped his fingers twice on the rim of the glass.

He looked out the window at the Qinhuai River, where the lanterns on the boats were bright red, their reflections shattering into pieces on the water.

Just as he was about to speak...

My phone suddenly rang.

He glanced down at the screen, and his expression changed.

When the call connected, the voice on the other end was very loud; Song Huan could hear a middle-aged man's voice, filled with anger, even across the table.

"Wu Tian, ​​when are you coming back? You've taken a few days off, and the company has a ton of work waiting for you. If you're not back today, don't bother coming to work tomorrow."

Wu Tian held his phone, opened his mouth slightly, and said, "Mr. Wang, I..."

Song Huan reached out, took the phone from his hand, and put it to her ear.

"Hey, Mr. Wang, right? Wu Tian is quitting today. Your lousy company only makes 4,000 yuan a month and doesn't even have a decent project. You have the nerve to urge someone to come back? Hongyuan Technology, right? I'll remember that. If your company goes bankrupt someday, remember to come find me at Nanjiang University. Remember my name, Song Huan! I can introduce you to a security guard job."

After saying that, he hung up.

The private room fell silent.

Wu Tian sat there, mouth agape, his expression shifting from shock to bewilderment.

He looked at the phone in Song Huan's hand, then looked at Song Huan again.

"President Song... I'm really out of work now."

Song Huan put her phone on the table and pushed it back.

"Out with the old, in with the new. Once your job is gone, it's gone."

Wu Tian gave a wry smile.

He picked up his phone and looked at the call log on the screen.

Mr. Wang, the call lasted one minute and three seconds.

He looked at it for a while, then turned the phone over, screen down, and placed it face down on the table.

Then he looked up at Song Huan.

"Can I go see the company tomorrow?"

Song Huan leaned back in her chair.

He looked at Wu Tian's earnest face and remained silent for two seconds.

Then he confessed.

"The company hasn't been established yet."

Wu Tian was stunned.

"The office space wasn't rented out either."

Wu Tian opened his mouth.

"Business license, office space, team—now it's just me, Chen Fei, and you."

Song Huan's tone was calm, without the slightest hint of guilt, "But I can guarantee that from today until you officially start working, you will continue to receive your salary. Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to see the office building."

Wu Tian looked at him.

I watched for quite a while.

Then he took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with the corner of his clothes, and put them back on.

He picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of braised pork, and put it in his mouth.

I chewed it and swallowed it.

Then he picked up his wine glass and clinked it against Song Huan's glass.

"OK."