Rui Yuchen casually picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a piece of pan-fried sole fish from Fitness Meal 2.0, putting it in her mouth.

Then, she tried small pieces of dragon fruit, egg, cherry tomato, corn kernels, purple sweet potato, shrimp, and kelp strips, among other things.

With each slight turn of the dish, she discovered new surprises.

Moreover, after putting them in her mouth, Rui Yuchen realized that these ingredients weren’t simply cut and left as they were, but had undergone special treatment.

For instance, the shrimp—if one wanted to eat them healthily, the best method would be to simply boil them in a small amount of salt water, or lightly stir-fry them with a small amount of oil. But the shrimp here had been marinated, carrying a special fresh fragrance.

Similarly, the eggs weren’t purely boiled eggs, but carried a hint of tea fragrance, though not as strong as the flavor of ordinary tea eggs.

Street vendors selling tea eggs often used tea leaves that had been boiled multiple times, while also adding a lot of soy sauce, so they weren’t healthy. But the food research laboratory had considered this point, only slightly flavoring the eggs without long hours of boiling and soaking.

Processing all ingredients before making them into a salad had indeed greatly improved the taste compared to Fitness Meal 1.0.

Soon, the plate in front of Rui Yuchen was empty.

The waiter cautiously asked, “Manager Rui, is the taste acceptable?”

Rui Yuchen nodded, “It’s acceptable.”

The waiter asked again, “Then… can it be promoted to all stores as Fitness Meal 2.0?”

To promote a dish meant that chefs at all stores had to master the method, and the dishes they produced couldn’t vary much.

On one hand, this required very precise control of the amount of various ingredients and cooking time; on the other hand, it also required the chefs to practice repeatedly.

Therefore, after promotion to all stores, it would still take some time before it could be officially launched to various gyms as Fitness Meal 2.0.

Rui Yuchen put down her chopsticks. “No.”

The waiter was stunned because he had seen Rui Yuchen finish the entire fitness meal in front of her, obviously feeling it was quite tasty.

Since it had already met the requirement of “tasty fitness meal,” why was it still not acceptable?

Rui Yuchen didn’t explain much, only saying, “This dish can be considered for addition to the permanent menu, but as for how to make Fitness Meal 2.0… I still need to think about it.”

Rui Yuchen turned and left, leaving the waiter bewildered as he cleared the plate.

…

After leaving Slackin’ Delivery Store No. 1, Rui Yuchen walked aimlessly on the street, passing one restaurant after another.

Smelling the aroma of food wafting from inside, although Rui Yuchen was already half full, she was still tempted.

“The fitness meal is indeed tasty, but… it still feels insufficient.”

“If eating it occasionally, it’s not bad, but eating it for a long time, it seems still unacceptable. Even if it’s tastier, it’s still not right.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s not because it doesn’t taste good, but because salad… seems to still not conform to Chinese people’s eating habits, and it doesn’t seem essential.”

“What are Chinese people’s eating habits?”

“First, it must be hot, it must have temperature—salad is cold, making people feel it’s not a proper meal; second, it must be fully flavored—bland tastes trigger instinctive resistance and rejection; finally, there must be plenty of meat.”

“And ordinary healthy meal salads don’t satisfy any of these criteria.”

“So, most people who clamor about losing weight and being healthy, hoping to lose weight by eating healthy meals every day, in reality, 99% of people will give up. Even with tasty, healthy meals, they still can’t persist.”

“Because this completely contradicts our dietary instincts.”

“Hmm… this is a serious problem, very serious! It might even affect Mr. Pei’s overall plan!”

Rui Yuchen suddenly became vigilant.

When she first received this task, she had already guessed that Mr. Pei’s vigorous promotion of Slackin’ Delivery was definitely to guide consumers, letting everyone begin a healthy lifestyle starting from diet, while Tenda could also take this opportunity to plan and lay a solid foundation for the development of various industries.

It was precisely because of understanding this point that Rui Yuchen boldly opened stores, crazily and frantically asking Mr. Pei for money.

Because she knew Mr. Pei would support this approach.

Mr. Pei had Slackin’ Delivery supply fitness meals, bundled with managed gyms, obviously to achieve better fitness results.

Originally, Rui Yuchen thought the problem with fitness meals was easy to solve—just have the food research laboratory improve their taste, right?

But today she suddenly realized that merely improving the taste was not enough!

If today she hadn’t realized that “Chinese people’s eating habits don’t accept salads,” and had directly promoted Fitness Meal 2.0 to gyms, it might have caused very serious consequences.

Fitness meals not only do not help gyms, but they would have a discouraging effect on gym customers!

Although these fitness meals were healthy, they inherently violated most people’s eating habits, so only a few people with very strong willpower could persist.

If they weren’t bundled together, it would be fine—if people got tired of them, they could simply eat something else without affecting their exercise.

But managed gyms and fitness meals were directly bundled—if customers got tired of fitness meals, they had no other choice, which would discourage many customers.

As far as Rui Yuchen knew, indeed, some managed gym customers had already “been refunded,” though she didn’t know how much of that was due to the fitness meals.

In other words, if Rui Yuchen hadn’t realized this point and had allowed the fitness meal policy to continue, managed gyms might never turn losses into profits, and Mr. Pei’s overall plan might be seriously delayed!

Of course, this couldn’t be blamed on Mr. Pei.

Mr. Pei was busy with work—how could he possibly specify what fitness meals should look like?

Rui Yuchen felt that solving this problem was her responsibility.

“That was close, so close! I almost made a major mistake at work due to oversight!”

“If the managed gyms failed because of the fitness meal problem, wouldn’t I become a sinner? That would completely fail Mr. Pei’s expectations!”

Rui Yuchen hurriedly walked quickly back to her office, prepared to spend two days organizing a plan properly, and quickly correct this error with healthy meals!

…

…

May 7th, Saturday.

The gentle sound of ocean waves echoed in Pei Qian’s ears, waking him up.

This was part of the smart home design by Liang Qingfan, which was gentler compared to traditional alarm sounds and wouldn’t feel harsh.

Pei Qian originally wanted to continue sleeping, but suddenly remembered that today seemed to be the day for the regular meeting with his loss managers.

He could only fumble to tap the transparent control panel beside the bed.

The floor-to-ceiling window became transparent, allowing soft light to shine in, filling the entire room.

Pei Qian turned over and sat up, yawned, then looked at the bedside mirror that could be used as a control panel, and found he had slight dark circles under his eyes.

Having moved in two days ago, Pei Qian was very satisfied with his new residence and didn’t feel any discomfort at all.

The dark circles weren’t because he wasn’t comfortable or hadn’t rested well, but because he had played games yesterday and slept too late.

Nothing could be done—the big TV was too enticing.

…

Shenhua Luxury View, 16th floor meeting room.

Pei Qian’s gaze swept across Tang Yishu and the other seventeen loss managers, and he suddenly felt an inexplicable pleasure, as if secretly doing something bad without being discovered.

Just like the thrill of secretly skipping class to go to an internet café in high school.

“Is this how my employees feel when they’re secretly working overtime?” Pei Qian couldn’t help but make this association in his mind.

Hmm, very likely.

Otherwise, why would they be so obsessed with working overtime?

Meanwhile, the loss managers looked at Mr. Pei’s dark circles, thinking that Mr. Pei must have been working very hard recently.

Pei Qian glanced at Tang Yishu, and she immediately understood, saying, “Begin the reports.”

The seventeen loss managers had been placed in various departments of the Tenda Group and began reporting in order of their seating.

Of course, where they sat was completely random—they all had to report anyway, so it didn’t matter who went first or last.

Pei Qian silently listened, ready to interrupt and ask questions at any time.

Before the fifth department, which was the managed gym, began to report, Pei Qian raised his hand and interrupted.

“The four of you from these departments have all established large-scale spending plans? Including raising salaries, optimizing benefit structures, improving office environments, and business expansion and upgrades?”

Pei Qian looked at the four loss managers who had already reported.

The four loss managers each nodded.

Several other loss managers also spoke up.

“Senior, our department too.”

“Dream Realization Venture Capital as well.”

“Terminus Chinese Website also has similar plans.”

Pei Qian was startled, feeling a bit surprised.

When the first loss manager reported, he didn’t think much of it—occasionally spending a little money was no big deal.

But so many departments were making spending plans together?

That was very strange.

Pei Qian scanned the room and found that the only one without a similar plan was Inverse Wind Logistics, managed by Lü Mingliang.

What was the reason? Had they coordinated?

Inverse Wind Logistics…

As Pei Qian pondered, his eyes suddenly lit up.

That’s right, the Tenda Cornerstone Award!

Previously, Inverse Wind Logistics had won the Tenda Cornerstone Award, making all departments quite envious!

Other departments were jealous!

Could it be that they had finally seen the meaning of those sixteen characters on the trophy I awarded to Inverse Wind Logistics? Had they finally realized that I was encouraging them to spend money?

Otherwise, why would they all make spending plans without coordination?

Moreover, these spending plans included completing salary structures—that is, raising wages—and optimizing work environments, which showed they had finally figured it out!

They must feel unbalanced, they must be acting out of spite!

Great!

These departments were competing to spend money, competing to make losses—this was wonderful news!

Worth encouraging!

Pei Qian was very happy to note this down, planning to introduce a new policy when he went to work on Monday, to help them and make them burn money faster, reducing his burden.

After finishing his notes, Pei Qian didn’t reveal too much emotion, just signaled for the loss manager from the managed gym to continue.

Pei Qian had met him before and knew he was a planner at the managed gym’s flagship store, with access to all the gym’s data.

“Senior, the managed gym’s current operation is still in a state of continuous loss, and this week, another four students were refunded.”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel delighted.

Good news!

I knew the managed gym wouldn’t disappoint me!

Keep it up, try to discourage all students!

The loss manager continued, “Additionally, Coach Yaling brought in sixteen more students last week.”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, with a question mark floating above his head.

?

Sixteen?

Again?

How many people has she brought in total?

This person has a big problem!

Pei Qian became instantly vigilant, but at the same time, secretly relieved.

In the past, he would have been kept in the dark, silently waiting for the backstab to ferment.

But now it was different—Mr. Pei had his Imperial Guards!

All of your movements can’t escape my eyes!

Pei Qian’s gaze became sharp.

Such a cancer must be dealt with!