March 16th, Friday.

Pei Qian arrived at his office and finalized the candidate for the Street Food Market: Zhang Yahui!

According to the information provided by the HR department, Zhang Yahui was originally just a locally famous grilled cold noodle vendor who was recruited by Qi Yan to work on Cold Face Girl’s Food Laboratory after showing excellent performance in a grilled cold noodle competition. He was currently in Chang’an, having just finished filming the first episode of the documentary “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” with the Fei Huang Studio team.

Although this person was initially just an ordinary grilled cold noodle vendor with no high education or outstanding achievements, Pei Qian felt a sense of crisis about him.

From the Food Laboratory to the “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” documentary, the fact that Qi Yan had entrusted this young man with important responsibilities meant that his abilities must be quite exceptional.

That being the case, poaching him directly was obviously the best choice!

Having Zhang Yahui in charge of the Street Food Market would, on one hand, weaken Cold Face Girl by creating obstacles for the Food Laboratory, documentary filming, and Cold Face Girl’s future expansion, and on the other hand, facilitate better poaching from Cold Face Girl in the future.

Because according to Pei Qian’s initial idea, he wasn’t planning to poach just one person. In the future, the Street Food Market would continuously poach people from Cold Face Girl’s Food Laboratory, constantly suppressing Cold Face Girl’s development. Therefore, the person in charge of the Street Food Market must have some prestige and personal charisma to be able to attract talent.

Otherwise, if other vendors heard the name of the person in charge of the Street Food Market and decided not to come, continuing to stay at Cold Face Girl to work on the Food Laboratory, wouldn’t that be extremely awkward?

Therefore, directly poaching Zhang Yahui would have the effect of “removing the firewood from under the cauldron.”

Pei Qian didn’t have Zhang Yahui’s phone number, but he had Huang Sibo’s. Since Zhang Yahui and Huang Sibo were working together on the “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” documentary, finding Huang Sibo would naturally lead to finding Zhang Yahui.

……

Meanwhile, in Chang’an.

Huang Sibo and the production team of “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” were packing their luggage, preparing to depart.

The first episode of “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” had already been completed, and the response was quite good. They had stayed in Chang’an for an extra day to enjoy the local cuisine, and today they were planning to leave for their next destination.

According to the previous plan, this was a long-term documentary series. The production team would fly all over the country, searching for local delicacies, uncovering vendors’ exclusive recipes, and promoting Cold Face Girl at the same time.

Of course, as the person in charge of Fei Huang Studio, Huang Sibo had other matters to attend to, so he would only be involved in the first episode of the documentary. After that, everything would be handed over to the director of “Various Aspects of Street Vendors.”

Huang Sibo was packing his luggage in his room when suddenly his phone rang.

“Hmm? It’s from Mr. Pei?”

Huang Sibo was startled and quickly answered: “Hello? Mr. Pei, do you have any instructions?”

Pei’s voice came from the other end: “Is Zhang Yahui with you? Put him on the phone.”

Huang Sibo was momentarily confused: “Huh? Uh, alright, please hold on, Mr. Pei.”

Although he didn’t understand why Mr. Pei had skipped several levels of hierarchy to directly contact Zhang Yahui, Huang Sibo didn’t ask questions. He went straight to Zhang Yahui’s room, knocked on the door, and handed over the phone.

Zhang Yahui was shocked: “Mr. Pei is looking for me?”

Since joining Cold Face Girl, “Mr. Pei” had only existed in legends. Now, suddenly receiving a call from Mr. Pei, specifically asking for him by name, Zhang Yahui was naturally flattered and surprised.

Taking the phone from Huang Sibo, Zhang Yahui said: “Mr. Pei? You’re looking for me?”

From the phone came Mr. Pei’s very friendly voice: “You’re Zhang Yahui, right? Hello, hello. I’m calling you for no other reason than to invite you to be the person in charge of a new project of mine called ‘Street Food Market.’ Would you be willing?”

Pei Qian briefly introduced this so-called “Street Food Market.”

In simple terms, it involved buying a piece of land in Jingzhou specifically to provide stores or stalls for vendors with exclusive recipes, allowing them to steadily practice their traditional trades.

There would be no rent, the venue would be completely free to use, and there would be a dedicated department responsible for the unified procurement of food ingredients and raw materials. If they made a profit, they would only need to pay 20% to the Street Food Market as a share, and they would also receive a basic salary and various benefits that all Tenda employees had, including social insurance and housing fund.

And Zhang Yahui would be the person in charge of this Street Food Market, responsible for the daily management of the place. Of course, if Zhang Yahui himself wanted to set up a stall, that wouldn’t be a problem either.

Naturally, besides these tasks, Pei Qian also hinted at having Zhang Yahui poach some more capable vendors from Cold Face Girl’s Food Laboratory—the more, the better.

Zhang Yahui was a bit dizzy listening to all this: “But Mr. Pei, wouldn’t this clash with the work of Cold Face Girl’s Food Laboratory?”

Qi Yan had made Zhang Yahui the person in charge of the Food Laboratory, also tasked with discovering famous vendors from all over the country, recruiting them or buying their recipes. Now Mr. Pei wanted to send them to the Street Food Market instead—which side should he listen to?

Pei Qian coughed lightly: “Well, the Street Food Market and Cold Face Girl’s Food Laboratory have different development directions. With your talent, being in charge of the Food Laboratory is a bit of a waste of your abilities. Being responsible for my project would allow you to achieve better development.”

“As for Cold Face Girl, you don’t need to worry. It’s all internal transfers within Tenda, and Qi Yan will understand. The key is your personal intention.”

Zhang Yahui thought to himself, is that even a question? The treatment levels aren’t even comparable!

The Food Laboratory was just a department under Cold Face Girl, which meant that previously, Zhang Yahui’s immediate superior was Qi Yan, then above her was He Desheng of Circle Dream Investment, and then above him was Mr. Pei.

But the Street Food Market was a project personally arranged by Mr. Pei, allowing him to report directly to Mr. Pei, skipping two levels at once!

Whether in terms of treatment or actual resources at his disposal, they were clearly not on the same level.

Although this Street Food Market didn’t sound as impressive as “Food Laboratory,” one couldn’t just look at the name; the specific responsibilities also mattered.

Strictly speaking, the work of the Food Laboratory was relatively monotonous, mainly involving finding famous vendors from various places, then improving their recipes, and turning them into mass-producible new products for Cold Face Girl’s stores.

The work of the Street Food Market would be relatively more complex, more like operating a large shopping mall or food street.

For Zhang Yahui, the reason he chose to leave his hometown and come to the capital was certainly because he wasn’t satisfied with being just a vendor and hoped to carve out his own career.

Moreover, Zhang Yahui himself also quite enjoyed setting up stalls. Working at the Food Laboratory meant giving up this hobby, while at the Street Food Market, he could set up a stall if he felt like it—this was also one of his considerations.

In any case, he didn’t seem to have any reason to refuse.

After careful consideration, Zhang Yahui said: “Alright, Mr. Pei. If you think I can handle this job, then I’ll give it a try. I hope I won’t disappoint you!”

Pei Qian was very pleased: “Great! Let’s do this—you take a good rest over the weekend, and then come to Jingzhou directly on Monday. I’ll explain the specific work matters to you.”

After hanging up, Zhang Yahui still felt a bit bewildered.

The events of the past few months had been too surreal!

He was originally just a locally somewhat famous vendor in his hometown, making a living selling grilled cold noodles. But in just a few short months, he was about to transform into the person in charge of a large food market, able to report directly to Mr. Pei of Tenda Group…

Zhang Yahui looked at Huang Sibo: “Brother Huang, Mr. Pei said he wants me to go to Jingzhou to be in charge of a new project called the Street Food Market…”

Huang Sibo didn’t seem particularly surprised, evidently having anticipated this possibility when Mr. Pei called specifically asking for Zhang Yahui.

He smiled and patted Zhang Yahui on the shoulder: “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei has the keenest eye for talent. If Mr. Pei has sought you out, it means you have excellent qualities in this area!”

“Our studio is in Jingzhou, so if you encounter any difficulties, you can come to me anytime. When the Street Food Market officially opens, we’ll definitely come to support you!”

Zhang Yahui nodded: “Alright! I’ll call Ms. Qi from Cold Face Girl right away to explain this situation…”

……

At the same time, Qi Yan was at a Slackin’ Takeout store, eating the newly added menu items while chatting with Rui Yuchen.

It wasn’t yet lunchtime, so there weren’t many people in the store, and the delivery riders hadn’t started getting busy yet.

Qi Yan had been frequenting Slackin’ Takeout stores recently, mainly to learn from their advanced experience.

Since the first episode of “Various Aspects of Street Vendors” was aired, Cold Face Girl’s online reputation had indeed improved somewhat, but it hadn’t had much positive impact on Cold Face Girl stores’ revenue.

The Food Laboratory had been established and had significantly improved the taste of grilled cold noodles based on the recipes from Zhang Yahui and others, garnering some positive reviews.

But these changes alone were still very far from turning Cold Face Girl into a popular snack brand.

Qi Yan was chatting casually with Rui Yuchen when suddenly her phone rang.

Zhang Yahui briefly explained Mr. Pei’s personnel transfer arrangement and formally proposed to resign from his position as the person in charge of the Food Laboratory.

Moreover, Zhang Yahui also gave Qi Yan a heads-up, telling her that the Street Food Market might poach some vendors from the Food Laboratory and take them to Jingzhou.

Qi Yan was taken aback: “Ah… uh, alright.”

She didn’t have much to say, as this was Mr. Pei’s arrangement.

However, after hanging up, Qi Yan fell into deep confusion.

What was Mr. Pei’s intention? Competing with Cold Face Girl for people, really?

Not only had he poached Zhang Yahui to directly become a project manager, but he also wanted to take all the other vendors from the Food Laboratory?

This seemed unreasonable, didn’t it?

Could it be that in Mr. Pei’s mind, there was favoritism, and he felt that these people were being underutilized at Cold Face Girl, so he transferred them to do more meaningful work?

Or was it that Mr. Pei had other arrangements for Cold Face Girl?