However, Cheng Su firmly refused for two reasons. Firstly, there were rarely any customers ordering such expensive dishes at lunchtime, especially ordinary folks who couldn’t afford it. Secondly, this dish was prepared for someone else, and after being carried around outside, how could they serve it again to customers?
If the customers found out that the dish was being aggressively sold because it was made and hadn’t been sold, they would think it’s not fresh and would also feel that Joy Soon Loy’s integrity was lacking. This would greatly damage Joy Soon Loy’s future development.
Cheng Su was never one to sacrifice the important for the trivial, so she would rather consume or dispose of it than repackage and sell the dish again.
Upon hearing this, everyone developed respect for Cheng Su. A boss as generous as her was indeed rare, and what’s more, the dish was very expensive, and no one had even touched it—it was indeed freshly made.
Old Song’s respect for Cheng Su deepened. He had worked at Foresee for many years and was well aware of some of the insider practices, such as how sometimes when there was meat that wasn’t fresh, he intended to throw it away, but the boss would have him find a way to cook it with strong flavors to mask any staleness.
And such returned dishes at Foresee were likely to be resold by the department managers almost every time.
Never did Old Song expect that Cheng Su would be so magnanimous about the situation and felt no pain over it. This made Old Song feel both guilty and ashamed; guilty for being careless and ashamed because he felt inferior to a young lady in her twenties, given that he had also considered reselling it.
In light of Cheng Su’s wishes, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was eventually consumed. After the meal, everyone joyfully cleaned up, except for Old Song, who quietly returned to the kitchen.
Watching him, Cheng Su followed him into the kitchen.
Old Song was engrossed in chopping potato strips.
"Old Song, are you still feeling uncomfortable?" Cheng Su asked, playing with a red pepper in her hand.
Old Song glanced at her and gave a wry smile, "How could I not be? Such an expensive dish, only you would not be bothered by it."
"What’s done is done, we can’t keep dwelling on it, allowing it to affect our mood, or else we’ll be controlled by it. Besides, it’s just a dish, isn’t it? We also got a ten yuan deposit, so think of it as that person being dumb and treating us to a good meal."
"That Buddha Jumps Over the Wall costs more than twenty yuan to make!" Old Song looked over and pursed his lips.
"Old Song, there’s a saying that you can be a thief for a thousand days but not prevent one for a thousand days. It was clear they targeted us, and we don’t have the power of a ’Prophet’, so it was unavoidable," Cheng Su said with a smile and a shake of her head, then paused and added, "But this has taught us a lesson. From now on, when we take a deposit, we should at least cover the cost. What do you think?"
Old Song had been scared by the event; after all, the restaurant wasn’t his. Hearing what Cheng Su said, he nodded, "What if the cost is not enough? Maybe we should take seventy percent?"
"The cost will be enough. If it’s a really big order, then we’ll only take sixty percent. We can’t be losing your labor costs!" Cheng Su laughed.
Old Song laughed too, "For a boss who isn’t afraid of employees eating a Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, what’s a little labor cost to us?"
Cheng Su smiled faintly, tossing the red pepper in her hand, "From this incident, it’s clear Joy Soon Loy has indeed attracted attention. On the flip side, it’s because we’ve been doing well. But in the future, we’ll need to be more vigilant."
Old Song repressed his smile and nodded solemnly.