Chapter 6: The Great Spicy Hot Pot Battle

  Mr. Liu left, taking with him his high hopes and good wishes for the stock market as he departed from Director Du's office. Director Du pulled out the unopened bucket of Coke from under the table again, looked at Xiaoduan with a playful gaze, opened the Coke, and asked: "Do you little guy drink Coke?"

  Xiao Duan casually found a disposable cup and placed it on the table, then quickly took over Du's cola. As he poured the cola for Du, he said: "Du, I heard from rumors that this cola kills sperm?" Du looked at him with disdain and said: "Pfft, killing what kind of sperm? You're giving me your share of cola, but you're still chattering on about this. Love it or leave it!" Xiao Duan quickly poured some cola into his own disposable cup. "Just kidding, Du! Du is so carefree~~" The smile in Du's eyes seemed to grow even thicker. "What do you know? You should read more books when you have nothing better to do, instead of playing games on your computer all day. The rumor that cola kills sperm is pure nonsense! It's actually just a myth about calcium loss and whatnot. Cola has sugar in it, so drinking too much can make you fat. Look at me!" He patted his belly with his hand. Then he continued: "And there's also caffeine in cola, which is why people get addicted to it when they drink it all the time." Xiao Duan listened and felt a deep sense of powerlessness, deciding that as soon as he went out, the first thing he would do was search on Baidu to see what kind of harm cola really did to the human body.

  He took two big gulps of Coke. Du Zong took a deep breath and continued, "You little brat is quite ruthless! To get more interest and commission, you're scamming the old man like this. You actually dared to give him a margin call. What kind of trickery is this? I think he's just an ordinary person. Recently, the overall market trend looks good, but if he buys the wrong stock and it crashes, he'll be wiped out! I've figured it out - I, Du Yu, uphold the motto 'self-improvement and perseverance', while you guys are all about being ruthless and merciless!"

  Xiao Duan said, "Director Du, your family is really wealthy! You don't have to worry about food or clothes, and you can even play with girls. I'm so envious! My wife always complains that I'm not capable, and now my son is in kindergarten, but the kindergarten is asking for 200,000 yuan in sponsorship fees. I'm at their mercy! It's really dark!" Director Du couldn't comment on this matter either, as it was just the way things were in Huaxia country. He asked, "What's going on with Old Liu?" Xiao Duan shook his head and said, "I don't know either. He was introduced to us by a client, who said he might have lost money in the stock market and mortgaged his house to an underground loan shark. He got into trouble again last year. Now the underground bank's thugs are looking for him to pay up! The old man might be trying to make a desperate move! I'm not too clear on the details either."

  As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock at the door outside. Director Du shouted, "Come in." Then Zhao Xun walked in with a blush on his face.

  Xiao Duan is okay, just thinks Zhao Xun is quite pretty. Didn't say anything, after all the boss is sitting upstairs. Just saw Du Zong's two eyeballs almost fell into the cola!

  It's no wonder that Du was shocked. When Li Xiaoteng saw Zhao Xun, she was still wearing a coat on the bus and wasn't so eye-catching. But now, our Li Xiaoteng almost wanted to loudly recite the Luo Shen Fu again! Now, Zhao Xun is wearing a professional outfit, short skirt and black stockings. And then he ran into Du Yu, who had been through a sea of flowers without leaving any behind. It's no wonder that his heart was overflowing with passion at this moment!

  Du Yu's appreciation angle for beautiful women is not quite the same as Li Xiao Teng's. Li Xiao Teng looks from top to bottom, first at the face, then the chest, and then... nothing else. But Du Yu is different, he starts by looking at the legs, his first glance sees a pair of slender black silk stockings under a professional outfit, his first reaction almost makes him jump through the roof. He thinks to himself: "What a great pair of cannon holder legs! Haha... Then he looks at the chest, not too big, just a handful. Finally, he looks at the face, nods slightly, and thinks to himself: "Wow... what a beautiful woman!"

  Actually, when Zhao Xun arrived, she was already quite resistant. After hearing Director Wu's words, she had already determined that this Du must be a big pervert. Otherwise, Director Wu wouldn't have said such things. When Zhao Xun walked into the room and saw Du's perverted appearance, plus his scorching gaze, she felt even more annoyed in her heart. However, the surface-level courtesy and dignity still had to be maintained.

  As she entered the room, Zhao Xun took out her business card from the card holder and handed it over with both hands, introducing herself: "Hello, Director Du, I'm Zhao Xun, a new employee in the marketing department of Hai Shang Securities." Du Yu stood up, took the card and deliberately looked at the phone number below Zhao Xun's name. Seeing it, he smiled satisfactorily and extended his hand to say: "Hello, Zhao Xun, what brings you here?" Zhao Xun actually disliked shaking hands very much. In social etiquette, where did men take the initiative to shake a girl's hand? She was very disgusted in her heart but still lightly touched Du Yu's hand with hers. Du Yu hastily said: "Come on, sit down... Sit down! Xiao Duan, go and pour Zhao Xun a cup of tea!" After thanking him, Zhao Xun sat down and hurriedly expressed that she didn't need to be treated as a guest and didn't need water. However, Xiao Duan was very thoughtful and went out to make tea anyway.

  Du Yu looked at Zhao Xun, and no matter how he looked, he felt a surge of conquest in his heart. Suppressing the heat in his heart, he asked kindly: "Zhao Xun, what brings you to my place?" Zhao Xun was actually quite nervous inside, but thinking for the sake of the company, he forced himself to say: "Director Du! I'm here representing our company to consult with you. As you know, the market has been sluggish for a while, but recently there's been some improvement. Your side hasn't been doing much trading lately either. Lately, I feel like the trend is coming. Do you think you need our brokerage firm to provide some support?"

  Actually, in today's social interactions, where can you find someone who is very silly and naive? Are we talking about people who are very vulgar and violent? Basically, that's all you see on the streets. As soon as someone opens their mouth to represent a company, Du Yu already knows what they're getting at. It's just about occupying a few rooms in someone else's big house. There's no transaction volume, and only a few thousand yuan in handling fees have been paid over the past few months. Not even two deals have been made. This is because Hai Shang Securities can't sit still. Immediately after, he unhappily took a sip of Coke, thinking to himself, "Could it be that Old Wu knows my temperament and saw me staring at a beautiful woman? Did they deliberately find a beautiful woman to persuade me, so I would make more transactions and contribute more commission to them?" The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. At the time, the market conditions weren't as extremely bad as this, but his own commission hadn't been reduced either! They didn't say they would return the excess to him; it all ended up in their company's pockets!

  Zhao Xun's gaze was no longer as flirtatious. After calming down, he said: "Recently, the state has introduced favorable policies, and the Ninth Regulation has been released to strengthen opinions. We have also studied it. If the situation is suitable, we may unite with several brother companies in the industry to find a suitable variety. As for your company, what can you offer me? Money, projects, or internal shares of your recommended listing?"

  As soon as the words came out, Zhao Xun was a bit stunned, because the leader had not given him any power, and today's conversation was originally unequal. In fact, Zhao Xun also knew that if it weren't for Du's appreciation of his looks, or if someone else were to come, he would have been driven away by Du long ago. Just as he felt embarrassed, Xiao Duan came in with a tray of water.

  "Please drink some water!" Zhao Xun quickly got up to take the cup of water. He thanked her and at this time, Xiao Duan very tactfully turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

  Du Yu poured another Coca-Cola, and asked with a smile: "Zhao Xun ah! What kind of support can your company provide?" Zhao Xun quickly replied seriously: "Director Du, I came here today just to make a preliminary visit and see if you have any needs. As for what specific support we can provide, it will be decided after I return and report back to our leadership team." Du Yu said casually: "I think you're pretty good, why don't you tell your leaders to give us the support? Ah? Haha...hahaha..."

  Zhao Xun's face suddenly turned red, but he still tried to maintain his composure and said: "Director Du is really good at joking. I'm just a new employee. Isn't coming to you causing trouble?" Du Yu looked at Zhao Xun with some disappointment, but didn't give up: "Zhao Xun, how's your work going recently? Any difficulties?" Zhao Xun actually wanted to get up and leave immediately, but had no choice and forced himself to say: "Director Du, as you know, it's tough for all securities companies right now. I've only just started, the account opening situation is poor, and the funds under my name are also very limited." Du Yu said without thinking: "Hehe, everyone's having a hard time, we're no exception either. But getting some funding, opening accounts, that kind of thing, it's still relatively easy for us. Zhao Xun, I have a friend who wants to switch to another securities company, and he has quite a bit of money, around 4 or 5 million. That would be considered a big client at your place. One day when we're free, I'll invite him out, you can do some work on him, see if you can get him to come to Haishang Securities."

  As soon as Zhao Xun heard that there were 40 to 50 million, he suddenly took a deep breath, and his calf muscles twitched slightly. He had no experience in developing clients worth 40 to 50 million. Forty to fifty million was a huge temptation for Zhao Xun!

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  Li Xiaoteng was about to leave McDonald's when his phone rang again. He casually picked it up and saw that it was Zhao Baozi, another childhood friend of his. Zhao Baozi, whose real name is Zhao Dong, had grown up with Li Xiaoteng in the same alleyway, playing together since they were kids. They attended kindergarten, elementary school, and even middle school together. Their relationship was incredibly close. However, after some changes occurred in their families, their academic performance plummeted, and Zhao Baozi dropped out of school during his first year of junior high.

  He picked up the phone: "Hello? Winter brother?" All he heard was Zhao Biaozi's shouting on the other end of the line: "Teng Ge is mighty! Teng Ge is magnificent! Teng Ge is mysterious!" Zhao Biaozi always spoke in such a mysterious and unclear way, making Li Xiaoteng feel deeply powerless. He asked: "Winter brother, speak clearly! What's going on?" On the other end of the line, Zhao Biaozi immediately became very serious and said: "Teng Ge, I've set up a spicy hot pot stall. Specializing in spicy hot pot! Today is the first day of business. Come help out, okay? Tonight, I'll treat you to spicy hot pot!" Li Xiaoteng remembered that Zhao Biaozi had indeed set up a spicy hot pot stall before, and he had even gone to support it at the time, but the taste was too bad, and it didn't last long. If it were the previous life's Li Xiaoteng, he wouldn't have been able to help much back then, but this life's Li Xiaoteng was different!

  Back then, when I was a client manager, there was a client named Shao Fudong who was a gold medal master of the Sichuan Cuisine Association. At that time, in order to develop this client, Li Xiaoteng didn't hesitate to visit their wine house frequently under the guise of learning from him. He got along very well with Master Shao and within three months, he had transferred Master Shao's stock account to their company, Chuangshou Securities. Within half a year, his cooking skills skyrocketed like a rocket, with daily limit-ups. Through Master Shao, he also got to know many masters of Cantonese cuisine, Hangzhou cuisine, and Shanghai cuisine, exchanging ideas with them. Li Xiaoteng even said that if he weren't working in the securities industry, he could easily become a top chef. At that time, Master Shao had also taken a liking to him and considered taking him on as an apprentice. However, seeing that Li Xiaoteng's heart wasn't set on it, he put the idea aside. Little did they know, this delay would lead to Li Xiaoteng's rebirth.

  On the other end of the phone, Zhao Pengzi was still talking nonsense. Li Xiaoteng said, "Dong Ge, where can I find you this afternoon?" Zhao Pengzi told Li Xiaoteng the address. Li Xiaoteng immediately said, "Don't worry! I'll definitely be there on time! Tonight, we're going to have a big spicy hot pot battle!"