Chapter 100: Another Five Million Earned

The arrival of He Zhen disrupted the regular course of the general manager’s meeting.

However, both professionally and personally, there were significant benefits.

Professionally, Director Zhang had captured a corrupt businessman, removing a parasite from the nation and contributing to the national treasury.

Personally, it had strengthened Shui Miao’s leadership and unity among his team.

However, there was a downside for the hotel—the entire entertainment department was shut down, causing a significant loss of income overnight.

The list of problems facing Shui Miao just grew longer!

Director Zhang had He Zhen and his men escorted away. Accompanied by Shui Miao, he walked out of the hotel together.

“Xiao Shui, I have an idea. In a few days, I’ll arrange a personal bodyguard for you. You already know her—Lin Xue, whom you met the other day. She’s absolutely top-notch,” said Director Zhang. He was deeply concerned about Shui Miao’s safety. At this point, Shui Miao had become his biggest concern. To protect the vast Chen family business, he had to ensure Shui Miao’s absolute safety.

Moreover, Director Zhang secretly hoped to marry his daughter to Shui Miao. A future father-in-law naturally wanted to protect his son-in-law with all his might.

“Lin Xue! Isn’t she a police officer? How could she become my bodyguard?” Shui Miao was surprised, finding it hard to believe.

“Well, I looked into it. Because of that Yao Ye incident, she’s been removed from her position by the higher-ups. She’s currently without work, and considering her excellent skills, I thought it would be worth it to hire her, no matter the cost!” Director Zhang had also put effort into helping Lin Xue. Without his support, Lin Xue might have faced even harsher punishment.

In theory, Lin Xue’s handling of the Yao Ye incident had been flawless.

However, to those who could see through the surface, it was clear that Lin Xue had deliberately set a trap to eliminate Yao Ye.

Still, Yao Ye had committed indecent acts first, so he had no choice but to swallow his bitterness silently.

“What about Chu Miaoyi?” Shui Miao asked casually.

Director Zhang shook his head gently. “She’s fine. This has nothing to do with her. Besides, her skills are too weak to be of any use. Alright, I won’t talk anymore. I have things to attend to at the bureau. Until Lin Xue arrives, be careful yourself. My phone will always be on, so feel free to contact me anytime.”

“Alright! Uncle, see you later!”

After seeing Director Zhang off, Shui Miao returned to the meeting hall, where everyone was already waiting.

First, Shui Miao thanked everyone for their strong support during the incident.

Then the meeting began. Shui Miao’s first announcement was to disband the entertainment department entirely, demolishing it completely. Half of the space would be allocated to the guest room department, and the other half to the dining department. The guest room department would introduce budget-friendly family-style suites targeting the working class, while the dining department would open a small storefront next to Hall B, specializing in affordable set meals for workers.

This task was assigned to Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang, who had been the least busy previously.

Next, Shui Miao announced plans for a new hotel organic vegetable garden and breeding farm. Land would be purchased in Jing Shui Village for growing pesticide- and hormone-free vegetables to supply fresh produce to guests. Subsequently, a dedicated organic breeding farm would be established, with all ingredients self-produced and sold under the theme of “green,” aiming to build a reputation.

This green vegetable garden project would be managed by Xiao Liu, Xiao Hu, Xiao Tudou, and the previous male security team.

As for the breeding farm plan, that would be the second phase, postponed until the vegetable garden project was completed.

Then, Shui Miao assigned Area B to the previous group of male chefs, with Hao Zhong, the senior apprentice of Chef Bi, serving as head chef, and Xiao Tang overseeing operations in Area B. Area A restaurant was entirely handed over to Han Qing, including full authority over all service staff. Additionally, Shui Miao assigned a girl named Shen Bing from Li Lan’s team to manage Area A restaurant, both to coordinate with Han Qing and monitor her—if she acted improperly, she would be removed immediately.

Although Areas A and B would operate separately, all financial personnel would be assigned to Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang.

Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang were people recommended by Lin Qing’er, whom Shui Miao trusted completely.

With Xiao Liu and others reassigned, Shui Miao gave Li Lan ten new recruitment spots to hire more female veterans for the security team.

All male servers in Area A would be transferred to Area B, and new female staff would be hired for Area A.

Shui Miao intended to transform Area A into a paradise of beauty, with every position from the kitchen to the front desk filled by attractive women. Beauty itself would be a unique selling point, making guests remember the place. Area B would mostly consist of men, with only Xiao Tang as the sole woman. This was purely because of her capability—only she could manage the newly revived Area B. Any other manager would likely ruin it.

The most reassuring department was the guest room division. After Wei Qi’s dismissal, the capable but previously assistant guest room manager, Auntie Feng, temporarily took over. Shui Miao officially promoted her to head of the guest room department.

As for other smaller departments, Shui Miao entrusted them all to the highly capable Li Lan for temporary management.

The meeting was efficient—no unnecessary chatter. Shui Miao listened to everyone’s opinions and made decisive decisions that left everyone convinced and satisfied.

After the meeting, everyone returned to their respective tasks.

Shui Miao was stopped by Da Shuang, the senior financial manager, who informed him about the hotel’s income, expenses, and current liquidity. Additionally, demolishing the entertainment department would result in certain losses and potential breach-of-contract penalties with some affiliated departments. Expansion of Area B and the green vegetable garden project also required budget discussions with Shui Miao.

All these financial matters gave Shui Miao a headache.

One doesn’t realize how difficult running a hotel is until managing it firsthand. Everything required money—every decision, every move. It overwhelmed Shui Miao so much that he even considered abandoning some of his previous plans.

Seeing Shui Miao’s struggle, Da Shuang smiled and said, “You clearly don’t know much about hotel management yet. I think you should reconsider who handles the demolition of the entertainment center. Xiao Shuang is already overloaded. Don’t think the HR department’s job is just about hiring a few people. Xiao Shuang also handles public relations. She’s currently preparing to attract tour groups. With government officials spending less on banquets, tour groups are the only viable option now. How can I let her handle demolition work? As for me, I do have some spare time. You should find someone who’s experienced and can make decisions, and I can assist them. That should work.”

Da Shuang’s planning was thorough and detailed, unlike Xiao Shuang, who simply took on tasks without complaining, quietly getting things done.

“I see. I’ll follow your suggestion. I’ll personally handle the demolition of the entertainment department myself.” After hearing Da Shuang’s explanation, Shui Miao realized how little he knew. He couldn’t keep treating employees like oxen anymore.

The hotel’s current liquidity was over three million yuan. After expenses, monthly profits were only around 300,000 yuan. For such a large hotel, a monthly profit of 300,000 yuan was practically a loss. The entire hotel property and its internal assets were valued at over 60 million yuan. Even the monthly interest on that amount in a bank would exceed 300,000 yuan. Moreover, the hotel had to distribute profits to shareholders annually, leaving only a negligible amount in the end.

Not calculating the numbers wasn’t scary, but once the numbers were laid out, Shui Miao realized how financially strained Auntie Lin Qing’er must have been!

Thinking back, Shui Miao recalled how he had earned six million yuan previously—two million had been given to Wang Ruyan’s parents, and four million used to build a Taoist temple. He had truly spent money like water!

The hotel’s current liquidity was only over three million yuan. For such a massive hotel, any single expense could easily exceed hundreds of thousands.

Now, with the entertainment department being demolished, it would undoubtedly result in a significant loss. Therefore, the three million yuan in liquidity couldn’t be touched at all.

Shui Miao was troubled. Becoming a general manager had suddenly made him feel poor.

After Da Shuang left, Shui Miao started thinking about how to raise more money.

As he pondered, he suddenly remembered what his uncle, Director Zhang, had said—that he might be able to get the house from Liu Hongmei’s family. But that was just an idea. Even if it came true, it might take a long time.

Besides that, Shui Miao couldn’t think of any other solutions.

Unless he gambled and won a large sum—but he wasn’t confident enough to guarantee a win.

“Right!”

Suddenly, Shui Miao remembered two bank cards he had taken from Liu Hongmei’s house.

He didn’t know the passwords, but he could ask Wang Xiaomi for help—she probably had a way.

So, Shui Miao called Wang Xiaomi, who was chatting with Li Lan in the surveillance room. He handed her the bank cards and asked her to try cracking the passwords. Wang Xiaomi didn’t know whose cards they were, but she trusted that whatever Shui Miao gave her was legitimate, so she didn’t ask questions and immediately took the cards to Li Lan.

Coincidentally, Li Lan had a computer expert named Zhao Xulu on her team.

Zhao Xulu took the bank card and said, “No problem,” then pulled out her self-designed decoder. Within moments, she cracked the password—six 8s, very simple.

Wang Xiaomi returned to Shui Miao’s office with the cards. “The password is cracked. It’s six 8s.”

“Any money inside?”

Shui Miao was studying the layout of the entertainment department, considering how to renovate it.

“You didn’t ask me to check the balance earlier, so I didn’t look. Should I go check now?” Wang Xiaomi didn’t want to pry into someone else’s bank secrets.

“Sure, help me check.”

Shui Miao was focused on the layout plan, assuming there wouldn’t be much money. After all, he had randomly picked up two cards from many—he didn’t expect them to contain large amounts.

“Alright!”

Wang Xiaomi took the cards back to the surveillance room and handed them to Zhao Xulu, asking her to check the balances.

Zhao Xulu connected to the network and began the query.

The first card had zero balance—completely empty.

She inserted the second card, entered the password, hit enter, and checked the balance…

“Ahh! Five million! Five million!!”

Zhao Xulu and Wang Xiaomi were both stunned by the number on the screen.

“Wait, who is Liu Hongmei? This card can’t possibly belong to the general manager, right? Did she just pick it up?”

The card owner was Liu Hongmei, which suddenly caught Zhao Xulu’s attention.