HLM – Chapter 908 High-End Haidilao

Eva, who was studying a baking recipe, heard the snow fox’s pitiful screams. She rushed to the kitchen and saw the chubby cat brothers teaming up against the snow fox, while the Commander was perched on the cabinet, watching from the sidelines.

She quickly rescued the snow fox, who was at an absolute disadvantage. The little princess was lucky—the chubby cats weren’t completely reckless, or they might have torn it apart for food.

Parrots are natural predators of the snow fox, and likewise, the snow fox is considered prey according to the recipe hierarchy of the Pallas cat!

The princess burrowed into Eva’s arms, trembling in fear, hiding for a long while: This is terrifying! A natural enemy appeared out of nowhere—scary enough to die from fright!

Seeing Eva favoring the princess, the chubby cats were furious. Standing atop their kibble, they mewed incessantly, one meaning “You’re biased!” and the other, “Come out, or I’ll stomp you to death!”

During dinner, Eva recounted the incident: “We need to figure something out. The chubby cats don’t seem to have a good impression of the princess.”

Wang Bo thought it wasn’t a problem. “Zhuang Ding doesn’t get along with the Queen, and the Commander doesn’t get along with the Political Commissar, yet they still coexist peacefully.”

On the first day of the New Year, the town’s Haidilao hotpot officially opened. Hou Wenyuan and his wife He Hou Lijuan launched their ambitious overseas expansion plan for hotpot in Sunset Town.

They picked the timing perfectly: during the New Year holiday, the town was crowded with tourists. The night before had been a New Year’s Eve party, so many visitors stayed over. The opening day was immediately bustling with business.

Wang Bo wasn’t particularly optimistic about their hotpot restaurant. The prices were a bit high, and as for the touted service—there wasn’t much advantage in New Zealand.

However, the restaurant attracted many Chinese and Chinese-descendant tourists because it offered ingredients like lamb tripe, beef tripe, duck intestines, goose intestines, and duck blood. These are considered essential hotpot ingredients, popular among many Chinese diners.

Wang Bo was pleased—the town’s cold storage of offal and similar ingredients finally had buyers.

Hou Wenyuan was also happy. He realized these ingredients were hard to find in New Zealand. Currently, livestock products from local farms were either sold as plain meat or distributed through major merchants like Grant and Sharp. The former only sold meat and bones; the latter discarded offal.

New Zealanders generally don’t eat organ meat, so there was no market for it. But the lamb tripe and goose intestines from Sunset Town’s farm were far superior in taste to ordinary livestock products.

He advertised himself as “the exclusive supplier of Sunset Farm’s dark delicacies,” attracting some interest.

Next, a new group of domestic tourists arrived, just in time for lunch as the bus stopped.

Chen Luoxian personally led this group. It was a wealthy group—almost every member was a multimillionaire, and some were even billionaires.

As they got off the bus, a middle-aged man with a large belly approached her, smiling: “Xian’er, what local delicacies does Sunset Town have? What do you like? I’ll treat you—what do you say?”

Seeing him, Chen Luoxian’s face showed a helpless smile. The man was named Zheng Jinyuan, nicknamed “Golden Yuanbao,” a true big spender.

Zheng Jinyuan was from an energy-rich province. Resourceful and sharp, he once took advantage of state-owned enterprise reforms to manage a coal mine, striking it rich during the energy boom. Later, when the coal market declined, he sold the mine and entered real estate, again making a fortune.

There weren’t many billionaires in the group, but Zheng Jinyuan was one of them.

He had focused on making money in his earlier years and never married. Single life suited him: no family responsibilities, plenty of money, and a social life at clubs with many admirers.

But as he aged, he felt his health declining and realized that hired help could never replace the care of family. That’s when he decided to start a family. Coincidentally, he met Chen Luoxian and was captivated by her beauty, elegance, confidence, and intelligence. He pursued her relentlessly.

With the smooth development of tourism in New Zealand, Chen Luoxian rarely led tours herself, but this time, she couldn’t escape Zheng Jinyuan’s harassment, so she came to New Zealand with the group for refuge.

Somehow, Zheng Jinyuan learned about the tour and replaced one member to join it.

Chen Luoxian had intended to avoid him, but in the end, she had no choice but to accompany him all the way to distant New Zealand.

As the bus stopped, she jumped off first, wanting to find a place to hide. Thinking back to the harassment on the plane and bus, she felt miserable.

Looking north from the town entrance, she saw a castle hidden in the clouds.

She sighed, thinking: If the man entangling me had even half the talent of the guy in that castle, I wouldn’t have to be pushed into blind dates at home—I could have settled down for life.

But that was just imagination. Right now, her priority was dealing with this “big-bellied fly.”

Hearing him ask about lunch, Chen Luoxian professionally replied: “Mr. Zheng, we’ve prepared authentic Western cuisine at Sprece Restaurant for lunch. It’s the best restaurant in town—I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

Zheng Jinyuan, accustomed to wealth, believed rare equals valuable. How good could a tour-arranged restaurant be? He insisted she find a private local restaurant.

“This restaurant’s cost isn’t an issue—I’ve already paid the tour fee. I never make things hard for myself. But I don’t like Western food. How about you recommend a private restaurant in town? Just the two of us; I’ll treat you,” he said, chest-thumping and full of bravado.

A sharp middle-aged man nearby muttered to his wife: “This is embarrassing for us Chinese—private restaurant? Does he think this is back home? The restaurant the tour arranged is the best and most popular here!”

The elegant woman whispered back: “Alright, stop complaining. Better not to offend anyone with such words.”

Chen Luoxian’s mood worsened. She glanced around, hoping the scenery might cheer her up, and saw a Haidilao on the street.

An idea sparked in her mind.

In China, Haidilao isn’t considered high-end, but abroad it’s positioned that way—essentially, a way to make foreigners pay a premium.

She understood the strategy. Since Zheng Jinyuan was willing to act as a big spender, she couldn’t very well refuse.

Pointing at Haidilao, she said: “If you don’t like Western food, this restaurant might suit you—it’s quite upscale.”