The Bigshot Married Himself to the Heiress-Chapter 659 - 700: Not a Qualified Businessman

The three of them entered a private room. After they were seated, Manager Trent looked at Sienna Johnson with a sharp gaze.

"Stop staring, or I’ll pluck out your eyes!" Adrian Desmond threatened, his tone filled with intimidation.

"My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend. I’m just curious about Madam," Manager Trent explained.

"I should be the one apologizing. My husband isn’t very sociable."

Just as Adrian was about to speak, Sienna discreetly squeezed his thigh under the table, stopping him. Her calm demeanor remained, leaving Adrian to silently nurse his grievances.

Manager Trent asked candidly, "To be honest, Madam, you’ve really startled me. You first said you came to arrange a birthday banquet, and now you’re promoting medicinal meals. Are you selling traditional medicine ingredients?"

"Firstly, I must apologize to you, Manager Trent. I mentioned arranging a birthday banquet merely to have a chance to meet you. If I had stated my intentions right away, given how busy you are, you naturally wouldn’t have seen me. So, I resorted to this less-than-direct method."

Manager Trent waved his hand dismissively. In business, it’s all about goodwill and congeniality; there was no reason to get upset, especially not with a woman. If he got angry over something like this, he might as well stop doing business.

"Madam, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble and done so much. What are your terms? What do you actually want to do? Sell me your medicinal meal recipes? Or are you looking to discuss some form of cooperation?"

"Manager Trent, you’re a smart man," Sienna praised him. "In that case, I’ll be direct. I’m not selling you the recipes; I’m offering them for free. Besides the two medicinal meals I just mentioned, I can provide you with recipes for five more. The condition is that, from now on, all the swallow’s nest your hotel needs must be purchased from me."

"Swallow’s nest?" Manager Trent looked at Sienna in surprise. He never imagined that all her efforts were aimed at promoting swallow’s nest.

"Madam, if you wanted to sell swallow’s nest, you should have just said so. Why talk about a banquet first, then offer to make new dishes for me? It’s a bit..."

"A bit foolish, right?"

Glancing at Adrian’s intimidating face, Manager Trent didn’t dare to voice such thoughts. "That’s not what I meant..."

"Manager Trent, let me be frank. I have a large supply of swallow’s nest. I don’t just want to sell it to you; I also want your restaurant to add more medicinal meals featuring swallow’s nest. Therefore, those two medicinal meals, and the other five I mentioned, all include swallow’s nest..."

"I understand. You’re recommending these medicinal meals to me, but ultimately, it’s to sell your swallow’s nest."

"Correct!" Sienna replied with a radiant smile, her face beaming with confidence, as if she had everything figured out.

Manager Trent was also honest with Sienna. "Madam, to tell you the truth, we already have a supplier for swallow’s nest, and our cooperation with them is quite good. We currently have no plans to switch." He then added, "Moreover, your swallow’s nest must be new to the market, so customer recognition will likely be low."

"I’m well aware of our disadvantages. That’s why I didn’t plan to market swallow’s nest directly to customers but instead approached hotels to cooperate." After a moment, Sienna continued, "Swallow’s nest has different brands, but at its essence, it’s still swallow’s nest. The brand of a swallow’s nest is like a woman’s clothes. No matter the woman, once the clothes are off, she’s still a woman. If our swallow’s nest is made into medicinal meals and offered to customers, they won’t care about the brand. Manager Trent, don’t you agree?"

Hearing her compare swallow’s nest brands to women’s clothing, Adrian, who was standing nearby, frowned.

Seeing her uninhibited negotiation skills, Adrian wondered why she wasn’t the same in bed. Indeed, money rules the world. This woman was too independent, always wanting to keep everything financially clear-cut. To her, he was essentially sleeping with her for free, so of course, she wouldn’t serve him wholeheartedly.

Upon realizing this, Adrian decided to change his strategy.

"As for the quality of the swallow’s nest, I can guarantee it. If Manager Trent is willing, I will provide you with a detailed promotion plan for the medicinal meals."

Actually, Sienna had managed to sway Manager Trent. People these days have tried everything; what they’re really eating is often just for the novelty or gimmick. If they marketed medicinal meals as nourishing and promoting good health, younger people might not be too interested, but the elderly would definitely love them.

Manager Trent fell into a brief contemplation.

Sienna glanced at her wristwatch and noticed a considerable amount of time had passed. "Manager Trent, we won’t disturb you any longer. We have another hotel to visit. If you decide you’d like to cooperate, please contact me."

"Alright, if we decide to introduce medicinal meals, we will contact you, Madam," Manager Trent responded in a formal and polite, though noncommittal, manner. Whether he was being sincere was hard to say.

"Okay, goodbye." Without lingering, Sienna and Adrian left the Times Hotel.

The two of them visited several other hotels. One smaller hotel, which already featured a few medicinal dishes, showed great interest in Sienna’s recipes. However, they offered too low a price for the swallow’s nest, so ultimately, no agreement was reached.

As Sienna was leaving this restaurant, the owner, unwilling to give up, chased her to the door.

"Madam Johnson, our offer isn’t low. For unbranded swallow’s nest like yours, it’s very difficult to get a high price."

"Thank you for your kind offer, Manager Chen. However, our costs for the swallow’s nest are fixed. If the price is too low, we’ll just end up losing money and having to close down."

After a busy day, they had only managed to sign a deal with one hotel—the Radisson Hotel.

What Sienna didn’t know was that the Radisson Hotel was one of Adrian Desmond’s businesses.

"This is your method?" Adrian asked, his face a mask of doubt and ridicule.

Sienna replied optimistically, "Didn’t we sign with one hotel? That’s a good start. I believe more and more hotels will cooperate with me."

Adrian almost blurted out that the Radisson Hotel was his, but seeing how many setbacks she had faced that day, he couldn’t bring himself to discourage her further.

"Why go through all this trouble?"

"Making money is never easy."

"There are many businesses where making money is easier. If you’re willing, I can introduce you to some."

Sienna had her principles and refused. "Those businesses of yours are not something I’m capable of handling. Besides, I just want to run an honest, legitimate business. It doesn’t matter if it’s slow to make money."

"Are you implying my money is dirty?"

Sienna smiled but said nothing.

"You’re not a qualified businesswoman! A qualified businesswoman only cares about profit, nothing else. You’re too compassionate."

"Maybe..."

"Did you do business like this in Sileria City too?"

"More or less." Sienna gazed at the ocean, her tone neutral, neither sad nor happy. "When I first took over the Eastminster Group, I was always treated as an inferior. It’s much better now; at least they treat me as an equal."

"Madam Johnson, ever the optimist."