After My Rebirth Chapter 13: Refuse

Chapter 13: Refuse

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Songyuan Foods was a well-known snack brand in the country, primarily offering instant cakes but also carrying a range of other snacks. In their conversation thread, Songyuan had sent a straightforward message, expressing their interest in collaboration along with a proposed fee.

The price wasn’t too high, but for Li Sinian, a new influencer, it was already a good offer. After reviewing the offer, Li Sinian opened the input box and, just as simply, conveyed his own response. It was even shorter than Songyuan’s message, only six characters with punctuation: “No, thank you.”

After sending the message, Li Sinian went out to the yard to water his vegetable garden. When he came back inside, there was a reply from Songyuan.

[Songyuan Foods: Could you tell us the reason for your refusal? Was there an issue with our offer?]

[Nian Nian Has This Day: No, I advocate healthy eating. Your products are junk food, which doesn’t align with my values.]

Songyuan Foods: …

Li Sinian’s words were blunt. After all, Songyuan was a large company, and being snubbed by a rookie influencer wasn’t something they appreciated, so they didn’t respond further.

It was amusing—Songyuan could easily find a popular celebrity as a brand ambassador, so why did they care about a small-time influencer?

Taking time off was addictive. Influencers on C-Platform often joked: “Skipping one update feels good; skipping them all the time feels even better.” Li Sinian was feeling that now. But instead of skipping updates on C-Platform, he was closing his restaurant.

After taking the second day after opening off, he couldn’t resist and ended up giving himself another three days off. With no restaurant to run, he suddenly had a lot more free time, and he returned to posting three times daily for the past three days.

On his last night of vacation, he uploaded a video of his dinner. At the same time, he saw that the person leading the food contest he was in had also posted a video—a snack taste test for Songyuan’s brand.

Hmm… It looked like Songyuan, unable to collaborate with him, had gone to the top-ranked influencer instead.

Lately, with all his video posting, Li Sinian had been browsing C-Platform much more frequently, searching for things when he needed to or just casually scrolling to pass the time. After he uploaded his video, he checked out some popular recommendations and suddenly felt that something was off about Songyuan reaching out to him for a collaboration.

The top-ranking influencer in the food contest, called “Piggy,” was an experienced content creator in the platform’s food section who had been around for three years. If he were Songyuan, he would have chosen to work with Piggy over himself. So why had Songyuan approached him?

In the past, he had worked with online marketing before and knew that if a brand didn’t choose the best option, it was usually for one of two reasons.

The first possibility: Songyuan initially approached Piggy, but since Piggy wasn’t satisfied with the offer, they couldn’t agree on a price, and Songyuan had settled on him as a second choice.

The second possibility: Songyuan had intended to work with Piggy all along but had approached him first to negotiate a lower fee. By reaching out to a newer influencer, they’d give Piggy a sense of competition, making Piggy likely to lower their price to maintain their status.

If it was the first case, Piggy probably wouldn’t hold anything against him. But if it was the second… even though it wasn’t his fault, Piggy might resent him anyway.

Li Sinian visited Piggy’s profile and checked his posts. There was nothing that seemed directed at him, just some posts of cooking mishaps.

He rubbed his temples and sighed, realizing that his years in business had made him instinctively think everything was a conspiracy.

After three days of closing, Li Sinian finally remembered he was still a small business owner and went back to the restaurant on the fourth day, resisting the urge to slack off any longer.

Due to its location, there were still no customers, and the young owner spent his entire afternoon playing match-three games in the empty restaurant.

For dinner, Li Sinian cooked two simple dishes in the restaurant kitchen for himself. Just as he was about to dig in, he heard someone at the door.

The day’s first customers—two young men.

Li Sinian turned around and saw Jiang Rongxuan. He let out a surprised sound, “Black hoodie!”

Jiang Rongxuan had come straight from work, still wearing a white shirt. Compared to his previous black hoodie, the shirt added a touch of maturity to his youthful charm.

This man was good-looking—he could make anything look good.

Jiang Rongxuan smiled at his words. “The owner remembers me.”

Li Sinian smiled back. “Of course, I’ve only had two sets of customers at this restaurant. It’s either you or you, so of course, I remember.”

Next to him, Ma Chi muttered, “Taking a break on the second day after opening, then taking three days off—it’s no wonder you have no customers.”

Li Sinian raised an eyebrow, finally shifting his gaze from the captivating Jiang Rongxuan to Ma Chi. “You’ve come by these past few days?”

“Of course!” Ma Chi said. “We’ve come by every night. If you’d stayed closed one more day, you’d have lost two precious customers!”

Li Sinian offered an apologetic smile. “My apologies, my approach is a bit ‘Zen.’ I opened for a day, felt a bit tired, and took some time off. I’ll try to keep it open daily from now on.”

He picked up a menu and handed it over. “Take a look—what would you like to eat?”

Ma Chi had taken the menu and glanced at it. From the names alone, he felt like they all seemed fine, but nothing particularly special. So he asked, “Do you have any recommendations?”

Li Sinian didn’t answer, but Jiang Rongxuan smiled first.

Ma Chi looked at him, confused. “What are you laughing at?”

Jiang Rongxuan said, “You’re asking the same question I did last time.”

Ma Chi said, “Oh, then which dishes do you recommend?”

Jiang Rongxuan didn’t speak, but looked up at Li Sinian.

Li Sinian smiled faintly and repeated what he had said to Jiang Rongxuan last time.

Ma Chi blinked and slowly shifted his gaze back to the menu. He wasn’t hesitating anymore and casually picked two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes.

When Li Sinian took the order and walked into the kitchen, he lowered his voice and said to Jiang Rongxuan, “This little boss is really arrogant. The restaurant just closes when it says so, and all the dishes are ‘signature dishes.’ Tsk, tsk.”

Jiang Rongxuan asked, “Do you think they have the capital for that?”

Ma Chi recalled the taste of the dishes, smacked his lips, swallowed, and nodded. “Yes!”

He had been staying at Jiang Rongxuan’s house these days and hadn’t eaten out at all, finishing up all the leftovers in the fridge.

Even the leftovers were so delicious when reheated. The little boss had the capital to be arrogant.

The four dishes were prepared quickly. Li Sinian first brought out the vegetarian dishes and also served them a pot of drinks.

Yes, it was still the honey passion fruit drink. The honey from the helper’s family was so good that he had ordered it long-term.

While serving the dishes, Li Sinian said, “All the vegetables are homegrown. Some are from the villagers a street over, some I grew myself, and the rice is the same. The honey in this drink is from the beekeepers, directly bought from them, ensuring it’s healthy.”

Ma Chi took a sip of the drink and his eyes widened in amazement. “This is delicious! Boss, the taste here is simply unbeatable.”

Li Sinian smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“I’m not just being polite. I’m serious. In my opinion, your cooking is better than even Michelin three-stars!” Ma Chi started steering the conversation toward a business partnership to open a chain. “I’ve attended plenty of banquets growing up, and even chefs at big hotels can’t cook as well as you. It’s a waste for you to run such a small restaurant. I’ve been thinking about investing in the restaurant industry recently. What do you think about…?”

“Ah, wait a moment,” before Ma Chi could finish, Li Sinian stood up and walked toward the kitchen. “The next dishes will be ready soon. I’ll go check on them, and you can talk to me later.”

Ma Chi watched the little boss walk into the kitchen and chuckled awkwardly. “Alright, we can talk later.”

Jiang Rongxuan watched him and couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Ma Chi glared at him.

Five minutes later, Li Sinian brought out the other two dishes.

He placed the dishes on the table, only leaving a “Please enjoy” before turning back to his own small table to eat.

Ma Chi wanted to discuss the business partnership, so he said, “Hey, boss, it’s just the two of us here. Why don’t you come sit with us and eat?”

“No need.” Li Sinian declined. “I’ll just eat here.”

Most people would give up on their invitation after being directly rejected, but clearly, Ma Chi, eager for an investment opportunity, had no shame.

After being rejected by Li Sinian, he quickly picked up a few chopsticks of food and, holding the bowl, walked over to Li Sinian’s side. “Since you’re not coming over, I’ll come to you. Move over a bit.”

Li Sinian saw he was really coming over and hurriedly picked up his bowl and plate. “No, no, no. I’ll move over instead. It’s cramped here.”

He sat down next to Ma Chi, which was across from Jiang Rongxuan.

At this point, Jiang Rongxuan had a neutral expression. Meeting Li Sinian’s gaze, he sincerely apologized, “Sorry, he’s very shameless. I’m not like him, so please don’t misunderstand.”

Li Sinian was amused by him.

Ma Chi glared at him with dissatisfaction. “What kind of way is that to speak?”

Jiang Rongxuan looked at him coolly. “If you don’t like the way I speak, go stay at a hotel.”

Ma Chi fell silent.

Li Sinian combined his two dishes with theirs. “Since we’re all sitting together, let’s eat together. I haven’t touched it yet.”

“It’s fine, even if you’ve touched it, I won’t mind,” Ma Chi said, shifting his butt forward, and continued discussing his plans with Li Sinian. “So, here’s the thing… What’s your name?”

“My surname is Li.”

“Oh, Mr. Li,” Ma Chi said. “I come from a good family, and I’ve eaten a lot of exotic foods since I was young. I’m very picky, but I’ve tasted many great dishes, and yours is one of them.”

Li Sinian nodded. “Thank you. I’m honored.”

Ma Chi continued, “I think someone with your skills shouldn’t be running a small restaurant in a place like this. It’s a waste of talent. I believe you could perform even better on a larger platform!”

Li Sinian replied, “Thank you for the compliment. I’m honored.”

Ma Chi went on, “Look, the market is so competitive now, with every industry struggling to stand out. Even though you have great talent, without connections, it’ll be hard for you to make a name in a big hotel or high-end restaurant.”

Li Sinian agreed, “Yes, I think you’re right.”

Ma Chi continued, “So, I think the best way to showcase your cooking is to open your own restaurant. Not a small one like this, but a big restaurant or even a nationwide chain. That way, your talents won’t get buried. Um… your cooking skills, I mean.”

Li Sinian nodded again. “Yes, I think you’re right.”

Li Sinian remained seated, smiling warmly, and listened attentively to Ma Chi.

To Ma Chi, it looked like the other person was deeply interested in what he was saying.

Ha, no surprise. What future could there be in this tiny place? Such high culinary skills shouldn’t be wasted. The small boss probably wasn’t happy being stuck in such a small world either.

It was truly a shame. This small boss was so handsome, had such great temperament, and possessed a special skill. Yet, due to poverty, he could only be confined to this small corner. Clearly, he needed someone like Ma Chi to offer him a future.

The more Ma Chi thought about it, the more he felt how great he was. Sitting up straighter, he smiled confidently and voiced his final idea.

“My family is well-off, and I have a bit of money. I’ve been thinking about investing in the food industry. How about this? I provide the funds, you provide the skills, and we collaborate to open a chain of restaurants. That way, your talents won’t be buried in this small place. What do you think?”

“Yes, I think you…”

Li Sinian wasn’t really paying attention to Ma Chi. He was just answering out of politeness.

He was about to continue dismissing the conversation when a few key words from Ma Chi caught his attention. After carefully thinking about what Ma Chi had said, he realized what the other was trying to suggest. His words took a turn, “I think your proposal is great, but I’m sorry, I must decline.”

The rejection was clean and straightforward, without hesitation.

 

 

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