Chapter 176: Competing for the Position
’Could the reason be that I returned the clothes to Zeng Xiaodao?’
Shen Lu stroked her chin. After thinking it over, that seemed to be the only explanation.
’Oh well, there’s no point in dwelling on the past.’
’In any case, the progress bar is almost half full. Even if I’m a little confused about how it happened, it means the mission is almost done.’
As evening fell, the Wang Family Sisters came over, still pushing their small cart piled with some decent-quality scrap metal.
It had been raining for the past few days. Shen Lu wasn’t the only one feeling frustrated; the Wang Family Sisters were anxious too.
With the bad weather, they couldn’t even leave the house, let alone go to the junkyard to scavenge for scraps.
If they couldn’t scavenge, they couldn’t trade with Shen Lu for steamed buns.
They still remembered the white, soft, and fragrant steamed buns their brother had brought home the other day. The whole family had eaten them with such relish, which filled the two sisters with motivation.
So, the moment the rain stopped, the two of them rushed to the junkyard. But the ground was muddy and the smell was overwhelming, making their work even harder. After a full day of effort, they hadn’t even collected half of what they did last time.
Shen Lu accepted the metal they brought, as usual, but she only took the pieces that met her standards.
’You can’t be too soft-hearted, or people will take you for a sucker.’
"These pieces are a little too rusty, so I can’t take them."
Wang Xiaoci nodded. "Okay, Boss Shen. We won’t bring any like this next time."
"Alright, what will it be today? Steamed buns or Star Coins?"
Wang Xiaoci and Wang Xiaohui exchanged a glance. "We’ll take... Star Coins, please."
Their family had lectured them last time, so they couldn’t keep going against their wishes.
Shen Lu took out 21 Star Coins and placed them in Wang Xiaoci’s hand. "Keep up the great work, you two."
"We will! Thank you, Boss Shen."
The two children skipped away, pulling their little cart, and Shen Lu watched them, feeling a wave of emotion.
’Kids really are the happiest. Look how carefree they are.’
After that brief moment of reflection, Shen Lu went out. She found an advertising company to create some check-in cards and a poster for a prize draw.
There weren’t many advertising companies in the Lower City District, and the one Shen Lu found also sold miscellaneous goods.
What she needed was simple and could be produced on the spot, though it would take about half an hour.
Shen Lu browsed the shelves of goods and bought a few random knick-knacks.
Things like a die-shaped raffle box, seven small rabbit-shaped figurines, and a pipa that had been gathering dust in a corner for a long time...
Shen Lu planned to use some of the items as prizes and the others to decorate her shop.
Half an hour later, the cards and poster were ready. Shen Lu paid for everything, including the knick-knacks, placed them in her System Warehouse, and headed back to the restaurant.
It was nearly six o’clock, and Gold Street was already bustling with people.
Shen Lu navigated through the crowd, entered her restaurant, and put the poster up on the wall in the waiting area.
She didn’t plan to publicize the event widely, so she decided against posting a video. It would be an exclusive perk for customers who visited the restaurant.
However, Shen Lu suspected that even without any special promotion, Li Zexing’s fans would catch wind of it and flock over anyway.
’Business will probably get even better after this.’
But on the other hand, the restaurant’s satisfaction rating had recently dropped from Four Stars.
It was now holding steady at around three and a half stars.
Shen Lu felt she deserved full marks for both the taste of her food and her service, but ’people’s hearts are hard to fathom. You never know what someone who’s smiling at you is really thinking inside.’
Just as Shen Lu had predicted, even more of Li Zexing’s fans showed up during business hours the next day.
With a larger crowd, there were bound to be a few reckless ones.
While taking a photo to post online, one male fan suddenly kicked the glass window with all his might, making a sound so loud the doorframe seemed ready to fall apart.
Fortunately, the restaurant had a defense level of 6. His kick looked intimidating, but it dealt zero damage.
"Fuck!" the fan cursed, refusing to give up. He kicked it a few more times before Ye Fan stepped in and dragged him away.
Shen Lu was already sweating buckets from the rush of handing out and stamping cards for the event. Having to deal with a troublesome fan on top of it all just made her more irritated.
"Get him out of here, add him to the restaurant’s blacklist, and ban him for life."
Shen Lu had no time to investigate the reasons for the fan’s sudden outburst, so she chose the simplest, most direct solution.
Later, however, Shen Lu did find out why.
Apparently, the fan had been trying to shatter the glass to steal the life-sized cutout. He hadn’t expected the glass to be unbreakable, and to top it off, he got caught and thrown out by Ye Fan.
Shen Lu laughed in exasperation.
’It’s only the first day of the prize draw and a lunatic like this already shows up. Who knows what other freaks will crawl out of the woodwork later.’
But Shen Lu didn’t have the energy to waste on it. The problem she’d been worrying about had finally appeared.
Even though she had increased the amount of food today, it still wasn’t enough. Customers who arrived after 1:30 found there was nothing left to eat, causing the restaurant’s satisfaction rating to drop—Kuku!—by half a star.
Shen Lu: (◢д◣)
’I really made as much as I possibly could! I even took out the meals I’d stored in the System Warehouse over the past few days, but who knew they’d sell out so fast? Everything was gone in just two days.’
That afternoon, she interviewed two more chefs. During their cooking trial, Shen Lu activated the Good and Evil Judgment Device to check the hearts floating above their heads.
One was pink, the other gray.
This was the first time she’d seen an applicant with a pink heart since she’d put up the hiring notice.
But this person’s skill... left a lot to be desired.
Shen Lu was desperate for staff, so with a decisive wave of her hand, she sent messages to all the applicants with white or pink hearts, telling them to report for a trial the next morning.
Of course, she wasn’t planning to hire them all at once. ’They can compete for the positions.’
There were four candidates in total. Shen Lu planned to hire two of them: one for prepping ingredients—chopping and washing—and another to specialize in cooking on the stove.
Early the next morning, the four candidates reported on time. Shen Lu explained that they would be competing for the positions and went over the restaurant’s rules, then had Cai Su take them to change into work clothes.
The group consisted of two men and two women. Both men were 26 years old, but their cooking skills were worlds apart.
The one with poor skills was named Xin Yu; he was the applicant with the pink heart. He had a constant, endearing smile that made him very likable.
The other man, Song Zhigao, was the best cook of the four.
Of the two women, Deng Ying was the youngest at nineteen, while the other, Shu Meng, was the oldest.
Shen Lu assigned them different tasks based on their respective cooking skills.
Song Zhigao and Shu Meng were put on the stove to cook, while Xin Yu and Deng Ying were assigned to prep work.
"Sister Cai, Xin Yu and Deng Ying will work under you," Shen Lu said, quickly assigning them to Cai Su. "Song Zhigao and Shu Meng will be with me."
Cai Su felt a little flustered. ’I’m still just an apprentice myself, and now I have to supervise people?’
Shen Lu gave her a reassuring look. Perhaps due to her past experiences, Cai Su always lacked a bit of self-confidence.
But she had grown so much. Without even realizing it, she had become Shen Lu’s right-hand woman; she just didn’t know it yet.