this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
This was completely different from what they had imagined!
The food in the set meals were neatly arranged and exuded an enticing aroma.
The survivors glanced at each other and then, as if on cue, all swallowed the saliva that had pooled in their mouths at the same time.
After Jiang Ci called out to them, they sat down and began eating.
The delicious food nearly brought tears to the survivors’ eyes. What kind of divine job was this? They felt incredibly lucky to have caught Jiang Ci’s eye.
The portion sizes for the new employees were the same as Song Jinchuan’s. Among them, only Jiang Ci was eating from a small bowl, seemingly looking particularly out of place.
Everyone was full of energy after the meal. Under Song Jinchuan’s guidance, they began preparing for work, while Jiang Ci went to open the main door.
Unexpectedly, most of the survivors were still waiting outside, eager to see who had been chosen to work at the hotpot restaurant.
When the survivors entered the hotpot restaurant, their gazes toward Li Hong and Zhao Shi were filled with envy and jealousy. How wonderful must it be to stay at the hotpot restaurant every day and even be provided two meals!
The new employees were all very intelligent and quickly got the hang of their tasks.
With everyone handling their respective duties, Jiang Ci no longer had to split herself into multiple roles. She could stay in one place, and once Xue Yi became more proficient, she could even free up time to complete the task of delivering twenty orders with Song Jinchuan so they could unlock the fish maw chicken hotpot.
Song Jinchuan continued to move around the hotpot restaurant, helping wherever needed. The survivors noticed that he was most often seen by Jiang Ci’s side.
Even the members of the Cheetah Squad knew that to find Song Jinchuan, they just needed to find Jiang Ci first.
At the end of the first day of everyone’s probation period, the restaurant staff had another meal together before heading home.
Although they had to commute back home at night, none of the employees felt reluctant. Instead, their faces were filled with excited smiles.
Their bases weren’t too far apart from each other, so they could all travel back together, making the night commute less dangerous.
As Jiang Ci watched the survivors disappear into the darkness, the system’s voice echoed in her ears, [Once the host’s store expands, employee dormitories can be built.]
Jiang Ci nodded and then turned back to the hotpot restaurant.
With the addition of staff, Song Jinchuan now had much less work to do after closing. The employees themselves would clean up the kitchen after finishing their tasks.
*
When Mao Qianqian returned to the base, it was almost eleven at night. The lights in the base were all turned off, and the patrolling survivors at the entrance, upon seeing her, remarked with envy, “You’re back so late. How was working at the hotpot restaurant? It must be great, right?”
The hotpot restaurant’s recruitment was a big deal, so it was no surprise that everyone already knew about it.
She nodded without showing off, “It’s alright. I’ll head back first—my sister is still waiting for me.”
The survivors were all aware of her situation, so although they were burning with curiosity, they didn’t feel it was right for them to hold her up with their questions.
Mao Qianqian nodded at them and then continued walked further into the base.
Since Mao Qianqian was an ability user, she was allocated a separate house.
However, since her ability level was relatively low within the base, so she was also given the one in the most remote location.
She took out her key and opened the door. Inside, it was also dim, but she was already familiar with the surrounding furniture and could basically navigate it even with her eyes closed.
But just as Mao Qianqian took a few steps forward, she almost ended up tripping over something on the floor.
Realizing that the interior layout had changed, Mao Qianqian instantly became alert, and the wind in her hand immediately gathered, ready to attack.
“Qianqian, is that you?” A weak female voice sounded from inside the room.
“Sis?” Mao Qianqian’s voice was filled with confusion as she hurriedly ran towards the source of that voice in the next second.
In that short distance, she felt several obstacles in her way. What on earth had happened in this room?
She turned on the flashlight she carried with her and discovered that the room was in complete disarray. Mao Jing, who had both her legs amputated at the thigh, was lying on the floor in a sorry state, with blood staining both her face and body.
“Where are you hurt?” Mao Qianqian’s voice trembled, her previously joyful mood plummeting to the depths in an instant.
“It’s okay, it’s not my blood,” Mao Jing held Mao Qianqian’s hand, “Don’t be nervous, I just fell. Those people have already been driven away by me.”
Because of Mao Jing’s condition, Mao Qianqian always left her with the only gun in the house whenever she had to leave.
Mao Qianqian quickly picked Mao Jing up from the floor and placed her on the bed, then wet a towel to wipe the blood off her face and body.
“Was it Mao Yaozu and them?” Mao Qianqian asked expressionlessly.
Mao Yaozu was their biological younger brother from the same parents. After the apocalypse, due to food shortages and Mao Jing being disabled, their parents decided to abandon her, but Mao Qianqian refused to. Their parents favored males over females, so she had essentially been raised by Mao Jing. As a result, both of them were abandoned in the empty house.
Later, they unexpectedly reunited with their parents at the base. After learning that Mao Qianqian had become an ability user, they repeatedly harassed them, trying to extract benefits from them. Mao Yaozu, who had been turned into a good-for-nothing by them, naturally called them worthless, wishing he could take everything from them, but after being disciplined by Mao Qianqian once, he became more restrained.
Their parents also tried to emotionally blackmail them, but Mao Qianqian, having struggled through the apocalypse for so many years, was not swayed by such tactics.
Seeing that they were not to be trifled with, those people had become much more subdued, so it was unexpected for them to come and cause trouble again now.
Mao Jing nodded, “They heard that you got hired by the hotpot restaurant and came looking for you. Originally, they wanted you to push Mao Yaozu into a staff role too, but I refused outright. They couldn’t handle the rejection and started mocking and ridiculing me, even trying to get physical.”
Mao Jing briefly recounted what had happened. The reason she had initially opened the door for them was because she thought it was Aunt Mo Yun at the door.
Aunt Mo Yun was their neighbor. Her daughter was an ability user, and both mother and daughter were very kind people.
Since Mao Qianqian often went out, she would give some crystal cores to Aunt Mo Yun every month to help look after Mao Jing.
Aunt Mo Yun was very responsible and would come by periodically to knock on the door and ask if Mao Jing needed anything. Their front door had been specially modified so that Mao Jing could open it even from the bedroom.
But she hadn’t expected that it wasn’t Aunt Mo Yun who had come, but Mao Yaozu and his whole family.
“Don’t get too worked up. I already made them feel heartache by shooting Mao Yaozu twice, so they probably won’t dare to come looking for trouble again now.” Knowing Mao Qianqian’s temperament, Mao Jing comforted her in a light tone.
Knowing that the other side had probably spewed a whole slew of vitriol at her, Mao Qianqian knew that Mao Jing probably wasn’t feeling as fine as she said she was. So she didn’t dwell on it and changed the subject, instead talking about her work that day, saying she had brought back some delicious food for Mao Jing.
As she spoke, she put down the towel she had been using to wipe away the bloodstains and took out a lunchbox from her backpack.
Inside the lunchbox were the meals she had deliberately saved from lunch and dinner.
Before doing this, she had informed Jiang Ci and only kept the food after getting permission.
The food was a bit cold now, so Mao Qianqian poured some boiled water from earlier in the day, “Try it, this was all given by the boss, she said it’s our staff perk.”
Mao Jing looked at the large pieces of meat in the lunchbox and smiled, “The boss is so nice, you should work hard for her.”
Mao Qianqian nodded, “I will, I was very diligent at work today.”
The atmosphere between the sisters gradually lightened. While Mao Jing ate, Mao Qianqian lit a candle and cleaned up the mess in the room.
“Tomorrow, go to Aunt Mo Yun’s house. I’ll give her some extra crystal cores at the end of the month,” Mao Qianqian said.
“That’s too much trouble for her. It’s fine, I won’t open the door casually now, don’t worry,” Mao Jing said softly.
“Just go,” Mao Qianqian squatted in front of her, “You’re all I have left. If something happened to you, what would I do? I’d be worrying about home while working at the hotpot restaurant and wouldn’t be able to focus. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything to Aunt Mo Yun.”
Mao Qianqian’s eyes were already red and swollen. Heaven knows how she felt when she returned home to find the place in complete disarray. Mao Jing was her emotional pillar; if anything happened to her, how could she go on living?
In the end, Mao Jing had no choice but to agree.
The next day, Mao Qianqian got up very early and went straight to the neighbor’s house to discuss the matter.
After hearing about Mao Jing’s ordeal the previous day, Aunt Mo Yun felt a pang of guilt. She should have gone to check on them at that time.
“This has nothing to do with you. It’s those shameless people who are to blame. I’ll trouble you today, and I’ll pay you some extra crystal cores at the end of the month,” Mao Qianqian said.
“No need, it’s nothing. Besides, after Sisi leaves, I’m usually alone at home anyway,” Aunt Mo Yun waved her hand dismissively.
Aunt Mo Yun was originally quite skilled and often went on missions with Mo Sisi. But after one mission, she was injured while protecting Mo Sisi, leaving her with a slight limp. She couldn’t run or exert herself too much, so she had to stay at home, occasionally helping the base with small tasks to earn a few crystal cores.
After clarifying the situation, Mao Qianqian pushed Mao Jing out of the house and into Aunt Mo Yun’s home.
“Are you hurt? I wasn’t home yesterday, otherwise I would have noticed such a big incident,” Aunt Mo Yun examined Mao Jing and, seeing that she wasn’t injured, breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Mao Qianqian felt reassured and left.
Before leaving, she made a detour to the other side of the base.
This area was mostly inhabited by ordinary people, and the place Mao Qianqian was heading to was the cheapest yet also most chaotic part of the base.
The Mao Yaozu and his family were lazy and always looking to depend on others, so it was no surprise they lived here. After Mao Qianqian and Mao Jing left, they latched onto a survivor known as Brother Big Head.
Unfortunately, their own abilities were lacking, so they only remained in the outer circles of the group. When Mao Qianqian arrived, Mao Yaozu and his family was in chaos. It seemed that although Mao Yaozu’s wound had just stopped bleeding, he was now running a high fever.
“Hurry, go find a doctor!” an anxious female voice called from inside the house.
This house was shared by more than twenty people, and even before approaching, you could already catch a whiff of a heavy, stifling odor.
“Didn’t the doctor say yesterday that a fever is normal? Don’t make such a fuss,” a male voice replied impatiently.
“You heartless man, are you hoping my Yaozu dies so the two of us can make room for that vixen of yours!?” the woman’s voice suddenly turned shrill.
“Stop talking nonsense!” the man’s voice was low and scolding.
The woman seemed to just want to vent. After cursing the man, she turned her attention to Mao Jing.
“How vicious, even bedridden she can’t stay still! If anything happens to my Yaozu, I’ll make her pay with her life!”
“Who the hell are you making pay with their life!” At that moment, an angry voice from outside interrupted their conversation.
The two inside looked up and saw Mao Qianqian standing at the doorway, her expression cold.
Mao Qianqian was an ability user; naturally, they didn’t have the same confidence facing her as they did with Mao Jing.
“Did you go looking for my sister yesterday? Didn’t I tell you before to stay away from us?” The wind around Mao Qianqian began to swirl slowly, creating immense pressure on the two before her.
“We… we are your parents!” the woman shouted, trying to hold her ground. “You’ll… you’ll face retribution for this!”
“Retribution? If there’s any retribution, it should fall on beasts like you who favor sons over daughters and abandon your own flesh and blood,” Mao Qianqian sneered.
Most of the others in the room were aware of the family’s tangled history, and none of them dared to provoke Mao Qianqian, who was an ability user. They quietly found opportunities to leave the house so as to avoid potentially becoming collateral damage.
Mao Qianqian used her powers to lift the bed and other items in their spot, then slammed them to the ground, not even sparing Mao Yaozu, who was on the bed.
In an instant, everything was smashed to pieces. Mao Yaozu’s parents tried to intervene, but they were no match for the enraged Mao Qianqian.
“If it weren’t for the rule in the base that prohibits murder, how many times do you think your family would have died already?” Mao Qianqian said with a chilling gaze, her eyes filled with genuine murderous intent. “If anything happens to my sister, I’ll make sure all three of you pay with your lives!”
The woman’s wail was swallowed back, petrified by the intense killing intent emanating from Mao Qianqian.
Although she had always known that Mao Jing and Mao Qianqian harbored resentment towards them, she still believed that as their parents, no matter how much they fought, they would never actually harm her.
But now, she could truly feel that Mao Qianqian wanted to kill them.
After causing a scene, Mao Qianqian turned and left, leaving behind a mess as well as Mao Yaozu, who she had severely injured even more.
Only after walking a considerable distance did Mao Qianqian finally let out a deep breath, releasing the anger she had been holding in since last night.
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
When Jiang Ci opened the door early in the morning, there were already four employees waiting outside.
As soon as the door opened, they immediately got to work, each preparing ingredients at their respective stations.
Seeing everyone in high spirits, Jiang Ci promptly opened the restaurant at exactly eight o’clock.
Today, Jiang Ci herself handed out the number tags, and she noticed that the number of survivors that had come was almost half the usual amount.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
