this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
Fu Wei’s movements were also swift, and the couple worked almost in sync.
Seeing this, Jiang Ci made a prompt decision, “Alright, you two can start today.”
Du Ke and Fu Wei exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy. They had actually come for the previous two interviews but hadn’t made it past the final round. They never expected to have the opportunity to work under Boss Jiang now.
The queuing survivors, witnessing this turn of events, were green with envy. They regretted not raising their hands earlier—how hard could it be to grill some skewers?
But it was too late for regrets now.
Du Ke and Fu Wei had already donned the hats, gloves, and aprons specially prepared by Jiang Ci, standing in front of the barbecue stall with beaming smiles as they began their new jobs.
Jiang Ci, freed from the tedious work at the barbecue stall, breathed a sigh of relief. She had underestimated the job, thinking she could handle a small barbecue stall herself. However, upon looking at the oil stains splattered all over her clothes, she sighed.
The barbecue stall officially began operations in the area outside.
Not much food had been prepared today, as Jiang Ci’s intention had only been to test the waters. By a little past six in the evening, all the ingredients at the barbecue stall were sold out, and even the two large barrels of alcohol were completely emptied.
Du Ke and Fu Wei were invited into the shop to rest, have dinner, and sign the contract.
At first, they were a bit nervous. After all, they had just arrived and had shamelessly volunteered for the job.
But Jiang Ci and the other employees were exceptionally kind to the couple. When ordering food, Qiao Ran even specifically asked about their preferences.
Jiang Ci handed the contract to them, asking them to read it before signing, and remarked, “You’ve really been a great help. I didn’t realize there was so much to learn about running a small barbecue stall.”
Fu Wei, feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise, smiled and said, “You’re too kind, Boss Jiang.”
Jiang Ci shook her head and, after the contract was signed, said, “From now on, the barbecue stall is in your hands. No matter what, make sure you maintain the hygiene standards. Try not to keep the leftover skewers overnight. If there are any leftovers…”
She herself paused, as the possibility seemed almost negligible, given that the shop’s stock of food were barely sufficient enough each day.
“Don’t worry, Boss. We understand. If there are any leftovers, we won’t keep them until the next day. We’ve worked in the food industry before, so we know that cleanliness is key to making customers feel at ease,” Fu Wei replied with a smile.
Jiang Ci nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this. “That makes sense.”
After signing the contract, their staff meal was served.
Today’s staff meal featured charcoal-grilled lamb chops and braised beef meatballs, both of which had just been unlocked and were extremely popular dishes at the restaurant.
Du Ke and Fu Wei were stunned by the spread before them, their expressions mirroring those of the previous employees.
Everyone took their seats and calmly ate their meal while discussing the day’s work, appearing quite familiar with the routine.
Du Ke and Fu Wei exchanged glances. Although they had long heard about the superior benefits of being at the restaurant, they still hadn’t expected it to be this good.
In the end, the two picked up their chopsticks and began eating. Du Ke’s eyes began to well up with tears with each subsequent bite of the lamb chops and beef meatballs.
In the evening, another group of customers arrived. After everything was finally cleaned up, the employees finally left.
Once all the employees had left, the restaurant began another round of upgrades.
While the front was being upgraded, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan stayed in the backyard, watering the newly planted vegetables.
This time, Jiang Ci had also bought a variety of flower seeds, including roses, sunflowers, and mountain plum blossoms, which she planted in the front yard, making sure to leave some for the backyard as well, intending to beautify the space.
The newly launched sales of fresh vegetables at the restaurant had become incredibly popular, with people asking daily if there were anymore vegetables available for purchase.
Despite the booming business, Jiang Ci didn’t let it disrupt her plans. She still only sold vegetables every few days.
After all, the restaurant’s main focus was on the food business; selling vegetables was just one of her side ventures.
Song Jinchuan carried a long watering ladle as he listened to Jiang Ci speak. The corners of his mouth unconsciously curled into a smile, and his heart felt as if it were soaking in a warm spring. He had grown quite accustomed to this life, even preferring it to the violence of his past.
Song Jinchuan had once thought that someone like him might never marry or have children, so he never expected that one day, he would be living day in and day out with a girl.
When his friend had asked him that question, he hadn’t answered because he wasn’t very sure himself. After all, he had been single his entire life and had no experience in such matters of the heart. But after spending so much time together, he couldn’t deny it any longer and had gradually come to understand his feelings.
“Song Jinchuan, are you daydreaming? This radish is about to drown!” Jiang Ci’s voice snapped Song Jinchuan out of his thoughts.
He blushed slightly and moved the ladle to water another plant.
After they finished watering, they boiled well water and enjoyed some tea in the yard. By then, the upgrades in the front were finally complete.
Jiang Ci quickly dragged Song Jinchuan to the front to see the upgraded restaurant. She was the most concerned about the hotpot restaurant, as it was tied to her real-world hotpot business.
The hotpot restaurant had undergone a complete style transformation, shifting from modern decor to a more traditional Chinese aesthetic. The tables, chairs, and screens were now a deep red, and the overall space had increased slightly, though there weren’t many other significant changes.
However, outside the hotpot restaurant, a waiting area had been added, and an automatic queue machine had been installed at the entrance.
Now, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan no longer had to hand out number tags one by one. Instead, survivors could simply scan their faces to get a number, and when their number was called, they could enter to eat.
The facial recognition system for taking numbers was also implemented to prevent survivors from exploiting the queue system to earn crystal cores by scalping. It must be said, the consideration of the system was quite thorough.
The same machine was also installed outside the barbecue restaurant, indicating that they had been distributed in bulk.
The first floor of the barbecue restaurant now had four additional private rooms, each capable of seating at least ten people.
After touring the upgraded changes, the backyard upgrade was also completed. The backyard’s area had expanded, and the size of the vegetable plot had similarly increased.
The system informed Jiang Ci that, in addition to these changes, a food processing factory had been added near the warehouse.
Hearing this, Jiang Ci, who had initially intended to return to the courtyard, paused and immediately turned around with Song Jinchuan.
The warehouse was still some distance from the hotpot restaurant. When Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan arrived, they saw a factory building roughly the same size as the warehouse standing before them.
The house that had originally occupied this location had been cleared away by the system, leaving only two solitary factory buildings.
“What is this?” Song Jinchuan asked, puzzled.
“This is a food processing factory. Come on, let’s go inside and take a look,” Jiang Ci said, looking up at the factory building with excitement. Besides her shops, she now actually owned a factory. In the past, she wouldn’t have dared to dream of something so grand.
Upon entering the factory, a clear assembly line of machines came into view. Seeing the empty workstations, Jiang Ci knew she would have to start hiring again.
But what exactly did this food processing factory produce?
With this question in mind, Jiang Ci opened the factory’s introduction panel.
The details recorded there were very thorough, including how to operate the machinery. Jiang Ci patiently read through everything.
It turned out that this food processing factory produced food that was easy to travel with for survivors, such as instant noodles and self-heating rice meals from the pre-apocalypse era.
Following the instructions in the manual, Jiang Ci walked over to the factory’s main control console, turned on the screen, and checked the available ingredients. After some thought, she decided to start by testing the waters with beef balls.
The beef balls would be cooked in hotpot broth and then sealed by the machine.
Jiang Ci set up two types of broth bases: spicy beef tallow and clear broth, then clicked to start production.
However, the machine displayed a message indicating that there was insufficient manpower, temporarily preventing production from starting. It seemed she would have to begin hiring tomorrow.
Song Jinchuan stood nearby, marveling at everything. Such brand-new machinery was absolutely impossible to find in this world.
Realizing this, a sudden sense of panic crept into his heart.
Was Jiang Ci not from this world? If one day she were to leave, where would he go to find her?
Song Jinchuan’s mind was a jumble of chaotic thoughts. By the time he snapped out of it, the two of them had already returned to the backyard.
Jiang Ci was sitting at the stone table, writing a job posting while discussing tomorrow’s recruitment session with Song Jinchuan.
Seeing that there had been no response for a while, Jiang Ci called out to him. Song Jinchuan seemed to snap out of a daze and sat down beside her, gently asking her, “What’s wrong?”
“I was talking about tomorrow’s job recruitment. Are you tired? Maybe you should go in and rest,” Jiang Ci said.
Song Jinchuan shook his head and sat down on the stone bench next to her, helping to write the job posting.
“You…” Song Jinchuan paused mid-sentence. Jiang Ci looked up at him in confusion, noticing that his dark eyes were heavy, as if they held a lot of emotions.
Although a flood of questions swirled in his mind, when his eyes met Jiang Ci’s watery eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. In the end, he just shook his head and continued working.
Jiang Ci’s frown deepened as she stared at Song Jinchuan for a long time. Could it be that the recent workload had really worn him out?
Song Jinchuan was her most reliable and trusted employee. She couldn’t afford for anything to happen to him.
Absentmindedly writing the job posting, Jiang Ci contemplated about whether she should use the well water to cook some congee to help everyone relax and rejuvenate tomorrow.
*
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:
The next morning, Song Jinchuan woke up early as usual. He glanced at the courtyard where Jiang Ci lived, which was just as quiet as always. Jiang Ci usually didn’t get up until after six, and there was still an hour left until then.
Just as he was about to start his exercise, he suddenly heard noises coming from the kitchen of the hotpot restaurant.
Song Jinchuan frowned slightly. Who could be in the shop at this hour?
He approached cautiously and, upon reaching the kitchen door, was surprised to find Jiang Ci standing in front of the stove—someone he had assumed was still asleep.
In front of Jiang Ci was a small claypot, steaming with heat. Song Jinchuan had seen this pot in the kitchen before, but it had always been gathering dust in the corner since it was too small.
Accompanying the steam was the refreshing aroma of rice.
The sound of Song Jinchuan’s approach made Jiang Ci turn around. She greeted him as if nothing was out of the ordinary, “Good morning.”
slow romance plot, slow romance plot, slow romance plot! (important things must be repeated three times!!!) female lead isn’t heartless, she just isn’t focused on her love life yet (and hasn’t realised her feelings yet)!
