this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
The exterior of the shops had undergone significant transformations after the upgrade. The hotpot restaurant had been transformed into a grand five-story establishment with a luxurious Chinese-style design. The fifth floor featured an open-air hotpot area, surrounded by railings and adorned with numerous vibrant green plants, creating a rich and inviting atmosphere.
[Host, the amount of floors and area of the hotpot restaurant have reached their limits. Now, you just need to focus on unlocking various ingredients, snacks, and seasonings,] the system’s voice echoed in her mind.
“Does that mean my restaurant in the real world is almost ready?” Jiang Ci asked.
[That’s right, Host. Once everything in the shop is unlocked, you will be able to own an identical hotpot restaurant in the real world,] the system replied.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ci instantly felt a surge of excitement and motivation. “Great, then I’ll keep giving it my all!”
The barbecue shop had been expanded slightly, while the breakfast shop had an addition of a second floor. The upstairs area was furnished with tables and chairs, and the menu now included more options like meat buns and vegetable buns. Jiang Ci had exchanged for all of them and planned to discuss the details with Aunt Mo Yun later.
Jiang Ci’s gaze swept across the area, where she noticed a unique and flashy store next to the breakfast shop. That must be the newly unlocked fast-food restaurant.
Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan walked over to the fast-food restaurant.
The entrance of the fast-food restaurant was brightly colored, making it instantly identifiable as a fast-food chain.
Inside, the interior was filled with red and yellow tables and chairs while the floor was a light green color.
There were several areas partitioned off, and Jiang Ci had initially thought the fast-food restaurant would only serve items like fried chicken and burgers, but to her surprise, it also offered boxed meal options as well.
Jiang Ci opened the system mall interface and unlocked beef burgers, cola, as well as basic set meals. The basic set meals included ten dishes—five meat and five vegetable options, all pre-prepared with the necessary ingredients, only requiring a quick stir-fry before it was ready to be served.
There was a dedicated burger-pressing machine for the hamburgers, and both the burger patties and buns were ready-made, requiring minimal technical skill for the job.
After surveying the area and determining the number of staff needed, Jiang Ci mentally reviewed the personnel she could mobilize.
By the time they exited the fast-food restaurant, a crowd of survivors had gathered outside. News of Jiang Ci rescuing nearly all the survivors had spread, and upon seeing her, the survivors spontaneously began to applaud.
Jiang Ci paused for a moment, feeling slightly embarrassed. Wasn’t this reaction a bit too much?
“Everyone, please don’t do this,” Jiang Ci said with a light cough. “Since I have the ability to do something, I naturally couldn’t stand by and just watch everyone die. It’s just something I’m able to do within my power, so there’s no need for you all to flatter me.”
“That’s not how we see it, Boss Jiang. Your contributions in this apocalyptic era are something we will always remember,” someone in the crowd responded.
Feeling increasingly awkward, Jiang Ci quickly changed the subject, informing everyone about the newly opened fast-food restaurant and encouraging them to give it a try.
After escaping the crowd, Jiang Ci patted her reddened cheeks. The survivors’ overwhelming enthusiasm was something she found hard to handle.
After returning to the small courtyard, Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan discussed their pressing need to recruit a large number of employees. This wasn’t only because of the opening of the new restaurant, but also because the train station required manpower, while the residential area for Xie Ling and her base, who were about to relocate to the gourmet city, also needed to be constructed.
After posting the job notices, Jiang Ci went to the farm again.
When she arrived, the survivors had already started their work. Zhao Ping, whom Jiang Ci had personally appointed as the manager, had been diligent and responsible over the past two months, and Jiang Ci had taken notice of his efforts.
Seeing Jiang Ci arrive, Zhao Ping put down his work and walked over. He still wore a mask that covered the scars on his face, but there was noticeably brighter light in his eyes compared to when he first arrived.
“Boss Jiang, I was actually planning to come find you today, but you seemed busy when I got there,” Zhao Ping said before Jiang Ci could speak.
Jiang Ci set aside her own doubts for the moment and asked, “What’s the matter?”
What she hadn’t expected was that what Zhao Ping wanted to say would coincide with what she wanted to ask him, “I noticed something off about Liu Yuan a month ago. He would occasionally make excuses to leave during work, and when I secretly followed him, I discovered that he was meeting with another survivor.”
“I couldn’t hear what they were saying too clearly since I was too far away and didn’t want to get too close and risk being discovered. That’s why I don’t have much information to share with you at the moment. I’m sorry,” Zhao Ping looked quite remorseful, as if he were blaming himself.
Jiang Ci patted his shoulder and said, “It’s alright, you’ve already done well. I also noticed something unusual on the surveillance footage and precisely came over so I could check on the situation.”
It was only then that Zhao Ping realized there were surveillance cameras here, though his expression didn’t change much. He had always conducted himself properly, so the presence of cameras didn’t bother him too much.
Just then, Liu Yuan, whom they had just been discussing, walked in from outside. When he saw Jiang Ci, there was a brief moment of panic in his eyes, but he quickly composed himself and nodded at her, “Boss Jiang, you’re back.”
Jiang Ci nodded, “Yes, I’m back. I just came to check on some things. You all continue carrying on with your work, I have other places to go.”
As she spoke, Jiang Ci gave Zhao Ping a meaningful look before leaving with Song Jinchuan.
She now had over a hundred employees, which would have been considered a medium to large corporation before the apocalypse. She couldn’t handle the matter too impulsively and needed to employ proper management techniques. She soon came to the conclusion that she would need to catch the culprit in the act before dealing with them.
Upon receiving Jiang Ci’s pointed look, Zhao Ping nodded subtly in understanding before calmly averting his gaze.
While changing into his uniform, Liu Yuan secretly observed Jiang Ci and Zhao Ping. Seeing that neither of them glanced his way, his anxious heart slowly settled down.
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:
It turns out that the person who had come to see him was his cousin, Liu Jun, who had taken advantage of his lunch break to deliberately wait for him outside the farm.
Ever since Liu Yuan had been hired by the gourmet city, his mother had proudly boasted about it to their relatives, receiving a mix of envy and jealousy, successfully bringing her vanity to its peak.
His cousin, Liu Jun, hadn’t been on good terms with their family. He had joined a team of superhumans, and as a result, his status in the base had risen significantly, to the point where he had even started looking down on others. Liu Yuan’s family, which had been at the bottom of the base’s social hierarchy, was even more disdained by him.
So Liu Yuan had never expected this particular cousin to come looking for him now.
“Little Yuan,” Liu Jun called out with a smile as he emerged from a corner outside the farm, holding something in his hand.
“Brother Jun,” Liu Yuan stopped in his tracks, looking at his cousin who usually never had a good face when interacting with them.
“Little Yuan, are you off work now? I’ve been waiting for you here for a long time and finally caught you on your way out,” Liu Jun said with a smile, handing over a bag he was holding. “Here, this is some canned food I brought for you. We found it during our mission, and I only got one, so I brought it over for you.”
“Do you need something from me?” Liu Yuan looked at the can of cat food that had probably expired long ago, a hint of disdain unconsciously flashing in his eyes. Ever since he had joined Gourmet City, his living standards had improved significantly, so he naturally looked down on such things now.
However, seeing his usually arrogant cousin now smiling so ingratiatingly at him, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit smug internally.
“There actually is something,” Liu Jun rubbed his hands together. “You’re working at the farm now, right? Do you get to handle a lot of vegetables?”
“Of course, Boss Jiang has entrusted us with managing an entire farm. We not only have vegetables, but also quite a lot of poultry,” Liu Yuan’s tone became even more boastful.
Hearing this, Liu Jun’s eyes flashed with ecstasy and greed, but unfortunately, Liu Yuan failed to notice it.
“Little Yuan, we’ve been brothers for so long, I have a favour to ask. I wonder if you would be willing to help?” Liu Jun inquired.
“What kind of favour?” Liu Yuan didn’t agree immediately, instead, he asked back.
“Could you get some stuff from the farm for me? I’ll sell it outside, and we’ll split the crystal cores we get from the sales evenly between the two of us.”
“No,” Liu Yuan refused without hesitation. “Boss Jiang has been so good to us, I can’t possibly do something like that.”
Seeing Liu Yuan’s firm stance, Liu Jun didn’t push further. After saying a few more words, he shoved the can into Liu Yuan’s hand before leaving.
Liu Yuan thought that was the end of it, but to his surprise, when he returned to the staff dormitory, he heard his mother boasting about how Liu Jun had visited her today and brought her something.
“Look, when our family had nothing in the past, they looked down on us. Now that you’ve made something of yourself, they’re all starting to curry favor with you now,” said Mother Liu.
“It’s fine to accept things, but don’t just casually agree to anything they ask you to do,” Liu Yuan knew his mother’s character well; she was the type who tended to get carried away when she was proud.
Upon hearing this, Mother Liu didn’t respond but instead rolled her eyes and sat down next to Liu Yuan, “Son, actually, I think what Liu Jun said isn’t entirely wrong. Boss Jiang has so many shops, and she’s always busy to the point where we rarely see her. She probably wouldn’t even notice if a few vegetables went missing.”
“Look, we’re working for her, but she doesn’t even pay us in crystal cores, just with some points. Points are useful here, but how can we manage outside without some crystal cores? Your cousin has been out there for so long, even managing to team up with some ability users, he must have a lot of connections,” Mother Liu whispered, “Besides, Boss Jiang is just a woman after all, clearly not having very much business acumen, selling such precious items so cheaply. Your cousin said that even if a pound of vegetables was sold at a seventh or eighth-level crystal core, people would still be lining up to buy it.”
Upon hearing about the seventh or eighth-level crystal cores, Liu Yuan felt his heart wavering slightly, but he still shook his head, “Forget it, Mom, my job is pretty good now. I have food, clothes, and supplies, and we can even live in such a nice house. If Boss Jiang finds out, all of this will be gone.”
Mother Liu clicked her tongue and said, “Are you stupid? This is such a great opportunity. Besides, when you get married in the future, the other party will definitely look at how many crystal cores you have.”
“Forget it, who would even look at someone like me?” Liu Yuan shook his head. He had never thought about getting married. As long as he could continue living like this with his mother, he was already very satisfied.
“How could no one look at you?” Mother Liu raised her eyebrows slightly. “My son is so outstanding, and he even has such a good job now. Of course you’d be quite popular outside.”
“Stop talking, I’m tired after such a long day of work. I’m going to take a shower.” Liu Yuan shook his head, stopping his mother from continuing.
Although he wasn’t worried about his mother becoming more outrageous with her words, he was still afraid that he might be tempted by them.
After that, almost every day, Liu Jun would either hover around Liu Yuan or visit his mother at home. Liu Yuan was practically under a double mental assault, being brainwashed by the two of them every day.
this mother has to be braindead, she’s deadass sabotaging TAT
