After finishing his thesis, Yu Antong relaxed at home for two days, and then started to recruit chefs in the store.
This was already the third time that the restaurant has recruited chefs since the store opened. The business was too hot, and there was a shortage of chefs to satisfy the customer’s demand. Especially because he also opened branch stores, the shortage of manpower was even more severe.
This time, Yu Antong directly recruited twenty chefs. While it sounded a lot at a first glance, after they got divided into several branches, the total chefs per branch wasn’t that many.
Yu Antong personally inspected the recruitment, and most of the recruits were young chefs below thirties who had basic knowledge and strong learning ability. Immortal’s Banquet was a young brand, so the chefs should also be energetic and youthful, willing to improve and make changes.
At the Immortal’s Banquet, after dinner, Yu Antong said to everyone, “I’m going to participate in a gourmet variety show called ‘Here Comes the God of Chefs!’ in a while, and I need two assistant chefs to participate in the show with me. Anyone want to participate?”
The kitchen suddenly became lively.
“Little Boss, is this going to be aired on TV?”
“Boss, I want to go, do you think I can?”
“Zhao’er, aren’t you confident!”
“What’s wrong with me, at least my knife skills are better than yours.”
“Our restaurant will be on fire!”
“I’ll go, I’ll go!”
“I want to go too.”
“If the show is broadcast, will our restaurant become some kind of internet celebrity restaurant?”
“That’s not needed. Even if we don’t participate in the show, our store is already considered a small internet celebrity.”
“I think if our Little Boss participates, the other contestants should just abstain and go home. There is no need to compete at all, just instantly kill them!”
Everyone in the back kitchen talked about it, some really wanted to participate, and some thought it was novel and lively.
“Boss, I’m still pointing at you to come and help out in the back kitchen, and yet you want to borrow manpower instead.” Head Chef Zhao Juan’s chubby face wrinkled, like a fat white meat bun full of wrinkles, she complained half-truthfully to Yu Antong, “We’re really busy these days, and you want to take two people from here. Look, you have to supply me with equal numbers of people you want to borrow, otherwise our side will be really overwhelmed.”
Zhao Juan was telling the truth. This store on Pheonix Street1I think I left it untranslated as “Fenghuang Street” a couple of times and left it translated on other times. They’re the same, sorry for the inconsistencies. has the best location and the most customers. Now these people were busy as bees, and if they transfer two more, they would be so busy that they wouldn’t be able to touch the ground. She was very unwilling to let her people go.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Yu Antong also knows Zhao Juan’s straightforwardness, and he has already prepared for this event, “The chefs recruited this time will start to work this weekend, and this branch got five new recruits, two more than other branches2fun fact: last time there’s only three stores, but since Yu Antong said this branch got five, which is two more than other branches, but the total new recruits is twenty; therefore Immortal’s Banquet has six stores now!. Well, are you satisfied?”
The wrinkles on Zhao Juan’s face dissipated. She instead showed a satisfied smile, but still said: “Boss, don’t bully me for my bad math. You have to borrow two, but give me two more, isn’t it the same as in other stores? Still, please remember that this store has the biggest customer inflow. It’s still not enough.”
“I will just borrow them only when there’s a shooting,” Yu Antong explained, “The show should be broadcast once a week, and it takes at most one day to shoot one episode. Which means, I will borrow them per episode basis, which is probably only around four days. Other than that, these two will work normally.”
“Ah, is that so? Then it’s okay,” Zhao Juan understood and let go of this matter. She then said to the other chefs, “This is a rare opportunity, if you really want to go, express your opinion quickly.”
“I kind of want to go.”
“I want to go too, but if I remember that it’s for TV, I’m afraid I’ll get stage fright and become nervous.”
“Hahaha, Zhao’er, if you are timid, don’t go there. If your hand shakes again and you can’t hold the knife steadily, and the camera zooms in on you, you will probably be ashamed enough to want to transfer to another planet.”
“Hahaha!” Everyone else was amused, and while laughing, they also realized that they seemed timid too.
It’s okay to talk and laugh at ordinary times, but today in front of the boss, Zhao’er blushed from the laughter of the crowd. He retaliated not long after, “Wang Yu, you can say this, then why don’t you go yourself!”
Wang Yu waved his hands again, “I can’t do it either, especially with my knife skills. How can I go on stage? I can’t.”
Others laughed at Zhao’er with great enthusiasm, but they also knew that this was just a joke and they were equally as nervous. After all, all of them were ordinary people. They never thought that they would appear on TV.
But giving up such a good opportunity like this… it felt quite a waste.
Yu Antong saw that everyone had been discussing for a long time, but suddenly there was no sound. He was a little surprised and asked, “Does anyone want to go?” He thought that everyone would actively compete for this opportunity.
Everyone was silent for a while, but then, a dark-skinned young man in the crowd tentatively raised his hand. His voice was not loud, but it was very clear amidst this silence, “Can I go?”
Yu Antong knew him. He was Lin Haoning, Zhao Juan’s young apprentice. His body was thin and tall, with a dark complexion.
Yu Antong had always paid attention to him, and his skills were satisfactory. So he replied, “Of course.”
“Is there anyone else who wants to participate?” Yu Antong added, “If no one else wants to participate, I’ll go to the other branch to ask.”
Although Zhao Juan said that she was not willing to let them go at first, she really thought about these juniors. She wanted them to succeed, and this was a brilliant opportunity for them. She cursed at them, “Why are you being so shy? Aren’t you usually so good at speaking, besides your skills are okay. Why did you retreat when it was time to show your face? Why are you so cowardly, isn’t it just on TV? Why so timid, if you don’t seize this opportunity this time, you will definitely regret it in the future.”
“I will go!”
After Zhao Juan finished speaking, a crisp female voice sounded. It came from a short girl named Jiang Yuxiu, who had an oval face. And just like her name3江毓秀; 毓 = to nourish/to rear; 秀 = beautiful/elegant/excellent, she had elegant features and a gentle personality.
Yu Antong also has an impression of her. She was very careful and capable, very excellent in her job.
Yu Antong was very satisfied with the two of them who had self-recommended themselves. “Okay, then you two will be appointed.”
Others whispered, some people have already begun to regret it – why didn’t they take a step earlier? But opportunities are often like this, fleeting.
After deciding on a candidate to help him, Yu Antong spared a few hours every day for the next few days to cook at the Immortal’s Banquet, cultivating a tacit cooperation with Lin Haoning and Jiang Yuxiu.
“Buzz!“
The mobile phone in the pocket emitted two message vibration notification tones.
Yu Antong guessed that Xing Lixuan came to the store to pick him up after get off work. Since he was almost finished, he said to Jiang Yuxiu while washing his hands, “Let’s end this for today.”
Jiang Yuxiu asked, “Boss, will you bring all these dishes home for today?”
In the past few days, Yu Antong has been cooperating with them in the store to try to make new dishes. When it’s time for dinner, he would pack some dishes and take them home for dinner.
“This, this, and the last two. I will take them back, so I will trouble you to help me pack them.”
Yu Antong dried his hands and took out his mobile phone. The message was indeed from Xing Lixuan.
<Xing Lixuan>: I’m about two traffic lights away from arriving.
Apparently his husband messaged him during his wait at a traffic light.
Yu Antong picked out a cute emoji of kisses as a reply.
<Yu Antong>: (Kitty Kissing. jpg)
Xing Lixuan came very quickly – at the same time as Yu Antong’s emoji was sent, Xing Lixuan arrived. He parked the car, turned on his phone, and saw the emoji of the kitten with pink cheeks, approaching the camera to kiss.
This emoji might be cute, but it paled in comparison to Yu Antong’s, in his correct opinion.
<Xing Lixuan>: I’ve arrived. Come out.
When Yu Antong received the message, he already came out with an insulated box and recognized Xing Lixuan’s car at a glance. After he got in the car, he fastened his safety belt and said, “Let’s go.”
Xing Lixuan didn’t move, he turned his face to Yu Antong and said, “Don’t you want to give me a kiss?”
“Ah?” Yu Antong was taken aback, but before he could react, he pushed Xing Lixuan’s handsome face away, “When I said that I’m going to kiss you?”
Xing Lixuan took out his cell phone and dug out the chat records between him and Yu Antong, using it as a proof. “If you want to kiss me, just tell me, there is no need to hint.”
The sudden coquettishness flashed in Yu Antong’s tone, “You think you can do whatever you want and talk nonsense just because you are handsome?”
Xing Lixuan probably also knew that Yu Antong had no resistance to his appearance, so he deliberately lowered his head to stare at him, and said in a low voice, “So, you won’t give me a kiss?”
‘Ah!!’
‘His nose bridge is so handsomely high. His brow bone is also obvious. His eyes are fierce. Does he want to eat me?? What a dog man!’
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Tongtong: Ah, here I come for low-level fun!
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