TSBFL Chapter 114.1

TSBFL Chapter 114

Chapter 114.1: 第二間鋪

[The Second Shop]

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Hearing Chen Xing’s words, he then looked at the sincere smile on his face, knowing that he didn’t act in a perfunctory manner, Yamen Attendant Gao’s heart was immediately relieved for a few minutes.

 

Immediately, as if he thought of something, Yamen Attendant Gao looked at Chen Xing who was still observing the situation in the shop in front of him, as well as Gu Lang whose eyes were always on Chen Xing, and said in a loud voice:

 

“That’s right, don’t you guys still have another shop to look at? We will go with you now, so this does not happen again.”

 

Chen Xing’s first reaction was that it would be big trouble for them, just now Gao Yamen Attendant had helped them to scare the shopkeeper here once, and immediately he had to trouble them for the second time.

 

Just when Chen Xing wanted to refuse, Gu Lang beside him agreed in one breath, “I’m sorry for troubling Officer Gao.”

 

“Not a trouble, don’t bother, this is originally our duty.” Seeing that they agreed to their proposal, Gao Yamen Attendant could not help but feel relieved, after all, the county magistrate’s order was to take back these three shops properly, and then handed it over to Chen Xing and Gu Lang.

 

After they came to an agreement, they went towards the third shop, however the third shop they imagined is not the same, the shop area is not big, but it’s located on the dock.

 

Inside only sells simple food made from wheat flour, such as noodles, dumplings, buns etc but not many customers and even can be described as ‘you can catch sparrows on the doorstep’—visitors are few and far between or very deserted. The customers who came to the restaurant were like clouds, forming a bright contrast.

 

Chen Xing hesitated for a moment, still went inside together with Gu Lang, until after entering, found that in addition to the middle-aged man in charge of cooking, there was also a young waiter.

 

That middle-aged man, wooden and slow of speech, didn’t look like an overly concerned person. On the contrary, it was the young waiter, after they entered the restaurant, his eyes kept on spinning around, seemingly judging their origins.

 

When Gu Lang came forward and explained their identities, that middle-aged man immediately showed a look of as if the sky was falling expression, somewhat panicked, not knowing what to do, while the young man looked at Gu Lang and made a request, asking for salary.

 

Facing Gu Lang’s cold face, that young man was not scared at all, and said with a smile, “Gong Zi, we are all poor people, and we come out to work for a living, since you are going to take over this small restaurant, you should naturally pay us for our work.”

 

Gu Lang thought that the young man was reasonable and nodded his head, then asked them how much their monthly wages were.

 

That young man quickly revealed that he was a waiter and handyman here, and his monthly wage was half a taels of silver. The middle-aged man was the headwaiter here, and his monthly wage was one and a half taels of silver.

 

This wage is also reasonable, after all, Chen Xing’s own shop is also open this way, so after Gu Lang nodded, from inside his own purse he handed over two taels of silver to them.

 

The young man took the silver given by Chen Xing, weighed it in his hands and said thank you to him. He then asked him: “Little Boss, if you still want to recruit labor there, can I go?”

 

Chen Xing listened to his question, his eyes moved to his body, from inside his eyes, he was unable to stop the surprise, it seems to be a little strange why he would ask this kind of question.

 

That young man seems to be very good at observing words and body languages. After seeing the doubt on Chen Xing’s face, he immediately defended himself by saying, “I think Gong Zi’s future shop may need more manpower, that’s why I have this question.”

 

“You know me?” Hearing him say this, Chen Xing felt even more and more curious.

 

However, the youth shook his head, and under Chen Xing’s disappointed gaze, he then said, “But I know you, and I know that you have three shops coming up, and I think that your original manpower is probably not enough, so I would like to offer myself up like Mao Sui (of the Warring States period). After all, it’s not easy to find a subordinate in this day and age.”

 

Listening to him explain the whole story in a few words, Chen Xing felt that he is a talent. He is also a little more interested in him. Thought for a moment, after asking his name, let him three days later go to the Chen family restaurant to find him, then decide whether to use him or not later.

 

The youth was deeply grateful and thankfully agreed. The middle-aged man looked at the youth’s appearance and opened his mouth, as if he also wanted to be like him, to ask for an assignment or job in front of the new proprietor.

 

However, as soon as he raised his head, he met Gu Lang’s expressionless face, and those solemn Yamen officers held his breath and could not speak for half a day. In the end, he muttered a few words and turned around and left the place.

 

After dealing with the only two people here, the ownership of this shop belongs to Chen Xing and Gu Lang.

 

Chen Xing carefully observed the terrain (topography) here, in front of him, not far away is the busy flow of people coming and going to the pier, the boatmen and the endless flow of people, no matter how he sees it, supposedly this place will not lack business.

 

But according to the scene he just saw, he was a little doubtful of his own judgment, and finally he still looked at the young man who was following behind him, not far from him, and asked, “Is your business here good?”

 

The youth called Wang Zhe pondered for a while, looking at the face of the new owner in front of him, and finally chose to tell the truth, “It’s not so good.”

 

“Why?” Chen Xing also did not talk to him in circles, but asked him directly and straightforwardly.

 

Only to see that young man’s face change. He seemed to look very entangled, and finally still dilly-dallying with an open mouth, “This, I think, may be the food is not to the taste of the guests.”

 

Chen Xing glanced from the corner of his eye and looked at the table on which there are still a few balls of leftover dough, he thought about it or said: “Can you boil the noodles?”

 

After the youth nodded, he immediately cooked Chen Xing a bowl of noodles.

 

Chen Xing tried a bite, and felt that it was either a question of whether it suited the customer’s taste or not and or there was basically no taste at all. He looked at the disturbed youth, continued: “The shop has always done it this way, did it ever change?”

 

Youth grabbed his head, seemed to be a little not too good, directly said: “I’m just a waiter, in the past the shop’s owner’s distant relative said, the matter about the shop, I can’t (musn’t) interfere.”

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