Belle Kindergarten entrance.
Yang Hao arrived earlier today, with fifteen minutes still to go before Xixi got out of school.
He didn’t get out of the car but sat in the vehicle and opened up the folded group chat, finding the group named [Yang’s Hot Pot·Prosperous Business].
This group was for the employees of Yang Hao’s hot pot restaurant, which at its peak had over sixty members. With the closure of the restaurant, only 18 remained, 17 excluding Yang Hao himself.
Yang Hao had thought about disbanding the group, but he couldn’t bear to do it, thinking it would keep the memory alive, and perhaps there would be a chance for a comeback, to gather everyone together again.
Those still in the group were almost all employees who had followed Yang Hao from very early on; the shortest tenure among them was three to four years, as for the likes such as Xu Meizhu who had worked with him for ten years.
So many had become friends, occasionally chatting in the group, and the last time someone had spoken was three days ago.
Xu Meizhu was organizing a get-together, tagging Yang Hao, but he hadn’t been following the folded group’s messages and didn’t reply.
Perhaps because their former boss hadn’t responded, not many others did, and in the end, the plan fizzled out.
Yang Hao considered for a moment, then tagged everyone: Brothers and sisters, it’s been a long time, let’s meet next Monday afternoon at Maji Hot Pot on Star Cloud Commercial Street; I’ll treat you all, try to make it!
Hao Xiaoshuai: Hao, are you finally coming out of retirement?
Zhang Meiling: Wow, refreshingly generous boss, I happen to have Monday off, I’ll definitely be there!
He Wei: Perfect, I wasn’t sure which day to take off, I’ll take Monday then.
…
After sending the message, he immediately received several responses, all explicitly stating they would definitely attend.
Seeing these familiar names, Yang Hao’s lips curved into a slight smile; they were all brothers and sisters who had struggled together. Seeing their names reminded him of the days running the hot pot restaurant; it was busy and exhausting, but the feeling of striving for a better life was something to reminisce.
While Yang Hao was lost in these memories, Xu Meizhu sent him a Weixin message: Hao, why don’t we gather at the place I work now? We can get a discount.
Seeing the message from this loyal employee + dear sister, Yang Hao chuckled and shook his head, knowing she wanted to save him some money.
He immediately replied: There’s a reason for the choice of venue for the gathering, you’ll find out when the time comes.
By the way, quit your current job!
Hongshan Barbecue.
The dinner rush hour hadn’t arrived yet, so the store wasn’t busy. Xu Meizhu was stunned as she looked at the Weixin message on her phone.
Ever since Yang’s Hot Pot closed down, she had imagined many times that one day Yang Hao would suddenly call her or send her a Weixin message telling her he was opening a new store, asking for her help.
Even if it was just a pancake stall, she would be willing!
But she never received that call.
A few days ago, she did run into Yang Hao coming to the store to pick up a delivery order. Seeing the once proud and ambitious man reduced to delivering takeout, her heart ached, and she even drank a bit of alcohol when she got back to her rented room after work.
At the same time, the thought of waiting for Yang Hao’s call broke off; she felt there would not be such a call at least in the short term!
However, to her surprise, less than a week had passed, and the long-awaited message actually arrived!
She knew Yang Hao too well; he was a man of his word. Since he’d asked her to resign, it meant he needed her help to start a business again.
“Manager Xu, you shouldn’t be on your phone during working hours!”
“As a manager, you have to lead by example!”
As Xu Meizhu stared blankly at the message Yang Hao had sent her on the micro-messaging app, a plump middle-aged woman emerged from behind the bar.
This woman was the owner of the barbecue restaurant and rarely appeared in the shop, but whenever she did, she made sure to assert her presence, especially targeting Xu Meizhu, for a simple reason: she suspected that her husband hired such a beautiful woman as the manager with ulterior motives!
“Put away your phone already, do you still want to work here?”
“If you don’t want to work, just say it outright!”
Seeing that Xu Meizhu wasn’t reacting, the owner’s wife scolded her again with a tense face. Her voice was so loud that several waitstaff in the restaurant also looked over.
Playing with your phone during work hours is indeed improper, but in the catering industry, there’s not a single waiter who doesn’t use their phone because it’s really quiet when it’s not mealtime, and one can’t just sit doing nothing.
So when the shop isn’t busy, neither the boss nor the manager would bother about staff playing with their phones.
These days it’s hard to recruit waitstaff, and if you’re too strict, they’ll just walk out without hesitation, since the post-millennials won’t keep silent and put up with it.
Being a waiter isn’t a secure job anyway, and if it’s not comfortable, just switch to another place!
Xu Meizhu looked up at the owner’s wife, whose face was full of fleshy folds.
If it had been before, she would have endured it, since she wasn’t like the ordinary waitstaff and had passed the age of youthful recklessness.
But now, things were different!
She had intended to submit her resignation anyway.
“I really don’t want to work here anymore!”
“Settle the wages for this week and I’ll leave right now!”
Actually, Xu Meizhu could guess what the owner’s wife was thinking, which was nothing more than worrying about her getting involved with her husband. But Xu Meizhu naturally had no such intentions, so she had been upright and unafraid of her shadow, indifferent to the owner’s wife’s snide remarks.
However, at this moment, she could take advantage of the owner’s wife’s eagerness to have her leave and claim this week’s wages.
If it weren’t for this little episode, had she initiated the resignation, she would likely have lost this week’s wages, but now it was different, the owner’s wife wanted her to leave, and naturally wouldn’t begrudge this small amount of money.
“Fine!”
“You said it yourself!”
“Your monthly wage is six thousand, right? I’ll transfer you one thousand five hundred!”
As soon as the owner’s wife heard Xu Meizhu was leaving, she was indeed overjoyed, and even fearing Xu Meizhu might change her mind, she immediately transferred one thousand five hundred yuan to her through the micro-messaging app.
“Thanks!”
“We shall part ways here!”
After receiving the money, Xu Meizhu’s lips curled up slightly. One thousand five hundred yuan, take it when it’s free. This money should be enough for everyone’s gathering on Monday.
With that said, she tossed her work jacket onto the bar and left with a carefree turn.
The owner’s wife and other waitstaff were left dumbfounded, none of them had expected Xu Meizhu to leave so resolutely.
Especially the owner’s wife, who thought she was dreaming; she never expected the little vixen in her eyes to leave so easily.
She turned her head, her gaze sweeping over the few ugly waitstaff, and her hanging heart finally settled.
Outside the shop.
Xu Meizhu first let out a deep breath, then immediately replied to Yang Hao on the micro-messaging app: I’ve resigned, waiting for Hao’s summon!