“So, you guys have been looking for jobs for so many days and haven’t found any?”
In the Bun Shop, Lin Chuxia asked after hearing what Jia Liang had to say.
Jia Liang scratched his Bald head, “Sort of. You know how it is, jobs are hard to find. So many of the youths who have returned to the countryside still can’t get settled, and we don’t even dare to dream about a government bowl of rice. Private businesses don’t have that many vacancies either. Houzi’s a bit better off, but with my looks, people shoo me away the moment they see me.”
What he didn’t mention was that they had indeed found a job not long ago, but within a couple of days, their boss, as wary of them as one would be of a thief, found some excuse to fire them.
Someone had recognized them and secretly informed the boss. Since then, it became even harder for them to find work.
Today they were just wandering the streets and when they heard that a sizable Bun Shop had opened in the area, they thought they’d try their luck. To their surprise, the owner of the Bun Shop was Lin Chuxia.
While the two were talking, Houzi came back.
Seeing Lin Chuxia, where was the attitude he had when facing Sixth just now? He first smiled politely at Lin Chuxia, and then said to Jia Liang, “I got it all clear. Sixth did have someone summon him over; it’s the sesame cake shop right diagonally across from us. They’re somewhat related to one of Sixth’s underlings. They wanted to bring some guys over to scare Boss Lin and mess with their business, hoping it wouldn’t be able to open at all.”
There were quite a few people running their own businesses on this street, and Lin Chuxia was also aware of that sesame cake shop.
She initially thought that the food factory’s deli was their biggest competitor, but unexpectedly, a sesame cake shop which didn’t exactly compete with their business, was trying to cause trouble.
But that’s not quite right, it couldn’t be said to be completely unrelated.
With the opening of their Bun Shop, surely some of the people from this street who come for breakfast would choose them, which indeed would impact the sesame cake shop.
Lin Chuxia didn’t care about this matter anymore and turned to Jia Liang and Houzi instead, “Would you two be willing to work with me?”
Jia Liang and Houzi were both stunned. They looked at each other, still somewhat uncertain, “Do you really want us to work here? You know what we used to do.”
Lin Chuxia nodded, “I know. Since you guys are willing to take my advice and turn over a new leaf, I’m also willing to give you a helping hand and provide you with a job opportunity.”
Jia Liang smiled, “We brothers have never done this work, so don’t be mad at us if we’re slow and clumsy.”
“Eating is one bite at a time, work is done one step at a time. As long as you’re willing, I believe there is nothing you can’t do.”
“Alright, then we’ll work with Boss Lin.”
Jia Liang hammered out the decision, and Houzi was a bit excited.
They had a job now, a proper one.
“You’re called Jia Liang, and you’re called Hou…”
“Hou Xiaobao,” Houzi added, “Boss, you can call me Houzi or Xiaobao, either is fine.”
Lin Chuxia couldn’t help but laugh and called over Su Wensong, “Brother Su, these two are our new staff members, Jia Liang and Hou Xiaobao. Starting today, they’ll follow you. You see what sort of work fits them, and assign some tasks so they can get the hang of things.”
Su Wensong had recognized Hou Xiaobao from outside just now. It had been him and Lin Chuxia who had chased this kid down.
Seeing Jia Liang’s attitude towards those people, he also guessed the origins of the two.
He didn’t know why the boss wanted to keep these two to work in the shop, but he didn’t ask further, just took the two away with a single response.
Qin Han had been wiping the counter not far away, almost rubbing the paint off the counter.
Finally, after Su Wensong took the people away, he hurried over, “Little sister-in-law, are you really planning to let those two work in our shop? They don’t look like good people to me.”
Oh, what a sin, little sister-in-law hiring some young and handsome guys makes people worry, hiring these misfits makes people worry even more.
If his second brother knew that he was standing by, watching his little sister-in-law deal with these kinds of people, he would sever brotherly ties with him.
Lin Chuxia reassured, “It’s okay, Brother. I met them before, and we’ve had a few interactions. Although they’ve done some disreputable things before, these two now want to follow the right path, and we can’t generalize about them. Besides, they just helped us out.”
From the last time she saw them, their clothes were the same, no longer flashy like before, and even a bit shabby.
The most important thing was Jia Liang; he seemed to have lost some weight.
The fact that they didn’t revert to their old ways even after not finding jobs for so long showed they really wanted to reform.
Seeing Qin Han still looking conflicted, Lin Chuxia lowered her voice a bit and said, “Brother, didn’t you notice that those people just now showed a lot of respect to them? You can think of me hiring these two to hold down the fort.”
Qin Han’s eyes brightened. Oh yes, if those people knew that these two were working in the shop, they would surely not dare to trouble the shop so easily.
He had been concerned that after driving those people away today, they might come back to make trouble later.
His little sister-in-law was indeed farsighted.
During the meal rush, the Bun Shop was even busier with customers. The dining hall was almost full.
Qin Wu and Zhou Hongmei, a couple, were at the takeout window taking care of selling buns and deli items.
The rest were all serving the diners in the hall.
Qin Han was busy behind the counter handling cash and issuing tickets, Zhang Guilan and Sun Bingnan were in charge of serving customers, while Chen Chunhua took care of clearing up the bowls and utensils after customers had finished.
The staff all had their own tasks and everything was running smoothly despite the crowd.
Zhang Guilan noticed that the cold dishes were almost sold out, so she said to Sun Bingnan, “I’ll go and prepare some more; Xiao Sun, you take care of the customers here.”
In her half month at the old shop, she had learned to make buns and prepare cold dishes, and even the deli procedures she and her husband were perfectly clear on.
The employees each had their own duties, but only they, as a couple, understood all the tasks, showing that little sister-in-law really didn’t consider them outsiders.
The more Zhang Guilan knew, the more she wanted to do her job well. The longer she stayed at the shop, the more she admired her little sister-in-law.
Take today’s Bun Shop opening, for instance. They made three times the usual amount of deli items, and she was dizzy looking at the quantity.
Even though the weather was cooler, repeatedly boiling deli items affects the taste and, if left for too long, also affects the shop’s reputation, which is what little sister-in-law often told them.
As a result, by just past noon, most of the deli items were sold, and both the smoked chicken and the pig’s head meat were sold out.
If it were like usual days, how much money would they have lost? No wonder little sister-in-law was insightful.
Lin Chuxia took a round and also took in the results for the day.
Especially with the deli section, they offered a 10% discount on the opening day, and many customers who were accustomed to buying deli from the food factory turned to their place instead.
She believed that after tasting the deli from their shop, it would definitely attract some customers.
Just then, a figure walked in from the door. Li Jian looked at her with a beaming smile, “Business for Boss Lin is getting bigger and bigger. If I hadn’t seen the sign outside, I wouldn’t have known that you’ve opened a branch in the city.”