19 Chapter 19: Turnover
Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
As soon as they opened for business, Qiu Chen and the others came to help. Seeing that there were no customers, the four of them played the part of actors and pretended to be customers, sitting in the most conspicuous place.
Having witnessed the whole process, Jiang Feng: …
These four people are really wasting their talents not studying acting.
The first customer was the girl from noon who had finished her vegetable juice, coming alone with no sign of her boyfriend.
“Nine Turns Intestine!” the girl sat down as usual by the window seat she had taken at noon, “Do you still serve plum juice in the evening?”
“We don’t have plum juice in the evening, but we offer a small bowl of porridge, you can choose between preserved egg and lean pork porridge or black rice porridge,” Jiang Feng replied.
“Black rice porridge, black rice porridge, and also a bowl of white rice,” the girl quickly said.
Liu Zixuan, who overheard their conversation, couldn’t help but glance sideways. The girl looked quite slim, but she had a big appetite!
The girl also noticed Liu Zixuan and leaned over to ask, “Are you guys also from UAL University?”
Liu Zixuan nodded.
The girl obviously loved to chat and took the initiative to strike up a conversation, “This place is delicious, but it’s just too expensive.”
“Not expensive, not expensive at all!” Liu Zixuan hastily endorsed the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, “This is our Chess Club president’s family’s restaurant. They bought the place and went into a lot of debt to open this restaurant!”
!!..
“Your president’s family owns it? Hey, what kind of club are you from?” the girl asked curiously.
“Chess Club,” Liu Zixuan’s eyes lit up, “Hey, would you like to join our Chess Club? We recruit from all years, and club members get a… get a… ”
“Get a ten percent discount,” Jiang Feng said as he came out with the black rice porridge, “Club members get a discount across the board.”
The Chess Club, including Jiang Feng, only had eight people, and they had only managed to recruit Liu Zixuan, a new member, last year. The club barely had any activities; at most, they would occasionally gather for a meal, and a few chess enthusiasts would get together to play chess. They had never ranked in any competitions, and were basically a club of loafers.
If they couldn’t recruit any new members this year, the Chess Club was going to go under.
“Senior, I’m Liu Qian from the Chinese Literature department, can I add you on WeChat? I’ll come to sign up when the club does its recruitment in a couple of days!” Liu Qian said excitedly.
“Do you know how to play chess?” Jiang Feng had to make sure he wasn’t recruiting members who couldn’t play chess.
“Yes, yes, I often play chess with my dad at home!” Liu Qian claimed.
“Welcome to the Chess Club, fellow student, I’m the president, Jiang Feng,” Jiang Feng said warmly.
“I’m the vice-president, Qiu Chen.” Seeing they actually attracted a new member, Qiu Chen hurried over to greet her.
“I’m Liu Zixuan.”
“Zhao Yang.”
“Zhao Yu.”
“Zhao Yu, hurry up and get the club application form for junior Liu Qian to fill out!” urged Qiu Chen.
“Right, right.” Zhao Yu quickly took out a stack of club application forms from his bag and even had a pen ready.
Liu Qian: …
What kind of club members carry club application forms with them everywhere?
Under the “supervision” of Qiu Chen, Liu Qian finished filling out the club application form and then turned her attention to the black rice porridge.
She didn’t usually drink porridge, choosing the black rice version only because she had a sweet tooth and didn’t know much about porridges. She just thought this bowl looked delicious and pretty, with rice that was thick and sticky, and it smelled wonderfully sweet as well.
The first taste was smooth, the temperature just right, the black rice was thick but elastic, the oats added a nice chew, sweet enough but not cloying.
“President!” Liu Qian finished a small bowl of porridge in a few gulps, “How much do you sell the black rice porridge for?”
“Ten yuan a bowl, with a side dish included,” Jiang Feng said.
“I’ll take one bowl, no, make that two!”
“Do you still want rice?” Jiang Feng asked.
“Yes!”
The four people at the table all looked at Liu Qian at the same time.
Liu Zixuan cleverly came forward to collect the bowls and took the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen for two sips of porridge.
Around 5:30 pm, customers began to trickle in. The promotion of giving away free porridge seemed to attract more newcomers than the plum drink offer, and revisits like Liu Qian’s—from lunch to dinner—were rare since the price was obvious; eating here every day would triple one’s monthly food expenses at least.
With more customers in the restaurant, Qiu Chen and others stopped acting as fill-ins and started helping out, shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the dining hall, very busy.
The evening business was better than at noon. The first floor was completely full, so guests were directed to the large round tables on the second floor, and it wasn’t until 9 pm that they closed up.
“Everyone has worked hard. Come on, eat up,” Mr. Jiang Jiankang called out, “I really thank you all. It’s the first day our restaurant opened, we weren’t well-prepared, and we don’t have enough staff yet, and it has been such an inconvenience for you guys.”
“Not at all, not at all. Uncle, if you need us, we can come every day!” Qiu Chen said joyfully with his mouth full of ribs.
Mr. Jiang Jiankang was never one to shortchange himself. The dishes he cooked for customers might have had issues like uneven seasoning or incorrect fire control, but the dishes he made for himself he always thought were his best performances.
The professors took away a pork knuckle at midday, and Jiang Jiankang was even more careful with the pork knuckle in the evening, slowly stewing it over low heat for who knows how long until every bit of it was infused with juiciness, tender to the extreme.
The group ate with such relish that they wished they could just stay in the restaurant forever.
Oh right, stay in the restaurant.
Liu Zixuan, who had the quickest mind, asked, “Feng, have you guys hired any part-timers yet?”
“No.” The job posting had only been out for half a day; how could they have hired anyone so quickly?
“How about us four? We can do all sorts of chores, even delivery. We don’t need to be paid, just provide us with two meals! I’ll come over right after my classes end, I won’t miss the meal times.” Having tasted Jiang Jiankang’s actual skills, Liu Zixuan felt it would be torture to go back to eating in the cafeteria.
The other three nodded in agreement.
“Okay, you’ll be covered for three meals, as long as you’re willing to come over in the morning,” Jiang Feng agreed, “I’ll find someone else who’s long-term and stable since you all have a lot of classes.”
The Physics department was known for its heavy course load.
“By the way, Hao, did you check your timetable? Whose class do we have tomorrow?” Jiang Feng asked.
“Let me see, it’s Professor Li’s from lunch today, Signal and System. We have three back-to-back classes tomorrow morning,” Wang Hao checked his phone, “Oh no, this Electromagnetics class is taught by Dean Zhang. I already failed his class last year. I’m done for, I’m definitely done for this year.”
Wang Hao quickly took a bite of pork knuckle to comfort his wounded heart.
After dinner, Wang Hao and his friends went back to their dorm first while Jiang Feng stayed to help Mr. Jiang Jiankang clean up the kitchen, and Mrs. Wang Xiulian tallied up the day’s takings.
“Oh my goodness, at this rate, we’ll be able to pay off my second brother’s debt by the end of the year,” exclaimed Mrs. Wang Xiulian, a trained accountant, as the calculator clicked away.
“How much did we make?” Jiang Jiankang asked curiously.
“Eleven thousand after costs,” Mrs. Wang Xiulian sighed, “The big city is really different. In our small place, it would take several days to earn this kind of revenue!”
Jiang Feng, who never knew their family restaurant could make so much money: …
Sir Jiang Weiguo was right after all, studying physics is not as good as learning to cook.