Chapter 354: "When will Boss Shen visit the set next time?
Chapter 354: Chapter 354: "When will Boss Shen visit the set next time?
Xue Can pursed his lips into a smile but didn’t say anything.
On one hand, he loved Shen Lu’s cooking. On the other, he also wanted to do something for her.
After the two ordered, Shen Lu went to the back kitchen to get busy.
About ten minutes later, Shen Lu brought out Li Zexing’s grilled fish, then served two dishes to Xue Can and Jiang Gong.
Jiang Gong eagerly took a bite. With just that one bite, his eyes widened.
"This is so delicious!" After swallowing the food, Jiang Gong was utterly amazed. "And it really has a special effect, just like you said."
Xue Can picked up his food and ate in a slow, deliberate manner. "Savor it while you can."
It might not be around forever.
Jiang Gong immediately understood the deeper meaning behind his words. "Does Boss Shen have some kind of backing? Daring to sell this kind of food, isn’t she afraid of being targeted?"
"I tried to talk her out of it, but she’s insistent."
"Man, you’ve got your work cut out for you." Jiang Gong patted Xue Can sympathetically, then happily dug into his food.
After serving all of Jiang Gong’s and Xue Can’s dishes, Shen Lu stood at the front counter and watched for a while. Half an hour passed. There were quite a few customers for the fast food, but none for the premium à la carte menu.
Occasionally, people would ask, but they were put off as soon as they heard the prices.
The cost of one dish in the booth area was enough for three days of fast food.
For the average worker, it was a terrible deal.
Shen Lu didn’t feel discouraged. The beginning is always the hardest. It was perfectly normal for the booth area to have few customers on its first official day of business.
After all, the prices were truly high, offering very low value for the money to ordinary people.
After Li Zexing finished eating, he asked for his leftovers to be packed up, put his mask back on, and scanned his payment to Shen Lu.
Before leaving, he asked, "Boss Shen, when are you visiting the set next?"
Shen Lu’s mouth twitched. "We’ll see."
’It’s not like I have that many things to ask for his help with.’
Li Zexing gave a faint nod, got into an inconspicuous car, and sped away.
Mo Bei and the others had wanted to leave with Xue Can, but he waved his hand, telling them to go do whatever they wanted; he wasn’t returning to the stronghold for now.
So, Mo Bei and his group took their packed leftovers and left first.
Deng Ying cleared the table and served Jiang Gong and Xue Can a cup of hot tea after their meal.
Shen Lu understood they weren’t leaving because of Sang Yue. Jiang Gong probably wanted to ask how she’d been doing these past few days.
Shen Lu secretly pursed her lips. ’Sang Yue is definitely going to complain her heart out.’
Because of Sang Yue, the fast food section’s opening had been pushed back by half an hour today.
By the time they finished the rush and hung up the "Closed" sign, it was already three o’clock.
Shen Lu casually stir-fried a couple of dishes for the staff meal. As they all sat down to eat, Xin Yu couldn’t help but complain, "If you don’t know how to do something, you should just honestly follow the rules. You’re working us to death."
Sang Yue pouted resentfully, finding it hard to swallow the fragrant food.
But she didn’t feel she had done anything wrong, so the two words "I’m sorry" were impossible for her to say.
Shen Lu cleared her throat. "Less talking, more eating."
After eating, Shen Lu still had to deliver a meal to Yang Jing.
When she arrived at the sheet-metal house, Yang Jing was staring blankly out the window.
Her body was getting better day by day, faster than she had expected.
She reckoned she could get out of bed and work tomorrow.
But she wouldn’t be working tomorrow. She had to go out and finalize her divorce with Liu Qiang.
Shen Lu called for Yang Jing to sit down and eat. "Mom, it was a bit busy today, so lunch is a little late."
Yang Jing nodded and sat down, eating heartily under the gazes of Liu Qiang and Liu Yaozu.
The father and son duo simultaneously swallowed their saliva. They hadn’t had a proper meal in days and were starving for it.
Yang Jing ate quickly, finishing everything in five minutes.
She carried her bowl and walked out with Shen Lu.
"Little Deer, your father and I are getting divorced tomorrow."
When Yang Jing said this, her expression was calm, as if she were discussing the day’s weather with Shen Lu.
Shen Lu couldn’t help but glance at her. Based on her understanding of Yang Jing, shouldn’t she be acting like the sky was falling when talking about something like this?
This was a bit too out of character.
"I..." Yang Jing suddenly found it hard to speak. "I have something I need to ask for your help with."
"Tell me what it is first. I’ll help if I can."
"I want to keep working for you, is that okay?"
Shen Lu nodded. "Of course. You do your job just fine. I won’t... My boss doesn’t fire employees for no reason."
"Also, I want to find a new place to live. I don’t want to live with them anymore." Yang Jing sighed. "I probably won’t get any money from the divorce. When the time comes, can you lend me some money so I can rent a place from Granny Jin?"
’She’s already planned things out this far?’
Shen Lu’s eyes widened slightly. She thought for a moment, then said, "Let’s talk about the loan when the time comes."
Yang Jing wasn’t disappointed. She hummed in acknowledgment and walked Shen Lu to the back door of the restaurant before returning to the sheet-metal house.
Shen Lu felt a little strange. After putting the bowl in the kitchen, her mind was still preoccupied with the matter.
Jiang Gong and Sang Yue had finished their chat. It was unclear what they talked about, but Jiang Gong’s eyes were full of admiration and sympathy. When he left, he gave Sang Yue a brand-new Light Brain.
"It’s more convenient to stay in touch with a Light Brain. Sang Yue, you’re my savior, so don’t refuse it."
Sang Yue readily accepted it. She had already figured out that a Light Brain was like a mobile phone, and having one would indeed be very convenient.
After seeing Jiang Gong off, there was still some time before dinner, so Shen Lu finally had a moment to deal with the incident from lunchtime.
Xue Can still had a few days’ worth of staff meals to eat, so he didn’t leave with Jiang Gong. He tactfully took Xiao Lang to the greenhouse for a lesson.
Since there was no office, Shen Lu gathered everyone in the booth area. After they sat down, she glanced around at the group and said to Cai Su, "Sister Cai, tell us what happened at lunch."
Sang Yue bit her lip, a little displeased. From her perspective, this was Shen Lu’s way of siding with Cai Su.
Cai Su had never been one to stir up trouble. Without embellishing or exaggerating, she recounted the incident exactly as it had happened.
"...Our restaurant is short-staffed, and we have a set amount for how many dishes we can make each day. When she adds an extra half-scoop, the ingredients get used up faster. The back kitchen can’t keep up with the orders, so customers have to wait. When there are a lot of people and the wait is long, it’s easy for problems to arise."
"But I was also thinking of the customer, and of the restaurant," Sang Yue retorted, unconvinced. "The customer is king. And it’s not like he asked for an extra half-scoop of a meat dish—it was just half a scoop of shredded potatoes! How much could that possibly cost? If you give customers a little extra, our restaurant’s reputation will improve. Through word of mouth, more customers will come to spend money. It’s positive promotion."
Cai Su gave Sang Yue a speechless look and was about to retort when Shen Lu spoke first.
"I understand the situation now. It’s not a serious issue." Shen Lu looked at Sang Yue. "Miss Sang, you’ll work with me for a day tomorrow."
"Huh?" Sang Yue didn’t understand why, but she agreed. It was a perfect opportunity, as she wanted to learn from Shen Lu how to run a restaurant anyway.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Shen Lu borrowed Fu Cheng’s car and took Sang Yue to the vegetable market.
The vegetable market in the Lower City District was dirty and dilapidated. Although there was no sewage flowing everywhere, the smell was extremely pungent. Rickety sheets of metal on the roof overhead swayed in the wind, looking as if they could come crashing down at any moment.