Chapter 34: Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 9 – Isn’t This Basically Handwritten PPT¹?

With the grand opening promotional plan Shi Lan had personally written, full of tricks and special offers, the shop might not have been packed to the brim on opening day, but calling it lively would not have been an exaggeration.

You had to wait for a table to eat.

You had to line up to place an order.

Especially outside the front of the shop, where they had opened a little service window offering half-price specials on their signature dishes, Braised Pork Belly, preserved mustard greens with pork belly, and tomato beef brisket. The line there stretched out like a winding dragon.

On opening day, aside from the flower baskets Shi Lan had ordered herself to create some buzz, people actually did send her some, and not just one.

The agent Xiao Liu, regular customer Qin Xiaohui, and Brother Wu, the chief foreman from the construction site…

They had all come at staggered times, so Shi Lan was able to spare a moment to thank each of them personally.

Brother Wu took a lap around the restaurant, still sounding rather dismissive. “Isn’t this still just selling boxed meals²? You just swapped the boxes for plates.”

“Pretty much. It’s a small business, after all.”

Brother Wu tucked his briefcase under his arm and clasped his hands behind his back. “With cooking like this, it’d be a shame not to open a proper restaurant.”

“You’re flattering me. I’m already nervous enough just opening a little shop like this. How would I dare invest heavily in a full restaurant? Besides, I don’t have that kind of capital.”

“Being cautious in business isn’t a bad thing.” But he still sounded dissatisfied. “Forget a full restaurant, even if you’d opened a little eatery, I could’ve brought you some banquet business. But this is still boxed meals. I can’t exactly invite people to dinner and have everyone carry around their own tray, can I?”

Shi Lan pictured the scene and found it pretty funny herself.

Liu Haifeng didn’t stay in the shop long. He dropped off the flower basket and left, as if he were afraid Shi Lan might stop him to say a few more words.

Qin Xiaohui, on the other hand, had time to order and eat. When she left, Shi Lan packed up some food for her. Remembering that she didn’t like fatty meat, she only packed her a big box of tomato beef brisket.

The young woman was delighted.

Now that this side was open for business, Shi Lan was thinking that once things gradually got on track, she could shift her focus to the Western fast food shop and get that one up and running too.

Mr. Bread had only been renovated. It was still sitting there unopened.

There were two reasons the two shops weren’t opening at the same time. First, so they wouldn’t compete with each other for traffic. Second, so their brand positioning could be clearly established from the very beginning.

But wherever there are people, there will be headaches.

The restaurant had opened in a rush, and all the employees were newly hired. Even though they had gone through training before starting work, some people clearly hadn’t taken that pre-job training seriously at all.

Li Xia had been with Shi Lan the longest. She quietly told Shi Lan that one of the employees had very poor hygiene habits. She had even jokingly reminded him before, but not only had he failed to change, he had accused her of sticking her nose where it didn’t belong, saying, “That’s how we do it at home too.”

Seeing that, the others had all chosen to turn a blind eye.

Shi Lan took note of it and kept an eye on him. It was indeed true.

The first two times she spoke up to remind him, the employee had agreed readily enough to her face, and he had made some changes, but far from enough.

The third time happened during the staff dinner that evening.

There was a side dish on the table, tofu soup, plain and light. The employee thought it was too bland, so he directly picked up a piece of tofu with his chopsticks, lifted the lid off the jar of chili oil set out on the dining table for customers to use themselves, and dipped the white tofu into the red oil mixed with sesame seeds. When he lifted his chopsticks, the tofu was bright red and looked delicious.

“Tofu has to be eaten like this.” The employee didn’t think there was anything wrong at all. He was even rather pleased with his own cleverness.

Shi Lan felt her anger rising straight out the top of her head. She set down her chopsticks with a dark expression and looked at that employee.

After gulping down one steaming-hot piece, he was about to prepare a second one the same way.

Some people at the table had already noticed Shi Lan’s displeasure and put down their chopsticks as well. Only that employee remained completely oblivious.

“Eat up, why aren’t you eating? Can’t reach the chili jar?” As he spoke, he even pushed the chili jar toward the middle of the table.

The person beside him kicked him under the table.

Only then did the employee realize the atmosphere was off.

Shi Lan said nothing. She let the silence hang there for nearly two minutes, putting enough psychological pressure on everyone present, before she finally spoke in an unhurried tone.

She said to that employee, “Finish this meal, and don’t come tomorrow. Go find another job…”

The employee refused to accept it. “Why?!”

Shi Lan said, “Would anyone like to tell him why?”

Everyone kept their heads down. No one spoke.

The girl beside the employee, the one who had just tried to warn him, spoke up to plead for him. “Boss, it’s just a small thing. It doesn’t have to go this far, does it? We’ll definitely remind him to be more careful in the future.”

Shi Lan smiled. She asked the girl, “You think this is a small thing?”

The girl grew uneasy at the sight of her smile, but still forced herself to explain, “He just isn’t used to it yet. In his hometown, they’re used to dipping food in shared sauce³. Everyone dips into the same bowl.”

That male employee also said, “Yeah, boss, you probably don’t know, but that’s what makes it close. If you don’t eat together like that, it feels distant.”

Shi Lan paid no attention to what he said. She swept her gaze around the room and asked, “Does anyone else think treating the chili jar meant for customers’ self-service as dipping sauce is just a small matter?”

Silence.

Everyone lowered their heads even further.

Shi Lan said, “Go on, speak up. It’s a new era now, we’re supposed to be democratic, aren’t we? Tell me what you think. If you think I shouldn’t fire him over such a minor issue, feel free to speak up.”

The male employee muttered, “It wasn’t even a big deal to begin with. I only dipped it once, and you can’t even tell.”

Silence, still silence. No one else said a word in his defense.

Shi Lan stood up and went to the back office to get some money.

When the girl who had spoken up for him saw the cash in Shi Lan’s hand, she panicked. “Boss, I…”

Shi Lan stopped her from speaking and split the money into two portions, handing one to each of them.

“According to our contract, if either side wants to terminate it unilaterally, one month’s notice is required in advance. Up to today, you’ve worked a total of fourteen days. I’ll count that as half a month. This is half a month’s wages, plus one month’s compensation. That’s 675 yuan in total. Count it and confirm the amount. Then sign your name here on the wage settlement record.” She handed over a notebook.

The male employee’s face turned livid. He clearly hadn’t expected Shi Lan to be serious.

The girl burst into tears on the spot, probably feeling wronged and aggrieved.

Shi Lan returned to her seat and picked up her chopsticks again. She said only one sentence: “There is no such thing as a small food hygiene issue. This is the most basic rule for anyone working in food service. I don’t care what other shops are like. In my shop, work must be done in strict accordance with safety regulations.”

She simply continued eating and even told the others to eat as well.

But as for how many of them could still taste anything after that, that was another matter.

In truth, Shi Lan herself was chewing without tasting a thing. It was the first time she’d ever fired anyone, and her hands were shaking. But she had to hold the scene together.

She looked young, and people often overlooked what she said. At the very least, she had to make people feel that although she was usually gentle, she wouldn’t go soft at critical moments, and that when she spoke, her words carried weight. That was the only way she could keep the shop running.

The two employees who had received severance pay remained in a standoff for a while, but in the end they still signed and left on the spot. To be honest, Shi Lan had been quite decent about it. No other boss would have paid compensation.

That meal ended in a stifling atmosphere. Shi Lan insisted on staying seated until the very end, and the employees stayed to the very end with her.

Sigh. If this happened a few more times, she’d probably end up with indigestion.

The shop was now short two people, so they had to hire again. Shi Lan posted a recruitment notice outside the restaurant.

From that day on, she noticed a major change in the attitude of the current employees toward her, and in their work ethic as well.

Every work procedure was carried out strictly, and even the chef’s uniform in the back kitchen seemed about a shade whiter.

When Li Xia greeted her, she called her “Boss” now. Her tone was respectful, but also much more restrained.

There was nothing to be done about that. You gain some, you lose some. This was only one shop for now, but in the future she was planning to build a chain and open branch locations. Store operations and employee management had to follow rules and structure. Otherwise, it would forever remain nothing more than a slapdash operation⁴.

At the end-of-month settlement, aside from handing out the base salaries, she also distributed bonuses in public according to the rules they had set earlier.

Those who performed well got bigger bonuses. Those who made too many mistakes got no bonus at all.

And each time she handed one out, she clearly explained the reasons for the reward or the deduction.

The bonuses were given out fairly and impartially, with everything laid out in the open.

Naturally, those who received bonuses were happy, while those who got nothing could not help but feel uneasy, afraid they might be fired again.

Shi Lan knew those people were nervous, but she did not reassure them. Otherwise, people would start to think making mistakes was no big deal.

Before the monthly meeting ended, she announced, “I’m planning to choose a Deputy Store Manager. If anyone is interested, you can come talk to me in private. Of course, there will be an evaluation and a probation period. On the other hand, because the responsibilities are different, even during probation, the salary will increase.”

After saying that, she left without caring how the employees reacted.

They needed time and space to discuss it.

The next day, two people came to her and said they were willing to be the Deputy Store Manager.

One was Li Xia, who had been working with Shi Lan since the street-stall days and was still living with her in the small courtyard.

The other was a male employee named Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei had studied at a secondary vocational teachers’ school⁵ and had also taught at a school, but without an official post⁶, he had only been a contract worker. He had no salary, only a monthly allowance of 120 yuan.

He also could not enjoy the other benefits that full-time teachers received.

He had held on for two years, but in the end he simply could not keep going. Ignoring his parents’ objections, he quit his school job and came out to find work.

He had worked in factories and in other restaurants, but nothing had been stable. Either the factory was doing badly and could not pay wages, or the restaurant owner thought there were too many staff and started cutting people.

He was a rather pitiful sort with a bit more education than most.

Shi Lan said, “Since there are two of you, you’ll need to compete a little. First, think about what a Deputy Store Manager should do, from your own perspective, and what you would do after taking the position. Come talk to me once you’ve got your ideas sorted out. After that, we’ll move on to rotation and probation.”

Setting ability aside for the moment, both of them were quick and efficient when it came to work.

In less than two days, both came to Shi Lan and said they had some preliminary ideas.

So after business hours, Shi Lan arranged a meeting and had all the employees come listen to the two candidates’ ideas and plans.

The meeting was not all that formal. She even had the head chef cut up some fruit for everyone to eat together.

That also made the two people speaking in front of everyone a little less nervous.

“Choosing a Deputy Store Manager affects the shop’s future arrangements and development, so everyone should listen together. I’ll count this as overtime pay for all of you.”

With Shi Lan saying that, the atmosphere improved quite a bit. They did not have to do any work, just sit there listening to people talk big, and they could get overtime pay and fruit and snacks too. What could be better?

When Shi Lan saw that the other employees were no longer acting like it had nothing to do with them and were now all smiles, she asked the two Deputy Store Manager candidates, “Who wants to go first?”

Li Xia and Zhang Wei raised their hands at the same time.

Zhang Wei yielded politely. “Ladies first.”

Li Xia did not stand on ceremony and immediately began explaining her ideas. She had even prepared a speech draft.

After she finished, the crowd of onlookers all cheered and applauded enthusiastically. Shi Lan nodded without commenting and directly asked Zhang Wei to begin.

Zhang Wei stood up and handed two sheets of paper to Shi Lan. She gave them a quick look. The main points had been sorted and categorized clearly.

“Boss, while I’m speaking, you can follow along with these.”

Shi Lan was actually a little pleasantly surprised. Wasn’t this basically the same as showing her a handwritten PPT?

She looked at Zhang Wei with a complicated expression. He really was born to be an employee.

Although Li Xia also had a speech draft, from the audience’s perspective her speech had been more like a stream of consciousness, saying whatever came to mind.

Zhang Wei, on the other hand, had thought to organize the structure and key points of his speech for her, the listener. His thinking was clear, and he was able to express everything he wanted to say.

No matter what else, on this point alone, Zhang Wei had the edge.

Translator’s Notes