Xue Guangxi and Kang Sola established the perfect teamwork between them. As agreed, Kang Sola recommended Xue Guangxi to the café where she worked and got hired on-the-spot. She also made him tag along wherever she had gigs in.At first, Xue Guangxi did not know how to adjust to the requirements of the work. For instance, at the café, he was expected to clean tables and get orders and wash dishes, and serve the orders he received, and man the cas.h.i.+er if there was no one available around.
In the few hours of his first day, he just stood there, staggering on his feet on which small task to prioritize. Automatically and certainly, he did not prioritize cleaning and was.h.i.+ng the dishes, and he did not have the strong technical skill set yet in operating the machine, so he focused on getting orders and manning the cas.h.i.+er. In that aspect, he sort of excelled, being the sociable people person that he was. He used his charms to get to the hearts of young ladies, and the good side of a bit older ladies. To the gentlemen both young and seasoned, he used common ground – common interests such as sports and business news as small talk to ease things out between him and the customers. In just a few hours, he became the crowd favorite.
However, he failed considerably in his other tasks such as cleaning. On his first day, he forgot to wipe off the spill on the countertop until the boss spotted it and scolded him for it. Sola, unfortunately, wasn"t there to s.h.i.+eld him.
He apologized, but because he spent the majority of his time during his s.h.i.+ft to build customer relations.h.i.+p and trust, and provide good customer service, he incurred several backlog and pending activities behind the counter such as dishwas.h.i.+ng.
Kang Sola, once she returned from receiving the store"s stock at the backend of the café, got to work on those pending activities.
When Xue Guangxi saw that Kang Sola silently provided him a backup, he became dreaded with guilt all over, and again, he apologized.
"I feel bad, Sola. Sorry."
"No worries." Kang Sola retorted with a gentle, understanding smile. "You"re new here. You cannot do it all at once. I"m staff here, too, so don"t think about it too much. Just save my a.s.s next time. Now go to the cas.h.i.+er. A customer is coming in."
Scratching his head in embarra.s.sment, he nodded as he pledged within himself to be better so that he could lend Sola a hand in the future. After all, aside from learning "real-life" for himself, he was there to look after Kang Sola too. He should be able to lift her responsibilities by half just by being there for her, and not the other way around.
At night, Xue Guangxi spent a considerable amount of time at his Xu-Jie"s apartment, helping out Sola edit her vlogs. For now, Kang Sola resorted to capturing "mukbang" [1] vlogs, reaction and conversational videos instead of the more energy-intensive vlog posts of how her day went or featuring a place or a topic around her.
Xue Guangxi was creative, but he did not expect how tedious video editing could get, especially at first, when he still did not know Kang Sola"s palette and appet.i.te in terms of background music, lighting and overall presentation and flow of her vlogs. On his first night editing videos, he ended up snoozing every hour starting at around ten in the evening. By midnight, he was completely knocked down.
In the end, Kang Sola finished the video editing at around two in the morning. She settled in her room while yawning, but before she finally settled in for the night, she draped a thick blanket across the lad"s shoulders whose face was buried on his arms on the table and who slept sitting down.
"He must be extremely tired today." With a hint of worry, she tapped him gently by his shoulder and simply allowed him to sleep with whatever position he was already in so as no to disturb hid already deep sleep.
---
At the Xue Mansion, Butler Lee reported to Xue Minhe, the next-in-line leader of the Xue Family all the whereabouts of his brother, Xue Guangxi. He heard from Butler Lee how his little brother"s working feat had been.
Early on, Xue Guangxi called him to ask for his advice and guidance and implied approval on his plan to work part-time on menial jobs.
"What do you think about it?" The lad asked worriedly. He wanted approval and support from a trusted family member so badly.
"It"s a great idea. I appreciate that you take the initiative to learn, Guangxi. You"ll realize that there"s no such thing as a small job – too small to be taken for granted. Each task needs an ample amount of concentration, skill, and brains."
"So do you approve?"
"Of course."
"But Mother and Father…"
"You have my support. I"ll explain it to them and package it in a way that they will understand and accept. Just take care of yourself and don"t overdo it. I won"t be able to answer for you if you get sick while doing so."
"I understand, Brother! Thank you!!!" The lad hung up the phone after getting the approval that he wanted.
At home, Xue Guangxi somewhat told Xue Jinxu, too, that he would be busy with part-time work, and intentionally left the part that he let someone live inside her apartment. Just like the twin brother, Xue Jinxu relayed her full support to her little brother. She was exceedingly pleased.
A few days after, she learned about the apartment. Instead of revealing to Kang Sola and Xue Guangxi that she already knew, she kept in within herself. She had rolled her eyes when she heard of it from Butler Lee.
"They think they can hide something like that, huh? Haha." She told Butler Lee, quite amused before she popped a tangerine onto her mouth.
"Honey, you heard Butler Lee?"
"En. Does Guangxi live there too?"
"No, Sir." Butler Lee confirmed.
"Mhm. I don"t see anything wrong with that. Let them have the independence that they want. We"ll just watch over them from afar."
"That"s what I think, too." Xue Jinxu leaned on her husband"s left arm amorously. "Hopefully they will both come to terms with reality. Those kids are good, but they"re still too naïve."
"We"re once like that, too."
"Agree."
Thus, Xue Guangxi and Kang Sola continued with their setup. A few more times, Xue Guangxi broke a few cups and saucers during his s.h.i.+ft, which would be deducted from his pay. Initially, he would stare at the mop and cleaning props for a long while planning how to use it to clean gingerly. He got scolded for those instances, which made him feel a lot worse because he"s messing up in front of Kang Sola, and because the tasks seemed simple, yet, he"s struggling.
But, after a week and more practice, Xue Guangxi seemingly improved a lot, and with a bright smile on his proud face, he tackled one menial task after another with flying colors, and caught the pace of the workplace, too.
[1] vlogs that feature food-tasting and review and small talk in between