Chapter 441: Chapter 442 Xuanxuan Fast Food Restaurant
w.a.n.g Jie’s EQ was directly proportional to his IQ. He loved Dong Xiaoye and unilaterally treated me as a love rival. He deliberately regarded Gong Fanlin’s criminal behavior as the outburst of the pent up grudge because I used to bully Gong Fanlin, and repeatedly asked me ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, trying to trick me into admitting that it was because I was also pursuing Ziyuan that it forced Gong Fanlin to break the law to compete with me…
From this, it could be seen that Lin Zhi, who was tormented by Xu Heng’s case, really ran out of people to use. He actually let this idiot who most likely became a police officer through some connections take charge of Gong Fanlin’s case.
I actually felt so speechless that I wasn’t even mad at what he was doing. Dong Xiaoye clearly knew why he made things difficult for me, but she still didn’t want to help me at all.
She believed that as long as she didn’t help me, it would prove that there was nothing going on between us, but in the eyes of w.a.n.g Jie, it was because she was feeling guilty that she didn’t want to help me… In the end, I simply gave up trying to correct this poor jealous guy’s twisted mindset. I simply nodded at every question he asked.
It wasn’t until three o’clock in the afternoon that w.a.n.g Jie finally felt tired and ended the investigation. Although he didn’t get anything useful from me, he opinionatedly believed that this case was a relationship dispute and successfully portrayed me as someone of a similar nature as Gong Fanlin. When he left Fengchang with other police officers, he was very satisfied with what he got, thinking that Mo Yizhi would definitely fire me because I was the root cause. But what he didn’t know was that I also wished Mo Yizhi could fire me…
It’s really true that pretty women can bring trouble. Ziyuan had just started working in the investment department not long ago, but no one expected that the arrival of her would cause such a thing to happen in the investment department.
Long Shan was right. Leaving Bei Tian city and working at some other places for some time may not be a bad choice. At least, Dong Xiaoye didn’t have to follow me everywhere to protect me, and I didn’t have to worry about my parents seeing her living in my flat all the time.
…
Every summer, my stepmother’s fast food restaurant would operate like a cold drink shop. In the hot summer, there were more people who came into the restaurant to escape from the heat than to eat, so cold drinks were more popular than meals.
It was six o’clock when I arrived at my stepmother’s fast food restaurant, but the restaurant was still fully packed.
Although my stepmother always acted like a child, she was very smart; so much so that even my old man would feel inferior to her. The predecessor of my stepmother’s fast-food restaurant was actually a Sichuan-flavored restaurant, and before that was a cafe…
The restaurant was situated at the center of several big companies and there were many white-collar workers pa.s.sing by the door every day. Normally, even if opening a catering business at such a location was not very profitable, it would not lose money. But the strange thing was that the previous owners of this place were all heavily in debt after they started their business here.
Therefore, when my stepmother wanted to take over this place, my old man strongly opposed it. He even invited his colleague who understood Feng Shui to check the geographic features of this place. After checking, his colleague repeatedly shook his head, saying that the structure of the building wasn’t square enough, and the corners of the building were too sharp, which would attract evil spirits. He even said that because there were windows on both sides of the building, the fortune would flow in from one side and then flow out from the other side, so opening a business here would definitely lose money…
But my stepmother didn’t believe it at all and insisted on opening a restaurant here. In order to change my old man’s mind, she even asked me to support her as well. Although my old man was a teacher, sometimes he could be very superst.i.tious. But even so, he was still not my opponent.
My stepmother was very happy after I finally convinced my old man to agree with her, but because of that, I was scolded by my old man continuously for three months.
When the shop opened, my stepmother did not listen to the advice of my old man’s colleague. She didn’t place any superst.i.tious items around the restaurant to keep the evil spirits out, or place Chinese fortune G.o.ds in the restaurant as mascots. Instead, she placed the Kitty cat, the present Chu Yuan gave her on her birthday, in the most conspicuous position of the restaurant.
Oh, by the way, it was me who bought that huge kitty cat. Because Chu Yuan forgot her mother’s birthday and didn’t make preparations, she secretly sneaked into my room and stole it…
The business philosophy of my stepmother was actually very simple. It could be summed up as high quality at a low price, and convenient, fast, and friendly customer service.
It may be simple, but surprisingly, it was actually a blind spot of the previous owner of this place. But it was quite understandable, after all, most people opened a business here to make money. Who wouldn’t want to make more money to open a shop in this kind of expensive location? But my stepmother could see at a glance the reasons why the previous owners of this place didn’t make money. The first reason was that the price they were selling was too expensive, and the second was that the menu was very complicated.
When my stepmother explained her plan to my old man, she said, “If you want to make money, you have to study the psychology of the customers. There are many white-collar workers in nearby companies who have a monthly salary of more than 10,000 yuan.
However, how much does it cost to buy a house in Bei Tian city? At least 800,000. That is to say, even if you have a monthly salary of more than 10,000 at the age of 24, if you want to buy a house, it will take you almost 10 years, and that doesn’t even count the money required for your marriage, children, and so on… So, I think the idea that it is easy to make money off the white-collar workers is wrong. The second reason why the previous owner failed to keep the running was their menus were too complicated. The white-collar workers’ life is very fast-paced. Time is the same as money for them, and they have to calculate it carefully. If a business does not have its own characteristics, it will be hard for others to remember, so naturally, they won’t come to your business especially.”
My stepmother’s “Xuanxuan Fast Food Restaurant” was well-known nearby because of its affordable price and friendly service. In order to leave a deeper impression on the customers, she often gave free drinks. Moreover, if the customers were young couples, she would also give flowers. If customers were older, she would give a handkerchief, and if it was a family with children, she would give plush toys…
I admired my stepmother’s business mindset, but I really couldn’t compliment the name she gave to her business. She was almost forty, but she still called herself “Xuan Xuan”. It made me feel so embarra.s.sed to call her fast-food restaurant’s name…
The shift manager was a girl from the countryside. I forgot what her name was. I just remembered that my stepmother always called her ‘Pampered Girl’, but she was not ‘pampered’ at all. She was diligent and hardworking. Even though she dropped out of school and came to the city to look for a job before graduating from high school, she didn’t learn any bad habits after stepping into society. She has been working in the restaurant for more than a year, but she would still blush after seeing me.
“Brother, Brother Chu, are you looking for Elder Sister Yuxuan, right? Wait a minute, I’ll go to the kitchen to call her.”
I didn’t have a handsome appearance like Liu Xiaosheng or Zhang Mingjie, so I dared not say that everyone would like me. However, since I was a child, I had always been praised for being as pure as a white rabbit and having a harmless temperament like a little sheep. But why did she always have this kind of nervous reaction when she saw me? It even made me feel like I was some kind of pervert. Speaking of which, I even bought her birthday cake two months ago.
“Wait–”
“Ow~!” Pampered Girl let out a painful cry and stopped suddenly because I had grabbed her braid.
“Why do you always turn around and run whenever you see me? Am I that scary?”
“No, no…” Her delicate face was as red as lipstick, and she stammered: “I, I am going to call Elder Sister Yuxuan for you…”
I rolled my eyes, handed her the cake I just bought from Holiland, and said, “Do I need you to call her for me? Can’t I go in and look for her myself? Here, this is for everyone, so don’t eat it all by yourself.”
Most of the employees in the restaurant were young thrifty migrant workers. Every time I come, I would buy some cakes or sweets for them. Although it wasn’t some expensive gift, it suited their likings. In a way, I was also using this method to help my stepmother to build her staff loyalty. After pa.s.sing the cake, Pampered Girl said to me solemnly: “No, Elder Brother Chu, you know the rules of the restaurant, outsiders are not allowed to enter the kitchen! Either you wait here or go to the office to wait.”
“Am I an outsider? I am her son! Also…” I cleared my throat and frowned, “Can’t you change the way you call me and my mom? Don’t call me elder brother and then call my mom elder sister. It will confuse other people…”
Pampered Girl blushed and smiled shyly: “How else can I call you? I don’t want to be disrespectful to you.”
I almost s.n.a.t.c.hed the cake back and threw it on her face: “Can’t you just change the way you call my mom?”
“Change the way I call her? To what? Obasan? No, no!” She waved her hands repeatedly, “She will kill us! Besides, she is so young, she doesn’t look like an Obasan.”
Obasan? Thinking about what my stepmother would look like when she heard this, I couldn’t help shiver all over…
“So you are saying that she is young and I am old?”
Pampered Girl hurriedly said, “No, Elder Brother Chu, I definitely didn’t mean that…”
“Haha… I was just joking with you. Don’t panic.” I burst out chuckling and said, “Okay, that’s enough playing. Otherwise, it’s not good to let the customers who come to the restaurant especially for you, think that I’m hara.s.sing you. I’ll just wait here. You just need to tell my mom that I’m here, but she doesn’t need to come out. I’m just here to pick her up after she finishes work, so she can carry on doing what she should be doing.”
It was true that someone was already looking at us, but it was not a man, but a chubby lady with gla.s.ses on table number 3. She had been looking at me for a long time while stuffing something in her mouth as if she was fantasizing about me. . .