After slurping down three bowls of Black Rice Congee, Ji Yue reluctantly put down the bowl. She had drunk three huge bowls and Jiang Feng stood staring dumbfounded at her."Senior, be honest with me. How many days have you not eaten for?" In Jiang Feng"s memory, Ji Yue"s appet.i.te had never been this voracious.
"I had some money left on hand, but my ill.u.s.tration job"s boss didn"t pay me. I have been living on the congee from canteen seven for a week." Ji Yue quickly said as she collected, washed, and cleaned her bowls in the kitchen.
Canteen seven was a special priced canteen. Because of the subsidies they were ent.i.tled, the price of the dishes was very cheap. A bowl of plain congee cost only 30 cents. Vegetables cost a dollar twenty, and meat dishes cost two eighty. The corresponding taste was hard to swallow though.
Apart from the horrible taste, there were no shortcomings.
Ji Yue tidied up the kitchen, cleaned up the area, and cleared the garbage produced by Jiang Feng when he was cutting the vegetables, meanwhile Jiang Feng continued to cut vegetables on the side. The vegetables in Healthy Restaurant were never left out overnight. It didn"t matter if they were to be used not, they had to be cut first. If they were not sold, they would become cat food and dog food for the stray cats and dogs nearby.
Soon after, Jiang Jiankang and w.a.n.g Xiulian came down from the second floor. Jiang Feng introduced Ji Yue to them. Jiang Jiankang expressed his strong welcome.
"Ji Yue, don"t worry. Although Uncle doesn"t have much money with me here, I can still easily afford your meals. You can work for as long as you want, without any pressure from us." Jiang Jiankang, who had a huge debt on his back, was capable of understanding Ji Yue"s current situation. It was about time for the kitchen to prepare to deal with the meat ingredients. Jiang Jiangkang"s sharp eyes spotted the styrofoam box in the corner of the kitchen at a glance.
"Jiang Feng, did you get a delivery box this afternoon?" Jiang Jiankang saw the big word "takeaway" on the styrofoam box. He went up and fiddled with it a couple times, patted it, took off the lid and put it back on again. He looked very satisfied. "This box is good, it"s strong and st.u.r.dy!"
"It just happened that there was a styrofoam box in the storage so I left it in the kitchen." Lies spewed out of Jiang Feng"s mouth the moment he opened it, "Leave it there for the moment, we can use it if we want to deliver food."
"Where do we have any free time to deliver the meals, the dishes will be cold and the taste will change. Don"t learn from other stores and come up with those empty headed and brainy things. It"ll be enough if we can handle our own stores." Apparently, Jiang Jiankang didn"t like the idea of having a delivery service.
He inspected the ingredients cut by Jiang Feng. There were three plates of shredded carrot and two plates of carrot slices. The carrots from the market were probably so cheap that w.a.n.g Xiulian had overbought.
"Tonight, there shall be a discount on the stir-fried pork with carrots and stir-fried chicken with carrots." Jiang Jiankang said.
Jiang Feng went outside to put a red special price tag at the back of the stir-fried pork slices with carrots and stir-fried chicken slices with carrots on the menu.
"Jiang Feng, your shop doesn"t do deliveries?" Ji Yue was very surprised.
As a University of science and technology, A University had ample amounts of introverted students who survived on deliveries. Not having a delivery option would undoubtedly cause Health Restaurant to lose a large part of its customers.
"My father is reluctant to pay the commissions needed for the platform." In the past, when his family was not in debt, Jiang Jiankang was already reluctant to part with the money, not to mention that now that he was up to his neck in debt, he could not let the platform take advantage of him.
"You can make a WeChat official account or mini-app yourselves!" Ji Yue suggested, "Our school has our own WeChat official account," she said. "We usually pick up small ill.u.s.tration jobs and other similar gigs there. It"s very simple. You can go to the school of technology to set one up, it doesn"t cost much."
"Ding, there is an optional side quest player, please choose."
The system notification tone of the game rang out in his mind, Jiang Feng knew that senior Ji Yue"s idea was indeed a brilliant one. He nodded and said, "I"ll go to the school of technology and ask them when I have time."
"But we don"t have a scooter!" Jiang Feng suddenly realized this serious problem.
"I have one. There"ll be extra charges for delivery though!" Ji Yue grinned at Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng went to the second floor, found a corner and opened the control panel.
Side Quest: (Options)
1. [Mother"s Wish] w.a.n.g Xiulian has always hoped that she can have a gentle, considerate and slim daughter-in-law. Please complete the mother"s wish and find a gentle, considerate and slim girlfriend. [Select: Yes / No]
2. [Li Junming"s Wish] Li Junming"s father, Li Mingyi"s days are numbered. Li Mingyi was born into a n.o.ble family in Yanjing. When he was a child, Jiang Chengde, the head chef of Taifeng Restaurant, made him an unforgettable dish - Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird"s Nest Soup. Please complete Li Junming"s wish, let Li Mingyi taste the Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird"s Nest Soup in his memory. [Task Progress: 0/1]
Task Tip: This task is very difficult, please explore by yourself.
3. [Keep Up With The Times] As a restaurant that aims to reign supreme near A University, how could one not keep up with the times and own their own WeChat official account? Player should help Health Restaurant start a WeChat official account of its own, and get 100 followers for the official account. [Select: Yes / No]
When he clicked Yes, the task became:
3. [Keep Up With The Times] As a restaurant that aims to reign supreme near A University, how could one not keep up with the times and own their own WeChat official account? Player should help Health Restaurant start a WeChat official account of its own, and get 100 followers for the official account. Task Progress: Official Account (0/1) Followers (0/100)
Task reward: Unknown
Task Tip: It"s unbelievably easy, just spend some money to get an official account and get 100 followers.
It appeared that this task was very simple indeed. It was just like welfare for a novice.
At dinner time, there were still many guests in the shop. Maybe it was because there was no pressure to rush back to cla.s.s after their lunch breaks. The customers" arrival times were very scattered, which greatly reduced the workload of everyone.
"Sister Ji, are the questions for the postgraduate entrance examination difficult?" Liu Zixuan finished cleaning the tableware, went up to her and asked curiously.
Jiang Feng had already explained the reason why Ji Yue had come to work in the shop to the others. Naturally, no one would be that dumb as to go up and ask what happened at Ji Yue"s house.
"What do you think, that I have failed already?." Ji Yue"s expression remained unchanged, the postgraduate examination experience was apparently an unpleasant one for her, "if I had pa.s.sed the examination, I could still muddle by life as a home tutor."
Liu Zixuan shut his mouth wisely.
"Hao"zi, do you know anyone from the School of Technology?" w.a.n.g Hao had snuck into the back kitchen stealthily to drink the Mung Bean Soup, and Jiang Feng had caught him in his act.
"Ah, yes, I know quite a few people." w.a.n.g Hao hurriedly downed the Mung Bean Soup in the bowl and wiped his mouth.
"Among those that you know, does anyone have the ability to help me get a WeChat official account? The price can be negotiated easily, my dad couldn"t bear the thought of paying the delivery platforms. I think that with a WeChat official account, it will be quite easy for us to have a delivery option." Jiang Feng said.
"Oh, Feng"ge, you keep up with the times!" w.a.n.g Hao thought for a moment, "The guy who came for lunch today, the one with his girlfriend, I think he"s called… called Zhang Wei. Didn"t he make an app last semester and sold it for a few tens of thousands, it was circulating wildly on social media? I have his WeChat, I"ll ask him. "
With that, w.a.n.g Hao whipped out his mobile phone.
...
Jiang Feng was called to help out by Jiang Jiankang. This was Ji Yue"s first day at work, Jiang Jiankang had asked where Ji Yue was from and was going to make her a table of Huaiyang dishes to express Health Restaurant"s warm welcome to its new employee.
There were still a few ducks and quails in the shop, all of which were brought by Jiang Jiankang to rear as livestock. Although he didn"t have shelducks, nor any wild ducks, he could get by using them to make Three Nested Ducks.
On the stove was steaming Stewed Crab meatb.a.l.l.s. Jiang Jiankang was busy tending to the fire. The task of preparing ingredients, deboning, stuffing, covering the ducks and boiling the three birds was naturally a.s.signed to Jiang Feng.
It was his first time making such a complicated dish. Luckily, Jiang Feng"s knife work was not bad, and deboning an entire duck was not a problem for him. Although his previous practices had been deboning chickens, it was not difficult to debone ducks and quails as well.
He placed the three treated birds into the bubbling water and boiled them once to remove the blood. Then he stuffed the quails into the duck"s belly in turn, filled the duck"s belly with mushroom and ham slices, then stuffed the duck into another duck that had been hollowed out, and boiled it quickly.
He took out the Shaoxing wine that Jiang Jiankang had treasured and put the duck and other ingredients into the high-pressure pot.
It should have been simmered slowly for several hours, but they were short on time. After cooking it with a pressure cooker, and paired with Jiang Jiankang"s stock, it would be just as delicious when served.
"Feng"ge, what dish are you making?" w.a.n.g Hao was dazed by this series of operations.
"Three Nested Ducks, a specialty dish in Huaiyang." Jiang Feng explained, the rest of the work regarding the grasp of the fire had to be handed over to Jiang Jiankang.
"Senior Ji Yue is blessed." Upon knowing that Ji Yue was from Huaiyang, w.a.n.g Hao sighed from his heart.
With the complexity of the Three Nested Ducks, Ji Yue might not have eaten it more than a few times...
"Oh, by the way, Zhang Wei just replied to my message. He said that an official account is simple enough to be created in a few days, it doesn"t require any money, just that...."
"What is it?"
"He asked if you could make an exemption for him and send him delivery meals first, while the official account is being made. He said that they had too many cla.s.ses in the School of Technology, and he doesn"t have time to eat out. And he can"t prepare his own lunch boxes." w.a.n.g Hao said and took out his mobile phone to show Jiang Feng the chat record.
"Ok..."