I said to Li Guang.
"We have two shifts here a day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and down to 9 p.m., a total of eight hours, and when there are many guests, overtime is required, can you accept it?"
Li Guang agreed to it without the slightest hesitation.
"No problem."
"And what are your salary requirements."
Li Guang thought about it and mentioned a number.
, tube food and housing."
Seriously, the asking price, for a chef who is such a good cook, is not that high.
But I couldn't agree to all of them, but the food was good, and he was cooking anyway, except that the tavern only had two bedrooms, no place for him to live.
What's more, I wouldn't let a stranger I just met stay here.
"I'll mention six thousand to you, manage food regardless of housing, if you can accept, you can work today."
Li Guang did not continue to haggle over the salary, but he made a request.
"Boss, look at the salary, can ... it be settled daily?"
I was very surprised by this request. Although there is not much difference between daily and monthly pay, it is really strange to ask for daily pay as this is not a part-time job that I have today but not tomorrow.
But I still agreed to Li Guang, after all, the tavern needs a cook too much.
After the negotiation, I asked Li Guang to write down a menu suitable for the tavern, with a focus on down-home cooking.
After the menu was written, Hu Mei went to print it, while I went to the vegetable market to buy the raw materials.
The job of buying food should have been done by the chef himself, but I asked Li Guang to go home to take a shower and change his clothes.
Otherwise, with his current image in front of the guests, I will have to close this tavern today.
Li Guang went home, watching his back as he left, Hu Mei asked close to my ear.
"Did you see his left hand?"
I nodded. Just now, when Li Guang was cutting vegetables, I noticed that his left hand was stumped.
Li Guang's left hand, with only four fingers, his little finger, broken off from the root, was neatly cut.
Hu Mei guessed.
"With a missing finger and a wage request for daily payment, he should be a gambler."
I agree with Hu Mei's view, before the master told me some stories of gamblers, the master said gamblers addicted to gambling, more terrible than addicts addicted to drugs, drug control is the human body, but gambling control is the human spirit.
Many gamblers, one day without gambling, the heart with a cat in the scratch, uncomfortable to die.
As long as they can gamble, they don't care what they play, from soccer to horse racing, down to mahjong to pai gow, even others can catch a few fish today, you can gamble.
Winning money can make people addicted, losing money can make people crazy, I don't know how many people have lost all their money, and even lost their wives and children to others.
Master also said that in the casino, there are two kinds of people are going to be cut fingers, the first, is the casino cheater, gambling is concerned about willing to bet, if someone cheats, he faces, will be losing red-eyed, as if the beast of gamblers.
The second, is owed to loan sharks, many gamblers lost money, want to turn the capital, but no capital how to do? Of course is to borrow money to gamble! Can lend money to gamblers, is bound to be loan sharks, gamblers if you win the bet, all good, then the high interest rate is nothing, but if you lose the bet, waiting for him, will be a hellish day, cut fingers is just a warning, and then do not pay, the whole hand may be cut off.
"It's okay, as long as he doesn't get us into trouble, don't care about his identity."
At ten o'clock, Li Guang came back on time, and he organized himself as I requested.
He washed his face, shaved, changed his clothes, and although his appearance was ordinary, it was very comforting to look at.
This day, the tavern sold twenty plates of down-home dishes, and almost all the customers, were full of praise.
In the evening when closing time, Hu Mei said to me happily.
"The turnover has gone up by a thousand!"
I drew out two red bills and handed them to Li Guang, who had just cleaned up the kitchen and was ready to leave work.
"Here's your pay for the day."
Seeing the bills, Li Guang's eyes, which had been somewhat dull, suddenly had light.
"Boss, I'll go first."
He trotted away from the tavern as if there was something important that was waiting for him.
Hu Mei skimmed his mouth.
"This guy, eighty percent to go gambling, do you believe it, he worked a day to earn money, in less than half an hour, will lose it all?"
Two hundred dollars, where it takes half an hour, if the point is back, play two games of landlord will lose all.
Seeing that I didn't say anything, Hu Mei asked me.
"At least a fellow of the store, don't you persuade him?"
"No persuasion, people have their own lives, he is just my fellow, not my friend, why should I persuade, besides, if I do, will he listen? Maybe even scold me behind my back for meddling."
After that, I went back to my room to continue practicing carving, according to the agreement, I have to carve a statue of a ghost to play God this month.
The next day, Li Guang still arrived on time, but his eyes, once again, became dull, I could feel, in his emotions, there was a hint of frustration.
There is no need to ask to know that he must have lost again last night.
"Have you eaten breakfast yet? I saved you a lean pork congee."
"Thank you, boss."
Watching Li Guang wolf down the porridge, I think he lost last night, I'm afraid even the money left to buy breakfast.
The good thing is that Li Guang work is still very serious, the guests ordered every next drink, he can guarantee the quality and quantity of completion.
Even my lunch with Hu Mei, he also made it with great care.
The next ten days, Li Guang has been working hard, never had any complaints, and I have never deducted his salary, settled on time before the end of the day.
Hu Mei and I gradually became familiar with him, we found that Li Guang, although addicted to gambling, but did not move in the work of petty thoughts.
I bought three days of food after the task was given to him, each purchase to find the money, Li Guang will take the initiative to turn in, there are zeroes and whole, a point not greedy.
Just his character is somewhat dull, not good at talking, when there is nothing to do, he often sat in the tavern by the window, staring out the window, with a sad face, do not know what to think about.
In fact, these two days I am also worried, because the second guest, I delayed.
One day weekend, Quancheng down a heavy rain, more rain to the tavern is located in the commercial street to flood, I see this situation 80% is not going to come to the drinkers, it gave Li Guang a holiday.
Of course, the money was still settled for him.
Hu Mei and I were in the tavern drinking a little wine and eating peanuts, she bought a tablet computer, we had nothing to do, sitting together to catch up on the show.
As I was watching, my phone rang.
It's a WeChat beep, I looked down and saw that it was from Li Guang.
The content is brief, but you can read Li Guang's urgency - boss, help me!
Soon, another message came, this time not a text, but a location.