October 17th.
Sunday.
Today is the grand opening day of Baiwei Restaurant.
Li Jianguo had consulted the so-called auspicious day and said it was perfectly suited for starting a business. Although Tang Qing didn't believe in it, he didn't say anything in the face of the stubbornness of the older generation.
Let it be for a good luck charm.
Put plainly, it's just psychological comfort, like a kind of mental crutch. It's undeniable that this kind of psychological suggestion is very effective. For instance, finding money immediately after setting foot outside the door, can make one's day.
Baiwei Restaurant.
Tang Qing chose this name.
People are diverse, and so are the flavors of dishes.
Therefore.
This name received unanimous praise from everyone. The sign was put up just the day before yesterday, costing over five thousand, exclusively crafted by Li Jianguo's relatives, made with the best material.
The design is also very trendy.
On this day.
Tang Qing got up very early.
He hurriedly ate some breakfast, rushed to the restaurant with his backpack, and helped to check if there were any existing problems.
Although it had been checked many times before.
There was still a sense of gain and loss.
He knew.
It was his obsessive-compulsive disorder acting up again, like sometimes he was sure he had locked the door when he went out, but got to the downstairs and felt that he didn't, and had to come back to check. Even though it wasn't illness, but sometimes it's really bothersome.
Fidgety.
An incurable 'disease,' which sometimes might just heal itself.
Pretty miraculous.
Li Jianguo was preparing ingredients in the kitchen early in the morning.
Li Kai was also dragged to help.
As for Tang Qing, he was a shareholder and was injured, so Li Jianguo didn't have the heart to ask him for help. Although there were workers, Li Kai was drafted into service with the understanding that many hands make light work.
He occasionally shot Tang Qing a disgruntled look, like a slightly irked wife.
All Tang Qing could do was shrug innocently.
Then he proudly waved his hand, irritating Li Kai.
Tang Qing, experiencing the boss's treatment for the first time, was very excited. In his former life, he was always being commanded by others. As for that foreign trade company, he could only say that everyone acted like a boss.
Work had to be negotiated.
If the tone wasn't right, it didn't mean he would directly refuse to work.
The other party wasn't stupid. Not working would get them in trouble. Being a foreign trade company, efficiency was crucial in some areas, so they didn't dare to play tricks in this respect.
They gave him a cold shoulder in daily enterprise management instead.
An hour's work took three hours to complete.
They kept seeking Tang Qing out to emphasize difficulties. They really kept seeking him out, annoying him to death. But he couldn't directly flip out, as the others didn't refuse to work outright but just dragged their feet. Such things were the most troublesome and disgusting.
After checking the utensils again.
Once assured there were no problems.
Tang Qing sat behind the cashier, watching the pedestrians outside.
In his previous life, he had wanted to open a store, but he had no opportunity, and didn't know what kind of shop to open. This might be the reason why most people stopped here: they wanted to do something but didn't know what to do.
This troubled countless people.
In the end, that impulse was slowly eroded by time.
Nothing was left but memories and the so-called "If I had done it back then."
"Young boss, have an apple."
Zhang Jing handed Tang Qing a peeled apple.
She cherished this job a lot. It was easy, the treatment was good, and she had a little bit of status, relatively speaking. After all, in other people's eyes, she represented Tang Qing and his eyes.
Therefore.
The employees were exceptionally enthusiastic towards her. This was something she had never experienced before. It was different from other people's flattery, it was the real respect brought by her position.
Not by her appearance.
Tang Qing had rarely been here and was injured.
The motherly care in Zhang Jing surged out, and she kept bringing sweets and pouring water for Tang Qing. This was treatment that only Tang Qing had, and it was only when Tang Qing wanted to eat that she dared to go to the kitchen and get some sweets out.
At this moment.
There were three people at the cash register.
Tang Qing, Zhang Jing, and a relative of Li Jianguo's.
She was also a woman who had just graduated from high school and was working in a factory. Then she was called over by Li Jianguo. She was Li Kai's cousin. Today was the trial operation, so they all came. The shifts would start tomorrow.
"You know this is called bribing the boss, right?" Tang Qing took it without hesitation, bit off a large piece and joked indistinctly. The saying goes: men and women can lighten the workload when paired together. Having a beauty by your side indeed feels different.
"I just saw you got injured, and I happened to bring two apples, so I shared one with you," Zhang Jing hurriedly explained.
For some reason, although she knew Tang Qing was teasing her, she couldn't help but feel nervous inside. As for the reason, she could only attribute it to her respect for the boss.
"I'll stop teasing you."
Tang Qing, who was only joking, saw that Zhang Jing responded so seriously.
He didn't have the heart to tease her any further.
He knew she was thin-skinned.
And recently, the way Zhang Jing looked at him was a bit strange. Every time they accidentally made eye contact, it seemed like she was avoiding something. But he didn't think much about it, perhaps it was just a little bit of respect for the boss from a subordinate.
The waiters had the store spotlessly cleaned.
The tableware was neatly set.
Tea was prepared as well.
After the waiters finished their tasks, Tang Qing didn't have them stand at the door, but sit and watch TV instead. It was still early, and they would not be open to the public at noon, it was just a celebration of the opening.
There was no need to be so formal.
.........
At 11 o'clock in the morning.
Guests began to arrive one after another.
They were mainly friends and relatives of Li Jianguo.
On Tang Qing's side, it was only him.
"Crack...Crack..."
The noise of fireworks could be heard.
As customers slowly started to file in, the wait staff got busy.
Tang Qing still sat at the cashier's counter, not attending to any customers. After all, he didn't recognize any of the people here and he didn't need to take care of anything—Li Jianguo would handle it when it was time to eat.
Tang Qing was not goofing off at the cash register.
He was reading a book.
While their teacher had assigned a considerable amount of homework for the weekend, it had nothing to do with 'sickly' Tang Qing, he was just picking up some knowledge.
Seeing Tang Qing reading at the cash register....
Most of the customers didn't mind at all. Only a few friends who were involved in the planning recognized him. They knew that Tang Qing was one of the owners of the restaurant who had invested hundreds of thousands in cash. They dare not to underestimate him.
Nevertheless, those who knew didn't feel quite right no matter how they looked at it.
A rich second-generation kid who is picking at his ears and scratching himself while reading books and solution explanations is simply astonishing.
Such an inspiration!
Having that much money at home, yet still studying so hard. Therefore, their previous impression of Tang Qing as a frivolous second-generation kid changed instantly. They planned on learning from him and educating their own children accordingly. They had already figured out what they were going to say:
"Even Tang Qing, who has every right to sit around doing nothing, is working so hard; with the conditions of our household, what reason do you have to waste your life doing meaningless things."
Zhang Jing observed all of this with a smile on the side.
Her impression of Tang Qing fluctuated between that of a boss and a student. Watching Tang Qing frowned one minute and complaining about the problem setter in the next was completely different from his decisive demeanor usually.
It made her want to laugh.
"WTF! Who set this problem? Stand up and face me! I promise I won't beat the living daylights out of him right then and there! Spinning in circles, what's the point?!" Frustrated by a particularly difficult problem, Tang Qing couldn't help but complain.
Upon hearing this outbust, a complaint she had never heard before...
Zhang Jing couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Pfft… Boss… hahaha… How are you going to beat them up if it's not face to face?"
"Hitting people is against the law, so I just want to scold him to his face."
With a swift turn of his eyes, Tang Qing immediately made his counter-argument.
...
"Congratulations, Mr. Li, wishing your business prosperity."
"Brother Li, may you have abundant wealth."
"Brother-in-law, may your business flourish."
"Brother Yang is here, please come in..."
After preparing several of his signature dishes, Li Jianguo came out to greet his friends who had come to show their support. He left the simple dishes to his apprentices to prepare. As business would start in the afternoon, Li Jianguo only had a little beer.
As for Tang Qing.
He continued to play the 'ostrich'.
Apart from Yang Chengjun who came to offer his congratulations, and a few of Li Jianguo's relatives, he didn't recognize anyone. Judging by Yang Chengjun's expression, it seemed as if his son's situation had reached a satisfactory conclusion.
As for what the final verdict was.
Tang Qing wasn't interested in asking.
"Little Tang, thank you for your help. I'd like to toast to you." When it was Tang Qing's turn, Li Jianguo filled his glass with beer and sincerely thanked him. He didn't expose the fact that Tang Qing was a shareholder.
Since Tang Qing wanted to keep a low profile.
There was no way he'd undermine his own operation.
"Where... I should be thanking Uncle Li. After all, I can only do so much, you are the main force. We all help each other, and each takes what they need. I hope to continue to work closely with Li Jianguo in the future." Tang Qing said with an experienced smile.
"Haha...yes, let's help each other. Cheers..." Li Jianguo laughed heartily.
He drank all the beer in his glass in one gulp. Almost everyone at the table was a family member, and they all knew that Tang Qing was one of the owners. So they weren't bothered by Li Jianguo's extra cordiality towards Tang Qing.
Tang Qing also finished the beer in his glass.
The meal was over by noon.
Friends gradually left.
The wait staff started to get busy.
Cleaning up, Zhang Jing also joined the clean-up crew. After all, with no customers eating at the moment, she couldn't just sit at the bar watching them crack sunflower seeds like the lazy, air-leaking, little boss.
In the afternoon.
Customers started to arrive.
After all, many people miss their meal times for various reasons.
The first batch of formal customers was a group of construction workers.
"Yo, the taste isn't bad at all, spicy and refreshing. The key is that this chili sauce is authentic."
The boss took a bite of the spicy fish and was full of praise immediately. Although he was not from Chuan Province, he has traveled all over, tasted all kinds of food. This kind of authentic taste was rare.
By evening.
The leaflets sent out a few days ago played a critical role.
It's human nature to take advantage of good deals.
It doesn't matter whether you're high or low, noble or not.
If you had a flyer, you could immediately get a discount of fifty. Plus, it's Saturday, so why not take this chance to take the family out for a meal? It's nice, they would eat anyway and the flyer would expire by next Friday.
The restaurant's flyers.
Tang Qing specifically instructed them to be inserted on the door handles of every household in the neighbourhood.
The neighbourhood had just been occupied.
The property wasn't managed that strictly.
Otherwise, in the future, such actions might cause trouble.
The residential area opposite was also a key publicity area. After all, there were too many people there and a huge potential consumption ability. The spectacular scenes of Li Jianguo's restaurant in the future could be inferred from them.
At this point.
The restaurant was full.
Fortunately, these kinds of restaurants always have extra tables prepared. So they put six more tables outside the door. If they add more tables, the road will be blocked and it would be seen as provoking a conflict. They didn't want to go that far.
As for our protagonist, Tang Qing, he was busy running around too.
He didn't serve food as his hand was injured and it was hard to carry things with one hand. He just poured drinks and helped the overwhelmed waiters clean up the tables, swept the floor, put out new tableware, and so on.
The customers watched Tang Qing serving tea and pouring water with a cast on his arm and were surprised.
However, they assumed that he must be the son of the owner. Fortunately, the internet was not as advanced as it was in future generations, otherwise, he would surely become a hot topic. Tang Qing could even think of the headlines:
"Why is a disabled person serving tea and pouring water? Is he forced to do so or is there a hidden story?"
"Hands can break, tears can flow, but work cannot be lost."
"Exposing the black-hearted boss, pictures included."
With accompanying images, Tang Qing thought if it was to be the case, it would be better to die.