The Game of Life-Chapter 794 - 793
Chapter 794: 793
Chapter 794: 793
By ten o’clock in the evening, the porridge shop had almost sold out of all its dishes.
There was some porridge and mung bean soup left over, but not much—all of which Liu Qian drank. The dim sum was basically freshly made, with none left over. Close to ten o’clock, there were still customers waiting in the shop, hoping to pack more dim sum to take home. But Sun Maochai had been busy all day and was running low on energy, so Jiang Feng stepped up and told the customers that the porridge shop would close at ten o’clock and cease business, asking patrons to leave early.
Almost on the dot at ten, Jiang Feng and the others stopped their work, hung up the ‘closed’ sign, and wrapped up for the day.
They were simply too exhausted.
Even Sun Maochai, who had been a chef for decades, had never experienced such a tiring day.
In fact, Sun Maochai was the most exhausted. From the time the promotional board was set up at the entrance at noon, he hadn’t stopped, continuously making dim sum as if on an assembly line, with various kinds pouring out of his hands without end.
Even machines would need a break after running continuously for close to ten hours, not to mention a person. After finishing up, Sun Maochai had no desire even to play on his cellphone, sitting quietly at a table in the lobby, zoning out, waiting for the staff to tally the results and announce the scores and rankings of the restaurants for the first week.
The other three weren’t much better off, only Jiang Feng was slightly better since Liu Qian helped with packing takeaways, reducing his workload. While the others rested, Jiang Feng tidied up the back kitchen. After cleaning up, he suddenly realized he was quite hungry.
All four of them had barely eaten anything that day. They had eaten only a little in the morning, had no appetite due to poor business at noon, and later were too busy to have a meal. Just as Jiang Feng was considering whether to go out and buy some food to tide everyone over, a staff member from the reality show called to gather them at the café, as the results had come out.
“The results are out, they’re calling us to the café,” Jiang Feng called out loudly.
The tired group immediately perked up, getting ready to head to the café.
“What café? Are we going to the café for a meal now?” Liu Qian, failing to grasp the situation, didn’t understand why they were headed to the café.
Jiang Feng then realized Liu Qian knew nothing about it and simply explained, “Well, actually, we’ve been recording a variety show today. Today has been a test, and now we need to go to the café there, waiting for the results and rankings to come out.”
Liu Qian nodded, half-understanding, “So, are we still going to eat afterwards?”
Jiang Feng: ?
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That’s so like you.
Having been busy so long, it was only reasonable for Jiang Feng to treat Liu Qian to a good meal: “How about you come with us to the café, wait outside for us, and once it’s over, I’ll treat you to a meal.”
“Okay,” Liu Qian agreed and accompanied Jiang Feng and the others to the café.
Now, the café looked a bit different from the one in the morning, with instruments and miscellaneous items and even many of the space-consuming decorations cleared away, substituted by seven round tables. Each round table was surrounded by four chairs, clearly intended for the contestants from the seven restaurants.
Jiang Feng noticed that the café was filled with many new faces.
There were many people he hadn’t seen before, as well as some he recognized but had never visited, like Xu Cheng, Peng Changping, Ling Guangzhao, and Lu Sheng. Ling Guangzhao was schmoozing with Xu Cheng and Peng Changping, grinning from ear to ear; Tong Deyan, who just stepped into the café, saw this scene and let out a very disdainful snort. Clearly, the relationship between him and Ling Guangzhao hadn’t improved. He had only returned to support Eight-treasure House due to some unknown reasons.
Although Tong Deyan was still his usual self, Ling Guangzhao had a complete change of attitude. As soon as he saw Tong Deyan, he enthusiastically greeted him, asking about his day and whether he felt tired. After inquiring about Tong Deyan, Ling then asked about Zheng Siyuan, and even showed concern for the other two nameless chefs from Eight-treasure House, acting every bit the model contemporary boss.
With Ling Guangzhao suddenly transforming from a cold-hearted capitalist into a model contemporary boss, it made another boss at the scene, Lu Sheng, feel somewhat awkward. He followed suit, warmly inquiring about the chefs from Yonghe House, and after finishing, he also took the opportunity to express his concern for Jiang Feng.
“Congratulations, when I first heard you picked that porridge shop, I thought you had made a blunder, but it turned out to be a checkmate move. It seems that Taifeng Building stands a good chance of advancing now,” Lu Sheng said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng immediately understood that Taifeng Building’s test results for the day must have been quite good, achieving a miraculous comeback from last place.
“When did you get here?” Jiang Feng asked.
“I’ve just arrived not long ago. I wanted to come and hear the results, to see if Yonghe House had a chance. But now, it seems there’s no hope,” Lu Sheng said somewhat helplessly.
While they were chatting, the camera positions had all been set up, and the event staff had also used a megaphone to call for attention, signaling everyone to sit down and quiet down as the results were about to be announced.
Anyone who has watched variety shows knows that when the time comes to announce competition results, the host’s speaking speed will become especially slow. They will pause in the wrong places and seem almost mute where they are not supposed to pause, creating a tense and anxious atmosphere in a way that irritates everyone.
There were two hosts announcing the results, one speaking Chinese, the other English.
“After a week of the preliminary matches and today’s single-week test, the scores and rankings for the first week have now been tallied up, and it is my honor to announce the restaurant in first place.” As the host announced the rankings, a whiteboard with papers pasted on it stood next to him, and with each restaurant announced, a slip was uncovered, displaying the test scores, management scores from Monday to Friday, and the total score.
“The restaurant ranked number one this week is Taste House, with a total score of 8762 points. Congratulations to the four contestants from Taste House.”
Jiang Feng glanced over and saw that Taste House’s management score over the previous five days was very high, totaling over 6300 points, meaning that Taste House’s test score for today was only over 2400 points, not even reaching a thousand dessert sales.
Actually, when thinking about it, it was normal. The test had started at ten o’clock in the morning, but white-case pastries require a long preparation time, and by night, a cake shop’s business wouldn’t be as good as during the day. Ordinary breakfast bun shops would have to start preparing around one or two in the morning if they began selling buns at five or six o’clock. Steaming the pastries also took time, and what Sun Maochai packed today was actually no more than a hundred or so baskets of dim sum— the pace would slow down towards the end.
However, regardless, 8762 points was undoubtedly a very high score.
“The restaurant ranked second this week is the top-floor restaurant, with a total score of 6197 points. Congratulations to the four contestants from the top-floor restaurant.”
The management score for the top-floor restaurant was over 3700 points, with a test score also of over 2400 points. For a western-style dessert shop, this score was quite impressive, and Jiang Feng felt that the high test score for the top-floor restaurant could be attributed to the hot weather and the sale of a large number of beverages.
The preparation time for desserts wasn’t short either.
That being said, porridge offered the highest cost performance. One could cook a large batch, sell a lot, and the key point was that it could be cooked simultaneously, allowing for several batches as long as there were enough pots and stoves.
“The restaurant ranked third this week is Eight-treasure House, with a total score of 5313 points. Let’s congratulate the four contestants from Eight-treasure House.”
Jiang Feng: ?
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Eight-treasure House???
Jiang Feng glanced at Ling Guangzhao subconsciously. Ling Guangzhao was already brimming with joy, grinning from ear to ear, his smile nearly reaching the heavens to stand shoulder to shoulder with the moon.
The operating points of Eight-treasure House were over 2300, and the test points were close to 3000. It was obvious that their deep-fried skewer business today was really good; among the four chefs of Eight-treasure House, there definitely was a deep-fried skewer expert. Ling Guangzhao really had hit the jackpot.
“The restaurant ranked fourth this week is Taifeng Building, with a total score of 4999 points, let us congratulate the four contestants of Taifeng Building.”
When Taifeng Building’s scorecard was revealed, the venue let out a murmur of surprise. The reason was simple, Taifeng Building’s test score was extremely high, a staggering 4380 points, a score that could be described as unbeatable.
The high score of Taifeng Building was largely thanks to the takeaway discount. These days, people would order anything to reach the discount threshold, from Evian to Coke to orange juice to mung bean soup. As long as it helped reach the discount, they didn’t care if they liked it or not, they would order it. Originally, they might have just wanted to order some dim sum and congee, but after ordering, they found that they were six yuan short of the discount, so drinks and side dishes were added.
Before leaving the porridge shop, Jiang Feng had done a quick estimate. Today, he had sold no less than two hundred bottles of mineral water and carbonated drinks alone.
Other stores probably lost out because they did not sell mineral water and carbonated beverages.
After all, today was about charging per portion, and as long as it was sold, even a bottle of water, it counted for three points.
Once he knew their own store’s points, Jiang Feng was less concerned about the scores of the remaining restaurants, Huaiyang Building ranked fifth, Yonghe House sixth, and Cheng Ji Restaurant seventh. No wonder Lu Sheng was somewhat bitter when he spoke to Jiang Feng just now; Yonghe House ranking sixth in the first week almost certainly meant elimination.
After the points and rankings were announced, that was pretty much it for the day. Everyone was tired from a busy day and just wanted to go home to eat and rest.
The production team finally announced the competition time for next week. Because today’s test was exhausting, Monday was designated as a rest day, with the competition taking place from Tuesday to Saturday. Contestants from restaurants outside of town needed to rush back on Monday and would be at somewhat of a disadvantage in terms of rest and recovery.
With these words said, everyone disbanded.
“Congratulations.”
“Truly, congratulations. Work hard next week.”
“Congratulations, congratulations.”
Everyone present who knew Jiang Feng and Sun Maochai would come over to offer their congratulations. Taifeng Building had gone from a certain elimination to having a hopeful chance of proceeding to the next round. The contestants’ skills were widely recognized as strong, so naturally people wanted to add to their already bright prospects. Saying an extra word of congratulations wasn’t going to cost them anything.
“President, you guys are amazing. That test score of yours was more than four thousand points, the highest one,” Liu Qian somehow had made her way in. No one stopped her; it seemed the production team mistook her for a staff member from Good Taste, and the staff from Good Taste thought she was part of the production team.
“We have to thank you for lending a hand today; otherwise, we wouldn’t have had such good business,” Jiang Feng said with a smile.
“Yes, we all owe you thanks for today,” Sun Maochai finally regained his composure and smiled. “I know you have a big appetite and today’s dim sum didn’t quite satisfy you. When you’re free, come to Taifeng Building, and I’ll prepare a table of authentic Guangdong dishes for you. I’ll make sure you’re completely satisfied.”
Liu Qian was unaware of how tempting and enviable Sun Maochai’s promise was and cheerfully replied, “Yes, yes, thank you, Uncle Sun. I would like to taste what authentic Guangdong cuisine is like. I’ve never been to Guangdong Province before.”
“I’ll ask my dad to send over two jars of pickles for you tomorrow, Qianqian. Since you are working now, if you find the takeout near your company unappetizing, you can have some pickles with your meal.” Wu Minqi said with a smile.
“Wow, Minqi, you’re the best!” Liu Qian was ecstatic.
Sun Jikai wasn’t well-acquainted with Liu Qian and felt his own Cantonese cooking skills were nothing compared to Sun Maochai’s, so he didn’t have much to offer. After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, “Next time I get the chance, I’ll treat you to stir-fried beef ho fun.”
Jiang Feng: ?
Sun, you’ve changed; your Wenchang chicken used to be your pride and joy!
Even though it often ended in disaster.
Everyone’s promises were tempting, but after all, they were for the future. The most important thing in life is to focus on the present, and Liu Qian was just that kind of person — living in the moment.
“So, what are we eating now?” Liu Qian asked.
Jiang Feng checked his phone; the event organizers were quite slow, and now it’s already eleven o’clock. Aside from barbecue joints, fried chicken stores, and a few eateries that stay open until the wee hours, there weren’t many good restaurants still open.
“My dad probably hasn’t gone to bed yet. How about I make a call, and he can whip up a few dishes and some fried rice for us to nibble on? Liu Qian, where do you live now? Let me check if it’s far.” Jiang Feng suggested.
“Not far, not far at all.” Liu Qian claimed it wasn’t far without even knowing where Jiang Feng’s house was, “I start work at nine tomorrow. My company is close to where I live, so I can wake up at eight. It’s fine if I sleep late tonight; I’ll just take a taxi home afterward.”
“Why eat fried rice after a tiring day? I’ve already cooked dinner, thinking some people must be exhausted after a long day and could use a good meal. But as it turns out, they probably haven’t worked that hard. If you don’t mind, you can all come and eat together at Yonghe House.” Peng Changping appeared behind Jiang Feng at some point and said with a beaming smile.
Han Guishan and Xu Cheng, two brains supposedly occupied with endless tasks, sat calmly at a table not far away, their faces screaming their eagerness to mooch a meal.
“Of course, we don’t mind. We’d be delighted to mooch off your meal; how could we possibly mind?”
“Then let’s go,” Peng Changping yawned and shook his head. “Recording a reality show is really exhausting. You have to stay busy till this late and don’t even have time for a meal. No wonder someone is so hungry their brain isn’t functioning, insisting on picking a bakery when they can’t even bake.”
This was obviously a rebuke to his disciple. Among the contestants at Yonghe House, one was Peng Changping’s disciple, but Peng had gone abroad after teaching him for only a few years.
The nameless disciple hung his head in shame and dared not speak.
“President, are we going to have dinner at Yonghe House now?” Liu Qian asked.
“Yes, we’re heading to Yonghe for a feast.” Jiang Feng couldn’t help but yawn too and added a word of caution, “Eat less when we get there, don’t overdo it and make yourself sick.”
He was really tired and didn’t want to have to take Liu Qian to the hospital to have her stomach pumped so late at night.
Liu Qian: ?
