「2 p.m.」

The bustle of the restaurant finally eased.

Lin Xu was chatting with Xie Baomin, who had been helping out all morning, over Sour Plum Soup when he saw Shen Jiayue flounce into the shop with her purse.

This is... Skipping work again? To think that our Shen student, the daughter of a capitalist, would always fulfill the worker's promise of "If you slack off, I slack off, till the boss's Mercedes turns into a shared bike."

"Yueyue, you're skipping work again!"

Chen Yan, who was playing with Dundun using a cat teaser, couldn't help but purse her lips when she saw her cousin come over. For the sake of seeing her boyfriend, she's even skipping work? Just get married on the spot, and I'll give double the wedding gift!

Shen Jiayue swung around several printed sheets. "I haven't skipped work; I'm here on behalf of the Audit Bureau to talk business!"

She was over the moon on the inside. She had been slacking off, playing mini-games on her computer, when Assistant Yuan suddenly assigned her a task: to be in charge of catering for the Audit Bureau's training. This was such an unexpected delight! After understanding the task, she drove her BMW merrily to Yingchun Street. My department sent me to find a suitable catering company for the training's meals. So isn't it perfectly reasonable to choose Lin Ji's Food?!

"Boss Lin, I'm here to discuss business with you, and it's a big order! Hurry up and offer me tea, massage my shoulders, and pat my back!"

Shen Jiayue fluttered over to Lin Xu, as happy as a lark.

Oh, I'm so happy I finally helped my Xubao! All my efforts promoting Lin Ji's Food in various groups with red packets these past two days weren't in vain!

"What business?"

Lin Xu poured a cup of Sour Plum Soup and handed it to her.

Shen Jiayue accepted it, guzzling down half a cup before saying, "Tomorrow, our Audit Bureau is conducting business training for over three hundred auditors from across the nation. The bureau's leaders assigned me the catering task, so I came to you!"

Catering? Over three hundred staff members?

Lin Xu's eyes lit up at her words.

He looked over the contract she handed him. It required providing lunch and dinner for a total of 312 trainees over three days. Lunch was to be boxed meal sets, with the cost per person not exceeding forty yuan. Dinner was to be table meals for groups of ten, with a cost per person not exceeding eighty yuan.

Wow, damn! This contract was practically handing him money!

After reading it, he gave Shen Jiayue a puzzled look. She's just a newbie at work; how did such a great opportunity fall into her lap?

"Before I came, I secretly talked to Uncle Tan's assistant, Yuan Fei. He said that Uncle Tan visited the restaurant today, and after seeing you, he seemed quite moved."

Lin Xu was bewildered. Moved about what? Does he think I'm too handsome to be a chef?

"I looked through our WeChat history and realized that during the spring recruitment, I secretly messaged Uncle Tan, asking him to recruit you into the Audit Bureau. But somehow Uncle Tan forgot about it, and I forgot too... Maybe seeing you reminded him, and he felt guilty for not helping."

There was such a thing?

Lin Xu's résumés sent out during the recruitment had disappeared like stones sunk into the sea, without any response.

He never expected his classmate Shen had actually helped him out in secret.

He refilled Shen Jiayue's drink. "Thank you. I didn't know you had helped me like this."

"So you have to be nicer to me!"

Shen Jiayue boasted with a smug look, then patted the contract on the table. "Sign it, sign it! Before Uncle Tan changes his mind, hurry up and sign it so I can report back. That way, he won't have the chance to back out!"

I wonder what your Uncle Tan would think if he heard this... Lin Xu silently grumbled, then picked up a pen and signed his name on the contract.

The moment he signed the contract, the system's prompt sounded in his mind: "Host has secured the group catering business for three hundred people, completing the side quest [Skill Expansion]. The Life Skills section of the points shop is automatically unlocked. Host can now use points to exchange for various life-related skills."

Wuhu! This task is finally finished.

However, this order also brought new challenges. Completing lunch and dinner for over three hundred people without affecting the restaurant's regular operations would put a lot of pressure on the kitchen staff.

"You could hire a few temporary workers. Offer three to five hundred yuan a day, and loads of people would be willing to do it." Xie Baomin looked over the contract and offered this sincere suggestion.

Temporary workers?

"Those restaurants that specialize in banquets basically operate like this. They hire a batch of temporary workers when they have banquet orders and maintain daily business with just a few chefs when they don't."

Lin Xu turned to Niu Chuan and the others. "Can you find temporary banquet chefs where you live?"

Niu Chuan, who was chopping meat, said, "Yes, yes, yes! The building we live in is full of people in the catering business. Boss, how many people do you want to hire? We'll go back tonight and help you find them. It definitely won't delay tomorrow's work."

Hire a few?

Lin Xu thought for a moment and said, "Hire four. Four hundred yuan a day, but they must be skilled hands, no apprentices."

There was no time to train people for this kind of urgent job. So it was better to have skilled workers like Niu Chuan, who could do anything with a kitchen knife in hand.

"Don't worry, Boss. We'll definitely find the best ones."

Apart from finding helpers, the shop also needed to buy another super-large steamer. Feeding over three hundred people meant each meal would require a lot of rice to be steamed. The current super-large double-door steamer at the shop could barely meet the demand if used only for rice. If that were the case, there would be no steamer left for Pork Ribs and Chicken Feet. That's why another steamer was needed.

This time, Lin Xu ordered a four-door steamer directly online. It was large enough to fill the entire empty space at the entrance of the storeroom. With this new steamer, not only could the current predicament be resolved, but it would also be possible to introduce one or two new steamed dishes.

「After placing the order」

Lin Xu took out some winter squash he had bought in the morning from the storeroom. He was ready to prepare a dish to be added to tonight's group meal: egg yolk baked pumpkin.

Yesterday evening, when Sun Minghao's boss came to pick up the food, he had looked at the alternative menu and chosen this dish on the spot.

Since the customer chose it, then I just have to make it.

So, early that morning, Lin Xu had already bought pumpkins and salted duck egg yolks at the market.

"Junior Brother, what are you doing with the pumpkin?"

Xie Baomin had rested sufficiently and was originally planning to take his leave. Seeing these pumpkins, however, he became curious.

Lin Xu said with a smile, "This afternoon, there's a group meal order, and they specifically asked for egg yolk baked pumpkin. So I bought a few pumpkins, intending to make extra so that everyone in the restaurant can try it as well."

Of course, the main reason was to give Shen Jiayue a treat. The order she brought in would not only increase the restaurant's turnover by about a hundred thousand yuan but had also helped complete the side quest. This deserved appreciation, both for the sentiment and the practical benefit.

"You know how to make egg yolk baked pumpkin? Then I must stay and have a taste!"

Xie Baomin was interested. Previously, when he saw his junior brother struggling with the basics while making poached eggs, he had been worried about whether the competition at the end of the month might go awry. Unexpectedly, a new dish had now come up that would test both culinary skills and heat control.

Shen Jiayue had been ready to take the contract and report back. But hearing that a new dish was going to be made, she decided to stay put. "As a responsible representative of the client, I should stay and taste the dish. If it's not delicious, I might just find another restaurant to cooperate with, you know!"

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