The Game of Life

Chapter 372: Chapter 371 English

The forms on the table were divided into three categories.

The first category was very clean with no marks at all, representing that Wang Sulian and Fan Mei were both very satisfied with the person. The second category was like Hu Li’s form, marked with a red dot in the upper left corner, indicating observation pending, ready for a potential layoff. The third category had a red circle in the upper left corner and was rather unfortunate; it meant the person was confirmed for dismissal and could pack up and leave after the two-month probation period ended.

The number of waiters on the first floor of Taifeng Building and those in the private dining rooms was about the same. In the beginning, due to the Jiang Family Members’ lack of experience, the recruitment was announced late, leading to a mixed quality of staff. This round of layoffs mainly targeted those who were initially hired just to fill the numbers.

Ji Yue calculated there were 13 people confirmed for layoff and 11 on standby. If all these people were dismissed, then the first-floor waiters would essentially undergo a complete change of staff.

Ji Yue even had the illusion that once Fan Mei brought over her colleagues from Magic City and she pulled in the headwaiter from Eight-treasure House, she herself could be on the layoff list.

After all, she somewhat knew just how high her level of spoken English actually was, whether she had passed the level four test by skill or by luck.

“I think there’s no problem,” Ji Yue put down the form, “If we really want to carry out large-scale eliminations, by this standard, they indeed do not have the capability, but—”

Ji Yue felt she should still argue for Hu Li, as Hu Li had left a good impression on her, and she hadn’t committed any mistakes during her work period. If she was to be put on the layoff shortlist and became a target for this or the next round of layoffs, just because she didn’t have a pleasant-enough voice, wasn’t pretty enough, or lacked a sufficient educational background without prospects—reasons that weren’t sufficient to completely doom a waiter—Ji Yue always felt somewhat uneasy.

“Actually, I have a pretty good impression of this Hu Li,” Ji Yue pointed to Hu Li’s form, “She’s very enthusiastic, good at socialising, and has a positive work attitude. I think she still has potential for growth.”

Seeing Ji Yue actually singled out Hu Li, Fan Mei and Mrs. Wang Xiulian couldn’t help but take another look at Hu Li.

“Right, I’ve assigned her the task of answering phone calls and sorting customer information. We can see how capable she is when she hands over the list to me this afternoon,” Ji Yue said.

Fan Mei nodded, “That’s workable.”

The matter of the list was thus put to rest. Fan Mei had a lot of work on her hands. She sorted out the forms quickly and went out.

“Yueyue, what exactly is going on with Xue’s family? Give me the specifics,” Mrs. Wang Xiulian said. It wasn’t yet operational hours, and the air conditioning in the surveillance room was stronger than outside, making it a pleasant place for Mrs. Wang Xiulian to stay.

Ji Yue shared everything she knew about Ji Xue’s family situation in detail, and after listening, Mrs. Wang Xiulian could only shake her head, at a loss for words.

“By the way, Auntie Wang, there was a Mr. Cheng from Guangdong Province this morning who has reserved the claypot flower-carved chicken for the next few days. He said his son works in the public security system over there and can offer us help, but he would like to change the compensation from two portions of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon to six portions,” Ji Yue said.

Mrs. Wang Xiulian agreed on the spot, “It’s just six portions of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, what’s the big deal? Let Feng make a few extra portions, it’s good for practice. Don’t just make those sweet and sour yams and wontons all the time, those dishes don’t sell for much.”

“Should I go back and confirm over the phone later?” Ji Yue asked.

“Hmm,” Mrs. Wang Xiulian nodded, and as she drew her head back at that moment, her double chin faintly transformed into a triple chin, not so obvious, signifying that her recent dieting had started to show results.

“Also, Feng said he starts school on the 6th, and it seems he booked a ticket back for the evening of the 5th. He can’t cook for those days he’s back in Alan City, so you’ll need to pay attention to the schedule when planning,” Mrs. Wang Xiulian reminded.

“I’m aware of it, Auntie Wang. I’ll ask him later at noon how many days he’ll be gone, and I still need to confirm the shift schedule with Fan today. I’m going to head out,” Ji Yue got up and left the surveillance room.

Once Ji Yue left, Mrs. Wang Xiulian skillfully locked the door from inside, pulled a pillow from beneath the table, plopped it onto the desk, then flopped her head onto the pillow and began to catch up on sleep.

Mrs. Wang Xiulian had a small secret known only to Jiang Family Members: she was more sensitive to heat than the average person. When Jiang Jiankang was in Z city, running a small healthy snack shop, the air-conditioning had to be set much lower than in other places, often leading to customers complaining of a chill down their backs halfway through their meals.

To most people, the air conditioning temperature at Taifeng Building was comfortable, but to Mrs. Wang Xiulian, it felt somewhat high. That’s why she usually retreated to the surveillance room where the air conditioning was sufficient to nap and slack off. Often, when she was nowhere to be seen in the restaurant, everyone thought she had gone out to look for food, when in reality, she might simply be snoozing away in the room. The surveillance room door being locked from the inside was mostly Mrs. Wang Xiulian’s doing, to prevent anyone from disturbing her sleep.

Ji Yue left the surveillance room and first went to the kitchen to convey Mr. Cheng’s request, then confirmed with him the number of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon servings they could provide each day. Afterward, she returned to the front desk to retrieve her phone from Hu Li and send a message to Mr. Cheng.

“Fengfeng, aren’t you committing to a bit too many portions of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon to prepare each day? With such a large number, you’ll have to stay in the kitchen to handle the squab every afternoon,” Wu Minqi expressed her concern that Jiang Feng might overexert himself in the rush to keep up.

“It’s fine, it’s just for a few days, it’s not like it’s always going to be like this,” Jiang Feng said.

In fact, Jiang Feng was quite happy to make Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

Although few people enjoy their jobs, just as few students genuinely love studying while in school, Jiang Feng actually found pleasure in cooking.

The weariness of studying in school and the aversion to work are simply due to a lack of motivation and not seeing an end, the feeling of powerlessness that comes with the belief that even with great effort and a lot of time spent, it seems like you’ve gained nothing.

But cooking was different. Jiang Feng felt that perhaps because of the unreliable game system he possessed, everything about his culinary skills was datafied, including experience points and proficiency, which were affirmations of his efforts. Although the process of practicing cooking was always dull, as a player who once went bald and burned out his liver playing Itchy Rat, Jiang Feng didn’t mind a boring process as long as the result was satisfying.

For dishes like Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, which allowed him to simultaneously improve a lot of knifework, seasoning, and fire control skills, he felt he could happily spend all day making them if conditions allowed.

He had been playing the game Earth Online since birth.

On the other hand, after sending the message to Mr. Cheng and handing the phone back to Hu Li, Ji Yue saw Hu Li re-recording and organizing the guest list.

“Haven’t I already noted these names in the notebook? Why are you rewriting the list?” Ji Yue asked.

“My handwriting is bigger, and I was afraid of messing up what you had originally noted down if I wrote directly in the notebook, so I rearranged a new copy. It didn’t take much time,” Hu Li explained.

Ji Yue glanced over the newly organized list from Hu Li, which was much clearer than her previous rushed recording.

“How’s your English?” Ji Yue suddenly asked.

Hu Li was taken aback, “Not very good.”

“How about spoken English?”

“I… I attended school in a small town, so…”

“If you have the time, try to study English when you can. It’s not necessary to be able to write or to focus too much on grammar, but you should at least be proficient in spoken English. After all, we’re in Beiping, and it can be quite useful to have good English speaking skills,” Ji Yue whispered, smiling at Hu Li, “Go on with your work; I won’t disturb you any further.”

After reminding Hu Li, Ji Yue felt that she should also find time to improve her English, as her proficiency was not reflective of someone who graduated from a 985 university.

She just wondered if spoken English classes in Beiping were expensive. Ji Yue admitted to herself that she had become quite poor since buying tutoring books for Ji Qiran.

Maybe she should just ask Ji Qiran to tutor her in spoken English. After all, he had been educated in an international school since he was young; all that money spent shouldn’t be for nothing, and she expected to see some results.

Happily, Ji Yue made up her mind.

She would have Ji Qiran tutor her.

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