Upon entering the shop, Xia Baozhu changed into her flat shoes and styled her hair into a bun, hiding it under her chef's hat.

San Gou and Jia Hongying stared blankly at her; their expressions had been like this ever since Xia Baozhu entered the room.

"Brother, sister, the pot's going to burn," Zheng Zhenhao whispered, smelling the fumes coming from the pot.

Since Xia Baozhu started dressing in a more normal style, the number of people in the store has increased dramatically, with people queuing up even outside of mealtimes.

Xia Baozhu was constantly bombarded with questions about her marital status, and when she got annoyed, she had Jia Hongying stand behind the counter.

Sun Xingyan sent a letter describing his experiences on the journey to the Great Bear Kingdom, and also sent her a package to pick up when she had time.

The bizarre experiences on the train alone filled three pages, satisfying Sun Xingyan's urge to rant.

He said he learned a few songs on the way back and plans to hold a concert at school to showcase his singing talent.

He also asked Xia Baozhu to learn from him so that the two of them could sing a duet.

The last sentence was still "Wait for me to come back."

Although Xia Baozhu was not optimistic about the possibility of the two being together, she still carefully put the letter away in a special box.

She took the package, which contained a tape recorder. It wasn't large, but it was quite exquisite, and the text on it indicated that it was an imported product.

There was a cassette tape in the tape recorder labeled "Complete Collection of Classic Songs from 1990".

Among them are "Special Love for a Special You," "A Laughter in the Vast Sea," and "Glorious Years," which Sun Xingyan mentioned in his letter.

Xia Baozhu bought a few more cassette tapes to listen to while practicing yoga in the evenings.

When Lin Aijun and others suggested using the food truck to sell their own meals, Xia Baozhu agreed.

She changed the agreement, requiring them to only pay 100 yuan in sales revenue per day, while their wages remained the same.

However, you can't damage the restaurant's reputation. Even if the food is homemade, it must comply with the restaurant's hygiene regulations and must be fresh and clean.

Once a report is received, there are two opportunities to rectify the situation; a third time, the employee will be dismissed and will be prohibited from selling the same food and beverages as those in the store.

"Can my mother-in-law's younger brother come and do this?" Huang Jianguo asked.

“If he can manage, he can stay, but only meals will be provided. You can see that there’s no room for anyone to stay in the shop.”

"Thank you, Sister Xia. I will definitely teach him well."

Huang Jianguo was very excited. As long as his brother-in-law could gain a foothold here, he could hold his head high in his father-in-law's house.

Soon, the number of food trucks increased to ten, and the new occupants were the spouses or relatives of Lin Aijun and others.

These people all undergo training and pass an assessment before they can start working. The person who conducts the assessment is San Gou.

There wasn't enough room for all the food carts in the backyard, so Xia Baozhu told them to ride them home and back in the morning.

Xia Baozhu added another car to Zheng Zhenhao's evening business.

The red food trucks that are now a common sight on the streets have become a beautiful sight and a brand that people in Taicheng are gradually recognizing, making the fried chicken shop even more famous.

It's too tiring for Zheng Zhenhao to make breakfast by himself, so Xia Baozhu needs to hire someone specifically to handle the work from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m.

This time, she called the person who had left her phone number last time. When they heard that they had to go to work at three in the morning, most people backed down, but only the young man named Li Jinlong readily agreed.

Xia Baozhu didn't let Li Jinlong start working immediately. She had him stay in the kitchen for a week first, and only after he was sure he had mastered the basics did she let him try the morning shift.

Apprentice wages are low, 150 yuan a month, which increases to 230 yuan after you are fully proficient.

This salary made Li Jinlong very happy, as it was higher than the salary of his older brother who worked in the factory.

When he went home and talked about his salary and benefits, his family didn't believe him and thought he was bragging.

A kitchen worker at a small fried chicken shop is lucky to earn 100 yuan a month, how could they possibly be paid that much?

Li Jinlong offered a couple of explanations, but seeing that no one believed him, he stopped talking, planning to teach them a lesson when he got paid.

Lured by the high salary, Li Jinlong worked very hard, which made Zheng Zhenhao, who was already very hardworking, feel a sense of crisis and work even harder.

"Brother Feng, Xiao Hao is dozing off." Jia Hongying glanced at Zheng Zhenhao, who was sleeping while standing, and whispered to San Gou.

San Gou got angry and forbade him from setting up his night stall.

“I told you that work at the store is more important, but you didn’t listen. Now you’re sleeping during work hours. Do you think you’re doing justice to your current salary? Do you think you’re doing justice to Sister Xia?”

After being reprimanded, Zheng Zhenhao never dared to exert himself again, but he still went out to set up a stall at night, just to earn an extra three yuan a day.

Xia Baozhu couldn't stop her employees from being ambitious. The salary she paid was already higher than that of many civil servants. If word got out, countless people would be scrambling to find her a job.

She earns 8,000 yuan a month now and has been submitting articles non-stop. However, she doesn't let writing at night affect her work the next day. Being ambitious is a good thing, but she should be careful to keep it within limits.

San Gou did a good job, and Xia Baozhu plans to give him a big red envelope during the holidays.

Xia Baozhu recently set her sights on a new shop location in the west of the city, in a newly developed residential complex. She has her eye on the shops along the street on the ground floor.

Those families who were able to buy a house in this neighborhood first are all well-off, so a fried chicken shop opening here must do good business.

Xia Baozhu planned to buy two shops first. She went to inquire about the price and found that each shop cost more than 24,000 yuan. The size of each shop was 60 square meters, and the price was more than 400 yuan per square meter.

The two shops cost a total of 49,000 yuan, and if you add the renovation, it will cost about 60,000 yuan.

After careful consideration, Xia Baozhu wrote an agreement: she would contribute 20,000 yuan for technical management, and Sun Xingyan would contribute 40,000 yuan. The profits from the two shops would be split 50/50, with each person owning one shop.

Even if the shop doesn't make much money, the shop itself appreciates quickly, and its price can increase more than tenfold in ten years.

If this area becomes prosperous enough in the future, the price will only go up.

In twenty or thirty years, prices will skyrocket and become ridiculously high.

This is a sure-fire way to make money.

Xia Baozhu put the agreement into the box and took out the savings book that Sun Xingyan had left her.

"Xiao Zheng, are you buying a house?" Xia Baozhu asked San Gou specifically.

“My family owns two houses, so we don’t need to buy a house for now,” San Gou said with a grin.

That's right. San Gou's house is in the city center, and there's a high chance it will be demolished in the future. He'll get not only compensation but also a new house. He's a lucky guy.

Xia Baozhu successfully bought two adjacent shops, both of which were temporarily registered in her name. She would transfer them to Sun Xingyan when he returned, and she wrote another agreement for this purpose.

Because it's a newly completed building, there's still construction debris around it that hasn't been completely removed.

Considering that the occupancy rate was not high at the beginning, Xia Baozhu decided not to open the business for the time being and would come back to check on the environment in the second half of the year.