He was incredibly grateful he had chosen the revenue-sharing model; otherwise, he'd be kicking himself. The 20,000 yuan buyout would only last for a little over three months, based on current sales!
I opened the door, closed the door, put my phone on the bed, took out a change of clothes, took a cold shower, and comfortably sat back on the bed.
I picked up my phone to check what people in the [Shanghai Hometown Group] had been chatting about today, only to find two missed calls at the top of my screen. The caller ID showed the caller was—my wife!
This immediately panicked Zhang Dezhen. Was there something wrong with the child's health again? Or was his mother feeling unwell again?
Without time to think further, Zhang Dezhen dialed the number back. The call was answered after only one ring, and his wife was clearly standing by the phone, which made Zhang Dezhen's already calm heart sink even further.
"Honey, what's wrong? What happened at home?" Zhang Dezhen's voice was urgent and rapid. Before his wife could speak, he bombarded her with a series of questions: "Do we have enough money at home? How much do you have left? If not, I'll ask the boss to pay you a few days early. It's only three or four days until the 3rd, so it should be fine. Don't worry..."
Taking advantage of Zhang Dezhen's pause for breath, his wife finally found an opening to interrupt his incessant chatter. A slightly reproachful voice came through the receiver: "What are you saying? Everything's fine at home!"
Hearing that everything was alright at home, Zhang Dezhen breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a puzzled tone, "Then why did you call me twice? Was it the children? Did they miss me?"
"no......"
Zhang Dezhen's wife explained to him the whole reason for the phone call.
It turned out that around 7 p.m. that evening, after dinner, two of his wife's brother's close friends from their hometown came to visit. They asked Zhang Dezhen if he had opened a braised food shop in Shanghai and needed help, so they wanted the two of them to come and work there.
Zhang Dezhen was completely bewildered by these words. When did he open a braised food shop in Haishi? When did he go back to his hometown to hire people? This was definitely a scam.
"I thought so too, but after asking a few more questions, they said it was my brother who told me. They even showed them photos of the store, which is already under renovation and will open in about a week."
"Did you save the photo? Send it to me."
"No, but I left their contact information. I'll call them in a bit and have them send me the photos."
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Dezhen felt his mind was in a mess. What was this about opening a shop and hiring people, or his brother-in-law taking photos and looking for someone...?
Brother-in-law? Brother-in-law!
He kept urging me to open a shop as soon as he arrived, but after I refused and ignored him, he went out to look for a job. After two days, he said he had found a job and moved out. Could he be up to something? Did he open a braised food shop? Where did he get the money?
Before long, my wife sent me a total of seven pictures: three photos of the store, two photos of braised food, and two screenshots.
The screenshot shows a conversation between the brother-in-law and two friends. The gist of it is that he has started working for a boss who values his braised food skills and is sponsoring him to open a shop. Now the shop is short-staffed and wants the two of them to come and help out, offering a pretty good salary of 2,800 yuan a month.
In the screenshot, the brother-in-law also sent two pictures to the other party. Zhang Dezhen zoomed in on the screenshot and could barely make out the content of the pictures. They were clips from a local TV station in Shanghai reporting on the opening ceremony of Xu's Braised Food Shop, in which he was standing at the shop entrance...
Presumably, it was because of this photo that they thought he had opened a shop and wanted to find someone to help him, which is why they asked his wife about the situation.
After sending a message to his wife, telling her to tell the two young men that he had nothing to do with them and to let them think it over before coming over, Zhang Dezhen sent all the photos to Xu An.
"Boss, someone in Haishi is eyeing us. They're planning to open a braised food shop too, and the chef they hired is from my hometown!"
After receiving the pictures, Xu An carefully examined all seven of them. Finally, he zoomed in on one of the braised food photos three times and looked at the paper under the plate. It was a flyer, and the store's name and location were clearly displayed—Jinlong Braised Food Store.
Looking at the store's facade again, Xu An felt more and more familiar with it. Wasn't this the store he had tried to get information out of the real estate agent when he went to Qianjin Street yesterday?
So this shop is run by that middle-aged man with squinty eyes? And who is that young man who was hostile towards me? Could this man be the braised food chef from Zhang Dezhen's hometown?
After careful recollection, Xu An was surprised to find that although Zhang Dezhen and the young man looked very different, they shared the same regional characteristics and gave off a similar vibe.
"Jinlong, Jinlong, why does this name sound so familiar?" Xu An squinted and pondered for a moment, various useful and useless images flashing through his mind. Finally, the image settled on the entrance of the Bauhinia Academy construction site, next to the Xu's Fast Food stall was—Jinlong Fast Food Restaurant!
Could they be the same company?
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