Food Intelligence King

Chapter 114 The ivy has completely climbed in; the shop owner has a good eye for people.
Washing dishes to pay the bill—that's a long-standing tradition. It seems like this scene is frequently depicted in movies and TV shows.

But Chen Zhou had no intention of doing that.

First, there are legal risks involved in hiring someone under the age of eighteen.

Secondly, the store has a dishwasher.

The dual-pump high-pressure water jet cleaning system removes grease and sterilizes, making it cleaner than hand washing, while saving water, electricity, and manpower. My junior colleague loves it.

Therefore, the concept of manually washing dishes no longer exists.

However, providing a full meal of steamed buns to students who have no money for food is no problem at all.

In China, if someone goes out to beg for money, people might worry that they're a swindler, but if they're begging for food, people are afraid that person will be overweight.

Chen Zhou and two shop assistants invited the student to sit down.

Those who were picking up steamed buns were picking up steamed buns, those who were serving porridge were serving porridge, and those whose work was being taken away just mumbled a few words.

I'm just curious anyway:

First, why would this student be in a situation where they don't have money for food?

Another question is, why didn't he stay at school and attend classes instead of running out at this time?

This also answered the question that had been on Chen Zhou's mind.

He said to the student:

"You can eat, you don't need to wash the dishes. Just hurry back to class when you're done."

The students had mixed feelings.

He was a little hungry and wanted to eat steamed buns, but he was also touched. In the end, he felt a little embarrassed to be treated to a meal.

The steamed buns smell delicious.

His physical sensations took precedence.

When people are hungry, they don't think about much else. The student sat down at the table and took a big bite out of more than half of it.

With bulging cheeks, I need to drink some porridge to soothe them.

After wiping away the satisfied expression on the student's face, he regained his composure.

He then answered the three adults' questions.

The gist is that he had another argument with his family this morning. When he went to school, his parents called the school, and the teacher tried to talk to him, but to no avail.

He slipped out of school on his own.

"Boss, your steamed buns taste really good."

"Eat slowly, don't choke."

Chen Zhou felt like he had seen this plot somewhere before.

He thought for a moment, and while the student was wolfing down his food, he told the shop assistant and the boy a story:
"There was once a little girl who ran away from home after arguing with her parents. She had no money and was hungry. She met a wonton vendor who gave her a bowl of wontons, and the little girl was very touched."

The wonton vendor then told the child to go home immediately.

Almost. Today's situation is similar, except that the wontons were replaced with steamed buns.

There weren't many customers at the moment. Chen Zhou looked around at Aunt Zheng and his junior apprentice in the shop, and asked with a smile, "Come on, what lesson does this story teach us?"

My junior sister was listening very attentively.

She offered a popular explanation: "This is because we have lower expectations of strangers and higher expectations of family and friends."

Zhao Yilin thought about her divorced parents, then turned her head away to stop thinking about it.

Aunt Zheng, who had already returned to the kitchen, had also heard this story; she had read it in the magazine "Story Club".

The older woman was deeply moved by this, and couldn't help but put down her work to chime in:

“People outside might be very moved by a single meal you cook. But your mother cooks many meals for you.”

Chen Zhou nodded.

The two different answers stemmed from their different life circumstances.

But for him, the two men's words ultimately pointed to the same thing.

Following this plot, the student should have been somewhat moved after eating the steamed buns, and then tried to go home and reconcile with his parents.

Chen Zhou did indeed hope so.

The student must have heard this common saying before, so Chen Zhou didn't intend to say anything more.

But what the middle school student said next was a bit unexpected. Upon hearing the kitchen aunt mention her mother, the child began to complain:
“My mom is too busy with work every day and has no time to take care of me. I’ve hardly ever eaten her cooking since I was a child.”

At this point, the middle school student swallowed his steamed bun and paused for a moment.

"And she's not a good cook either. She likes to make seaweed and pork rib soup, but it's always either too salty or too bland."

Although she was complaining, Chen Zhou sensed that this student still wanted to eat her mother's cooking.

Just like Chen Taotao sometimes wants to eat grass.

The student and his mother in front of me are going through puberty and menopause.

Chen Zhou decided not to let the student eat for free anymore.

He said:
"Write an IOU, and have your parents bring you here to pay the money."

The student hesitated, "Boss, can I still wash your dishes?"

He understands the道理 (principles/reasoning), and he's heard the stories. But he just doesn't want to talk to his family. "When I was little, she would always come to take care of me when I was sick. Now, she doesn't care at all."

hiss.
Chen Zhou glanced at the intelligence report and asked:
"You're not faking illness this time, are you?"

"How did you guess that, boss?" the boy asked, somewhat surprised.
“I saw anorexia in a movie. This disease only requires not to eat. I’ve been pretending for several days, and my mom didn’t even notice.”

Chen Zhou finally understood.

She thought to herself: You want to eat your mother's cooking so she'll pay more attention to you. But she's busy with work and hasn't had time for you lately, so she came up with this last resort.

Chen Zhou handed the other party an IOU, saying, "If you don't know how to bring it up, take this opportunity to talk to them."

"I'll try it when I get home."

Based on the intelligence gathered in the past few days and the information revealed by customers, Chen Zhou was able to guess some of his situation.

"Are you in the Ivy League Literature Club? Are you a senior in high school this year?"

This boss has a really good eye for people.

The boy was a little dumbfounded. "All correct, boss. How did you know?"

Chen Zhou couldn't help but shake his head and smile. The ivy from Haibin No. 2 Middle School had completely climbed up the shop.

He explained briefly: "Your literary society has a junior who often comes to my place for meals."

"Kang Haoran, right? He's not very tall and wears glasses," asked the senior student, Climbing Ivy.

"It's him. He was just saying yesterday he'd go and promote it to you upperclassmen." Then, Chen Zhou gave the middle school student some instructions:

"Alright, go back and prepare for the college entrance exam after you finish eating. Also, have a good talk with your mom when you have time, and don't do anything foolish."

The boy nodded and promised:

"I'll try to get her to come to the restaurant with me for a meal."

Because he had someone to pay him after receiving the IOU, he felt a little more comfortable and generously extended the credit:

"Boss, could you please write two more? I'm still hungry."

Chen Zhou gestured to his junior sister to get the steamed buns.

He smiled at the student and said, "Remember this yourself."

After the student left, the junior sister moved closer to Chen Zhou:
"Hey! Senior brother, can you take a look at this for me too!"

Chen Zhou asked in confusion, "What do you need me to watch over? You can't find your phone again?"

"No!" The junior sister shook her head. "I feel like you can see things clearly!"

"Seeing things" refers to a type of folk superstitious activity similar to fortune-telling or divination.

But I had no idea what Chen Zhou was thinking.

In terms of customer contact, the junior sister actually has more and more frequent contact with customers than Chen Zhou himself, but Chen Zhou focuses on individual diners.

Yesterday, Kang greeted someone, but they just couldn't keep in touch.

Chen Zhou originally wanted to explain to Zhao Yilin, but since his junior sister said she would help her take a look.

Chen Zhou remembered Wang Meng, whom he had just met that morning, and pretended to look at it:
"You're a very pretty young lady. I think you might be destined for marriage."

The junior sister was delighted by the first half of the sentence, thinking that her senior brother was indeed quite capable, but the second half made her frown.

"Where did it move? I don't feel anything."

Aunt Zheng was busy in the kitchen for a while, then sat down and said mysteriously, "Your senior brother didn't see wrong."

(End of this chapter)