Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

At the Ruyi Hotel, Liu Fengru was talking to Ma Xianling.

"What's wrong? Chef Liao isn't cooking anymore?" Liu Fengru asked anxiously.

Ma Xianling was momentarily speechless. After a brief pause, he said, "What are you panicking about? You're the one who always dislikes Chef Liao, and now you're the one who can't bear to part with him."

Liu Fengru didn't react much to her husband's sarcasm; her attention was entirely focused on the last sentence.

"Is Chef Liao really leaving?"

Ma Xianling shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm leaving, it's just that some things have come up at home, and I might need to rest for a few days."

"Will you need to take a few days off? What about the restaurant?"

"What else can we do? Are we just going to close it and wait for Chef Liao to come back?" Ma Xianling replied.

Liu Fengru was somewhat dissatisfied with her husband's attitude and raised her voice a few decibels, saying, "What if customers who come to the restaurant are not satisfied with the dishes and refuse to buy them while Chef Liao is away?"

Ma Xianling sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do if they don't buy it. We can only try and see what the situation is like."

"What if this happens more and more often in the future?"

Ma Xianling pursed his lips, clearly stumped by Liu Fengru's question, unsure how to answer it for a moment.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Maybe we'll have to find another chef later."

After speaking, Ma Xianling fell silent for a moment.

Liao Zheng's situation can be described as quite special, and the fact that Ruyi Hotel was able to invite Liao Zheng was indeed largely due to luck.

Hiring a chef may sound easy, but is it really that easy to hire one?

The first issue is salary. If it weren't for certain circumstances, how could a chef like Liao Zheng have come to work at Ruyi Restaurant?

The salary of such chefs would normally be at least 3,500 yuan.

And even if the salary is right, would anyone really be willing to work as a chef at Ruyi Restaurant?

To be honest, since Liao Zheng came to Ruyi Hotel, the hotel's business has indeed improved significantly compared to before.

To be honest, the chefs are truly talented.

Seeing that her husband remained silent, Liu Fengru paused and said, "Never mind. You'll take over for the next few days. Didn't you keep saying you've learned a lot from Chef Liao?"

"Since Chef Liao is away these days, you can try out the skills you've recently learned."

Because the restaurant was so busy, Liao Zheng couldn't manage it all by himself, so he would sometimes ask Ma Xianling to help out. As a result, he received a lot of guidance during this time.

Ma Xianling nodded and said, "That works too."

There really isn't any other way right now.

Liu Fengru's eyes flickered as she asked, "Then what about Chef Liao's salary for the past few days...?"

"How could we not send it? There's nothing we can do about it when someone has a family emergency."

"I was just asking."

……

The following day, Liao Zheng also did not come to Ruyi Hotel due to family matters.

Ma Xianling also took up the fryer again after a long absence, and to be honest, he was a little nervous after being away from the kitchen for so long.

However, having been learning from Liao Zheng during this time, my cooking skills have indeed improved significantly compared to before.

However, the gap between him and Liao Zheng is still quite significant.

"Boss lady."

Upon hearing the call, Liu Fengru immediately rushed over.

"Boss, what's up?"

"This dish tastes different than before. Did the restaurant change chefs?"

Liu Fengru smiled apologetically and said, "Chef Liao has had some family matters to attend to these past few days, so my husband cooked the dishes."

Upon hearing this, the diner was somewhat displeased.

Seeing that things were not going well, Liu Fengru quickly said, "I really forgot to mention this. Please make do with what you have for now, and I'll give you a discount when we settle the bill later."

The diner had eaten at Ruyi Restaurant several times before. Seeing that Liu Fengru's attitude was quite good and she had made compensation, he didn't make a big deal out of it. Besides, the food wasn't that bad.

After reaching an agreement, Liu Fengru went into the kitchen with a smile on her face.

"You need to improve the taste; some customers have already given me feedback about the flavor."

While cooking, Ma Xianling asked, "Is everything alright?"

"I mentioned it to someone, got a discount, and didn't say anything else," Liu Fengru replied.

Ma Xianling nodded and said, "I'll do my best."

……

Liu Fengru was in a really bad mood after the day.

Today, almost one out of every three tables of diners at Ruyi Restaurant complained that the food didn't taste as good as before and asked for an explanation.

Liu Fengru didn't know whether the other diners hadn't noticed the difference or were simply too lazy to care; she had no idea about these things.

It's like how Chef Liao made us, but he also ruined us.

Furthermore, Liu Fengru patiently explained to diners who raised questions, apologized, and then gave a discount to everyone when settling the bill.

Finally, it must be emphasized again that Chef Liao is only taking a few days off due to family matters, not because he will never come back.

This also caused other thoughts to arise in Liu Fengru's mind.

That evening, Liu Fengru complained to Ma Xianling.

However, Ma Xianling really didn't have any solutions to the problem Liu Fengru mentioned.

"When Liao Zheng comes back, you should also hurry up and learn more from him."

"Otherwise, what if something else goes wrong? Who can say for sure?"

Ma Xianling nodded: "I'll have a proper talk with Chef Liao when he gets back."

Liu Fengru nodded wearily after a long day, then began to think.

But today is over, what about tomorrow? And the day after? Liu Fengru was also a little troubled.

Liu Fengru was definitely unwilling to close the shop for two days to wait for Liao Zheng to return.

I've made quite a bit of money these past two days.

In fact, it's only a three-day period, so it won't have a significant impact on Ruyi Hotel.

However, this incident served as a wake-up call for Liu Fengru.

If Liao Zheng suddenly quits one day, things will really get difficult.

Liu Fengru can only pin her hopes on Ma Xianling, hoping that she can learn more of Liao Zheng's skills while in the kitchen every day.

……

The day after Liao Zheng was gone.

The number of customers at Ruyi Hotel was not affected much, after all, it was only for a day or two, and the number of customers was still the same as when Liao Zheng was there.

These diners ate there every two or three days, so naturally they were unaware that Liao Zheng was not there.

However, the customers who came to the restaurant today were those who were particular about the taste, and a dispute arose between them.

"Boss lady, that's not fair of you! Chef Liao isn't here today, so why didn't you tell us customers? You just left us to order without saying a word?"

The diner who was speaking had a buzz cut and a fierce face, clearly a difficult person to talk to.