Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 287 Registration

"Hello, Jubinge Hotel, is this a reservation? There's one private room left." Li Wen answered the phone and immediately started calling.

Xiao Wei said, "Don't you care who's calling?"

Li Wen was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Why are you calling if you haven't booked a table? You're just causing trouble. Don't you have any conscience?"

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "You're getting cocky now, aren't you? Tell me what you've been busy with?"

Li Wen chuckled a few times and said, "Um, boss, what's up?"

Xiao Wei said, "The cake shop needs to hire two waitresses. Do you know any girls? Around your age, good-looking, and good at talking."

Li Wen said, "Boss, can I do it? I'll go!"

Xiao Wei paused for a moment, then asked, "You don't want to work at the restaurant anymore? What about here?"

Li Wen said, "Boss, things are really tiring at the restaurant right now. Li Bing and I are so exhausted by evening that our legs are practically aching. We're serving seven, eight, or nine tables every day, and we're barely managing one floor each. How about you let Li Bing and me go work at the cake shop? I'll find two more people to come over here, okay, boss?"

Xiao Wei asked, "Then wouldn't other people be tired?"

Li Wen: "Waaah, boss."

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "If you two really want to come, then come, but you have to find me people to take over. Find four people to come."

Li Wen: "Huh? Four? Why does it become four when I work for someone else? Boss, I want to cry."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Stop being silly, you're older than me. We need to be about the same height and appearance, and you should be good at talking and have a good personality."

Li Wen said, "Okay, boss, just you wait and see. I'll bring the person over to you tomorrow."

The next day, Li Wenzhen brought over several classmates, saying that none of them were employed, and let Xiaowei choose for himself so that she wouldn't offend anyone.

Of the seven people, Xiaowei chose four to stay at the hotel, arranged for one to work at the karaoke bar, and sent the remaining two directly to work at the food factory.

Once the staff was booked, the cake shop opened for business. Xiao Wei set off a string of firecrackers without notifying anyone.

March 22nd, the day after the Spring Equinox, Minor Snow.

The wind wasn't strong, and although it was snowing lightly, you could feel the weather warming up. The snow on the ground was starting to become sticky, and the soil underneath was getting damp.

Today, the training center welcomed its first registered student.

Around noon, a man carrying a bag and wearing a mask walked from the direction of the train station, stopping frequently to look around. Finally, he spotted the sign for the training center, his eyes lit up, and he strode over to the guardhouse, asking, "Sir, is this the Longcheng Labor Bureau Vocational Training Center?"

Old Guan glanced at him, nodded, and said, "Yes, is something wrong?"

The man said, "Sir, I'm here to register. Which room is the registration area?"

Old Guan pointed inside and said, "Just go inside and look for it. Leave your things here; it's too tiring to carry them around."

The man said, "Thank you, sir, it's not too heavy." He carried the package into the building and walked down the corridor.

The second office had a sign that read "Consultation and Registration Office." The man knocked on the door. Because the main entrance of this building was on the side and faced the corridor, all the office doors were tightly closed; otherwise, the wind would have flowed directly into the room from the main entrance, even with curtains.

As soon as the door opened, Shan Hongmei glanced at the man standing outside and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

The man said, "Hello, I'm here to register."

Shan Hongmei opened the office door and said, "Come in." The man entered the room, and Shan Hongmei closed the office door and asked, "Which class are you registering for? Why are you here so early? We don't start registration until the 25th. Go get your own hot water; the red button is for heating." She pointed to the water dispenser.

The man thanked him, put down his package, went to the water dispenser, filled a disposable cup with hot water, and held it in his hands, saying, "It's much colder here than other places, and it's hard to find. I've been looking for it for almost an hour since I got off the train."

Shan Hongmei said, "If you're looking for the government, you've come to our place. There are buses from the train station to this side of the government building. Starting from the 25th, we have a car picking people up at the station square. You're early. What do you want to learn?"

As soon as the door opened, a gust of cold wind blew in, and An Lihua, Zuo Hong, and Liu Shangyue ran in laughing. They had gone to the food factory to "steal" cakes, carrying them in plastic bags. They placed them on the table, and An Lihua said, "Sister Shang scolded us again, haha. We're getting the cream over there now, we don't have any here. Who's this?" She glanced at the man who was holding a bowl of hot water and nodding to the three of them.

Shan Hongmei said, "You've just come in to register. By the way, what's your name? Where are you from? Please fill out this form."

The man, holding a water glass, walked to the desk and said, "My name is Yu Qiu, from Jiaohe, Jibei. I just got discharged from the army." He put down the glass, picked up a pen, sat down on a stool, looked at the application form, and asked, "How much does a chef earn? What's this pastry class?"

As Shan Hongmei and her three companions were sharing a cake, she turned around and said, "Want to stay here? It's 2,100 if you stay here, 1,700 if you don't. We guarantee you'll learn everything and arrange an internship. This is the pastry class." She held up a piece of cake she had taken a bite out of: "Cakes, bread, birthday cakes, just Western-style pastries. This also guarantees you'll learn everything and you'll have an internship. After graduation, we can help you open a shop or arrange a job."

Yu Qiu asked, "How much does this pastry cost?"

Shan Hongmei said, "This is a bit expensive. It's the only place in Northeast China that has this. The teachers are all brought in from eastern Guangdong. It costs 6,500 yuan to learn this."

Yu Qiu was taken aback for a moment and asked, "Isn't that too expensive? How come it's so much more expensive than a chef's?"

Shan Hongmei broke off a piece of cake and handed it to Yu Qiu, saying, "Just hiring the teachers costs a lot of money. Their food and lodging are all taken care of, that costs money too! A couple of days ago, Chef Li stayed here for less than half a month and took over ten thousand yuan. And then there's the internship. This is different from being a chef; you have to do everything yourself several times before you can learn it. Dough, oil, sugar—aren't those expensive? And once the oven is on, the meter spins like crazy."

Yu Qiu took a bite of the cake, nodded, and said, "It's really delicious. We don't have any internships in Northeast China, do we?"

Shan Hongmei pointed to the cake in Yu Qiu's hand and said, "Aren't you eating it right now? We have our own factory, right across the yard."

Yu Qiu thought for a moment and said, "Does this job really involve work? How much is the salary?"

Shan Hongmei said, "You'd have to ask the boss for details. I think it's a few hundred yuan a month for an intern, and a little over a thousand yuan a month if you become a master chef. I haven't asked." An Lihua said, "A skilled master chef earns 1200 yuan, and a store manager earns 1600 yuan, plus bonuses and stuff. Hey Hongmei, I want to learn this when the class starts. Isn't it better than this class?"

Shan Hongmei said, "Would your family agree? I've been thinking about it these past few days, but I haven't decided yet. If we want to learn, could the boss pull some strings?"

(End of this chapter)