Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xiao Luo and Li Zimeng sat at the guest bench in front of the store entrance and drank their hot tea.
After serving the customers, Sun Jiannan walked over enthusiastically and asked with a courteous smile: “President Xiao, do you have any constructive advice for our work?”
If he maintained a suspicious attitude towards Xiao Luo before, he now trusts Xiao Luo’s leadership 100%. If Xiao Luo didn’t have the skills, the Luo Workshop wouldn’t have been able to get back on its feet in such a short time; even the old President of the Taste Buds, Fang Changlei, lost to Xiao Luo. The young man’s ability made him feel as if Xiao Luo was like a god standing above mankind.
“I only have one advice.”
Xiao Luo smiled and turned his head to look at Li ZImeng beside him, “it’s also a request for the storefront owner.”
Li Zimeng quickly pulled out some paper and a pen to carefully record Xiao Luo’s next words so that she can bring it up to all storefronts.
“The owner needs to learn how to manage the store with 5S theory.” Xiao Luo said.
5S theory?
Sun Jiannan looked at him dumbfounded, and Li Zimeng also expressed confusion.
Xiao Luo chuckled and said: “5S is organization, regulation, cleaning, sanitization and quality control. Organization means to clearly organize pastries based on their shelf life, and anything that is about to expire must not be placed on the product rack and disposed of as soon as possible. Regulation means to always keep everything in the store neatly, properly labeled with name and stock. You must also be able to make three confirmations: naming every item, maintain an inventory, and place the items properly. Cleaning means to clean the store of all dirt and dust, preventing any contamination…”
As Xiao Luo was giving his lecture to Sun Jiannan and Li Zimeng on the 5S theory, two other girls entered the store to shop for pastries.
They were dressed fashionably with a good figure; one of them had slightly curled hair and looked quite energetic. The other didn’t look too well and had a pale face, but her sweet appearance was enough to make many young men swoon.
“Mengqi, your surgery wound hasn’t healed yet. The Doctor said you need to be extra careful.” The girl with slight curls reminded the other girl.
It was Ma Linger and Zhao Mengqi!
Zhao Mengqi shook her head: “Don’t worry, I gained some appetite the moment I smelled fresh bread from the oven. Let’s go check out inside.”
Ma Linger pressed her lips down: “Even if you have an appetite you can’t eat them, you can only have some light porridge right now.”
“If I can’t eat then I’ll just go inside for the smell, I’ll be happy to just smell fresh bread.” Zhao Mengqi laughed.
“I…alright, I guess I can’t help it.”
Ma Linger made a concession, “But you can only smell it!”
“Okay….”
Zhao Mengqi nodded.
The two walked inside the store and was immediately greeted by a scene of full unique bread and pastries; soft French bread, small roll cakes, shredded bread, pudding, swiss rolls, etc… Everything in the store brings up an appetite and even made Ma Linger, who wasn’t hungry earlier, swallow her own saliva.
“Look at you drool over them, if you want some then just buy it!” Zhao Mengqi gave her a glance.
Ma Linger waved her hand and said sternly: “I can’t, in order to maintain my body right now I refuse to eat high-calorie foods like these.”
“I used to eat these all the time, and I didn’t gain weight.” Zhao Mengqi said.
The beam on her face immediately dimmed down after she finished. Even though she ate bread a lot in the past, it was because Xiao Luo bought them for her. She could clearly remember one time where she visited a Luo Workshop bakery with Xiao Luo only to find herself with only a few Yuans on hand and could only split a large shredded bread together.
That was indeed a wonderful and fun time!
However, she destroyed the wonderful past with her own hands…
Her nose felt itchy and her eyes grew a little red at the thought.
“Mengqi, what happened?” Ma Linger asked in concern.
Zhao Mengqi took in a deep breath and forced a smile on her face: “No…it’s nothing. By the way, Linger, where did the $100,000 for my treatment come from?”
She vaguely recalled seeing Xiao Luo when she was half-asleep on her bed in the hospital, and only now remembered to confirm her suspicion with Ma Linger.
“Didn’t I already tell you? I got it from my family.” Ma Linger’s gaze dodged away with a bit of guilt from lying.
“Oh.”
Zhao Mengqi lowered her head in slight disappointment and then said, “I’ll pay you back the money I owe eventually.”
“Don’t worry about it, my family isn’t in need of money…”
Ma Linger’s voice slowly disappeared as she spoke out of lack of confidence. How could she just let $100,000 go without asking someone to pay back and felt that she will not be able to hide the fire with paper for long anymore? She pondered whether to lay it all out to Zhao Mengqi, but after some thought, she decided to test Zhao Mengqi’s thoughts first and quickly changed the subject.
“We can figure out the money issue after you recover. As your sister, I really must scold you here. Why did you choose that Hua Haifeng as your boyfriend? Those rich second generations have no skills and only a rich father. Look at him, he hasn’t even come over to see you since you were hospitalized, such a scum. Oh, no, even calling him a scum is too generous, he’s just a rock under a pit that’s smelly and hard.”
Zhao Mengqi’s face lifted a difficult smile: “Linger, don’t mention him. Now that it happened, I won’t blame anyone else besides myself for being foolish enough to buy into temptation.”
“Don’t say that, very few girls can withhold temptation in front of money. Take myself for example, if a rich boy tries to throw a few hundred thousand dollars at me, I might also just walk away with him without hesitation.”
Ma Linger skillfully turned the topic and changed the subject to Xiao Luo, “Alright, enough of that, let’s talk about someone else. Mengqi, who is that Xiao Luo person you were mumbling half-asleep while in the hospital?”
Zhao Mengqi was shocked and laughed at her difficulty in her mind: Did I call his name while I was unconscious?
“He was my ex-boyfriend and my first love. For both of us, it was our first time falling in love with no experiences before. We made a fool of ourselves, suffered, were a mess, and threw lots of attitudes before. But now that I recall everything, it was filled with sweetness.”
She smiled sweetly. Whenever she thinks of Xiao Luo, Zhao Mengqi would feel happy.
An old scenery surfaced in her mind. She didn’t bring an umbrella and could only stand behind a bus stop to wait for the rain to pass. Her monthly was here and it was so painful she couldn’t even walk properly, so Xiao Luo carried her all the way back to her dorm without hesitation. She couldn’t remember why, but the two got into a fight under the tree and ended up walking away in anger…
“Do you still love him?” Ma Linger asked.
Zhao Mengqi’s body trembled a bit, all the memories in her mind will forever remain memories. She laughed in mock and shook her head: “I don’t deserve to love him anymore.”
“Don’t say it like that, maybe you two can still get back together.”
Ma Linger grabbed her hands and said eagerly: “Go find him, maybe he still loves you!”
“No!”
Zhao Mengqi suddenly yelled out uncontrollably and took a step back. As she saw her friend stood there dumbly, her expression began to grow apologetic, “Sorry, I…” She closed her eyes and said painfully, “I was the one that left him in the first place. I didn’t like that he was always just a part-timer, I have no more face to go find him again anymore.”