Hong Feng, Manager of the Silver City Branch

"Buruburuburu~"

"Buruburuburu~"

In Fasnuo Province's Silver City, inside a Little Grass Dessert Shop branch, a strange-looking giant snail began to ring.

Those familiar with it knew that it was a Den Den Mushi. Chen Huang had long considered specializing in the Den Den Mushi business, but that was not something a child like him could manage. Still, equipping every branch with one was not a problem.

There were far too many strange things in the Douluo World. There were even eyeball Soul Beasts, so what was so unusual about a talking snail?

The manager of the Silver City branch knew at once that it was a call from the headquarters' owner. For now, these Den Den Mushi were only used for communication between superiors and subordinates. The only person who could call was the boss.

The manager of the Silver City branch was named Hong Feng. True to his name, he had a head of red hair.

He was warm and hospitable, and he was also a level thirty-five Soul Elder, which was why he had become the manager of the Silver City branch.

His Martial Soul was the Scarlet Flame Shield, a defensive Martial Soul with the Fire Attribute. Naturally, he was a defense-type Soul Master. He was not exactly young either, already twenty-seven this year. After graduating from an advanced Soul Master Academy a few years ago, he had come to apply for a job at Little Grass Dessert Shop.

"Yo, little boss. It's rare for you to give me a call," Hong Feng said as he picked up the Den Den Mushi.

"Hong Feng, how are the apprentices in your shop doing?" Chen Huang asked.

"They're doing fine. They've learned all the necessary skills and are official employees now," Hong Feng said.

"That's good. Pack your things and come to headquarters. Hand your current work over to them. The other senior employee is Sun Yue, right? Didn't she become a Soul Elder before? Let her temporarily take over as acting manager," Chen Huang said.

"Huh? Little boss, I've been doing perfectly well here. What's going on?" Hong Feng felt uneasy, thinking he might have done something wrong.

"Don't worry, it's not a bad thing. I'm planning to expand into the Balak Kingdom and open several branches. But I don't have enough people here. The newcomers we trained before have all gone out to open branches already. Come with me when the time comes and temporarily serve as manager. We'll get the branch framework set up," Chen Huang explained.

"Little boss, it's not that I don't want to go. I just want to ask, why me?" With his heart finally settling down, Hong Feng asked.

Laughter from Chen Huang and Xiao Shan came through the Den Den Mushi. It was simply too funny. Among the twelve managers, he was the only one who was single. Wasn't that hilarious? Besides, he was a manager who had trained newcomers before, so wasn't he the perfect fit? Once they went to the Balak Kingdom to open branches, they would need someone to train the new hires.

"Everyone else has a wife and children, or at the very least, a girlfriend. You, on the other hand, are twenty-seven already, not getting any younger, yet you don't even have a girlfriend. You're the handsome manager of our Little Grass Dessert Shop's Silver City branch, and even I'm embarrassed for you. If you don't go, who will? We can't make married couples live apart, can we? Or make children grow up without seeing their parents?"

A burst of laughter came from Hong Feng's side as well. The other two shop assistants were laughing at him.

"Fine, fine, little boss. I'll be there by tomorrow evening at the latest." Hong Feng's voice had grown much softer. After hanging up, it rose again as he snapped at the two people behind him, "What are you laughing at? Don't you have work to do?"

But inwardly, he wondered whether he ought to find himself a girlfriend.

That evening, after closing the shop, he handed the shop keys to the assistant Sun Yue. She was the acting manager now.

After packing his things, including his uniform and a change of clothes, he would be able to set off first thing the next morning. Of course, he could also choose not to bring any extra clothes and simply buy some later.

Chen Huang's courtyard served as headquarters, so it naturally had all sorts of shop supplies. Spare Cotton Candy machines, uniforms in every size, and so on. He had personally written training materials before and had specifically used holidays and annual meetings to train the shop employees.

They needed to have basic professional competence. This was a service business, after all. A customer could not come in and say, "Give me a Cotton Candy."

Only for the employee to wave them off impatiently and say, "Get it yourself!"

That would obviously be unacceptable. These employees were Soul Masters whose ranks were considered fairly high in the eyes of ordinary people. They would inevitably feel somewhat proud and look down on regular people. Thus, on one hand, there was training; on the other, there were random undercover inspections.

Sometimes, people were recruited directly into headquarters, trained, and then sent out to open new shops once their professional skills were up to standard. Of course, they would start as newcomers under the guidance of managers from other branches. Once they satisfied the manager, a new manager would be selected and the work handed over.

Chen Huang's training also included Soul Master skill training, with Tang Hao offering guidance or having them serve as sparring partners for himself and Xiao Shan.

There was also training in loyalty to the shop, building the employees' sense of belonging. The proper benefits and leave were certainly provided, though the two employees had to take turns. Headquarters also supported their cultivation. If they broke through and needed to obtain a Spirit Ring, headquarters would help them. Together with the harmonious annual meetings, it made for a close-knit atmosphere. The Douluo World had no New Year tradition, so their annual meeting was held at the end of the year.

Hong Feng said he would arrive by the next evening, and he even made it in time for dinner at headquarters. Having the boss personally cook for them was an enormous blessing.

Chen Huang's cooking skills came from Xiao Fugui. They were truly one of a kind in this world, weren't they?

He was now considering opening a restaurant someday, using these cooking skills and dishes as the foundation. If Xiao Fugui did not have his own Hong Family Restaurant, Chen Huang would have wanted to hire him to help train a group of chefs.

Hong Feng really was a hopelessly straight-laced man. At the dinner table, he even fought Li Qing and Zheng Yue, two young women, over a dish. He had no tact at all. No wonder he was single. Two gorgeous beauties sat across from him, yet he did not know to say anything.

Li Qing was a mature, refined young widow. Although she had a child, she was beautiful enough that many older men in the shop were utterly captivated by her. At their age, they came every day to buy Candied Hawthorn and Cotton Candy. Some even spent lavishly, brimming with boldness, buying many portions of pastries to take away whenever they came, all to show off before the goddess in their hearts. Others weighed out several pounds of candy to bring home as gifts.

Perhaps because her Martial Soul was a lollipop, Zheng Yue was rather petite. She was an exceptionally cute young woman. She was still very young and had no boyfriend. If Chen Huang did not always have a Childhood Sweetheart keeping an eye on him, he would definitely have become a harem king in this lifetime.

Hong Feng, Hong Feng, even when given an opportunity, you were useless. If this task was not given to you, who else could it be given to? Chen Huang sighed inwardly.

Before Hong Feng arrived today, Chen Huang and Xiao Shan had already found a carriage and planned to set off early the next morning. There would be four people in total, after all. Since they had a carriage, there was no need to walk, especially since the Balak Kingdom was quite far away.

P.S. Please vote with recommendation tickets and add this to your collection. Everyone, please support it. Monthly tickets would be even better. 3/4.

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If you're interested, join the group: q563894205. The more people there are, the livelier it will be. New Year will be here in another month or two, and we can play some games together then.

I'll open a supporting-character thread in the review section. Format: name, gender, Martial Soul, Soul Power Level. If you have ideas, send in more.