Overtime

5:40 PM, inside the Witch House.

Holding a tray and looking at the pineapple fried rice upon it, Jiang Han felt her stomach rumble. With a hint of resentment, she set the fried rice down for the customer watching the television, offering a sincere and sweet smile:

"Miss, your order: pineapple and cheese mixed fried rice, and a large Heiboer Gold and Silver Wheat Beer."

The witch, who had been staring intently at the Saturday Masters Tournament, turned her head subconsciously. Her eyes met Jiang Han's sweet smile, and she stared blankly for a moment before nodding in realization, then cleared her throat and took a ten-yuan note from her pocket to place on the tray.

Jiang Han returned an even sweeter smile and walked back to the bar—she could still feel the gaze of the customer behind her following her.

"It seems you are very popular with the customers. Hiring you was indeed the right decision." Because today's work was exceptionally busy, Qin Shunying didn't play cards with the customers as she usually did during her leisure time. Instead, she stood at the bar, skillfully delegating tasks:

"One order of French Baked Oysters, one order of Cream Corn, and two large Mushroom Bubbles, delivered to table seven."

Jiang Han placed the tray on the bar, and Du Ningzhuang quickly arranged the ordered items.

As an aside, Jiang Han's position had evolved from a leisurely bar mascot to a busy waitress. Although she was busier, the probability of receiving tips had also increased. Due to her professionalism (and pretty appearance), Qin Shunying mentioned that she was considering having her accompany customers for card games soon; by then, the tips should be even higher.

The Saturday night program was the Witch Masters Tournament.

This program enjoyed immense popularity both domestically and abroad; one could say that all other tournaments were held solely to win tickets to the Masters Tournament.

Having memorized the program schedule, Jiang Han knew it was an international peak witch battle tournament. Because the convenience of witches made international exchange more frequent than in her previous life, international competitions were the hard standard for whether a tournament could be considered a "major" one, and the Masters Tournament was the standard-bearer.

It was divided into individual and team events. The points from the individual event determined the slots for the 'International Exchange Invitational'.

The team event consisted of 5-person squads using the Kof Format, and the team with the highest points was considered the strongest witch team in the world. Since the teams in the Masters Tournament were usually composed of the strongest witches squeezed out by their respective countries, they were truly 'teams without weaknesses'; even when the first-place team played the last-place team, there was still a great deal of suspense.

Because television production was not yet high, and witches preferred to talk loudly while watching matches.

Watching a major tournament meant either going to the venue or going to a tavern with friends to watch together.

Therefore, when witches chatted with each other about "whether to do something exciting and fun tonight," they were very likely just talking about going to a tavern to watch a match.

According to Jiang Han's research, the golden hours of the day were from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM. These eight hours were usually when the Masters Tournament or high-end tournaments were held, while other time slots were filled with dramas, talk shows, food programs, and so on.

Of course... the most precious platinum time slot, even more precious than gold, from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM, was reserved for the nation's news programs.

This was unchangeable. If anyone wanted to change it, they could go reason with the seven hundred million witches.

Jiang Han and the other staff were busy until six o'clock, yet the tavern remained packed, with new witches walking in through the door from time to time.

Walking back to the staff lounge with a tired body, Jiang Han hadn't even had a chance to rest when she saw Qin Shunying push the door open and walk in with a flurry of energy:

"Miss Jiang Han, you don't have any classes today, do you?"

Throughout this week, everyone had learned that Jiang Han was still attending tutoring classes, so the first thing Qin Shunying asked upon entering was this.

Usually, when a boss asks if you have anything to do today, it means she or he is about to ruin your rest time... Jiang Han put on her standard sweet smile and said: "Yes, I have no classes."

"Then can you work overtime today? I'll give you an extra 50 points." Qin Shunying offered the overtime pay.

Getting a week's worth of points at once, Jiang Han nodded and agreed.

She even muttered to herself internally:

The saying that knowledge is wealth—the ancients did not deceive me...

Next, Du Ningzhuang walked in and was immediately pulled over by Qin Shunying; she too fell for the overtime pay and agreed to work.

Then came Chu Yujun, Chen Ligu, Tang Wen...

If it were just money, the witches wouldn't necessarily trade their rest time for work, but the points Qin Shunying promised... points that could be exchanged for spells and the books in the Witch House, directly captured the witches.

However, it had to be said that overtime was a bit of a blow to morale, and the lounge fell silent for a moment.

"Overtime is no problem, Manager, but if I run out to find a hot spring next time because a rainstorm comes, you can't deduct my pay." Seeing that the other witches were all silent, Jiang Han felt that everyone was a bit unhappy about the overtime. So, she quickly broke the awkward atmosphere and said a few words to liven things up.

Chen Ligu immediately smiled and chimed in:

"I want to go too. When the rainstorm comes, I'll go find a hot spring with Miss Jiang... um, I'll protect her."

"Then I want to soak in a hot spring too."

The lounge started chatting again, and the atmosphere improved.

Qin Shunying smiled and replied: "Alright, we'll check the weather forecast then. If a rainstorm comes, we'll go find a hot spring to play in."

"Ah? Manager, are you serious?" The witches clamored.

Qin Shunying said quite logically:

"I'm serious, I don't lie. If the weather forecast says there's a rainstorm, the tavern can't sell alcohol anyway. If we only sell food, we might as well go find a hot spring and take a day off."

This concerned a law: drunk driving is not allowed on rainy days! Therefore, if a rainstorm comes, taverns open to the public cannot sell alcohol. Of course, if you drink at home, no one cares, as long as you don't go flying around on a broomstick after drinking.

Since the main income of the Witch House was selling alcohol, if they couldn't sell it on a rainy day, it really would be better not to open...

Watching Qin Shunying talk so eloquently, Jiang Han couldn't help but sigh in her heart: those who can become bosses in this era are truly master manipulators. If you think about it carefully, a tavern is a freezing cold market on a rainy day anyway, so saying everyone will go to a hot spring together really wouldn't lose them anything.

Moreover, this Qin Shunying was someone who could unearth talent from time to time; her sharp eye for people was the most impressive Jiang Han had encountered since her rebirth.

However, such people truly had a way with words and could boost morale, instantly inciting the witches.

--Right, to take a holiday to the hot spring together, the rainstorm actually has to come... and if the rainstorm really comes, it has to start at 11:00 PM...

And so, the pleasant first overtime session began.