Jingting patiently coaxed her, "What are you angry about? Isn't a supreme fortune stick good? Doesn't everyone want a supreme fortune stick?"
Xiaojiu said, "...They do, but you're deceiving people!"
Jingting said, "Our temple master said that if ordinary people who pray to gods and Buddhas had any other options, they wouldn't resort to praying to gods and Buddhas. All they seek is peace of mind. Our Clear Breeze Temple can't give them anything else, and that peace of mind is all we can offer."
After hearing this, Xiaojiu suddenly felt a deep respect for Yun Zhaozhao. Although Yun Zhaozhao herself said she couldn't catch ghosts, tell fortunes, draw talismans, or assess feng shui... in Xiaojiu's eyes, Yun Zhaozhao had the most important quality for running a Taoist temple: a compassionate heart.
The Taoist conference Yun Zhaozhao attended lasted three days in total.
After attending the conference, Yun Zhaozhao felt she had gained quite a lot. Of course, her greatest gain wasn't acquiring a batch of new customers, but realizing through this conference that she really did seem to need some promotional materials printed for Clear Breeze Temple.
For starters, surely they needed business cards?
Leaving Xiaojiu aside, since she would only be working inside Clear Breeze Temple, Yun Zhaozhao, Daoist Chang Kong, and Jingting would all have occasions when they needed to go out and socialize. At this Taoist conference, for instance, lots of people had exchanged business cards. Yun Zhaozhao didn't have any, so she could only take out her phone and exchange WeChat contacts.
Although it achieved the same result, it always seemed a little less classy. Besides, some people were willing to exchange business cards but weren't particularly willing to exchange WeChat contacts. Compared with business cards, WeChat was more private, after all.
For the business cards, names, addresses, and phone numbers were easy to fill in. The difficult part was the titles-their respective positions.
After returning, Yun Zhaozhao discussed it with the others. "I'm planning to design business cards for everyone. Do you have any suggestions for your respective job titles?"
Daoist Chang Kong was a straightforward man, and his suggestion was equally plain and simple. "Just put 'Clear Breeze Temple head chef' on mine!"
Xiaojiu shook her head beside him. "Here's the thing. At the sales company where I used to work, even newly hired interns had 'sales manager' printed on their business cards. I think a business card is your calling card when you venture into the world. As the saying goes, when you're away from home, your identity is whatever you make it. So I don't think we should be too honest. We need to dress things up a little, or people won't even bother with you..."
Although Xiaojiu wasn't the oldest among them, she had the most real-world experience. After all, she had dropped out of school at a young age and gone out to work to support her family, so everyone felt they ought to give some consideration to the worldly-wise Xiaojiu's advice.
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Then instead of calling myself Clear Breeze Temple's temple master, should I just change it to 'Clear Breeze Temple successor'?"
Daoist Chang Kong said, "Then I'll be an imperial chef's successor."
Jingting piped up from beside them, "What about me? What about me?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "You? You're the treasure of our Clear Breeze Temple, the legendary door god's successor."
Jingting said, "..." For a moment, he genuinely couldn't tell whether Yun Zhaozhao was complimenting him or insulting him.
After settling the business cards, Yun Zhaozhao also placed an order for some flyers and revamped the menu at Clear Breeze Temple's canteen.
Now that they had flyers, she could arrange the part-time work, too. After all, Xu Tingting and her classmates should be starting their winter break soon.
Although Xu Tingting had previously accepted Yun Zhaozhao's offer of part-time work, when the time came, she felt lazy and rather reluctant to go.
Of course, it wasn't mainly that she didn't want to go. It was that all her classmates had their own places to go once winter break started, and Xu Tingting really couldn't muster any enthusiasm for working part-time alone.
Somehow, her father, Xu Fugui, found out about the part-time job. Upon hearing that it was at Clear Breeze Temple, Xu Fugui grew even more excited than Xu Tingting herself. "A part-time job at Clear Breeze Temple? Hurry up and ask whether they provide meals!"
Xu Tingting asked Yun Zhaozhao, then relayed the answer to Xu Fugui. "They do. But I still don't really want to go. Mostly because I won't have anyone with me."
Xu Fugui slapped his thigh. "Oh, that's easy! I'll go with you. I'm retired now anyway, and I've got nothing to do. If you think the two of us aren't enough, I can even call all my old buddies over."
Xu Tingting blanched. "...Surely there's no need for that? Part-time jobs pay very little. They're basically all paid by the hour, especially handing out flyers. You might not even get ten yuan an hour."
Xu Fugui said, "The money doesn't matter at all. What matters is that meals are included!"
Xu Tingting said, "..."
Xu Tingting didn't want to break her promise to Yun Zhaozhao, and of course, she wanted even less to work part-time with her father, Xu Fugui. So she put out a call to her class and eventually found a girl to go with her.
The girl who came with Xu Tingting was named Xie Yu. She had stayed behind to work part-time because her boyfriend was a year ahead of her and had already found a local internship. Xie Yu wanted to stay and spend more time with him, but she didn't want to ask her family for money. Since Xu Tingting happened to be going to Clear Breeze Temple for part-time work, she came along.
Yun Zhaozhao had no strict performance targets for the two girls. She only hoped they could hand out flyers along the bus route serving Clear Breeze Temple and tell nearby residents and tourists that there was a Clear Breeze Temple in Qingfeng Park, and that Clear Breeze Temple had plenty of delicious food.
Xu Tingting was lively and cheerful. Although Xie Yu wasn't as outgoing as her, she was dependable and conscientious when it came to a simple task like handing out flyers, so Yun Zhaozhao felt quite comfortable leaving the flyers to them.
Since she had already promised Xu Tingting that meals would be provided for handing out flyers, Yun Zhaozhao specifically asked Daoist Chang Kong to make two boxed lunches at mealtime, one each for Xu Tingting and Xie Yu.
Xu Tingting's contained pan-fried tofu, stir-fried pork with green chilies, and crispy duck, while Xie Yu's contained stir-fried beef, shiitake mushrooms with choy sum, and dry-fried green beans. They were all ordinary dishes, and the packaging was unremarkable, too, so neither Xie Yu nor Xu Tingting thought much of the boxed lunches before eating.
Xu Tingting even took a photo and sent it to her father, Xu Fugui, to complain: [Clear Breeze Temple's boxed lunches don't look that special. They just look ordinary and so-so, like something you could find anywhere.]
Xu Fugui replied instantly: [Pack it up and bring it home for me. I'll trade you your favorite KFC for it.]
Normally, Xu Tingting would definitely have agreed, but the more Xu Fugui said things like that, the more curious she became. So, thinking, Let's see just how special this food really is, the rebellious girl dug straight in.
One bite followed another... and before long, more than half the boxed lunch was gone.
As she ate, Xu Tingting couldn't help feeling so moved that she nearly cried. "How is this boxed lunch so delicious? Compared with this, I feel like everything I ate before was garbage. Xie Yu, how's yours?"
Xie Yu said, "Mine's really good, too. Especially this stir-fried beef. It's so fragrant and spicy, and it goes amazingly with rice. I feel like this whole week of dieting has been for nothing."
Xu Tingting said, "Then... can I trade you some of my crispy duck for a piece to try?"
Xie Yu said, "Sure!"
The two girls sat on the curb with their heads close together, swapped some meat dishes from their lunch boxes, and tried each other's food.
Their final conclusion was that Clear Breeze Temple's canteen chef was simply amazing. It seemed every dish he made was delicious, unlike the chefs at their school canteen, whose cooking was entirely a matter of luck.
Both girls were won over by Daoist Chang Kong's cooking, so when they returned to Clear Breeze Temple after handing out flyers, Xu Tingting couldn't help asking Yun Zhaozhao, "Your food is so good. Have you considered offering delivery?"
Yun Zhaozhao answered honestly, "I have, but we can't manage delivery at this stage! Never mind that Daoist Chang Kong is currently the only person at Clear Breeze Temple who can cook, so we simply don't have enough staff-with our remote location, the food would probably be stone-cold by the time it reached the customers."
Xu Tingting felt rather disappointed. "What a shame. If you could deliver, I was hoping I might get a chance to order your food sometime!"
Before Xu Tingting had finished, Yun Zhaozhao suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "...Although we can't deliver food at this stage, we could deliver some Clear Breeze Temple merchandise, like leaf bookmarks or bamboo pen holders..."
As Yun Zhaozhao spoke, she suddenly paused and glanced at Xu Tingting and Xie Yu.
Xu Tingting said, "...What is it?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Would you two be interested in becoming Clear Breeze Temple's campus representatives?"
Xu Tingting was speechless. Here it comes, here it comes. Didn't I say no one could leave Clear Breeze Temple empty-handed? Last time I came undercover, I carried home a bag of hawthorn jelly. Am I going to take home a representative role after coming here for part-time work this time?
Before Xu Tingting could voice the refusal on the tip of her tongue, Yun Zhaozhao continued, "...If you agree, you'll be Clear Breeze Temple's second-generation shareholders. Whenever you come to Clear Breeze Temple, anything you eat will be free. Once our Clear Breeze Temple grows bigger and stronger, you might even be able to get some graduation internship experience here!"
Xu Tingting and Xie Yu were thoroughly tempted by her pitch, while Xiaojiu and Jingting, watching from the side, looked equally impressed.
Xiaojiu, in particular, practically wanted to kneel before Yun Zhaozhao. "Thank goodness Zhaozhao chose to become a temple master instead of going into sales. If she worked in sales, she wouldn't leave any room for other salespeople to survive!"
Jingting said, "Listen to yourself. You think she's leaving other temple masters any room to survive by becoming one?"
Xiaojiu said, "..."
Chapter 16
In the end, Xu Tingting and Xie Yu accepted Yun Zhaozhao's proposal and became Clear Breeze Temple's first campus representatives.
They couldn't help it. Yun Zhaozhao was simply offering too much.
Besides the free food and internship opportunities upon graduation that she had initially offered them, Yun Zhaozhao even promised that they wouldn't have to pay for goods from Clear Breeze Temple upfront, only a small deposit. Moreover, if they ultimately couldn't sell the merchandise they took, they could return it to Clear Breeze Temple free of charge, no questions asked.