Smooth on All Sides

Xiao Bing finished her song onstage, and a large crowd had already gathered below.

She jumped off the stage and immediately joined two other salesgirls who had been waiting all along, warmly calling out to customers.

"Food Flavor Pavilion's Dragon Boat Festival sale is here! Freshly baked flaky flatbreads, buy five and get two free, buy five and get two free! Come take a look!"

The restaurant had already set up a sun umbrella beside the outdoor stage, with two tables underneath. Boxes of piping-hot flatbreads had been carefully packed in cardboard boxes for customers to choose from.

"I'll take one."

"I'll take three, and another to bring home."

The passersby who had stopped because of Xiao Bing came forward to buy some.

For a while, Xiao Bing and the two salesgirls were busy as could be.

Lu Yuan understood now. Xiao Bing wasn't carrying plates or washing dishes at the restaurant; she was a sales promoter. That explained the eight thousand yuan. Promoters earned a commission, so as long as sales were high, the income could be quite substantial.

He just hadn't expected his little sister to have this kind of talent. Lu Yuan didn't disturb her, simply watching from the side. Only after everyone in this wave of customers had left did he come forward with a smile.

"Bro!"

When Xiao Bing finished and looked up, she saw that her brother had come to see her and happily charged into him like a bull. Lu Yuan instinctively picked her up and spun her around. That was called receiving, redirecting, and releasing.

Since he'd come by for a rare visit, Xiao Bing pulled Lu Yuan into Food Flavor Pavilion and insisted on treating her brother to a feast.

"This is my brother!"

Xiao Bing puffed out her little chest, proud as could be, as though Lu Yuan were some remarkable big shot. The employees passing by all nodded and smiled in greeting when they saw him. It seemed his sister was very well liked here.

The two didn't sit down in the dining hall. Instead, they slipped into the kitchen and found an empty table used for teacups beside the changing room.

"The dining hall is where customers eat. You have to pay there. Eating here is free."

Xiao Bing giggled, as though she'd done something tremendously naughty. Lu Yuan thought nothing of it. Of course he knew how restaurants worked.

In his previous life, he'd been the big boss of a little food stall that had seen as many as a hundred customers at its busiest!

"Chef Wang, this is my brother! Please make him some fried rice, with extra meat! Fanks!"

In the kitchen, a bald, middle-aged man wearing a chef's hat, his face covered in stubble, gave an amiable grunt of acknowledgment. He lit the stove and heated the wok over a roaring flame.

"Chef Wang is really good to me," Xiao Bing said. "Whenever he makes me fried rice, there's nothing but meat. You can't find the rice."

As she spoke, an argument broke out outside.

"I'll go take a look. Bro, wait for me." Xiao Bing hurried off.

An old lady was shouting at the top of her lungs in the dining hall.

"What is this?! There's hair in my food! How do you run this place?!"

The manager beside her bowed and scraped, apologizing. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll have the kitchen make you a new one."

"Do you think I need your meal?!"

The lady was decked out in gold and silver, her brows bristling and eyes glaring. Clearly, she wasn't someone easy to deal with.

"On a holiday, too. Damn it, what rotten luck! I'm going to have this out right here today. There's hair in my food, and I'm not allowed to say anything? What's the world coming to?!"

Cold sweat poured down the manager's face. It was just the time when customers came in, and someone making a scene would seriously affect the day's sales.

Just then, Xiao Bing arrived in time to save the situation.

She went straight over and sat down close beside the lady, smiling broadly as she rubbed her back.

"Auntie, getting angry is bad for your blood pressure. Let me help you calm down."

Xiao Bing had a special knack for putting people at ease. Even the sharp-tongued became more forgiving when they met her.

The lady's expression softened a little.

"Hmph! Since Xiao Bing is here, I won't hold it against you!" She picked up her little handbag and pointed at the manager. "Pay more attention from now on!"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

The fussy lady left, and the conflict dissolved without a trace.

Lu Yuan had watched the whole thing from behind the door. Before coming, he'd worried that Xiao Bing was too young and would be bullied. Now he found he'd been worrying too much.

In the restaurant business, anyone who could handle the front of house, the kitchen, and the customers alike was a first-rate formidable character, the sort a five-star hotel would put front and center.

Xiao Bing was the type who was smooth on all sides and got along with men and women alike. By the look of it, she'd be the one bullying others, not the other way around. He'd underestimated his sister.

By then, Chef Wang had finished the fried rice, and Xiao Bing volunteered to bring it to Lu Yuan.

"Go on, eat. Tell me what you think of Chef Wang's cooking."

"Not bad." Lu Yuan bent his head and shovelled in the rice.

"Hehe, I told you it was good."

Xiao Bing propped her head in both hands and watched her brother eat.

From a culinary standpoint, Lu Yuan gave Chef Wang's cooking a nine-

-out of a possible 150.

In Lu Yuan's view, the fried rice was too oily, too lightly salted, and the rice itself wasn't very good either.

But that didn't stop him from eating it.

Contrary to most people's intuition, chefs were actually the least picky eaters in the world. Fewer people knew that most chefs, regardless of skill, hated eating their own cooking.

"Xiao Bing, thank goodness you were here."

The manager came in after finishing up to express her thanks.

"You're Xiao Bing's brother, right? Eat as much as you like, don't be shy. Xiao Bing is the face of our shop!"

She was a middle-aged woman in her forties, and she praised Xiao Bing as though praising her own daughter who had done her proud. At first, Lu Yuan had thought the manager was a middle-aged man with ulterior motives. Now he couldn't help smiling.

The wave of customers had passed, and the kitchen staff sat down to drink water and rest. Some played on their phones, while others chatted.

"Manager, how are the flaky flatbreads selling today?" someone asked.

"With Xiao Bing here, they're bound to be selling well."

"It's our Chef Wang's exclusive recipe, after all."

After that round of professional flattery, the manager smiled awkwardly.

"They're selling so-so. There are still more than ten batches left. I hope we can sell them all tonight! If we can't... the boss will definitely chew me out."

Food Flavor Pavilion would soon be making a major move, and the boss had set very aggressive revenue targets for every branch. If they failed to meet them, the manager's pay would be docked!

In fact, the boss had already come by once that afternoon and had been very dissatisfied with the manager's results.

Everyone knew that too, and they all chimed in to comfort her.

"You can't blame anyone for that. The competition's too fierce these days. Restaurants sell them, supermarkets sell them, and even banks and mobile phone shops are giving flatbreads away. Who could be short of flatbreads for Dragon Boat Festival?"

"The boss can't be completely unreasonable, can he? Let him try selling them himself."

Everyone had something to say, making excuses for the flatbreads' poor sales. Xiao Bing was the most worried of all. She'd been counting on earning a big bonus over Dragon Boat Festival to help scrape together her brother's registration fee.

Lu Yuan listened silently to their chatter. He swallowed his last mouthful of rice, wiped his mouth, took out his phone, opened a web page, typed in "zongzi," and hit search:

[Zongzi: a food from the legendary age of ancient Earth, possibly made by roasting the fruit of a plant.]

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