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After receiving the text message sent by Ji Yue, most customers’ first reaction was anger; their second, confusion; and their final one, ecstasy.

The reservation for the clay pot Hua Diao chicken was merely postponed, not cancelled, meaning they could still eat it. The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon that Taifeng Building was offering as compensation was a genuine treat they could enjoy, and soon at that.

Most called in just like Mr. Cheng, feigning outrage at first, followed by an inquiry about the possibility of adding two more servings of the compensated Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

Of course, adding two more servings was out of the question—the chef was only one person, and though they couldn’t be worked to death…

No, wait, if they worked to death…

Ji Yue’s thoughts were edging toward dangerous territory.

The impact of Ji Xue’s sudden leave was essentially handled, albeit at the expense of Jiang Feng. Although the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was not as difficult to make as the clay pot Hua Diao chicken, as long as there were enough stoves for Jiang Feng to cook a dozen or so at once, it wasn’t a problem. Wu Minqi and Zhang Guanghang could help with steps other than the final thickening—yet the sheer quantity was overwhelming.

How many Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeons Jiang Feng could make in a day and how they would be distributed as compensation to the customers were issues that could be discussed after today. After all, pigeon was not on today’s procurement list, and even if Jiang Feng wanted to, he didn’t have the ingredients.

After being bombarded with calls all night, Ji Yue simply wanted a moment of quiet for her phone, then to head to Taifeng Building to pass it on to some sturdy lad who could handle the continued barrage of incoming calls.

Initially, Ji Yue planned to apply a facial mask before going out, but after checking her dwindling stockpile, assessing the balance of her Alipay, WeChat, and bank card, as well as her debts on Huabei, and roughly calculating her forthcoming salary, she promptly opted out. She applied some cream, did a light makeup to cover her dark circles, and left.

By the time Ji Yue arrived at Taifeng Building, Fan Mei and Wang Xiulian were already there. Ji Yue, delayed by a few calls on the way, was comparatively late.

“Sorry, Manager Fan, Mrs. Wang, I got held up by some calls on the way, so I’m a bit late,” apologized Ji Yue as she entered, heading straight to Fan Mei and Wang Xiulian, who were discussing some forms at the reception.

“It’s fine, this was sudden. From the looks of it, you didn’t get any sleep last night, did you? How did the customers react?” Fan Mei expressed understanding.

“A very few customers are quite dissatisfied, but most are understanding. However, there’s still nearly half who haven’t called in. I’m planning to give each a call myself after 3 p.m. to inquire,” replied Ji Yue.

“No rush on that. Just hand that task off to some girl, Yueyue. I have other matters to discuss with you and Manager Fan. Once you’ve changed, come find us in the surveillance room,” Wang Xiulian said, starting to organize the forms.

Other matters?

Ji Yue blinked in surprise, then nodded in assent.

After changing her clothes in the locker room, Ji Yue’s first thought was to find Qi Rou, whose amiable nature and sweet voice were perfectly suited for explaining things to customers over the phone.

After circling the hall without spotting Qi Rou, Ji Yue found it odd and was about to call and ask for her whereabouts when Hu Li seized the opportunity to approach.

“Supervisor Ji, it seems you’re looking for something. Can I help?” Hu Li asked with a smile.

“Do you know where Qi Rou is? I need her for something,” inquired Ji Yue.

“She felt a bit sick in her stomach when she came in this morning and has taken leave to get some medicine from the nearby drugstore. She should be back in over half an hour and it won’t delay her work,” Hu Li explained.

Over half an hour.

Ji Yue couldn’t wait that long.

Seeing Ji Yue’s troubled face, Hu Li continued, “If you have an urgent matter, I can also help out.”

Ji Yue didn’t have any particularly strong impression of Hu Li, recalling only that she seemed to be popular, often seen coming and going with a group of good friends during lunch and after work, able to chat with anyone—a socially skilled person.

Being such a social butterfly, she could surely handle a few unwelcoming calls.

“That could work. The situation isn’t complicated. Do you know the chef Ji Xue from the kitchen?” Ji Yue asked.

“I do. Our restaurant’s signature dish, the clay pot Hua Diao chicken, is her specialty,” Hu Li responded.

“She had a sudden issue at home yesterday and went back today, so the clay pot flower carving chicken that guests had reserved in advance all had to be canceled. I already sent out the messages last night. Your task before 3 p.m. today is to take my phone and answer calls, you must be polite, confirm the guests’ reserved private rooms, names, as well as the last digits of their cell phone numbers, and…” Ji Yue began to instruct Hu Li on the matters to attend to while answering calls.

“For the guests who haven’t called by 3 o’clock, call them back following the records in my notebook, just like before, make good notes, and whenever you finish, hand the notebook to me. Your job today is to handle this matter. I’ll temporarily assign someone else to take care of Area A, which you’re responsible for at noon. This is a thankless task, if you don’t want to do it, I can give it to somebody else.” Ji Yue said. Answering these kinds of calls was always an unpleasant job, and she had only a nodding acquaintance with Hu Li; it seemed rather improper to dump this task on her.

“You can rest assured, Supervisor Ji, I’ll complete the task well and won’t cause you any trouble,” Hu Li agreed at once.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you. Come find me if you encounter any problems.” Ji Yue smiled and walked towards the monitoring room.

Hu Li took the notebook and Ji Yue’s phone to the front desk, sat down, opened the notebook, and began to organize the guest information that Ji Yue had recorded, sorting it again on paper.

The surveillance room of Taifeng Building was located at the far end of the second-floor private rooms, usually under lock and key. Unless there was a significant matter to discuss, people wouldn’t specifically come here.

As soon as Ji Yue pushed the door and entered, she saw a table covered with spreadsheets.

What’s this situation?

A summer summary?

Or was it that they found her spreadsheets wanting, and fetched a pile of excellent examples for her to study and improve?

Moving closer and taking a good look, Ji Yue found that these were summaries of the lobby staff’s information. The information of the servers from the first-floor lobby, second-floor private rooms, to VIP private rooms was all there, not a single one missing. Glancing over one of the spreadsheets, Ji Yue found the details painstakingly recorded.

From the staff’s place of origin and education to their skills, to their work performance over the past two months, customer reviews, complaint records—all were there, even the content of the reviews and complaints was noted down.

One stack per person, all already bound, some thick, some thin—the thin ones had only two or three pages, whereas the thick ones looked to have at least a dozen or so at a cursory glance.

Ji Yue was genuinely bewildered now. She was, after all, just a supervisor who had come into the job halfway, and sometimes she still needed to draw for others to maintain a living. She would often toggle between the identities of a cartoonist and Supervisor Ji and had never faced such a grand setup before.

“Mrs. Wang, is our restaurant doing… a staff evaluation? It’s not even the end of year, and we’ve only been open for two months, isn’t this a bit early?” Ji Yue was a little uncertain.

“It’s not a staff evaluation; it’s a layoff.” Fan Mei explained.

“A layoff? But wasn’t that already determined?” Ji Yue was even more puzzled. If she remembered correctly, the layoff list had already been finalized by Fan Mei and Wang Xiulian.

“The earlier determined list is far from enough. Wang and I have discussed it—because we were too rushed and inexperienced when hiring staff at the start, we weren’t very stringent. Considering that we position Taifeng Building as a high-end restaurant, our requirements for employees should not be lax. The list of staff confirmed for full-time positions that was announced previously is provisional. I emphasized this before making the announcement. There’s still over 10 days until the probation period ends, and these days are also the last evaluation period for the others. We don’t need to worry about recruitment as headhunters are handling it. Since you are more familiar with the first-floor staff, I would like to hear your opinion on this matter,” Fan Mei said.

“Moreover, the primary target for this round of layoffs is the first-floor staff. The quality of the private room staff is relatively stronger. As long as they don’t make any major mistakes, they are unlikely to be on this layoff list,” Wang Xiulian said, being a shrewd businesswoman with over 20 years of experience, she had gradually been shifting towards becoming a qualified businessperson over these two months.

“Well, I’ll first take a look at the tables,” Ji Yue still felt a bit out of the loop.

While looking at the tables, Ji Yue couldn’t help but stealthily glance at Fan Mei and Wang Xiulian, feeling that they wanted something more than just to weed out the undersirable.

As she was browsing, Ji Yue came across Hu Li’s spreadsheet. For the spreadsheets of others, she usually skimmed quickly, ten lines at a glance, but when it came to Hu Li, she read more carefully and thoroughly—after all, Hu Li had just done her a favor.

“Manager Fan, what does the red dot at the top-right corner of this sheet mean?” Ji Yue pointed at the little red dot on the top-right corner of Hu Li’s spreadsheet.

“Tentative layoff,” Fan Mei said.

“Tentative layoff?” Ji Yue continued to look at Hu Li’s spreadsheet, scrutinizing it from top to bottom carefully, “Although there are no guest reviews for her and no record of complaints, why is she tentatively scheduled for layoff?”

When Ji Yue put it like that, Fan Mei also leaned over to take a glance at the spreadsheet, then she understood as well, “She’s not outstanding in any aspect, with only a high school education and her English Level 4 exam not passed, her ability to communicate orally is practically zero. At 25, her age is not young anymore, and she doesn’t have much in the way of prospects or value for training. Even if she isn’t laid off this time, she would probably be in line for the next one.”

Not outstanding in any aspect?

As someone who was very adept at making friends, Ji Yue thought Hu Li’s social skills should also be counted as a talent.

Forget it, it’s only tentative, and there’s still over 10 days. We’ll see when the time comes.

Ji Yue turned to the next spreadsheet.