“Pretty Boss, don’t just look at him! Look at me too, why don’t you?”
Ji Yan, who was being ignored, stood to the side and shook his head as he looked at the person appearing in the second-floor window. He was a bit surprised; he hadn’t expected the person inside to be such a young and beautiful girl. He couldn’t help but try to assert his presence.
Qian Chuanchuan looked at him with quite a bit of speechlessness and said heartlessly, “This isn’t a hotel.”
Her meaning was clear: a rejection.
However, Ji Yan didn’t give up. “Little sister, don’t be so cold! Let’s talk about it some more?”
Qian Chuanchuan sized him up and suddenly asked, “How old are you?”
Ji Yan’s eyes lit up, and he didn’t even cover his waist anymore. “Twenty-one! How about you, little sister?” He deliberately made his tone sound suggestive, thinking this trick always worked on young girls.
“Twenty-two.” Qian Chuanchuan flashed a “kind” smile. “Call me ‘Sister’.”
Ji Yan’s expression froze instantly. His gaze fell suspiciously on Qian Chuanchuan’s tender, white, and delicate oval face. He doubted if she was even an adult, so how could she be older than him? He didn’t quite believe it, thinking the girl was just bluffing.
Qian Chuanchuan didn’t care if he believed her or not; she just stared at him directly, her meaning clear.
Ji Yan: “…”
He suddenly understood; it seemed his way of addressing her had dissatisfied the girl. He had always been thick-skinned and wasn’t one to be shy. He shouted directly, “Sister, how about putting your little brother up for the night?”
However, Qian Chuanchuan wasn’t satisfied and continued to correct him. “Call me Sister Qian.”
Ji Yan: “…”
This girl really wants to be a big sister, doesn’t she?
“Sister Qian.”
As the saying goes, one must have the right attitude when asking for favors. If she were really willing to take him in for the night, he’d call her “Sister” if that’s what it took!
Qian Chuanchuan showed a satisfied smile and pointed to the shop entrance as if throwing a bone to a dog. “You can sleep there. Three Level 5 crystals for the night.”
Ji Yan’s smile froze. He turned his head mechanically to look at the steps that didn’t even reach the eaves. He pointed at his nose in disbelief. “Me? Sleep here? And I have to pay crystals?”
While three Level 5 crystals weren’t impossible for him to provide, what was the difference between this and paying money to sleep on the street?!
“What?” Qian Chuanchuan raised an eyebrow. “Did you think you could sleep here for free?”
“But I want to go inside the shop—”
“I told you, this isn’t a hotel. I don’t provide accommodation services. When I open a hotel in the future, you can come back then. I’ll even give you a 1% discount.”
“…”
A 1% discount… are you really that stingy?
“Besides, this is the VIP Rest Area of my shop,” Qian Chuanchuan said, talking nonsense with a straight face.
Since he wouldn’t leave and kept trying to make his presence known, she didn’t mind overcharging him. If he had just stayed quietly at the door for the night, she naturally wouldn’t have chased him away, but he just had to keep bothering her.
So, pay up.
Ling Zhanlou suddenly coughed lightly and turned his head away. But under the moonlight, the slight upward curve of his lips was clearly visible.
Ji Yan glared at this girl who was talking nonsense so seriously. What kind of VIP rest area didn’t even have a seat?!
Qian Chuanchuan didn’t care about his look and continued, “Of course, I’m a legitimate businessperson. I never force people into trades. If you’re unwilling, you can leave right now.”
After finishing, she stopped speaking and looked at the long-haired man below with a half-smile.
He wouldn’t leave. This person had likely sensed something unusual about her shop, which was why he was so determined to stay.
Sure enough, Ji Yan didn’t hesitate for long before gritting his teeth and saying, “…Deal!”
Then he took out three Level 5 crystals and gestured with his hand. “Does Sister Qian want to come down and get them?”
Qian Chuanchuan didn’t want to go down; she was still in her pajamas. Going down would mean changing clothes, which was a bit of a hassle. She looked at Ling Zhanlou, who had been standing to the side without speaking, and said, “Ling Zhanlou, can you hold onto them for me? Give them to me tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
Ling Zhanlou took the crystals from Ji Yan’s hand and put them in his pocket, then looked at Qian Chuanchuan and said, “Don’t worry.”
Qian Chuanchuan smiled. Of course she wasn’t worried. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked him to help collect them in the first place. She leaned on the window and winked at Ling Zhanlou. “I’ll treat you to soy milk tomorrow morning~”
Watching the interaction between the two, Ji Yan suddenly felt a bit redundant.
The next morning at 7:30 AM, the alarm pierced through her dreams. Qian Chuanchuan buried her face in her pillow and struggled for three seconds before finally crawling out of the covers with her hair looking like a bird’s nest.
After that, she went into the bathroom for a quick cleanup, changed her clothes, and went downstairs with a light step.
At this point, the fully automatic bun machine in the kitchen had already completed its task. Several rows of white, plump buns were neatly lined up on the counter—rounded and cute, with every fold pinched identically.
“Whoa, this automatic bun machine is quite efficient!” She reached out and poked one; the bun skin was very elastic, and her fingertip picked up a faint scent of flour. She only needed to put them into the steamer baskets.
The smart porridge pot was bubbling away. The savory scent of preserved egg and lean meat porridge intertwined with the fresh fragrance of vegetables and lotus seeds in the morning light.
Qian Chuanchuan was stunned. “This porridge… I don’t even have to cook it myself?”
[No need, Host!] the System replied cheerfully.
“You should have said so earlier!” Qian Chuanchuan was delighted. “Doesn’t that mean I could have slept a bit longer?”
Humming a little tune, she arranged the buns one by one into the steamer baskets. After this system upgrade, the bun steaming stove had increased from one unit to three. She no longer had to stack them as high as a tower like before.
Then, she arranged the sausages in the machine. The transparent roaster immediately began to rotate automatically, and the aroma of meat gradually spread. Qian Chuanchuan casually poured beans into the soy milk maker and pressed the start button. The machine immediately began to hum as it operated.
Finally, only the tea eggs were left. She opened the rice cooker. The eggs produced by the system were all round and smooth, so even washing was unnecessary. She poured in a special brine spice pack, and the rich five-spice aroma instantly wafted out.
“Done!” Qian Chuanchuan clapped her hands, looking with satisfaction at the kitchen full of functioning appliances.
Checking the time, she realized she had spent less than half an hour in total. Looking at it this way, the matter of finding an employee could wait. Perhaps she could wait until after the disaster period a month from now had passed.
“By the way, System, how long will the disaster period last?”
[Host, the disaster period will last between half a month to a month!]
That long?
Although Qian Chuanchuan hadn’t been out, she had seen what the surrounding buildings looked like. No wonder whether it was skyscrapers or low-rise buildings, they all looked like LEGO sets that someone had kicked several times—completely falling apart. If an earthquake shook continuously for at least half a month, no building, no matter how good, could withstand such treatment!
“Are you sure our shop won’t be affected by the disaster period at all?”
[Well… there is some impact.]
“What?!”
[Don’t worry, Host. The impact I’m referring to is that no one will likely go outside during that time, so there probably won’t be any customers in the shop.]
“Oh! Next time, explain it all at once. You gave me a fright.”
However… she suddenly had a little idea about what to open for the next branch.