The next morning, when Lin Jiang arrived at the shop, he found that Liang Shuhuo had already sent the workers over. She was incredibly fast.

A banner had even been hung in front of the glass wall.

Xiaojiang Noodle Shop. Renovation Underway.

Lin Jiang first went back to his own shop, filled up the water, and then headed across to the new location.

The construction crew had already started working, but there was no sign of Liang Shuhuo.

But she had sent quite a few workers. As far as he could see, there were at least twenty-some people.

Lin Jiang called Yang Tao and asked him to bring over a case of cold drinks, a case of cold mineral water, and to go next door to buy two cartons of Liqun cigarettes to deliver together.

"Everyone, I’m renting this shop. Please be careful while you work, and take a break if you’re tired."

Seeing the water and cigarettes Lin Jiang brought, the workers all responded politely.

"Thanks, Boss. Director Liang said your job is urgent. Don’t worry, we definitely won’t waste your time. We’ll guarantee both quality and quantity,"

said a worker who was on a ladder, wiring the electricity.

"Thanks, everyone. My shop is right across the way. Lunch is on me, just head over there to eat."

"Thanks for the treat, Boss!"

The workers’ vigor reminded Lin Jiang of himself the previous night.

’It’s just that the workers before me are handling the wiring, while I was handling the plumbing.’

’They were putting their backs into their work, and I was... putting my back into mine.’

’All in all, it’s more or less the same. The working people are the most glorious.’

BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT—

Lin Jiang’s phone buzzed. It was a video call from Liang Shuhuo.

"Hey handsome, I heard you went to supervise the work."

"I wouldn’t call it supervising, just came to take a look."

"You can rest assured when I’m on the job. There won’t be any problems. But there’s something I need to tell you, so you don’t think I’m slacking off."

"Go ahead."

"I’ve basically left the kitchen untouched. The basic electrical wiring is also unchanged. I only slightly altered the layout."

"If it’s necessary, then do it. If not, don’t. You’re the professional, so you can make the call on this."

"This has nothing to do with being a professional. The mall has a fire safety department. After the renovation is done, they will come and inspect these things," Liang Shuhuo said.

"I’ve used the previous design without changing a thing. This way, they can’t find any faults with your place. They won’t even have a chance to fine you."

"Ah, I see what you mean."

Large shopping malls all have fire safety departments that come to inspect after renovations. They’ll nitpick for faults, which, to put it bluntly, is just a shakedown for a bribe.

Liang Shuhuo’s approach was very clever. The place used to be a Sichuan restaurant. By reusing the old design, the inspectors couldn’t find any faults.

If there were any problems, how did it pass inspection before?

This method effectively shut them up.

"As expected of a professional designer. You think of everything."

"Of course," Liang Shuhuo said smugly. "Alright, you can keep watching. I just wanted to tell you about this."

"Okay."

After hanging up, Lin Jiang looked around a bit more before leaving with Yang Tao.

"Brother Jiang, you move so fast! I thought it would take a while before this started."

"There’s no need to drag these things out. When the right opportunity comes, you have to seize it."

Back at the shop, Lin Jiang called Li Yuanyuan and Zhou Xiaoli over.

"The new shop’s renovation has begun. I want to talk to you all about the next steps."

After speaking, Lin Jiang looked at Yang Tao. "You need to find two more kitchen chefs, ones you get along with. Their salary will be based on your current standard. From now on, you’re in charge of the kitchen. If any problems come up, I’ll hold you responsible."

"Brother Jiang, don’t worry. If anything happens, just handle it by the book and dock my pay."

"Yuanyuan, you find six more servers. They need to be hardworking. Their salary will be based on your current standard."

"Understood."

"From now on, Yang Tao will be in charge of the kitchen, and Lili will be in charge of the other servers. Both of your salaries will increase by 2,000. Yuanyuan, you’re the store manager, so your salary will increase by 2,500. After six months of employment, you’ll get social insurance benefits. After a year, you’ll get the housing fund. Besides free meals, we’ll also provide housing."

"Really?!"

After hearing Lin Jiang’s arrangements, the three of them were too excited to know what to say.

Even though Li Yuanyuan got a 500 yuan higher raise, neither Yang Tao nor Zhou Xiaoli said anything. They even felt it was a given.

Because Li Yuanyuan was the first to arrive. Although it wasn’t by many days, she was still considered an old-timer.

"What are you crying for?" Lin Jiang said, looking at Yang Tao.

"I’m not like them. Thank you, Brother Jiang, for giving me this opportunity and such a high salary."

"You goof. Just work hard from now on. I won’t treat you unfairly," Lin Jiang said.

"But from now on, we can’t be as casual as we are now. When you have time, the three of you should look into buying some work uniforms to standardize things. Also, rent a few apartments to use as employee dormitories. You guys figure out the details for that."

Lin Jiang took out his phone and transferred 50,000 yuan to Li Yuanyuan. "Take this money and use it for now. Get all this stuff done. If it’s not enough, ask me for more."

"So much money! That’s too much, Brother Jiang."

"Renting apartments isn’t cheap. For all of you, you’ll need to rent at least three places, and rent is usually paid quarterly. It’ll be good if this is even enough. Anyway, just get started with this for now. We can slowly fix any shortcomings later," Lin Jiang said.

"Also, the matter of health certificates. Get them all sorted out for everyone."

"Got it. Thank you for your trust, Brother Jiang."

For the rest of the day, Lin Jiang didn’t stay idle either.

He had the recipe for pan-fried steak rice, so of course, he had to test out the new dish.

First, he went out and bought five kilograms of beef. Then, he marinated it for two hours using the secret recipe. For lunch, they all had pan-fried steak rice.

"Holy shit! This tastes incredible!"