Chef at the University Canteen-Chapter 496 - 278: How About Hiring Her as the Boss’s Secretary? (3)

The reason for saying "difficult" is that some applicants have very similar experiences. On paper, they’re actually quite comparable, making it really hard to choose.

If a true distinction needs to be made, it would have to involve a culinary showdown on site. However, considering the sheer number of applicants, it’s impossible to gather them all in one place for a live competition. Jiang Yu and others can only grope blindly with their eyes closed.

Of course, within these ten resumes, Jiang Yu also has skewed preferences. The majority of these candidates are local chefs from Zhangjiang, with only a few hailing from areas like Xiao Xiang and Jing Chu.

As for applicants from distant places like Sichuan and Lu Dong, Jiang Yu has excluded them entirely.

Very few are willing to be too far from home, and even if they are, they won’t stay long.

It’s the same as before: Jiang Yu doesn’t want to turn the Seventh Dining Hall into a culinary training base. It’s that simple.

However, for local chefs from Zhangjiang, it’s different. After all, Jiangzhou is the provincial capital of Zhangjiang, and they’re only a few hours’ drive from home at most. Relatively speaking, acceptance is much higher.

Furthermore, Jiangzhou University is well-known within the province, and for local chefs, working in the university’s dining hall is somewhat of a credential.

After selecting the final ten "qualified" resumes, Jiang Yu didn’t waste any time and informed Hua Xiaoling of the results that afternoon, asking her to announce the news through the "Jiang University Seventh Dining Hall" Douyin account.

"Send out a notice. In a week, on Saturday, July 2 at 9 a.m., let these ten applicants who passed the preliminary test come to Jiang University Seventh Dining Hall for the final interview."

Jiang Yu thought for a moment and said to Hua Xiaoling,

"To prevent anyone from ignoring the notice, send individual text messages to these ten applicants at that time."

"Okay, boss, I’ll send out the notice soon."

Hua Xiaoling responded vaguely and quickly reached out with her chopsticks to grab a piece of glistening red-braised pork with fermented bean curd and stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes squinting with delight.

She didn’t care at all about recruiting any chefs. No matter who they hired, the food wouldn’t be as delicious as what’s cooked by Boss Xiao Jiang!

After dinner, accidentally overeating, Hua Xiaoling naturally couldn’t rush home immediately. She had to wait until the food in her stomach was mostly digested before daring to take a bumpy bus ride.

Otherwise, she really worried that the food squeezed up to her throat might get bumped out before reaching the city district.

So, Hua Xiaoling simply hid away in a first-floor private room, resting while opening her laptop and spending nearly half an hour carefully drafting a "Notice for Chef Interviews at Jiang University Seventh Dining Hall," which she then posted on the "Jiang University Seventh Dining Hall" Douyin account.

After finishing these tasks, she also followed Jiang Yu’s prior instructions and picked up her phone to send interview notification text messages to the ten candidates who qualified for the interview.

After completing all this, Hua Xiaoling had rested enough before turning off her laptop and packing it back into her backpack. She then tidied up her personal belongings a bit before leaving the private room on the first floor and heading home. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

...

Jiangzhou City District, Qingshan Restaurant.

Today is a Friday, and tomorrow will be the weekend, so tonight the restaurant was especially lively.

Even though it was already past 8 p.m., the restaurant’s hall was still bustling with guests and full of energy.

The people of Jiangzhou probably have some foodie genes in their bodies. Despite this old city’s average economic level, there are never shortages of restaurants and eateries in its streets and alleys.

Come mealtime, whether it’s large dining establishments or big restaurants in bustling areas or small stalls and hole-in-the-wall joints on street corners, every place within sight is teeming with people, with not a single seat left empty.

"People take food as their heaven," is perfectly embodied in this city.

Though Xiong Zhengtao has already submitted his resignation report, he couldn’t handle departure formalities so quickly.

The head chef, He Donglai, was clearly displeased with Xiong Zhengtao. Not because he resigned, but because he rejected He Donglai’s offer to stay, making He Donglai feel quite disrespected.

Therefore, over the past couple of days, He Donglai intentionally increased his workload when assigning tasks.

This behavior only further solidified Xiong Zhengtao’s determination to leave Qingshan Restaurant.

The other chefs left before 9:30, but Xiong Zhengtao kept working until past 10 at night, finally finishing his tasks. After saying hello to a few apprentices still tidying up the kitchen, he dragged his weary body back to his place.

Xiong Zhengtao wasn’t a local in Jiangzhou. After graduating four years ago from Zhangjiang Cooking Technology School, he started his culinary career at Qingshan Restaurant.

When he first joined Qingshan Restaurant, the head chef wasn’t He Donglai.

It was a short and chubby little old man. His surname was Liu, always smiling politely at everyone, even chatting cheerfully with the dishwashers in the kitchen.

Not only was Lao Liu good-tempered, he was also willing to mentor his chefs. Every week, he’d pick a time to personally cook a few dishes, patiently explaining as he cooked.