Thank you@Beverly for the Kofi. (1/2)
Chen Erhu’s fire safety training class was very well-prepared. The notebook in his hand was densely filled with notes, which showed that he was very serious when he went to study.
However, what everyone didn’t expect was that this was only the first class.
“This time we talked about the basic knowledge of fire, including its definition, classification, and hazards, as well as preventive measures,” Chen Erhu’s speech had become much smoother after this class. “We also talked about the fire facilities and signs in the B&B, safety signs… I checked today, and I’ve noted down the places that are not up to standard…”
Chen Erhu looked up at the crowd, and after scanning the room, his gaze fell on Shan Yu. Shan Yu slowly moved to the side and pointed to Chen Jian next to him.
“Then, Manager Chen,” Chen Erhu looked at Chen Jian. “I will give you feedback, and you can have someone make the corrections.”
“Okay,” Chen Jian nodded.
For this kind of work, the manager would definitely assign it to the pigpen security team. They were all mindless, strong laborers.
Chen Erhu went around in a circle and arranged a task for himself with great style.
“Next, tomorrow or the day after, we will have another class,” Chen Erhu said. “We will talk about what employees should do in the event of a fire, their responsibilities, and emergency handling. This will require everyone’s cooperation, including evacuation and escape, as well as firefighting.”
Chen Jian tilted his head slightly and looked at Shan Yu.
“We will fully cooperate,” Shan Yu nodded, then leaned towards Chen Jian. “Take some pictures then, of the fire drill and whatnot, and save them.”
“Oh,” Chen Jian replied.
After class, after finishing the patrol and cleaning work, it was already quite late. Except for Lao Si who was on duty, everyone had gone to rest.
Tomorrow was the last day of preparation for the bonfire festival, and there were many things to do. Chen Jian wanted to go to Shan Yu’s office for a while before going back to the dorm. Before such a complex and large project, spending some time with Shan Yu made him feel at ease.
But Chen Erhu was very excited. Chen Jian was already standing at the door of Shan Yu’s office when he followed him over. “Are you looking for Shan Yu?”
“I…” Chen Jian didn’t know what to say.
He could see Shan Yu sitting behind the desk through the crack of the ajar door. And Shan Yu, who had been sitting still, was now slowly sliding to the side with his chair, which could no longer stand upright, after hearing Chen Erhu’s voice.
“That’s perfect. Let’s go talk to him together,” Chen Erhu said.
Hearing this, Chen Jian quickly grabbed the doorknob and said, “He’s asleep. I’ve been knocking for a long time and he hasn’t answered.”
Shan Yu had probably already quietly slipped over to the window. He and his straight-backed chair were no longer visible through the crack in the door.
“Oh…” Chen Erhu was a little disappointed. “Then let’s just the two of us talk?”
He was a manager, after all.
Why does a boss need a manager?
So that when the boss is avoiding things, the manager can hold the fort.
“Yeah,” Chen Jian replied, closing the ajar door as he did.
Before he even reached the dorm door, his phone buzzed. A message had come in.
He looked back at the office. It was probably Shan Yu.
He took out his phone and looked. It was indeed.
But “Fa Dan Ke Chen” hadn’t said anything, just sent a sticker.
How can I live without you.jpg
Chen Jian couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Erhu immediately turned to look at him.
Chen Jian didn’t have time to wipe the smile off his face and could only say, “I’m in a good mood.”
“Right?” Chen Erhu also laughed. “I’m in a good mood too.”
That’s two different things, Boss Chen.
“Yeah,” Chen Jian nodded.
In the men’s dorm, Sanbing and Lao Wu were already asleep. Chen Jian was leaning against his headboard. Chen Erhu had also been leaning against his bed, but after lying down and saying a few words, he got up again and dragged a chair to sit by Chen Jian’s bed.
This completely cut off Chen Jian’s thought of messaging Shan Yu for a chat.
He sent a message to Shan Yu.
【Chen Yu Luo Yan】Erhu is sitting by my bed like he’s visiting a patient…
“Fa Dan Ke Chen” replied after a while, still with a picture.
But it wasn’t a sticker. It was a diagram of the carotid artery on the side of a person’s neck. There was an arrow drawn on it, and the words on the arrow were clearly handwritten by Shan Yu.
Chop here.
This time, Chen Jian really couldn’t hold it in. He held his phone and laughed for a long time. If it weren’t for the fact that Chen Erhu, who was sitting next to him, was already starting to get annoyed, he wouldn’t have been able to stop.
“It’s nothing,” Chen Jian put his phone aside and patted Chen Erhu’s shoulder. “Let’s talk about our things.”
“Did you eat something wrong?” Chen Erhu looked at him. “I’ve never seen you so happy before.”
“No, I was just thinking…” Chen Jian quickly found an excuse. “Once the bonfire festival starts, we can also join in the fun. It’s… quite happy.”
“Speaking of this bonfire festival,” Chen Erhu’s spirits were lifted. “We have to go over early tomorrow. There are a lot of things to do. Let me tell you…”
Chen Jian could understand Chen Erhu’s excitement. After leaving school, the highest-spec event Chen Erhu had ever participated in was probably harassing the small town’s property owners and being beaten up by Chen Dahu. The only meeting he had ever presided over was the four-person smoking meeting held in the old pigpen.
This time, he was sent to attend fire safety training, and then came back to teach all the employees, including the boss. That feeling of a “second home” had suddenly risen to a sense of ownership.
Chen Jian didn’t even need to say much. Just a couple of acknowledgements would make Chen Erhu talk nonstop for two minutes.
From the bonfire festival back to the shop’s fire safety, then to the development of the small town, then back to the shop’s service, then to the long-term vision of the small town’s B&Bs…
Chen Jian was already sleepy, but Chen Erhu was clearly still very excited, his mouth not stopping.
Chen Jian was quite impressed by Sanbing and Lao Wu, who were lying in bed. Perhaps they were used to it. At this moment, they were actually able to treat their boss’s grand vision as a lullaby. Not only were they asleep, but they were also snoring.
Chen Jian didn’t even know when he fell asleep. He only knew that it was Chen Erhu who woke him up.
It was Chen Erhu when he closed his eyes, and it was still Chen Erhu when he opened them.
So desperate.
“Time to get up,” Chen Erhu looked at him, full of energy. “Manager.”
Chen Jian held back his morning grumpiness and sat up in silence. He was stunned when he saw the blanket covering him and glanced at Chen Erhu.
“I covered you last night. I was halfway through talking and you fell asleep,” Chen Erhu said, a little dissatisfied. “I was giving you face by not dragging you up again.”
“I kowtow to you,” Chen Jian said, lifting the blanket and getting out of bed. He glanced at the time on his phone: seven o’clock.
That was acceptable, about the same time he usually woke up.
There was also a message from Shan Yu on his phone, sent at two in the morning.
【Fa Dan Ke Chen】I took medicine to sleep, don’t wake me up tomorrow.
Chen Jian frowned.
He had chatted with Shan Yu several times and Shan Yu had fallen asleep. He had hardly noticed Shan Yu’s difficulty sleeping. If he had chatted with Shan Yu a little yesterday, would he have needed to take medicine?
Looking at this message, Chen Jian, who had already left the room, wanted to go back and knock Chen Erhu out according to the diagram from yesterday.
The office door was closed. Chen Jian took advantage of the fact that Chen Erhu had gone downstairs first and walked over, gently turning the doorknob.
The door was closed, but not locked.
He opened the door, stuck his head in to look, and saw that Shan Yu was not on the sofa.
He hesitated with his head stuck in the doorway for at least half a minute before tiptoeing into the office and walking to the bedroom door.
The bedroom door was closed. He listened through the door, not knowing what he was listening for. After all, he had taken medicine to sleep, so he must be asleep now. He didn’t dare to open the bedroom door again, afraid that the noise would wake up Shan Yu, who had finally fallen asleep.
Finally, after standing at the bedroom door for a minute or two, Chen Jian tiptoed out of the office again.
The elevator was already being used by tourists at this time, so he took the stairs as usual.
When he got downstairs, he saw Sun Nana standing by the restaurant door, elegantly saying to every guest who entered the restaurant, “After three in the afternoon, please go to the front desk to get your free barbecue tickets for tomorrow’s bonfire festival. One ticket per person, children get one too.”
When she saw Chen Jian, she raised her hand and made a few light grabbing motions in the air. “Morning, Manager.”
“Morning,” Chen Jian glanced at the restaurant. Breakfast was already laid out. “Have you eaten?”
“I have,” Sun Nana nodded. “I didn’t have much of an appetite this morning, so I just had a bowl of soy milk.”
“Eat more for lunch. It’s about to get busy,” Chen Jian said.
“Mm-hmm,” Sun Nana replied.
After breakfast, Chen Jian and Chen Erhu went to the barbecue area together.
There were people from several B&Bs. With the style of the ones inside, they might even try to get a little advantage for themselves in the layout of the event area. Bringing along someone like Chen Erhu, who, although he had turned over a new leaf, was a well-known former ruffian in the area, made it easier to control the scene.
The barbecue area already had the basic shape of a bonfire festival: banners, colorful flags, tables and chairs, fire barrels, and the equipment area had also been sectioned off, as well as a stage…
“What’s that stage for?” Chen Jian asked.
“He Liang invited a band to come and sing a few songs,” Chen Erhu said. “He said just playing music wasn’t lively enough. It was a last-minute decision. The band wasn’t sure if they had time before. I thought about it and didn’t see any problem.”
“Okay,” Chen Jian nodded.
Having a band was good, although he didn’t know how many songs they could sing in this cold weather.
Actually, these few establishments really wanted to make the event a success. After all, it was good for everyone. It was just that they always tried to get a little advantage when doing things.
At noon, Sanbing went to get the rush-printed barbecue tickets. There were four colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. Chen Jian kept the red ones and had Sanbing send the other colors to Da Li and the others.
The tickets hadn’t even been cut yet, but guests who had seen them were already coming to the front desk to ask for them.
“Nana!” Hu Pan quickly started handing out tickets.
“Coming,” Sun Nana walked over gracefully, took a small notebook from the front desk, and leaned against the wall behind it. “Go ahead and hand them out, I’ll register them.”
Chen Jian walked behind the front desk to help Hu Pan cut the tickets.
“Excuse me, everyone, please give your room number when you get your ticket…” Hu Pan said as she handed out the tickets.
“It’s fine,” Sun Nana said slowly. “I recognize all of these people… Auntie, you’re in 209, right? There are four of you in your family and a child. Just take them all at once.”
“Yes,” the aunt standing next to her smiled and nodded.
“That young lady is in 106,” Sun Nana looked again. “She’s with her boyfriend.”
“Not bad, Nana,” Hu Pan looked back at her.
Sun Nana twirled the pen in her hand and flicked her hair. “A piece of cake.”
Chen Jian helped cut all the tickets. A hand suddenly reached out from the side.
“Hmm?” Chen Jian looked up and saw Zhou Lecheng standing next to him.
“Give me one,” Zhou Lecheng smiled.
“It’s cold. Wear more when you go over,” Chen Jian said with a smile, handing him a ticket.
“Yeah,” Zhou Lecheng took the ticket. “I’ll play at the bonfire festival for two days, then I’m planning to leave.”
Chen Jian walked over to him and asked in a low voice, “Are you going home?”
“Yes,” Zhou Lecheng nodded. “This place as a final stop is very fulfilling.”
“How has your health been these past few days?” Chen Jian asked.
“About the same,” Zhou Lecheng said. “It won’t get better, but it’s not very bad either.”
Chen Jian didn’t know what else to say. He hesitated for a moment and asked, “Can we add each other as friends? We can keep in touch in the future.”
“Sure,” Zhou Lecheng took out his phone. “If you don’t mind having a profile picture in your friends list that will never light up again…”
“I don’t mind,” Chen Jian took out his phone. “It’s lit up now, isn’t it?”
Zhou Lecheng smiled.
After adding each other as friends, Zhou Lecheng went back to his room. Chen Jian took another look around the shop.
After making a call to Da Li’s side to confirm that everything was almost ready, he took the takeout lunch that the restaurant had just delivered, and went upstairs while sending a message to Shan Yu.
【Fa Dan Ke Chen】I’m awake. I was just about to call you.
【Chen Yu Luo Yan】I’m coming up.
The office door was open. Chen Jian knocked twice on the door and walked in.
“Are you done with your work?” Shan Yu was squatting behind a chair.
“Yeah, there’s not much to do now. The guests have all gone out to play, and the barbecue area is basically ready,” Chen Jian put the food on the table. “Did you sleep well?”
“Of course I slept well after taking medicine. It’s just that my head feels a bit stuffy when I wake up,” Shan Yu stood up and tried to straighten the back of the chair. He let go, and the back of the chair clattered back down again.
To Chen Jian, this sound already had a certain symbolic meaning, each sound like it was jumping over his nerves.
“It can’t be repaired,” Shan Yu walked over to the sofa and sat down, opening the lunch box. “I was thinking of seeing if I could fix it to save you some money.”
“What?” Chen Jian turned to look at him.
“This chair isn’t cheap. I checked, it’s over eight thousand,” Shan Yu said. “Your salary isn’t enough to cover it.”
“What the hell?” Chen Jian didn’t even have time to register the second half of Shan Yu’s sentence. He stood up and walked over to the chair. “This piece of crap, a spineless thing that can be cut in half with a single press, costs over eight thousand? What’s it selling for eight thousand for? What kind of idiot would spend eight thousand on such a thing…”
Shan Yu leaned back on the sofa, laughing uncontrollably.
“Are you playing with me?” Chen Jian looked at him.
“No,” Shan Yu said, laughing and taking out his phone. “Really, I just checked.”
“No,” Chen Jian came back to his senses. “Why is it being deducted from my salary?”
“You broke it by pressing on it,” Shan Yu said.
“Weren’t you on top of it!” Chen Jian said.
“I sit on it every day and it’s never broken,” Shan Yu said. “You only got on it once and it broke.”
“Why did I get on it!” Chen Jian looked at him.
Shan Yu smiled without speaking.
“Let’s go halfsies,” Chen Jian said.
“I don’t even get a salary. There’s nowhere to deduct it from,” Shan Yu said.
“What a black-hearted capitalist…” Chen Jian couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah,” Shan Yu nodded.
Chen Jian walked in front of him, leaned over, and pressed hard on the back of the sofa. “This sofa is quite sturdy.”
“Nonsense. If it wasn’t sturdy, the wall behind it would be supporting it,” Shan Yu said.
Chen Jian didn’t speak, just lowered his head and kissed him.
“You’re very lively today, Manager,” Shan Yu touched his face.
“The important things are almost done,” Chen Jian said, collapsing onto the sofa next to him. “Now we just have to see how tomorrow night goes.”
“It’s just a bonfire festival. There’s nothing to worry about,” Shan Yu said. “If it really messes up, it’s not just our family that will be embarrassed. Those three families were the ones who took the lead. It’s none of our damn business.”
“…Yeah,” Chen Jian thought about it and it made sense. “If it goes well, it’s ours.”
“Right,” Shan Yu said. “Tomorrow, have Yao Yi take some pictures. They’re going back the day after tomorrow. Find someone to write a report, something like ‘The Great Hermit, the New Era B&B of Red Leaf Town,’ and then make up some interviews with the manager.”
“Why not interview the boss?” Chen Jian asked.
“The boss is unreliable,” Shan Yu said. “He’s been fired so many times. He could talk a lot about his experience of being usurped by his employees.”
Chen Jian laughed for a long time.
For this bonfire festival, those few establishments had done a lot of publicity beforehand. Coupled with the town’s own publicity, the five-day event attracted many tourists from surrounding areas for short trips.
Early in the morning, just after eight o’clock, several more cars drove up to the entrance of the Great Hermit. Lao Si was a bit overwhelmed directing the parking at the entrance.
Chen Jian, who was helping at the front desk, quickly walked out. “I’ll go take a look.”
“Hurry up and park your motorcycles and the shop’s car in the free parking spaces outside,” Shan Yu had also been forced to wake up early today. He had just finished a hamburger. “Take up a spot. If there aren’t enough later, we’ll give it up.”
“Okay,” Chen Jian replied.
After directing the cars to park in the courtyard, Lao Si had just led the disembarking guests inside when three more people arrived at the entrance.
It was still relatively rare to see tourists walking over. He didn’t greet them immediately, wanting to see if they were tourists. But when he saw the face of the middle-aged woman among them clearly, his heart sank.
She looked almost exactly like Hu Pan.
Lili didn’t know when she had snitched to Hu Pan’s brother. It had only been a day, and this family had already found their way here?
Chen Jian immediately turned and went back into the shop, pointing at Lao Wu.
Lao Wu ran over. “What’s the matter, Manager?”
“Block those people at the entrance,” Chen Jian said. “If they’re looking for Panpan, take them to the conference room through the back door. Don’t say anything more. If they ask anything, you don’t know and you’re not clear.”
“Damn, I’ll go right now,” Lao Wu’s face immediately turned cold.
“Chen Ziyang,” Chen Jian grabbed his arm. “It’s to stall for time, not to beat them away.”
“I know,” Lao Wu said, tossing his hair and walking towards the entrance.
Shan Yu had already seen that there was a problem and walked straight over. “What’s wrong?”
“Hu Pan’s family seems to have come looking for her,” Chen Jian looked back. “They’re outside the courtyard.”
“Who’s here?” Shan Yu asked.
“Her parents, and a teenage boy who should be her brother,” Chen Jian said. “How should we handle this? Hu Pan is not here right now. She went to the barbecue area with Sanbing to deliver drinks.”
“Make a call and have Sanbing drag Hu Pan back,” Shan Yu said.
“What?” Chen Jian was stunned.
“She owes me fifty thousand and wants to run,” Shan Yu said. “Her parents are here just in time. Let her parents pay the money back.”
“You’re really… something else,” Chen Jian immediately understood, took out his phone, and dialed Hu Pan’s number.
