After lunch, Chen Jian went back to the office with Shan Yu. He had eaten a meal with a head full of water. Although there was heating in the room, the first floor was a large space, and he still felt a chill on his head.
However, when Shan Yu took out the hairdryer for him, he found that his hair was basically dry.
“Still want to blow it?” Shan Yu asked.
“Forget it,” Chen Jian said, standing in front of the mirror and ruffling his hair. “It’s all dry.”
“Blow some style into it,” Shan Yu said.
“Even if I blow it out, the moment I put on my hat, any style will be flattened,” Chen Jian said.
“Do you usually wear a hat with wet hair?” Shan Yu cupped the back of his head and pushed him towards the mirror. “Look at yourself. Is this how you look when you take off your hat usually?”
“Blow, blow, blow…” Chen Jian took the hairdryer and blew it at his head. Fortunately, his hair wasn’t very malleable, and it went back to its original shape after a few blows.
Shan Yu was leaning against the desk, looking down at his phone.
“Reporting to Director Lu?” Chen Jian asked.
Shan Yu looked up, glanced at his face, and started laughing. “No.”
“Wha…” Chen Jian was taken aback and then realized, quickly explaining, “This is a serious question, not tinged with jealousy!”
“Oh,” Shan Yu responded.
“Really!” Chen Jian raised his voice.
“And I’m really not reporting to him,” Shan Yu said. “I’m contacting someone about training for you guys.”
“Training?” Chen Jian immediately leaned over to his phone. “What kind of training?”
“Guesthouse service training,” Shan Yu said. “A teacher will be coming over this Thursday and Friday. You can arrange for the employees to attend in two batches.”
Chen Jian looked at Shan Yu. “I thought I would just find some materials to study first, and then train them myself?”
“The efficiency is too low,” Shan Yu said. “Your role as a manager is much more important than that of a training teacher, and you’d have to waste time studying first.”
“Our business isn’t so good right now that the manager doesn’t even have that much time,” Chen Jian said. “This training must cost money, right?”
“Someone recommended them, so we can get a discount on the training fee,” Shan Yu said.
“Who recommended them?” Chen Jian asked.
Shan Yu cleared his throat. “Lu Jun.”
“Whoa!” Chen Jian exclaimed.
Shan Yu looked at him.
“What?” Chen Jian asked.
“This jealousy,” Shan Yu smiled. “How long does it usually last?”
“I don’t know,” Chen Jian said. “It’s my first time being jealous too.”
“I’ll count for you,” Shan Yu said, opening his notepad. “Let’s say this morning from nine to eleven, you were jealous for two hours. It’s now one-thirty in the afternoon…”
“This doesn’t count now,” Chen Jian started laughing. “I’m over it.”
“Fine. If it’s less than ten minutes, it doesn’t count,” Shan Yu nodded.
Chen Jian was about to say something else when the walkie-talkie on his hip crackled.
“Manager Chen,” Hu Pan’s voice came through. “Everyone’s here.”
“From now on, this thing is not allowed in my office,” Shan Yu said, pointing at the walkie-talkie.
“Got it,” Chen Jian said with a laugh, taking the walkie-talkie. “I’ll be right there.”
“The manager is so busy,” Shan Yu said.
“Are you attending this meeting?” Chen Jian asked.
“To allow the employees to speak freely,” Shan Yu said, “I won’t join in the fun. You can just summarize it for me after the meeting.”
“Mhm,” Chen Jian nodded, took two steps towards the office door, and then stopped.
He turned back, wrapped his arms around Shan Yu, and kissed him on the cheek.
He started walking towards the door again, then stopped again.
He thought for a moment, turned back again, buried his face in the side of Shan Yu’s neck, and rubbed it vigorously a couple of times.
Then he started walking towards the door yet again.
He was still a bit reluctant to leave.
But just as he was about to stop, Shan Yu said from behind him, “I’ll hit you!”
Chen Jian laughed and lunged forward, opening the door and running out.
For this group of people, a meeting was pretty much like a tea party.
When Chen Jian walked into the coffee shop, they had already gathered around two tables, with coffee and snacks placed on them.
“Meeting,” Chen Jian said, sitting down in the chair reserved for him and opening his small notebook. “The main reason for this meeting today is that the small town has started to develop. There will be more tourists in the future, and definitely more guesthouses will open. We need to start managing our guesthouse in a formal way from now on…”
“Actually, our service is better than the few guesthouses inside,” Sanbing said.
“Don’t compare yourself to the worst,” Chen Jian said. “We just want to make Dayin even better. So today, I wanted to first let everyone bring up what they’ve encountered during their work that they think we’re not doing well, whether it’s management, service, or facilities. You can say anything.”
“Do we need to make changes?” Chen Erhu asked.
“We’ll change what we can. We’ll talk about what we can’t change later,” Chen Jian said. “This Thursday and Friday, a professional teacher will be coming to train us…”
“Will it cause conflicts?” Lao Wu asked. “For example, if I want to say that the front desk is not doing a good job in some area, will Panpan and Nana get mad at me?”
“Try me,” Hu Pan said.
“It’s only for suggestions for improvement, there’s no punishment. If you make up things, it’s normal for them to get mad at you,” Chen Jian said. “If you’re right, they’ll…”
Chen Jian glanced at Hu Pan and Sun Nana.
“We’ll listen with an open mind,” Sun Nana said, tucking her hair.
“Okay, who wants to go first?” Chen Jian asked.
No one spoke. They all looked at him.
“Then I’ll go first,” Chen Jian said.
“The main thing is, we don’t know what counts as a shortcoming,” Lao Si said honestly.
“You count,” Sanbing said.
Lao Si glared at him.
“Strictly speaking,” Chen Erhu said, “we all count.”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Chen Jian said. “I’ll start with one. On the hygiene front, I still hope that whoever sees something will take care of it. For example, in the parking lot, some guests will just throw their trash next to their cars. Don’t wait for the cleaner of the day to see it before cleaning up. Whoever passes by and sees it should just sweep it up. Otherwise, it will look very bad when the next guest parks.”
“Mhm,” Sun Nana nodded. “That makes sense. Sometimes when people leave the coffee shop, I’m busy at the front desk and might not be able to clean up right away. If someone sees it and can help me take it to the sink, that would be great…”
Chen Jian jotted this down.
“It would be better to be more proactive in responding to guests’ service needs, to have a bit of foresight,” Hu Pan said. “For example, the other day, a guest was looking for something in the dining room for a long time. It was only when I went over to ask that I found out she had lost a hairpin and was looking for it. Lao Wu was just standing there at the entrance of the dining room watching, and didn’t say anything about offering to help.”
“A preemptive strike, Panpan,” Lao Wu said.
“Although it’s not a big deal, the guest’s experience would be much better,” Sanbing said.
Lao Wu gave him a sidelong glance.
For the sake of love, brothers turn against each other.
Could this be made into a short drama… What nonsense!
“We should indeed pay attention to such details,” Chen Jian said, pulling his wandering thoughts back.
“What were you doing at that time?” Chen Erhu asked Lao Wu.
“…Watching her look for things,” Lao Wu replied.
Chen Jian couldn’t help but laugh.
“We are indeed the biggest shortcoming,” Chen Erhu said with great emotion.
“These are all about service awareness,” Sun Nana said. “After all, none of us have any experience or have been trained. It’s normal to have shortcomings. That’s the purpose of this meeting.”
“Right!” Hu Pan applauded.
With that, everyone’s minds opened up, and all sorts of useful, useless, reasonable, and unreasonable suggestions came out.
At first, it was all about service, including under what circumstances they should help guests with their luggage, under what circumstances they could agree to a guest’s request for room service, and how to refuse unreasonable requests without causing conflict…
“On this point, Boss Shan is a classic negative example…” Lao Wu glanced towards the elevator. “Forget unreasonable requests, he’ll even directly and bluntly refuse reasonable ones.”
“Hey,” Hu Pan started laughing and looked at Chen Jian. “Will this be written in the meeting minutes?”
“…Yes, Boss Shan wants to see them,” Chen Jian said, nodding as he wrote.
“I take it back,” Lao Wu said immediately.
“Too late,” Chen Jian said.
“I’m done for,” Lao Wu leaned back in his chair. “Chen Jian, do you have a grudge against me?”
“Come on,” Chen Erhu said. “You’ve been working here for so long and you still don’t get it? It’s fine to say it to his face. What are you afraid of for making a serious suggestion?”
“This is indeed something the boss needs to improve on,” Chen Jian said.
“If we really bring this up with him,” Lao Si thought for a moment, “will he just not come downstairs anymore?”
It seemed everyone had a certain understanding of the boss.
Next, besides the problems with the service staff, some hardware facility problems were also brought up.
The red bricks used for the curb at the entrance were all crushed and should be replaced with more durable materials. There weren’t enough trash cans in the kitchen and dining room. There weren’t enough lounge chairs in the garden when there were many tourists…
Chen Jian recorded them one by one, useful or useless, big or small. As long as someone brought it up, it was a potential area for improvement.
As everyone was in a heated discussion, Sun Nana’s phone rang.
She took out her phone, glanced at it, muted it, and put it back in her pocket.
“Go ahead and answer it. It’s fine,” Chen Jian said.
“I’m not answering,” Sun Nana’s face turned cold.
Chen Jian didn’t say any more. Judging by her reaction, it was probably her soon-to-be-ex-husband calling. He had called once before the New Year, and Sun Nana hadn’t answered then either.
“Is it that ex-husband of yours with the surname Zhang?” Chen Erhu asked without any hesitation.
“Mhm,” Sun Nana frowned.
“Is it about the divorce after the New Year?” Sanbing asked.
“He won’t agree to it,” Sun Nana said. “I’ve already told him I’ll see him in court. There’s nothing more to say.”
“This person is so annoying,” Hu Pan said, resting her chin on her hand. “You don’t know, that Zhang is getting more and more crazy. He even said Nana is mentally ill. I think he’s the one in the terminal stage. It makes me afraid of getting married.”
“If you can avoid it, don’t. There’s no point in getting married,” Sun Nana said. “Men’s basic foundation is not good.”
“What do you mean by ‘men’s basic foundation’?” Lao Wu asked.
“Us,” Chen Jian said.
“Nana, that’s…” Lao Wu looked at the men present and hesitated for a moment. “At least Chen Jian and Shan Yu are very good.”
“Thanks,” Chen Jian said.
Sun Nana started laughing. “Oh, you guys are so annoying.”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket twice. A message had come in.
Sun Nana took out her phone with annoyance and glanced at it. Her expression immediately changed, no longer impatient, but with a flash of panic.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Jian immediately asked.
“I think he’s come to the small town,” Sun Nana said, turning her phone screen towards them.
On it was a photo of the Hongye Town road sign. This sign was in front of Tang Rui’s repair shop.
This person actually came looking for her?
“Fuck!” Chen Erhu slammed the table and stood up. “When was this message sent? Has he already arrived?”
“Just now,” Sun Nana said.
“I’ll go to the gate to check,” Chen Erhu turned and walked out.
Sanbing and the others immediately followed, not even moving their chairs, just vaulting over the backs of them.
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
“He probably hasn’t found his way here yet. He should still be on the road,” Sun Nana stood up and turned in a circle on the spot, looking for something. “I have to go. I can’t let him come here. I have to stop him on the road.”
“What are you looking for?” Hu Pan asked.
“I don’t know,” Sun Nana said, dragging a chair and turning in another half-circle, looking a bit dazed. “Isn’t Shan Yu’s baseball bat usually on the first floor?”
“He took it to his office a long time ago,” Chen Jian said, holding her arm. “Nana, it’s okay. We’re all here. He can’t do anything to you.”
“There are kitchen knives in the kitchen,” Zhao Fangfang suddenly said.
“Sister Zhao?” Chen Jian looked at her in shock.
“Hey, don’t add to the chaos!” Sister Huang quickly patted Zhao Fangfang.
Sun Nana usually seemed very normal, and there was no indication that she had any mental illness. But in her current state, which was very similar to her state when they had encountered her ex-husband at the restaurant that day—a bit confused, a bit dazed—when combined, he suddenly felt that Sun Nana’s state could not be said to be completely normal.
This man was like a switch for her mental state to go downhill.
“Panpan, take her back to the dorm,” Chen Jian said.
“Okay,” Hu Pan said, putting her arm around Sun Nana. “Let’s go, let’s go back to the dorm.”
“No,” Sun Nana turned back to look at Chen Jian, her eyes clearer than before. “He knows I’m determined to divorce this time. He’s especially crazy. He’s here to cause trouble.”
“Are we afraid of trouble?” Chen Jian said, walking towards the door. “Where does he rank in terms of trouble?”
There’s a trouble-making and trouble-crushing two-in-one machine on the fourth floor.
What’s there to be afraid of?
“He’s not here yet,” Chen Erhu and the others walked in from outside. “What’s the plan?”
“Go and block him,” Chen Jian said. “Don’t let him come over.”
Although business had been a bit slow at the shop these past few days, there were still seven or eight rooms occupied. It would be really bad if this person caused a scene here. Things were different now than when they had just opened.
“Let’s go,” Chen Erhu said.
The group of them got on their motorcycles, and with a roar of engines, they drove out of the courtyard gate.
As soon as the cars were out on the road, Sanbing, Lao Si, and Lao Wu lined up in the front, followed by Chen Jian and Chen Erhu, forming a 3-2 formation as they headed towards the town’s entrance.
If Chen Jian hadn’t been there, their formation would have been 3-1 or 2-2. Chen Jian was very impressed with the Pigsty Party’s extraordinary tacit understanding in such meaningless, purely show-off matters.
Shan Yu held a box of mealworms in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other, leaning against the window and watching the five roaring motorcycles drive out of the courtyard gate.
He couldn’t help but click his tongue.
Quite exciting.
Such an exciting thing, and the manager went to play by himself, without bringing him along.
Just as he was about to continue feeding Erge, there was a knock on the office door, a dong dong dong that was clearly Hu Pan.
“Come in,” he responded, putting down the mealworms.
“Boss Shan,” Hu Pan poked her head in. “I have something to report to you.”
“Mhm,” Shan Yu responded.
“Nana’s ex-husband seems to have come,” Hu Pan said. “The guys just went out to block him. They’re afraid he’ll cause a scene at the shop, so they want to stop him on the road.”
“Mhm,” Shan Yu nodded.
Hu Pan clung to the door, looking at him.
“What’s wrong?” Shan Yu also looked at her. “It’s just an ex-husband. If he really starts something, the five of them can pound him to a pulp. I don’t need to go, do I?”
“No, no, no,” Hu Pan quickly waved her hands. “It’s just… this is an unexpected incident. I hope you won’t be angry.”
“Is my temper that bad?” Shan Yu smiled. “It’s fine. You can go and stay with Nana.”
“Mhm,” Hu Pan nodded. “Thank you, boss.”
Shan Yu continued to feed Erge.
This matter with Sun Nana wasn’t a big deal. It was just disgusting to deal with.
He would definitely help, both from a friend’s perspective and from a black-hearted capitalist’s perspective.
