Chapter 212: Test to Choose a Shopkeeper
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Han Qiao had thought about this problem for several days before she and Shopkeeper Zhu finally managed to come up with a test.
Most of the questions on the paper were about arithmetic, addition, deduction, and all kinds of tricky mathematical traps. It was not easy to get all of them correct.
They chose the day of the test on the first day of the third month after the employees of the Hot-Pot Restaurant and Fast Food Restaurant were paid on the 28th of February.
The Fast-Food Restaurant earned 4,000 taels of silver this month, while the Hot-Pot Restaurant earned 6,000 taels of silver.
When the chefs and waiters heard that the dividends were 800 taels and 1,200 taels respectively, several of them coughed excitedly.
“Our fast-food restaurant still has a thirty taels budget for the month. 1 took it out to buy food and send it to the lonely old people in the county and the countryside. There are flour, rice grains, salt, sugar, and two feet of cloth,” “Do you have any objections?”
They all shook their heads and supported Han Qiao’s decision.
There were sixty-seven taels at the restaurant. Everyone felt sorry for her, but they could accept Han Qiao’s decision.
In a short time, Puyi County knew about Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant and Qiaoyi Restaurant and knew that Han Qiao and Heng Yi were good people.
Apart from this sum of money, Han Qiao also donated a hundred taels to repair the bridge and pave the road.
A hundred taels could be used to build two stone arch bridges, and they would not have to worry about the wooden bridge being destroyed during a flood.
The work of Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant and Qiaoyi Restaurant was envied by everyone in Puyi County, and many wished they could replace them.
On the first day of the third month, a hundred or so shopkeepers entered the Heng Manor with their abacuses, brimming with confidence and vigor.
Han Qiao did not hand out the papers.
Sitting on the chair, Shopkeeper Zhu began to recite the questions.
The participants were forbidden to use an abacus during the reading of the questions. This was to test the shopkeepers’ memory. After Shopkeeper Zhu finished reading the questions, they could use the abacus to calculate how much they had bought and how much they had sold. According to the monthly salary of the waiters, chefs, and maids, how much of the finished vegetables were sold, and how much was left? Finally, how much profit could they make for the day? How much loss?
This was only the first question, and everyone in the room felt the difficulty of it.
Some who came in full of confidence were already sweating when they heard the first question.
There were also a few who calmly wrote down the correct answer.
They even wrote down the method they use to solve it.
The biggest taboo when working in a restaurant was using today’s vegetables for tomorrow’s meals. No matter how fresh they still were, the customers would not appreciate them.
Therefore, it was best to get rid of them the day before.
The second question was even more difficult than the first. It’s a matter regarding the waiter’s salary. They even used the “chicken and rabbit in a cage” O question, but with the added twist where some of the rabbits were accidentally killed and the chickens laid eggs. Then the waiter stole two eggs, but he paid for it and was fired.
Those who introduced the waiters were also punished and fined since they also caused a loss to the restaurant.
If the people in the restaurant were to find a helper, their salary would be 20% lower.
Putting all the circumstances into consideration, how much profit did the restaurant make that day? And how much profit would the restaurant make in a month if they hired a new waiter every day?
When Shopkeeper Zhu finished reading this question, someone looked at him in surprise.
To be able to come up with questions like this was simply too ruthless.
“Madam, may I ask how many chefs and employees are there in the restaurant? Was the person who introduced the new waiter a chef? Or was it a woman who’s in charge of starting the fire, washing the dishes, and cutting the vegetables who introduced this new waiter?” Someone asked.
Han Qiao looked at the person who asked the question.
He was probably in his twenties, not anywhere close to thirty years old.
But he asked a good question.
Shopkeeper Zhu continued to read the setting behind the question.
The man who asked the question quickly began to calculate.
Shopkeeper Zhu was afraid that they didn’t hear him clearly, so he repeated the question again.
In truth, managing a restaurant was nowhere as troublesome as the questions made it out to be.
Because no matter how much money was spent, no matter how many vegetables were bought, everything would be fine as long as the vegetables were not expensive or poor in quality.
Moreover, when they managed the restaurant the chefs would be there to help.
There was no way to calculate it.
However, someone still managed to answer the question, just like Han Qiao had done with Shopkeeper Zhu several times earlier.
When Han Qiao saw the answer, her eyes lit up.
The third question was actually very simple.
It was a question about human nature.
“Today, a plague suddenly broke out in the county. The entire city is closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave. However, there is a lot of food in the restaurant. After some calculations, even the people in the county can eat three meals a day for only a month.”
“Selling the food at a high price, the profit will give you three, five ties, or even ten times the profit,”
“The owner happens to be outside the county. If you are the shopkeeper, you can earn a sum of money from it no matter what price you sell it for.”
“Many people in the county are willing to pay a high price to buy the food. There are also a small number of people who don’t have money in their hands. They can only watch the rich buy the food and starve to death.”
“There are also cases of people selling their children for food.”
“But you know that your boss regards money as his life. If he was here, he would definitely take the opportunity to raise the price and sell the food to the rich.”
“If you were the shopkeeper of this restaurant, what would you do?”
After Shopkeeper Zhu finished speaking, he stood beside Han Qiao.
Han Qiao picked up her teacup and took a sip.
Heng Yi, Bai Cha, Wen Yu, and Gu Jiu were also thinking.
If they were the shopkeeper, what would they do?
Should they sell the leftover food to the rich, or give some to the poor?
The children also fell silent.
What would they do if they were the shopkeeper?
The one hundred shopkeepers were also silent.
The man who asked the question stood up and said, “I will split the food 30 – 70.1 will sell 70% of the food and give 30% to the poor.”
“If we sell 70% of it, not only will we earn back our capital, but we can also earn a large sum of money for our boss. If 30% of the three ingredients were distributed to the poor, it could win a good reputation for the owner.”
“That way, we can obtain both fame and fortune. Isn’t this solution the best of both worlds?”
There were also some people who argued against his answer.
But this man remained firm in his views. His mind was clear, and his words were reasonable and well-founded, making people unable to refute his answer anymore.
Han Qiao slowly put down her teacup.
She had already chosen the manager for her fast-food restaurant in Puyi County.
In other words, this man would be the shopkeeper of Puyi County and the entire chain in Chenzhou.
It was okay to earn money, but he could not let his heart and soul turn black. She could not hire someone who lacked humanity.
The shopkeeper she hired had to be confident, resourceful, and courageous. He also had to be humane and have a charitable heart.
Han Qiao asked the shopkeepers who had answered the first two questions correctly to stay behind, while politely asking the other participants to leave.
The young man was naturally among them.
“May I know your name?”
“My surname is Lan, and my name is Cheng,” Lan Cheng bowed.
“My ancestors all worked as an accountant.”
“Did you come to Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant for the monthly payment?”
“Yes, I am, but that’s not the entire reason,” Lan Cheng said.
Seeing that Han Qiao was looking at him, he said in neither servile nor overbearing manner, “I’m from Chenzhou, Linxian County. I’ve long heard that the owner of the Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant in Puyi County is kind and benevolent. She helps the poor and lonely people and builds bridges and roads to benefit the people. I’ve specially gone to investigate your restaurants and found that you have never conducted any dishonest practices. I also learned that Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant needed to hire a shopkeeper, so 1 came to apply.”
“Firstly, for the generous monthly silver. Secondly, 1 want to do my part for the Dong Family so that the kindness of the Dong Family can continue forever.”
Han Qiao was silent for a moment.
This was a truly righteous person.
He had the ability to get the job done.
In fact, he was someone who could also reach a high position as an official in the court.
However, he was too straightforward, or perhaps, he had already seen through the darkness of officialdom.
That was why he had put down his dreams and pursued this little kindness.
Han Qiao took a deep breath, “There are 13 counties in Chenzhou. Each county can open a fast food restaurant and a restaurant. Each county can have a manager. There are 26 managers in total. If I place you as the head of all the managers, can you manage them well?”
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