Chapter 60: Business is Good

Her judgment was spot on.

Before long, the young woman from the rental and sales center came running back.

"Boss, let me have another fresh meat one."

"Sure, Xiao Zhao, pack a bun for her."

Zhao Yilin handed over the steamed bun, then cheerfully started chatting with the other girl:

"I told you one wouldn't be enough!"

Zhang Jing nodded in agreement, "Mostly because your buns smell so good, otherwise one would have been plenty."

Between two young women, there was no shortage of topics.

Plus, with the rental center right next door to the steamed bun shop, they began chatting right inside the store.

Zhang Jing asked curiously, "Yilin, are the servers here part-time or full-time?"

The junior sister felt quite proud.

"I'm full-time, of course."

"How's the pay? I only make 1,800 a month... though I don't really have to do much. Does your shop have high educational requirements?"

The junior sister thought about it. "I think you need at least a bachelor's degree."

After all, she, the boss, and the boss's wife all held that level of education.

The young woman from the rental center, who was currently studying for exams, pouted. "The competition is getting so fierce these days."

...

After the noon rush ended, it was close to one o'clock.

Chen Zhou came to the shop entrance and flipped the small sign to the "Resting" side. Then he said to Zhao Yilin:

"I saved a few cooked meat buns. Do you want to try those, or should I order a dish? Nothing too complicated."

The junior sister thought for a moment.

"Last time you invited me to dinner, I was too busy gnawing on spare ribs to even touch a bun. This morning, you hadn't steamed them yet. So I'll try the buns first.

I saw how much everyone was enjoying them. Actually, I wanted to ask you to save me a few this morning, but I was afraid of disrupting your business, and you always seemed so busy..."

"Alright, alright,"

Chen Zhou quickly cut her off and brought over two employee meals.

As the two of them ate, Chen Zhou checked today's revenue—nearly three thousand, double the peak of his street-vending days.

However, street vending had low costs with no rent and such. Naturally, the gross profit margin of running a physical shop had dropped.

Chen Zhou grabbed pen and paper and began calculating on the table.

"Senior Brother, what are you researching?" Zhao Yilin asked curiously.

...Almost forgot, the junior sister was a readymade accountant.

Chen Zhou smiled, "When you finish eating, we'll calculate together roughly how much the shop can make."

"You mean the gross profit, right? Piece of cake!"

Zhao Yilin wiped her hands and put on a serious expression.

"In accounting, gross profit refers to the total financial amount calculated in monetary terms, generally covering—wait, wait, Senior Brother, don't take it away yet, I haven't finished eating."

Chen Zhou handed the bun back to her and said solemnly, "Speak human."

"Oh."

The junior sister took back her bun and then began doing a simple calculation with Chen Zhou.

"The ingredient costs are this much, and then factoring in labor costs, rent, utilities, and equipment depreciation... the gross profit margin is probably around 55%.

55 is quite conservative because I overestimated things like seasonings and utilities.

Employing me seems quite expensive, mainly due to the five social insurances and one housing fund, so we can't just count it as four thousand. Because of that, it's more expensive than the rent."

Chen Zhou patiently listened to the end and gave her a thumbs-up:

"Worth every penny, no need to be modest.

Besides, having a quick, bright, and enthusiastic young girl running around the shop makes customers feel at ease."

The junior sister thought to herself: I do have a certain level of attractiveness.

Therefore, she realized Chen Zhou was not actually flattering her.

So she gave an objective, realistic evaluation:

"With the shop doing this well, it's mostly thanks to you, Boss. Many of the customers come specifically for you. Boss Chen is the signature brand of this little shop!"

Chen Zhou loved hearing that.

After more than a month of street vending, he had built a solid reputation within the surrounding community.

Customers trusted him completely, whether for his ingredients or his flavors.

Afterward, Chen Zhou expressed concern over whether the employee was too tired from work and whether she was used to the working hours.

In short, it boiled down to one sentence—

"Making money is fine, but let's not have too much pressure and don't overwork yourself."

"This is nothing," the junior sister said with a mouthful of bun, speaking somewhat unclearly:

"Mmm-mm, I'm actually very good at handling pressure, Senior Brother. You should remember when I was at the department, doing the work of several people all by myself."

Hearing this, Chen Zhou warned her:

"Never say things like that to a boss again in the future."

"Got it, Boss."

"Walk slowly on your way back, rest early when you get home, and make sure you have your phone and e-bike keys. I have an extra set of shop keys here for you too, don't lose them."

The junior sister felt a wave of puzzlement:

Senior Brother and Sister-in-law are clearly two different people, yet they sound almost identical when talking to me.

...

At the end of the day, the clerk might claim she wasn't tired, but the boss himself felt it was hardly a breeze.

The two of them had been busy from morning until noon, only getting to sit down for a break around ten o'clock.

They had worked a solid six or seven hours.

Even so, the rewards were plentiful.

First of all, compared to street vending, running a physical store at this scale allowed you to actually see the money coming in.

If things continued at today's pace, a month could yield twenty to thirty thousand.

Last month, Chen Zhou had been saving up to open the shop, and most of their living expenses were covered by his wife.

Now that the shop was open and business was good, it was about time to let Ms. Lin relax a little.

However, her material demands weren't that high; she spent normally when needed and still loved saving small amounts of money.

In that case, they could start by paying off the mortgage to reduce fixed expenses.

Thinking of the mortgage, Chen Zhou also harbored some thoughts about his aunt's commercial storefront.

Nothing beats owning rather than renting; running a business in a place that is entirely your own feels much more comfortable.

Aside from monetary gains,

Chen Zhou had also received 376 favorable reviews today.

Though he was still a long way from his ultimate goal, [Legendary Intel Guaranteed Next Time] in the intel enhancement system didn't feel quite so out of reach anymore.

Chen Zhou was genuinely curious about what kind of good stuff could come out of legendary intel.

"Still, logically speaking, since the probability of rare intel has increased, legendary intel should drop for me naturally by now, right?"

"Take it slow. Life and business are both getting better bit by bit."

...

After going back at noon, Chen Zhou took a thorough shower and had a nap at home.

When he opened his eyes, it was almost four o'clock.

Still half-asleep, Chen Zhou initially felt the entire room was exceptionally quiet, then gradually heard the faint buzzing of the air conditioner vent.

The cicadas chirping outside the window seemed to suddenly burst into sound.

The world instantly became noisy.

He rubbed his eyes, collected his wits, and realized that since he didn't need to do evening street vending anymore, he could go pick up Taotao a bit early. That way, the little one wouldn't have to wait inside.

So Chen Zhou sent a message to Ms. Lin:

"I'll go pick up the kid in a bit."

-"Okay."

"They said there's a community event this evening—free screening of Nezha, plus water games and watermelon. After dinner, I'll take Chen Taotao to join in the fun."

-"Mmm."

The brief reply was Ms. Lin's steady output of emotional stability.

But this time, she stole a little sticker from the junior sister.

[Heart]