What had started as a spontaneous whim after a sudden idea, after tasting the sweetness of success, Shi Xiaolei genuinely felt that 'using the convenience of the teleportation gate for shopping' was truly an excellent method.
He wasn't afraid of not being able to buy what he wanted, and the prices were also very affordable.
Take ingredients, for example.
For instance, a block of tofu: there were only a few supermarkets in New York that sold it. Even if he could find it, it would be the kind packaged in sealed boxes… To extend the shelf life, some miscellaneous things were added to the raw materials, and the taste was obviously not as pure as that made using traditional methods. Moreover, the price was not at all friendly.
In contrast, if he opened a portal to Hong Kong to buy it, not only could he get the freshest tofu, but at most, it would only cost seventy to eighty yuan for enough to last a day.
If this were in New York, setting aside the difference in quality, just looking at the same quantity, the price would at least be three to five times higher.
'There's only one downside, alas~.' Sitting by the sink, busy with his work, Shi Xiaolei pondered: 'Why did I draw the Barbarian bloodline? If I could have drawn a magic-user bloodline, and could open a portal myself, how wonderful would that be?'
Although he also had a mana bar in the game and could cast various Barbarian-exclusive skills, it was undeniable that the Barbarian's mana bar had always been a weakness.
Therefore, after 'the game merged with reality,' this situation also became more intuitively apparent.
With the Barbarian bloodline's comprehension of magic, Shi Xiaolei simply couldn't learn the most basic spell, Teleportation. And his pitifully short mana bar couldn't support him in training. After several unsuccessful attempts, Shi Xiaolei eventually had to give up the idea of learning this skill himself.
He had actually guessed that this would be the outcome and had prepared himself mentally.
But when the result was truly confirmed, to be honest, Shi Xiaolei still felt somewhat dejected.
'Or, it would be good to summon another companion with magical talent. If their personality could be as homely as 2B's, and not run out all the time like Bayonetta, that would be even better.'
He couldn't learn it himself, and Bayonetta was busy hunting interdimensional creatures to make offerings to her contracted demons.
Going to the New York Sanctum every day to bother Master Drumm was obviously not very appropriate either.
After much thought, Shi Xiaolei unconsciously sighed again.
"Locke." While he was busy, 2B pushed open the curtain and walked into the back kitchen: "The work uniforms we ordered earlier have arrived."
"Is that so?" Putting down the greens in his hand, Shi Xiaolei stood up, wiping his hands on his apron: "Let's go take a look. Oh, by the way, have Claire and the others not arrived yet?"
"They should be here soon." Following behind Shi Xiaolei, 2B replied calmly: "I just received a text message from Lisa; the three of them are already on their way."
"That's good." Nodding, Shi Xiaolei went to the front hall and met the delivery guy waiting there.
The delivery guy brought a total of ten sets of work uniforms. Based on two sets per person, these uniforms were prepared for five people.
That's right, besides Shi Xiaolei and 2B, the shop now had three more employees.
The shop area had more than doubled, and with that came an increase in the number of customers. During meal times, the number of customers dining simultaneously could be about two to three times what it used to be.
Although Shi Xiaolei had fused with the Barbarian bloodline and had no issues with stamina, and 2B, as an intelligent robot, would not experience physical exhaustion, the frustrating thing was that serving customers was not something that could be done well just because the two of them weren't afraid of getting tired.
After trying for two days, oversights and neglects were common.
New customers visiting for the first time wouldn't directly express dissatisfaction to Shi Xiaolei or 2B; they would just silently leave,
adding this shop to their blacklist, thinking they would never come again. But the regular customers who were waiting for Shi Xiaolei to open for business again were not as reserved as first-time visitors. For example, Old Liu, who owned a shop next door, unhesitatingly pointed out the shop's shortcomings and offered suggestions from a friend's perspective.
Just as Old Liu said, hiring staff was imperative.
Since the family had moved out, anything that needed to be kept secret wouldn't be done in the shop. Not feeling that the hired employees would discover any flaws or catch on, Shi Xiaolei considered it briefly and then posted a handwritten recruitment notice on the shop door.
There was a high school on the street and New York University a few stops away… Even though Shi Xiaolei limited the recruitment scope to 'students working part-time,' and hadn't considered hiring anyone else, he still received responses quickly.
Within two days, using the gaps in business hours, he conducted brief interviews with the children who came to apply. By the third day, Shi Xiaolei made his choice and selected three of them.
Among them, two were lively and optimistic young girls named Lisa and Claire, and the remaining one was a young black man named Chapelle.
Lisa and Claire's job was to help 2B in the front, taking orders and serving dishes. Chapelle, on the other hand, was brought to the back kitchen by Shi Xiaolei to assist him.
There was absolutely no intention of discriminating against black people; in fact, quite the opposite.
Shi Xiaolei wanted to teach Chapelle some skills, so that he, a native of Hell's Kitchen, could learn a trade and support himself in the future, instead of ending up like his never-before-met father, who died in the underworld. That's why he specifically brought him to the back kitchen, so he could learn cooking while assisting him.
Of course, at this time, Chapelle had just been successfully hired and had only worked for a few days, not yet truly passing Shi Xiaolei's assessment. Therefore, Shi Xiaolei had not yet been open with him, nor had he taken action to begin guiding him in cooking.
The conversation has strayed a bit.
After signing for the work uniforms brought by the delivery guy, the three new employees arrived at the shop one after another shortly after.
The two girls arrived first.
"Sylvia, Boss, good morning~!" The girl with the ponytail was Claire; she was more lively.
"Good morning." Returning a gentle smile to the two girls, Shi Xiaolei raised his hand and pointed to the cardboard box still on the table: "You've come at a good time; the work uniforms have arrived. Try them on."
"Wow~, new clothes to wear?"
The two girls gathered in front of the cardboard box and, according to the names on the plastic bags, each found their own package.
The base color was clean white, with borders in the auspicious red representing China. Just looking at the color scheme, these uniforms were actually just average, neither fashionable nor rustic. But once they put them on, the fabric and style of the clothes made the two girls' eyes light up.
"How do they feel?" Looking at the two girls who had changed and walked out of the restroom, Shi Xiaolei nodded: "I specifically asked someone to design these, and I chose relatively high-grade fabric. Calculating the cost, each set comes out to over two hundred yuan."
"Boss, you're so nice. These must have been made by a professional fashion designer, right?"
After mentally assessing Bayonetta's taste and ability in fashion, Shi Xiaolei nodded without hesitation: "Indeed, they are the work of a professional expert."