Chapter 9: The Colleague Impossible To Refuse
Wang Heng thought Bitcoin could still rise in the future, but his father obviously couldn’t agree.
“Son, you haven’t studied economics and finance much,” Wang Jian lectured in the tone of someone experienced, “don’t take others’ bragging as truth. Price and value are two different things. Things like Bitcoin have many historical cases; they’re just bubbles. Do you know about the Netherlands a few hundred years ago…”
Wang Heng interrupted: “I know about the tulip bubble; no need to explain it to me. How about this then? Since you’re going to buy me a computer, I’ll use my own savings to buy Bitcoin. When I arbitrage later, I’ll share some with you. There’s no risk for you, only benefits. How about it?”
Wang Jian laughed heartily: “Benefits, huh? Fine, young people taking a little loss is also a life experience.”
“I’m waiting for the day you say it’s really great.”
“What does ‘really great’ mean?”
Wang Heng shook his head: “Nothing, that’s it then. Dad, when can you buy me the computer?”
Wang Jian turned his head to look outside the window: “The weather is nice today. Too bad you came back too late; our home’s this window has a perfect view of the sunset, very beautiful.”
Wang Heng: “…”
“Just a joke,” Wang Jian patted his shoulder again, “I’ll definitely buy you the computer, but wait until the end of the month. This month’s salary after our living expenses is all going to the mortgage; I can’t take it out temporarily.”
“…I’ll keep doing the part-time job.”
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After working at the milk tea shop for a few days, this morning when he just entered the door, he ran into a big ‘surprise’.
“Let me introduce, this is your new colleague,” the shop manager pointed at the shyly smiling girl and said to the new Wang Heng, “but since Han Yixuan is your classmate, I probably don’t need to introduce her, right?”
Wang Heng’s expression had already stiffened: “Uh… no need.”
And Han Yixuan was staring at him, covering her mouth and snickering. Seeing his extremely surprised look, the young girl felt a great sense of mischief succeeded, but she didn’t want to laugh too obviously.
“Good, then let’s confirm the shift schedule. I made this last night; you two take a look first, and tell me if there are any problems.”
The shop manager handed two A4 printed papers to their hands. The papers had the same table, planning each employee’s work time from Monday to Sunday. The shop manager was in the shop every day, while Wang Heng and Han Yixuan were on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, plus another employee, but who came less, only on Tuesday and Thursday.
“You two are acquaintances, so I arranged for you to work together. Is that okay?”
Hearing this, Wang Heng looked at the shop manager, his gaze very complex.
Han Yixuan nodded obediently: “That’s fine; I have no problem.”
“Good. Wang Heng, it’s early morning and the shop isn’t open yet; you first teach Xiao Xuan how to make milk tea. You’re so skilled; being a teacher for a bit is no problem, right?”
“Uh… okay.”
What more could Wang Heng say? He felt like he had been tricked. And the mastermind behind this trick was standing right in front of him, wantonly, seemingly shy but actually showing off triumphantly.
“Teacher Wang, aren’t you going to teach me quickly?” Han Yixuan reminded with a smile.
“…Let’s start with brewing the tea.”
“Okay, teacher~~”
Wang Heng brought her to the back kitchen, pointed at a large metal barrel-shaped thing, and said: “This is the pot for brewing tea. Add water inside, put it on the induction cooker, heat to ninety degrees, then add tea leaves, and steep. Look here, there are also measuring cups, thermometer, electronic scale, timer. Making milk tea in the shop is different from casually doing it at home; it’s a standardized process with clear regulations for the amount of tea leaves and water…”
While introducing this, Wang Heng expressionlessly demonstrated the tea brewing process once. This part was very simple, and Han Yixuan quickly got the hang of it, so her gaze quietly shifted focus.
“…Simple, right? Actually, the most important thing is the time. After putting on the lid, start timing. This timer’s default is 25 minutes; when time’s up, it will vocalize to remind you. Then, pour the brewed tea water into the insulated bucket, and absolutely don’t forget the filter; just throw away the filtered tea dregs… why are you staring at me?” Wang Heng finally noticed something was off.
Han Yixuan stuck out her little tongue, very embarrassed, and said: “That saying is indeed right.”
“Which saying?”
“A boy being serious is very handsome.”
Wang Heng: “…”
The young girl quickly waved: “Okay, okay, I get how to brew tea now. What’s next?”
Wang Heng coughed and said: “Earlier I brewed black tea; next is oolong tea. I’ll let you do this one; okay?”
“Mm-hmm, leave it to me.”
Recalling Wang Heng’s earlier operation, Han Yixuan also brewed a large pot. Although her movements were a bit slower, there were no mistakes. After all, this part didn’t require much skill.
“Mm, the timer will remind us when time’s up. Now, while we have this time, boil the pearls and sago. These things need to be prepared before opening in the morning. But pearls and sago have very short shelf lives, so don’t boil too much each time; if not finished in four or five hours, throw them out and make new ones.”
Han Yixuan was a bit curious: “This conscientious?”
“No choice; if things like sago and pearls aren’t changed promptly, the texture will be terrible. That would ruin the business.”
“I thought there would be some additives…”
“No need for additives; cassava powder’s cost is very low. Randomly adding other things, not to mention safety, those are all costs. Better to have employees do a bit more work than add costs, right?”
Just as Wang Heng finished speaking, he heard the shop manager shouting: “You brat, are you badmouthing me again!”
“No badmouthing, all sincere good words!” Wang Heng shouted back, “Saying you’re honest and trustworthy!”
The shop manager hummed twice and went quiet.
Han Yixuan couldn’t help laughing.
Wang Heng continued: “Ignore him; let’s go on. Anyway, that’s it; the brewed tea water is the same, change after four or five hours. And if customer traffic is big enough, one bucket won’t last five hours. Actually, this shop’s requirements aren’t strict; some well-known brand chain stores have only four hours shelf life for tea water and pearls, very strict, not even one extra minute. They all have unified formulas, flavors tuned by experts in the laboratory, absolutely no letting employees mess around.”
Han Yixuan couldn’t help exclaiming: “You know so much!”
Wang Heng touched his nose tip: “Alright, after these are done brewing, I’ll teach you how to shake the milk tea.”
The young girl’s gaze mixed with admiration made him feel slightly heavy. So, he could only make small talk to shift the topic as much as possible.
But it was foreseeable that the time spent with Han Yixuan next would be plenty, plenty…
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