CSGM - Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Chu Xi Watches the Drama
Yes, there was a problem…
As today’s cashier and the restaurant’s treasurer, Xiao Han was the first to be stunned after Ren Zhi’s reminder.
He had thought all their mistakes today would be resolved without any real trouble. He never expected their luck to be so bad.
It was Xiao Han’s first time working as a cashier. Lacking experience, he had torn off the entire receipt for every table and given it to the customers, failing to keep a copy for their records.
Now, all he had was a pile of cash, but no bills.
A moment ago, he had wanted to use the menus from each table to calculate the total, but to his surprise, Ren Zhi had only collected a dozen or so menus.
Because she had left her signature on every menu today, most of them had been taken by fans.
Now, with an incomplete set of menus, it was impossible to tell which table had ordered what. The cash on hand didn’t match the total sales.
Xiao Han’s brow furrowed, and he was the first to cast blame. “Zhizhi, how could you not keep track of something as important as the menus!?”
…?
A wave of speechlessness washed over Ren Zhi. She was so annoyed she almost laughed.
As the cashier, it was bad enough that he didn’t know to keep a copy of each tear-off receipt, but to be in such a hurry to shift the blame onto someone else… his behavior was truly something else.
Luo Yangtian quickly spoke up. “Brother Han, don’t say that. Sister Zhi didn’t know this would happen either.”
Li Xiling leaned against a table, shot Xiao Han a sideways glance, and spoke up for her. “This has nothing to do with Ren Zhi, does it? Weren’t you the one handling the cash register? You’re in charge of our finances.”
What kind of man says something like that? It was clearly his own mistake, so why was he blaming a young woman first?
The more Li Xiling looked at Xiao Han, the more she disliked him.
Xiao Han looked impatient, but since Li Xiling was his senior, he couldn’t openly lose his temper. He could only continue with a dark expression.
“I was the only one collecting money all day. I was really busy.”
“What are you talking about? You can’t just think you’re the only one who’s worked hard. Wasn’t Ren Zhi also running around taking orders all by herself? And Chu Xi, Luo Yangtian, and I were on our feet in the kitchen all day!” Li Xiling said.
“No, Sister Ling, why do I feel like you’re targeting me?” Xiao Han said with a fake smile. It seemed he wasn’t a pushover either.
Caught in the middle, Luo Yangtian didn’t dare to speak. Torn, he could only cast a pleading look at Ren Zhi.
In the end, it was the clear-headed Ren Zhi who stepped in to stop them.
“Alright, let’s all stop. We should first figure out how to balance today’s accounts.”
Unexpectedly, with only half an hour left in the live stream, there was still such good drama to watch. The number of bullet comments surged once again.
Some cursed Xiao Han, some cursed Ren Zhi, and some criticized Li Xiling for being too aggressive. There were even those who criticized Chu Xi for watching with relish from the side, showing no sense of team spirit.
Chu Xi’s constitution was truly one of a kind; she could attract haters without even saying a word.
【Alright, alright, stop arguing. I have an idea. Just ask the director to show you the replay. Wouldn’t that solve the problem of reviewing each table’s order?】
【Did the person above forget what this director’s nickname is? The director is probably enjoying the show right now.】
【It’s clearly not a big deal, but watching Xiao Han rush to shift the blame is really annoying…】
【There are accidents, but there is no unity.】
【Looks like they really are just colleagues, not close at all.】
【Did you not see Chu Xi sitting on the side, watching the drama? I’m speechless. These people feel so divided.】
【Hahahahaha, why do I feel like this restaurant is going to be run into the ground by them sooner or later?】
Just as the audience predicted, the director was an old fox who enjoyed the chaos and didn’t mind making things worse. When Xiao Han proposed that the production team show them the live stream recording, the director refused with a perfectly valid reason.
“The workload for that is too great, and the videographer has already gone home. You’ll have to figure it out yourselves.”
“No, Director, you…” Xiao Han was about to lose his temper.
Fortunately, Luo Yangtian cut in just in time, stopping him from exploding.
“Oh, right! It’s okay, Brother Han, I remember there’s another batch of menus in the back kitchen! I’ll go get them!”
The moment Luo Yangtian finished speaking, he shot off like he had rockets on his feet. A flash of his shadow, and he was in the kitchen. When he came out, he was holding a messy stack of papers.
These were the menus the back kitchen used as a reference for cooking. Logically, they should also have the table numbers and the dishes the customers ordered.
But sometimes, accidents defy logic…
When they laid out the menus from the back kitchen, they saw that they were all covered in black marker scribbles. Although there were clearly rows of dish names, almost none of the words were still legible!
“Ah, no way…”
Luo Yangtian flipped through every single one, and they were all the same! Not a single one was spared!
The breakthrough they had just thought of was a dead end again!
Li Xiling spoke up awkwardly, “Um… I was afraid of mixing up the orders today, so I crossed out every dish I sent out…”
That method had indeed ensured she didn’t miss or repeat any dishes today, but now the kitchen menus were untraceable.
Xiao Han said, “Then there’s nothing we can do.”
After saying that, he sat down far away from everyone else, his face ashen.
He seemed completely unaware that the root of the problem was his own responsibility.
If the cashier hadn’t torn off the entire receipt, there would have been no need to rely on the customers’ order slips to recalculate the bills.
But now, even the order slips were incomplete…
Like Xiao Han, Chu Xi also seemed to have failed to find her place in this incident, remaining completely on the outside.
From beginning to end, Chu Xi sat by herself, merely listening without participating in the discussion, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.
Sometimes, seeing the other four looking distressed and anxious like ants on a hot pan, she would even watch the show with a faint, unreadable smile.
Was she serious? She was a member of the restaurant too, so why was she acting like a spectator in the front row!
Just watching, not contributing, is that it?
Even the audience couldn’t stand it anymore.
【Why does Chu Xi have zero team spirit? Everyone is dying of anxiety while she’s just watching the show from the side. Speechless!】
【Is it possible that her head is empty and she can’t offer any constructive suggestions, so she can’t help anyway?】
【She probably has no idea what to do.】
【Didn’t you see she’s still smiling?】
【Why can she be as calm as if she’s watching a play? It makes her seem so rude!】
【It’s really off-putting. Just because she solved one math problem, she thinks she’s superior, right? I think she’s just posturing!】
Yes, many viewers felt the same way.
The other members were all worried about the unbalanced accounts, while she alone watched with a calm and unconcerned air. If that wasn’t posturing, what was?
【She’s just trying to highlight how different she is. Does she really think acting silent makes her look cool?】
【Can Chu Xi stop pretending? What’s the point? No matter how calm she looks, everyone knows her brain is a complete mess.】
【I don’t know what Chu Xi is smiling about. Looking down on others for being anxious while acting like she can solve the problem herself.】
【She can solve it? That’s hilarious. Has she gotten addicted to playing the genius?】
At that moment, an agent from Qingyou Agency was also watching Our Restaurant after work. Using a side account, she quietly observed the program in the live stream room, her thin eyebrows knitting together.
Although she was only thirty this year, the entertainment industry had a way of forcing people to become mature and calculating. After six years of struggling in the industry, she had been forced to grow from a naive, twenty-four-year-old girl into a shrewd thirty-year-old who understood the complexities of human relationships.
As the long-standing rival of her own company, Star Han Agency, she had closely monitored Star Han’s every move.
She knew that Chu Xi used to be an artist with Star Han Agency, but just two days ago, Chu Xi’s contract had been terminated.
She heard that Chu Xi had even been scolded by her manager… she wasn’t sure if it was true.
But looking at the situation now, she felt it was most likely true.
This artist’s emotional intelligence was just too low, wasn’t it?
This variety show was a rare opportunity for Chu Xi to get exposure, and she was with so many stars more famous than herself. Instead of being diligent, showing her worth, and trying to win their favor, she dared to put on airs, isolating herself from four colleagues who were more famous than her.
Although, as a junior agent who had been worn down by the “complexities of human relationships,” she envied Chu Xi’s uninhibited and willful nature, not having to suck up to anyone, but…
She was just too socially inept. No wonder she was dropped by Star Han Agency!
The agent watching the show shook her head repeatedly, thinking to herself that someone with Chu Xi’s personality wouldn’t last long in the entertainment industry.
Chu Xi’s fingertips tapped slowly on the tabletop. By now, she had more or less finished reconstructing the events in her mind.
Perhaps she could have reconstructed it even without the "Expert" level memory talent, but with it, she clearly felt her grasp of many details was much sharper during the review.
This greatly boosted her confidence in the unerring accuracy of her memory.
As for why she was smiling earlier… it was simply because she felt the show’s director was really not a good person, always deliberately trying to see the artists on his show at a loss.
Unfortunately for the director, his chance to watch the show was over.
Chu Xi glanced at the old fox sitting behind the camera. The director caught her gaze and even returned a mischievous smile that said, “Let’s see how you handle this.”
Li Xiling and Luo Yangtian were wailing, at their wits’ end. Ren Zhi’s brow was also slightly furrowed in thought, while Xiao Han sat further away, his face dark with resentment.
At that moment, Chu Xi’s unhurried voice, like a gentle breeze, echoed through the restaurant.
“We had a total of 43 tables of customers today, correct?”
“Huh?” Li Xiling looked up reflexively.
The others were also bewildered, their expressions foggy.
What forty-three tables?
Oh, oh-
Chu Xi was talking about the total number of tables they had served.
Xiao Han said with a grim face, “I don’t know. Who would count that?”
He wished Chu Xi would stop spouting nonsense.
Luo Yangtian scratched his head. “Sister Xi, I didn’t keep track… I’m not sure…”
Ren Zhi said thoughtfully, “Hmm… we did have around forty tables of customers today, I think.”
A smile played on Chu Xi’s lips. “Not around. It was exactly 43 tables.”
She had only asked to see what was in their heads. As it turned out, aside from Ren Zhi, they were all hopeless cases. And among them was one useless noob throwing a tantrum.
“You don’t need to overcomplicate things. All we have to do now is reconstruct the orders for each of the 43 tables from today, and that will be all.”
Ren Zhi: ??
Luo Yangtian: ???
Li Xiling: ?????
Xiao Han: ????????
What… will be all???
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