Chapter 403: Chapter 315: You’re Single Too? My Bro!

"No, no, no, don’t come here, I still need to earn money to pay my kid’s tuition..."

Old Chen’s dark face turned pale with fear, shaking his head repeatedly, with a deep sense of fear evident in his eyes.

Before coming here, he knew almost nothing about foreign countries.

He was always busy with work and had no time to play with his phone, plus he was from the countryside, even learning how to use a phone properly was quite an achievement, let alone surfing the internet.

Many people from his village age group still can’t use phones as well as he does.

He never thought that foreign countries could be so dangerous, that he might get shot at any time!

No wonder the salary is so high, it’s like risking your life to earn money!

Seeing him too scared to speak, Zhao Shun chuckled.

"Come on, Old Chen, look at how little courage you have, aren’t you a grown man?"

"Although the chance of encountering a robbery abroad is higher than at home, the likelihood of meeting someone carrying a gun is about the same as encountering a street robbery back home, which is a rare occurrence."

"Let me tell you, it doesn’t matter what they try to do, just raise your hands and let them do what they want. When traveling, carry some paper money or coins; once they’ve taken what they want, they will leave. No one’s interested in hurting you."

"After they leave, you can report it to the police. The police are familiar with small-time thieves and will catch them in no time."

"Even if they can’t catch them, it’ll just be a loss of some paper money or coins. Nobody wants to steal phones anymore; they all have tracking features and exposing take the location risks."

"Huh?"

Old Chen nodded, half understanding, and memorized what he said.

"Carry some cash when going out, right? Got it, got it..."

"Hey, relax, the Head Chef said due to the Olympics recently, the police are out in full force maintaining order. We saw plenty of police cars on the streets coming over; the thieves have long been scared off."

"In any case, we can just stick together. After all, we live together, work the same shifts, and won’t have much time for free activities except for our day off on Sunday."

Old Chen’s eyes brightened, nodding like a pecking chick: "That makes sense, then we’ll all stick together, haha!"

Helena and the other three didn’t quite eat enough, but didn’t have the heart to bother them, as they needed to prepare food for tomorrow.

Besides, Jonathan himself was the Head Chef, going to ask the staff of another chef to cook for him, wouldn’t that be inappropriate?

His self-respect and pride were still intact.

Gray was on the night shift again today.

He felt as if someone was targeting him, having missed Elise’s shifts for a week straight, barely seeing each other.

However, this week’s cooling-off period allowed him to reflect deeply on whether he really liked Elise.

Especially after hearing coworkers gossip about how several colleagues got fined for buying food from the front desk beauties, he realized he’s just one among many ’tools’.

"Sigh, it’s so hard to find love."

Gray sighed as he sat on the sightseeing car, gazing at the restaurant kitchen where the lights were still on.

He received a notification from the front desk earlier that Chef Lin’s side had hired two new chefs from Great Xia who couldn’t speak French, barely knew English, and were living in the outside residential area, worrying about their nighttime safety.

Since night shifts involve patrolling everywhere, he didn’t mind using this work excuse to unwind and meeting more kitchen staff was always good.

If he had to point out a downside, it would be loneliness.

The seaside is empty at night, with only him wandering back and forth with a flashlight along the roads and beaches, like a homeless vagrant.

Mind you, he can’t focus on playing his phone. Some thrill-seeking guests roam out late at night seeking novelty.

He usually finds some couples every week hidden in the sea, rocky shore edges, or cliffs at midnight.

It’s not that he wants to disturb their intimacy, but the seaside is incredibly dangerous at night. It could easily lead to a missing persons case, ending his career.

Though the occasional night shift is manageable, doing it frequently leaves him consumed by loneliness.

If it weren’t for the chance to work a few day shifts per week for reprieve, he’d feel on the brink of depression.

As he was lost in thought, the kitchen lights suddenly went off, and several figures started walking out.

Gray quickly noticed two unfamiliar Asian faces, eagerly shouting from the car.

"Hey! You two, come here!"

Helena spotted Gray and recognized him, often seeing him during evening shifts.

Knowing Zhao Shun and Chen Dongliang spoke poor English, she walked up to them, patting their shoulders, and pointing in Gray’s direction.

"Good night~"

She intended to say sweet dreams, but swallowed her words, thinking it might not be understood, using the simplest phrase instead.

Indeed.

Zhao Shun immediately understood, smiling and nodding, pulling Old Chen along, and replying.

"Good night, good night~"

"Hey, Old Chen, look at this, it’s different from home, they’re even picking us up, having a fellow country Head Chef really feels good!"

Old Chen grinned broadly, waving to Helena and the others.

"It’s true, after working for so many years, this is my first time having a company car pick me up after work, enough for me to brag about for a lifetime!"

He said, taking out his phone to start recording: "Honey, did you see this? Just got off work, past midnight and there’s a company car pick-up! Haha, our treatment can’t be beat!"

"Look, my colleague Xiao Zhao!"

Zhao Shun’s smile gradually faded, but forced out a smile for the camera.

Just happily getting off work, and why are you showing off your love?!

Don’t you know bro is single?!!

Over here it’s midnight, while back in China, it’s just past six in the morning with the sun just rising—perfect time to head out and work in the fields.

The two of them boarded the tour cart, and throughout the ride, Zhao Shun listened to Old Chen sending voice messages to his wife.

If it weren’t for the lack of wifi in the open environment, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the guy just video-called her directly.

Sometimes, the frugality of rural folks can be a good thing!

Gray was driving in the front, occasionally observing the two through the rear-view mirror.

Seeing Old Chen smiling like a blooming flower, though he didn’t understand what exactly he was saying, he could pretty much guess, and couldn’t help but feel a faint twinge of envy.

Looking at Zhao Shun, whose face was full of despair, he suddenly felt he had found a comrade.

"He, wife?"

Zhao Shun glanced at him and nodded: "Yes."

"Damn!"

Zhao Shun’s eyes lit up: "You, no wife?"

"No girlfriend!"

"Oh my friend!!!"

He suddenly stood up, directly crossed over two rows of seats to behind Gray, clasping both hands tightly, eyes glistening with tears.

"My friend!"

"How old r u?"

"Thirty two."

Afraid he might not understand, Gray even gestured thirty and two with his fingers.

"What?!"

Zhao Shun’s expression changed, looking at Gray with deep sympathy.

This guy’s even worse off than me; he’s thirty-two and doesn’t even have a girlfriend?

"Oh my friend..."

"How about u?"

"Me? twenty two."

"......Damn!"

"Hey! watch! no angry, no die please! my friend!!!"

...

The next morning.

Zhao Shun, with dark circles under his eyes, walked alongside the energetic Old Chen on the gray streets.

At five in the summer morning, although it wasn’t bright yet, there was already some faint red glow on the horizon.

The six-hour time difference wasn’t much of an issue; after kneading dough for over two hours last night and with the accumulated fatigue from the plane, they came home and fell asleep immediately, even forgoing a bath which they quickly took in the morning since they barely had the energy the night before.

"Hey Old Chen, don’t you ever get tired? You only slept four hours!"

"Me? I’m alright, usually work with just six hours of sleep. Plus, I slept all through the flight, so I’m used to it."

"...Pervert."

Just as they arrived at the restaurant, they happened to catch Daniel, who was there to deliver goods, unloading them.

Seeing two unfamiliar faces, Daniel was momentarily taken aback before realizing they might be the new hires Lin mentioned, given their similarly Asian features.

Zhao Shun, bold and unfazed by strangeness, seeing it was the young Xiao Hei making the delivery, conjured up various scenarios in his mind, took a deep breath, and plastered a smile while stepping forward.

"Hello hello, good morning!"

Hearing this familiar Great Xia accent, Daniel laughed, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Ni hao ni hao!"

Zhao Shun accepted the food list from him, glanced at it.

Great.

Didn’t recognize many items.

Having graduated from junior high and not having seen English words for years, being able to simply converse was already considered quite impressive.

Scratching his head, he returned the list to Daniel, pointing to his own eyes and then spreading his hands to show he didn’t understand.

Daniel suddenly understood.

"Ok ok, no worry, I will wait for Chef Lin."

Having said that, he confidently placed the list under a flour sack to keep it from blowing away, then swaggered into the front hall to make himself a glass of iced cola.

The two didn’t idle either, heading into the kitchen to check on the dough’s fermentation status, then took out a few bags of minced meat and scallions from the delivered goods, preparing to start mixing the filling.

To avoid any misunderstanding, Zhao Shun also took a photo on his phone to record the original quantity of goods.

Daniel, feeling bored, saw them about to make food, and immediately got interested, energetically following them into the kitchen to see what tasty breakfast he could have today.

"Old Chen, you handle the pork and scallion filling, just mix it like normal baozi filling, separately stir the scallions with sesame oil until even before mixing it into the stuffing. Also, soak some sweet potato starch in hot water; mixed fillings are in trend now."

"Alright, I got it!"

With Old Chen’s skills, Zhao Shun was now totally assured.

He himself took a few sheets of pigskin, started scraping the fat and hair off, preparing to boil collagen-rich broth for soup dumplings—the secret to their delicious soup.