"Great! By the way, Shuangshuang, should we distribute the bonuses to the staff now?" Yu Dahai asked.
Mu Shuangshuang nodded. "Let’s call them up now. Once we hand out the bonuses, they don’t need to stay in the restaurant today. If they want to go shopping, they can go shopping, and if they want to go ho, they can go ho!"
Chengfeng Restaurant isn’t large, and there aren’t many employees. Yu Dahai is the steward, and Mr. Chai is the accountant.
Huang Da and Huang Er handle procurent and the kitchen. When there’s nothing to do in the kitchen or procurent, they help with the waitstaff’s work.
Then there’s the head chef Wei Dacong, assistant chef Mu Tou, and the fire-stoking Gouyazi. There are four waiters in total, responsible for both upstairs and downstairs.
Altogether, there are eleven people, and if you add Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng, it’s thirteen.
Each person gets five hundred wen, which amounts to six liang and five qian of silver. But compared to their earnings, these bonuses aren’t much.
After waiting a while, everyone in the restaurant gathered together.
Upon hearing about the bonus, everyone was in great spirits, eagerly watching Mr. Chai, the accountant.
In front of everyone, Mu Shuangshuang handed out the bonuses one by one, followed by Mr. Chai recording them.
With that, the restaurant business was concluded.
Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng went downstairs to find Xing Beichen and Fu Xiaonan.
By then, Fu Xiaonan was already impatiently pulling Mu Shuangshuang to go shopping.
As soon as Mu Shuangshuang ntioned that the business at the restaurant was done, Fu Xiaonan eagerly brought up sothing. "Shuangshuang, I just found out that there’s a temple fair today. Over by the City God Temple, there will be a lot of people doing business!"
Talking about fun things and good food made Fu Xiaonan’s eyes turn into crescent-like smiles.
She’s cheerful, with many friends, but not many she can actually go shopping with.
So, this opportunity was very precious to Fu Xiaonan.
"Great, we can try so delicious food. If we fancy sothing, we can buy it back. We even have a carriage, which is convenient!"
The four of them left the restaurant together, heading towards the City God Temple.
Along the way, n and won of similar age to them walked together, so arm in arm, so with a little distance between them.
Seeing this scene, Fu Xiaonan beca even happier.
She shouted to Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen, who were a little behind, "You two big n, why are you so far away? Shuangshuang and I won’t eat you!"
"Hurry up, if Shuangshuang and I drift off later, don’t regret it!"
The young girl’s clear voice reached Xing Beichen’s ears like a stone suddenly thrown into a calm lake.
The lake wasn’t calm, and neither was Xing Beichen’s heart.
His steps unconsciously followed Fu Xiaonan forward.
Lu Yuanfeng also stayed within a zhang’s distance from Mu Shuangshuang, silently protecting her.
Occasionally, he quickened his pace to walk beside Mu Shuangshuang.
Along the way, they looked at trinkets, won’s hair accessories, bracelets, and the like.
Mu Shuangshuang bought a bracelet for two hundred wen, and its style and color were rather traditional.
Fu Xiaonan wondered and saw Mu Shuangshuang explain, "Next month is my mother’s birthday. I think this wooden bracelet suits her well."
Fu Xiaonan nodded and added, "I’ll have to visit Aunt Si on her birthday, Shuangshuang, rember to remind in advance!"
Mu Shuangshuang nodded.
Beside them, Lu Yuanfeng secretly noted down Yu Si Niang’s birthday, planning what to give Shuangshuang’s mother.
Before he could decide, Mu Shuangshuang said, "This bracelet is a gift from the both of us, there’s nothing else to prepare. We can just have a al together then!"
"But..." Lu Yuanfeng wanted to say sothing, but Mu Shuangshuang interrupted him.
"It’s really not necessary. You didn’t want that five hundred wen before, and I used two hundred of it for the bracelet, so technically, you paid, and I just tagged along!"
Mu Shuangshuang knew exactly how much money Lu Yuanfeng had.
He only had two liang of broken silver, which she had forced on him, and even after months, he hadn’t spent a single penny.
Mu Shuangshuang knew Lu Yuanfeng was saving money for their future marriage.
She didn’t want to keep spending his money.
For the marriage, Mu Shuangshuang felt it wasn’t that money was an issue preventing it.
The main problem was their age.
She’s only fourteen, and even after Qixi, she’d only be fifteen.
If she were a native ancient person, marrying as a teenager wouldn’t be unusual, but she wasn’t!
Her plan was to wait at least until she was eighteen to marry. One reason was to let her and Fengzi grow stronger, and another was for Fengzi to mature ntally, which might change the way he thinks about things.
Lu Yuanfeng didn’t say anything, but Mu Shuangshuang knew he’d still prepare a gift.
Since that was the case, she wouldn’t stop him.
The four continued walking ahead, and gradually, more and more people gathered...
It seed everyone was heading to the City God Temple for the fair.
The fair had lots of snacks, even if one didn’t want a full al, they could find anything they wanted to eat on the street outside the City God Temple.
With more people around, life beca hard for Xing Beichen and Lu Yuanfeng. They had to protect the ones they cared about from being trampled by the crowd, and also watch out for any ill-intentioned n.
Mu Shuangshuang and Fu Xiaonan’s looks weren’t the kind that would get lost in a crowd.
So they needed to stay alert.
Thus, everyone walked and stopped, occasionally watching over one another.
When they managed to get through the peak crowd, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng realized Xing Beichen and Fu Xiaonan were gone.
Behind them was a massive crowd, Mu Shuangshuang looked towards the mass, but couldn’t see Xing Beichen and Fu Xiaonan anywhere.
"I guess we’ll have to wait until the fair ends and et them back at the restaurant!" Lu Yuanfeng tily suggested, with a subtle hint of joy at the corner of his mouth.
This was the result of a plan between Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen.
If Mu Shuangshuang and Fu Xiaonan stayed together, they’d just buy food and look at jewelry and costics, which the two n had no interest in.
It was better for the four to split into pairs: Lu Yuanfeng could do what he wanted, taking Mu Shuangshuang with him.
Xing Beichen could do the sa with Fu Xiaonan.
Maybe because their plan was so cleverly executed, or perhaps because there were just too many people, even Mu Shuangshuang didn’t realize this was a ploy by the two n.
Although she felt a bit sorry, she quickly got over it.
"Since we’ve lost each other, let’s just enjoy ourselves. If we see sothing we like, let’s buy it!"
Mu Shuangshuang, for once, decided to splurge a little. She took Lu Yuanfeng’s hand and wove through the crowd.
In no ti, they moved out of the heavily crowded area.
They entered the vicinity of the City God Temple.
Inside were indeed many stalls selling snacks and trinkets.
Mu Shuangshuang bought whatever caught her fancy, and in no ti, her hands were full of various snacks.
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