Standing on the wooden bridge that led into the camp, Feng Shan saw two conspicuous wooden cabins.
One cabin had a uniquely shaped salmon sign on its roof. Below the sign, the words "Salmon Bar" were spelled out with individual logs. The other cabin was the Crown Territory Restaurant.
’They built it so quickly.’
Feng Shan was very pleased with Old Swan’s work efficiency.
He crossed the wooden bridge and followed the gravel path to the two cabins.
The cabins had a minimalist, raw-timber look with no excessive ornantation. The walls were built entirely from stacked logs, giving them a style unique to the Far North Tundra.
He climbed the steps in front of the restaurant and walked inside, taking in the entire main hall.
The polished log floor gave off a faint scent of wood.
The hall was laid out according to Feng Shan’s instructions. There were no private rooms or booths, just wooden tables and chairs. In one corner stood a massive fireplace.
"Hello, the restaurant isn’t open yet." A polite voice suddenly sounded from behind Feng Shan.
Slightly puzzled, Feng Shan turned around and saw an unfamiliar girl with black hair.
The girl’s black hair was tied neatly behind her head. She had a gentle smile on her face, and her eyes were clear and bright. She wore a simple, unadorned apron around her waist, looking very tidy.
"And you are...?" Feng Shan asked, confused.
He quickly searched his mory and confird that he had never seen this girl before.
After studying Feng Shan for a mont, the black-haired girl seed to recognize him.
An expression of pleasant surprise appeared on her face, followed by a hint of unease.
She lowered her head slightly and said a little shyly, "You must be the boss. I’m a new employee. My na is Julie."
"A new employee?" Feng Shan nodded thoughtfully. He already had a good idea of who she was. ’I called Little Grandma a week ago.’ "Did Frank send you?"
Julie nodded quickly. "Yes, Mr. Frank sent us to the Crown Territory."
Feng Shan smiled in welco. "Welco to the Crown Territory. By the way, where’s Jenny?"
"Sister Jenny is in the cabin!" Julie answered obediently.
As soon as Julie finished speaking, three other girls walked into the restaurant, talking and laughing.
Like Julie, they were all wearing aprons. When they saw Feng Shan in the restaurant, their smiles vanished instantly, and they grew a little tense.
Worried her colleagues might say the wrong thing, Julie quickly added, "Boss, they’re also new employees at the restaurant."
Hearing Julie’s introduction, the three girls hurriedly and stiffly stood in a line.
Feng Shan looked at the slightly nervous girls, nodded, and put on an approachable smile. He spoke in a warm tone.
"Welco to the Crown Territory Restaurant. I hope you all enjoy working here."
After this word of welco, he turned and left the restaurant, not wanting his presence to put too much pressure on the new staff.
As he walked out the door, he heard the sound of chattering discussion behind him.
Feng Shan shook his head with an amused chuckle and left.
Upon entering the main camp, he imdiately noticed there seed to be more people than before.
Besides the residents from Kivalina Town who were shuttling back and forth with wheelbarrows full of gravel, there were also so unfamiliar girls around the camp.
Feng Shan couldn’t help but frown and grumble to himself.
’What the hell is Frank playing at?’
’I asked him to recomnd so employees, so why are they all girls?’
’Is he trying to turn the Crown Territory into a Won’s Country?’
Strolling along the gravel path, Feng Shan saw a group of won gathered around a cabin doorway in the distance, chattering away in a lively discussion.
He recognized so of them, but many were unfamiliar faces he had never seen before.
As he drew closer to the group, Feng Shan deliberately cleared his throat with a few coughs.
Hearing the familiar sound, Maria quickly turned around, her face breaking into a happy smile. "Boss, you’re back!"
When the other won heard Maria, they all stopped talking and turned their gazes to Feng Shan in unison.
"Boss, did you have a good hike?" Jenny smiled and pointed at the girls. "They’re the helpers Mr. Frank sent over."
’What’s going on?’
’They usually call Khilla.’
’Why the switch to ’Boss’?’
Feng Shan looked at Jenny, a bit confused, but didn’t ask why right away.
He then shifted his gaze from Jenny to the unfamiliar girls, sizing them up.
’Hm!’
’They’re all above average in looks.’
’Frank’s taste can be trusted, at least. He didn’t send any riff-raff to the Crown Territory.’
Then, Jenny formally introduced Feng Shan to the girls.
"This is the boss you were all talking about: the Crown Lord, the Carnation Knight, the Sheriff of the Far North Region, Mr. Feng Shan."
’Holy crap!’
’Does she have to hype up like that?’
Even Feng Shan felt embarrassed hearing it.
After Jenny’s introduction, the girls all focused their eyes on Feng Shan. So were filled with curiosity, others with a bit of awe.
But it seed they were all eager to make a good impression on their new boss.
Facing more than a dozen pairs of eyes staring at him, Feng Shan didn’t feel awkward. Instead, he wore a faint smile.
"Hello, everyone. Welco to the Crown Territory."
"Have your accommodations been arranged?"
Jenny nodded. "I placed an order for so small cabins from Jennifer. Until the dormitory area is built, they’ll have to stay in the cabin area for now."
"Have Jennifer send the bill later." Feng Shan gave the girls a slight smile. "Sorry, I just got ho. We’ll be holding a welco party at the new restaurant tonight. I hope you’ll like it here."
With that, he turned and walked into the cabin.
The girls’ eyes followed Feng Shan until he was completely out of sight, at which point they imdiately burst into excited discussion.
"Jenny, so that’s the boss! He looks so young."
"Maria, does the boss have a girlfriend? He’s so young and already owns a piece of land. A diamond bachelor?"
"He’s so manly. He’s just my type."
"If the boss wants, I’m willing to be the first to offer myself. You all can get in line."
Maria glared angrily at the infatuated won. ’Feng Shan is off-limits; he belongs to us original employees!’
’You little bitches can just forget about it.’
"That’s enough! The boss is a good person, not what you’re thinking. Everyone, go to the restaurant and get ready for the party!"
Jenny smiled faintly. She knew Maria was just jealous. ’It’s a good thing it’s Maria. If it were Erica, she might have actually pulled out a semi-automatic rifle.’
After the girls dispersed, Maria complained angrily, "Why did Mr. Frank have to send so many won?"
...
After a shower, Feng Shan changed into a set of comfortable casual clothes and felt much more relaxed.
Returning to the first-floor living room, he saw that all the original employees of the Crown Territory had gathered. He felt like soone was missing, but couldn’t recall who.
"Have a seat." Feng Shan gestured for them to sit down. He picked up a cup of tea Tammy had prepared, took a comfortable sip, and glanced around at everyone’s faces. "Don’t look so serious," he said with a smile. "Tell , how have the camp projects been progressing these past few days?"
They all glanced at each other, and then Jenny, the de facto manager, began her report.
"The restaurant is finished, and all the equipnt has been installed. We’ve already started a soft opening. At its current size, the restaurant can accommodate 100 guests at once."
Feng Shan nodded and turned his gaze to Demi, who quickly spoke up.
"The Salmon Bar is also finished. Mr. Tom brought the liquor from Fairbanks. Also, I’m trying to use the Crown Territory’s resources to create a new flavor of rum."
Next, David reported on several of the camp’s engineering projects.
"Boss, the two hydro-turbine generators are ready to go. We were just waiting for you to get back to officially start them up. The AT&T communication tower is still under construction. The main delay has been laying the cable from the camp to the snowy mountain. At the current pace, it should be operational in about another week."
"Right now, Old Swan and the workers from Kivalina are focused on paving the camp roads."
Just as David finished, Maria followed up, "The vegetables are ready for harvesting. The ones we planted taste exceptionally good. I told Jenny I’d like to expand the cultivation area on the east side of the camp."
Erica casually took out a planning proposal.
"These are the recreational activities I’ve designed: hiking, fishing, mountain climbing, a ski slope, and aurora viewing. It’s a sha the Crown Territory hasn’t found any hot springs yet. It’d be even better if we had one."
’A hot spring? That’s a piece of cake.’
’I’ll just find so ti tonight to secretly create a hot spring pool by the riverbank.’
Feng Shan picked up the proposal and flipped through it. "No whitewater rapids, roller coasters, or pirate ship rides, I hope?"
Erica rolled her beautiful eyes at him.
Finally, it was Yves’s turn.
"Boss, on the security front, three of the people Mr. Frank sent have military service experience. I’ve organized them into two security teams that patrol the camp daily."
Feng Shan put down the proposal, his gaze sweeping over each person’s face before he spoke with a smile.
"Didn’t you all used to call Khilla? Why the change to ’Boss’ now?"
Erica pouted with so dissatisfaction. "It was Jenny’s idea. She said that now that there are more employees, we can’t have so people calling you ’Boss’ and others calling you ’Khilla’. So she asked everyone to call you ’Boss’. It feels weird."
After saying this, she glanced guiltily at Nash and quickly added, "Except for Nash."
Feng Shan nodded, agreeing that it made sense.
Inconsistent forms of address could cause confusion in managent and external communications.
Especially as the number of employees grew, maintaining a standard title would make managent more orderly and avoid unnecessary trouble.
"By the way, how many people did Little Grandma send?"
Hearing Feng Shan’s unique nickna for Mr. Frank, everyone exchanged knowing smiles and laughed.
"Eighteen people in total: fifteen girls and three n." Jenny paused, her expression as if she were reliving the mont she first arrived at the Crown Territory. "The people Frank selected have backgrounds similar to ours. Almost all of them have experienced holessness and violence."
With Jenny’s words, the originally cheerful atmosphere in the living room instantly grew heavy.
Everyone fell into thought, seemingly recalling their own painful pasts and feeling a sense of kinship with the new employees.
Seeing this, Feng Shan quickly changed the subject.
"Well, since they’re here, let them live a good life in the Crown Territory. They’re free to co and go. For compensation, regular Tier 1 employees will get 3,000 US Dollars. You all are at the manager level, so let’s make it 4,000 US Dollars. Jenny and Yves will get an extra 1,000 US Dollars on top of that."
"Any objections?"
He was laying out the salary structure openly today to prevent any future grumbling or resentnt.
As for Jenny and Yves getting 1,000 US Dollars more than the others, no one else in the room had any objections, of course.
Everyone had seen their hard work. They shouldered more responsibility and put in more effort, so it was reasonable for them to receive higher pay.
Jenny was not only in charge of the restaurant but also acted as the manager, taking care of Feng Shan’s personal living arrangents.
The sa was even more true for Yves. Besides handling security and ensuring the safety of the Crown Territory, he also worked as the pilot, sotis spending the entire day flying back and forth.
He was responsible for all flight-related tasks, whether it was transporting people or supplies. You could say he was the busiest person in the Crown Territory.
"No objections, then. We’ll go with this standard!" Feng Shan stood up. "David, take to the generator room."
"Everyone else, go get ready for the party at the restaurant tonight."
...
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