I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 251
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- Chapter 251 - Standing in a World of Splendor
Chapter 251: Standing in a World of Splendor
【Your account received CN¥12,309.30 on June 7th (transfer from another bank), with a balance of CN¥13,010.50.】
【Shenzhen Warning Release Center – High temperatures are expected from June 7th to 9th, with temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees. Please take precautions against the heat. (Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory)】
“……”
As I walked towards the café’s first-floor kitchen, feeling a vibration in the pocket of my skirt, I took out my phone.
And then, because of the message on it, especially the amount in the middle of the message, my heart started pounding incessantly.
Ten thousand yuan!
Last month’s salary… Last month’s salary amounted to ten thousand yuan!
And it’s after deductions for social security and other fees… Pure ten thousand yuan in hand.
And it’s not just barely ten thousand, but twelve thousand and three hundred!
At the kitchen doorway, after clearly reading the message on my phone, I was so happy that I almost jumped in place. I couldn’t suppress the urge to pick up a passing innocent kitten and spin around with it three times in joy.
It is said that earning ten thousand yuan a month in Shenzhen City exceeds 90% of the working population’s salary.
Shenzhen City is a typical city dominated by tourism and service industries. The housing prices vary greatly between different districts. Houses in the city center can cost three to four thousand yuan per square meter, but in suburban areas like Nanqi District, some locations have houses priced at seven to eight thousand yuan per square meter.
The salaries here are also similar to housing prices. Fresh college graduates can find jobs paying around two to three thousand yuan a month, and those in good professions in the city center can earn four to five thousand. After four or five years, they might earn seven to eight thousand yuan. But so far, except for my boss whose income was unclear when I used to work for him part-time, I have hardly seen anyone around me earning over ten thousand yuan a month.
Even Yang Kun, the property manager who worked for the big boss who owned several apartments in the wujia house apartment complex, earned just over five thousand yuan a month.
Or perhaps my social circle was just too narrow back then?
Anyway, no matter how you look at it… last month, that is, in May, my salary income can be said to have greatly exceeded my expectations.
During the first few days of May, I didn’t come to work at the café, and Ouyang Xue didn’t count it as working hours. At that time, the promised basic salary of 6000 yuan had already been paid in advance, and I used that money to buy a couple’s phone for Xiao Mo, the same as mine.
Under these circumstances, to still have over ten thousand in salary indicates how busy the café was this month.
Six thousand plus twelve thousand equals eighteen thousand, meaning my salary in May was close to twenty thousand.
No, or rather, it’s already twenty thousand.
Because in a few more days, around the tenth of this month, the payment for the manuscript of the “Yae-Honey dew” will be credited. Last month, the full attendance award for the novel was five hundred yuan, plus a completion award of one thousand yuan for the old book of 2 million words, and various other rewards, such as monthly ticket rewards, which should have been over two thousand yuan altogether.
In addition to the initial six thousand yuan at the beginning of the month, for the work I did this month for two people, the second portion was calculated as a basic salary of four thousand plus commission for Ouyang Xue.
There are many tricks to this “commission”, such as guiding customers to dine, guiding them to the cat living area to play with cats, introducing them to cat supplies, selling cat snacks to people, customers finding me cute and requesting a photo together, scanning the QR code on the café table and tipping me… all of these are counted as “commission”.
I roughly estimated the amount of salary I might actually receive when Ouyang Xue mentioned the salary. Firstly, the basic salary of 4000 yuan is certain. However, I didn’t pay much attention to the various rewards for full attendance in May, let’s say it’s 500 yuan.
Taking photos accounted for the majority, especially since there were more customers coming to the shop on weekends and holidays. On average, each person spent around ten yuan on “taking a photo with Nuo’er.” So, I had an income of over a hundred or two hundred yuan from this. Therefore, it’s possible to earn three to four thousand yuan a month from this alone, maybe even higher.
Ouyang Xue promised that the specific earnings from named photos and tips would be counted as commission and added directly to the salary after taxes, without any extra charges.
“When I was a promotional model for that computer manufacturer before, I only got less than ten percent commission from the gifts others tipped me. If a fan tipped a thousand yuan, the website deducted half, personal income tax took twenty percent, and then the company deducted two-thirds, so I ended up with just over a hundred yuan in rewards… So I detest this kind of thing deeply. It’s your ability to attract customers and convince them to tip you for photos. I won’t take a cut.”
That’s what Ouyang Xue said.
So, I suspect that the majority of my over ten thousand yuan salary comes from taking photos and receiving tips. However, this isn’t something to be too proud or optimistic about because obviously, not everyone will come to the café every day to take photos with me. The high earnings in May were just because we had just opened, and “Nuo’er,” the cute little girl, attracted impulsive spending. It might not be the same in June; the initial novelty wears off, and enthusiasm wanes.
After calculating the basic salary and tips, the remainder is probably from “meal sharing” … Well, it’s indeed almost the same.
When the time comes, I’ll first take out 5,000 yuan to repay Jiang Wei for helping with setting up the computer and for his assistance in calling the Market Supervision Bureau earlier. Then, I’ll buy some turtle feed to treat the turtles at home properly. As for the remaining 1,000 yuan… no, let’s make it 500 yuan.
Even 500 yuan seems too much, 300 yuan should be enough. I’ll use the 300 yuan to treat myself to some delicious snacks. I’ll browse online for nut gift packs, crispy shark, Lays chips, and check out various other snacks. I’ll buy a bunch and stock up so that I can enjoy myself comfortably at home during the June vacation.
Apart from this, I’ll take about 3,000 yuan to browse online and see if there’s anything I can buy for Xiao Mo. She bought so many dresses for me with her compensation money before, so I want to give her some small gifts as well.
The rest… I can probably save around 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. I’ll keep it aside for future needs, or if newcomers like Fei Luo and Gabriel need money for something, I can provide some support. Anyway, savings are still very important. After experiencing a series of unemployment and setbacks at the wujia apartment before, I’ve learned my lesson well.
“Chef Wang!”
Entering the kitchen with a joyful mood, I called out to Chef Wang, who was busy inside.
“Hey, why are you here? I remember today was supposed to be your day off,” Chef Wang said, skillfully handling the ingredients.
“Did you receive your salary yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s been paid. I came today to help a friend make some snacks,” I replied, putting on a mask and an apron.
“Next month, I won’t have to worry about food anymore,” I added with a smile.
“Haha, at first, I thought you were one of those little princesses experiencing ordinary life!”
Chef Wang looked at me curiously.
“What dish is worth you personally coming over to cook?”
“It’s nothing special, just making a few egg tarts,” I said.
Having already put on my mask and apron, I stood in front of the refrigerator and asked, “Where did I put those chocolate sculptures with little wings that I carved before?”
The “Meow Meow Cat Paw Egg Tart” and “Meow Meow Kitten Egg Tart” from the café have become its signature dishes. Despite being a bit pricey at 5 yuan each, they are generously filled with ingredients. If sold separately, the egg tarts themselves would cost close to 2 yuan each. They are meticulously crafted treats. For the “Meow Meow Cat Paw Egg Tart,” we add a piece of cat paw chocolate inside. We strictly control the quality of our ingredients, and our chocolate is virtually indistinguishable from brands that sell for over ten yuan per bar. So, we consider the chocolate to be 2 yuan. The entire egg tart, including packaging, is priced at 5 yuan. Ordering a box of 5 tarts will entitle you to a discount, costing only 23 yuan.
Although they’re on the expensive side, sales of these two egg tarts are quite good, likely due to their cute names. The “Meow Meow Cat Paw Egg Tart” features a piece of chocolate with a cat paw pattern in the middle, while the “Meow Meow Kitten Egg Tart” naturally includes a chocolate piece with a cat head pattern.
As for the egg tart I’m preparing for Gabriel tonight, it’s made with the “Angel’s Prayer” chocolate I came up with in the kitchen a few days ago after Su Yunjin mentioned that the café needed angels. I was bored one evening and made it from the leftover scraps of cat paw egg tarts. But when it comes to chocolate, well, chocolate scraps are still chocolate. There’s not much of a difference.
After the dinner rush, I often come to the kitchen to play around. We have white chocolate and dark chocolate here. It’s like doing a cooking livestream to receive gifts. That night, I used white chocolate to draw a pattern of angel wings, then wrapped them in black chocolate, and finally used a mold to shape them into little hearts. Once they cooled, the heart-shaped chocolates with tiny angel wings in the middle were ready.
These chocolates with distinct handmade patterns take too long to make, so they can’t be mass-produced. I usually make them for fun, but I didn’t expect them to come in handy now.
I placed them in the molds, added the egg tart crust, poured in the egg tart mixture, and then put them in the oven, setting the timer…
While waiting for the egg tarts to bake, I took out the angel prayer chocolates I made earlier from the fridge and arranged them neatly in a box on the table.
“I really didn’t expect Ouyang to actually dare to pay me the commission according to the standards in the contract.”
As I baked the egg tarts, Master Chef Wang, who was flipping vegetables on the side, sighed, “A few days ago, I was lamenting how poor I am in my life, thinking that no one above would throw money at me…”
I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Chef Wang’s words. “What nonsense about no one above throwing money at you? Then, wouldn’t I not even have a tombstone up there?”
“Haha, it’s just a joke. Look, don’t we burn money every year? I wonder if those friends who left received any,” Chef Wang quickly explained.
“I usually just watch short videos when I have nothing to do. I’m getting older and don’t have much time to mess around, but I didn’t expect Ouyang to be so generous.”
“Sister Ouyang doesn’t want us discussing salaries, remember?”
“I didn’t mention any specific numbers.”
Chef Wang plated the stir-fried dishes, brought them to the front counter, and casually pressed a button nearby.
“Ding dong! Order number 169, your meal is ready!”
Soon after came the sound of Lan Jiajia jogging over.
“Here, here… Nuo’er, why did you go back to the kitchen again?”
“She’s messing around with those pieces of chocolate again.”
Chef Wang chuckled, “Every day she’s like a little girl, never growing up. She’s very cute. Just looking at her makes me feel several years younger.”
“Come on, Nuo’er is like a little adult in our house.”
Lan Jiajia took the food tray. “How’s your little angel lady doing?”
“She’s catching up with Xiao Mo on the second floor.”
I gestured towards the chocolate egg tarts in front of me. “I came down to make some desserts to please someone.”
“Hehe, keep it up.”
Lan Jiajia winked. “The bonus for us in June depends on you.”
“She’s also coming to our place tonight.”
I felt a bit awkward. “I guess I’ll have to talk to Ai Luodi and see if we can accommodate one more person.”
“One more person? I don’t think there’s an empty room in the house.”
Lan Jiajia thought for a moment. “We can only slightly modify the miscellaneous room on the first floor and move a small bed there. But in that case, you four will have to share two bathrooms, one of which is a bath. Is that okay?”
“No problem,” I chuckled.
“Back in our student days, we’ve lived in dorms before.”
Not to mention sharing one bathroom between two people, back in high school when I was still a boy, I lived in a dorm with 12 people sharing one bathroom.
Girls had it slightly better with eight people to a room, but for boys, it was a 12-person room, with three beds on each side, each bed accommodating two people. There was only one bathroom, and coming out of the bathroom, there was a sink. Inside the sink, there were only three faucets. We just had to manage.
Back then, we even calculated. After school until the start of evening self-study was a little over an hour. From the end of evening self-study until lights out was an hour. A boy could take a shower for a maximum of 9 minutes. Including the time for entering and leaving and closing the door, each person had only about 12 minutes to use the bathroom. If someone exceeded the time limit, someone else wouldn’t be able to shower that day.
Now that I’ve become a girl and gradually adapted to the rhythm of a girl’s life, I can’t even remember what it felt like to “take a shower for ten minutes” in the beginning.
At least now, coming back from a day of work at the café, sweating all over, my body tired, taking a hot shower is necessary. Not to mention ten minutes, I often spend half an hour in the bathroom without necessarily finishing.
Because there are really too many things to do when girls take a shower, especially girls like me with long hair. Just taking care of hair alone takes more than twenty minutes every day, not to mention bathing and skincare for the body…
But whether it’s me, Yin Xiamo, Fei Luo, or Gabriel, theoretically, we don’t really need to take showers. I only do it out of habit. Xiao Mo considered this when she created my body. My sweat reportedly has strong resistance to bacteria, and it smells nice, like a fresh mix of nature, trees, and fruits. It’s like that without bathing.
The reason why humans develop body odor when sweating is because sweat increases the reproduction rate of various bacteria. Bacterial metabolism produces various gases and waste with odors. Bathing is to wash away the metabolic products on the body, such as shed hair or dead cells. I hardly have such troubles, and Xiao Mo is the same. So living on the same floor with Xiao Mo, Fei Luo, and Gabriel isn’t really that strange.
I’m just afraid that after Gabriel “disappears,” the developments in the other world will unfold as Xiao Mo predicted— if Xiao Mo disappears, Fei Luo will chase after her. If Fei Luo disappears, Gabriel will chase after her. If Gabriel disappears, the Elf Queen will follow. If the Elf Queen’s presence vanishes, the cat girls, fox girls, and centaurs will start to stir…
When that time comes, how to arrange accommodations for so many people, well, that’s hard to say.
“Hehe, our Nuo’er is still so mysterious. I’m increasingly feeling that you might really be from another world, or maybe it’s just my occupational hazard as an editor acting up.”
Seeing me looking confident, Lan Jiajia outside also seemed quite happy. She picked up the tray.
“Well then, I won’t disturb you. Keep working hard to convince your angel friend to stay. I plan to use this bonus as startup capital. When ‘Age of Aquarius’ launches, we’ll see if we should invest.”
I was curious. “Isn’t it regulated directly by the state, not considered a pay-to-win game?”
“I don’t know, but it’s best not to pay to win. If not, we’ll go find that foreign heiress… uh, what’s her name?”
“Xiongxiong.”
“Xiongxiong?”
“Oh no, Sikong Yue.”
“Yeah, Sikong Yue. I’ll buy a graphics card from her later. It’s about time for Ai Luodi and I to upgrade our computers.”
……
Watching Lan Jiajia leave, I returned to the oven, waited for a while, and then, with a “ding,” I took out the fragrant egg tarts and carefully adorned them with angel wing heart-shaped chocolates.
Done!
Finally, I carefully wrapped all the freshly baked egg tarts, placed them on a plate, and said, “Chef Wang, let’s go.”
“Hey, go ahead, if you want more to eat, come back down.”
“Meow meow meow…”
Holding the plate of angel chocolate egg tarts, I skillfully navigated through the first-floor cats’ circle and headed upstairs to find Yin Xiamo and Gabriel’s location.
Fei Luo was already back at her work station. Yin Xiamo sat on a small chair, her fingers interlaced, her palms facing up, propping up her chin. She looked with interest at Gabriel, who was sitting across the table from her.
Gabriel held a ragdoll cat named “Nenbao” in one hand and played with her phone in the other.
“I’ve explained everything I just told you, right?”
As I approached the two, Yin Xiamo, like a teacher instructing students, used an inquiring tone towards Gabriel, “Is there anything else you don’t understand?”
“There… there are so many!”
Gabriel was excited, rubbing the head of “Nenbao” with one hand, continuously taking photos with her phone and turning the screen around, “So this is how others see me?”
Nenbao was a very handsome cat in the café, one of the few female cats with particularly chubby cheeks. It’s said that this term is a dialect in other cities, similar to the meaning of “Snail Baby”. Its owner was too busy to take care of it, so it was sent to the café. Nenbao looked particularly ethereal, like a fairy cat, quite matching with Gabriel.
“Similar high-tech products are plentiful, and smartphones are just one of them. Even those features I mentioned just now are only a fraction of a percent of the phone’s full capabilities.”
As Gabriel’s excitement grew, Yin Xiamo glanced at me walking by and said, “Nuo’er brought you something to eat. You said human food isn’t that great, right? Give it a try.”
“Sure.”
Under Gabriel’s curious gaze, I placed the steaming egg tart on the table.
“Our manager will be here soon. After we finish eating, we can chat briefly about human computers and online games. I believe our Sister Angel will like it.”
“……”
……
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