Chapter 66 - 61: For the North Third District

Chapter 66: Chapter 61: For the North Third District

The community administrator was a kind, dark-skinned woman in her fifties. After hearing Connie’s proposal, she showed that she took it quite seriously, but the way she looked at Ning He was a little strange.

’Needless to say, she must know a bit about my past reputation.’

"...If we can attract more foot traffic here, with Uncle Sochi’s skill, many people will surely vote for us." The woman said, then glanced at Ning He beside her, hesitating slightly. "It’s just that holding an event will definitely mean earning less, and it’s a lot of hard work. Are you two really willing?"

Ning He knew what the woman was worried about, so she took the initiative to speak. "As long as the staffing is in place and the event can run smoothly, I have no objections."

Ning He didn’t deliberately act enthusiastic. ’After all, a sudden, drastic change in personality would be strange. It’s better to show support through my actions while remaining outwardly cool.’

Only then did the administrator relax.

"That’s good. I’ve tried your malatang, and it’s truly an exceptional delicacy. I heard that customers from the Inner Three Rings were even lining up for it yesterday. How about this: we’ll add a short segment about the malatang to our North Third District’s promotional video. It’ll be broadcast on television during the Ice Sculpture Festival for the whole city to see. As for manpower, I’ll send out a notice as soon as possible and have the kids from the district who are attending culinary school come and help. I’ll round up twenty helpers for you. That should be enough, right?"

Connie and Ning He exchanged a look. The latter gave a slight nod, and Connie immediately replied, "That’s enough. The main thing is that the prep work is rather tedious. The actual cooking isn’t difficult; they should be able to get the hang of it after being taught once."

"Great. I’ll go have a word with Uncle Sochi, too. Let him focus on his ice sculptures. With your help, our North Third District is sure to win a grand prize this time!" the administrator said with a chuckle.

Beside them, Ding Xiang excitedly raised a hand and pumped it in the air. "For the North Third District!"

Everyone in the room laughed and raised their hands as well:

"For the North Third District!"

After leaving the office, Ah Huai took Ding Xiang to the Ice Sculpture Square again. Connie pushed Ning He toward the rest area. Once the initial excitement and rush of passion subsided, she belatedly started to feel nervous.

"Do you think... I was too impulsive? What if we don’t succeed?" she asked, a little unsettled.

Ning He mentally rolled her eyes.

’You’re only thinking about this now?’

’Too late!’

"We’ll never know if we’ll succeed unless we try. We just have to do our part and give it our all."

Ning He’s composure soothed Connie’s anxiety.

"Okay, let’s discuss what we need to prepare then."

Back in the rest area, the two of them found a pen and paper and wrote down everything they needed, especially the ingredients that required bulk purchasing.

"...Among the vegetables, bean sprouts, potato slices, and lettuce are the most popular, so we need to buy more of those. Other than that, the fried dough sticks, soy products, and fried eggs sell the best. For the few days of the Ice Sculpture Festival, I estimate we’ll need at least a hundred jin of each. Does that supplier of yours still have stock recently?"

Ning He scratched her head sheepishly. "Well... they said the weather’s gotten too cold and maintenance costs are too high, so they’ve stopped doing business for now."

Connie was a bit disappointed. "Then we’ll have to go back to my supplier. I just don’t know if we’ll be able to buy that much."

Ever since the incident with Connie’s noodle shop, her priority level with the supplier had been lowered, and she couldn’t buy meat at all anymore. The bones they’d been using for broth these past few days were all bought at full price directly from the market. All the restaurants would be stocking up in bulk before the Ice Sculpture Festival; by the time it was their turn, who knew how much would be left.

"Besides, we can’t sell meat, which is definitely going to be a limitation. After the TV commercial airs, people will come over, see that we’re just a Second-Level stall, and might even mock our North Third District for being poor and shabby."

At this, Connie felt even more strongly that she had been impulsive and made a decision without thinking things through.

Ning He rubbed her chin, also feeling a headache coming on.

She hadn’t applied for a third-level stall initially. Firstly, she had considered that meat was too expensive and there weren’t many consumers in the Fourth Ring, so it wasn’t necessary. Secondly, applying for a third-level stall required a deposit of five hundred original coins, which she couldn’t afford. Now, it was tying her hands.

Stall upgrades could only be applied for after at least half a year, so there was no other way around it right now. They definitely couldn’t sell meat dishes.

’But just because we can’t sell them doesn’t mean others can’t!’

Ning He’s eyes lit up. She leaned in and whispered a few words in Connie’s ear.

Connie’s face lit up with realization. "Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? But this will require cooperation from others. I’ll go find the administrator right now to arrange it! You get some rest here. I’ll be right back!"

With that, Connie dashed off again. Ning He shook her head helplessly, then wheeled herself to a good angle to watch some TV.

A cataclysm decades ago had destroyed this planet’s advanced industrial sectors. The survivors had spent decades painstakingly gathering the remaining resources to recreate televisions, cell phones, and computers, but due to a lack of manpower and materials, their performance was very mediocre.

Take Ning He’s standard-model phone, for example. It was heavy, with a small, low-pixel screen and not much memory. It could barely hold ten apps, and even playing a simple match-three game could cause the screen to go black. Most of the time, it could only be used as a communicator.

Of course, advanced models existed; after all, the people here could even build Mechas. But they were absurdly expensive and an absolute status symbol. For instance, the customers from the food tour group last time had all been using high-end models.

Ning He couldn’t afford one, so she dutifully watched TV to pass the time.

A classic police thriller was playing on the monitor. Just as it reached a tense moment, the phone in Ning He’s pocket suddenly rang.

She pulled it out and saw it was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello, who is this?"

A slightly hoarse male voice came from the other end. "It’s me, Macken."

Ning He’s eyebrow twitched. She instinctively glanced around, then covered the mouthpiece and lowered her voice. "Is there a job?"

"Mhm. Next Thursday, a client is going out of the city to ski. They specifically requested you to make them lunch. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?"

Ning He quickly replied, "No problem. But my foot is a little injured, so it’s not convenient for me to walk. I’m not sure if that will be an issue?"

"Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for someone to assist you. It’s settled, then. I’ll have Johnny pick you up on Thursday morning."

After hanging up, Ning He was a little excited.

’I didn’t think it would be this soon. I can’t believe I’ve got a job next week. This trip out will definitely let me gather a lot of information on mutated species.’

When Connie returned, Ning He told her that she needed to take Thursday off. The stall had been particularly busy recently, so it felt a bit unfair for her to bail, but this trip was something she had to do. Therefore, she offered to take a smaller cut of the profits at the end of the month.

Although Connie was surprised, she didn’t press Ning He on what she was going to do.

"If you have something to do, just go ahead. Ah Huai and I will be here. I’ve already discussed the ingredients with the administrator. She’ll coordinate and handle it. The community will also provide extra pots and stoves, so all we have to do is focus on cooking."

With these assurances, Ning He didn’t have to worry. She had dinner, got some sleep, and at one-thirty in the morning, it was back to the grueling routine.