Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Somewhat Intoxicated Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Somewhat Intoxicated Meng Chuyue thought for a moment before leaving the house the next day, then turned back and placed a recording pen in both Meng Wanhua’s bedroom and the living room.
She wrapped the one for the living room in a tissue and hid it in the corner of the shoe cabinet, inside one of Wanhua’s clean cotton slippers.
The one for the bedroom, she wrapped in one of her own undergarments.
After doing this, she went to report the installation of a telephone at the store to the relevant department, and then directly visited the homes of the two young girls who had worked part-time the day before last.
Their homes happened to be neighbors—one sold noodles, the other sold children’s clothes.
Meng Chuyue called the two girls together and explained her intentions openly, “I’ve been a bit tied up recently and was looking for someone to help watch the store.
The two girls, one named Tong Wen and the other Xia Ping, both had nice personalities.
After their high school entrance examination failures led them to drop out, they wanted to find jobs but couldn’t land any that they really liked.
Their families each ran a store and their parents were hardworking; thus, there wasn’t much for them to do.
Chuyue’s Fruit Store was close to their homes, the work was clean and easy, and since they had earned forty yuan that day, they were a bit excited.
The two were good friends, and they exchanged delighted glances.
The straightforward Tong Wen asked, “What are you going to do?
How long will you be gone?”
The sweet and soft Xia Ping nodded along, “Yeah, yeah, tell us quickly.”
Meng Chuyue hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell the truth, “I want to take this year’s middle school exam.”
Tong Wen and Xia Ping looked at each other in confusion.
The middle school exam?
If they remembered correctly, Meng Chuyue was only a year younger than them, already eighteen years old.
At this age, taking the middle school exam this year, even if she managed to get into high school, three years later at the college entrance exam, she would be twenty-two years old…
If she was successful in the college exams, after finishing university, she would definitely be considered an older young woman…
She seemed so smart and capable—why would she opt for such an unlikely path?
Xia Ping thought this way, but her doubts were vocalized.
Meng Chuyue gave a slight smile, “When I studied before, I always scored full marks on every test.
Two years ago, I fell ill unexpectedly and missed the middle school exam.
However, I’ve been self-studying these past two years, originally just to improve my knowledge.
The day before yesterday, I ran into my former headteacher who advised me that as a young person, especially a girl, the best way to have a free life is to acquire a solid education.
Recently, job hunting has been tough for me and if it hadn’t been for a lucky break where I helped my godmother with something, allowing me to manage this store, I’d only be labored by dreary, exhausting work.”
Tong Wen empathized, “Yeah, without a university degree, I can’t get into good organizations, and the bad ones have no future.
I’m not content with that.”
Xia Ping said, “My brother has been urging me to repeat a year, but my grades were so bad, I just don’t have the confidence.
Ah, but we’re getting sidetracked.
Chuyue, let’s talk about the store.”
Meng Chuyue smiled slightly, “Actually, hiring one person would be enough, but both of you are great and I don’t know whom to let go.
I’ve thought of a win-win solution—listen first.”
“I’d like to hire both of you.
We’ll split a salary of six hundred and twenty yuan per month between the two of you.
As for the working hours, if you’re willing, you can both come in every day or alternate days.
You can change shifts every half day, every day, or even every two days, seven days, or half a month—it’s up to you to arrange.”
Tong Wen thought it through carefully and then said, “So, if we rotate shifts to watch the store, we only need to work half a month each and we’d each earn around three hundred yuan?”
That seemed too easy—she agreed.
Meng Chuyue smiled slightly, “There’s more.
On holidays or special days when we run promotions, I will pay extra based on the workload for the day.
If it’s as busy as the other day, the pay will still be twenty yuan.”
Xia Ping’s eyelids twitched, and she asked with a grin, “When do you think we’ll have another promotion?”