Chapter 443: Competing for a Job
After Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao's marriage was settled, Tong Huaqiong finally put her mind at ease.
The next day, Gu Jingzhe went to Wanliu Academy to register for admission and officially became a student of Wanliu Academy.
Tong Huaqiong naturally introduced Gu Baishuang to Mr. Lu.
The merchant ships that Mr. Lu brought after the New Year would not return until autumn. Gu Baishuang calculated that if there were no strong winds and waves on this trip, she could at least earn three or four hundred taels of silver.
With money in hand, she naturally felt confident and begged Tong Huaqiong to help her buy a shop in the capital city.
He bought two shops and originally planned to put them under Nie Xiaofeng's name, but after Tong Huaqiong reminded him, he put one of them under Gu Baishuang's own name.
The stepmother was right. Even if they were her own children, they were not as real as holding the things in her own hands.
Gu Baishuang warned Nie Xiaofeng: "Don't tell your father and your two brothers."
Nie Xiaofeng said: "I'm not stupid. In the Nie family, my mother and I are in the same group."
Nie Xiaofeng had long noticed that his father favored his two older brothers more and even guarded against his mother in many things.
The reason why his two brothers and sister-in-law often give their mother the cold shoulder is because of their father's indulgence.
After his mother woke up, she followed his grandmother to do business. He was so happy that he didn't even know how to tell his father and two brothers.
After helping Gu Baishuang to set up two shops, Tong Huaqiong began to check his own shops in the provincial capital.
To be honest, in terms of the general direction, she was not worried at all about the operation of the shop.
Now, every week, the shopkeeper of the provincial capital would bring the account books to Yanguan Town to report on his work.
He Chao and Gu Taohua also changed from visiting the provincial capital once every two weeks in the beginning to visiting once a month now.
Therefore, Tong Huaqiong was quite familiar with the situation and personnel of the shops in the city.
After more than half a year of operation, Taohua Dessert in Fucheng has already shown its status as the top pastry shop.
Tong Huaqiong first went to greet the owners of all the major pork shops. After all, the pork in these shops was provided by Tong Huaqiong, who was her financial sponsor.
Then he visited the pastry shop and the seed and pesticide shop, checked the account books, and expressed his condolences to the employees.
Just as Tong Huaqiong predicted, there were no problems with the operation of the pastry shop, but there was trouble in the bakery.
Tong Huaqiong figured out the reason.
At the beginning, the bakery was run by Master Song who was transferred from Yanguan Town. Master Song had a long career, good skills, and was from the headquarters, so everyone in the city respected him.
After staying in the provincial capital for more than half a year, Master Song went to the shop in Pingchuan County last month to manage the bakery in accordance with the agreement with Tong Huaqiong.
Even if Tong Huaqiong didn't want him to go back, he had no choice. He was from Yanguan Town and had no intention of staying in the capital for long.
Originally he wanted to return to Yanguan Town, but considering that Pingchuan County was not far from Yanguan Town, he could bring his family and mother to Pingchuan County to enjoy a good life, so he agreed to go to Pingchuan County.
As soon as Master Song left, the pastry bakeries in the city were leaderless.
Before leaving, Master Song recommended Master Wen to be in charge of the bakery.
Master Wen is the only female baker in Fucheng Bakery, and also Master Song’s apprentice. She works diligently and has a talent for baking, especially for making new types of pastries, which she can learn quickly. After becoming proficient in the craft, she even tries to develop new pastry recipes.
The two improved pastries by Master Wen have become popular items at Taohua Dessert in Fucheng.
Logically speaking, with Master Wen's professional ability, it would be no problem for him to be the bakery manager.
But Taohua Dessert encountered resistance in Fucheng.
Without him.
It’s because the bakery in Fucheng is a man’s world, and Master Wen is the only woman there.
Many male pastry chefs were dissatisfied.
They said that looking through all the pastry shops in the city, there was no woman serving as the head pastry chef.
They are not willing to let a woman climb over their heads.
Manager Sun of the Fucheng Pastry Shop was worried that if he promoted Master Wen, the male pastry chefs would quit their jobs, thus affecting the shop's revenue.
There is no other pastry chef more suitable than Master Wen.
Therefore, the person in charge of the bakery was put on hold for the time being.
Tong Huaqiong's face darkened after listening to Manager Sun's report.
Logically speaking, Manager Sun is a very capable manager. He can't even handle such a small matter in the bakery. Isn't it just like most men in this world who don't want women to take the lead?
She, Tong Huaqiong, is the boss, and he has no choice but to submit.
Master Wen is an employee just like him. He can accept Master Wen doing odd jobs in the shop or being an ordinary pastry chef, but deep down he does not approve of Master Wen moving into management.
After Master Wen moves to the management level, won’t I have to discuss work with him personally?
He was unhappy when he thought about having to negotiate with a woman about the development of new pastries and the management of the shop, and that he would have to rely on a woman for the bakery affairs.
He still hopes to promote a male pastry chef to be his right-hand man.
Tong Huaqiong asked Shopkeeper Sun: "Master Wen has first-rate pastry skills, why can't he be the bakery manager?"
Shopkeeper Sun said after careful consideration: "She is still young. The other bakers in the bakery have been working for several years or even more than ten years. Everyone would be dissatisfied if I promoted her. I was afraid that if I promoted her forcefully, the baking powder would cause trouble and delay the business. So I put the matter aside and thought about slowly training another baker from other bakers."
Tong Huaqiong said, "Are you afraid of trouble in the bakery? You are the shopkeeper, and if you can't even handle trouble in the bakery, how can you convince others as the shopkeeper?"
Shopkeeper Sun's forehead was covered with sweat.
Tong Huaqiong’s meaning was very clear, if you can’t even handle this matter well, what use are you?
Since it is not easy for a shop to train a shop owner, and Shopkeeper Sun has never made any mistakes since he came to Taohua Dessert, Taohua Dessert has become one of the best pastry shops in the city, and Shopkeeper Sun has made an indispensable contribution to this.
It’s not that he can’t suppress the trouble in the bakery, but he just doesn’t want to care.
Precisely because Manager Sun is capable, Tong Huaqiong will not fire him for this matter.
If we fire him, we need to find another manager.
Although she also wanted a female shopkeeper, in that era almost all shopkeepers were male. After Shopkeeper Sun left, Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Chen would come. It can be expected that these shopkeepers had the same idea as Shopkeeper Sun, believing that the manager of the bakery should be a male pastry chef.
Instead of replacing a new shopkeeper, it is better to push Master Wen to the top and change Shopkeeper Sun’s mind.
Tong Huaqiong took a deep breath and said calmly, "Since the bakery is not convinced by Master Wen, then why not compete for the job?"
Shopkeeper Sun asked, "What is the competition?"
Tong Huaqiong said: "The winner of the competition will be the head baker. From today on, each baker can come up with two new cakes. We will give you two days to see whoever's cake is popular with customers will be the head baker."
Since it is a bakery, the priority must be baking skills.
Seeing Tong Huaqiong's reaction, Shopkeeper Sun had no choice but to agree.
He had to agree, Tong Huaqiong was the boss, unless he left, where could he find a job with a high monthly salary and year-end bonuses if he left Taohua Dessert.
Shopkeeper Sun said respectfully, "Boss, I will follow your instructions and compete for the position. I will notify everyone to prepare."
Tong Huaqiong smiled and said, "Manager Sun, I respect your fairness and loyalty. Let me be frank, no matter who wins, once you become the bakery manager, you can't look down on others because of their gender or seniority. If I knew, I would not allow it."
Shopkeeper Sun wiped his sweat and said he dared not.
The boss's eyes were indeed vicious; he could see through his thoughts at a glance.
Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Taohua, "Taohua, you and Manager Sun will take charge of this matter together."
Gu Taohua nodded.
Manager Sun, don’t you have any psychological barriers to a woman being a housekeeper?
Then let the young master Gu Taohua wave vigorously in front of you.