Under these circumstances, the older cousins were not as close to Gu Fangting as they were to Gu Qingyao.
Gu Fangting was such an intelligent girl that she must have sensed it.
But she was never jealous.
And never expressed any discontent.
She was always so calm and naturally accepted it as a fact.
One must say that the girl was unusually resolute, and Young Aunt had also done an excellent job in bringing her up.
So Gu Qingyao was truly fond of this younger cousin.
When she was young, Gu Qingyao had taught her to read, and when she was older, Gu Qingyao gave her presents and taught her about business. If she could help the girl, she would alway treat her as one of the family.
As if she were her own younger sister.
Gu Fangting linked arms with Gu Qingyao. “Older Cousin, do you need help? Are your staff trained? If you don’t have suitable workers, can I transfer some from my side over to you?
“They’ve been working at the restaurant for some time, and they will quickly get used to the work here.”
Gu Fangting already had three small restaurants under her name. Two of them were smaller, and one was larger.
She earned a few thousand yuan in profits every day and had a small fortune.
Gu Qingyao smiled. “No need. You just take care of your own affairs. I’ve already trained my staff, and they can start work immediately.”
The Jin Jiang Restaurant was in the food and beverage business. It could train all kinds of wait staff.
But this place was not so high-class, so they used more ordinary wait staff.
The restaurant opened three days later.
The sign was simple and rather crude. It read ‘Fish With Pickles’.
The building had three storeys, and Gu Qingyao had specially ordered a very large sign. Fortunately, the building was large, and the large sign hung vertically, extending from the third storey to the second storey. She had specially ordered a sign that could light up. It was already very conspicuous during the day, but even more so when it lit up at night.
It was a simple sign. One could immediately tell what the restaurant was selling.
Other side dishes were listed next to the big sign.
On the day of the opening, Gu Qingyao sent someone to buy many strings of fireworks. They crackled merrily. Many baskets of flowers were placed at the door, which attracted attention.
“Fish with pickles? There’s nothing nice about that!”
“That’s right! It’s quite a large restaurant too! Why is there only one dish? That kind of dish is so fishy, it’s not edible.”
“I’m sure it’s not nice. Even villagers don’t like to eat fish.”
…
The Chinese loved a fuss, especially in a time when there was not much entertainment. The moment anything interesting happened, many people would crowd around. Gu Qingyao’s “Fish With Pickles” sign was too conspicuous, and it could be seen from afar. Many people were soon crowding around the door.
Gu Qingyao and Gu Fangting were watching from the second floor. When they saw that sufficient people had gathered, Gu Qingyao told the person next to her, “Carry the things out. Remember to instruct them properly, and tell them to be very polite. Smile and be welcoming. Understand?”
“Yes. I’ll go now.”
At that time, people did not have much sense of customer service. Customers did not expect much customer service either. Many of the staff at the state-run shops could not be fired, and they did not care much about their customers.
But such things were not allowed in Gu Qingyao’s restaurants. When Jin Jiang Restaurant opened, they had trained the staff for a long time.
Because everyone thought that fish was not nice, no one entered the restaurant when it opened.
But since everyone thought fish was not nice, they were filled with curiosity to see a restaurant like that open.
