Chapter 29: Magical Feeling

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Magical Feeling

Zhang Lin saw the game notification and immediately looked at the location of the Service Center on the map. The workers had already withdrawn, leaving behind a completed building.

This prompted him to get in his car and go check it out.

The Service Center was a special attribute building, with two properties: Mood Boost +1 and Delicious Cuisine +1.

The amazing thing was, on his way to that part of the farm, he heard several horns honking. It was the construction vehicles spawned by the game system, now driving off the farm. He had no idea how the system would make these vehicles and their workers disappear.

But that was the game system’s business, not something he needed to worry about.

A moment later, he saw the fully constructed Service Center. The building was complete and already decorated, exuding a unique agricultural style that looked quite nice.

The moment he stepped into the Service Center, he was stunned. Nothing had visibly happened—he was just walking normally—but as soon as he entered the building’s range, his mood suddenly improved.

It was a very magical feeling.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought their good mood was from seeing the uniquely styled Service Center, but he knew it was because of the Mood Boost +1 attribute.

So, it was a subtle, silent effect. As soon as you entered the Service Center, your mood would improve.

This alone would make a visit more than worth it for any tourist. After all, no matter what you’re doing, being in a good mood is the most important thing.

Next, he immediately entered the restaurant. The Delicious Cuisine +1 attribute had to be realized through the restaurant.

The restaurant was already furnished with tables. It was decorated in a pure agricultural style, but without feeling rustic or unsophisticated. Instead, the layout was very well-planned and pleasing to the eye.

After a look around, he saw that although the restaurant was decorated, it was empty of all equipment. He would have to buy everything himself, such as stainless steel worktables, shelves, freezers, refrigerators, and simple gas stoves for the kitchen... as well as flat plates, bowls, chopsticks, water glasses, and dipping saucers for the dining area. All of it needed to be purchased.

In the ticketing hall, things like computers, ticket printers, and scanners also needed to be purchased.

Zhang Lin decided to first check the recruitment market in the game in his mind. The completion of the Service Center had added two new types of recruitable employees. He figured he’d hire the staff, then have them purchase the items and handle the cleaning and setup.

He opened the employee recruitment market. As expected, besides regular Farmhands and Agricultural Water & Power Specialists, there were two new types of employees available for hire.

1. Regular Farmhand (7,500/month)

2. Agricultural Water & Power Specialist (8,500/month)

3. Farm-style Chef (8,000/month)

4. Scenic Area Attendant (4,500/month)

Both the Farm-style Chefs and the Scenic Area Attendants were related to the Service Center. Once hired, they could be put to work immediately.

The Service Center covered two mu, roughly 1,300 square meters, with the restaurant taking up half of that space.

He looked it up online. For this type of farmhouse scenic area restaurant, a dining area of over 700 square meters would need about six people in the kitchen and fourteen other staff members in total. Of course, the staffing wasn’t fixed; it would depend on the actual number of diners.

Besides the restaurant, the ticketing office would definitely need two attendants, and another two for checking tickets.

That meant he needed to hire 6 chefs and 18 attendants!

He suddenly felt that the upgrade requirement of 20 employees seemed a bit low.

With the rapeseed Flower Sea’s attributes of Viewability +1 and Photogenic +1, he wasn’t afraid of a lack of tourists once word got out. Therefore, he definitely needed to hire a full staff.

After a quick calculation, hiring all these people would cost 129,000 yuan.

Naturally, under normal circumstances, not all six kitchen staff needed to be chefs; hiring apprentices would be cheaper. But the farm’s current situation was best left unexamined. It was safer to spend a bit more money and be cautious.

He went straight back to the prefab house and clicked "hire."

[Congratulations! You have spent 48,000 to recruit 6 chefs. Current employment term is one month. The chefs are now materializing...]

[Congratulations! You have spent 81,000 to recruit 18 attendants. Current employment term is one month. The attendants are now materializing...]

"Payment of 48,000 yuan from account ending in ***. Remaining balance: 376,494.52 yuan."

"Payment of 81,000 yuan from account ending in ***. Remaining balance: 295,494.52 yuan."

As he received the payment notifications, the orbs of light appearing in the prefab house were much denser this time. The small space was now crowded with 24 people, leaving almost no room to spare.

The light from the materializing contracts on the desk in front of Zhang Lin was also brighter than before.

A moment later, the entire prefab office was filled with noisy chatter and greetings directed at him, the boss.

Zhang Lin picked up the contracts and looked through them. Based on the ID card photocopies, they had all been assigned real-world identities.

The chefs were all experienced masters in their forties, while the attendants were a mix of men and women, mostly young people in their early twenties with only a few older ones.

He decisively assigned the few older ones to be dishwashers.

As for the other attendants, he chose one named Mucheng to be the head of the restaurant waitstaff and another named Zhao Lin to be the head of the ticketing office staff.

The reason was simple: these two women were the best-looking.

The employees hired through the game were all competent and diligent. Under such equal conditions, it was only natural to choose the best-looking ones to report to him.

It just goes to show, in an age where looks matter, being attractive really does give you an advantage sometimes.

He then appointed a chef named Lin Nan to be in charge of the kitchen.

After that, Zhang Lin also arranged accommodation for these new employees.

With two people per room, his current prefab house still had four spare rooms. The one built by the game system had eight rooms. In total, they could house 24 people.

’Damn, what a coincidence. It’s a perfect fit.’

He immediately assigned the 6 chefs and 2 male attendants to his current prefab house, and arranged for all the others to stay in the prefab house built by the game system.

By the time he had finished making arrangements, Liu De had already returned from his delivery to Lin Tuo.

Zhang Lin then had the remaining honey peaches and Sunshine Rose grapes for Zhang Dong wholesaled, and had Liu De take people to continue the deliveries.

One of the small trucks would be free, so he had the three managers—Zhao Lin, Mucheng, and Lin Nan—take some people to clean the Service Center while he sat down at his computer to do more calculations.

The equipment and supplies for the kitchen, restaurant, and ticketing hall still needed to be purchased.

After a detailed calculation, the whole series of purchases would cost a total of 150,000 yuan.

Moreover, setting up the kitchen’s gas, water, electricity, stainless steel worktables... all of this would take time. For the next while, he would be busy with these matters.

It took a full week to get everything done.

...

In the kitchen, the stove roared to life as Lin Nan operated it, and a fierce flame instantly raised the surrounding temperature.

After letting it burn empty for a moment, Lin Nan reported to Zhang Lin, "Boss, the gas line is working fine."

The other chefs were also checking the rest of the equipment.

Safety in the restaurant kitchen was the most crucial element.

After the chefs confirmed there were no issues, the kitchen was ready for operation.

However, a new restaurant and a new kitchen required a "fire-starting ceremony," which was a kind of tradition.

Zhang Lin checked the game data in his mind:

Upgrade Requirements: 1. 20 workers (34/20)! 2. Earn 1,000,000 in profit (568,034/1,000,000)! 3. Develop 500 mu of agricultural land (540/500)! 4. Plant over 10 types of crops, each with a planting area of no less than 5 mu (6/10)

The employee requirement was clearly met, and the developed area was also sufficient. He had completed 6 of the 10 crop types. This was mainly because after the Service Center was built, he had assigned Liu De and the others to level the road from the national highway to the farm.

Another issue was the parking lot. Over the past few days, they had cleared a relatively flat open space in front of the Service Center to serve as one. Otherwise, it would be awkward if a lot of tourists came and there was nowhere to park.

Zhang Lin looked at his profits again. After all the recent expenses, he had saved up another 568,034 yuan.

Before, he had no choice but to spend on the Service Center. Now that there were no other major expenses for the time being, he knew it was time to pay back his debts and settle things with his friends and relatives.

Although this would delay his upgrade, he preferred the feeling of being debt-free. In his current situation, an upgrade was only a matter of a little more time.

It was the perfect opportunity to invite those friends and relatives to the fire-starting ceremony, treat them to a meal, and then pay them back.

Excluding the 50,000 yuan already paid back to Mr. Zhang Dong, he still owed a total of 550,000 to other creditors. He had enough to pay it all back.

Zhang Lin glanced at the time. The sun was about to set, so he decided to ride his bike home.

As for inviting the creditors, he planned to have his mom make the calls personally. She had always been troubled by the debt, and this would let her resolve it with her own hands.

As soon as Zhang Lin got home, he saw his mother busy in the kitchen. When she saw him, she asked, "Lin, they’re butchering a pig in the village in a few days. Will Fu Yao be free this time? I’ll have someone save some pig trotters!"

"Mom, I’ll ask her when the time comes," Zhang Lin replied hastily. His mom had gotten a pig trotter the day before yesterday, but unfortunately, Fu Yao had gone to participate in a high school painting and design competition and couldn’t make it.

’That girl is more impressive than I thought.’

’I can’t believe Mom is still fixated on this.’

He quickly changed the subject. "Mom, the farm’s Service Center is ready. Could you call my uncle and the other uncles we borrowed money from? Invite them to the restaurant over there for a meal, and we can pay them all back."

"We really should invite them..." Lin Yan was happy for her son hearing that the Service Center was ready, but his last sentence made her freeze.

She knew how much their family owed those friends and relatives—another 550,000 yuan.

’My son said he’s paying it all back?’

’Didn’t he just have a hundred-something thousand before, after paying back Ergen’s 50,000?’

’It’s only been a short time, and now he’s going to pay back all 550,000?’

...