Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 273: The Standout

Chapter 273: Chapter 273: The Standout

She had raised that silver herself by pawning the silver hairpin that Shi’er had given her.

With the restaurant’s grand opening coinciding with the unexpected incident involving the owner, the employees naturally worried about their wages.

With Sister Nanzhi not around, she had to bear the burden and run the restaurant well.

Thanks to the promotion from the previous day, the business of Sānwèi Inn was booming right from when the doors were open.

Despite the busyness, luckily nothing major had happened.

Seeing the employees all putting in their best effort, Shen Miaomiao finally let out a sigh of relief.

The hairpin was pawned for four taels and two silver coins, enough to pay their wages for the past few days.

As she thought about all these, Uncle Ping walked over.

"Uncle Ping?"

Seeing her recent worries, Uncle Ping sighed and said: "Miss, there’s no need to rush to pay their wages."

With the current absence of Owner Lin, he could only offer two taels of silver. The silver Shen Miaomiao had brought out was undoubtedly her own money.

Even though everyone was concerned about their wages due to the incident with Owner Lin, the treatment at Sānwèi Inn was good, so few people would risk leaving without finding other jobs.

Despite the inn’s monthly salary being lower than other larger restaurants, the generous provisions of new bedding, clothing, and meat in every meal still made them a more attractive option than most.

"Nonetheless, they need to have some assurance," Shen Miaomiao said with a smile.

"We can’t just open and have everyone worrying. That way, they won’t work with peace of mind, and it will keep me on edge too."

Uncle Ping hadn’t expected Shen Miaomiao to think this way. After listening to her, he nodded and left.

As a former butler, he naturally didn’t care about what the servants thought. Now that he was just a bookkeeper, he indeed needed to think more about these things.

The weather was a bit chilly, so the restaurant closed a bit earlier.

Once they had closed the door, everyone gathered in the Main Hall.

"Uncle Ping, please check everyone’s wages, let’s settle them one by one."

Shen Miaomiao’s tone was casual, but she disdained to part with the money.

She had not accepted anything that Shi’er gave, and in the end, when he went to Kyoto, he only left behind a silver hairpin.

The jade pendant was his heirloom. Before leaving, Shi’er had wanted to give it to her, but she didn’t want to accept something so valuable. The silver hairpin was the only connection between them.

Now it had become a bag of copper-plate silvers.

"Let everyone sit down properly then." Uncle Ping opened the ledger book and began to calculate the days and wages.

The last one to be distributed was Li Jun’s share.

Looking at the copper-plate silver in his hand, Li Jun turned a bit pale.

Even though he had only worked here for a day before the opening, the wage calculated here seemed to be more than that.

"Boss, this... did you give me too much?" Li Jun didn’t look well and had a little suspicion as to why.

"No, this is your wage for three days. You have worked hard these two days, so it’s calculated as seventy wen per day." Shen Miaomiao did not explain further; she just picked up her teacup and took a sip.

"Boss, what do you mean by this?" Li Jun’s hand holding the silver tightened.

In retrospect, he regretted what he had said in the morning.

If he had known, he would not have said those things. He desperately needed money. If he lost his job and could not pay the bride’s price, how could he afford to get married?

"You don’t need to come to work at the restaurant tomorrow. The restaurant has only just opened the Main Hall, we don’t need that many people anyway."

"But Owner Lin didn’t say anything——" Li Jun wanted to say something more, but Shen Miaomiao’s expression turned stern, losing her earlier gentleness.

"If you look down on a woman being a boss, then would it make a difference whether Sister Nanzhi says something or not?"

Li Jun’s heart immediately sank. His eyelids had been twitching the entire day, incessantly. But whenever he met Shen Miaomiao during the day, she was always smiling. He had thought she had not heard what he said.

Little did he know, she had heard everything.

"But this restaurant, is managed by Owner Lin, you cannot dismiss me."

"I too am a boss of this restaurant." Shen Miaomiao’s demeanor grew colder.

"Your pay has also been settled. I am also a boss of this restaurant. If you have any discontent, you can file a lawsuit. After all, the signed contract states that it can be annulled within three days if either party is not satisfied."

Li Jun looked gloomily at Shen Miaomiao, then at everyone around him. Everyone was hanging their heads, no one spoke. He could only laugh bitterly at himself.

Here he was, the sacrificial lamb.

Clearly, everybody was worrying about the wage issue but only he ended up losing the job.

He gave a cold huff. Li Jun took his wages and walked away without looking back.

The atmosphere in the Main Hall was a bit low. Shen Miaomiao sighed and then said, "I know you all are worried. Sister Nanzhi is only feeling unwell, it’s not a big deal. She will be back after a few days of rest. All of you just need to do your job well. The monthly salary won’t be less, and the treatment will remain the same as before, there won’t be any changes."

"Alright——"

The others responded in chorus, which brought back some of their spirits. They all went to freshen up and rest.

Uncle Ping also stayed with Shen Miaomiao for a while.

"Miss, today we made three taels and twenty-six wen." Uncle Ping said looking at the day’s ledger, a smile played on his face.

"That’s good." Shen Miaomiao let out a sigh of relief, she had been apprehensive all day, afraid of some mishap.

"Today’s profit is roughly around two taels." Uncle Ping’s following sentence was the highlight.

Although Sānwèi Inn was large, only the ground floor Main Hall opened for now. The most profitable private rooms hadn’t opened yet, so it could only be considered a slightly larger small restaurant.

Making two taels of profit in a day was already considered very good.

"That’s really not bad." Shen Miaomiao’s face finally lit up with a smile.

Nanzhi had been asleep for three days.

Besides occasionally getting up and laughing foolishly, she just lay in bed unconscious all day.

Shen Miaomiao looked at Nanzhi on the bed, her face flushed, and her mind filled with worry.

She heard from Aunt Lin that the doctor said Nanzhi was like this because of excessive nourishment. Could food cause such a condition?

Could it be because of the pearl that Xiaohe had given to Zhiyu?

But two years ago Nanzhi had only slept for a day and night, how come she couldn’t wake up this time?

"Miaomiao, come, have some water." Mother Lin poured a cup of tea for Shen Miaomiao, sighed, and looked at Nanzhi on the bed, saying, "I don’t know what’s wrong with Fat Ya these three days, besides laughing foolishly, she’s just sleeping all the time. It must have been hard on you handling the restaurant’s business."

"It’s okay, Aunt Lin, everything is fine with the restaurant. I’m just a bit worried about Sister Nanzhi." Shen Miaomiao replied, sipping the hot tea with a shy smile.

"Fat Ya should be fine, her face isn’t as hot as it was the past few days. You need to take good care of yourself, don’t get too tired." Mother Lin patted Shen Miaomiao’s hand with affection.

She had watched this girl grow up. Kind-hearted and smart, but a bit unlucky. In just a few days, she had lost quite a bit of weight.

Looking at her own daughter, she was just lying in bed and seemed to have gained even more weight! How could this be?