Chapter 51: A Red Packet from the System

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth

“Everybody! Time to bet! Let’s bet what Boss Yuan will cook this morning?” A seemingly civilized man dressed in a suit and tie with a briefcase was calling out to the customers queuing up at the entrance of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, hollering at them to bet. On the left and right side of the briefcase were the characters for Soup Dumplings and Clear Broth Noodle Soup. He seemed so proficient that it was unlikely to be his first time doing it.

“Zhida, you are playing this betting game again?” A muscular man pulled the man in the suit close in a familiar manner.

“It’s almost 9:00. I’m merely playing it for fun. Don’t worry, it won’t affect my job,” the man in the suit said in an easygoing manner.

“Hurry up and bet! The maximum bet is 1RMB. Any more will be rejected.” He made another round again while clutching to his briefcase.

“Gee! Why don’t you have the option that Boss Yuan doesn’t open the restaurant?” A pretty girl with large eyes took out a 1RMB note and asked curiously.

“Beauty, you don’t understand. We are just playing for fun. We are all here for the breakfast, so of course, we wish he would open the restaurant. If he sleeps in again, then we won’t have anything to eat.” The man in suit gestured wildly as he explained. His hilarious gestures amused the pretty girl.

“Haha, so it’s like that. Then I bet on Soup Dumplings.” The pretty girl set the note down without hesitation.

“Hopefully you can win today.” The man in suit winked at the girl and left after wishing her.

Time passed, minute by minute. Nevertheless, there was still no sign that the restaurant would be opened this morning

“I’m leaving. It seems Boss Yuan went to buy ingredients late again last night.” a fat regular customer said as he patted his belly and walked away.

“Eh… Why does Boss Yuan always go and buy ingredients at night?” the man in suit returned the money to those who laid down bets. It was not much, only a dozen 1RMB notes in all.

“Exactly. If he goes to buy ingredients at night, of course, he can’t get up early.” The muscular man started to head back as well.

Yes, the excuse that Yuan Zhou gave his customers was that he had to go to purchase ingredients at night, thus he couldn’t get up early and needed to sleep in. In order to get the freshest ingredients, he certainly had to put in the greatest efforts. Therefore, not matter how much the customers complained, they could do nothing but flap their gums a little, all for the sake of their lunch and dinner.

As for the truth, only God would know.

However, Yuan Zhou’s sweet dreams also came to an end.

“Ding”

The system suddenly emitted a sound which woke Yuan Zhou up from his dreams.

“What’s wrong?” Lying on the bed, Yuan Zhou murmured. He was still in a daze and hadn’t fully woken up.

The system read, “Congratulations to the host. You have successfully opened the restaurant for a month. The system offers the reward of one red packet, filled with cash. The host can receive it any time.”

“Oh, a red packet, alright.” Yuan Zhou muttered, still sleep-talking.

“Wait, a red packet, a red packet filled with cash. Jesus.” After repeating what he said once, he immediately woke up fully. He leaped from the bed and tried to confirm the authenticity of what the system said in a hurry.

The system read, “It is a red packet filled with cash, available to be received anytime.”

“System, I never expected you to give me a red packet. You are so cool.” Yuan Zhou asked incredulously.

The system read, “The red packet is available to be received anytime.”

“All right. It’s shouldn’t be only 0.1 RMB, right?”

As a young man with a mature looking face, Yuan Zhou had attended several red packet activities [1] during the Lunar New Year holiday. One event that left a deep impression on him was that some group members would first grab it himself after sending a red packet with a large sum, and then released other red packets with the pathetic sum of 0.1RMB to others. Some others would send a 1RMB red packet to be divided by 20 persons among the rest. Those that were lucky might be able to grab 0.1RMB.

Now that the system had unexpectedly sent a red packet to him for no reason, Yuan Zhou’s first thought was that it was probably not real; the second thought was that, knowing the stingy character of the system, it would probably send a 0.1RMB red packet to him.

Former experiences of being cheated by the system were still fresh within his memories.

The system read, “Host, please receive the red packet as soon as possible.”

“Wow, it’s even urging me. Ok, receive.” Yuan Zhou tapped open the red packet marked with Wishing You a Successful Business, helplessly.

To his surprise, a thick red packet really popped up in his hands instantly, the really thick kind. Judging by its thickness, it shouldn’t just be worth ten or twenty grand RMB only. However, Yuan Zhou strongly suspected that inside of the red packet were all notes of 0.1RMB, although it looked bigger than the size of the note of 0.1RMB.

“Let me undo the packet, and then I will know the total amount.”

With a “Si La” sound, Yuan Zhou directly tore apart the flap of the packet.

“Holy sh*t”, Yuan Zhou couldn’t help swearing. The red packet was unexpectedly filled with 100RMB red notes.

“Did I wake up on the wrong side of reality?” Yuan Zhou started to doubt himself.

After thinking for a long while, he still couldn’t make sense of it, thus gave up. The most important action now for him was to count the exact amount in the red packet given by the kind-hearted system.

“One, two, three, four, five…” After counting the notes twice, he finally confirmed that the total amount was 150 grand RMB.

“System, you are so awesome. You unexpectedly have cash rewards.” Yuan Zhou got excited immediately.

At that moment, the system showed a new message. It was a friendly reminder this time.

The system read, “Host, you have been running your business for a month already. You need go to the tax bureau to pay the food and beverage turnover tax for a smoother business in future.”

Yuan Zhou was slightly confused. What was this situation? He could only get a share of 20% or 30% of the profits. And he still needed to pay tax?

“System, aren’t you responsible for paying the tax?” Yuan Zhou tightly grasped the money that had been in his hands for only a short time.

The system read, “The amount of turnover tax charged is 6% of the actual sales volume in the restaurant.”

“Of the actual sales volume, however, I didn’t get the full amount.” Yuan Zhou felt it was quite unfair for him to pay the tax himself since the majority of the income was always taken away by the system. Fine, all he could do was complain anyway.

“Keep your guard up when other people are too nice to you.” That sentence certainly rang true.

“No wonder you offered such a large red packet just now. It turns out the money was for tax purposes. So what’s the total amount?” As the boss, Yuan Zhou would check the profits daily, thus he knew how much he had earned. But regarding how much he had to pay for tax, Yuan Zhou didn’t really know.

The system read, “Host, the turnover of the current month is 3,589,800RMB. You have to pay 6% of the total amount, that is, 215,388RMB.”

“System, you only gave me 150,000RMB. What about the remaining amount?” Yuan Zhou asked while looking at the 100RMB notes in his hands wistfully.

The system read, “Host, you have to pay it yourself.”

“Very good, how system-like it is.” Yuan Zhou was speechless at the situation. Instead of getting a big reward from the system, he instead had to pay an extra 65,388RMB himself. Therefore, his formerly blissful mood turned sour in an instant. Even if Yuan Zhou had earned a total amount of 697,960 RMB last month, he still felt an incomparable ache in his heart just thinking about the tax that needed to be paid.

“All that remains is 632,572 RMB now after paying the tax. I have worked so hard throughout the whole month for that. Life is really hard.”

Yuan Zhou grumbled while washing up.

If his words were heard by others, Yuan Zhou would have been beaten to death. With six hundred thousand RMB a month, he dares to say life is hard?”

Apart from his monthly salary of 3000 RMB in the kitchen of the 3-Star hotel previously, this turnover was basically equivalent to all the money he had ever earned in the past twenty years and had outnumbered the yearly salary of most white-collars.

Yuan Zhou understood this fact clearly in his heart; therefore, he prepared to pay the tax without much fuss. Nevertheless, a few grumbles were understandable.

Taking advantage of waking up early, Yuan Zhou walked out the restaurant from the back door. Of course, he didn’t forget to bring a bowl of broth for the stray dog.

“Taxi.”

Now that he was of the wealthy class, Yuan Zhou started taking taxis whenever he went out. As for buying a car, Yuan Zhou did not have a driving license since he didn’t like driving.

“Mister, Municipal Tax Bureau, please.” Having told the driver his destination, he started to rest in the taxi quietly.

[1] Red packet activities: In China, a red packet containing money is given to children as a blessing. Now, it has become popular among adults for fun. People in the same Wechat or QQ group can hold an activity, in which one sends out a red packet with sum of money for a certain number of recipients. Group members could receive the money by tapping open the red packets before the money disappears. The amount of money one can get is random based on how much was given.