Chapter 51

Chapter 51: A Red Packet from the System

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Desmond

“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 .