Chapter 8 – Starting My First Job
Wait... this adds up to more than twenty thousand?
Chen Xing was stunned.
What shocked him the most was how little he felt he'd actually done, just using someone else's equipment to shoot photos for two days, and yet he was making nearly 30,000 yuan.
When did making money become this easy?
Photography is incredible.
I love photography!
It took Chen Xing several seconds to recover from the surprise. Then, grinning from ear to ear, he stepped forward to shake hands with each of them.
"Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'll do my best to shoot the highest-quality photos and live up to your trust."
Chef Bu stood up to shake his hand, laughing heartily.
"You're really something, kid. If you can make all my dishes look like the sample you sent, never mind 30,000, if you asked for more, I wouldn't mind at all."
"Ahem."
Manager Wang coughed lightly.
"More" my ass.
The company had only approved a bit over 30,000. If that much went to Chen Xing, what about the design and layout team? They mattered too, didn't they?
A few years ago, they'd hired a well-known Guangdong photographer to shoot the old menu. And this Chen Xing? Just some ordinary-looking student. If the company hadn't been impressed by the sample shot earlier, forget 28,000, even 8,000 wouldn't have been on the table.
Still, Manager Wang was a seasoned professional. No matter how annoyed he felt inside, his expression remained calm.
"Well then, we'll be counting on you, Mr. Chen. Chef Bu will work closely with you over the next two days. It's getting late, so we've arranged rooms for you and your friends."
Once Chen Xing finished chatting with Chef Bu, Manager Wang led the three of them to a hotel inside the mall to check in.
Chen Xing and Zhou Peng were placed in separate rooms.
Back in his own room, Chen Xing had just taken off his shirt and was about to shower when he heard a knock at the door.
He opened it to find Zhou Peng and Quan Jing standing outside.
Zhou Peng burst into the room the moment the door opened.
"Chen Xing, did you time travel or something? Since when do you know how to take photos?"
He tackled Chen Xing onto the bed, shaking him by the collar.
Quan Jing followed nervously, quickly closing the door behind her.
She had just turned 18, not even finished school yet, and had never imagined herself dealing with the adult world like this, especially with close to 30,000 yuan involved.
That office was huge. And that Manager Wang was seriously intimidating.
Chen Xing reached out to tickle Zhou Peng's side. Zhou Peng burst into laughter and backed off, but Chen Xing managed to flip him over and pin him down.
"You didn't know? You guys always said I was good at taking pictures."
Zhou Peng struggled to break free, but Chen Xing had gotten stronger and held him down firmly.
"Yeah, but I thought you were just slightly better than the rest of us. I never expected you'd be good enough for someone to hire you."
From the side, Quan Jing pleaded, "Stop wrestling already!"
Chen Xing looked at her, a little surprised, then sighed and got off the bed.
"Man, it's nice having a girlfriend to back you up."
Zhou Peng, seeing Chen Xing's face droop a little, perked up smugly.
"That's what you get for breaking up with her. If you two were still together, you could've seen her again this trip."
"I broke up with her? She was the one who ended things, okay?"
"Fine, fine. Both of you messed up. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. What I really want to know is, how did you get so good at photography? Teach me! I wanna be like you, make twenty grand in two days."
"Plus, being a photographer just sounds artsy. I want that vibe."
You probably just want to be a pervy photographer, Chen Xing thought, shaking his head.
"When have you ever seen me practice? This is pure talent, man. Talent, you know what that is?"
If he'd known earlier that he had this kind of talent, he would've studied photography from the start.
If only he could see people's potential, he could help Zhou Peng find a career path too.
Coming from a school like theirs, students often had uncertain futures.
Every Chinese New Year, when relatives asked about his future, they'd have long chats with his parents. As a kid, Chen Xing thought adulthood was a long way off. But the older he got, the more he realized that future was right in front of him, so close you could almost touch it.
Graduate. Get a job. Get married. Raise kids. Spend a lifetime working for them.
After roughhousing for a while, Zhou Peng finally forced Chen Xing to treat them to a feast at Dian Nan Restaurant. Once full and satisfied, they left, and Chen Xing was finally able to enjoy a hot shower.
He hadn't felt this clean in ages. Dorm life didn't even come close to a hotel stay.
That night, for once, Chen Xing didn't stay up playing on his phone. He went to bed early and woke up at 5 a.m. to his alarm.
Guangzhou Restaurant was known for its dim sum breakfast. Locals loved it. The dinner crowd mostly consisted of tourists.
In fact, some locals didn't even know the restaurant served dinner.
Without disturbing Zhou Peng, Chen Xing headed straight to the restaurant.
Manager Wang was at the front desk giving instructions to a server. When he saw Chen Xing arrive, he waved the staff member away and came over.
"Good morning, Mr. Chen. Ready to start?"
"Yep. Where's the camera?"
"In the office."
Wang took him to pick up the camera, then returned to greet regular customers. A female server led Chen Xing to a private room that had been set up for the shoot.
They even had a professional-grade fill light ready.
Chen Xing examined the camera.
It was an entry-level Canon DSLR. The images it produced tended to be slightly warm in tone, he'd need to adjust for that later.
A few minutes later, Manager Wang poked his head in.
"Ready, Mr. Chen? If so, I'll have the dishes start coming out."
"No problem," Chen Xing replied.
The first dish was served.
The waitress who brought it smiled and said,
"This is crispy shrimp spring rolls. Chef Bu asked me to let you know, most of today's dishes will be prepared by him. After shooting, feel free to try them."
"Thanks!"
He was starting to feel a little hungry.
The plating was gorgeous, almost too beautiful to eat.
A ceramic plate with a pale blue floral interior and ink-brushed exterior. On the right side, six spring rolls were stacked in a triangular formation. On the left, facing Chen Xing, sat a small white dipping dish filled with a bright red sauce. A single flowering crabapple branch was placed alongside it.
It was early, and Chen Xing wasn't quite in the zone yet. It took him a while to find the perfect angle.
After snapping the photos, he grabbed his chopsticks, picked up one spring roll, and said to the waitress,
"All set. Bring the next one."
She carried the plate away. Chen Xing licked his lips and took a big bite.
So tender!
The shrimp had been minced into a fine paste, mixed with diced carrots and vegetables, seasoned to perfection. Juicy and savory, bursting with freshness.
These definitely weren't cheap.
Before he could finish the spring roll, the second dish arrived.
"This is fragrant half-steamed water chestnut cake."
Delicious!
"This is crispy cheese shrimp dumplings."
Also delicious.
"This is steamed taro cake with cured meats."
Huge portion! Like a nine-inch meat pizza. He cut a small slice to taste.
Delicious!
"This is Hakka brown sugar walnut buns."
So fragrant, but I'm full!
Zhou Peng and Quan Jing came down around 9 a.m. and ate their fill too.
Before long, all three were stuffed. No matter how much Chen Xing tried to tempt them, they refused to eat more.
He'd thought the dishes, once photographed, would just be discarded. That seemed like a real shame.
But then he noticed more and more waiters and waitresses walking around with full bellies and shiny lips. That's when he realized
None of the food went to waste.
And rightly so. Wasting food personally made by a head chef would've been downright disrespectful.
(End of Chapter)