Chapter 155: Can't Let the Pain Be for Nothing!
Chapter 155: Can't Let the Pain Be for Nothing!
After singing for over an hour, Chen Lei stepped off the stage for a break.
Ma Yang called him over and briefly explained the details of the salary and drink commission plan.
Chen Lei scratched his head and responded without hesitation, “Sounds good.”
That caught Ma Yang a bit off guard.
“It’s no problem—if you think the base pay is too low, we can increase it,” Ma Yang offered.
Chen Lei blinked. “Then… let’s increase it, I guess.”
Ma Yang: “……”
Look at how straightforward this kid is!
Ma Yang felt like he’d just outplayed himself. He had expected Chen Lei to politely refuse with a “No need, really,” so he could politely brush it off and move on.
Instead, it was Chen Lei who had taken the opportunity and gone with it.
But a promise was a promise.
Ma Yang hesitated for a moment. “Alright, we’ll raise it to 1,800 for your base salary, plus the drink commission. Just make sure that when you’re back on stage, you mention it to the audience—tell them to buy more drinks, got it?”
Chen Lei looked awkward and hesitated. “Brother Ma… I’m too shy. Maybe just leave it at 1,500 and don’t make me talk to the audience?”
Ma Yang was speechless. This kid’s really shy, huh?
“Forget it. You just focus on singing. I’ll announce it. Your base pay is staying at 1,800—don’t worry about anything else.”
Chen Lei nodded and went off to grab some water and rest.
Ma Yang gave Zhang Yuan a look, and the latter instantly understood. He headed for the stage.
“Mic check, mic check.”
“Hi everyone, just a quick intro—I’m Zhang, manager of Moyu Internet Café.”
Someone in the crowd whispered, “Wasn’t he just the resident singer last week? Got kicked off the mic by Chen Lei and now he’s been promoted?”
Zhang Yuan noticed the crowd wasn’t exactly thrilled to see him, so he cut straight to the point:
“Thank you all for your support. I just want to quickly announce a new benefit we’re offering for our resident singer!”
“Starting today, during Chen Lei’s performance—every night from 7 to 11 PM—a portion of the proceeds from all drink sales will go directly to him as a commission.”
“As for the specifics…”
“In a few days, we’ll have new menus printed. Each drink will clearly indicate how much Chen Lei earns from it.”
“So if you like his singing, why not order another drink or two? It’s a great way to show your support—thank you all!”
Zhang Yuan stepped down right after that, without a single wasted word.
This matched Moyu Internet Café’s usual philosophy: less talk, more action. Service should be like a gentle breeze—only noticed when truly needed.
The audience immediately stirred.
“Drink commission goes to the singer?”
“That’s actually really decent!”
“And half the profits? Can I go up and sing too?”
“Sure—if you sound better than Chen Lei.”
“This is awesome. Count me in—another round!”
“Same here, I’ll take one more.”
“Over here, waiter!”
For the first time since opening, the servers actually got busy.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan exchanged a smile.
Not bad. This might actually work!
…
Late at night.
Many patrons were slightly tipsy but still reluctant to leave.
Before stepping off the stage, Chen Lei, for the first time ever, actually said “Thank you” to the crowd—blushing fiercely as he did—and then quickly escaped into the internet area.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan helped the staff see the guests off at the door.
“Thank you for your support!”
“Take care on your way home!”
“Thanks for coming! Hope to see you again!”
It wasn’t until 10:30 that all the customers finally cleared out.
“Quick, tally it up—how much did we make from drinks?!”
Ma Yang rushed over to the register, unable to contain his excitement.
But just a few minutes later, the look of excitement faded from his face.
“We sold quite a lot of drinks, but… is this all the money we made?”
Ma Yang looked deeply disappointed.
He had hoped tonight would mark a turning point toward profitability—but after looking at the sales figures, he was instantly deflated.
Tonight’s drink sales were indeed far higher than usual—at least 80% more than the daily average!
In other words, most of the customers tonight had ordered a second drink after hearing that their orders would contribute to Chen Lei’s commission—and many of those were premium cocktails.
But they were still far from breaking even.
Zhang Yuan, more level-headed, said, “This is normal. Brother Ma, yes, drink sales went up, but we still have too few customers.”
“Think about it—even if every seat in this place is filled, even if we have people standing, how many drinks can we realistically sell? Maybe a bit over a hundred? That’s already a lot. For one night, we’re probably earning a few hundred to maybe a thousand yuan. Multiply that across a month, that’s only about 20 to 30 thousand.”
“Wait.” Ma Yang frowned. “So you’re saying, if we earn 20 or 30 thousand, we also have to give Chen Lei 20 or 30 thousand?”
Zhang Yuan was speechless. “Brother Ma, come on, that’s what you set up—the 50% commission…”
Ma Yang’s long face instantly fell. “...I take it back. Let’s not give him 50%. How about 5%? Or 1%?”
Zhang Yuan nearly burst out laughing. “Brother Ma, you can’t just backpedal the same night you made the promise. That’d be straight-up kicking the guy out. The 50% commission was your idea.”
“I know it was, but I didn’t realize it’d be this much…” Ma Yang scratched his head in frustration, clearly suffering.
Zhang Yuan couldn’t help rolling his eyes.
‘No wonder Ma Yang was so generous—he hadn’t done the math!’
But seeing that Ma Yang was actually serious about reneging, Zhang Yuan quickly stepped in to talk him down.
“Brother Ma, seriously—no need to panic. We’re already losing 300,000 yuan a month. Even if you keep all of Chen Lei’s commission for yourself, it only adds back 20 or 30K. That’s not a real solution.”
“If we give Chen Lei a bigger cut, and the audience keeps supporting him, eventually word will spread. Once we have enough customers, then we’ll be in good shape.”
Ma Yang frowned. “And how many is enough? If we go by your numbers, we’d need to sell a thousand drinks a night just to cover the café’s losses. That’s not even remotely possible. This place couldn’t fit 200 people, let alone a thousand.”
Zhang Yuan was momentarily stumped. “Uh… Well, for now, at least we’ve boosted drink sales. Let’s monitor things for a while—but whatever we do, we can’t ‘ditch the donkey after it’s done grinding.’”
“I still feel the pain.” Ma Yang rubbed his temples, the heartache almost suffocating.
His long face was full of regret and unwillingness.
“No—I can’t let myself suffer in silence like this!”
“The customers have to feel it too!”
Zhang Yuan blinked. “How exactly are they supposed to feel it?”
Ma Yang looked around, then pointed to the empty wall next to the stage. “Right there. Let’s put up a small screen.”
“Every time someone orders a drink, have it show a message: the table number, what drink was ordered, and how much of it went to Chen Lei as commission. Add a little message at the end too.”
“That way, everyone in the café can see it whenever someone orders a drink.”
“And at the top of the screen, we’ll show the total amount of commission Chen Lei has earned that night.”
“I’m paying so much—I refuse to suffer alone. The entire audience needs to know how much I’m sacrificing!”
Zhang Yuan thought it over. “Actually, that’s doable. A small display screen isn’t expensive. Leave it to me—I’ll get it set up by tomorrow.”
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