[T/N: From this chapter until 415, the story takes place in China. If you want , you can skip these 17 chapters. I will provide a summary of these chapters in 416.]
[Chapter 399: How Hiring Waitresses Turned Into a Beauty Pageant]
After resting overnight in Cali, Linton returned to Puelenje by bus the next morning. Linton thought he'd finally get a chance to rest, but Miguel Herrera's insistent call had pulled him onto an overnight flight across the Pacific.
"Señor, I've prepared something special for you," Miguel had said in that eager, secretive tone. "It's better if you come to Hong Kong right away. Trust me -- you won't regret it."
And so here he was, stepping out into the humid morning air at Kai Tak Airport. Miguel was already there waiting, grinning like a man who couldn't wait to unveil a surprise. Beside him stood a well-dressed Asian official with sharp eyes and a steady manner.
"Señor Linton," Miguel said, pulling him into a hug, "let me introduce Lin Hao, Deputy Director at the Home Affairs Department. He's an old friend of mine. Without him, I couldn't have pulled this off."
Lin Hao extended his hand politely. "Mr. Linton, welcome to Hong Kong."
"Señor, I have exceeded the task you assigned me."
"Exceeded?"
"Yes, once I arrived in Hong Kong like you instructed, I found Lin Hao here and with his help, we found a labor service company to cooperate with..." Miguel began to talk about his recruitment experience with a beaming face, no, it was his beauty pageant experience.
---
Miguel lived a very happy life during this period. At work, he successfully won a large order for the construction of Linton Farm gardens.
This was a huge order of 5 million US dollars, and the project was progressing smoothly. Linton paid the money generously, and 4 million US dollars had already been received.
Privately, he accepted the commission to help Linton select 100 young waitresses. Linton did not let him help in vain. He signed a contract with him at that time and transferred him $100,000 in labor fees in the name of service fees.
After returning from the States, Miguel had invested $20,000 with a staffing agency in Hong Kong, then spent $30,000 buying a daily 30-second TV slot. The ad read:
[American top gardening company is hiring maids and waitresses aged 16 to 22, with a high school diploma. Applicants should be good-looking, hardworking, kind, and between 5'3" and 5'9".
Benefits included room and board, an annual salary of $120,000, one month paid vacation, a five-year contract, guaranteed annual raises, and even the possibility of U.S. residency for top performers.
For inquiries, call XXXXX.]
The ad featured clips of Linton's grand landscaping projects.
The result was chaos. Within weeks, the agency received over 10,000 applications from around the world. After filtering, more than 8,000 still met the basic requirements. The pay was unheard of -- six figures a year, in a country where top-tier salaries barely passed $2,000. Add housing, vacations, and immigration opportunities, and the job sounded like a golden ticket.
Many of his contacts, prominent officials and wealthy families, scrambled to secure spots. Miguel and Lin Hao entertained endless dinners and gifts.
Although the waitress job was not very prestigious, they could not resist the temptation of an American green card. After hearing that it was Linton Anderson's garden that was recruiting, their determination to join became stronger.
There are always some people in this world who can take shortcuts. As long as the descendants of these people met the hard requirements and were not too bad looking, Miguel agreed. However, he also said that he was only responsible for the recommendation and that the final decision was in Linton's hands.
In this way, he gave away more than 20 places, which earned him a lot of favors and built a lot of new connections.
But with so many applicants, Miguel decided to organize three rounds of elimination.
In the first round, they contacted a hospital and negotiated a preferential price. All applicants went to this hospital for routine physical examinations, which added subjects such as height and body measurements. Of course, the medical examination fees were borne by the applicants themselves.
According to the physical examination reports, those with any diseases, height below 5'3" or above 5'9", chest circumference below 34", waist circumference above 24", and hip circumference below 35" were rejected.
After screening according to this standard, 90% of the applicants were eliminated, leaving only a little over 700 people.
Next came the second round, in which the company scored the candidates based on the photos in their applications. Those with a score below 80 were rejected. This eliminated half of the candidates, leaving only over 300 people.
The third round was an on-site interview. Miguel spent 20,000 US dollars to organize a grand interview. Seven experts were invited from TV stations, universities, and other institutions to form a jury, and an interview venue was rented at a stadium.
More than 300 girls who entered the third round performed three programs: talents (singing, dancing, or playing musical instruments of their choice), cooking, and women's work. The judges scored each person's three performances one by one, plus appearance scores and image and temperament scores, 20 points each, for a total of 100 points.
The seven judges scored all the contestants, summarized the results, and ranked them from high to low, taking the top 100.
There was no guarantee that the 100 people who survived these three rounds of beauty pageants were kind-hearted, but they could cook and do housework, so they should be hardworking. More importantly, their appearance was definitely impeccable, and each of them was a young, beautiful, and lively beauty.
---
By the time they reached the hotel and stepped into the ballroom, Linton froze. Rows upon rows of girls filled the space, each wearing a number tag pinned neatly to her dress.
"There must be…" Linton murmured.
"Yes, I organized a beauty pageant and carefully selected 128 young and beautiful women," Miguel finished proudly.
"Beauty pageant? Miguel, Director Lin, you must be mistaken. I am recruiting waitresses and maids. Do you think such beautiful girls would be interested?"
Using a beauty pageant to recruit maids -- what in the hell was this?
"As I was saying, the offer you provided was too generous. We trimmed them down through multiple rounds. Out of thousands, these are the top hundred. And on top of that, twenty-eight more I couldn't turn away -- daughters from wealthy families, recommended personally. That's how we landed at 128."
He gestured around the room, his voice dropping slightly. "Every one of them is young, beautiful, and able to work. Some might not exactly scream 'maid,' but with salaries this high, señor, even the elite wanted in."
Miguel clapped him on the shoulder. "Señor, I told you it'd be worth the trip."
*****
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