Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Outside the Delivery Range

Ever since placing the order, Ye Ning had been looking forward to tomorrow’s lunch.

To ensure he could eat as early as possible, he specifically chose Xu’s Fast Food’s earliest delivery slot: eleven-thirty.

From eleven twenty-five on, Ye Ning was on pins and needles. His ears were perked, trying not to miss the slightest sound from outside his door.

The person in charge of this delivery was Old Han. Ye Ning’s address happened to be just over a hundred meters from a company he was also delivering to, so he could conveniently drop it off on the same trip.

Following the customer’s provided address, Old Han walked along until he realized something wasn’t right. ’This looks like a residential area!’

As he got closer, he saw several elderly men and women gathered in twos and threes under a large banyan tree in front of the building, chatting away. Old Han was now certain this was a residential address.

The residents all knew one another; they were clear on how many people were in each family, and even who their friends were.

Upon seeing a stranger like Old Han suddenly walk into their complex, the men and women straightened up and stopped chatting, their eyes locked on him.

’He looks like a respectable young fellow. What’s that box on the back of his bike? A toolbox?’

One of the old men took a couple of steps closer and saw the words on the box: Xu’s Fast Food.

’Xu’s Fast Food? Is that a new restaurant? I’ve never seen it before!’

Old Han stared at the three identical apartment buildings before him, completely lost. ’They all look the same, and there are no building numbers. How am I supposed to know which one the customer is in?!’

He turned his head and saw an old man standing nearby, sizing him up. Old Han hurried over.

"Sir, do you know which building this address is in?" Old Han asked, handing the old man a slip of paper with the address on it.

The old man took the slip, held it out at arm’s length, and squinted at it for a long moment.

"Oh, that kid Ye Ning! He’s in the first building. Sixth floor, the apartment on the left." After speaking, the old man handed the paper back to Old Han. He then pointed to the words on the delivery box and asked, "Is this a new restaurant? Where is it located? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before."

"Yes, we just opened recently. We’re over on Zijing Road." As he spoke, Old Han took a flyer from his delivery box and handed it to the old man. "This is our flyer. You can take a look."

The old man took the flyer and stood there reading it. The other men and women, their curiosity piqued, all gathered around.

"South Zijing Road? Isn’t that four or five kilometers from here? How can they deliver from so far away?"

"Whoa, these dishes look really good."

"These... whatever-they-are meatballs look delicious. I wonder how they’re made. If only there was a recipe."

"Food from a restaurant is never as clean as a home-cooked meal. We need to have a serious talk with that Ye Ning kid. He shouldn’t ruin his health like this."

"That’s true."

...

Amidst the chatter of the elderly crowd, Old Han had already reached Ye Ning’s door with the food container and rung the doorbell.

The moment the doorbell rang, the minute hand on the clock pointed directly at the 6. It was exactly eleven-thirty in the morning.

Ye Ning shot up from the floor. He opened the door, paid the money, took the food, and shut the door—the entire process took less than five seconds.

He cleared away the keyboard, tablet, and a series of other devices from his desk, making a clean space to set down the food container.

Night-blooming cereus and soybean soup. ’It’s alright.’ Ye Ning wasn’t a huge fan of this soup, but he didn’t hate it either. It was edible, just not something he particularly liked.

What was in the next container? Diced chicken with chili peppers!

Every piece of chicken was fried to a golden crisp, mixed with equally savory and crunchy fried peanuts. Bright red dried chilies, vibrant green scallions, and snow-white sesame seeds were sprinkled on top as garnish. Ye Ning could only describe it with one word: Awesome!

The second container held scrambled eggs with green beans and bok choy with minced pork. They didn’t look as spectacular as the diced chicken, but they were solid, standard fare.

He took out the last container. As expected, it was filled to the brim with white rice.

Ye Ning picked up the disposable chopsticks, ready to eat. But as he gazed at the sumptuous meal before him, he put the chopsticks down, picked up his phone, and took a picture of the food with a SNAP.

Without editing the photo at all, he sent it directly to a chat group named "1024."

’Time to eat!’

After sending the message, Ye Ning put down his phone and picked up his chopsticks again.

He was a bit reserved with the first bite, but with the second, his chopsticks began to move faster and faster, and his chewing speed also picked up.

’If there was a plugin to increase his chewing speed, Ye Ning would install it without a second thought.’

Ye Ning polished off the meal, which weighed over three pounds, in a flash. He still wasn’t satisfied, and his gaze drifted to the other meal he had planned to save for dinner.

But in the battle between appetite and stomach capacity, stomach capacity usually wins. He still wanted to eat more, but his stomach was already full. He simply couldn’t take another bite.

’Better distract myself.’ Ye Ning picked up his phone, opened his chat app, and saw there were 99+ new messages in the "1024" group chat.

’Wow, God Ye finally went out to eat! How many times has he left his residential complex this year?’

’The third time, if I’m not mistaken.’

’You two above, take a closer look. The table, the container, the chopsticks... he’s obviously at home!’

’Huh, you’re right.’

’The packaging looks pretty professional. God Ye, is EatNow available in your area yet?’

’I don’t think so. I checked, and Hai City isn’t on their expansion list yet.’

’...’

The rest of the conversation was mostly about EatNow’s business prospects. He scrolled down a few more pages and saw someone asking where his meal was from.

Ye Ning picked up the flyer he’d found yesterday, took a picture of it, and sent it to the group.

The chat, which had just quieted down, immediately lit up again.

’The food from this place looks good! Why is their delivery area so small? I’m only two kilometers away, but it’s out of range. I hate my life!’

’Looks like a budget version of EatNow. My office is in their delivery zone, so I’ll give it a try tomorrow.’

’I’m so jealous of the person above. I’m outside the delivery range too.’

’...’

「Qianhai Town.」

SMACK.

Lin Xu Yang swatted a mosquito that was sucking blood from his calf, leaving a smear of blood on his leg.

He disgustedly picked up a leaf from the ground and wiped his leg with it, his attention quickly returning to the entrance of the Anxin Pet Food Processing Company.

His department had been staking the place out for nearly half a month. During that time, the Anxin Pet Food Processing Company had carried on with its daily routine—receiving supplies, producing cat and dog food, and shipping out orders—with no irregularities whatsoever.

SMACK.

After killing another bloodthirsty mosquito, Lin Xu Yang couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’This boss sure has a lot of nerve. Not a peep out of him for half a month.’

Just as Lin Xu Yang was grumbling internally, Zhang Daoyi finally appeared in his line of sight.

Zhang Daoyi was dressed in his usual business suit, a briefcase tucked under his arm and a large, jingling ring of keys hanging from his waist. He walked briskly to a car, started it, and drove out of town.

Lin Xu Yang quickly called his colleague, and they got back in their car, tailing Zhang Daoyi’s vehicle from a distance.

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