Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Happy Troubles

When Xu Heping took over the job of logging orders, he thought it would be a simple task.

But when his phone rang again and again, and the message notification sounds were incessant—the moment he finished replying to one person, three more chat windows would pop up—Xu Heping felt like his head was about to split in two.

By the end of it, the instant his phone rang or a notification chimed, Xu Heping felt his heart rate shoot up to 180. He was on the verge of developing PTSD from all the rings and alerts.

He couldn’t help but admire Xu An. He was about to break after just half a day of this; how had Xu An managed to keep it up?

As he was reflecting on this, another message notification chimed. Xu Heping flinched and quickly opened the chat window to type out a reply.

’Yes, we’re here. This is Xu’s Fast Food. Would you like to place an order?’

...

It wasn’t until a little after eight in the evening that Xu An returned to the restaurant with Xu Kang and Xu Le, who were reluctant to leave and covered in sand.

Xu Heping looked at Xu An as if he were his savior. He eagerly shoved the pen and notebook into Xu An’s arms and let out a long sigh of relief.

Seeing Xu Heping’s reaction, Xu An couldn’t help but tease him a little before flipping open the notebook to check the next day’s orders.

He was fine until he looked, but one glance left him stunned. When the number of the last order came into view, Xu An’s breathing suddenly grew heavier.

So far, they had a total of 342 meal box orders for the next day!

Just by adding one more main course option and expanding the delivery radius by three hundred meters, the orders had shot up by two hundred!

’If I add another main course and expand the delivery range by another three hundred meters, would the orders double again?’

As he thought about it, Xu An was amused by his own idea. It was too much of a fantasy.

He had to be realistic and figure out how to fulfill tomorrow’s orders: 342 delivery orders, 30 to sell at the entrance of the Hai City Library construction site, and 80 for dine-in customers. That was 452 meals in total.

*Hiss!* What a wonderful problem to have!

To get all 452 orders ready before eleven, Xu An woke up at five-thirty to pick up ingredients from the wholesale market.

The market’s peak hours were from four to seven in the morning. Bald Chen was too busy to make a delivery for Xu An, so Xu An had to go pick it up himself.

For the first time in a while, Xu An experienced the feeling of riding his bike alone to the wholesale market in the early morning, a mix of excitement and exhaustion.

When he returned to Xu’s Fast Food with the ingredients at six o’clock, Xu Heping and Xu Lili were already waiting inside. They rushed to help him carry everything in as soon as they saw him.

When Zhou Qi and Liang Dani arrived for their shift, they were stunned to find the restaurant in a state of organized chaos. Even Granny Xu was at the counter with the two little ones, Xu Kang and Xu Le, picking leaves off vegetables.

Before the two could even process the scene, Xu An was already directing them to put on their aprons and get to work.

When they learned they had to prepare a whopping 452 meals before eleven, both Zhou Qi and Liang Dani felt like their minds were splitting.

It was already eight o’clock, and the vegetables weren’t even prepped yet, let alone ready for stir-frying.

But there was no time for them to be shocked. Liang Dani rolled up her sleeves and started washing rice to cook, while Zhou Qi began chopping large bones with loud THWACKS, getting them ready for the soup.

「Xu Family Village.」

Yesterday, after hearing Xu An’s proposal for a partnership, Aunt Hong hadn’t given an immediate answer. Instead, she said she needed to think about it and went home.

She mulled it over until bedtime but still couldn’t come to a decision. As she tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, her mind was filled with the words Xu An had spoken at the beach.

’What if what Xu An said is true? What if his little restaurant really can go through over a hundred pounds of fruits and vegetables a day?’

’Then I wouldn’t have to agonize over partnering with Victory Supermarket. Having everyone plant the same type of vegetable is just too risky.’

Ever since Victory Supermarket had proposed a partnership with her and the others, her first reaction hadn’t been happiness, but unease.

For days, her mind had been plagued by a series of negative thoughts: ’What if the supermarket breaks the contract? What if they find an excuse to drive down the price after we’ve grown everything?’

After thinking it over and over for a long time, an idea suddenly struck Aunt Hong.

’Why don’t I just go to Anzi’s restaurant tomorrow and see for myself!’

’Whether they can really use over a hundred pounds of produce... I’ll know just by looking at their customer traffic!’

’It’s direct, clear, and I won’t have to worry myself sick over nothing!’

Having finally found a solution to the problem that had kept her up all night, Aunt Hong slept peacefully.

When she opened her eyes the next morning, she saw it was already bright outside. A glance at the clock showed it was already nine-thirty!

After hastily washing up, Aunt Hong hopped on her little electric scooter and headed toward the Zijing Garden construction site.

She parked her scooter in front of Xu’s Fast Food and peeked inside, but she only saw Granny Xu sitting behind the cash register, with no sign of Anzi and the others.

"Auntie, I heard you came to Anzi’s shop to handle the accounts. You’re as vigorous as ever, Auntie! So full of life."

"Oh, it’s Xiudie," Granny Xu said, a little surprised to see Aunt Hong. "Are you here to try Anzi’s cooking? Come in, have a seat."

"Auntie, I need to talk to Anzi about something. Is he not in the restaurant?" Aunt Hong walked inside, scanning the room again, but she still couldn’t see Anzi or the others.

"They’re busy in the kitchen."

Following Granny Xu’s pointed finger, Aunt Hong finally noticed four or five people standing in the seemingly quiet kitchen, working silently.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Granny Xu, Aunt Hong walked to the kitchen doorway and saw the bustling scene inside.

Xu Kang and Xu Le were in charge of handing over take-out boxes; Xu An and Zhou Qi were responsible for filling the boxes with food; Xu Heping and Liang Dani were tasked with closing the lids and applying labels; and Xu Lili was putting each meal box into a plastic bag and stacking them neatly in styrofoam containers.

All the steps were carried out in an orderly fashion, just like a small assembly line.

She looked at the large metal basins on the big steel table in the middle of them, all filled to the brim, and made a rough estimate in her head.

’Just these few basins of food could feed at least one or two hundred people.’

Looking down, she saw five or six already packed styrofoam containers lined up against the side wall of the kitchen.

’One container can hold thirty meals, so six is one hundred and eighty. There are four empty ones on the side, and Lili is holding another one, filling it with packed meal boxes.’

’Wow, that’s three to four hundred meal boxes right there!’

Seeing this, the anxiety that had gripped Aunt Hong for a day finally subsided. It seemed Anzi wasn’t just talking big; business was genuinely good, and the restaurant really could go through over a hundred pounds of produce a day.

Seeing how busy everyone was, Aunt Hong asked directly, "Anzi, need a hand?"

Xu An looked up at the sound of her voice and was surprised to see it was Aunt Hong. "Aunt Hong, what brings you to the restaurant?"

"I came to see how business was going," Aunt Hong stated her purpose plainly. She pointed to the pile of meal boxes on the table that were filled but not yet bagged. "Need my help?"

With less than half an hour until eleven and over a hundred meal boxes still to be packed, Xu An naturally wouldn’t refuse Aunt Hong’s kind offer. He nodded in thanks.

Aunt Hong found an empty spot next to Xu Lili, grabbed an empty styrofoam container, and also started packing the meal boxes and stacking them inside.

With Aunt Hong’s help, the packing speed visibly increased.

While the packing was still underway, the workers had already finished their shifts and were trickling into the restaurant to eat.

Zhou Qi, who had been dishing up food in the kitchen, stopped and went out to the hot food counter to serve the workers.

But as Zhou Qi served the food, he seemed somewhat drained. His ladle wavered from side to side, lacking its usual stability.

While busying herself in the kitchen, Aunt Hong kept an eye on the customers eating in the restaurant.

In no time, both the first and second floors were completely full. Some workers, after getting their food, found a shady spot outside and squatted down to eat.

Even so, many others were still standing in line with their plates, waiting to be served.

After packing the last meal box, the scales in Aunt Hong’s heart had tipped completely in favor of Xu’s Fast Food.

"Anzi, when you get back to the village tonight, let’s talk about the partnership in detail."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!