Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Die, Ah Wei

At 5:50 in the morning, just as Xu An opened the restaurant’s doors, Aunt Hong appeared at the entrance on her electric tricycle.

"Morning, Aunt Hong."

"Morning, Anzi." Aunt Hong dismounted and deftly unloaded four baskets of vegetables from the back of her vehicle.

Xu An weighed all the vegetables. Once he had the total weight, he began calculating the cost based on their agreed-upon price.

After Xu An finished the calculations and settled the payment for the day’s goods, Aunt Hong didn’t leave. She smiled and said, "Anzi, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Xu An’s first thought was, ’Don’t tell me the greenhouse can’t keep up with supply.’

He’d seen Aunt Hong’s greenhouse and knew its approximate daily output. Demand had been a bit high lately, so it would be perfectly normal if she couldn’t keep up.

"Your demand has been pretty high recently," Aunt Hong said. "I heard you even went to promote over at Red Brick Creative Park. Are you planning on expanding your business?"

"Yes, that’s the plan." Xu An nodded. "Aunt Hong, just give me whatever you have. I can just buy whatever you’re short on from the wholesale market."

Aunt Hong waved her hands dismissively, her face wreathed in smiles.

"No, that’s not it. I was just wondering, would you be willing to buy produce from other greenhouses?"

’Other greenhouses?’

Xu An recalled visiting Aunt Hong’s greenhouse and seeing a dense cluster of over twenty others nearby.

But hadn’t Victory Supermarket approached them about a partnership? Why would someone suddenly want to work with him?

"I thought Victory Supermarket was looking to partner with them. Did something change?" Xu An asked tentatively.

"Nobody’s finalized anything yet. This is about an old friend of mine; she’s not too keen on working with Victory Supermarket anyway. Since your demand is high, I did a quick estimate. Once your orders increase a little more, you should have no problem taking the output from both our farms. So I thought I’d come and ask."

As she spoke, Aunt Hong seemed to remember something and added with high praise, "She’s also a master farmer. The fruits and vegetables she tends are just as good as mine."

Hearing this, Xu An nodded. If the quality was good, it was worth considering.

"How about this, Aunt Hong? I’ll come find you this afternoon after I get back to the village. We can go check out her greenhouse together, and I’ll make a decision then."

"Alright, I’ll be waiting for you at home this afternoon."

"Okay, sounds good. Stay safe on the road, Aunt Hong."

Just then, Xu Heping, Xu Lili, Liang Dani, and Zhou Qi arrived for work and helped move the vegetables and fruits from the entrance into the restaurant.

’Yup, judging by Xu Heping’s expression, today is another ’I don’t want to talk to you’ day.’

Xu An wisely dodged to the side, keeping a safe distance from him.

Xu Lili had long since noticed the tension between them, but after a moment’s thought, she decided not to mediate. Instead, she settled in to watch the show.

’Those two have been thick as thieves since they were kids. It’s amazing they’re even capable of fighting.’

’And it’s not just a small spat; they’ve been at it for two days now. That’s really something else.’

’I really want to see how long it takes for them to make up this time. I’ll bet on one week!’

He got up early and started washing the clothes he’d worn to the sea yesterday. It took washing out a full two pounds of mud to get them clean.

In a large red basin covered with a bamboo mat in the corner of the yard were the two pounds of Jumping Fish he caught yesterday. He poked them with his finger; only two were stiff, while the rest were still very much alive and kicking.

’This isn’t enough to sell. I’ll just wait until I get back from the sea today and take them all to the market tomorrow.’

He picked up a plastic bottle sitting nearby, which contained seawater he’d brought back yesterday. He poured a little into the basin before covering it with the bamboo mat again.

After busying himself for a while, it was already ten o’clock. Before heading out, Li Xindong shouted into the house.

"Mom, I’m saving these fish to sell tomorrow, so don’t cook them!"

"Who wants your measly few fish?" an impatient voice drifted out from the bedroom.

Hearing his mother’s reply, Li Xindong hopped on his bicycle and headed toward Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.

When he got to the restaurant, he saw two tricycles and over a dozen bicycles parked outside. Li Xindong found an empty spot, locked up his bike, and then walked inside.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Granny Xu sitting behind the cash register. He immediately greeted her politely, "Hello, Granny. I’m Xu An’s classmate, Xindong."

"Hello, hello! Anzi told me yesterday you’d be coming. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Go get something to eat first." Granny Xu was exceptionally warm as she called over Liang Dani to take Li Xindong to get some food.

Still in a bit of a daze, Li Xindong ate with the others and then set off on his bicycle.

Xu Heping led the main group toward Hai City Library, while Xu An took Old Han, Old Han’s roommate, and Li Xindong to Red Brick Creative Park.

Listening to Xu An and Old Han chat along the way, Li Xindong slowly started to put the pieces together.

’So, this Xu An... seems to be one of the owners of the fast food restaurant. All the employees running around were calling him ’Boss’.’

But as an old classmate, he knew a fair bit about Xu An’s family situation. With elders to support and youngsters to raise, their only income was from that small patch of theirs. Where did the money to open a restaurant come from?

While his mind was racing, the group arrived at the main entrance of Red Brick Creative Park. Xu An pulled a notebook from his pocket and started assigning orders to the three of them.

Old Han reprised his role as the starter village’s guide NPC, responsible for teaching the newcomer, Li Xindong, the ropes of being a delivery rider.

The roads in the creative park were simple, so even though the order count for each company wasn’t large, the deliveries went quickly.

In a flurry of activity, Old Han and Li Xindong delivered over sixty boxed meals in no time. Only four were left in their delivery containers.

The last delivery was to Sunshine Photography Company.

’It’s right over by the South Gate. Let’s go!’

’Finish this delivery, and we can head back to Hai City Library, pick up the orders there, and keep making that sweet cash!’

Mao Yuanshan had received a flyer from Xu’s Fast Food when he went out for lunch yesterday.

He had handed out flyers on the street back in college, so he knew the job looked easy but wasn’t, and it didn’t pay well. He’d casually taken the flyer and stuffed it into his pocket.

At lunchtime, all the nearby restaurants were packed. Forget finding an empty table; you’d be lucky to find a spare stool.

At the roadside food stalls, every single one had at least four or five people waiting in line.

Mao Yuanshan had no choice but to find a less crowded restaurant, place a to-go order, and take it back to the office to eat.

While waiting, he realized he’d been too busy that morning to charge his phone. The battery was at two percent, so he couldn’t even play on his phone now.

Bored out of his mind, he resorted to fiddling with his fingers. Then he remembered the flyer he’d just received, pulled it out of his pocket, and began to read it with interest.

When he saw the words "Xu’s Fast Food," he felt a sense of familiarity, as if he’d heard the name somewhere before—probably more than once.

He then looked at the rest of the flyer. When he saw the pictures, a strange expression came over his face.

He remembered!

’Isn’t this the restaurant Wei was in charge of photographing?’

’But every time Wei came back from a shoot there, he’d complain about how mediocre the food was and how mean the owner was. How could such a trashy place expand its business all the way over here?’

’Could it be that the food was so bad and the service so poor that they couldn’t survive in their old neighborhood, so now they’re planning to rip off people over here who don’t know any better?’

Just then, the meal Mao Yuanshan had ordered was ready and packed. A waiter called out for him to pick it up.

His train of thought interrupted, he paid, took his food, and stuffed the flyer back into his pocket as he walked toward his office.

As he was about to reach his building, Mao Yuanshan saw an acquaintance—a designer from the company next door whom he’d met while slacking off downstairs.

He saw the man holding two bags containing four boxed meals, heading into the building.

Mao Yuanshan clearly saw the words "Xu’s Fast Food" printed in large letters on the outside of the bags.

The questions from before flooded his mind again. He quickened his pace, called out to the designer, and asked, "How’s the food from Xu’s Fast Food? I just got one of their flyers at the entrance, and it looks pretty good."

"It’s great! Our whole office has been ordering from them these past few days."

The man enthusiastically gestured for Mao Yuanshan to look at the dishes in the boxed meal, offering a couple of comments on each one.

After seeing all the food in the box, two raging fires ignited in Mao Yuanshan’s eyes. He strode resolutely toward his office.

’My little bread! My Wang Zai milk! My lollipops! My happy-otaku water!...’

’How dare he so brazenly play with our emotions!’

’Wei, prepare to die!’

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