Chapter 18: The Straightforward Worker Brother
The workers’ fears of corners being cut and other such concerns never came to pass. The quality of the food every day was absolutely top-notch.
After Qiao Guoxing and his wife made a daily show of flaunting their food in the cafeteria, more and more people wanted to buy the bento boxes.
Xu An’s stall went from taking an hour and a half to sell fifty bento boxes to now selling out in about an hour.
With the help of Uncle Dongliang’s friend, all the necessary documents—the health certificate, sanitation permit, temporary stall permit, and so on—were all processed within three days.
Every time he set up his stall, he carried these documents with him in case of a spot check.
For the next week, Xu An’s business was very stable, consistently selling out fifty bento boxes a day in about an hour.
There were many workers at the construction site, but not many were willing to spend extra money. Xu An’s stall had siphoned off a third of those who were.
With more people buying from Xu An, it was only natural that fewer people went to the restaurant across the street.
The owner of Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant had originally thought the small stall’s popularity would only last a few days. She figured that once the hype died down, her own business would return to normal.
But to her surprise, a week passed, and the stall’s business was still booming. This made her antsy.
It wasn’t until the stall across the street packed up and left that workers started trickling into her restaurant to buy bento boxes.
The proprietress shed her usual aloof attitude from behind the cash register and enthusiastically went outside to make small talk with a worker.
After some meaningless chatter, she finally got to the point.
"I see there’s a new bento box stall over at your construction site. Business seems pretty good lately, huh?"
The worker was friendly and sincere, and he spoke his mind. "It’s cheap, delicious, and the portions are huge. Everyone loves it."
"Hahaha, but you must like our chicken leg rice more, right? Xiao Shan, give this gentleman a bigger chicken leg in his bento box, and add a tiger-skin egg for him."
"Your chicken leg rice is good, but the portions are too small. One box isn’t filling, and two are too expensive. I can only get it for a treat now and then." The worker paused, then added, "I got off work late today. By the time I came out, the other stall was already sold out."
His words were like a sharp arrow piercing the proprietress’s heart.
’So he only came to buy my chicken leg rice because the other place sold out. I’m just the backup option.’
Ever since the construction site across the street started work, the workers’ spending had accounted for a third of her restaurant’s income. Now, that third of her income had been reduced to a third of what it was. The proprietress couldn’t swallow this insult.
’These were supposed to be my customers, my income! I can’t just let some beat-up tricycle steal them away for no reason.’
An idea flashed in her mind. The proprietress then told an employee to give the worker a free bowl of soup.
"Besides the small portions, are there any other shortcomings you can think of? We want to improve."
"It’s just the small portions. Not enough meat, not enough vegetables, and not enough rice," the worker answered, as blunt as ever.
"What kind of dishes do you all like to eat?" the proprietress asked, pressing on.
"Meat, of course. The more the better." The worker laughed with that same simple honesty, taking the bento box from the employee. It was noticeably heavier than usual. He gave the proprietress a thumbs-up. "Now this is a hefty portion today."
After the worker left, the proprietress turned and shouted, "Someone come sweep the entrance! It’s filthy with dust. Other customers won’t dare to come in if they see this mess."
"So stingy, yet they have such high standards," the proprietress muttered unforgivingly as she returned to her post behind the register. "They want more meat, the more the better. Why don’t you just ask me to put a whole pig in your bento box?"
Adding more meat would lower her profits. Right now, an eight-yuan chicken leg bento box earned her a profit of four to five yuan. If she added more meat, she’d probably only make two or three yuan.
But earning less was better than earning nothing. The proprietress glanced at the construction site entrance through the window. She didn’t see Xu An, but she couldn’t stop herself from cursing, "What rotten luck, running into someone who does business at a loss. This is vicious competition, just vicious!"
After the lunch rush, the proprietress packed up her things and headed for the wholesale market.
There were two wholesale markets in the city, one large and one small. The large one was on the east side, and the smaller one was only about two kilometers away from it, not a great distance.
The proprietress went to the large wholesale market first. She was surprised to find that her current meat supplier was actually very reasonable. With the prices at this market, the most she could make on a chicken leg bento box was three and a half yuan.
’Maybe I should just stick with my current supplier.’ But since she had already come all this way, she decided she might as well check out the smaller wholesale market.
The proprietress detoured to the small wholesale market. It had fewer types of food products than the large one, and they weren’t as fresh, but the prices were a little lower.
The proprietress was not satisfied with these prices. They were about the same as her current supplier’s, so why go to all this trouble?
As she was leaving the small wholesale market, about to head back, she was suddenly stopped by a portly, big-eared middle-aged man.
"Hey, Boss, you looking for cheap meat? I’ve got it all—chicken, pork, beef, lamb. And this is all real pork, lamb, and beef, not duck or rat meat passed off as the real thing."
"For real?" The proprietress took the flyer from the man’s hand, her skepticism apparent. She scanned it quickly, and her eyes instantly lit up.
’If the meat is really this cheap,’ she thought, ’I could add more meat to the chicken leg bento boxes and still make four yuan per meal. That’s a great deal.’
Seeing that the proprietress was tempted, the man immediately pressed his advantage.
"My vehicle is nearby. It’s only a fifteen-minute ride. Want to go take a look at the goods yourself?"
The proprietress hesitated for a moment, but then nodded.
She went there on his motorcycle. The moment she got off, she stepped into a puddle of bloody water where several maggots were squirming.
The proprietress leaped back and couldn’t help but complain, "Your sanitary conditions are horrendous! What is that in the water? Are those maggots? UGH."
"We’ve just been too busy, no time to clean up. Come on inside, it’s cleaner in there."
’I’ve come all this way, I can’t just leave. I should at least take a look.’
With that thought, the proprietress followed the middle-aged man into a warehouse.
She was immediately hit by the sight of several packed rows of meat exuding a rotten stench. The proprietress’s expression changed in an instant.
Although she was a penny-pincher who loved making money, she still had a basic human conscience. The meat on these shelves was not fit for human consumption.
The middle-aged man noticed her reaction and explained with a chuckle, "This meat out here is for making pet food, not for people. The meat I’m showing you is still in the cold storage. Just wait a minute, someone’s picking out their order now, you’ll be able to see it."
Looking around, she saw that there were indeed quite a few people in the warehouse picking out goods.
Suddenly, the proprietress saw a very familiar face.
’Isn’t that the owner of the Good and Come Again Fast Food Restaurant from the main street? His portions are large and generous, and his prices are low, which attracts a lot of customers. I’ve asked him where he gets his supplies before, but he never said. Now I’ve found him out.’
The proprietress sidled up to him. "Old Liu! Didn’t expect to see you here, huh? I found your supply spot."
The man she called Old Liu jumped in fright at her words. He turned and only relaxed when he saw it was the proprietress of Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant.
"Don’t you know you can scare someone to death like that?"
"I was just so happy to see you! You’re a regular here, right? How’s the meat?"
A flicker of unease crossed Old Liu’s face. "It’s edible. Won’t make anyone sick. As for the rest, see for yourself."
Seeing that Old Liu didn’t want to say more, the proprietress didn’t press him. ’Old Liu’s restaurant has been open for over half a year, and I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick from his food. It should be fine.’
Just then, someone finished making their selection. An old man in a leather jacket went inside and brought out the goods he had chosen. The proprietress moved closer to get a look.
Being in the restaurant business, the proprietress might not have worked in the back kitchen, but she knew a few tricks for telling the quality of ingredients.
To the naked eye, the food the old man brought out looked no different from what you’d find at the wholesale market.
’Then how can it be so cheap?’
The proprietress’s confusion was cleared up the moment she saw the date on the packaging.
These were expired ingredients. In fact, they had been expired for over a year. No wonder they were so cheap.
’Old Liu has been using this stuff all this time without any problems. Maybe I should give it a try?’
Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. She turned to the portly, big-eared man and asked, "There’s a small stall selling bento boxes at the entrance of the Zijing Garden construction site. Does he get his supplies from here?"
The middle-aged man had no idea who she was talking about and didn’t recognize the description, but he still answered readily, "Yes, yes, he does."
Hearing this, the proprietress flew into a rage.
’So that’s how it is! You get your supplies from here, which is why you dare to sell at such a low price. That’s unforgivable!’
With a wave of her hand, she checked off four or five items on the order form.
"Get me all of these."