Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

That evening, Xu An sat on his bed, tallying up the week’s accounts.

Thirty portions on the first day, forty on the second, and then fifty portions for the next five days. Each was sold for eight yuan, with an average cost of five and a half yuan, for a net profit of two and a half yuan per portion.

The total profit for the week was eight hundred yuan!

Eight hundred yuan a week meant three thousand two hundred yuan a month.

HISS~

It was an insane amount, comparable to the salary of an ordinary office worker.

The moment Xu An laid out the money in a row on the bed, Xu Kang’s and Xu Le’s big, round eyes lit up like stars.

’That’s so much money.’

’How does Big Brother have so much money?’

’Big Brother’s running a business.’

’Oh yeah, and we helped him.’

The two of them looked at Xu An in unison and asked in their high, childish voices, "Big Brother, we helped, you know. Does that mean we get a little money?"

Xu An was a little surprised. He didn’t know where these two little ones had learned to ask for money.

He pinched their little cheeks and suddenly noticed they’d put on some weight. Before, it was just baby fat, a bit puffy, but now their cheeks felt firm. They had really gained some meat.

’Looks like their diet has improved recently. They’re getting better nutrition, so they’re filling out. That’s great.’

Xu An looked at his own arms. He hadn’t paid attention before, but now he could see they had definitely gotten more muscular.

It made sense. He had to cook fifty box lunches every day, and the stir-frying alone was a good workout. Not to mention he had to pedal a tricycle for two hours a day, loaded with over a hundred pounds of box lunches and two children.

If his strength hadn’t increased so much after he was reborn, the stir-frying alone would have been enough to kill him.

"What do you two want money for?"

"I want to eat candy!"

"I want stickers! The stickers the bald uncle has are super cool!"

"Alright, I’ll pay you your wages right now. Thanks for helping your big brother out these past few days!"

Xu An pulled out two one-yuan bills and handed one to each of them. After taking the money, they were grinning so wide their eyes practically disappeared, their smiles stretching nearly to their ears.

They clutched the one-yuan bills tightly all the way until bedtime, refusing to let go. Xu An tried a few times to pull the money from their hands but couldn’t, so he just let them be.

’Hopefully, these two bills will still be intact when they wake up tomorrow morning.’

Today, he had once again prepared three dishes and a soup: braised chicken with mushrooms, dry-fried green beans, fish-fragrant eggs, and a pork rib soup with corn and carrots.

Arriving at the construction site entrance at 10:45 AM sharp, Xu An immediately noticed something was off.

Across the street, Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant had set out two long tables, and a promotional banner hung below the shop’s sign.

’Super Value Box Lunch Series! Eight yuan for your choice of two out of five meat dishes, plus a free daily soup. First thirty customers also get a free tiger-skin egg.’

He’d been running his stall here for a week, and now a competitor had finally appeared. He just hadn’t expected it to be the fast-food restaurant across the street rather than another small street vendor like himself.

Xu Heping lost his cool the moment he saw the banner. Leaving a quick, "I’m going to check it out," he crossed the street to the restaurant’s entrance.

The owner of Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant had bought low-priced meat from Anxin Food Processing Company. Although Old Liu had her back, she was still worried.

After the meat arrived at the restaurant, she personally unpacked and portioned it. She put the discarded packaging into black bags and hid them under the cash register, waiting to throw them out in a trash can near her home after closing up.

She had also given special instructions to the chef to make the meat dishes sold out front with heavier flavors.

It was already hard to notice anything unusual about the meat, and with the heavy oil and salt to mask it, it was even harder to spot a problem.

Although Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant’s new box lunch had one less dish than Xu An’s, a proper storefront was more reassuring than a small stall, and quite a few workers were drawn over to it.

When Xu Heping returned, he looked grim.

"Has that restaurant gone crazy? All five options are meat dishes, and they’re all the kind that make you want to eat more rice."

"Competition is normal in business," Xu An said, trying to reassure him. "Luckily, we didn’t expand blindly. We can still sell our current volume; it’ll just take a little longer."

Seeing Xu Heping still looked unconvinced, he patted his shoulder. "Have you forgotten what Uncle Dongliang said? There are over twenty construction sites, big and small, in the city. If this one doesn’t work out, we’ll just go to another. It just means changing locations."

Xu Heping was still resentful, but a worker came over to buy a box lunch, so he had to put his feelings aside and get busy.

But every time he inadvertently glanced across the street and saw the crowd in front of their long tables, Xu Heping still felt a surge of frustration.

With Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant as competition, what usually sold out in an hour took almost two hours today. By the time they packed up, it was already past one o’clock.

’At least we sold everything. But today was just the first day. It’s hard to say what tomorrow will be like. It’s safer to cut back a little. I’ll just make forty box lunches tomorrow.’

On the way to the wholesale market, Xu An pondered what dishes to make for the next day.

The weather was getting hotter, and the workers’ appetites weren’t as strong. He needed to make something that could whet their appetites.

And what kind of dishes could do that? Naturally, ones that were spicy, numbing, and fragrant.

’For the meat dish, I’ll do a spicy stir-fried chicken. Then for two more dishes that go well with rice, how about fish-fragrant eggplant and serrated potatoes?’

’Since the dishes are all so ’heaty,’ the soup should be something that cools you down and helps beat the heat. Mung bean soup would be perfect.’

’I can brew it tonight and lower it into the well to chill overnight. It’ll be even better ice-cold.’

Just like any other day, he bought his meat from Bald Chen’s shop. After paying, Bald Chen suddenly grabbed Xu An’s arm. "Hey, do you happen to need a freezer?"

"An old buddy of mine who sells dried goods is getting on in years. His kids don’t want him to keep running the shop, so he’s thinking of selling off his equipment."

"His other stuff is easy enough to get rid of, but his freezer was bought five or six years ago. It’s a bit too bulky, so nobody really wants it."

"I was wondering if you might be interested in it."

"Is there anything wrong with the machine?" Xu An asked, his interest piqued.

"It’s just a bit old, that’s all. Nothing else wrong with it." Bald Chen pounded his chest with a loud THUMP THUMP. "He’s right in the wet market next door. Want to go take a look?"

"Sure," Xu An nodded.

Bald Chen entrusted his shop to the neighboring store owner and led Xu An’s group of four toward the wet market. As they walked, he explained his old buddy’s situation to Xu An.

His old buddy had a son and a daughter, both of whom had settled down and started their careers in the city a few years ago. They had asked him several times to stop working and come live with them.

But he couldn’t bear to leave his fellow shopkeepers in the neighborhood, his business was doing well, and he was still physically capable, so he had kept at it until now.

However, after the New Year this year, his previously good health started to decline. He didn’t have any major illnesses, but he was constantly dealing with minor ailments, making frequent trips to the hospital.

On top of that, his son’s family had another child this year, and the couple was struggling to handle everything on their own. They wanted him to go and help out.

Since he himself was already thinking of closing the shop, it was a perfect match. He made up his mind to close down and began to deal with his leftover stock and equipment.

As they were talking, they arrived in front of a dried goods shop in the wet market.

The storefront wasn’t very large. A skinny old man with graying hair stood with his back to the entrance, organizing goods on a shelf. Piles of already-packed bags lay on the floor.

"Old He, I brought a young fellow over. He’s interested in that old freezer of yours."

After greeting Bald Chen, the old man looked at Xu An and his group. He gently patted a slightly yellowed freezer standing near the entrance. "This is the one. It’s been five or six years since I bought it, but it’s never had any problems. Works like a charm. It’s just not as stylish as the new models they have now."

Xu An walked around the freezer, paying close attention to the sound of the motor. He didn’t notice any issues. The freezer was very well-maintained, with hardly any dings or scratches.

’A 728-liter, double-door freezer would cost at least two thousand to buy new,’ he calculated. ’This one’s five or six years old, but it’s in great condition. I could accept a price of around three hundred.’

"Boss He, how much are you asking for this freezer?"

"Since Bald Chen brought you, I’ll let it go for two hundred. You can come pick it up the day after tomorrow." Old He’s price was very reasonable, making it clear he really wanted to sell it quickly.

Two hundred yuan was not only within Xu An’s budget, but it was also a hundred yuan less than he had expected. There was no room for haggling.

He immediately took out his money, counted out two hundred yuan, and handed it to Old He.

Old He took the money and wrote out a receipt for Xu An, telling him he could come with the receipt to pick up the freezer at this time the day after tomorrow.

The deal was done.