Chapter 138: Plump, Tempting Duck Feet

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Plump, Tempting Duck Feet

After running through every possible and impossible idea in his mind, Xu An reluctantly concluded that, aside from renting a storefront, there really seemed to be no other way.

’Sometimes, a city being too well-managed isn’t a good thing.’

’At least for me, this certainly wasn’t a good thing.’

BEEP BEEP BEEP—

A chat notification chimed.

"Boss, what time do you close?"

"Hello, we close after 2:30 PM!" Xu An replied.

"That early! (Sad face)"

"I was hoping to swing by after work to buy some braised snacks to take home. Your braised snacks are perfect with apple cider vinegar, Coke, Sprite, orange juice, or Hai City beer. (Thumbs up)"

"Thank you for your support, but our business hours are from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM! We do have a delivery service, so you could consider buying some with your lunch!"

"I want to! But my office doesn’t have a fridge! (Losing my mind)"

’Hmm, either I send their company a fridge or extend the shop’s hours. Otherwise, this problem won’t be solved.’

"Sorry about that! You could always come by on your day off to buy some!"

"Sigh! (Disappointed)"

As the chat with the customer ended and Xu An was about to close the window, his gaze fell on one of the customer’s messages.

I was hoping to swing by after work to buy some braised snacks to take home.

Braised snacks?

Braised snacks!

That’s it! The braised snacks! Xu An had a sudden epiphany!

’I was so focused on the lunch boxes that I forgot I had another card to play—the braised snacks!’

’Lunch boxes can really only be sold for two or three hours at noon, but braised snacks are different!’

’If the conditions are right, braised snacks can be sold twenty-four hours a day!’

The two brands, Zhou Baiya and Juewei, had entered the Hai City market two years ago. However, their prices were on the high side, so their main consumers were usually office workers and students.

Although these two brands had already captured a significant market share—much like how KFC and McDonald’s entered the domestic market in the 20th century to become household names for hamburgers—the latecomer, Wallace, while unable to stand on equal footing, still managed to capture a good portion of the market with its decent taste and low prices.

Compared to the prices of those two brands, the braised snacks from Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant were also quite affordable.

He could rent a shop. Before 2 PM, it would serve as a distribution point for the lunch boxes. After 2 PM, it would be a dedicated shop selling braised snacks.

Xu An didn’t have high expectations for the sales of the braised snacks. As long as it could cover labor, rent, and utilities, he would break even. If it made a profit, then it would be an additional source of income.

However, before making a final decision, he had to survey public opinion first.

He opened his social media page and typed out a new post.

"Raise your hand if you want the braised snacks to be available until 8 PM!"

There were still plenty of people slacking off at work during this time. The moment he published the post, two replies appeared below.

"+1"

"Are you finally going to do something about the braised snacks? Please, I’m begging you, do it quickly! It’s torture wanting to eat them after work but not being able to! (Crying profusely)"

Just as he finished reading those two comments, another five or six popped up in quick succession.

’Looks like everyone is pretty enthusiastic about the braised snacks. It seems I’ve been neglecting this aspect of my customers’ demands.’

’I almost missed out on such a great money-making opportunity. What a shame, what a shame!’

Currently, the order volume from the Silver Star Office Building was fluctuating between 100 and 150. He planned to step up his promotional efforts there, and he estimated the order volume could grow to around three hundred within a week.

So, if he rented a shop now and handled the procedures for the business license and other permits, the order volume would likely reach his target by the time the license was approved.

’I’ll go tomorrow!’

After tidying up the three shops and ensuring there were no safety hazards left behind, Xu An locked up and headed home with his family.

The moment they got home, Xu Kang and Xu Le started clamoring for the phone, wanting to chat with Sister Moon.

The two little ones had, from who knows where, learned to snatch Xu An’s phone while he was busy, open QQ with precision, unerringly find Lin Xinyue’s chat window, and brazenly send her a voice message.

After that, they entered full-on "online friends" mode. Whenever they encountered anything novel or fun, they had to tell Sister Moon about it.

Sometimes, they even had to tell her about the delicious food they just ate, holding absolutely nothing back...

At first, Xu An worried they were bothering Lin Xinyue and wouldn’t let them message her whenever they pleased.

But when the little ones didn’t message her, Lin Xinyue would take the initiative to message them. After a bit of back-and-forth, Xu An couldn’t be bothered to manage it anymore and just let them chat.

Although they were engrossed in their chats with Lin Xinyue, the two little ones were still quite well-behaved. If they saw a red dot on another chat icon, they would return the phone to Xu An so he could handle his work.

"Here, you can only chat for half an hour." Xu An handed them the phone. Overjoyed, the two of them took the phone back to their room, flopped onto the bed, and started whispering to the device.

’Tsk! A couple of little suckers for a pretty face! They only pester her every day because she’s good-looking and has a nice voice.’

Closing the courtyard gate, Xu An lay down on the rocking chair, closed his eyes, and started to catch up on sleep.

He drifted off, and after an unknown amount of time, he groggily heard Xu Kang and Xu Le’s voices and felt four small hands pushing at him.

"Brother, Brother, someone’s looking for you!"

Then, a cool, yet slightly warm, hard object was thrust into his hand. Xu An instinctively gripped it and brought the phone before his eyes.

He’d received an email.

Xu An rubbed his eyes, yawned, and sat up from the rocking chair. He casually opened the email and looked at the sender field.

Sender—The Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition!

After seeing the sender’s name clearly, what little sleepiness remained in Xu An vanished without a trace, replaced by a surge of excitement.

He skimmed the email, reading ten lines at a glance, before going back to carefully read the requirements listed.

"Bidding will commence tomorrow at 10:00 AM in the Voyager Conference Room at the Hai City Convention and Exhibition Center. Absentees will be considered to have automatically forfeited their bid."

"A PPT and other relevant documents must be prepared for a presentation that fully and comprehensively showcases your establishment’s advantages."

"..."

"Special reminder: Formal attire is required for entry."

Xu An glanced at the time in the upper right corner of his phone. It was 4:07 PM. That left less than sixteen hours until 10:00 AM tomorrow. ’Isn’t this a bit too tight of a schedule?!’

’And it requires formal wear, but all I have are shorts and t-shirts. None of that fits the bill. I’ll have to go buy clothes!’

’I’ve prepared some of the bidding materials, but I haven’t organized them into a proper file yet. The computer is still at the shop, so I’ll have to go back there to create the presentation file.’

’The clothes aren’t the most urgent thing; the mall usually doesn’t close until 10 PM. I’ll finish the presentation file first, then go into the city to buy an outfit.’

’Why couldn’t they have sent this email earlier? If it had arrived sooner, I could have bought an outfit on my way at noon and saved myself a special trip.’

But this was no time for complaining. Xu An drew a basin of water for Granny Xu and placed it by her bed so she could wash up before sleeping.

As for dinner, he asked Third Granny to make an extra portion so she and Granny Xu could eat together.

He would definitely have to take Xu Kang and Xu Le with him. His grandmother’s foot hadn’t fully healed yet, and if the two got mischievous, she wouldn’t be able to handle them.

After arranging things at home, Xu An got on his small electric tricycle with Xu Kang and Xu Le and headed toward Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.

Liu Tong’s friend, Liu Zhaowen, felt like he’d been on an unlucky streak ever since his senior year of college, and it showed no signs of stopping.

During his senior year, while working on his graduation project, he was on the very last step of his 3D model when his cat suddenly jumped onto his computer tower. The power button was right on top of the case, and the cat’s soft, pink paw pad landed squarely on it...

That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was discovering, after restarting the computer, that he hadn’t saved any of the progress he had pulled an all-nighter to complete!

That’s right. For an entire day and night, Liu Zhaowen hadn’t hit "save" even once!

Next up was campus recruitment. While playing basketball, he slipped, fell flat on his face, and crashed into the basketball hoop stand. He got a concussion—the kind where your head rings if you so much as move it—and regretfully missed all the recruitment events.

After graduation, he started applying for jobs through general recruitment. The companies he interviewed with... well, the less said, the better. It was a long, painful story.

Later, he found the company he worked at now. It was just a stone’s throw away from going public and was considered a major, well-known enterprise in Hai City.

He thought his unlucky streak was finally over and a bright future awaited him...

But after he joined, he discovered the company had laid off several hundred people just six months prior... his supervisor had only started a month before him... and eighty percent of the department’s employees were new hires...

With the plan of sticking it out for half a year to get some experience before job-hopping, Liu Zhaowen persevered, and he was still persevering now.

But today, he was once again forced to take the fall for something, a blame so black it couldn’t get any blacker. He felt that the "pots" on his back were too many and too heavy, and his young back could barely take it anymore. The thought of resigning surfaced once again.

’This company has no future.’

’This job has no future.’

’And I have no future if I stay here.’

His childhood dream surfaced in his mind: to open a small shop, sell whatever he liked to eat, and if it didn’t sell, he’d just eat it himself...

Somehow, a plump, fragrant duck foot, dripping with amber-colored braising juices, suddenly appeared before his eyes. It extended a passionate invitation to him: "Come eat me! Come on, eat me! Hurry, if you catch me, I’ll let you have a bite!"

Liu Zhaowen’s right hand moved of its own accord, reaching out slowly. Just as he was about to grab the tempting duck foot, someone slapped his hand hard.

"Liu Zhaowen, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and revise that proposal. It’s due today!"

His mind snapped back to reality. The plump, tempting duck foot was gone.

Before him was only the ghastly white glow of his computer screen and an endless pile of files waiting to be processed...

He stared at the computer with vacant eyes, his hands numbly tapping at the keyboard. The duck foot that had just disappeared suddenly reappeared, spinning and growing larger, doing its utmost to seduce him.

At some point, Liu Zhaowen’s right hand left the mouse, picked up his phone, opened QQ, found Liu Tong’s account, and sent him a message.

"Want to go to Xu’s Fast Food after work and get some braised snacks to take home?"

"Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant closes at 2:30 PM."

CRACK—

This time, the plump, tempting duck foot truly and completely vanished. The white glare of the screen grew increasingly harsh, and the word "Resign" began to form a circle in Liu Zhaowen’s mind, singing and dancing around a bonfire.

If he looked closely, he could see that the bonfire itself was also made of the word "Resign"...