Chapter 142: Equipment Brochure

Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Equipment Brochure

Led by a staff member, Xu An passed through the exhibition center lobby. He saw that scattered construction crews were already setting up the booths on both sides.

Counting down, there was less than a week until the exhibition opened. It was indeed time to start setting up.

After a walk of about five minutes, Xu An was led into an office.

The staff member knocked gently on the door three times. A deep, powerful voice came from inside: "Please come in."

Upon hearing this, the staff member carefully opened the door and gestured for Xu An to enter.

Xu An tugged at his clothes, making sure everything was in place before stepping into the office.

The first person he saw was a slightly stooped elderly man sitting to the left of the main seat, and next to him was a stern-faced, middle-aged man who had been presiding over the meeting. Both were sitting relaxedly on the sofa.

The moment the old man saw Xu An enter, a hint of a smile appeared on his stern, traditional face. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he patted the single sofa next to him, saying amiably, "Boss Xu, please have a seat here."

After a simple word of thanks, Xu An sat on the front third of the sofa, his body held ramrod straight, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Just then, a staff member came in with water and placed a glass of warm water in front of Xu An.

"No need to be so tense. A young man should be full of vigor. Relax a little." As the old man spoke, he pushed the glass of water a little closer to Xu An. "You’ve been talking so much just now. Have a drink to soothe your throat."

At that moment, Xu An felt like a child who had been called to the teacher’s office, not knowing if he was in trouble or about to be praised. His heart was in a flurry, a complete mess.

Seeing the old man watching him without speaking, and feeling a bit thirsty himself, Xu An reached for the glass, brought it to his lips, and took a small sip.

The warm water moistened Xu An’s slightly chapped lips, restoring the moisture in his mouth to normal.

As that sip of warm water went down, Xu An felt himself relax a little, no longer so stiff and formal.

"I didn’t call you over about the bid. I just wanted to ask about the chef team at your restaurant." Seeing Xu An’s expression finally relax a bit, the old man gently stated the purpose for summoning him.

Hearing it wasn’t about the bid, Xu An felt a secret flicker of joy, but also a twinge of disappointment. He quickly composed himself, organized his thoughts, and began to answer the old man’s question.

"The masters in the restaurant all have no less than five years of work experience..."

The old man nodded as he listened, waiting for Xu An to finish before interjecting, "Could you focus on Master Liu Daxi’s team? I’d like to understand in detail how the deaf-mute masters on his team work, communicate, and interact on a daily basis."

Only then did Xu An realize the old man’s true purpose for calling him over. He was interested in Liu Daxi’s deaf-mute team and wanted to learn more about them.

’I guess I’m riding on the coattails of Liu Daxi’s team to get this opportunity to speak with the old man.’

However, Liu Daxi’s team had only joined Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant a few days ago. Although he had some contact with them during daily work, Xu An’s understanding of them was quite limited. He could only pick out a few things he knew and was familiar with and describe them in appropriate detail.

While Xu An spoke, the old man maintained an amiable smile, nodding at him from time to time and offering appropriate feedback at the right moments. Before he knew it, Xu An had gradually relaxed and was speaking more and more fluently.

"I understand. Your explanation was simple, easy to follow, and thorough," the old man said with a smile. "Would it be convenient to exchange contact information?"

Xu An naturally had no objection to this request.

’A big shot wants to exchange contact info with me! This is the kind of opportunity countless people would beg for!’

He hastily pulled his phone from his pocket and respectfully presented it to the old man.

Xu An had assumed they would exchange phone numbers, but to his surprise, the old man recited a QQ number. The account level was not only higher than his own newly registered one, but even higher than Xu Heping’s, which had been registered for several years...

’What a trendy old man!’

After adding each other on QQ, the old man exchanged a few more pleasantries with Xu An before getting up to see him to the door.

The staff member who had brought Xu An over was still standing at the door. He once again led Xu An through the exhibition center lobby and back to the main entrance.

The previously empty entrance was now occupied by several large trucks that were unloading cargo. The unloaded goods blocked the open area in front of the entrance completely. It was possible to get through on foot, but not by car.

He glanced at the parts; each one was as big as his head. It had to be some kind of large machinery.

After a few glances, Xu An followed the signs down to the parking garage. Uncle Dongliang’s friend, Old Luo, was sitting on the railing of a partitioned parking space, playing on his phone.

"Boss Xu, you’re out. Where to next?" Old Luo stood up immediately upon seeing Xu An, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Brother Luo, let’s head back to Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant," Xu An said with a smile.

Given that Xu An called Xu Dongliang "Uncle," he should have technically called Uncle Dongliang’s friend "Uncle" as well.

But Brother Luo was less than ten years older than Xu An and looked quite young; calling him "Uncle" felt inappropriate. Besides, Brother Luo was very resistant to Xu An calling him Uncle Luo.

Therefore, Xu An decided to handle his address for Uncle Dongliang and Brother Luo separately, calling the latter "Brother."

The two had planned to return the way they came, but as soon as they drove out of the parking garage, they saw that the road they had taken earlier was now packed with all kinds of large trucks...

"There’s a small road to the west that’s open to traffic. There shouldn’t be many people there at this time. We can go that way," Old Luo suggested.

"Alright."

The car made a U-turn at the parking garage entrance and slowly headed toward the small road to the west.

Along the way, they didn’t just see no other cars; they barely saw any people either.

Xu An had been on high alert during the bidding meeting, and the subsequent conversation with the old man had left him even more mentally exhausted.

Now, sitting in the car with the AC on and listening to soothing music, Xu An finally relaxed completely and started to feel drowsy. He found a comfortable position, closed his eyes, and began to doze off.

He felt like he’d only had his eyes closed for two minutes when the car stopped, followed by the sound of a car door opening and closing.

Xu An startled awake, looking dazedly at the dense, waist-high grass on both sides. A thought flashed through his mind— ’Don’t tell me this is a robbery and murder!’

But when he saw the scene in front of their car, he understood the situation.

He reached out, opened his door, and got out. Walking to the front of the large truck blocking the road, he overheard Brother Luo talking to the truck driver.

"Did you guys break down? Have you called for help?"

"Yeah, we broke down. Both our phones are dead. We’ve been waiting for over half an hour; you’re the first people to come by."

The somewhat dark-complexioned truck driver had a helpless look on his face. He stood up and kicked the truck’s flat tire twice to vent his frustration.

While the truck driver rambled on, Brother Luo took out his phone and made a call. Afterward, he looked at the large truck completely blocking the road and sighed. "Boss Xu, looks like we’ll have to wait for them to fix the truck before we can pass."

Xu An surveyed the situation. To the right of the truck was a gap of about a meter, overgrown with weeds, with a white wall behind it.

He then looked to the left. There was an empty, weed-covered patch of land. If the truck hadn’t broken down, they could have passed by maneuvering around it.

But now, the truck was stuck in the middle, and its left tire had blown out, causing the entire vehicle to tilt to the left. The space on the left was not wide enough for a small car to pass through.

Finally, he looked back the way they came and saw a small white dot driving toward them in the distance.

’Well, that’s that. Our only way out is blocked. We’ll just have to wait for the repairmen to get here.’

Before Xu An and Brother Luo arrived, the two truckers had been squatting in the truck’s shadow, fanning themselves with flyers to cool off.

But the temperature today was too high, and their efforts were a drop in the ocean. It merely prevented them from getting heatstroke but did little to drive away the scorching heat.

Their clothes were almost completely soaked through, and their hair looked like it had just been washed. There was even a ring of sweat drops on the ground around them. They looked absolutely miserable.

Seeing their state, Xu An hesitated for a moment and glanced at Brother Luo, only to find Brother Luo looking back at him.

Since the car’s owner had no objection, Xu An immediately invited the two men to wait in their car, where they could enjoy the air conditioning until the repairmen arrived.

The two men hurriedly nodded their thanks, followed Xu An to the car, and slid into the back seat. As the icy air conditioning washed over them, they both let out a sigh of relief.

’Finally, we can breathe again.’

"Are you exhibitors for the Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition?" Xu An asked curiously, looking at the large truck.

At this time, heading in this direction, in this kind of truck, it was hard not to connect them with the Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition.

"Yeah, the main highway was too crowded, so we thought we’d take a less-traveled side road. Didn’t expect to break down like this." The middle-aged man in the back seat took a stack of business cards from his shirt pocket, pulled out two, and handed them to Xu An and Brother Luo. "Here’s my card. If you need anything, give me a call. I’ll definitely give you the lowest price."

Xu An casually accepted the card and saw the conspicuous company name printed on it.

’Xinyang Commercial Kitchen Technology Co., Ltd.’

’Commercial kitchen?’

"Uncle Han, what kind of machinery does your company primarily make?" Xu An asked, turning to the man who had given him the card.

"We specialize in automated kitchen equipment. Things like washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, and even stir-frying can all be done by machines, which can save a huge amount of manpower and resources."

Uncle Han saw Xu An’s expression turn a little strange and thought he was spouting nonsense, so he quickly explained.

"You know Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s, right? They set up factories where they use equipment for standardized processing, then they distribute the processed ingredients to each store. This can greatly reduce the kitchen size in the stores and cut down on back-of-house staff. It kills several birds with one stone."

’Isn’t that just a ’central kitchen’?’

"What products does your company currently offer? Could I learn more about them?"

Uncle Han was a bit surprised by Xu An’s question, but after glancing at his youthful face, he figured the young man was probably just curious, this being his first encounter with a company that manufactures such equipment.

The specifications for all the products the company manufactured were on their official website; it wasn’t classified information, so there was no harm in letting him take a look.

Uncle Han glanced at the blazing sun outside, took a deep breath, opened the car door, and dashed to the truck. He grabbed a brochure from the driver’s seat, then quickly shut the door and rushed back.

In that short span of less than a minute, a fine layer of sweat had already beaded on Uncle Han’s forehead, a testament to how brutal the weather was today.

Sitting back in the car and basking in the icy air, the man exhaled and handed the thick brochure in his hands to Xu An.

"The equipment in this brochure is all part of what we’re exhibiting this time. There’s quite a wide and varied selection."

After thanking him, Xu An took the brochure from Uncle Han and began to look through it seriously.

The first few pages of the brochure gave a general overview of the company. Xu An scanned through them rapidly and soon arrived at the page for the first piece of kitchen equipment the company produced.