Chapter 175 - 163: I, Xu An, Prime Time

Chapter 175: Chapter 163: I, Xu An, Prime Time

This spiciness reminded him of a food from the future that could be considered paying for misery—Hellish Spicy Noodles!

The moment it entered his mouth, it felt just like what he had just experienced, only that spiciness was more extreme and more persistent. A single bite, after just two or three chews, required three whole glasses of ice water to barely suppress the heat that felt like it was about to blow the top of his head off.

You couldn’t even get five bites into a bowl of ramen before you were full from drinking ice water.

There were plenty of suckers like Xu An willing to try it. At least, when Xu An left, the restaurant was not only packed, but the outside was also crammed with people waiting in line, all of them eager to eat these extremely spicy Hellish Spicy Noodles!

Riding on this gimmick, the ramen shop established a foothold in Hai City in just three days and even developed a regular customer base. The Hellish Spicy Noodles also attracted countless food bloggers to visit and review the shop, its popularity never waned, and it even became the restaurant’s biggest signature dish!

Xu An savored the memory of that momentary spiciness, and a bold idea suddenly popped into his head. ’Could Xu’s Braised Shop also use a gimmick like this to attract customers?’ The answer in his heart was a resounding—’Yes!’

The spiciest chili pepper easily available in the country was the Shuanshuang Spicy pepper. He could use Shuanshuang Spicy peppers to create a Hellish Braised Flavor, aiming for that inhumane, torturous, ridiculously intense heat!

This kind of gimmick could spread quickly through word-of-mouth later on, but initial promotion was essential. There were currently three promotional methods to choose from. One was to continue collaborating with the Hai City Food Studio. Another was to run commercials on the local Hai City TV station. The third was to do both!

But after just a moment, Xu An gave up on the idea of running commercials on the local Hai City station. ’The advertising fees for non-primetime slots might be lower, but the results would be greatly diminished. For a primetime slot, it would probably cost tens of thousands of yuan to run an ad. That price is almost as much as the cost of buying equipment...’

Although Xu An had abandoned the idea, some things are like Pandora’s Box; once opened, they can no longer be controlled.

All afternoon, whether he was sitting, standing, lying down, chopping firewood, or cooking, Xu An was absent-minded. He was even distracted while playing musical chairs with Xu Kang and Xu Le, playing over twenty rounds without winning a single one!

’I can’t let this idea die without knowing for sure. I have to find out the price. Let the exorbitant cost put me out of my misery!’ After losing another game, Xu An finally gave up the struggle and pulled out his phone to look through his contacts.

Scrolling through his contacts from top to bottom, Xu An found two people who might know someone at the local Hai City TV station. One was Lin Xu Yang, who had once accompanied the local station’s crew for the filming of "Visiting Fast Food Restaurant". The other was the current head of Victory Supermarket, Lu Shengnan. Aunt Hong and the others had seen Victory Supermarket’s commercials on TV, so as the person in charge, Lu Shengnan would definitely have been involved.

’However, Lin Xu Yang has already helped me so much; it doesn’t seem right to keep bothering him. As for Lu Shengnan, that time I helped her out in a pinch with several hundred pounds of produce, she kind of owes me a favor. Although she paid it back with some ambiguous information, asking for a contact shouldn’t be too much, right?’

「Qiansheng Group Headquarters.」

Today was the day for Lu Shengnan to report on her recent work at the headquarters. Thanks to her turning the tide, she had finally managed to patch up the sinking ship that was Victory Supermarket. It was now slowly turning around and getting back on the right course.

Everything was perfect in every respect. The only minor flaw was that the money spent was a little more than expected. But looking at the overall results, the extra money had been well worth it. Lu Shengnan didn’t think it was a problem.

But during her report, the very issue that Lu Shengnan didn’t consider a problem was brought up.

"Shengnan, didn’t I tell you to get this done with the least amount of money? The amount you spent is three to five times more than I expected!" The man had looked normal throughout the performance report, but after hearing that the costs had exceeded expectations, he spoke up leisurely.

"President Luo, although we went a little over budget, the long-term benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Once Victory Supermarket has fully recovered, we’ll earn this money back ten, even a hundred times over," Lu Shengnan explained.

"Ten times, a hundred times... SIGH!" President Luo suddenly sighed, closing the report on Victory Supermarket in his hands. He looked at her with an expression of disappointment, as if scolding a child for not living up to their potential. "You, you’re still too young."

The moment he said that, Lu Shengnan felt a sense of foreboding. President Luo was the type who liked to beat around the bush and hint at things, never speaking directly. For him to say this now, something must be wrong! But she replayed the entire process of saving Victory Supermarket in her mind and couldn’t find anything amiss.

A bold thought suddenly surfaced in Lu Shengnan’s mind. ’Could it be? Did I misunderstand my superiors’ intentions from the very beginning? They didn’t send me to Victory Supermarket to save it, but to get rid of it at the lowest possible cost?’

The idea was so audacious that a shocked expression couldn’t help but appear on Lu Shengnan’s face.

However, President Luo’s gaze wasn’t on Lu Shengnan, so he didn’t see her fleeting look of alarm. He just pushed the file back toward her and waved his hand. "Forget it. What’s done is done, there’s no use saying more. Go on now. Manage Victory Supermarket well, and try to earn back the money you overspent as soon as possible."

The moment Lu Shengnan left the office, President Luo picked up his phone and dialed a number.

’Hey, hey, yes, it’s me, Old Luo. Haha, I’m just calling to tell you that the matter with Victory Supermarket has been resolved.’

"Close the store? No, no. Under my guidance, Long pulled Victory Supermarket back on track. It’s operating normally now, and foot traffic is pretty good. It’s not as high as before, but it’s at two-thirds of what it was."

"Yes, yes, I’ll keep up the good work. What’s the latest word from the higher-ups?"

’Ah, they’ve already started preparations? Excellent, excellent. In that case, I wish you a resounding victory in securing that plot of land to the east!’

President Luo had just hung up the phone when a man holding a stack of documents knocked on the office door. At President Luo’s "Come in," the man turned the knob, entered the office, and closed the door behind him.

"President Luo, this is a project request submitted by the planting base. The Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition is being held at the Hai City Convention and Exhibition Center in three days. They’ve got their eyes on some equipment and plan to see it in action on-site. If there are no issues, they’ll make a purchase. This is their procurement plan, please take a look." After speaking, the man gently placed the documents on the desk.

"Alright, just leave it there. I’ll deal with it in a bit," President Luo said nonchalantly, putting down his phone and glancing at the stack of files.

Once President Luo was alone in the office, he leaned back in his chair, crossed his leather-shoe-clad feet on the desk, and nonchalantly picked up the price quote from the top of the pile to look it over.

"Tsk, thirty million for equipment procurement? These people must have farmed their brains out. Times have changed. You can’t make money from farming anymore!" President Luo tossed the price quote back onto the documents. His gaze shifted to the low-rise buildings outside the window, a smile spreading across his face. "This is the era of real estate!"

Lu Shengnan had just settled into the business vehicle when her phone chimed with a QQ notification. She took out her phone and glanced at the sender’s name: it was from Boss Xu, the owner of Xu’s Fast Food.

’President Lu, do you have a contact for someone at the local Hai City TV station? Also, would you mind telling me how much it cost to run that commercial on the station last time?’

’Looks like business is booming, Boss Xu. Getting on TV to advertise already! (thumbs up)’

After sending the message, Lu Shengnan opened her email, found the rate sheet the local Hai City station had sent her before, and forwarded it to Xu An.

’Boss Xu, I’ve sent the rate sheet to your email. I wish you prosperous business and even greater success.’

’Thank you, President Lu. I heard Victory Supermarket is back to normal operations. You’re truly a capable leader, President Lu. Victory Supermarket is lucky to have you. (thumbs up)’

The two ended their conversation with a round of mutual business flattery. As soon as he closed QQ, Xu An eagerly opened his email. Sure enough, there was an unread message from Lu Shengnan. When he saw the price quote for a month of advertising, his eyes went wide.

The local Hai City station, a ten-second ad, non-primetime... and the quote for a whole month was only 4,200 yuan! The shortest option was a one-week run, which cost 1,600 yuan. Even for a primetime slot, one week was only 3,600 yuan!

’The barriers between industries are no joke! Every trade is a world of its own!’

He had thought the promotional fees for the Hai City Food Studio were already extremely low. He never expected that the advertising costs for the well-known and widely-watched local Hai City TV station wouldn’t be much more expensive.

’A mere 3,600 yuan for a primetime ad slot on the local Hai City station... I, Xu An, am going for it!’

’Tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the wholesale market to find the spiciest peppers available. I’ll have Zhang Dezhen stay at the shop tomorrow instead of setting up the stall at the construction site, so he can focus on developing this Hellish Braised Flavor. I also need to contact Wei to create a ten-second promotional video—just text with some simple animations will do. Knowing Wei’s usual efficiency, that shouldn’t take long. Lastly, I’ll contact the local Hai City station to buy a one-week primetime ad slot starting the day after tomorrow! This will build momentum for the upcoming opening of Xu’s Braised Shop!’

「Lin Xinyue’s Home.」

Having just received a message from Chengzi, Lin Xinyue sat up in bed, moved to her computer, and started searching for newly opened restaurants in Hai City. Suddenly, her eyes landed on a link to an account called ’Hai City Food Studio’.

’Is this a new private kitchen?’

She clicked the title, and the webpage quickly redirected to a social media platform. It turned out not to be a restaurant, but an account for sharing food finds in Hai City. ’680,000 followers... With that many people paying attention, it should be reliable.’

Then, her gaze fell on a promotion for ’Xu’s Fast Food’. The name sounded a little familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but she didn’t think she’d ever eaten there. Operating on the principle of leaving no stone unturned, Lin Xinyue clicked the link.

The first part of the content was all very normal, and Lin Xinyue read it with great interest. But when she saw a headshot photo, the expression on her face turned a bit strange. ’The owner of this Xu’s Fast Food is actually... Xu Kang and Xu Le’s older brother? That jealous guy?’

After a moment of speechlessness, she scrolled the mouse wheel. The page moved up, and new content appeared before her eyes.

’Q: A lot of fans are curious, Boss Xu, what kind of girl do you like?’

’A: Well, my ideal type would be someone a bit tall, with long hair and big eyes. And if she had two little dimples when she smiles, that would be even better.’

’...’

’This description... why does it feel so familiar?’

Lin Xinyue suddenly leaned to one side, looking toward her vanity not far away. Reflected in the mirror was a young woman with long hair and big eyes. The woman pursed her lips into a wide smile, and two dimples instantly appeared on her delicate face...