Chapter 189 - 172: Wages Doubled with a Grand Gesture

Chapter 189: Chapter 172: Wages Doubled with a Grand Gesture

Xu An had already forgotten how many signatures he’d made—only that there were a lot, a whole lot. By the end, he felt like a soulless signing machine, meticulously writing his name in the designated spot on every single document and stamping it with the company’s official seal...

Under normal circumstances, Xu An’s loan application would have taken 15 to 30 business days to be approved. But Zhou Yaodong understood that Xu An needed the money urgently, so he gritted his teeth, beat his chest, and promised to rush the process, aiming to get everything done within a week.

The only thing Xu An wasn’t quite satisfied with was that after the formal approval at the bank, the loan amount was only 960,000, which was 40,000 less than expected. Compared to 960,000, 40,000 wasn’t a huge sum, but if he scraped it together, it would be enough to buy a new insulated food truck.

After all the contracts were signed and all the important clauses had been explained, Xu An, accompanied by Zhou Yaodong, walked out of the VIP room, out the main doors of Hai City Bank, and toward...

The foot he had just put forward slowly came back down. Xu An rubbed his eyes in disbelief and turned to Zhou Yaodong with a bewildered look, hoping for an explanation. At this moment, the back rack of his humble bicycle was securely tied with three ten-jin bags of Wuchang rice, four five-liter jugs of peanut oil, a beautifully packaged tea set, and two boxes of Da Hong Pao tea. The basket on the front hadn’t been spared either; it was filled with small items like dried noodles, eggs, and so on...

"Just a small token of my appreciation, a small token, hehe," Zhou Yaodong said with an apologetic smile, rubbing his hands together. His expression, however, was one of extreme pride. Indeed, being able to securely fasten so many things to the back of a bicycle with just a rope was a truly remarkable skill. Xu An suspected that if he had come in a small truck today, Zhou Yaodong would have found a way to fill it to the brim.

On the way back, for the first time in his two lifetimes, Xu An felt so incredibly cool. Pedestrians passing by, speeding vehicles, and even the sparrows resting on the telephone poles couldn’t help but stare.

In two days, the Hai City Mechanical Expo would officially begin, and the number of things to do at the restaurant was piling up. Xu An cleared his schedule for the next two days, immersing himself in the restaurant to make the final preparations for the six-day event. He was determined to ensure nothing went wrong. ’Even if something unexpected happens, I can solve it quickly with Plan B.’

The forty-two thousand sets of box lunch containers for the six days were finished and needed to be counted and stored by Xu An. He had found suppliers and placed orders for all the ingredients required for the next six days’ menu—rice, flour, grains, oils, fruits, vegetables, meat, and frozen goods. The work schedules for the staff, the managers for the transfer stations, the arrangements for the construction site stalls... after two full days of hard work, everything was finally in order.

At six in the morning on August 25th, the roller shutters of all three Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant locations were raised in unison, and the lights inside flickered on simultaneously. All employees were in position. All ingredients were ready. All machines had been cleaned. Time to get to work!

Everyone moved to their assigned stations according to Xu An’s plan. Liang Dani and her group were responsible for unboxing the fruits and vegetables and passing them to Nanny He’s team. Nanny He and her people manned the three machines, feeding in the produce, washing it, peeling it, and finally processing it into the forms needed for cooking. Liu Daxi led his team in cutting meat, chopping bones for soup, and washing rice to cook. Everyone was like a gear in the machine that was Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, driving everything to operate at high speed.

In the blink of an eye, fresh vegetables, still dewy and flecked with soil from the fields, were transformed into pan after pan of delicious dishes.

Liang Dani’s group, who had been moving ingredients, and Nanny He’s team, who had been processing them, all washed their hands, put on rubber gloves, and joined the manual assembly line for packing the box lunches. Xu Kang and Xu Le sat at the head of the table, their faces serious as they set out the meal boxes and soup containers one by one. Nanny He and Liang Dani each led a line, dishing out food, closing the lids, applying labels, and sorting the packed lunches...

With more than twenty people working together, they finally managed to prepare all 6,837 box lunches for the two transfer stations, three construction site stalls, and the expo before ten-thirty. The tense atmosphere in Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant instantly vanished, the sense of urgency lifted from everyone’s hearts, and their adrenaline levels returned to normal. With the task completed, the crew relaxed, only then realizing belatedly that their backs were covered in a cold sweat from the stress and their hands were trembling slightly.

As the supervisor and on-site coordinator, Xu An also felt drained now that he could relax. It felt like finishing a grueling marathon—exhilarating but utterly debilitating. Seeing the exhaustion on everyone’s faces, Xu An didn’t bother with empty words. With a grand wave of his hand, he declared that for the six days of the expo, everyone’s wages would be doubled!

The moment he said it, the cold sweat on everyone’s backs vanished, their hands stopped shaking, their bodies no longer felt weak, and their spirits soared. Indeed, money was the best medicine for all ailments! Look at that—an instant cure!

After lunch, Uncle Guosheng was responsible for delivering the box lunches to the two transfer stations and three stalls, while Xu An and Wang Datou headed for the Hai City Convention and Exhibition Center in the insulated, refrigerated truck.

People tend to get drowsy after a full meal, so to prevent any accidents, Xu An tried to make small talk with Wang Datou, bringing up all sorts of topics. Perhaps due to the large age gap, Wang Datou wasn’t very interested in the subjects Xu An raised. He just kept murmuring "mhm" and "oh" to show he was listening, without really joining the conversation. However, when the topic shifted to Wang Datou’s previous job at the slaughterhouse, his eyes lit up brighter than headlights at night.