Chapter 204 - 180: Chatting with Netizens is So Much Fun

Chapter 204: Chapter 180: Chatting with Netizens is So Much Fun

"Hello, Uncle Dongliang? What’s up?" In the midst of the lunch rush, Xu An answered his phone, pinning it to his ear with his shoulder. His hands didn’t stop moving as he handed a boxed meal to a customer, took their money, and made change.

"Anzi, there’s a village assembly at six tonight. You have time, right?" Uncle Dongliang’s voice was fast and urgent, with a hint of hoarseness.

’A village assembly?’ Xu An’s first thought was that his second grand-uncle had greased all the necessary wheels, and the tidal flat aquaculture project could finally be discussed out in the open. ’This is great news!’ Xu An quickly agreed. He wanted to ask about the specifics of the meeting, but Uncle Dongliang seemed to be in a hurry to contact others and hung up as soon as he heard Xu An’s confirmation.

Just then, a customer handed Xu An twenty-one yuan for two boxed meals, so he had no choice but to put his phone down and dive back into work. ’I’ll find out tonight anyway,’ he thought. ’Waiting a few more hours won’t hurt.’

Xu An and his two employees were busy until 1:40 PM, by which time all five hundred boxed meals had been sold. After putting out the "Sold Out" sign they’d made the day before, the three of them began to pack up. Over on his side, Wang Fulong’s "lecture" was also winding down. The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed until no one was left in front of him, save for a sheet of A4 paper covered in dense handwriting.

"Boss, guess how many potential clients I just got!" Wang Fulong was in an excellent mood, his steps light and quick. He was a completely different person from the dejected man of the past few days, now brimming with confidence.

"Let’s see," Xu An said, his eyes darting to the side for a moment. "Twenty-three?"

"Wow, Boss, you guessed it exactly!" Wang Fulong praised Xu An’s intuition. He then lifted the A4 paper in his hand, only to realize he was holding it backward—the side with the client information was facing Xu An. With a sheepish grin, he pretended nothing had happened and continued, "That’s right. There are twenty-three potential clients in total. I’ll get back to the shop this afternoon, organize the necessary qualification documents, and send them over for their companies to review."

"This one, this one, and these ones here." Wang Fulong leaned in close to Xu An, his thick finger rapidly tapping the paper seven or eight times. He lowered his voice, "These few are all companies with over three hundred employees. And especially these two—a full seven hundred employees!"

"Keep up the great work. Try to land every single company on this list!" Xu An said, patting Wang Fulong’s shoulder, giving him a shot in the arm. "For every contract you sign, you’ll get the bonus for it immediately. No need to wait for a certain total, and you won’t have to wait until payday."

Xu An’s words filled Wang Fulong with a sudden burst of energy. He wished he could close a deal on the spot, just to see if Xu An was being truthful or simply making empty promises. After all, his previous boss had made him far too many of those. Even though his colleagues had told him that Xu An’s word was his bond, he couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of apprehension.

With Wang Fulong and Lu Ziyue’s help, packing up the stall went much faster today. The Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant stall was already sold out and cleaned up while the neighboring Brocade Hotel stall still had a third of its boxed meals left. It wasn’t that the Brocade Hotel’s food was unappealing; the main issue was that the two people in charge of sales had no experience. Their flurry of activity looked as fierce as a tiger, but one look at their sales numbers left them dumbfounded. Only then did the pair realize that the so-called "cushy assignment" from their new supervisor was actually a miserable chore.

The moment they got back to Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, Wang Fulong, like a starving dog lunging for food, made a beeline for the first shopfront. With a feral gleam in his eye, he commandeered the computer behind the cash register and immediately got down to business.

The return of Xu An’s group wasn’t quiet, and Tang Wen heard the commotion from her office on the second floor of the second shopfront. She looked at the materials and proposals she’d prepared that morning and was about to go downstairs to talk to Xu An. But then she remembered all her plans cost money, so she held back.

’I’ll focus on building up the account first,’ Tang Wen decided. ’Once I have some initial results to show, I can confidently ask the boss for a promotional budget!’ She picked up her phone, logged into the Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant’s social media account, and created a new post.

"Friends, the countdown to the grand opening of Xu’s Braised Shop is on! We are now three days away! (Sprinkling flowers emoji) Today’s prize question is: What is the hottest chili pepper in the country? (Confused emoji) The first three friends to answer correctly will receive three jin of braised food produced by Xu’s Braised Shop! (Giggling with hand over mouth emoji)"

The post was accompanied by a simple poster Tang Wen had made herself. It featured the enlarged silhouette of a Shuanshuang Spicy pepper on a red background, with the words "Prize-winning Quiz" displayed prominently.

Lin Mengjuan had added Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant’s social media account after visiting their Ivy League University location. Not long after, she’d managed to snag a spot in the pre-opening tasting event for Xu’s Braised Shop, which made her a devoted follower. After all, who doesn’t love a chance to get free food!

However, Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant had been silent for many days after that, and she began to think the event was just a fluke. But today, while slacking off at work, she saw a new post from them! She clicked on it and discovered it was another free food event—exactly what she had been longing for!

’The hottest chili in the country? It has to be the xiaomi chili!’ Lin Mengjuan confidently typed out the two words, "xiaomi chili." But just as she was about to hit send, she hesitated. ’The answer can’t be that simple, can it? This feels like a trap!’

But then she saw the first comment appear below the post, and it was also "xiaomi chili." Lin Mengjuan started to panic. There were only three prizes, and one was already gone. If she hesitated any longer, they’d all be claimed. With no time to second-guess herself, her finger slammed down on the send button.

In an instant, five neat comments appeared under the post, all of them the same uniform two-word answer: "xiaomi chili." Lin Mengjuan quickly scanned the names and sighed in relief when she saw that her comment was the third one. ’That was close. A second later and I would’ve missed out on three jin of braised food.’

After putting her phone down, the earlier doubt resurfaced. ’Is the xiaomi chili really the hottest one in the country?’ Driven by curiosity, Lin Mengjuan opened her web browser, typed in the question, and hit search.

The first few search results were all ads. She didn’t find the answer until the fourth link.

"The hottest chili in the country is the Shuanshuang Spicy, a pepper cultivated in the regions of the Jingpo people. Current tests measure its heat at over ten times that of the facing heaven chili. Swishing it in a pot of soup just a few times is enough to flavor the entire dish, and a single pepper can be reused many times..."

’Crap! I got it wrong!’

Lin Mengjuan scrambled for her phone and went back to the Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant page. The number of comments on the post had already surged to seventeen, with six of them now correctly answering "Shuanshuang Spicy." The prizes were all claimed. Even if she posted the right answer now, she wouldn’t get anything.

’I was so close,’ she thought, annoyed. ’If I had just looked it up when I first had my doubts, I might have made it in time. Too late for that now.’ But her annoyance was paired with curiosity. The last event was for choosing items for the new braised food shop, so what was this one for? ’They can’t be giving away nine jin of braised food just for a bit of fun with their followers,’ she mused. ’There must be a reason, right?’

’Could it be? Is the new braised shop product related to the so-called hottest chili in the country? Don’t tell me they’re going to make braised food with it!’

Lin Mengjuan was startled by her own idea. It seemed incredible, yet she had a feeling it was the truth. In the end, she couldn’t resist and added a new comment to the post: "Are you launching a new flavor for the braised shop made with the country’s hottest chili?"

She didn’t expect any replies, but to her surprise, several other users responded almost instantly.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"It’s very possible, but would a flavor that spicy really have a market in Hai City?"

"If they really release a flavor like that, I’d want to try it and see just how hot the ’number one’ chili really is, or if it’s just hype."

"..."

More and more people replied to her comment. At first, Lin Mengjuan could keep up and chat back, but soon she was completely overwhelmed. For every comment she replied to, three or four new ones would appear. The thread under her single comment had already grown into a discussion involving over thirty people.

In all her years of surfing the internet, this was the most replies she had ever received on a single comment, and she found it somewhat thrilling.

"Mengjuan! Mengjuan! Lin Mengjuan!"

The sudden use of her full name snapped Lin Mengjuan out of the endless stream of comments. She looked up to see her supervisor standing by her desk, holding a stack of documents and looking at her with displeasure. "What are you doing? I called your name multiple times with no response!"

Lin Mengjuan shot up from her seat with a jolt. She stammered, but her voice was surprisingly loud, "A... a client! Yes, a client just asked me something, and I was so engrossed in my reply that I didn’t hear you call me, sir."

"Organize these documents and have the data report on my desk before the end of the day." Perhaps because he was busy with other urgent matters, her supervisor didn’t question the truthfulness of her excuse. He hastily gave her the assignment and departed.

Watching her supervisor leave, Lin Mengjuan let out a long breath and gently patted her chest with her right hand. ’Getting caught slacking off red-handed... is there anything more terrifying than that?!’

Sitting back down in her office chair, Lin Mengjuan opened the files to begin her work. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of her computer screen. It was 3:47 PM! Her eyes widened in shock. She thought she’d only been reading comments for five minutes at most, but it had actually been half an hour! ’I was chatting with strangers online for a full half-hour!’

The thought of the comment section made her feel an itch of temptation. ’I wonder if anyone replied to what I just posted, and what they said... I really want to continue the discussion!’ But she had work to do, and if she didn’t finish, she would have to stay late. Lin Mengjuan had no choice but to suppress the urge and throw herself into her work.

Still, her gaze kept drifting to her phone on the desk. Its screen was still on, displaying the social media post from Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. The number of comments below it had already reached a staggering 482, and it was still climbing...