Chapter 208 - 184: So This Is an Overachiever, I Suppose

Chapter 208: Chapter 184: So This Is an Overachiever, I Suppose

As a professional with weekends off, why would he be in the office on a Saturday? There was one and only one possibility: Liu Zhaowen was working overtime. And it wasn’t just this Saturday—he had already been working overtime for a full week straight.

In the vast, empty office, Liu Zhaowen was a solitary figure, accompanied only by the CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of his keyboard. After forcefully hitting the Enter key to send an email, he interlaced his fingers and stretched, his eyes drifting to the bottom right corner of his computer screen. The time was 7:36 PM.

’No wonder I’m so hungry, it’s already past dinnertime.’ He glanced up at the screen. The email had been delivered three minutes ago, but there was no reply yet. ’Maybe I should go grab a bite first and come back to deal with it later.’

Just as he was about to get up, his phone’s notification light blinked. Someone had sent him a message. He picked it up and saw it was from Liu Tong.

’Are you still at the office working overtime?’

’Just finished. Waiting for feedback now. Planning to grab a bite downstairs and then get back to the grind (fist pump emoji).’

’So you really did forget everything about tonight! (angry face emoji)’

’Tonight? What’s happening tonight? Isn’t the main event for tonight to keep battling it out with the client, finish this project today, and finally say goodbye to them?’

’The braised dish tasting at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant is tonight at nine! It’s almost eight already. If you’re not going, I’m asking someone else. There’s a whole group of people in the chat crying about wanting to go.’

Reading Liu Tong’s message, Liu Zhaowen finally remembered. The free feast of braised dishes he had been dreaming of for so long! He’d heard there would be twenty-seven different dishes, with four different flavors for each, for a total of one hundred and eight braised dishes. How could he possibly miss such a grand banquet!

’I’m going, of course I’m going. See you at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.’

After replying to Liu Tong, Liu Zhaowen glanced at his computer screen again. Still no new messages.

’Work is endless, but today is Saturday! A day off! Working until almost eight at night is already giving the client plenty of face. The rest of the evening should be for myself.’

’Worst case scenario... worst case, I’ll just come in tomorrow, on Sunday, and keep working!’

After comforting himself with that thought, Liu Zhaowen decisively closed all the files on his computer and hit the shutdown button. The moment the screen went black, he let out a sigh of relief. He grabbed his phone, pushed his chair under his desk, turned off the lights, closed the door, and clocked out—all in one smooth motion.

Just as Liu Zhaowen was dropping two yuan into the bus fare box, his usually quiet phone suddenly buzzed. His hand, clutching two one-yuan bills, hovered over the slot for two seconds before he decisively let go. The bills slid smoothly through the opening, passed through a short empty stretch, and joined their brothers and sisters in a soft pile.

Perhaps because it was a Saturday, the bus wasn’t too crowded. For once, Liu Zhaowen enjoyed the luxury of sitting by a window, his chin propped in his hand, watching the trees, streetlights, buildings, and pedestrians rapidly fade into the distance.

As the bus doors continually opened and closed, the number of passengers grew. After the doors opened once more, three young men got on. They walked straight to the empty seats in front of Liu Zhaowen, and one of them sat right next to him.

"We must be crazy, transferring three times just to eat some braised food at a fast-food joint," one of them joked as soon as they sat down.

"I know, right? If this event wasn’t on a Saturday night, I probably wouldn’t have come. It’s too far."

"Yeah, who knows when this restaurant will finally open a branch in our area."

"There’s an event at the restaurant tonight, so the owner should be there, right? We can give him a few suggestions..."

Their conversation caught Liu Zhaowen’s attention. Through the reflection in the window, he took in their appearance. The three looked about his age, but their faces showed none of the tell-tale signs of being beaten down by society. Judging by their clothes and their mode of transport, they weren’t from wealthy families either. The most likely possibility was that they were third or fourth-year university students.

Sure enough, their conversation soon shifted to their just-ended summer vacation. One had gone back to his hometown to catch birds in the mountains and fish in the river, while another had holed up at home playing video games all summer...

Their faces lit up as they spoke, and Liu Zhaowen was captivated just by listening. He found himself reminiscing about his own carefree college days, completely oblivious to the phone in his pocket buzzing again and again.

"...The next stop is Zijing Road Station. Passengers who need to get off, please prepare in advance..."

The bus announcement chimed. His brain caught the keyword: Zijing Road. This was his stop. Liu Zhaowen stood up from his seat and suddenly noticed that almost everyone on the bus was standing up at the exact same time, all looking ready to get off. Liu Zhaowen’s gaze met several others’, and they all broke into a smile, as if to say—so you’re here for the braised dish tasting, too!

As he made his way off the bus, Liu Zhaowen, having been here before, knew the road conditions at night weren’t great. He subconsciously reached for his phone, ready to turn on the flashlight at a moment’s notice. But when he looked up, he saw through the bus window a neon sign standing by the roadside. The sign had large, illuminated characters formed from light strips that read: "Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant Braised Dish Tasting Event, This Way Please!"

Following the arrow on the sign, he saw that the path to Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant was lined with guide arrows. The spaces between the arrows were draped with strings of fairy lights, their tiny, twinkling bulbs looking just like a sky full of stars.

Among the dozen or so people who got off the bus with him were several young women who couldn’t help but gasp in amazement at the scene, immediately pulling out their phones to capture the beautiful sight.

Liu Zhaowen followed the path of fairy lights, and before he knew it, the brightly lit Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant came into view. The entrance was teeming with a surging crowd of people, filled with laughter and cheerful chatter. It was a lively scene.

’Why isn’t anyone going inside? Is it not time yet, so they’re not allowed in?’

This piqued Liu Zhaowen’s curiosity. He quickened his pace and soon arrived at the entrance of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, where he finally saw the sign that had been completely blocked by the crowd.

The sign was both ordinary and extraordinary. It was a simple, rectangular stand, with a string of fairy lights wrapped around the border. But what was unusual was that the sign was designed to look exactly like a smartphone screen, complete with a frame, battery icon, time, and buttons.

The center of the "screen" displayed a QQ social media page. The account showed the Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant logo and name. The area where a picture would normally be was actually a cutout, and many people were standing behind it, striking all sorts of silly poses. Below the "post" was a series of comments, all of which Liu Zhaowen had seen before under posts from Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. What surprised him most was that one of the comments was his own.

’My Exhausted Soul: Another night of overtime. It’s times like these I miss your braised dishes more than ever.’

Seeing his own comment there, Liu Zhaowen couldn’t help but chuckle. He reached for his phone, wanting to take a picture of it. As soon as he lit up the screen, QQ showed 27+ unread messages: 5+ from Liu Tong and 22+ from his boss.

The last message displayed in his boss’s chat window was—"Hurry up. Finish this tonight. On Monday we still have..."

Just as Liu Zhaowen was hesitating over whether to tap and read all the messages from his boss, an arm slung around his shoulder. Liu Tong’s boisterous voice sounded in his ear: "What are you standing here for? This sign is so cool, it even has your comment on it! We have to get a picture! Let’s go! Let’s find someone to take one for us!"

He thought about the work that was supposed to be his boss’s responsibility, which he had already worked overtime to complete and send to the client. Logically and reasonably, as long as the client didn’t contact him, he could completely ignore his nitpicking boss.

His right thumb unconsciously pressed the power button, and the phone screen went dark in an instant. Liu Zhaowen turned to Liu Tong with a brilliant smile. "Here I come. Use your phone, just send me the pics later."

"Sure."

At that very moment, Xu An, the event organizer, stood on the second floor of his restaurant, looking down at the lively, interacting crowd below. He couldn’t help but nod in approval.

In Xu An’s original plan, the tasting event was very simple: send invitations, confirm the number of attendees, prepare the braised dishes, hold the tasting, vote to determine the ten most popular dishes, and end the event.

But after Tang Wen came on board, she optimized the entire thing. The sign at the bus station, the fairy lights along the path, the arrangement of the tasting tables, and the photo op sign—Tang Wen had single-handedly managed all the preliminary setup.

From receiving his half-baked event plan to refining it, producing all the materials, and finally setting everything up, she had done it all in just two days. The total cost for materials, decorations, and everything else was under three hundred yuan, but the final effect looked like it could have cost ten times that.

And during those two days, Tang Wen wasn’t just busy with the tasting event. She had also coordinated with Wei on the advertising video, launched the pre-opening promotional activities for Xu’s Braised Shop, finalized the launch event plan for the braised shop, and even contacted some local influencers and popular public accounts. She had even tried to invite a lifestyle news team from Hai City’s local station to come and report on it...

’This is what you call a queen of hustle,’ he thought.

Tonight’s event was far from over. The tasting itself and the final publicity push were the main attractions. These sixty-six attendees would all become the initial followers for the Xu’s Fast Food social media account, their first wave of free promotion. Every photo they were taking right now had the potential to become a viral highlight of the event.