Chapter 224 - 193: The Devil’s Whisper Sounds Again

Chapter 224: Chapter 193: The Devil’s Whisper Sounds Again

After hauling the containers of braised food and the soup buckets back to Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, washing them clean, and putting them away, Xu An was about to close the kitchen’s back door. He had just leaned halfway out when he saw from a distance that the light on the second floor of Shop No. 2 was still on.

’It’s so late. Is someone still working upstairs, or did they just forget to turn off the light?’

Xu An wasn’t sure what was going on, but either way, he had to go check. After locking up the doors and windows of Shop No. 1, he walked straight to Shop No. 2. Its roll-up security door was closed.

’Looks like they just forgot to turn off the light.’ He took out his key, unlocked the security door, and raised it with a loud RATTLE. No sooner had Xu An stepped inside than he heard a stern voice shout from upstairs, "Who is it?"

"It’s me, Xu An! Why are you still here so late?" Xu An called back as he headed upstairs. Hearing his voice, the person on the second floor walked to the office door and, with a CLICK, unbolted it from the inside.

"Boss, what are you doing here so late? Is something wrong?" Tang Wen asked. Then, as if remembering something, she turned and walked back into the office without waiting for his reply. She picked up a file from her desk and handed it to Xu An.

The moment he took the file, Xu An’s right eyelid twitched violently. A bad feeling welled up inside him. Every time Tang Wen gave him a report, his right eyelid would twitch whenever it involved a request for funding. ’Looks like my wallet’s going to take another hit tonight!’

"These are the engagement metrics from major online platforms for the ’Xu’s Braised Shop Grand Opening Event’ since it started today. The most significant increase was on the Big-Eye App. Posts by influencers with over ten thousand followers averaged five hundred replies. Those with over twenty thousand followers got seven hundred replies, and those with over thirty thousand got a thousand. Two influencers with seventy thousand followers each saw their comments and shares both break five thousand."

Tang Wen tapped a few spots on the document before flipping to the second page.

"Because we specifically required them to tag our official account, our ’Xu’s Catering’ account has gained nearly eight thousand new followers so far. The number of likes, comments, and shares is thirty times higher than before the event! The lead generation has been excellent!"

She flipped to the third page.

"The reach of our WeiXun public account article was also great. With zero ad spend, just through organic sharing by members of the ’Xu’s Fast Food’ group chat, it got two thousand views, one hundred twenty-seven comments, and six hundred thirty-two shares."

The fourth page.

"Today, we saw two major traffic spikes. The first was when Mr. Sun won the grand prize, and the second was when the Hai City local news channel aired a story about the Xu’s Braised Shop grand opening. Traffic during these peaks was more than triple the volume of other times. During those spikes, the most common questions people asked were things like, ’Is there only one grand prize winner?’ and ’Will there be more grand prizes during the next six days of the event?’ We saw over three thousand two hundred and seventy comments like that."

At this, Tang Wen took a deep breath and flipped to the final page. Her tone was firm as she spoke.

"Given this data, I recommend you consider increasing the number of grand prize winners. Ideally, one per day for the remaining six days of the event. The rules would be: winners cannot win twice, the prize slot for a given day cannot be rolled over, and it’s strictly limited to one winner per day."

’Of course. There was only one possible reason Tang Wen would seek him out: she wanted money! A budget! Funds!’

Still, the promotional effect of today’s event was undeniable. Forget everything else; even in Xu An’s class group chat, many of his classmates were talking about the Hellish Braised Flavor. A lot of them wanted to group up and come try it before school started.

Plenty of people online were interested in the "Hellish Braised Flavor" gimmick. Even if each person only bought a single pound of the braised food, they could still sell a thousand or two. And if you added the allure of a ten-thousand-yuan grand prize, even more people would come to spend money and take the challenge. Selling seven or eight hundred pounds a day would be a piece of cake.

’And the rules are strict: winners can’t compete again, and the daily prize can’t be rolled over. That means if no one succeeds on a given day, the grand prize goes unclaimed. I’d save ten thousand yuan.’

Today, a total of forty-one people had successfully won the third prize. Of those, seven opted to attempt the second-prize challenge, and five succeeded. The remaining thirty-three chose to go for the grand prize, and only Mr. Sun managed to win it. The total prize payout was 15,600 yuan, while the shop’s net profit was 3,720 yuan, resulting in a loss of 11,880 yuan.

Hmm...

After running the numbers, the enthusiasm ignited by Tang Wen’s report quickly fizzled out. ’Actually, today’s promotion already achieved its purpose,’ he thought. ’The analysis shows that Xu’s Braised Shop has already made a name for itself. All I need to do now is manage the business steadily and maintain this momentum...’

Seeing the excitement on Xu An’s face begin to fade, Tang Wen calmly reached for a second file on her desk and handed it to him.

"This is a foot traffic forecast for the next six days based on today’s data. We’ll see a small peak tomorrow and Wednesday, with a wave of people attracted by the ’Hellish Braised Flavor’ coming to eat and take the challenge. I’m projecting an average of nine hundred thirty-seven visitors on each of those days. Thursday, traffic will drop to its lowest point, around four hundred visitors. But Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be a new peak period. Saturday will be the busiest, and I expect we could see around fifteen hundred visitors that day."

She flipped the page.

"If we have the draw of a ten-thousand-yuan grand prize every day, all of the numbers I just mentioned will double!" Tang Wen’s speech quickened, her voice rising with unconcealed excitement. "Furthermore, our active followers on the Big-Eye account will grow to around thirty thousand, and our WeiXun public account followers could reach eight thousand. All of these followers are our target demographic: locals in Hai City with disposable income!"

Tang Wen took another deep breath and pressed on.

"Based on a rate of about eighty-eight pounds of braised food per one hundred visitors, we should prepare sixteen hundred and fifty pounds for tomorrow and Wednesday! Eight hundred and eighty pounds for Thursday! And twenty-two hundred pounds for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Over the seven-day opening event, Xu’s Braised Shop’s net profit could reach 65,140 yuan! Add in the repeat customers, and we could absolutely hit a net profit of seventy thousand yuan in just seven days!"

Having spoken so quickly and urgently, Tang Wen was left gasping for air as soon as she finished. Her whole body swayed, and for a second, she looked like she might pass out from breathlessness.

’Those are ideal numbers,’ Xu An thought. ’There’s no way we could actually achieve that in reality. Selling twenty-two hundred pounds a day is completely unrealistic. Even if Zhang Dezhen and the others worked nonstop from 2 PM to 10 PM, they’d have to complete a transaction every 14.4 seconds. Even if most people bought two or three pounds at once, that’s still a transaction every half-minute.’

’Besides, foot traffic is unpredictable. If the line gets too long, some people will just watch the spectacle for a bit and then leave. Getting even a third of the projected visitors to actually stay and buy would be an incredibly high retention rate.’

But the keywords—’twenty-two hundred pounds in daily sales,’ ’thirty thousand followers on the Big-Eye account,’ ’eight thousand followers on the WeiXun public account’—seemed to be seared into his brain. Every time he was about to open his mouth to reject the proposal, these phrases would dance seductively before his mind’s eye, leaving him utterly captivated, unable to look away or speak a word of refusal.

’How could anyone say no to that! It’s impossible to refuse! But I really don’t want to cough up sixty thousand yuan! There are so many things I need to spend money on right now; sixty grand is no small sum for me!’

After catching her breath, Tang Wen stood steady. She reached out, picked up the third and final file from her desk, and handed it to Xu An. Her lips parted, and a series of incredibly tempting words emerged one by one.

"Boss, this is the Plan B I prepared. We can leverage the hype from today’s grand prize to launch another wave of promotion." Her finger tapped on a bold headline. "If Xu’s Braised Shop can sell one thousand one hundred pounds of braised food tomorrow, Tuesday, then we will add an extra grand prize slot on Wednesday. The reward will be the same..."

Lu Xun once wrote that if you want to open a window in a sealed, stuffy house, most people will object. But if you first propose tearing off the entire roof, they’ll happily agree to let you open a window.

Compared to the sixty-thousand-yuan expenditure she had just proposed, this paltry ten-thousand-yuan cost now seemed completely reasonable to Xu An. Not a single thing wrong with it!

’And the hype from this grand prize would last for two whole days! Net profit on five hundred fifty pounds of braised food is 3,720 yuan, so a thousand one hundred pounds would be 7,440 yuan. If we do that on both Tuesday and Wednesday, that’s a total of 14,880 yuan!’

’In other words, even after paying out the ten-thousand-yuan prize, I’d still make a net profit of 4,880 yuan over those two days, on top of driving a new wave of traffic to all our social media accounts!’

’And if we don’t hit the goal of selling a thousand one hundred pounds on Tuesday, even if we only sell eight hundred and eighty pounds, it’s still a huge win. No matter what, I get traffic and make a tidy profit. The customers get a chance to win big, but I’m guaranteed not to lose! Everyone gets what they want. It’s a win-win!’

After writing the word "Approved" and signing his name on the Plan B document, Xu An said goodbye to Tang Wen. He left Xu’s Braised Shop, hopped on his small three-wheeled scooter, and started on the road back to Xu Family Village.

The weather was sweltering, but the breeze from his speeding scooter brought a welcome bit of coolness. As the cool air washed over him, Xu An slowly calmed down from his earlier excitement and finally realized what had just happened. Seduced by Tang Wen’s demonic whispers, he had, with a wave of his hand, just thrown another ten thousand yuan at the Xu’s Braised Shop grand opening event!

’Hmm... Maybe I should go on TaoBao and see if they sell any gadgets that protect against hypnosis?’

’Xu An seriously suspected Tang Wen knew hypnosis. Why else would he always agree to her proposals that required spending a ’fortune’...’

’Forget it. I should just contact the kitchen equipment supplier. I’ll need them to deliver two more sets of soup buckets tomorrow morning, otherwise, there’s no way we can cook eleven hundred pounds of braised food in a single morning. I also need to contact Wang Fulong and Liu Daxi and ask them to help me find some experienced kitchen hands to hire. I’ll get in touch with Old Han, too, and see if there are any college students looking for part-time work-study jobs; I can recruit a few to help serve and weigh orders at the braised food shop. And I have to give Zhang Dezhen a heads-up...’

’This sudden five-hundred-fifty-pound increase in volume will really strain our three automated kitchen machines. Should I contact Uncle Han and buy two more?’

’But space in Shop No. 2 is limited. Adding one more machine is already pushing it; two is practically impossible. But I really need both an automatic vegetable washer and an automatic vegetable cutter!’

’Oh, whatever. One it is. The braised food shop has a lot of vegetables to wash, so I’ll order an automatic vegetable washer from Uncle Han first. I just hope he has one in stock and can deliver it tomorrow...’

’Ugh! How is there still so much to do?! When is this all going to end?!’