Chapter 238: Old Spot BBQ

After making up his mind, Xu An called Uncle Han to place a purchase order. Uncle Han was a great help, promising to deliver and install it at the shop tomorrow morning. As for where to put it, it would have to be like the other piece of equipment—kept in the alley for use during the day and moved back into the shop for safekeeping at night.

After installing this vacuum packaging machine, there would be enough space for at most one more machine in the alley behind the shop, and that would be the limit. In a way, Xu An was pushing his luck; if there was ever a city beautification inspection, these machines would have to be put away…

‘Just have to wait a little longer. Things will be fine once the realtor negotiates the price down and I get my hands on that furniture store…’

In the end, on Wednesday, Xu’s Braised Shop sold a total of 1,290 jin of braised dishes, bringing the total revenue to 24,300 yuan.

After deducting the expenses for today’s grand opening challenge event, Xu’s Braised Shop’s net profit for the day was 8,326 yuan!

If this income could be sustained until September 20th, the shop’s profit would reach 258,000 yuan, bringing him one step closer to the 520,000 yuan down payment. All he needed now was for Wang Fulong to land a deal with one or two companies for over 300 boxed lunches each. Then, scraping together the 520,000 yuan down payment would be a breeze.

‘I wonder how Liu Zhaowen’s sales are going,’ he mused. ‘If he does well, I might even be able to cover the initial renovation costs before the 20th.’

「Liu Zhaowen’s Home.」

Last night, Liu Zhaowen had placed a purchase order with Xu An for 120 jin of braised dishes. He had arrived at this number through a meticulous calculation, believing it would be just enough to cover five hours of sales at his stall, from 5 PM to 10 PM the next day.

But after he got home, just by posting the flavors and types of braised dishes for the next day on his social media feed, thirty-seven students from the Polytechnic University had already pre-ordered through QQ, selling 79 jin in the blink of an eye!

The next day, he had just arrived at Hai City University of Technology at 5 PM when a huge crowd of students with pre-orders swarmed him to pay and pick up their food. He was swamped for two hours straight. Before he could even finish setting up his stall, the entire 120 jin of braised dishes were completely sold out…

Staring at the four empty insulated containers, Liu Zhaowen could only pack up and begin the journey home, pulling his small cart.

Back home, he opened the spreadsheet he made yesterday and entered the day’s sales data. The cell in the last column, labeled ‘Income’, immediately displayed today’s total earnings: 240 yuan.

Thirty days in a month, 240 yuan a day… that’s 7,200 yuan a month!

Holy crap! For these hours and this amount of effort, the income was way better than what he earned at his nine-to-five job! And this job didn’t come with an incompetent boss constantly passing the blame or having to deal with demanding, nitpicky clients!

This was a total win!

Filled with joy, Liu Zhaowen wanted to rush out of his room and share the good news with his family, but the moment his butt left the chair, he calmed down. He still hadn’t told his parents that he had quit his job. If they found out he’d quit to run a street food stall…

The thought was too horrifying to even consider.

His cousin was out of the question, too. If she knew, his parents would know. He absolutely couldn’t tell her. After thinking it over, there was only one person left: his good friend, Liu Tong!

Liu Zhaowen picked up his phone, opened his contacts, and found and dialed Liu Tong’s number.

RING RING— RING RING—

The loud ringtone shattered the silence of the meeting room, where the air was so tense it had practically solidified and the attendees were trying to evolve past the need to breathe. The frozen atmosphere suddenly stirred, and the people, who had been on the verge of turning into statues, all turned their heads. All eyes landed on Liu Tong.

Liu Tong fumbled to pull his phone out of his pocket. Without even glancing at who was calling, he immediately declined the call, then pressed the power button to turn it off. Only then did he lower his head with a sheepish grin, pretending like nothing had happened.

“Liu Tong. It’s August 30th. There’s only one day left before September, and we still have a sales shortfall of over thirty thousand cans! Why don’t you share your thoughts on that!” The bird that pokes its head out gets shot. That phone call had put Liu Tong right in the hunter’s crosshairs. The barrel was aimed at him, finger on the trigger.

“Um… well… about that… haha…” Liu Tong hemmed and hawed for a long time but couldn’t manage to form a single coherent sentence.

In reality, it wasn’t that Liu Tong had no ideas; he had too many. But he knew full well his boss would dismiss them all. A long time ago, he had suggested to his boss that they do a promotion with the braised food products from Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, which would have definitely driven significant sales.

But his boss had rejected the proposal.

At first, Liu Tong thought his boss had rejected it due to other concerns, but he later found out the real reason during a casual chat with a colleague—his boss looked down on a small street-side shop like that.

He believed that after the promotion ended, the customers of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant wouldn’t continue to buy their 3.5 yuan-a-can apple cider vinegar, so he wasn’t even willing to try…

Originally, Liu Tong felt that since it was in the past, he should just let it go. But ever since Xu’s Braised Shop opened and became a massive hit, his boss started finding fault with him, picking on him for everything. His tone became aggressive, and every word was laced with blame for Liu Tong not seizing the opportunity…

‘Dude, you’re the boss, you’re the leader! You’re the one who calls the shots! No matter how capable I am, could I really have gone over your head to make that decision? Don’t tell me you expected me to pay for the promotion out of my own pocket, and then come to you for reimbursement only after it succeeded?’

‘I’m here to earn money, not to pay to work!’

‘Later, I even suggested we partner with Xu’s Braised Shop now, but that proposal was rejected too. I just don’t get what my boss is thinking. It’s better to just be a quiet puppet.’

By the time the meeting finally ended, it was almost eleven o’clock…

Just then, Liu Tong suddenly remembered the phone call in the meeting room. ‘Could it have been family with something urgent?!’ He hastily pulled out his phone and pressed the power button. As soon as the home screen loaded, several notifications popped up at the top.

‘Missed Calls: 3’

‘Busy?’

‘Did something happen?’

‘Your parents said you’re still at the office, working overtime this late? I’m heading to your company to find you. Let’s go to the old spot for a late-night snack. My treat!’

The three calls and three messages were all from the same person: Liu Zhaowen.

Thinking about the incredibly frustrating meeting he had just endured, Liu Tong felt he really did need some beer and barbecue to unwind. As long as he controlled himself and didn’t get drunk, it would be fine.

「The Old Spot BBQ.」

The familiar shop, the familiar table, the familiar food, the familiar friend. The only difference was that this time, the two of them didn’t order braised pig ears. The item had been removed from the menu. In fact, it wasn’t just that dish; the entire braised food section of the menu was gone.

“Boss, you’re not selling braised dishes anymore? I thought plenty of people liked having braised food with their beer,” Liu Zhaowen, still in a state of excitement and highly focused on all things braised food, asked as the owner brought their food.

“Ugh, don’t even talk about it.” A look of helplessness crossed the owner’s face. “I got several waves of complaints because of those braised dishes. I thought they tasted pretty good, but people just weren’t buying it. So, I gave up. Not making them anymore. You guys like this stuff, right? I happened to make a little bit of braised pig ear tonight, let me give you some…”

Before the owner could finish, both of them frantically waved their hands, refusing. The taste from last time was still vividly etched in their memories—the kind of taste you never want to experience a second time in your life.

After downing a glass of beer, Liu Tong began his usual routine of complaining about his ridiculous boss. But as he spoke, he noticed something was off. Where was the Zhaowen who would usually be just as indignant as him, ready to slam the table in anger? Who was this person sitting before him, a smile in his eyes and the corners of his mouth occasionally hooking upwards?

Ahem—

Liu Zhaowen cleared his throat, took another half-glass of beer to wet his whistle, and then slowly began to recount the story of how he had told off his boss and quit. Liu Tong was left completely stunned.

“You really quit? So are you an unemployed bum now, or are you looking for a new job?”

“Hehe!” Liu Zhaowen gave a mysterious smile and said two words to Liu Tong: “You guess!”

…

As it turns out, you shouldn’t mess with a tipsy person. Under Liu Tong’s duress, Liu Zhaowen finally confessed about the little stall he was running now. He also took the opportunity to gloat a bit, revealing that he had earned a full 240 yuan today!

Liu Tong went through several stages: first disbelief, then confusion, then doubt, followed by a period of questioning his own existence, and finally, he launched a full-scale interrogation, digging into every last detail of Liu Zhaowen’s business and profit model.

“So, you’re basically a middleman, earning 240 yuan from selling stuff from Xu’s Braised Shop to the students?”

“Yup!” Liu Zhaowen nodded smugly. “Awesome, right? It’s so much more comfortable and easier than working that damn job.”

Liu Tong paid no mind to Liu Zhaowen’s gloating. Instead, he quickly slipped into work mode, analyzing the situation from a salesman’s perspective. Finally, he looked up at Liu Zhaowen and spoke slowly and firmly.

“Within a ten-kilometer radius of Xu’s Braised Shop, there are three universities, five high schools, four elementary schools, and seven kindergartens…”

Liu Zhaowen understood Liu Tong’s meaning in an instant and quickly shook his head in refusal. “No, no way. I’m just one person, I can’t be in multiple places at once. I’m too busy! The way things are now is perfect. Besides, the university hasn’t even officially started its semester yet. Once it does, there’ll be more people. I might be able to make four or five hundred yuan in just two or three hours a day. That’s more than enough!”

Just as Liu Tong’s lips parted to speak, the hospitable owner of the barbecue shop brought over a small plate of braised pig ears. He smiled at the two of them and said, “Don’t be shy. It’s free, on the house. Eat up, drink up!”

The two of them stared at the plate of braised pig ears, which was unappealing in color, smell, and overall presentation, and fell silent. In the end, not wanting to hurt the owner’s feelings, they asked him for a bag to pack up the dish, planning to find a trash can on the way home and throw it out.

They continued to chat about many other things, but Liu Tong’s mind was mostly preoccupied with what Liu Zhaowen had just said.

‘Why does he have to sell it at a stall himself?’ Liu Tong thought. ‘As a salesman, my greatest strength is pitching products to various businesses and shops!’

‘I have to run around outside to sell apple cider vinegar anyway. Why not talk to the owner of Xu’s Braised Shop on the side? I could do some sales runs for him, make a little extra cash? It would be a backup plan, too. Given my boss’s attitude, my chances of passing this probation period are slim to none…’

Then, Liu Tong’s gaze fell on the plate that had held the braised pig ears, a thoughtful expression on his face. ‘The owner of this barbecue shop likes braised dishes so much. If I offered him some delicious, enticing, and cheap braised food, he definitely wouldn’t refuse, right?’

His gaze shifted again, this time to Liu Zhaowen, who was beaming as he ate grilled eggplant. ‘I have a perfect success story right here that I can use as a blueprint for promotions. A lot of people would probably be interested in this! Buy the stock, set up a stall, and easily make over ten thousand a month…’

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. ‘Why don’t I use this barbecue shop owner as a test case tomorrow? If it’s a success, then I’ll go talk to Boss Xu.’