Meng Zhao and Gu Shi quickly served food to the people in line. Today, in addition to spicy rabbit meat, there was also braised pork, potato and chicken, scrambled eggs with mushrooms, cold vegetable salad, and stir-fried tofu.

Business is good now, so there's basically no need to hawk their wares anymore. Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu are in charge of serving soup to the diners, and when they're too busy, they also help wash the used plates.

"Hehehe, this rabbit meat is great, there's not a hint of fishiness."

"This Boss Meng is amazing, everything he makes tastes so good."

"I've finally had this braised pork! It's so fragrant and tender, it falls apart with just a touch. Last time, Old Li ate it and kept thinking about it on the boat. I even told him he was ignorant. But after tasting it today, I'll remember this flavor for the rest of my life."

"You haven't tried Boss Meng's steamed pork with rice flour yet, that's delicious too."

"Really, Mr. Meng? When are you going to make steamed pork with rice flour? I'd love to come and eat it."

Meng Zhao replied with a smile, "Grinding the rice flour for steamed pork is too laborious, it's not easy to make."

"There's nothing difficult about it, just buy a donkey."

It was just a casual remark, but Meng Zhao thought about it and realized they really should buy a donkey. With a donkey, they wouldn't have to push their own cart when they came to town to sell boxed lunches, and it would be more convenient to grind soybeans and rice noodles. But things weren't very stable yet, so buying a donkey was a bit premature. They should wait a little longer.

Sure enough, not long after, Meng Zhao heard Shen Qingyu tell her that a new boxed lunch stall had appeared at the dock.

"Sister-in-law, there's a guy selling boxed lunches not far from us, just like us. And I remember he ate at our stall." The girl spoke angrily, her lips pouting so much they could hang an oil lamp on them, she was practically jumping up and down.

Their stall was doing well, and Meng Zhao had long guessed that there would be imitations, but what surprised Meng Zhao was that the little girl had a good memory. "Qingyu, you even remember that he ate here."

"Of course I remember. He came several times, and each time he just ate without saying a word. Sister-in-law, they're copying us." The little girl was very angry. Her family had finally gotten better off, but she never expected that some shameless person would come and imitate them.

Meng Zhao squatted down, pinched Shen Qingyu's puffed-up cheeks, and said, "The boxed lunches were just an idea. We made them, and so did everyone else. Qingyu, don't be angry."

These are Meng Zhao's true feelings. Boxed meals are just a new way of eating, and anyone can sell them in the same way. Her advantage has never been the form of boxed meals, but her skills. The emergence of a competitor is not enough to threaten her business.

At first, Meng Zhao didn't pay attention, until one day when he had been setting up his stall for an hour and still hadn't sold all 100 boxed meals he had prepared. Only then did Meng Zhao discover some problems.

These days, three more boxed lunch vendors have appeared at the dock. Apart from the first one, which had the same price as hers, the other two were one coin cheaper, which seemed to be intentional.

The two companies then started a price war, and the price dropped by another 1 coin, becoming 6 coins for two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish, and 9 coins for two meat dishes and one vegetarian dish.

Meng Zhao had seen their food; the ingredients were inferior to his and didn't look as fresh, but there was still a good amount.

I often buy groceries myself, so I can roughly guess their profit margin. They probably earn about 1 coin per serving, and they sell about 70 or 80 servings a day. With that kind of volume, it would take two people to keep up, meaning that two people would only earn less than 100 coins a day. That's a bit of a lose-lose situation.

Meng Zhao was initially quite annoyed by the price war between the two companies, but for some reason, it seemed as if the two companies had a grudge against each other and were determined to crush each other.

The price war didn't stop there; they started increasing the portions. One company offered double portions of rice, and another quickly followed suit. Eventually, both companies switched to offering unlimited rice.

Hearing that the two families had done this, Meng Zhao felt relieved. He simply told Gu Shi to prepare fewer boxed meals for a while, only 50 per day, and to close up shop once they were sold out.

Upon hearing Meng Zhao's words, Madam Gu and her two children were as dejected as wilted eggplants. They had suggested to Meng Zhao that they lower the price, but the suggestion was rejected. They had chosen better ingredients, and if the price were lowered further, the profit would be too low.

Seeing Meng Zhao's resolute attitude, the three of them dared not persuade him further. They could only feel sad in their hearts, thinking that their hard-won way of making money was about to be snatched away by someone else.

Shen Qinghe, who was at home on her day off, overheard their conversation. Seeing her sister-in-law's confident expression and then looking at her mother and younger siblings' disappointed faces, she couldn't bear it any longer and spoke up at the dinner table: "Mother, don't worry, my sister-in-law has a plan. Just listen to her arrangements."

After saying that, he glanced at Meng Zhao, his eyes filled with helplessness.

Meng Zhao found it somewhat amusing, knowing that the person in front of him was feeling sorry for him, so he stopped being mysterious.

She glanced at Shen Qinghe, who was eating, and her eyes flickered slightly. "Mother, did you count how much food my second brother ate today?"

When Gu heard this, she was taken aback and wondered why Zhaozhao asked about it. She quickly recalled, "At first, I served Qinghe a bowl of rice, and after she finished eating, Qinghe served herself another half bowl."

Shen Qingze raised his hand and said, "I know, I know. My brother just ate a steamed bun. I saw it."

"Silly brother, Second Brother clearly ate two buns, one with braised pork and the other with tofu and vermicelli."

"My brother ate quite a lot of the crispy pork that my sister-in-law made."

"My brother ate three or four braised chicken wings."

Hearing his mother, brother, and sister-in-law counting off what he had eaten at the table, Shen Qing's bright eyes went blank, and his ears turned slightly red. He hadn't even noticed that he had eaten so much.

Having witnessed enough of the future prime minister's awkwardness, Meng Zhao's smile deepened, a slight curve appearing at the corners of his mouth, and he finally spoke.

“Mother, look at me. My second brother is young and a thin scholar, yet he can eat so much. Do you think the dockworkers and the burly boatmen eat less than him?”

Hearing Meng Zhao say this, Madam Gu suddenly realized, "That's right, they sell at low prices, so they don't make much profit to begin with. Now that rice is all you can eat, I'm afraid they'll not only not make any money, but they'll actually lose money."

"Mother has figured it out. If they had families and businesses, they would rent shops. Since they set up stalls at the docks, it means they are not well-off. Those two families have spared no expense to defeat each other, but in the end, they will only suffer losses. It's just a matter of time. Let's not worry about it. Let's just focus on making our meals well."

After hearing Meng Zhao's words, Madam Gu was completely relieved. She hadn't had much of an appetite and hadn't eaten much, but now she felt she hadn't eaten enough, so she went and got another bowl.

The two children's mood brightened up. They realized that their sister-in-law had a solution, and that they had been worrying unnecessarily all this time. They looked at Meng Zhao with even more admiration.