Chapter 16 The Ungrateful Childhood Sweetheart
"Hey little sister? Are you coming again tomorrow? Your cooking is pretty much the same as the food from my hometown." Someone came over with a lunchbox and asked.
"Yeah, what's for tomorrow? Your food tastes a lot like my husband's."
Jiang Xiaomei put the money in her bag: "Here, have some stir-fried dried tofu and pickled chicken giblets for tomorrow."
Those around exclaimed, "Great! Make more, we love it!"
Seeing that it was almost time, Ji Huaizhi finished the rest of the food in one go, and took out a box to leave for Jiang Xiaomei.
These 28 boxed meals sold out quickly, and those who couldn't get one had to eat at the restaurant next door.
I mainly heard from them that the new boxed lunches were delicious and more flavorful than the communal meals, so I wanted to try them. I didn't expect them to sell out so quickly.
The other workers who didn't get any looked unhappy: "Prepare more, there are so many people."
"You don't have enough to sell!"
"That's right! There are construction sites all around here, and what you're making isn't nearly enough to meet demand."
Ji Huaizhi: "We don't have a pot that big at home. It's just home cooking. From now on, there will be about thirty servings. If you want to eat, come over earlier."
No one said anything, but as they left, they looked at Jiang Xiaomei and asked her to save some for them tomorrow.
Jiang Xiaomei always had a smile on her face.
After everyone left, Jiang Xiaomei saw that there was one left and said with some regret, "This is eight yuan. I didn't even notice there was one left. I could have sold it for eight more yuan."
"Do you think gods don't eat?"
Upon hearing Ji Huaizhi's words, Jiang Xiaomei knew that this was something he had left for her.
"Yes, this one can't be sold; my brother saved it for me."
"Go eat over there, I'll pick up these lunchboxes from the ground." After tearing open so many lunchboxes, everyone just threw them on the ground.
Ji Huaizhi picked it up and threw it into a nearby garbage dump, which could be considered cleaning it up.
While eating, Jiang Xiaomei waved for Ji Huaizhi to come over: "I saw that the people next door had put away all the used lunchboxes, but they didn't say they would throw them away."
"They're not going to reuse them, are they?"
Ji Huaizhi glanced at it casually and said, "I don't know."
"How dirty! Are those plates disposable too?"
Ji Huaizhi turned her head: "Eat quickly."
Jiang Xiaomei nodded. Although this approach was disgusting, she didn't want to cause trouble.
And they've been selling here for so long, maybe these workers already knew.
Ji Huaizhi was pulling the cart when Jiang Xiaomei playfully stood on it and let him pull her along.
As soon as the two left, the man tidying up nearby looked up and said, "Someone else is trying to steal our business. I'm speechless. Why not do any other business and come to a construction site to sell boxed lunches?"
"A worker just said they only prepare about thirty servings a day." The woman comforted him softly, "It's alright, most people on the construction site have big appetites."
"I prefer our buffet style, twelve yuan is all you can eat."
The man packed his things angrily, making a loud clattering noise: "You think thirty portions aren't enough?"
"If thirty fewer people come to eat here, we'll lose three or four hundred yuan in revenue!"
The woman dared not speak.
The man continued to curse as he cleaned up.
He even cursed the workers, calling them ungrateful dogs who couldn't resist women.
The woman tidied up faster.
After arriving home, the two of them took a shower, laughing and joking, because it was just too hot.
The produce isn't very fresh now; chicken giblets and such are probably all gone, and most vendors have already closed up shop. The two plan to go to the market early tomorrow morning to buy some fresh produce.
After taking a shower, Jiang Xiaomei counted her change with wet hair.
I looked at the money that had been scanned by my phone.
"You can still pay with your phone now? I don't even know how you do it." Jiang Xiaomei smiled and hugged Ji Huaizhi's neck. She smelled nice with soap after taking a shower.
"Brother Huaizhi is so smart, he knows everything."
Ji Huaizhi touched her neck with his forehead: "Finished counting?"
Jiang Xiaomei nodded, picked up a pen and scribbled in her notebook: "I've finished counting. We ate two of the 28 boxed meals. They cost eight yuan each. We made a total of 208 yuan today."
"After deducting our cost of buying vegetables, we bought 20 jin of potatoes for 10 yuan, which we didn't finish. Green peppers are in season and cheap, 5 yuan for a big bag, so we bought two bags for 10 yuan. Pork is 15 yuan per kilogram, so we bought 2 kilograms for 30 yuan."
"That's equivalent to 30 + 10 + 10 = 50, so our profit is about 150 yuan?"
Jiang Xiaomei's eyes lit up.
Ji Huaizhi laughed at her money-grubbing look: "Don't you think about the seasonings, water, electricity, and gas?"
"Let's ignore those for now. I feel like this is very profitable. The main thing is that we have a small volume. How much do those stalls with large volumes make in a day?"
Jiang Xiaomei shed tears of envy.
"There are so many construction sites and so many workers around here. I bet some vendors can earn eight hundred or a thousand a day."
Ji Huaizhi nodded: "There definitely is, but don't even think about it."
Neither of us has the energy for it.
“I know, I was just thinking about it.” Jiang Xiaomei took out 58 yuan from her pocket: “I’ve decided, I’m going to continue this business of selling boxed lunches at a stall, until you start school.”
"I want to go sell them again!"
"Save this hundred yuan, and use the remaining fifty-eight to buy groceries tomorrow."
Ji Huaizhi glanced at her, then closed his eyes and went to sleep.
She definitely doesn't have the energy for that.
However, she can sell them for a while now.
The couple's boxed lunch business was booming, and all the workers in the neighborhood knew them.
Sometimes, when Jiang Xiaomei and Ji Huaizhi didn't know what to do, they would ask them what they wanted to eat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
