Ning's mother was caught red-handed and knew that what she had done was not right, so she didn't say anything and quickly picked up her things and ran home.
"Why didn't we sell out today?" Ning Haiping asked, seeing the pile of packaged food his mother had brought back. "What happened?"
"Don't even mention it. Today, the workers from those two factories are like they're under a spell, all flocking to the fast food restaurant next door, as if the food there is free."
Speaking of this, Ning's mother was also very angry.
“Of course it’s free.” Zhu Qingmei returned to her shop with two snacks and picked up the conversation. “They give away sweet soup for free. I heard it’s really good. I wanted to get a serving, but they know me, so I didn’t.”
"Free gift???" The Ning family mother and son looked at each other in bewilderment.
"It's free!" Zhu Qingmei said. "I heard it tastes really good."
Ning's mother: "No wonder it's so lively there today. Giving it away for free, it must be on purpose."
Ning Haiping was furious when he saw the unsold goods: "They're definitely doing it on purpose! They just don't want us to have any business! Damn it!"
Zhu Qingmei said, "I also bought two snacks from next door, come and try them."
Ning Haiping frowned when he saw the bright red color and the pungent smell of spice: "It looks very spicy. Why do people like to eat this?"
Ning's mother poked a piece with a bamboo skewer and put it in her mouth. In the blink of an eye, she was looking for water to drink.
"My God, it's so spicy!" Ning's mother gulped down a glass of water.
Ning Haiping and Zhu Qingmei, a married couple, also had a strong preference for spicy food.
The couple each drank a glass of water, but the water didn't relieve the spiciness, so they opened a beverage box and drank it.
“I think the good business of her fast food restaurant is probably related to the strong flavors,” Ning Haiping said.
Zhu Qingmei said, "I heard they are from Hunan Province, and people from Hunan love spicy food."
“Those customers must eat spicy food too, otherwise they wouldn’t buy their fast food every day,” Ning’s mother said. “Why don’t we change it too, and add more chili peppers to our stir-fries?”
“It’s not as simple as just adding more chili peppers. The way they cook their dishes is different from ours. Just adding chili peppers won’t give it the same flavor.” Ning Haiping frowned. “We’ll stop selling boxed lunches for now and start selling fried noodles, fried rice, and fried rice cakes. We’ll set up a stall at the factory gate starting tomorrow. There are always locals or people from the same province in the factory who don’t eat spicy food.”
Ning's mother said, "Then we don't need three people here. I'd better go back. You two stay here. If you need help when business is good, I'll come back."
Ning Haiping: "That's fine. I'll order a food cart tomorrow and set up a stall there later."
...
Xiangmeizi Fast Food Restaurant.
At 11 o'clock, the store was finally empty.
Everyone was exhausted and was resting on their chairs.
Lin Fei and He's father, especially those living near Yantai, were even more exhausted!
"Linlin, aren't you going to count how much money we made?" Xia Lijuan asked, actually out of curiosity, wanting to know tonight's sales figures.
He Wenhua said, "With so many people, we added two half-basins of potatoes and sold some fried noodles. I estimate our turnover tonight will be around two hundred."
"Even with a turnover of 200, we can't break even," said Mr. He. "The cost of the sweet soup we give away for free is quite high. I'm exhausted tonight, and we're losing money just to gain publicity."
"Linlin's sweet rice wine soup is really delicious; many customers have asked how much it costs," Aunt He said with a smile. "Linlin, are you sure the fast food restaurant isn't going to add this item to their menu?"
He Wenlin said, "Once our store is renovated, we'll see how it goes and increase the number of customers. Besides, the weather will get hot soon, and not many people will eat this in the sweltering heat."
Grandma He: "I won't be delivering soup anymore. Business will definitely not be as good as it was tonight."
He Shan huffed, "That old lady over there is stealing our business right in front of our shop! She's shameless! If it weren't for her opening a shop and stealing our business, we wouldn't be losing money to make a living."
"It's someone's freedom to open a shop and do business, and we have no right to interfere. But if she comes to steal my business next time, I'll definitely yell at her! I just didn't run into her this time!" Old Mrs. He said indignantly. "We work so hard to attract customers, not to get them for her!"
Stealing business from someone else's doorstep is something no one can tolerate.
He Wenlin remembers the drivers in her hometown who didn't follow the rules and would try to steal customers from people's doors. One of them was beaten half to death. After that incident, all the taxi companies formed a tacit understanding.
He Wenlin said, "They probably had a lot of unsold late-night snacks tonight. The proprietress even came to our place and bought some wolf tooth potatoes and sizzling tofu."
Lin Fei: "Linlin, she came here to be a spy, why did you sell her to her?"
“We won’t sell to her. If she really wants to buy, she can have someone else buy it for her. There’s no way to stop that,” He Wenlin said. “Besides, don’t we often buy products from our competitors? Brother, think bigger.”
After He Wenlin finished speaking, she took out the money and began counting it.
She and her second brother were in charge of collecting money tonight, and each of them already had a hundred dollars in change in their bags.
Now, with this two hundred yuan, the total is four hundred and thirty-three yuan, which is equivalent to a turnover of two hundred and thirty-three yuan.
The amount doesn't match up, because 233 can't be divided by the unit price of 1.5 yuan; having a decimal point makes it incorrect.
He Wenlin said, "Overall, it's not bad. If we can maintain around 100 customers starting tomorrow, we can consider tonight's event a success."
Lin Fei said confidently, "Of course it is! Everyone said it was delicious today."
The second brother said with pride, "How could anything my sister makes be bad? It's definitely good! Not to mention maintaining a hundred, I think even surpassing it wouldn't be a problem!"
Before Haiping Fast Food Restaurant was established, He Wenlin's shop had a daily late-night snack revenue of over a hundred yuan, but a few days ago, the revenue dropped by nearly 40%!
So if He Wenlin can still sell about 100 yuan worth of goods every night starting tomorrow, it means she has brought the business back, and today's efforts and sweat have not been in vain.
He Wenlin sent He Shan, He Wenhua, and Xia Lijuan back to rest, as they still had to get up early to work tomorrow.
The others stayed behind to clean up the mess.
The cleanup work is also a lot of work, as the outside is full of disposable trash thrown by customers.
He Wenlin and her younger brother cleaned the outside, while He's mother and grandmother washed the dishes, and He's father, Lin Fei, and He Wenjun cleaned the stove, etc.
Everyone worked together and finished in half an hour.
Back in the rented room, the bathroom was big enough for two people to shower at once. After we finished getting ready and lay down to sleep, it was almost one o'clock.
He Wenlin fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow; she was too tired.
He Wenlin couldn't understand why the female protagonists in novels, after being reborn or transmigrating, could easily thrive, while she was exhausted like a dog.
She must be the most exhausted person in the world of rebirth, without a doubt!
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