The next morning, at 7:50 a.m., ten minutes before the order deadline, Xu An received a call from Wu Yaqi.
"Hello Mr. Xu, I am Wu Yaqi, an administrative staff member of Huapu Media. I have previously communicated with you about purchasing braised food."
"Hello Ms. Wu, has your company finalized the purchase of braised food?" Xu An asked politely.
"Yes, forty catties of vegetarian braised dishes are paired with fifty cans of Haiquan apple cider vinegar."
"Are there any specific requirements for the vegetarian dishes or braised food? If not, can I take some of all the vegetarian dishes?" Xu An quickly took out a pen and paper to write down his requirements.
"Just a little of everything, enough to make forty pounds, and deliver it before 3 p.m., is that alright?"
Xu An paused, his pen still.
Three o'clock in the afternoon, this is a bit awkward a time, I have to go by myself.
However, it takes almost half an hour for an electric tricycle to get there, by which time both the braised food and apple cider vinegar will have gone to room temperature.
Braised dishes can be eaten hot or cold, but apple cider vinegar can only be drunk cold; its flavor and taste will decrease by one-third after it is brought to room temperature.
"What time does your company's afternoon tea service start? Is there a refrigerator in the tea room?" Xu An asked after much deliberation.
"Afternoon tea starts at 3:30 p.m., and there's a refrigerator in the tea room."
“It’s like this, Miss Wu.” Xu An organized his thoughts and said, “There are two ways to eat braised food: hot and cold. I suggest you put half of it in the refrigerator. Also, the apple cider vinegar tastes better after being refrigerated than at room temperature. Because the transportation time is relatively long, I suggest you prepare the time in advance to allow for refrigeration.”
Wu Yaqi checked the time on her computer. It should take about an hour. It would arrive at 2:30, and it would be ready to be taken out for afternoon tea at 3:00.
2:30 is just the right time to recharge and get back to work after my lunch break, so it doesn't interfere with my rest – perfect.
"Would 2:30 pm be okay?"
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, Xu An opened his phone's contacts and dialed Uncle Lin's number.
When we bought fruits and vegetables yesterday, we only estimated 70 catties of braised food. Now that we have added 40 catties, we naturally have to ask Uncle Lin and the others to send some more over.
The phone was answered after ringing twice.
"Mr. Xu, is there a problem with the fruits and vegetables delivered this morning?" Uncle Lin asked with some concern. This was the first time he had received a call from Xu An after the fruits and vegetables had been delivered.
"Uncle Lin, the fruits and vegetables are fine, there's no problem." Xu An directly stated the purpose of the call: "The store received a last-minute order for potatoes, lettuce, and cauliflower. We need a little more of these, a total of forty pounds. When can it be delivered?"
Upon hearing that the problem wasn't with the fruits and vegetables, Uncle Lin breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm currently in the greenhouse, and if we pick them now, they should be delivered to the store by nine o'clock."
"Okay, thank you for your trouble, Uncle Lin."
"No trouble at all, haha."
After Xu An hung up the phone, Uncle Lin put away his phone, picked up a basket, and began harvesting crops, humming a tune as he went: "We common folk are so happy today..."
We've only been working together for a few days, and the output of one greenhouse has been almost completely harvested. Now they're even harvesting from the second greenhouse.
I didn't understand before how Xiudie and Hu Juan's greenhouses were left with only unripe melons, but now that I've worked with them for a few days, I understand.
This Xu's Fast Food Restaurant has an unusually large daily procurement volume; its seven greenhouses can probably only last for half a month.
Just as Uncle Lin was busy, a noisy commotion came from outside the greenhouse.
Uncle Lin looked up and saw that the group that had signed the contract with Shengli Supermarket was making trouble again. They had been making trouble for so many days but hadn't gotten anything out of it.
Sigh, trying to compete with big companies is like throwing an egg against a rock; how can you possibly win?
He knew that everyone understood the situation, but they couldn't accept the difference in their circumstances, which was why they impulsively wanted to find an explanation.
After a few days, once we accept reality, we'll pull out what needs to be pulled and plant what needs to be planted, and then things will stop making a fuss.
The humming stopped, and only the sounds of breathing and the rustling of picking fruits and vegetables remained in the greenhouse.
The fact that Xu's Fast Food Restaurant has a third store is currently only known to Grandma Xu, Xu Heping, and Xu An; the other employees in the store are unaware of the situation.
When Zhang Dezhen arrived at work early in the morning, he saw a new recruitment poster posted outside the door. He panicked when he saw that Xu's Fast Food Restaurant was recruiting two chefs at once.
That's impossible. The braised food business has been doing quite well these days; at least I'm still able to earn my salary.
Could it be that the boss feels he's not earning enough?
This feeling of unease lasted until Uncle Lin delivered forty catties of fruits and vegetables, saying that it only lessened slightly after they were all made into braised dishes.
But Zhang Dezhen had a new question: why did the boss want to hire two chefs?
This thought lingered until 2 PM. As business was about to close, Zhang Dezhen finally couldn't resist and approached Xu An to ask, "Boss, I saw your recruitment poster. You're looking to hire two new chefs?"
"Yes." Xu An nodded and asked, "Did you provide an introduction?"
"No, no, boss, is there something I've done wrong?"
Zhang Dezhen asked in a very cryptic way, but Xu An immediately understood what Zhang Dezhen meant: he thought Xu An was dissatisfied with his work and wanted to replace him.
"I'm very satisfied with your work," Xu An comforted him. "You're the braised food chef at our shop, and now our braised food is quite famous. We get a lot of customers every day. You're a new pillar of our shop!"
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