At 2 p.m., the crowd in front of Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant finally dispersed.
After directing the waiters to put away the long table outside, the proprietress returned to the cashier's counter and sat down, beginning to calculate the lunchtime earnings.
Meat dishes were incredibly appealing to the workers; the rich, oily, and salty flavors looked delicious and were perfect with rice. Add to that the free soup and a tiger-skin egg, and it really attracted quite a few workers.
Almost everyone who comes to look buys a portion to take away, and the dishes we prepared are almost all gone; sales are quite good.
After some consideration, the proprietress beamed with joy.
At lunchtime alone, they sold 67 boxed meals, earning 536 yuan. The cost was only 100 yuan, so they made a net profit of over 400 yuan.
"I really made a wise choice. Four hundred a day adds up to over ten thousand a month, almost the same as my previous monthly profits."
She happily put away the ledger, and for a moment she had the urge to replace all the meat in the kitchen with meat from Anxin Food Processing Company.
But today is only the first day, it's a bit too hasty. Let's wait two more days and see. If we don't find any problems, then we'll replace them all.
Several neighboring restaurants paid close attention to Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant after seeing its activities that morning. Seeing how thriving the business was, they all had their own ideas.
How about I make one too? Even if I only sell ten or twenty, that's still extra income.
In the factory canteen, many workers felt that as long as they could eat their fill, that was enough.
But these days, more and more people are bringing their own boxed lunches to the canteen, and the aroma is irresistible. The noodles served in the canteen still taste the same, but they're becoming harder and harder to swallow each day.
Then think about how they can have a full meal with vegetables, meat, and soup every day for eight yuan, while the factory canteen, with a meal allowance of five yuan, eats noodles every day.
Even if all else fails, you can still cook some rice and have a couple of normal dishes.
This discontent spread among the workers, especially after they saw that the topping still only consisted of a few shreds of meat, which caused their frustration to erupt.
"I've been eating noodles for almost half a month now since the weather started to get warm. Am I going to be eating noodles every day for the next two or three months?"
With one person taking the lead, others who were dissatisfied followed suit.
"That's right, it's either rice noodles, rice vermicelli, or regular noodles. The toppings are always the same few, and no matter which one you choose, there's hardly any meat in them. People are getting thinner from all that eating."
"They don't even eat as well as the pigs at my house," Xu Dongliang shouted from the crowd, then quickly slipped away before anyone noticed.
This statement sparked a new round of condemnation.
The people in the kitchen were initially calm, but soon they complained a few times. It wouldn't hurt them to lose a piece of meat, so they didn't take them seriously.
But the outcry grew louder and louder, making the woman serving food at the window somewhat uneasy.
It took a lot of connections and benefits to secure the contract for this cafeteria. We've only just broken even and haven't made any money yet.
If the workers cause such a commotion and the site management decides to change contractors, they'll have nowhere to turn for help.
The woman serving the dishes immediately leaned halfway out of the window and shouted at the indignant workers outside, "No noodles tomorrow, cook rice!"
"Do you have any meat or vegetable dishes?"
"Yes, yes, yes, we have everything you want, including rice, meat, vegetables, and soup!"
Hearing that there was meat, vegetables, and soup, the previously noisy workers gradually quieted down. Without others joining in, the few who had started the commotion could no longer cause any trouble and had to rest.
Then let's wait until tomorrow. If the food tomorrow isn't satisfactory, we'll continue to make a fuss.
Seeing the gathered workers slowly disperse, the woman serving the dishes finally breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Wang Qiang, who was sitting in the corner of the room playing on his phone, and said, "Qiangzi, this afternoon you should confirm tomorrow's menu with Chef Liu. There should be at least one meat dish."
"Okay." Wang Qiang was completely absorbed in the game and casually replied that he understood.
The next day, when Xu An arrived at the construction site, he found that his usual stall spot was already occupied.
The tricycle, which looked almost identical to itself, was brand new and shiny, clearly newly purchased.
There was a simple stove on the vehicle, and a small gas cylinder was tied next to the seat.
The tricycle had a bamboo pole tied to its front, with a white sign hanging on it that read: "Fried noodles, fried rice noodles, fried rice are all four yuan a serving; eggs are one yuan."
The stall owner looked to be in his thirties, with dark skin, clearly someone who did heavy manual labor. He was half a head shorter than Xu An, but more muscular. He wore a thin vest, revealing his well-developed muscles.
When their eyes met, she didn't flinch and even nodded at him.
This guy's coming on strong.
Xu An sighed inwardly. This week hadn't been going well; competitors were appearing one after another.
Everyone noticed the construction site and, seeing their own businesses thriving, wanted a piece of the pie.
Xu An parked his tricycle next to the fried noodle stall, took out a cigarette and offered it to the stall owner, asking in a friendly manner, "What's your surname?"
"My surname is Zhang, and everyone calls me Lao Zhang." Seeing Xu An being so polite and even offering him a cigarette, Lao Zhang felt very satisfied. This young man was quite good; he knew how to treat people.
Unexpectedly, Xu An's next words were: "This seat is mine, please find another seat."
Old Zhang paused for a moment after taking the cigarette, then shoved it back into Xu An's hand. He wanted to look up at Xu An with disdain, but realizing that Xu An was taller than him, this tactic didn't work, so he revealed a fierce expression.
"This land is in your name, isn't it? First come, first served, don't you know? I was here first, I've claimed this land. If you want this land, then you'd better come early tomorrow."
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